1 00:00:00,590 --> 00:00:01,570 Welcome 2 00:00:28,740 --> 00:00:33,640 to the Bible Study. I'm Ken Philpott, Pastor Miller Avenue Baptist Church, 3 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:39,300 Mill Valley, California. For those who don't know where Mill Valley is, it's by 4 00:00:39,300 --> 00:00:47,380 San Francisco and on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge that leads us 5 00:00:47,380 --> 00:00:53,660 right to the city. So this is what we're doing called the Bible Study. We are going 6 00:00:53,660 --> 00:01:02,020 through the book of Acts written by the only Gentile writer of the Bible, Luke, who was 7 00:01:02,020 --> 00:01:10,280 a physician at that time, and they actually had physician schools 300 years prior to this 8 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:17,700 particular era. We think of some of the old days as they were more sophisticated than we 9 00:01:17,700 --> 00:01:27,320 imagine. Anyway, so the story is in Acts 11, 18 verses. Oh boy, 18 verses I got to go through here. 10 00:01:27,420 --> 00:01:36,540 Wow. And the title of it is Peter reports to the church. Now what had happened was first time 11 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:47,340 Gentiles were believing in Jesus as the Christ or the Messiah, receiving salvation, forgiveness 12 00:01:47,340 --> 00:01:54,240 of sin, indwelling by of their person and by the Holy Spirit. One of the great mysteries. I'm 13 00:01:54,240 --> 00:02:01,680 writing a book called Mysteries. I'll be writing tomorrow, think on the seventh one. There's so many 14 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:12,460 mysteries and one of the mysteries is here. So anyway, now for the first time Gentiles, non-Jewish people 15 00:02:12,460 --> 00:02:26,240 are believing in Jesus as the Messiah, as the Messiah. So Peter, he's up north and is 16 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:33,520 traveling back to Jerusalem. It would be down but they always say up. When you go on to Jerusalem, 17 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:42,000 it's always up. Peter returned to Jerusalem. He gives a report. He gives a report about what happened 18 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:53,000 up there with these Gentiles, and a consensus is reached without voting, without 19 00:02:53,000 --> 00:03:03,380 ruling from a leader, but the early church here, Peter, they embrace it, and so 20 00:03:03,380 --> 00:03:09,720 there we go. We're moving into it now, Acts chapter 11, beginning with 21 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:21,400 first one. Okay. Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles 22 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:30,560 also had received the Word of God. A Gentile, if you're not Jewish or Gentile, I'm a Gentile. 23 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:39,980 My wife Katie is Jewish. She's not a Gentile. She's Jewish. Okay. Whatever that helps, but 24 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:48,920 so that's what happened. So throughout Judea they heard and it would have been an astonishing 25 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:58,340 thing because there was a lot of bitterness and animosity between the Jewish and the Gentile people. 26 00:03:58,340 --> 00:04:09,840 there had been. And so the apostles, that's the twelve and the brothers, throughout Judea, 27 00:04:10,020 --> 00:04:16,400 not just in Jerusalem, but throughout the whole area. The Word would have traveled quickly 28 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:26,420 amongst those early Christians. So they had received. Now notice the word had received the Word 29 00:04:26,420 --> 00:04:32,800 of God. Now that could take some explaining, I'm a little bit press time wise over the 30 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:44,140 sermon with 18 verses, but receive the word means believed in, embraced, cherished, 31 00:04:47,020 --> 00:04:51,220 Grace made it their own, received the Word of God. 32 00:04:51,840 --> 00:05:02,320 The Word Logon, or Logos here, is a way of saying the Word of God, the things that we find 33 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:10,560 in the Scripture, the things that Jesus said, and when the apostles explained it, they were 34 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:12,200 explaining the Word of God. 35 00:05:13,100 --> 00:05:21,320 Not a simple thing, but this would have produced major cultural shock. 36 00:05:23,330 --> 00:05:25,050 It's bigger than we can imagine. 37 00:05:26,290 --> 00:05:32,390 And we're going to find out that it led to a lot of trouble as we go on first, too. 38 00:05:32,590 --> 00:05:40,530 It says, so when Peter went up to Jerusalem, again, he's always up to Jerusalem, the circumcision 39 00:05:40,530 --> 00:05:48,610 party criticized him. There you go. We're looking at the very early church. There's an estimate 40 00:05:48,610 --> 00:06:00,210 about when this took place. Late 30s, early 40s. It's very difficult to find out, but here is a 41 00:06:00,210 --> 00:06:10,430 problem. Within the broader church was the circumcision party. Here it was. These Gentiles, they thought 42 00:06:10,430 --> 00:06:12,970 But these guys got to be circumcised. 