Welcome to this podcast from Harvest Community Church of Huntersville, North Carolina, where our vision is to make disciples who make disciples. I'm your host, Liz Stefanini. Let me ask you some questions. Where do you find people of different ages, different races, different body types, different mother tongues, and different cultural backgrounds getting along with each other. Where might you find a white rancher in his 40s, an elderly Chinese couple, and an African-American family dressed in their church clothes, treating each other with respect rather than suspicion. One of those places, unfortunately, is a cancer center in Houston, Texas. I read an interesting article this week by a man who had been diagnosed with cancer. He had had surgery and was undergoing chemo. And he commented on his journey, his long journey going to this cancer center repeatedly for those treatments and seeing all kind of people that look different from each other and were different from each other. but seeing those people share a bond with each other, seeing those people care for each other. He said, prejudices were shattered in that place. And you know, as a pastor, I've also seen that same dynamic at work as I have stood by families in the ICU. I've seen people, multiple groups of people in those ICU waiting rooms that didn't look anything alike or think anything alike or probably agree on much at all. I've seen them care about each other. I've seen them overcome prejudices and cross barriers. I think what's common in these situations is when people get in a life or death situation, they start focusing on what really, really matters. And some of these external things that divide us aren't as important anymore. The passage that we're gonna look at today Going to talk about that and I invite your attention to Acts chapter 10 We're teaching through the book of Acts here we come to actually The longest narrative in the book of Acts. It's 66 verses. It goes from 10 1 to 11 18 We're only gonna do about a well a little less than a half of it. Maybe 35% of it today We're gonna do the first half of the narrative and next week Lord willing. We'll do the the second half of that narrative and In that passage, we're gonna see what really, really matters. More than anything else. More than even health and survival. We are going to see what really, really matters is eternal life. And the life that Jesus Christ can give to any person from any background. regardless of their race or creed or history. And God's heart and God's desire to spread that good news to all kinds of people. Now let me set the context before I walk into the story. The gospel at this point when we come to Acts chapter 10 is on the move. And it has been expanding. It has been making inroads. It started in Jerusalem but it's been making inroads outside of Jerusalem But there was still something that was going to hinder its process or its progress. And that was the walls that existed between Jewish people and Gentile people. And that day, you were Jewish or Gentile. And the Gentiles were everybody who was not a Jew. And the gospel came to the Jews first. The first Christians were Jewish Christians and Jewish believers. And Acts chapter 10 tells us the story about how those walls began to get broken down. Now, what we're gonna find out in this story is that it is massively important, it is massively important that the church fulfills God's commission to go make disciples of whom? All nations. And so the gospel came to the Jews first, to Israel first, and they weren't the ones who were supposed to hang on to the gospel and keep it among themselves. It's got to go to all nations. And Acts 10 tells us about how that happens. Now, before going into detail, let me give you a snapshot of the story here. The two main characters in this story, Cornelius and Peter. Cornelius was a Gentile. He was a Roman centurion. And in this story, he has a vision. He's praying. He's a devout man. He's not yet a Jew. And I'll tell you about that in a minute. He's not yet a Christian. He's just a devout Gentile who prays and does good things. And he has this vision. God gives him a vision and says, hey, I want you to go find, go send for this man named Peter and he'll come to you. So he sends some messengers and the while they're on the way, the next day, Peter, the apostle is on the roof praying. And while he's praying, he gets hungry and then he sees this vision. And in this vision is this sheet. And there's all kind of animals on that sheet. Animals that he as a Jewish person would have, some of them would have been clean and acceptable to eat. And some of them would have been unclean that he would never touch or eat or be around. And the voice from heaven says, Peter, get up and eat that. And he says, no, Lord. I've never done that. And this is repeated three times and then the sheet goes away and Peter is left wondering, what does this mean? And while he's wondering that, they say, hey, Peter, there's some men who've come to see you. And he goes down and he meets them and he greets them. These are the men from Cornelius, that Cornelius had sent. And Peter invites them into his home. That's the overview. And what we see in this passage is that there was heart change for two men. There were two men in this passage whose hearts were changed. The first one was Cornelius, and this is on your outline sheet there. Cornelius had a great heart and a reverence for God, but he still needed to be saved. He still needed to be saved. He was not saved. So let's start walking through the passage. Verse 1. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius. A centurion in what was known as the Italian regiment. Now, Caesarea was a seaport on the Mediterranean coast. It was named after Caesar Augustus, hence Caesarea. And it was a place that had more Gentiles living there than Jewish people, and the Jewish people had a lot of disdain for the city, Caesarea. They did not like it. And one of those people who lived there was a man named Cornelius. And he was a centurion, which meant he had soldiers under his command. He had at least 100 soldiers under his command. Possible that he had more. We learn more about him in verse two. He and his family, or all his family, were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. Now again, there's multiple categories of people, and let's get this straight. There's the Jewish people and Gentile people. And the Jews didn't want to have anything to do with the Gentiles. They weren't part of the people of God. But there were some Gentiles who were attracted to Judaism. They saw all the, around them all they saw was the pagan gods and multiple gods and immorality and stuff. And they looked at Judaism and they said, oh, Judaism worships one God. That was really unusual to have, it's called monotheism, one God. And they were attracted to that. They were attracted to the standards of the Mosaic law. They liked that. They were drawn to it. And so, Gentiles actually could become a part of Judaism by becoming what was known as a proselyte. So if you were born a Gentile, you still could become a proselyte, but here's what you had to do. You had to submit to the Jewish law. You had to submit to all the dietary laws. There were things the Jews did eat and didn't eat. And you also had to submit to circumcision. Now a lot of Gentiles in that day thought that to be disgusting. It wasn't just a medical procedure like we think of it today. It doesn't have religious overtones today, but it was uncommon then, and they thought it was disgusting. So there were some people who became proselytes and did it all. They said, yeah, okay, we'll submit to circumcision and monotheism and the Mosaic law, the dietary laws, all of it. We'll do that and we'll be proselytes. But there was another category that were called God-fearers like Cornelius, who were drawn to Judaism were drawn to the law, but they hadn't totally committed. They hadn't said, you know what? We'll go through circumcision and we'll eat that same diet, okay? That's who Cornelius is. He's devout. He's not trying to live a heathen pagan lifestyle. He's really interested in God. Look what he did. He gave generously. to those who were in need, and he prayed to God regularly. I mean, that's a pretty good guy for the first century. For a Roman centurion to pray regularly and to give to people in need, this is a good guy. This is a moral guy. You know, this is the kind of guy, if he were living today, he'd win some awards. He'd get some certificates and some recognitions. And people think, man, that's a really good guy. This really good guy was not yet a part of Judaism and he also was not yet a Christian. Hence verse three. One day, at about three in the afternoon, he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him and said, Cornelius, Cornelius stared at him in fear. which is what we would do too, I'm guessing, if an angel of God appeared to us. What is it, Lord, he asked. The angel answered, your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. So again, there's the two aspects of Cornelius's devotion. It's Godward, he's praying, and it's also outward. He's giving gifts to the poor. Here's what you're to do, verse 5, now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon, who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is by the sea. We know him as Peter, but he was Simon, who is called Peter, is staying with Simon the Tanner. In verse seven, when the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. He told them everything that happened and sent them to Joppa. So that's character number one in our story. Cornelius, he had a great heart and he had a reverence for God, but he still needed to be saved. He wasn't saved yet. He needed to say and mean, yes, Jesus is Lord. Paul would say that if you believe in your heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead. And if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be what? Saved. That's what Cornelius needed. He needed to understand who Jesus was. He needed to say, yes, Jesus is Lord. Now some of you will remember, I mean, not me, young people like me, but others who might be further advanced in years might remember the old Westerns, you know, where there's a scene going on and then they say, meanwhile, back at the ranch. So something else is happening. So meanwhile, back at the ranch, while these, these, these Messengers from Cornelius are going to find Peter. Something's happening to Peter. And Peter also needed a heart change. He was a great apostle who knew the power of God, but he needed to learn the heart of God. Man, Peter was a powerful, powerfully used by God. Think about the things that God used Peter to do. Preaching the gospel and thousands are saved and they're baptized and healing people. I mean, there were miracles. I mean, Peter was a great apostle. He was powerful. But he needed to learn the heart of God. So verse nine, about noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, went up on the roof to pray. Now some of you are thinking, up on the roof? Don't think the kind of roof that you probably have. I'm thinking, I'd be praying if I was up on my roof, I'd be praying, Lord, help me not