The Bible Study

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[0:00] Welcome
[0:28] to the Bible Study. I'm Ken Philpott, Pastor Miller Avenue Baptist Church,
[0:33] Mill Valley, California. For those who don't know where Mill Valley is, it's by
[0:39] San Francisco and on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge that leads us
[0:47] right to the city. So this is what we're doing called the Bible Study. We are going
[0:53] through the book of Acts written by the only Gentile writer of the Bible, Luke, who was
[1:02] a physician at that time, and they actually had physician schools 300 years prior to this
[1:10] particular era. We think of some of the old days as they were more sophisticated than we
[1:17] imagine. Anyway, so the story is in Acts 11, 18 verses. Oh boy, 18 verses I got to go through here.
[1:27] Wow. And the title of it is Peter reports to the church. Now what had happened was first time
[1:38] Gentiles were believing in Jesus as the Christ or the Messiah, receiving salvation, forgiveness
[1:47] of sin, indwelling by of their person and by the Holy Spirit. One of the great mysteries. I'm
[1:54] writing a book called Mysteries. I'll be writing tomorrow, think on the seventh one. There's so many
[2:01] mysteries and one of the mysteries is here. So anyway, now for the first time Gentiles, non-Jewish people
[2:12] are believing in Jesus as the Messiah, as the Messiah. So Peter, he's up north and is
[2:26] traveling back to Jerusalem. It would be down but they always say up. When you go on to Jerusalem,
[2:33] it's always up. Peter returned to Jerusalem. He gives a report. He gives a report about what happened
[2:42] up there with these Gentiles, and a consensus is reached without voting, without
[2:53] ruling from a leader, but the early church here, Peter, they embrace it, and so
[3:03] there we go. We're moving into it now, Acts chapter 11, beginning with
[3:09] first one. Okay. Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles
[3:21] also had received the Word of God. A Gentile, if you're not Jewish or Gentile, I'm a Gentile.
[3:30] My wife Katie is Jewish. She's not a Gentile. She's Jewish. Okay. Whatever that helps, but
[3:41] so that's what happened. So throughout Judea they heard and it would have been an astonishing
[3:48] thing because there was a lot of bitterness and animosity between the Jewish and the Gentile people.
[3:58] there had been. And so the apostles, that's the twelve and the brothers, throughout Judea,
[4:10] not just in Jerusalem, but throughout the whole area. The Word would have traveled quickly
[4:16] amongst those early Christians. So they had received. Now notice the word had received the Word
[4:26] of God. Now that could take some explaining, I'm a little bit press time wise over the
[4:32] sermon with 18 verses, but receive the word means believed in, embraced, cherished,
[4:47] Grace made it their own, received the Word of God.
[4:51] The Word Logon, or Logos here, is a way of saying the Word of God, the things that we find
[5:02] in the Scripture, the things that Jesus said, and when the apostles explained it, they were
[5:10] explaining the Word of God.
[5:13] Not a simple thing, but this would have produced major cultural shock.
[5:23] It's bigger than we can imagine.
[5:26] And we're going to find out that it led to a lot of trouble as we go on first, too.
[5:32] It says, so when Peter went up to Jerusalem, again, he's always up to Jerusalem, the circumcision
[5:40] party criticized him. There you go. We're looking at the very early church. There's an estimate
[5:48] about when this took place. Late 30s, early 40s. It's very difficult to find out, but here is a
[6:00] problem. Within the broader church was the circumcision party. Here it was. These Gentiles, they thought
[6:10] But these guys got to be circumcised.
[6:14] Now, if I was back there, what you're going to be doing that to me, that's for sure.
[6:24] But here we have within the Christian community, we have a group of people that the circumcision
[6:37] party, and they attacked Peter. The word in the Greek here translated into English is
[6:44] criticize. From the very beginning, there's always been problems within the church, then
[6:53] now, always. I'm not going to take the time to go into all about. But anyway, criticize them,
[7:01] said, you went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. And ate with them. Peter broke
[7:12] the rules when he was eating with Cornelius. That's fellowship. That's acceptance. Jews
[7:22] did not eat with Gentiles. Not going to happen. Ever. And this was an enormous saying, yes,
[7:30] these people were actually born again Christians, as far as we know,
[7:36] but they still had some strange
[7:41] notions and there were going to cause trouble here. This goes on from that day to this, from that
[7:50] day to this. The church is always a mess. You think you're going to go to a church, these Christian
[7:56] people that's got everything that's going to be wonderful. No. No. Not going to happen.