43 00:06:14,810 --> 00:06:20,110 Now, if I was back there, what you're going to be doing that to me, that's for sure. 44 00:06:24,130 --> 00:06:37,170 But here we have within the Christian community, we have a group of people that the circumcision 45 00:06:37,170 --> 00:06:44,350 party, and they attacked Peter. The word in the Greek here translated into English is 46 00:06:44,350 --> 00:06:52,530 criticize. From the very beginning, there's always been problems within the church, then 47 00:06:53,330 --> 00:07:01,490 now, always. I'm not going to take the time to go into all about. But anyway, criticize them, 48 00:07:01,490 --> 00:07:12,470 said, you went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. And ate with them. Peter broke 49 00:07:12,470 --> 00:07:22,990 the rules when he was eating with Cornelius. That's fellowship. That's acceptance. Jews 50 00:07:22,990 --> 00:07:30,590 did not eat with Gentiles. Not going to happen. Ever. And this was an enormous saying, yes, 51 00:07:30,590 --> 00:07:34,410 these people were actually born again Christians, as far as we know, 52 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:41,100 but they still had some strange 53 00:07:41,100 --> 00:07:50,880 notions and there were going to cause trouble here. This goes on from that day to this, from that 54 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:56,640 day to this. The church is always a mess. You think you're going to go to a church, these Christian 55 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:04,740 people that's got everything that's going to be wonderful. No. No. Not going to happen. 56 00:08:06,460 --> 00:08:15,200 Well, we still survive anyway. Verse 4 says, but Peter began and explained it to them in order. 57 00:08:15,900 --> 00:08:25,500 Point by point. Point by point. He's going to explain to them how this all took place. 58 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:32,220 And that's probably the best thing that Peter could do. 59 00:08:32,660 --> 00:08:36,020 He was just going to tell him the story of what happened. 60 00:08:36,860 --> 00:08:41,840 Verse 5 says, I was in the city of Joppa praying. 61 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,780 I saw the coasts, the Mediterranean, eastern part of the Mediterranean, Joppa. 62 00:08:47,220 --> 00:08:50,200 And in a trance, I saw a vision. 63 00:08:51,980 --> 00:08:53,220 He says, I saw a vision. 64 00:08:53,220 --> 00:09:03,020 We don't know what the idea of trans was, what the idea of solid vision was, we just don't know. 65 00:09:03,620 --> 00:09:19,200 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. 66 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:28,740 So I saw in a train of trance whatever that was I saw a vision something like a 67 00:09:28,740 --> 00:09:35,140 great sheet great sheet okay like on a bed great sheet descending being lit 68 00:09:35,140 --> 00:09:43,780 down from heaven by its four corners and it came down to me wow that that is 69 00:09:43,780 --> 00:09:49,700 that is a very strange saying we don't there was no new testament in that day 70 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:56,120 There was nothing that you could appeal to to prove stuff. 71 00:09:57,140 --> 00:10:00,580 Everything was experiential at that point. 72 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:04,520 So Peter just tells them what happens. 73 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,940 However difficult it might have been for them to see. 74 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:12,240 So this thing came down to him looking at it closely. 75 00:10:12,820 --> 00:10:15,820 Notice looking at it closely. 76 00:10:16,900 --> 00:10:26,440 that is the sheet, there's critters in it, critters in this. He says, I observed animals and beasts of 77 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:39,340 prey, and reptiles, and birds of the air. What a deal. I want to read you a passage X-155 before I go 78 00:10:39,340 --> 00:10:47,580 too far. Listen to this. But some believers who belong to the party of the Pharisees rose up and 79 00:10:47,580 --> 00:10:54,140 said it is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses. Now, 80 00:10:55,140 --> 00:11:01,420 within the early Christian church were these people who had been Pharisees like Paul was a Pharisee. 81 00:11:01,420 --> 00:11:11,080 very strict in obeying all the laws, circumcision, what you could and could not eat, etc. 82 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:22,760 Okay. This is Acts 15. This is four chapters ahead. And here they are, who belong to the party, the Pharisees. 83 00:11:23,100 --> 00:11:27,900 So within the church, there were Pharisees like Paul being converted. 84 00:11:27,900 --> 00:11:35,220 but they were not moving away from their more strict points of what you had to 85 00:11:35,220 --> 00:11:41,560 do and what you could not do. So here it is in the early church. You got you got 86 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:50,600 this whole thing going on. Wow. So in a sheet, animals, beast of prey, 87 00:11:52,600 --> 00:12:01,100 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 88 00:12:01,100 --> 00:12:10,360 actually didn't find a list of those but there were many they were very stringent for seven and I heard a 89 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:22,400 voice saying to me, rise Peter, kill and eat. So here you picture this. This sheet comes 90 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:28,460 down and you've got all these critters in it. And Peter hears the voice, saying rise 91 00:12:28,460 --> 00:12:31,780 Peter, kill and eat. 92 00:12:34,070 --> 00:12:40,870 Totally against Peter's views and practices and what he had been accustomed 93 00:12:40,870 --> 00:12:51,550 them to all this life. Wow. What is going on here? Verse 8 says, verse 8, Paul, I mean 94 00:12:51,550 --> 00:12:59,670 Peter says, but I said, by no means Lord. I always thought there was a so interesting. 95 00:13:00,130 --> 00:13:08,270 He says by no means. I'm not. He's talking to God. Okay. In a way in which we don't quite 96 00:13:08,270 --> 00:13:15,490 understand by no means he says. I laugh and laugh at that by no means Lord for 97 00:13:15,490 --> 00:13:26,400 nothing coming or unclean has ever entered my mouth birds or other animals. He 98 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:34,020 has maintained the very tight rules and regulations of what you couldn't as a 99 00:13:34,020 --> 00:13:35,220 Jewish person eat. 100 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:43,180 So there he goes. That's kind of interesting that this didn't 101 00:13:43,180 --> 00:13:52,300 get edited out. That what what appears is standing against God. That's very 102 00:13:52,300 --> 00:14:02,320 interesting. I know means. Lord, nothing common or unclean has ever edited my 103 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:09,160 out. Verse 9. But the voice, and it's just a voice, it was nothing tangible 104 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:14,500 person there. But the voice answered a second time from heaven. In other 105 00:14:14,500 --> 00:14:21,280 words, it was plain that the person saying this or the thing saying this 106 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:28,460 wasn't there could not be seen. But the voice answered a second time from 107 00:14:28,460 --> 00:14:34,940 heaven and he says the same thing. What God has made clean do not call common. 108 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:38,320 God has made 109 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:44,900 these critters that the Jewish people were not allowed to eat and I don't have the time 110 00:14:45,700 --> 00:14:53,200 to go into the passages in the Hebrew Bible to document that sort of thing. You just have to 111 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:59,000 understand that this had been passed along for many hundreds of years. 112 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:16,720 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. 113 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:38,080 was going on. Three times. That would have been enough to convince people that Peter 114 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:45,720 just hadn't gotten crazy or whatever some strange thing happened, but three distinct times, 115 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:54,060 the same story. This happened three times and all was drawn up again into heaven. 116 00:15:59,520 --> 00:15:59,940 The whole 117 00:15:59,940 --> 00:16:09,580 Peter, what would you do? Verse 11. And behold, at that very moment, three men arrived at 118 00:16:09,580 --> 00:16:13,040 the house in which we were sent to me from Caesarea. 119 00:16:15,460 --> 00:16:17,840 This is Caesarea, that's where Cornelius 120 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:30,040 lived. That's the Gentile. The first Gentile convert to the Christian faith. So these three 121 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:41,660 guys arrived at the house in which we were sent to me from Caesarea, 1st 12, a little 122 00:16:41,660 --> 00:16:45,700 mystery here. And the Spirit told me to go with them. 123 00:16:48,100 --> 00:16:51,220 I probably preached this material 124 00:16:51,220 --> 00:17:01,880 in Acts 5 or 6, 7 times in my history. I always go verse by verse, called Bible 125 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:08,160 Exposition. I don't do topical sermons. And we find the thing the Spirit told 126 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:15,280 me to go with them. And never have I been able to understand what that means or 127 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:20,540 how that took place. How the Spirit told me to go with them. It had to 128 00:17:20,540 --> 00:17:28,920 been, I suppose, audible. There had been an audible before. In verse 7, the voice saying 129 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:33,960 to me, rise, Peter, kill or need. So this had to be a continuation of that. Somehow, 130 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:43,700 God was speaking to him. We can't go too far because we just have to admit that we lack 131 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:49,520 having a full understanding of this. And that is true, that idea. We have to many times 132 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:55,700 have a full understanding that a lot of these things we can understand. In my new book called 133 00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:04,560 Mysteries, I deal with about three dozen of these. Mysteries say that take place are real but 134 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:14,160 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 135 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:18,860 So with them making no distinction, that means between Jew or Greek. 