Acts 11:1-18

Okay. Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together, have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2022, we'll make it all the way from Acts to Philemon. Let's go ahead and have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. And we thank you for this time that we can spend in your word. Father, we pray that you would teach us now. We pray that you would care for us, watch over us. We pray that we would be your disciples, your students sitting at your feet, learning from you in Jesus's name. Amen. All right. So we are at Acts chapter 11, Acts chapter 11, the first 18 verses. Here we go.
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, saying, You went to the uncircumcised men and ate with them?" 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 ever 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, having been sent to me from Caesarea. When the Spirit told me, go with them, doubt nothing. Moreover, the six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who will tell you the 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 first believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I should 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. Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this? Peter is summarizing what happened to him when he was called by Cornelius from Joppa.
And he's come back to Jerusalem and there's a certain party there, the party of the circumcision. These are the people who want to keep all the commandments, want to keep the purity laws, want to keep all the kosher rules and everything like that. And they sit there and they go, hold on, you went to a Gentile's house and you ate with them? You can see their brows furrowing and you can see their eyebrows raising. You can see the disdain in their face and disgust.
Like, what have you done? You've made yourself unclean. Peter, are you mad? And Peter says, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold your horses, buckaroos. I was in a trance. This is what happened. A sheet was brought down, all sorts of creeping animals and four-legged beasts and birds of the air. And God said, you know, they're all clean. And I protested this. No, I'm not going to go eat. And God said, don't call uncommon what I have called clean.
And it happened three times. And as soon as the trance was over, someone knocked on the door. And it was these men. And six of us went to these men, and we told them the good news about Jesus Christ. And they believed, and the Holy Spirit came down upon them.
And who am I? I remember God saying, Jesus himself told us that John baptized with water, but we would be baptized with the Holy Spirit and they received the same baptism of the Holy Spirit we did. So who am I to be against God? And how do the people respond?
They glorify God. So repentance unto life has come to the Gentiles, to the nations, to the non-Jews as well. For the gospel is for all the people. What is this about? This is that salvation comes by faith. that the good news was going to go out by the preaching of the good news of Jesus, that all these purity laws, all these culture laws were meant to point toward Christ and were fulfilled in Christ. God has called them clean now.
So maybe you can have some bacon for breakfast. Maybe you can enjoy some food without worrying about clean or unclean foods and realize that it's about faith in Christ. What's the best verse for this? Well, in my Bible, I have underlined verse 17 and verse 18.
Therefore, 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? then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. What are you called to do in response to this? Do you have faith? Have you heard of Jesus Christ and have you received repentance unto life? Have you repented of your sins? Do you believe in Jesus? Do you follow after him? Do you long for him?
Let's pray. Father, we thank you that all things are clean. We thank you for your Holy Spirit. We thank you that you have called us out of darkness and into your marvelous light. Father, we pray that we would follow after you. We pray that we would love you, for you have loved us with an everlasting love. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, may you rejoice knowing that the gospel is for all the nations. And may you have peace in Jesus Christ as you know that he has freed your soul. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye.