The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): 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 11, verses 1 through 18.

Tony Clark: It says, "Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him." In these verses, we see that the Gentiles received the word of God, which is a reference to what took place in chapter 10, verses 44 to 48. This incredible event had reached Jerusalem before Peter could get back there.

Let me pause here and say I love what Mark Twain said. He said that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is just putting on its shoes. This is no doubt what took place here. Verse one says, "Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God." When Peter returned to Jerusalem in verse two, it says, "And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision..."

This is a reference to the Jewish believers that were in the church at Jerusalem. These Jewish Christians had received Christ as their Lord and Savior, but they were still holding on to the Jewish law and the customs. It was these Jewish Christians that contended with Peter, as the end of verse two describes. I want to draw your attention to the word "contended." In the Greek language, it is *diakrino*, and it means to oppose, contend, judge, or to waver.

They were starting to waver and wonder about Peter. They opposed what he did by going into the home of a Gentile. Their anger and surprise is really seen in verse three. Look what it says there: "Saying, 'You went into uncircumcised men and ate with them?'" They were sick at what Peter did. These Jewish Christians said not only did you go into the home of a Gentile, but you had the audacity to eat with them. They basically said, "You did what?"

It was one thing to go into the home of a Gentile, but to eat with them was unthinkable. In this culture, to eat with a person was to become one with them. Every meal had a loaf of bread, and they would have some sauce. You would pull off a piece of bread, dip it in that sauce, and eat it. They pull off a piece of bread, dip it in that sauce, and eat it. The same loaf of bread that is sustaining your body is sustaining my body, so we are becoming one.

To eat with a person is to become one with them. Peter going into a Gentile's house was one thing, but to have the audacity to eat with them was just unthinkable for them. Peter, not wanting to get into a heated debate with these believers, felt if they just heard the entire story, they would feel differently about this whole situation. Peter begins to tell his story in verse four.

"But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying, 'I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me. When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat."'

'But I said, "Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth." But the voice answered me again from heaven, "What God has cleansed you must not call common." Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man's house.

'And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in the house, who said to him, "Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved." And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, "John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?'"

When they heard these things, they became silent and they glorified God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life." Peter starts to explain the whole story to them from the beginning. Let me bring this to your attention. When the Holy Spirit, who inspired Luke, the author of the book of Acts, to repeat something to us more than once, it is something of great importance that the Lord is trying to say to us.

It is as if the Lord is saying, "Pay attention. I am trying to tell you something important." Let's start at the beginning, like Peter did, to see what was so important for God to inspire Luke to give us this incident not once, but twice. Peter tells them in verse five how he was in Joppa praying in a trance and saw a vision: an object descending like a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners, and it came to me.

When he observed it intently and considered, he saw clean and unclean animals according to verse six. The Lord speaks to him in verse seven and says, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." Peter responded by saying, "Not so, Lord. Oh, no. I've been a good Jewish boy, for nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth." But the Lord responded in verse nine, "What God has cleansed you must not call common."

At first, Peter thought that the Lord was talking about food, but He was really talking about people. This vision was repeated three times and was drawn up into heaven according to verse 10. Peter continues the story and tells them in verse 11 that as soon as this vision was over, three men stood at the door of the house he was staying in, who came from the city of Caesarea. The Spirit told Peter in verse 12 to go with them, doubting nothing.

Then Peter's wise decision to take six Jewish Christians with him as they entered the man's house. The law said that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established, but Peter took six to show you how serious this issue was. Peter tells them in verse 13 how Cornelius told him that he had seen an angel standing in the house who said to him to send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all of your household will be saved.

This proves that Cornelius was not saved until Peter came and told him how to be saved through a relationship with Jesus Christ. He was religious, but not saved. I wonder how many people like Cornelius are waiting for someone like us to tell them how to be saved. There are people like Cornelius who are trying to do religious things to try to be right with God, but they cannot be saved apart from repenting of their sins and accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Cornelius was religious, but he was lost. There are many, many people around us the same way: religious like Cornelius, but lost. They're banking on their religiosity to save them or to get them to heaven. Many people are going to laugh, but many people think because they wear a cross around their neck that they're okay. Like wearing a cross is like in a horror movie where you're fending off vampires and stuff.

They think that because they're wearing a cross, and especially the one with Jesus still on it, that is guaranteed that they will have a place next to Peter in heaven. People are banking on a lot of religious things. Because they come to church on Christmas, Easter, and Mother's Day, at least they were there. They hope God grades on the curve because at least they came three times this year.

People are banking on these things. The question is, are we going to be like Peter, telling people how to have a right relationship with God? The question is, do we know how to have a right relationship with God ourselves? We can't give people what we don't have. For you young people that are still in school or college, you can't give people what you don't have yourself.

Most people don't know how to have a right relationship with God, and this is why they don't talk to people about Jesus Christ, because they don't know what to say. You can't give people what you don't have. For most people, they have churchianity, not Christianity. For most people, all they know to do is say, "Why don't you come to church with me?" It's a great thing to come to church, but that's salvation for them.

If you come sit in a church, you're saved. Church doesn't save you. Saved people come to church. Church doesn't save you. Because that's all we know, we can't give people what we don't have ourselves. Peter continues in verse 15 and tells them how the Holy Spirit fell upon them. Here is the statement that blew them away: "As upon us at the beginning." This blew them away because they had developed an elite attitude that salvation was only for the Jews.

Or if you wanted to be a Christian, you had to become a Jew first. They totally ignored verses like Isaiah 49, verse 6, which says, "I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth." This is what the Jewish people were supposed to do: be a light to the Gentiles. This is what we as believers are supposed to be in this world: a light.

Did you know that? In Matthew 5:14, Jesus said, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." This is what we're supposed to be in this dark world: a light. Let me partially unpack this verse so we can get an idea of what Jesus is calling us to be to the Gentiles around us. We're called to be a light in this world. What does that mean?

Jesus notice, He said, "You are the light of the world." That pronoun "you" in the Greek is *humeis*. It's emphatic in the Greek language. It means you, as my followers, are the only light of the world. Notice He said "you are." The verb "you are" is in its present tense. You are right now, not yesterday, not last week, not last year. You are right now the light of the world.

We have to unpack that word "light." The Greek word is *phos*. It's where we get our English word photo or photograph. In other words, we're told to be the photo or photograph of who Jesus is to this world—a picture of Him. If you're old enough, and I'm looking around and many of you are, if you're old enough to remember the Polaroid camera, you press that camera button and then the picture slides out.

It slides out and then you start fanning it. You start fanning it and looking at it, and it's not clear yet. That's what we used to do. The question is, what kind of picture of Jesus are you showing this world? A fuzzy one? A clear picture? It's not until the wind of the Spirit blows upon your life that you come into focus for this world to see. So we are told by Jesus to be a light, a picture, a photograph of who He is to this world.

The Greek word for world is *cosmos*. It means an orderly arranging of things. It's where we get our English word cosmetics from. You took makeup and you orderly arranged it all over your face. That's where we get the word from: *cosmos*, cosmetics. Some of you forgot to do that. Okay, but that's where we get the word from.

He's not talking about the world in terms of trees, waters, streams, and mountains, but He's talking about to this world system. This satanically organized system of beliefs that opposes all that is godly and exalts all that is ungodly. You see it on social media all the time. That's the world system. This is the world that we're told to be a light to.

How bright is your light today? Or have you been overtaken by the darkness of this world system? The Jewish people were supposed to be a light to the Gentiles, but we can see by the time the events here in chapter 11 took place, they looked down on the Gentile world and even considered them common or unclean. And this is the whole point behind God having this story repeated twice in the book of Acts.

Every group that God decides to use can develop this elite, exclusive attitude towards the very people we're called to reach. Have you developed this attitude towards your coworkers? What about towards family members who are far from God? I see the posts on social media all the time about cutting toxic people out of your life. I see it all the time.

But dear people, these are the very people that God wants us to reach for Him. They're toxic because they are lost and need Jesus to clean them up. Reaching people for Jesus can be messy. It's messy because it's dealing with relationships and people. People don't know how to have relationships today. Everything is done with our thumbs on social media. So we're losing personal interactive skills.