136 00:18:20,100 --> 00:18:21,280 So making no distinction. 137 00:18:21,820 --> 00:18:30,020 These six brothers also accompanied me and we entered the man's house, Peter is telling 138 00:18:30,020 --> 00:18:41,500 the story about happened with Cornelius, how it took place, issue detail by detail. 139 00:18:41,500 --> 00:18:49,800 We entered the mounts house, a big deal, as Jews didn't enter Gentiles houses, did not happen. 140 00:18:50,200 --> 00:19:03,600 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. 141 00:19:04,220 --> 00:19:11,020 That all of a sudden now, wow, these Gentiles who do not worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, 142 00:19:11,020 --> 00:19:17,780 we're not going to have anything to do with these people. So to go into the house, that was a big deal. 143 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:24,720 Probably Peter had never been in the house of a Gentile ever. We entered the man's house. 144 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:33,820 This is a major turning point in history. Just that little phrase, we entered the man's house. 145 00:19:35,220 --> 00:19:47,080 verse 13, and he told us how he had seen the angels stand in his house and say, okay. So Cornelius 146 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:58,080 is going to relate the story. He's going to tell the story. How he had seen the angels stand 147 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:03,520 and in his house, some stand in his house. 148 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:08,240 I've had this happen twice. 149 00:20:09,580 --> 00:20:11,120 I've had this happen twice. 150 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:17,640 Now the first time was in February of 1967 151 00:20:18,740 --> 00:20:20,660 in San Francisco's Haydashbury. 152 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,660 The other place took place at 128 Greenfield here 153 00:20:24,660 --> 00:20:27,640 in San Rafael, not far from where we're sitting right now. 154 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:35,060 two angels one one angel two angels very definitely that's what it was no 155 00:20:35,060 --> 00:20:42,760 question about it and so he told us I would see the angel stand in his house and 156 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:49,300 say happened there continuously happened send a Japa and bring Simon who's 157 00:20:49,300 --> 00:20:56,580 called Peter Simon is an Aramaic term Peter is the Greek equivalent bring Simon 158 00:20:56,580 --> 00:21:02,640 who is called Peter. He will declare to you a message by which you will be saved. I almost 159 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:10,000 get the shutters. I mean it sort of went through me as I read that. He will declare to you a message 160 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:17,220 by which you will be saved. Wow. You know there's a difference between Calvinism and Arminianism. I 161 00:21:17,220 --> 00:21:24,340 I was an Arminian, and I was a Calvinist, and I'm both now, except both. 162 00:21:25,020 --> 00:21:31,320 This is the more the Arminian thing, the clarity of message by which you will be saved. 163 00:21:31,780 --> 00:21:35,220 Now, by hearing the message, they would be saved. 164 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:38,640 Saved means that their sin would be forgiven. 165 00:21:39,700 --> 00:21:44,620 From day one to the end of the time in heaven, you will be saved. 166 00:21:44,620 --> 00:21:50,960 all your sin forgiven and be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That's what saved me. All 167 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:57,640 your sin forgiven, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, never leave you saved for all 168 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:05,700 eternity. And word saved is a huge, huge word. So this is an Armenian expression 169 00:22:05,700 --> 00:22:11,700 and there are the Calvinist expressions. And so what do you do with it? Well I just 170 00:22:11,700 --> 00:22:21,860 except in both called a paradox by which we will be saved at you and all your household, 171 00:22:22,420 --> 00:22:29,280 not just you, but its whole household at which was going to be and very inclusive would include 172 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:41,280 their slaves, attendants, and other Roman-called familiars or dependents. We don't know how large the 173 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:50,840 place was, but the Lord was going to save them all, all. And you can think about that 174 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:55,900 a little bit, you can say that would have to have been the case, especially here at 175 00:22:55,900 --> 00:23:03,560 the first time when Gentiles were going to be coming into the church of actual believers. 