[8:06] Well, we still survive anyway. Verse 4 says, but Peter began and explained it to them in order.
[8:15] Point by point. Point by point. He's going to explain to them how this all took place.
[8:26] And that's probably the best thing that Peter could do.
[8:32] He was just going to tell him the story of what happened.
[8:36] Verse 5 says, I was in the city of Joppa praying.
[8:42] I saw the coasts, the Mediterranean, eastern part of the Mediterranean, Joppa.
[8:47] And in a trance, I saw a vision.
[8:51] He says, I saw a vision.
[8:53] We don't know what the idea of trans was, what the idea of solid vision was, we just don't know.
[9:03] There have been a lot of attempts to define these terms, trans and vision, to try to grasp what it was that took place with Peter because this is huge, it's big deal.
[9:19] So I saw in a train of trance whatever that was I saw a vision something like a
[9:28] great sheet great sheet okay like on a bed great sheet descending being lit
[9:35] down from heaven by its four corners and it came down to me wow that that is
[9:43] that is a very strange saying we don't there was no new testament in that day
[9:50] There was nothing that you could appeal to to prove stuff.
[9:57] Everything was experiential at that point.
[10:01] So Peter just tells them what happens.
[10:04] However difficult it might have been for them to see.
[10:08] So this thing came down to him looking at it closely.
[10:12] Notice looking at it closely.
[10:16] that is the sheet, there's critters in it, critters in this. He says, I observed animals and beasts of
[10:26] prey, and reptiles, and birds of the air. What a deal. I want to read you a passage X-155 before I go
[10:39] too far. Listen to this. But some believers who belong to the party of the Pharisees rose up and
[10:47] said it is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses. Now,
[10:55] within the early Christian church were these people who had been Pharisees like Paul was a Pharisee.
[11:01] very strict in obeying all the laws, circumcision, what you could and could not eat, etc.
[11:12] Okay. This is Acts 15. This is four chapters ahead. And here they are, who belong to the party, the Pharisees.
[11:23] So within the church, there were Pharisees like Paul being converted.
[11:27] but they were not moving away from their more strict points of what you had to
[11:35] do and what you could not do. So here it is in the early church. You got you got
[11:41] this whole thing going on. Wow. So in a sheet, animals, beast of prey,
[11:52] could need those and reptiles could need those and birds of the air many of them you couldn't it's too long to go into my
[12:01] actually didn't find a list of those but there were many they were very stringent for seven and I heard a
[12:10] voice saying to me, rise Peter, kill and eat. So here you picture this. This sheet comes
[12:22] down and you've got all these critters in it. And Peter hears the voice, saying rise
[12:28] Peter, kill and eat.
[12:34] Totally against Peter's views and practices and what he had been accustomed
[12:40] them to all this life. Wow. What is going on here? Verse 8 says, verse 8, Paul, I mean
[12:51] Peter says, but I said, by no means Lord. I always thought there was a so interesting.
[13:00] He says by no means. I'm not. He's talking to God. Okay. In a way in which we don't quite
[13:08] understand by no means he says. I laugh and laugh at that by no means Lord for
[13:15] nothing coming or unclean has ever entered my mouth birds or other animals. He
[13:26] has maintained the very tight rules and regulations of what you couldn't as a
[13:34] Jewish person eat.
[13:37] So there he goes. That's kind of interesting that this didn't
[13:43] get edited out. That what what appears is standing against God. That's very
[13:52] interesting. I know means. Lord, nothing common or unclean has ever edited my
[14:02] out. Verse 9. But the voice, and it's just a voice, it was nothing tangible
[14:09] person there. But the voice answered a second time from heaven. In other
[14:14] words, it was plain that the person saying this or the thing saying this
[14:21] wasn't there could not be seen. But the voice answered a second time from
[14:28] heaven and he says the same thing. What God has made clean do not call common.
