Welcome from all of us at Albuquerque Reformed Church, a particular congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church located in New Mexico. We thank you for joining us for this week's sermon. For more information about Albuquerque Reformed Church or to contribute to its ministry, visit abqreformed.org. And now, we invite you to open your Bible and listen to the preached Word. At ARC, at least there is one person whom I know of who is from a Jewish background. There's only one person who is from a Jewish background. He was someone who was born and raised as a Jew, but came to faith in Christ and now is a member of this church. But apart from him, all of us are from a Gentile background. All of us are from a Gentile background. And today the Christian Church throughout the world is more or less, is more Gentile rather than Jewish. But the things were not always this way at the beginning of the Christian Church. The Jews considered Gentiles unclean. That's what the Jews considered Gentiles. They considered Gentiles unclean and would not associate with them, would not eat with them, would not go into their homes. We read, for example, in verse 28 of this chapter that Peter said to Cornelius saying, you know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. That's how the Jews looked at Gentiles. And what we are seeing in this chapter is God saying to Peter to call no man unclean whom God calls clean. What we are seeing in Acts 10 and 11 is a watershed moment in the history of the New Testament church. If Acts chapter 10 and 11 is not the most important chapter in the book of Acts, then it is one of the most important chapter. If not the most important, then it is one of the most important chapter in the book of Acts. And perhaps even in the whole New Testament. Cornelius vision is recorded at least four times in these two chapters and Peter's vision is recorded at least twice in these two chapters. So that shows us how important these two chapters are for the New Testament Church. These two chapters show us that God shows no partiality. God shows no partiality. He is no respecter of person. No matter from what nation one is from or what skin color a person has or what background he is coming from or what background he has, God is no respecter of persons. And he receives any who come to him in faith, faith in Lord Jesus Christ. What God requires is a contrite heart and a humble reliance on his mercy in Christ Jesus. That's what God requires of a person. What we are seeing here in these two chapters is God breaking the barrier between the Jew and the Gentile. God breaking the barrier between the Jew and the Gentile. We already saw an inkling of this in the postscript of chapter 9. There we read that Peter stayed with a tanner named Simon in Joppa for many days. What do tanners do? They handle dead animals. And was a Jew supposed to associate with dead animals? A Jew would not associate with dead animals and neither with tanners, lest he be defiled. But we see that Peter was staying with a tanner in Joppa. So God had already begun to break the barriers for Peter. Now we see here that God is continuing to break the barrier between the Jew and Gentile and here he will primarily focus on Peter first. We see here that there was a man named Cornelius who was a centurion, who was a Gentile, who was a centurion of what was called the Italian regiment. An Italian regiment would consist of approximately 600 soldiers and a centurion would oversee almost 100 soldiers. And in those days, Italian regiments were considered more loyal to the Emperor compared to other regiments made up of soldiers from conquered nations. Italian regiment was more loyal to the Empire. So here we have a soldier who was loyal to his master, who was loyal to the Emperor. But loyalty to the Emperor is not the thing which sets him apart here. Luke mentions that he was a devout man and one who feared God with all his household. He gave alms generously to people and prayed always. That means Cornelius was a God-fearer. He feared the God of Israel with all his household. He was a God-fearer. He worshipped the true and living God. God-fearers in those days were those who worshipped the God of Israel but were not circumcised and neither they kept the Jewish dietary laws. whereas Jewish proselytes were those who were circumcised and kept the Jewish dietary laws. So as a Gentile God-fearer, he was a devout man. He was a good man. He gave alms to people generously, but all he could enter was to enter the court of the Gentiles in the temple and no more. He was limited to the court of the Gentiles in the temple and no more. That was his limitation. But he was still faithful. He was a devout soldier. He was a devout Gentile. But we see here that as he was praying about the ninth hour, that is our 3 p.m., almost our 3 p.m. in the afternoon, that he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him that his prayers and his alms have come up for a memorial before God. In other words, God heard his prayers. He was not a Jew, but that did not stop his prayers from reaching the ears of God. See, it doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or Gentile or whatever your background is, what matters is that you call upon the name of God. And if you call upon the name of God, your prayers will reach the ears of God in heaven. God heard his prayers and saw his good works, saw his alms which he was giving to the people of God. He was being generous. He shared his wealth, his possession. Now there are some who say based on these verses saying, see all that one needs to do to have a right standing with God is to engage in acts of service or charity. Or one can be saved with good works without believing in Jesus. That's what people would say. Even the pagans who look at the scripture see all Cornelius had to do was to be a devout man, a good man and engage in acts of charity. But that's not what we see here. Cornelius believed in the true and living God of Israel as opposed to the pagan gods of Rome. He could have worshipped the pagan gods. He could have taken pagan gods along with the true God of Israel, but we don't read that he was worshipping the pagan gods of Rome. On the contrary, he was worshipping the true God of Israel. He knew that God had made his name known in the nation of Israel and he was looking forward to the promise of God through the nation of Israel. He was seeking after the true God and thirsting after true righteousness. And God was found by him. This is similar to anyone coming to church faithfully on a regular basis to hear from God. Jesus has promised that where two or three are gathered together in my name there I am there in their midst. That means if you come to church seeking the Lord you will find him because God has promised to be with his people In the assembly 203 gather in my name. So Jesus is here with us today. And if you have come trusting in him, believing in him, hoping to hear from him, then you will meet him here. You will hear from him through the preaching of his word. Paul says later in Acts 17, that if you seek after God, then you will find him. Whoever it is and wherever he is, God is not limited to any place. If you seek after him, then you will find him. Jesus said, seek and you will find. If you have not found, then you have not sought. If you have sought, then you will find. If you seek after God with all your heart, mind and soul, then you will find him. And this is what happened with Cornelius here. He diligently sought after God in prayer and God heard him. But notice that even Cornelius needed to hear the gospel. Even Cornelius needed to hear about Jesus. And that gospel would not be proclaimed by an angel, but would be proclaimed by a human. There was an angel who told Philip to arise and go toward a particular place where he would meet the Ethiopian eunuch. And here we have an angel who is asking Cornelius to send for Peter. The job of the angels in this context was to introduce the one who proclaimed the gospel to the one who would hear the gospel instead of sharing the gospel himself. In both contexts, the angel did not proclaim the gospel himself. And Paul somewhere says, even an angel proclaims to you, any other gospel reject him. Often people come up with weird ideas, weird theology and teaching because they supposedly hear from a spirit or an angel. They went to so-and-so cave and they met supposedly angel Gabriel and then they come up with a new book and then they come up with all kinds of false teaching and deceive millions and billions of people. But God has not entrusted the preaching of the gospel to angels, but to his chosen servants, those who are appointed by him. The angel told Cornelius to send for Peter, who was staying at Simon the Tanner, whose house was by the seaside. And we see here that Cornelius sent two of his household servants and a devout soldier to bring Peter to him. Now that's a two-day journey, so it will take almost two days for his servants to reach Peter at this Tanner's house. Now as the scene is happening and as the servants of Cornelius are on their way to fetch Peter, we see another scene. Peter is in Joppa and he went to rooftop to pray around the 6th hour, that is around 12 p.m. in the afternoon. We do not have flat roofs, but it was common in the ancient world to have flat roofs. And even if you go visit some of the Asian countries, you would have flat roofs there. So there was the flat roof and then there was some kind of hurt or shade on the roof for people, for Peter to go up and to spend some time alone in prayer. And what we are seeing here is Peter's diligence in prayer. As an apostle, he needed much prayer and time alone with God. Where do you think his power came from? Last week we saw two of his healing miracles. The Lord used him to bring those miracles, to perform those healing miracles. And those public miracles of Peter were built on his time alone with God in private. Peter was spending time alone with God in private, and God used him mightily and powerfully. It is Peter who later writes in his epistle, encouraging the people of God to pray, saying, For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. God's ears are always open to the prayers of His people. We are called to pray. God is sovereign how He answers those prayers. Sometimes the answers comes quick, quickly, and sometimes it tarries. And sometimes it may never come the way we want Him to answer. We may pray for something for years and years and years and we may not see that answer coming the way we want that answer to come. But we are still called to pray. We are still called to pray and to seek His face, call upon His name. Peter said, for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. If you are in Christ Jesus, you are righteous and the eyes of the Lord are on you. And his ears are open to your prayers. When was the last time when you prayed and when you asked God to save you or to rescue you or to show you direction? Maybe you are looking direction in your career or direction for some things which are bothering you. Are you looking to God? Are you looking to Jesus and praying? Are you spending time alone with God and reading his words and calling upon his name? Cornelius prayed and God heard him. Peter prayed, God heard him. If you pray, God will also hear your prayer. Now Peter was very hungry at this time and while his host prepared the food, he fell into a trance. It's a kind of vision. It's a kind of vision. He fell into a trance. And he saw the heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners descending to him and led down to the earth. We read further in verses 12 and 13 in it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth Wild beasts creeping things and birds of the air and a voice came to him Rise Peter kill and each but Peter said not so Lord for I have never eaten anything common or unclean Leviticus Leviticus chapter 11 and Deuteronomy chapter 14 gives us a whole list of animals, creeping things and birds of the air, which were prohibited for a Jew to eat. And Peter is saying that I was born a Jew and I have never eaten anything that was unclean. But God said to him, Peter, rice, kill and eat. But Peter says, not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean. When Jesus said to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, Peter said, far be it from you, Lord, far be it from you. When Jesus came to wash the feet of Peter, Peter said, you shall never wash my feet. But here God said to Peter to kill and eat. What did Peter say? His response, two sentence, two word, no, Lord. It's not happening. He called Jesus Lord, but in the same breath, he also said no, a big no. In effect, he is saying, jokes aside in effect he is saying lord i have not even eaten a bacon in my whole life and you are asking me to eat all these unclean food which is before me it is not happening now we must understand why peter was refusing to eat the things which were on the sheet what was the reason that he refused to eat. He refused to kill and eat the thing which was before him. The sheet contained all kinds of four-footed animals, wild bees, creeping things and birds of the air which were prohibited as per Old Testament laws. It was prohibited for a Jew to eat. But now God was asking Peter to eat what was previously prohibited for a Jew to eat. So why did God change his own law concerning food? That's a question we must answer. Why did God change his own law concerning food? And if God could change his laws concerning diet, then can he also change his moral laws? What you have here is the ceremonial law. These ceremonial laws, especially the dietary laws, were meant to keep the children of Israel from mingling with the nations around them. These dietary laws were meant to keep the children of Israel from mingling with the nations around them. The children of Israel were called to be separate from the nations around them. They were a holy nation, a nation which was separate from all the nations around them. And why did God constitute that separation between the Jew and the Gentile? He constituted that separation between the Jew and the Gentile for the sake of his promises and for the sake of the coming Redeemer. Those dietary laws were meant to prevent the mixing of Jews with the Gentiles, lest the line of the Messiah would be corrupted. Messiah had to come from the line of Judah from the tribe of Judah and from the loins of King David. So God instituted or constituted those dietary laws so that his people would not mingle with the nations around them and the line would be corrupted. So God constituted that dietary laws to keep his people from mingling with the Gentile nations around them for a time. But now since the Messiah had come and finished the work which was laid before him, those boundary markers which separated Jew from Gentiles were no longer in effect. The dietary laws had achieved their purpose and it was useless for a Jew to continue it anymore. But is that the same with God's moral law? That's not the same with God's moral law. The moral law shows his character. God will never say that I did not allow you to have other gods in the past, but since now we live in a pluralistic society, you can have other gods before me. That's not what God is going to say. He will not say that in the past, I did not allow my name to be taken in vain. But since it is very much common in the American movies to blaspheme my name, you can take my name in vain from now onwards. That's not what God will say. God will not say these things. He will not say these things because his law reflects his character. His law reflects who he is. It shows that he alone is the God of heaven and earth and there is none beside him. That's what his law shows that he alone is a God of heaven and earth and there is none beside him. It shows that he alone is holy and those who approach him must be holy. It shows that he alone is to be worshipped and no one else. So the moral law continues to all generations. It is binding on all cultures and all peoples. in every time. But the ceremonial law had a purpose, and those purposes were fulfilled in Christ. With the coming of Christ, the dividing wall between the Jew and the Gentile was destroyed, as Paul says in Ephesians 2, verse 14 onwards, that Christ has broken down the middle wall of separation, which separated the Jew from the Gentile. This was a whole new revelation for Peter. It was one thing for the Ethiopian convert to be converted and be sent back to his own nation and totally another thing for the Jewish Christians to be at the same table with the