176 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:14,040 you and all your household. You're going to save everybody. Verse 15, as I began to speak, 177 00:23:15,260 --> 00:23:22,260 the Holy Spirit fell on them, Peter's telling the story, as I began to speak, he's going to 178 00:23:22,260 --> 00:23:31,360 respond now to Cornelius and the others there. The Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the 179 00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:38,480 beginning, the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell on them. 180 00:23:40,870 --> 00:23:41,670 Wow. 181 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:44,840 So the Holy Spirit 182 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:53,220 philom just as on us had to be getting a huge event. Probably if you would count ten 183 00:23:53,220 --> 00:24:00,460 of the greatest events that ever happened in the history of our world, this would be one. 184 00:24:01,120 --> 00:24:07,540 right there for sixteen. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 185 00:24:08,620 --> 00:24:14,420 John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. To be 186 00:24:14,420 --> 00:24:22,460 baptized means to be dumped, means to be plunged into, plunged into. By the way, 187 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:27,980 if anybody wants to get baptized, we have a baptistry at Miller Avenue Baptist 188 00:24:27,980 --> 00:24:33,480 a church and you're a Christian and you want to be baptized and you haven't been. Just 189 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:42,120 get ahold of me. Can't fill pot at comcast.net or call me on the phone, look me up to a Google 190 00:24:42,120 --> 00:24:52,000 search, get ahold of me and you will find a time to baptize you. So here it is. This huge event 191 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:57,320 happened to these guys just as it happened to them, first 16. And I remembered the word of the 192 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:03,660 Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, plunge them in, but you will be baptized with 193 00:25:03,660 --> 00:25:16,180 the Holy Spirit, plunging them into the Holy Spirit. Wow, for 17. If then God gave the 194 00:25:16,180 --> 00:25:21,960 same gift, as he gave to us when we believed in Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God's 195 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:29,240 way. That if is a first class condition, meaning it's true, it's not just an if, if then 196 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:37,800 God gave the same gift to them, as it gave us, same gift, empowered by the Holy Spirit, 197 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:45,280 speaking in tongues, uttering other words, doesn't mean blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, 198 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:51,160 or shendolabundala. We don't know exactly know what it was, which we could require but 199 00:25:51,160 --> 00:26:02,720 recording. Same gift, who is I to stand in God's way? Okay, what an incredible thing. Peter 200 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:07,980 says, do you think I'm going to be walking away from those Gentiles? When I saw that happen, 201 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:18,160 I saw that event. It happened to us on the day of Pentecost, same thing. It happened to us, 202 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:24,980 Jewish guys now happens to these Gentile guys. I think I'm going to walk from that. No. 203 00:26:26,780 --> 00:26:35,040 How could I stand? Who was I that I could stand in God's way? Peter's an incredible guy. 204 00:26:35,420 --> 00:26:40,600 We're going to meet him in other situations where he's not as wonderful. But anyway, 205 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:48,840 Verse 18, when they heard these things, they fell silent. They said, Oh, okay, we caught it. 206 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:55,060 They fell silent. The critics were silenced. And 207 00:26:57,180 --> 00:27:02,000 you notice that Peter says nothing about circumcision. 208 00:27:02,700 --> 00:27:09,860 Nothing about that. These guys had to be circumcised now. Nothing about that. This is a huge deal. 209 00:27:11,500 --> 00:27:17,360 And then the last part of it, it says, and they glorified God, they honored and praised 210 00:27:17,360 --> 00:27:25,400 God, saying, then to the Gentiles, also God has granted repentance that leads to life. 211 00:27:25,540 --> 00:27:27,800 And the word life is not bios, it's so way. 212 00:27:28,500 --> 00:27:35,780 As a total life, can you ever imagine that they did not have to be circumcised? 213 00:27:37,780 --> 00:27:43,660 So, there it is. It's quite a story. My goodness, I only got 12 seconds. I have a whole 214 00:27:43,660 --> 00:27:46,580 stuff I'd like to say to you, but I can't. We've run it out of time. 215 00:27:49,340 --> 00:27:52,340 Ah, what a deal. Alright, so long.