[14:37] God has made
[14:38] these critters that the Jewish people were not allowed to eat and I don't have the time
[14:45] to go into the passages in the Hebrew Bible to document that sort of thing. You just have to
[14:53] understand that this had been passed along for many hundreds of years.
[15:00] What you could eat and what you could not eat. And it was a way of honoring God then. And so all of a sudden these rules that you found in the Hebrew Bible something new is happening.
[15:30] was going on. Three times. That would have been enough to convince people that Peter
[15:38] just hadn't gotten crazy or whatever some strange thing happened, but three distinct times,
[15:46] the same story. This happened three times and all was drawn up again into heaven.
[15:59] The whole
[15:59] Peter, what would you do? Verse 11. And behold, at that very moment, three men arrived at
[16:09] the house in which we were sent to me from Caesarea.
[16:15] This is Caesarea, that's where Cornelius
[16:17] lived. That's the Gentile. The first Gentile convert to the Christian faith. So these three
[16:30] guys arrived at the house in which we were sent to me from Caesarea, 1st 12, a little
[16:41] mystery here. And the Spirit told me to go with them.
[16:48] I probably preached this material
[16:51] in Acts 5 or 6, 7 times in my history. I always go verse by verse, called Bible
[17:01] Exposition. I don't do topical sermons. And we find the thing the Spirit told
[17:08] me to go with them. And never have I been able to understand what that means or
[17:15] how that took place. How the Spirit told me to go with them. It had to
[17:20] been, I suppose, audible. There had been an audible before. In verse 7, the voice saying
[17:28] to me, rise, Peter, kill or need. So this had to be a continuation of that. Somehow,
[17:34] God was speaking to him. We can't go too far because we just have to admit that we lack
[17:44] having a full understanding of this. And that is true, that idea. We have to many times
[17:49] have a full understanding that a lot of these things we can understand. In my new book called
[17:56] Mysteries, I deal with about three dozen of these. Mysteries say that take place are real but
[18:04] we can't grasp them. We don't have the IQ to get it. Well at least my IQ. And the spirit told me to go
[18:14] So with them making no distinction, that means between Jew or Greek.
[18:20] So making no distinction.
[18:21] These six brothers also accompanied me and we entered the man's house, Peter is telling
[18:30] the story about happened with Cornelius, how it took place, issue detail by detail.
[18:41] We entered the mounts house, a big deal, as Jews didn't enter Gentiles houses, did not happen.
[18:50] They had the notion that it would, I can't think of the word, tarnishing it would impact them in a way that they didn't want to have happened.
[19:04] That all of a sudden now, wow, these Gentiles who do not worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
[19:11] we're not going to have anything to do with these people. So to go into the house, that was a big deal.
[19:18] Probably Peter had never been in the house of a Gentile ever. We entered the man's house.
[19:25] This is a major turning point in history. Just that little phrase, we entered the man's house.
[19:35] verse 13, and he told us how he had seen the angels stand in his house and say, okay. So Cornelius
[19:47] is going to relate the story. He's going to tell the story. How he had seen the angels stand
[19:58] and in his house, some stand in his house.
[20:06] I've had this happen twice.
[20:09] I've had this happen twice.
[20:12] Now the first time was in February of 1967
[20:18] in San Francisco's Haydashbury.
[20:21] The other place took place at 128 Greenfield here
[20:24] in San Rafael, not far from where we're sitting right now.
[20:28] two angels one one angel two angels very definitely that's what it was no
[20:35] question about it and so he told us I would see the angel stand in his house and
[20:42] say happened there continuously happened send a Japa and bring Simon who's
[20:49] called Peter Simon is an Aramaic term Peter is the Greek equivalent bring Simon
[20:56] who is called Peter. He will declare to you a message by which you will be saved. I almost
[21:02] get the shutters. I mean it sort of went through me as I read that. He will declare to you a message
[21:10] by which you will be saved. Wow. You know there's a difference between Calvinism and Arminianism. I
[21:17] I was an Arminian, and I was a Calvinist, and I'm both now, except both.