to fall. They had flat roofs in first century Palestine and actually not a bad place to go pray. Even maybe in a place like Caesarea might get a sea breeze or something, you know, so it's like, okay. And there were steps, you know, they had steps that you could go up like a ladder and go up on the roof and pray. And that's what Peter was doing. Verse 10, he became hungry. wanted something to eat and while the meal was being prepared he fell into a trance. He saw heaven hope opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kind of four-footed animals as well as reptiles and birds and then a voice told him Get up, Peter. Kill and eat. Peter had been a Jewish man all his life. He knew the Old Testament. He knew the regulations about clean and unclean animals. And now this vision from God is telling him to do what he never would have done without that. And so verse 14, surely not Lord, Peter replied. I've never eaten anything impure or unclean. Now, no and Lord don't usually go together in the same sentence. Surely not Lord. Why would Peter be bold enough to say no to God? Well, let's not be too down on Peter right here. The Mosaic Law had laid it out, what the distinction was between clean and unclean animals. Leviticus, and why? Leviticus 11, 44 said, God said, I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. So in the Old Testament, when God chose his people, Israel, they were the chosen people of God and they were to be distinct from the people around them. In fact, that's a principle that's true of all of God's people and all of, all of time. We are to be distinct. We are to be holy. We are not as followers of God supposed to do and think and act like people who don't follow God. And so in the Old Testament, the way that took expression, one of the ways was, let me separate you and set you apart from others. And I'm going to give you a different diet. There are things you're not gonna eat and things you're gonna eat now some people believe and there's there's truth in it that Part of that diet the reason why was they didn't have refrigeration and it was contamination and things like that And while all that may be true, this is the theological reason right here in Leviticus It's because God was setting people apart and he did it through diet. He did it through the Sabbath day. I mean, nobody in the Old Testament, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hittites, none of them had a Sabbath, right? And the Jewish people are saying, we're not gonna work on this day. So there was the Sabbath and there was the diet, there was adherence to the Mosaic law and there was circumcision. So these were the markers. This is what marked the people of God. Now, some of you might be thinking, well, does the Bible contradict itself? Because if it said in the Old Testament, you're not supposed to do this, and now is it okay to do it? I want to tell you something. There is something called progressive revelation. This Bible, these 66 books, are all from God, and they're all God's word, and they're all true, but to understand it properly, we have to understand how revelation progresses from the first page, Genesis 1-1, to the last page in Revelation. It is progressive revelation. So at that point in history, for that specific people in history, God said, don't eat those things, right? But now through the ages, and we come into the New Testament, Jesus doesn't abolish the law, but he fulfills it. And now we get what is known as the law of Christ, which is the teaching of Christ and his apostles. So this is part of that progress of revelation. New revelation is coming to Peter. Peter, eat that. Verse 15, the voice spoke to him a second time. Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. There are five times in Acts chapter 10 and 11 that that word that either the adjective or the verb is translated as impure. Five times, that's an important theme. This is about purity. Verse 16, this happened three times and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. They called out asking if Simon, who was known as Peter, was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, Simon, three men are looking for you, so get up and go downstairs, do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them." So here's what's about to happen. God is going to not only give the vision, but God's going to interpret the vision for Peter. God is going to give Peter the meaning of this vision. And it is fundamentally not about what foods you're gonna eat. It's fundamentally about people. It's about fundamentally not viewing any group as unclean. So much that you would stay away from them. Did you get that? This is about people. a group of people that the Jewish people, based on their scriptures, had viewed as unclean and they didn't want to be contaminated by them, and that was proper and right in that context. But as God's heart and plan began to be unfolded more and more, of course, all along the way, God had planned for the Jewish people to be a light to the Gentiles, and now it's coming true. And now he's saying, all right, in order for those people to get the gospel, Peter, you have to change your attitude about them. You can't view them as somebody to avoid any longer. There are no people that are beyond my reach, beyond my love, beyond my heart. Dennis Johnson summarizes it well by saying, in erasing the boundary between clean and unclean animals, God erased the boundary between clean and unclean peoples. And it's true that Gentiles, and all of us in here pretty much, I believe, are probably Gentiles. In the past, Gentiles were unclean. In