The Word Made Plain

Voiceover: Welcome to The Word Made Plain with senior pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 10, verses 6 through 16.

Tony Clark: Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. Notice how the soldier Cornelius sent with the two men was just like him. He was devout, which means showing or having deep religious feelings or commitment. Now, why did I bring this up? Watch this.

This shows us that like begets like. We can only reproduce after our kind. In Genesis chapter one, for you note-takers, it said that the living creatures brought forth after its kind, the birds brought forth after its kind, the beasts of the earth brought forth after its kind. Like begets like. If we are religious but lost, those around us will be the same way, religious but lost. Men, single parents, if we are a certain way, then our families will follow in our footsteps.

I know I got a friend that's an atheist, and guess what? His oldest daughter is an atheist. Like begets like. Look at where you are with your walk with God; then your family will go no further than where you have gone. Like begets like. Cornelius in verse two is said to be devout, so the soldier he sent was also devout. In other words, we can only take people as far as we've gone, and this goes for everyone closest to us.

So Cornelius explained everything the angel told him to the three men in verse 8. Look at verses 9 through 16 so we can get the context. It says, "The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat, but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at four corners descended to him and let down to the earth."

"In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and birds of the air. And a voice came to Peter and said, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.' And the voice spoke to him again a second time, 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.' This was done three times, and the object was taken up into heaven again."

Incredible verses here. In these verses, we see God preparing Peter for this historic moment of going into the house of a Roman soldier, something a good Jew would never do. And so on the next day, the three men traveled the 30 miles from Caesarea to the city of Joppa, and they knew exactly where to go as well from the specific instructions given by the angel. According to verse 9, as these men drew near to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray at about the sixth hour, which is around noon.

Seeing that the housetops in biblical times were flat, they were like a patio. They were also used as a quiet place to get away from the crowds and get away from the noise in the house, and they would go up there to meditate and go up there to pray and to get away and to get alone. And this is where vision is always given by God to us: away from the crowds, away from the noise, in a quiet place with a quiet heart.

Many people say, "Well, I just don't know what God wants me to do." And I've said it many, many times: we have too much noise going on in our lives. All we've got to do is just look at this generation today. Every time you see them in a mall, walking down the street, or whatever, they've got some buds in their ear, some kind of headphones. They've just got to have something going on. They know nothing about the quiet, nothing about how God speaks in a still, small voice because you've got too much noise going on that you can't hear it.

God is speaking. He's always speaking. We're not always listening because we've got so much noise going on in our lives. Many of you want to hear from God and have Him speak to you, but there's just too much noise. Headphones and music and TV and radio and just chatter and just background noise. Many of you, I'm going to tell you now, you love the noise. You know why? Because you have such a guilty conscience that if you would get quiet for a moment, the guilt of your sin would overwhelm you.

And this is why you always got to have something going, some noise, some music, some thing. The most frightening thing for some of you is going to sleep at night. And many of you have now either go to sleep with the TV on or go to sleep with some music on because you don't want to get quiet with your conscience because it's eating you up about something you're doing or not doing. And this is why people drink their sorrows away or smoke their sorrows away or drug their sorrows away because they're sorrow and guilt and people are trying to get away from it.

Vision begins in a quiet place, away from the noise, as Peter did here. And so as Peter goes up on top of the roof to pray, verse 10 says that he became hungry. I've found this to be true as well whenever I purpose in my heart that I'm going to pray: Satan uses my body appetites to distract me by either bombarding me with evil thoughts or sleepiness or like we see here with Peter, hunger. However, God used Peter's hunger to speak to him.

So as the meal was delayed for some unknown reason to Peter, he fell into a trance. The word "trance" is defined as that stage between sleep and awake. The Jewish philosopher Philo defined a trance as a divine intoxication where one is so full of God that he or she loses touch with their surroundings. This is the state that Peter was in: a divine intoxication. I love that definition by Philo. Now, how different are we today than Peter?

As dinner was being prepared, Peter used this time to pray. We so often go watch TV, or we're definitely on our phones, scrolling through social media or Pinterest as we're waiting on dinner to get done. Peter used this time to pray because prayer was a priority in Peter's life, something he learned by watching Jesus pray. If you ever want to know about the prayer life of Jesus, go through the Gospel of Luke. Luke seemed to emphasize the prayer life of Jesus, and if you would look, Jesus was always praying, always.