Gentiles. Later we see in chapter 11 that Peter will have to do some explaining once he returns to Jerusalem regarding his entering into house of Cornelius and eating with them. It was a big problem. Peter had to explain to all the church there. They all were offended that he went to the house of a Gentile and he defiled himself and he had to do some explaining. Peter again would flip-flop. He will go back and forth at one point of time when he would refuse to eat with the Gentile when the circumcision party from Jerusalem would come to a particular place and he would refuse and Paul would publicly rebuke him. So it took some time for Peter to understand. This was actually the issue which divided the first century church. And for a long time, it will cause some disturbance in the church. But here, God was working on Peter. He was working on his apostle. Peter is the chief of the apostle, one of the chief. So God was working on Peter. A voice spoke to him saying what God has cleansed you must not call uncommon. This was done three times and the object was taken up into heaven again. This was done thrice for the sake of emphasis and that Peter will get the message loud and clear which God was conveying to him because this is really, really important. It would have divided the church and destroyed the church. So God was emphasizing that the distinction between the Jew and Gentile is no more. Christ has destroyed that dividing wall. Here, Jesus asked Peter thrice after he rose again from the dead, if Peter really loved him. In 1 Samuel 3, we see that Lord called Samuel thrice before Eliza realized that it was God who was calling Samuel. In Revelation 8, the angel proclaims woe three times, using the triple woe to intensify the warning. This was done three times, signifying the gravity of the matter which God was teaching Peter. Now it is one thing to see a vision, but another thing to totally understand all what God was conveyed to Peter through the vision. We see here that the servants of Cornelius raised the house of Simon Tanner exactly at this point of time when Peter was wondering about all these things. Everything was perfectly timed. The delay in making the meal Perhaps on that day they were making the meal, perhaps one rat or something might have jumped in the meal and they had to prepare the whole meal again. Maybe that's why it took some time. But even whatever happened, even the delay, that was according to God's plan. So that Peter would go on the rooftop while praying. He would feel extremely hungry and exactly at that point of time, he saw the trance. And now the timing of the men finding the house, everything was just perfect. God works all things according to the counsel of his own will. His providence rules all things from the least to the greatest, from the lowest to the highest. Even things which are considered random or mundane are part of God's perfect plan. We think that this is random or mundane, but even those seemingly random things are part of God's perfect plan. We read here that while Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold three men are seeking you arise therefore go arise Therefore go down and go with them doubting nothing for I have sent them The Gospels shows us a record of Jesus with his disciples And now the same Jesus is leading his disciples through his Holy Spirit It is the same Jesus When Jesus was on earth, he said to his disciples, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. It was not possible for Jesus and his human nature to be present everywhere. At all in all places with his disciples was it possible that's not possible Jesus for Jesus in his human nature To be present with his disciples everywhere But now the same Jesus can be present everywhere with his disciples through his Holy Spirit We see that the spirit gave direction to Peter in regards to the men who were seeking him. The distance between Caesarea and Joppa was approximately 35 miles. It might have almost taken two days by foot or on a donkey. Most likely it was late afternoon when the men reached the house of Simon the Tanner. So Peter invited them in and lodged them for the night. Now what are some of the things which we can learn here? As a way of application first, which is very clear in this text. The first is, there is no partiality with God and he is no respecter of persons. What we are seeing here is the heart of God for whole humanity. His heart for whole humanity. You know, the stress, the way God stressed, we read here thrice, the thing happened, the way God stressed all the things and the way God timed everything. We see the heart of God for whole humanity. He want all to come to the saving knowledge of Christ. He want all to be saved. He does not want anyone to perish. He does not delight in the death of the wicked. So there is no partiality with God and He is no respecter of persons. We show prejudice and discriminate based on ethnicity, social status, skin color, or other man-made criteria. For example, James says, for if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into assembly, And a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in. And if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, you sit here in a good place while you say to the poor man, you stand over there or sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinction among yourself and become judges with evil thoughts? Scripture does not entertain partiality based on any external criteria. When we discriminate or withhold fellowship with people because they're different