the past, we were impure, but in Christ, we are made pure. And in Christ, now, we are one body in Christ, and no longer it's, this is just for Jews. This is for anybody who believes in Jesus Christ. Now, of course, there remains a huge difference. on the one hand, between what is appropriate in the presence of a holy God. We still call that sin. We still avoid sin. We still don't compromise on what the Bible calls sin, no matter what anybody else thinks about it. But that's one thing. There's a difference between understanding that and viewing that there are things that keep us from the presence of God and how we relate to other people who are the victims of sin and the enemy. It's not endorsing their lifestyle, endorsing their non-biblical views, but it's loving them to Jesus. And that's what Peter is in the process of learning. In fact, Jesus had taught this principle while he was in his earthly ministry. Mark chapter 7 this is one of many times things like this happened Jesus called the crowd to him and said listen to me everyone and understand this Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them Rather it's what comes out of a person that defiles them. So you don't think of defilement It's just what you eat or drink. It's this is where defilement comes from from the sinful hearts So back to Acts chapter 10 Verse 21, Peter went down and said to the men, I'm the one you're looking for, why have you come? That was a step of obedience right there, just to even talk to them. The men replied, we have come from Cornelius the Centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say. And then verse 23, these are just seemingly simple words, but maybe having heard this message so far, maybe they'll mean a little bit more than they would have meant when you read them before. Then Peter invited the men into his house to be his guests. It's pretty big. Peter invited these Gentile men into his house to be his guest. So, yes, Peter was a great apostle who knew the power of God, but he still needed to learn the heart of God. What did Peter need to say, or what did Peter need to learn about the heart of God? He needed to learn God's heart to save the world, to save the whole world, not just one nation of the world. The concept that Israel of old held that Anyone who did not conform to their standards of purity in relation to diet would not be able to be saved. That was no longer God's plan for the New Testament era. Peter needed to learn that there was no room for favoritism or prejudice. You can't judge somebody because they're Gentile. And Peter needed to learn to look on the heart and not the outside. Now please, please, please don't miss this point. The point I'm about to make. Because this is the core of the message today. If you walk away understanding this, I think you will understand the passage. But if you walk away missing this or applying it differently, You could miss the fundamental meaning of the message because there are people, good people, who will preach a passage like this and they'll apply it to all kind of things that don't match God's intent for why he put it here. This breakdown of the walls that divided Jews and Gentiles was not primarily a social thing. God's heart was not just that Peter and Cornelius could sit down and have a cup of coffee together. God's heart was not just that there would be a level playing field for all people. Let me tell you what God's heart was here. God's heart was for people to be saved. And the Gentile people did not have the gospel. They were not saved. They did not know Christ. And the Jewish people had the gospel. And if this division of people, because they don't eat the same diet we eat, if because of that we're going to stay away from them, how are they going to hear the gospel? How are they going to hear the gospel of forgiveness? How are they going to know that God loves them? This is a gospel message. This isn't a social message. God was trying to get the gospel to a different group of people, the Gentiles, so they could be saved by faith. And overcoming these barriers was all about the gospel. What is the gospel? It is the good news that Jesus saves, that he loves you, that he died for you on the cross, that he paid, as we sang earlier, he paid it all. He paid for our sins. And by faith in him, we can be saved. That is the gospel. And the prejudice that these groups had against each other could keep the gospel from spreading. That's what this passage... Does that make sense? Will you shake your head just so I know that you're in tune with that? What did Peter need? He was a great apostle, but he needed to say and mean, yes, Lord. He needed to say, yes, Lord. Peter was in the process of being taught by God these things. He was already an apostle. He had already done miracles. He had already preached the gospel. And yet his heart still needed some shaping. And as a side note, aren't you glad that God is patient with us and allows our heart to change and learn and grow and develop? That's the grace of God. We're seeing the grace of God, not only on Cornelius and the Gentiles that are going to get saved. Sorry, spoiler alert, didn't mean to mess up next Sunday sermon. But on Peter and on Peter's heart. So. Let's, let's remind ourselves again. Cornelius had a great heart and a reverence for God, but he needed to be saved. He needed to say and mean, yes, Jesus is Lord. Peter was a great apostle, but he needed to say and mean yes, Lord. So here's God's word for us this morning. What happens when God builds his church? That's what God's doing here in Acts. What happens when God builds