[21:25] This is the more the Arminian thing, the clarity of message by which you will be saved.
[21:31] Now, by hearing the message, they would be saved.
[21:35] Saved means that their sin would be forgiven.
[21:39] From day one to the end of the time in heaven, you will be saved.
[21:44] all your sin forgiven and be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That's what saved me. All
[21:50] your sin forgiven, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, never leave you saved for all
[21:57] eternity. And word saved is a huge, huge word. So this is an Armenian expression
[22:05] and there are the Calvinist expressions. And so what do you do with it? Well I just
[22:11] except in both called a paradox by which we will be saved at you and all your household,
[22:22] not just you, but its whole household at which was going to be and very inclusive would include
[22:29] their slaves, attendants, and other Roman-called familiars or dependents. We don't know how large the
[22:41] place was, but the Lord was going to save them all, all. And you can think about that
[22:50] a little bit, you can say that would have to have been the case, especially here at
[22:55] the first time when Gentiles were going to be coming into the church of actual believers.
[23:03] you and all your household. You're going to save everybody. Verse 15, as I began to speak,
[23:15] the Holy Spirit fell on them, Peter's telling the story, as I began to speak, he's going to
[23:22] respond now to Cornelius and the others there. The Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the
[23:31] beginning, the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell on them.
[23:40] Wow.
[23:43] So the Holy Spirit
[23:44] philom just as on us had to be getting a huge event. Probably if you would count ten
[23:53] of the greatest events that ever happened in the history of our world, this would be one.
[24:01] right there for sixteen. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said,
[24:08] John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. To be
[24:14] baptized means to be dumped, means to be plunged into, plunged into. By the way,
[24:22] if anybody wants to get baptized, we have a baptistry at Miller Avenue Baptist
[24:27] a church and you're a Christian and you want to be baptized and you haven't been. Just
[24:33] get ahold of me. Can't fill pot at comcast.net or call me on the phone, look me up to a Google
[24:42] search, get ahold of me and you will find a time to baptize you. So here it is. This huge event
[24:52] happened to these guys just as it happened to them, first 16. And I remembered the word of the
[24:57] Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, plunge them in, but you will be baptized with
[25:03] the Holy Spirit, plunging them into the Holy Spirit. Wow, for 17. If then God gave the
[25:16] same gift, as he gave to us when we believed in Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God's
[25:21] way. That if is a first class condition, meaning it's true, it's not just an if, if then
[25:29] God gave the same gift to them, as it gave us, same gift, empowered by the Holy Spirit,
[25:39] speaking in tongues, uttering other words, doesn't mean blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
[25:45] or shendolabundala. We don't know exactly know what it was, which we could require but
[25:51] recording. Same gift, who is I to stand in God's way? Okay, what an incredible thing. Peter
[26:02] says, do you think I'm going to be walking away from those Gentiles? When I saw that happen,
[26:08] I saw that event. It happened to us on the day of Pentecost, same thing. It happened to us,
[26:18] Jewish guys now happens to these Gentile guys. I think I'm going to walk from that. No.
[26:26] How could I stand? Who was I that I could stand in God's way? Peter's an incredible guy.
[26:35] We're going to meet him in other situations where he's not as wonderful. But anyway,
[26:40] Verse 18, when they heard these things, they fell silent. They said, Oh, okay, we caught it.
[26:49] They fell silent. The critics were silenced. And
[26:57] you notice that Peter says nothing about circumcision.
[27:02] Nothing about that. These guys had to be circumcised now. Nothing about that. This is a huge deal.
[27:11] And then the last part of it, it says, and they glorified God, they honored and praised
[27:17] God, saying, then to the Gentiles, also God has granted repentance that leads to life.
[27:25] And the word life is not bios, it's so way.
[27:28] As a total life, can you ever imagine that they did not have to be circumcised?
[27:37] So, there it is. It's quite a story. My goodness, I only got 12 seconds. I have a whole
[27:43] stuff I'd like to say to you, but I can't. We've run it out of time.
[27:49] Ah, what a deal. Alright, so long.