Then you say things behind your phone that you'd never say in people's faces. You become a coward. Then when you see folks face to face, you're awkward and you're acting weird because you're losing how to have personal interaction with people. Then you get into relationships or marriage and you're just weird. You're upstairs, they're downstairs, come to dinner. You're losing interaction.

People don't know how to interact with folks. That's why you feel everybody is toxic, because no one knows how to really interact with people and talk and have conversation. But these are the very people the Lord wants us to reach. These are the very ones. However, we can't just get tired and frustrated and throw our hands up at them and call them common or unclean and we want nothing to do with them.

These are the very people God has called us to reach. When we throw our hands up at folks and don't want anything to do with these people, that's not the heart of God. When Jesus saw the multitudes, in Matthew 9:36, it says He was moved with compassion. He saw them as weary and bruised, like sheep without a shepherd. We look at people and we're like, "Get me away from this crowd."

We get weary around crowds. Today's technology is great, it can be great, but it has made us weird. We don't know how to have interaction with people anymore. We're just weird. We're just weird. Jesus wants us to reach these people for Him. This is the main reason God wanted this story repeated twice: to wake us up out of this mentality.

We get the heart of Jesus by spending time with Him in prayer and the Word of God. This is how we get the heart of Jesus. Peter continues by reminding them of what Jesus told them in verse 16: how John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In other words, Peter was convincing these Jewish believers what God did through him at the house of Cornelius was in line with what Jesus told them would happen.

Then in verse 17, he says if God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, "Who was I that I could withstand God?" In other words, Peter was saying if God did all of this, who was I to stand and get in the way? Are you standing or getting in the way of God working in someone's life through your bad behavior or ungodly lifestyle?

You're standing in the way. No, I'm not. What about with your children? What about at home? This is a dangerous place to be, to stand in the way of God working in somebody's life. This is a dangerous place. Then verse 18 says when they heard these things, they became silent. It stunned them. But it also caused them to praise God because verse 18 goes on to say, "And they glorified God, saying, 'Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.'"

I just wonder, can we praise God for what God is doing in people's lives? I know many of you are just like, "Yeah, I can praise God for what God is doing in people's lives." Let me take it a step further. Can you praise and glorify God if you heard that God granted your ex-spouse repentance to life and they became a Christian? What about an old friend that cheated with your husband or with your wife?

Can you praise and glorify God like they did when they heard that the hated Gentiles were granted repentance to life? God's Word reveals a lot of the wickedness in our hearts. Like Hebrews 4:12 says, the Word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing and dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and the joint and the marrow.

It is the discerner, God's Word is, of the thoughts and even our intents, our motives. God's Word, when we teach it properly, will tell us the secrets in our hearts, the intents or motives of why we did a certain thing, our thoughts—stuff that you hide from other people, that we hide from each other. God's Word brings it out and challenges us to change.

He gives us the power through the Holy Spirit to change. Let me conclude with this. We talked about how they basically told Peter, "You did what?" These Jewish believers were outraged that Peter went into the home of a Gentile and even ate with them. However, when Peter told them the whole story, they ended up praising and glorifying God. We talked about how we're called to be a light to this world.

How bright is your light shining? Search your heart now. How bright is your light shining? Whatever it is that is causing your light to be dimmed, come and confess it to God and turn away from it. Finally, do you have a growing relationship with Jesus Christ? Notice the verb I put in there: growing. A growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

If not, then come forward and get right with God by repenting of your sins and accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior, or rededicating your life to Him. This is what this is all about. This is why we're here today: to hear what God has to say, to hear our thoughts, our intents, and then confess those things to the Lord and get our lives right with Him. Let's close in prayer.

Father, we pray that Your Spirit will move in our midst. That Lord, You would do a work that only You can do in our lives. God, we pray as Your Word revealed the thoughts and the intents of our hearts, I pray, God, that Your Spirit will move us to repent. Move us to get right with You. And Lord, we know that You can do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or even think. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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