from us, we deny the beauty of the gospel. We deny the beauty of the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel of Lord Jesus Christ breaks ungodly worldly barriers rather than putting it. Let us not put barriers. On the contrary, let us break the barriers, ungodly and worldly barriers. Second, related to the first, no one can say that I will not be acceptable to God because I am from such and such a nation or from such and such a background. Or I do not have a pleasing personality. So perhaps even God will not accept me because I do not have a pleasing personality. God receives everyone who seeks after him and rewards those who diligently wait upon him. He receives everyone. All one need to do is just to come in the name of Jesus. Come in the name of Jesus and you will be received. you will never be turned away. Third, godly believers are marked by warm hospitality. Godly believers are marked by warm hospitality. If our hearts are open in love for Christ and his people, then our homes should also reflect that reality. It is not always easy or convenient to host someone. It is never easy or convenient to host someone or anyone, but we should never forget that our call to follow Jesus is never easy. Our call to follow Jesus is never easy. We are called to carry our cross daily and walk after Jesus, which involves inconvenience and difficulty. Simon the Tanner hosted Peter and then he also hosted three other men who were seeking Peter. The only reason we meet Simon the Tanner in these pages of scripture is because he hosted Peter and three other men who came seeking Peter. That is the only reason we read about Simon the Tanner because he opened his house for the guests. Had he not opened his house for hospitality, we wouldn't have read anything about this saint. We wouldn't have read anything about him. But we read about him because he opened his house for the visiting traveler for hospitality. How many of us are willing to host people if they end up at our doorstep at a short notice? How many of us are willing to host people if we find someone suddenly coming to our town. We would love to have young families here in our own church who would host people for Sunday afternoon meals and especially those who travel from afar. Fourth application. There are those who say that eating meat is wrong or outright evil since it involves killing an animal. Or everyone should just become a vegetarian since it is good for the planet. But the Bible knows no such doctrine. God has approved responsible slaughter of animals for meat, for food. If someone wants to avoid eating meat as their own choice, it is perfectly fine. But it is wrong to judge someone else's choice in this regard. Only the Lord Jesus is the Lord of conscience and no one should call evil what God has sanctioned in His word. God has sanctioned eating of meat in His word. It is wise in some cultures to be cautious of our freedom in Christ when it comes to eating meat. But it is wrong at the same time to make someone else our Lord of the conscience. It is wrong and sinful to make someone else our Lord of the conscience. Only Jesus is the Lord of our conscience. Fifth, by nature, we all are unclean. By nature, we all are unclean. Jesus says that it is not food which defiles us. But what does he say? There is something else which defiles us. He says, what defiles us is what comes out of a person's mouth that defiles him. For from within out of the heart of man comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and they defile ourselves. Our own words defile us, our own rash words and wicked thoughts, careless words, all of these things defiles us. But praise be to God that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all our sins. If we have come to Jesus by faith, have confessed our sins, then the Apostle John shows us that God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It is not by eating any right kind of food or by performing any ritual by which we can be cleansed from our sins, but the shed blood of Jesus Christ alone. You can eat a particular food or you cannot eat a particular food. Either way, it will not cleanse you. Either way, you will not have a right standing with God based on your eating habits. But you will have a right standing with God by calling upon the name of Jesus and by being cleansed by his blood. May you rest in the soul cleansing power of Jesus as we pray. Our most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and how you speak to us week after week, giving us knowledge and wisdom and salvation. Lord, we thank you for what we have learned from your word this morning, and we pray that we would take it to the heart and we would hide in our heart and we would practice it, that we as your people would be those who would continue to grow in your grace and knowledge and we would be warm and welcoming because that's what the gospel teaches us. It teaches us to discriminate against no man or woman, and to be warm and welcoming because this is what our Lord has done for us. He welcomed all of us into his kingdom. So we pray that he would continue to work in us as we lean upon you, as we trust upon you. We ask this prayer in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Thank you for joining us. If you were blessed by this sermon, we invite you to visit us at abcreformed.org, where you'll find more information about our ministry. We look forward to you joining us again, online or in person. Until then, may peace, comfort, and grace be given to you through our Lord Jesus Christ.