I am aware that as a guest in the house of Simon the Tanner, Peter wouldn't be cooking, so he was at the mercy of those cooking. He's probably wondering, "What's taking y'all so long?" Dinner's normally made by now. He don't know why they were fooling around in the kitchen, but he used that time and took advantage of that time to go and pray. So as he was praying, verse 11 says, "And he saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at four corners descended to him and let down to the earth."

In this sheet that descended upon Peter were filled with all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and the birds of the air, which happens to be how the animal kingdom is divided up in Genesis 6 and verse 20. And Jesus spoke to Peter in verse 13 and says, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." What I'm about to say is monumental. Because in Leviticus 11 and Leviticus 20, the Jews were given very specific instructions concerning what foods they could or could not eat.

In Peter's vision, he sees clean and unclean animals, kosher and non-kosher foods all together upon a single sheet. I find this amazing because here is Peter, who was hungry, and God used food to speak to him. I love this about the Lord, that He didn't come down on Peter for being hungry. He didn't say, "I led you to pray. Why is your stomach growling? What's wrong with you, Peter?" He didn't come down on him.

And because he was hungry, the Lord said, "Okay, I'm going to use food to speak to him." And it's amazing how Peter probably paid even more attention, seeing that he was hungry, that this vision had to do with food. He said, "Are you hungry, Peter? I will use food to speak to you." Did you know that God uses common everyday things to speak to us? So often you're looking for some supernatural, the sky to open up or some shooting star. God uses common everyday things to speak to us.

So what happened when Jesus said at the end of verse 13, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat"? Peter responded in verse 14 and said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean." Peter seemed to have a problem with saying no to the Lord. In Matthew 16 and verse 22, when the Lord said He had to go to the cross, Peter said, "Not so, Lord! Far be it from You to go to that cross." In John 13 and verse 8, when Jesus came around to wash the disciples' feet, He came to Peter, and Peter said, "No, Lord, You ain't going to wash these dogs."

He seemed to have a problem with saying no to the Lord. I have to ask you: do you have a problem with saying no to God? Are you arguing with God over something He's clearly told you to do, and you're giving Him every reason why you can't do it? I don't know whether that's giving, whether that's tithing, I don't know what it is that God has told you to do and you're giving every known reason why you can't and saying, "No, Lord."

You're no different than Peter. There's been many times the Lord said, "Well, why don't you go over there and talk to them about Me?" And I said, "No, Lord. I'm ready to go home. That conversation may take a long time. I'm ready to get to the house." We do that. We're no different than Peter. So here's the thing: Peter is using a contradictory of terms in his answer to Jesus. He said, "Not so" and "Lord."

This is a contradictory of terms because if it is "not so," then Jesus isn't our Lord. But if He is our Lord, then we cannot say "not so" to what He is asking us to do. If the Lord commands us to do something, then we cannot say to the Lord, "not so." Oh, I know you're thinking about it right now, what the Lord has told you to do and you've said "not so" to Him. Then He isn't your Lord.

Because how can you say "not so" to your Lord? If He is your Lord, then we say, "Yes, Lord." It's not "not so, Lord." But so often we find ourselves like Peter, don't we? Then the Lord responded in verse 15 a second time, "What God has cleansed you must not call common." Now, please put your ears on what I'm about to say because this is huge. This was monumental for God to speak this to Peter because He was saying two things.

Number one, this signified the abolishing of all of the Old Testament dietary laws. Number two, the combination of the clean and unclean animals being seen together on one sheet was signifying that God was bringing together the Jews and the Gentiles into one body called the church. Signified by the Jews being represented by the clean animals and the Gentiles being represented by the unclean animals. And the one thing, one of the main things that separated Jews and Gentiles, was food. That wall was coming down.

And this is why God said in verse 15, "What God has cleansed you must not call common or unclean." Something the Jews constantly did: they constantly referred to the Gentiles as being unclean or common. Now this was done three times according to verse 16, and the object was taken up into heaven. This was done three times because Deuteronomy says by the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established.