his church? When God builds his church, hearts are changed. And God builds his church hearts are changed. So we've looked at the heart change for those two men. Let me start trying to wrap it up by talking about heart change for us. What about today? We've seen God's word. We've seen how God was in the process of changing Cornelius's heart and God was in the process of changing Peter's heart. But what about you and me today who hear this today? And I want to say two things. First of all, every good person needs to be saved. Every good person needs to be saved. I'm pretty convinced based on talking to people and being around them that the average American who's not really truly a Christian, but a moral decent person thinks that they're gonna go to heaven. I think they think that. I think that I hear in some of these contexts when I'm hanging out with unbelievers, I hear even sometimes people joke about hell or demons or something. They would only joke about it because they don't think it's really real. They think, you know, after you die, everybody's going to be okay. Is that what the Bible teaches? Does Jesus have a great scale and put your good deeds on one side, and if they outweigh your bad deeds, he'll let you into heaven? Absolutely not. Here's what the Bible teaches. Titus chapter 3, verse 4. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy. Nobody's gonna say, I'm in heaven because I really worked hard. I really did a lot of good things. Ephesians chapter two. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal of the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ, our Savior. That's still Titus, by the way. I'm just seeing if you're listening. I hadn't gotten to Ephesians 2. I'm going there next. Did anybody notice that? Okay, good. Hey, Ephesians chapter 2. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. You see it? We don't get saved by works. We don't do good. We get saved by his grace. Praise God for his grace. We didn't deserve anything from God except to be separated from him. But in his love and his mercy, He sacrificed his own son. That's his grace. And when we receive that by faith, when we receive him by faith, he saves us. And then he creates us to do good works. Our good works are a response. You're saved by grace, not by works. And what do you end up doing? After you realize, wow, thank you for being so good, God, then every good deed is fueled and funneled by that grace. I want to do good works for God in light of that. So let me ask you. I look here in this audience. I can't look at the live stream audience. I can look at you, but I can't see you. So I don't know who's watching. And I know many or most, I know most all of you that are sitting here. But what's in your heart? The question is not, are you a good church member? Are you moral? Do you do good deeds? The question is, are you saved? Have you received Jesus Christ? Have you admitted, I'm lost without you, Jesus. I need you. I want you. I believe in you. Here I am. And the good news is if you will say yes to him today, you will be saved. That's the first heart change for us. The second, not only does every good person need to be saved, every saved person needs to learn the heart of God. Proverbs 17.3, the crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart. Acts 13.22, After removing, we'll get to this later in this series. After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him, I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do. So what do you need to say today? Do you need to say yes, Lord? Or maybe some of you need to say, yes, Jesus is Lord. But those who've said, yes, Jesus is Lord need to also say, yes, Lord. God wants the church to be multi-ethnic. That's been the plan all along. He chose Israel in the Old Testament not to be the extent of his election, but to be the platform through which he would spread the good news to the nations. In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus, Paul said in Galatians 3, 28. Now, at the beginning of the message, I gave you a napkin, and I want you to take it out. And I want you to unfold it. Like like it's a sheet and as you hold it in your hand You're the only person who can answer this for you I don't want you to try to answer this for the person sitting beside you or the person sitting on the other side of the room If God were to come to you today in a vision and There was a sheet And it wasn't food because the animals wouldn't matter to you, but it was a sheet and there were people and certain kinds of people on there. Who would be on there? What kind of people would be on there for you that you have avoided that you view as unclean? Would there be LGBTQ people on that sheet for some of you? Would there be people on that sheet that are a different color skin than you? Would there be people on welfare on that sheet for you? For some of you, would it be Democrats on that sheet or Republicans on that sheet or a flaming liberal on that sheet? Or would it be people that speak with a foreign accent? Who's going to be on your sheet? And today I want to challenge you. I want you to go home today. I want you to take this with you. I want you to take it with you. And before you go to bed tonight, And we'll do it today here while we're together. But I also want you to, all week long this week, I just challenge you, all week long, we keep asking God, God, is there anybody on that sheet that I have not been willing to cross a barrier to share the gospel with them? Will you do that? When God builds his church, hearts are changed. Let's bow our heads and our hearts together.