And Peter will recognize the three times as having great significance because he denied the Lord three times according to John 18 and because Jesus restored Peter three times or with a threefold application of truth. So he was very familiar with the number three. Let me help some of you right here. This abolishing of the Old Testament dietary laws was huge for the Jews because this is one of the main things that distinguished them from the rest of the nations around.

God wanted His people to be healthy physically to serve Him effectively, and certain foods were not good for them in order to maintain physical health. People today try to put us back under Old Testament dietary laws. Now, once again, they are good for us to be healthy if we follow them, but they will not make us holy. Healthier, yes, but not holier. First Corinthians 8:8 says, "But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse."

What a great verse that is. The Greek word for "commend" is *paristemi*, and it means to stand beside. In other words, Paul is saying that food doesn't make us stand beside God any closer if we don't eat certain foods, nor does it cause us to stand beside God further away if we eat certain foods. Healthier, yes, but not holier. The final set of verses that seals the deal for me on this subject is first Timothy 4, verses 3 through 5.

It says, "Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified or set apart by the word of God and prayer." So if I choose to enjoy my burgers and ribs and bacon, or if I refuse these foods, it will not make any of us closer or further away from God.

Healthier, yes, but not holier. Oh, somebody needed to hear that today. Somebody need to hear that because you're always going to have some folks that try to bring us back under those dietary laws. Now, here's the thing: if you follow them, you will be healthier. But don't think you'll be holier. So if I choose to go and get me some ribs and fries, or if I go get a steak, or if I go get a burger from somewhere and you see me, don't trip.

Don't try to bring me back under some bondage and all this kind of stuff and try to tell me... okay, what you can say, which is true, you can say, "Hey, that is not good for you." Right, I get it. We can justify anything. "Well, the beef is good protein. I need that protein for building muscle." We can justify anything we want to. So don't let anybody put you under a Old Testament trip. You will be healthier if you follow them, not holier.

Now, as Peter is no doubt scratching his head about this, wondering what all this meant, he woke up and he's like, "Whoa." He probably, first thing he probably said, "Is dinner still not ready?" So he's scratching his head about this, and at the same time, the men sent from Cornelius are about to approach the door. These two worlds are about to collide, that we will see next time. Let me conclude with this. In this message, we saw how God knows your name and where you live.

So this means that we can't hide from God. He knows where to find us. God has located you and brought you here today to hear this message. Now it's time for you to respond to God by repenting of your sins and surrendering your life to the Lord. We also saw that like begets like. Wherever you are right now, men, single parents, wherever you are in your walk with the Lord is only how far your family will be as well.

Evaluate where you are in your relationship with God if you have one and just realize your family will go no further than you have gone yourself. Finally, food doesn't draw us closer to God or make us further away from Him. Just keep in mind: food doesn't make us holier, just healthier. So stop putting a guilt trip on people if they choose to eat or stay away from certain foods. Romans 14 talks about this and makes it very clear.

It says one man think he can eat anything, another man think that you can just eat only vegetables. Oh, vegetarian. What kind of trip have vegetarians put on people? "You eating that meat? Let me show you this video what they do to that meat." Stop. Stop. Stop it. Okay, yes, it will make us healthier, but not holier. Somebody need to hear that today. Somebody came just for that. Amen.

Now, let me just say that don't think you can get out there and just fool around and go get two double Whoppers from Burger King and you can just start scarfing down. You want to be healthy enough to do the work of the Lord. So don't fool around and think you can just go and get a value meal every day. You're going to be on your back sick and you're wondering why you're sick and can't do the work of the Lord. Change your diet! It will make you healthier, not holier.

Father, thank You so much for this word You have shared with us. Do a work in our hearts today. Lord, I pray for Your people. I pray that You draw them to You. You brought them here. Lord, may they repent of their sin and draw closer to You. Lord, I just pray, move in our hearts. Lord, we always want to try to have one-up on our brothers and sisters. Lord, please help us not to put guilt trips on each other about food.

Because even Jesus said it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, it's what comes out. Oh, Lord, I just pray that You would just help us to watch what comes out because what comes out comes from the heart. So, Lord, we pray, move upon us by Your spirit, in Jesus' name. Amen.

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