Sunday, August 20, 2023 AM

Heavenly Father, we rejoice together today in these truths that you have shown us so often through your word.

We're able to sing together with one heart and one mind, one soul, because of our one

Lord and our one spirit, our one baptism. We may sing together in unity of how good you are, how true you have been, how faithful we know that you will always be.

You have never failed to keep your word, never failed to do justice, to do righteousness, show mercy, to give grace, all in your good timing, all in your good way, revealing your character throughout all the pages of scripture, granted to us by your spirit so perfect and true.

Oh, how our lives resonate. Our lives resonate with those truths.

Never a day in our lives where you have not been faithful and true, where you have not been a

God of your promises. So we give you the praise today.

We thank you for gathering us here in this place to hear your word. We ask that you would bless us with your word, that it would make a deep, abiding impact, that we would rejoice in the truth.

By your grace, there would be an amen in our hearts and a reflection in our lives of the truth of your son,

Jesus Christ, here in your word. We pray all these things in his name. Amen.

I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Acts, the book of Acts. And we'll be reading in chapter 10.

And we're going to read, beginning in verse 17, Acts chapter 10, verse 17, and read through verse 23 this morning.

We are traveling along with Peter. We've been traveling along with Saul of Tarsus.

It's been a wild ride so far with Saul. Barely made it out of Jerusalem alive, barely made it out of Damascus alive.

We've been riding along with Philip, going to the Samaritans and meeting an Ethiopian eunuch and being whisked away by the

Holy Spirit all the way to Caesarea. We've been traveling along with the apostles to and fro in their preaching and teaching in Jerusalem.

But now Peter. And what we're being shown time and again in the life of Peter as he goes forward in obedience, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom is that Jesus Christ is alive and well and at the right hand.

Nothing else makes sense in this passage. Nothing else makes sense of what's going on.

Lame man being healed, dead woman being raised to life, a

Roman centurion desiring to hear more about the Lord. Nothing else makes sense other than this, that Jesus Christ indeed is alive.

Indeed, he has risen. Indeed, he has all authority and he has sent forth his Holy Spirit and his kingdom is even now spreading across the face of this province of the

Roman Empire. There's far more to come. And we have been following a story particularly about Cornelius, a centurion of the

Italian regiment, a God -fearer, that although he was faithful to pray, faithful to give, faithful as he knew how, one thing he lacked.

And God sent an angel to him to say, send messengers down to Joppa and ask for Simon, whose surname is

Peter, and ask him to come up here to tell you what it is this thing that you lack, what you need to do.

It's not enough that you give alms. It's not enough that you pray. It's not enough that you have these religious thoughts and are concerned for your soul.

It's not enough. Send these servants to go find Simon Peter. And so Cornelius obeys and he sends his servants and they come looking for Peter.

At that time, Peter is staying with another man named Simon, who is a tanner there in the port city of Joppa.

And Simon becomes very hungry. And he goes to the roof and he spends some time praying, waiting for the meal.

And God sends him a vision three times, a large sheet, a great sheet bound at the four corners, filled with all kinds of four -footed animals of the earth, wild beasts and creeping things.

And as it descends before Simon Peter, the Lord says to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat.

Peter says, no, Lord. Not so, Lord. I can't do that, Lord.

I'm too holy to eat the food you provide for me. So the

Lord does this three times. And we're going to pick up at the moment where Peter is perplexed.

So I invite you to stand with me as we read God's word together. Acts chapter 10, beginning in verse 17.

This is the word of the Lord by his spirit through his servant

Luke. Now, while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate.

And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there.

While Peter thought about the vision, the spirit said to him, behold, three men are seeking you.

Arise, therefore. Go down and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.

Then Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius and said, yes,

I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come? And they said,

Cornelius, the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the

Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear words from you.

Then he invited them in and lodged them. On the next day,

Peter went away with them, and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him. This is the word of the

Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Once upon a time, there was a big to -do.

And everybody dressed in their finest. And they all got together in the same place. And they all sat there and wondered what the point was.

For there was no master of ceremonies. There was no one to welcome them.

There was no one to tell them what the agenda would be that night. There was no one to introduce them to the guest of honor.

And so he never came out. And everybody was there in their finest. They arrived.

They were there. And they went home. This is what religion is without the

Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the focus of this passage.

As we've been thinking about the way in which Luke constructs these stories, the way in which he was inspired by the

Holy Spirit to construct these stories, seven passages in which the command to rise is the centerpiece of each one, how they're so interconnected with one another, meant to reinforce each other.

It's a surprising thing that the first three stories, we don't hear anything about the

Holy Spirit. But here in the middle, at the heart of it, at the most crucial point of the pattern, the

Holy Spirit, oh, he's directly involved. And we discover he's been involved the whole time, even though he wasn't mentioned yet.

And as we keep reading, after this first mention of the Holy Spirit within this section of Acts, he is mentioned another nine times.

And we see how involved, how essential, how important he is to the work of Christ here on Earth, to spread the good news of the kingdom, to establish his gospel, to establish his kingdom, to showcase the new covenant.

This passage is a great opportunity to be reminded of the vital power of the

Holy Spirit. Remember, the theme, the basic idea of this whole section of Acts is this, that by his spirit, by his spirit,

Christ raises gospel heralds to bring distant sinners home.

All kinds of distant sinners we read about. Cornelius, one of them. How is it that the gospel gets to him?

By the authority and the power of the risen Christ as mediated to us by his

Holy Spirit, that's how. Not by power, not by might, but by my spirit, says the

Lord. That's how the temple gets built. That's what the Lord said to the prophets.

And lo and behold, here the son of David is building his temple, and it's not by power, and it's not by might.

It is by his Holy Spirit that stones, living stones like Aeneas and Dorcas and Cornelius are being well -fitted and interlocked together in this new covenant temple.

So this passage, we have a holy summons, and I read from verse 17. The story pattern really begins in verse 19, but verse 17 tells us what's going on, because verse 19 says that Peter was thinking about the vision.

In what way was he thinking about the vision? Well, verse 17 says that he was wandering within himself.

So that's why we started with verse 17, to kind of hear what it is that Peter is dealing with in his inner man.

Because three men have now come from Cornelius' house. We've been tracking with them all along. Peter has no idea that they're coming.

We know. Isn't that interesting in the story that we get to see God's point of view?

Here's Peter, he has no idea what's happening. He's just hungry. He's just ended up in Joppa.

He had gone to Lyda, ended up in Joppa because Dorcas was dead, and he came and God raised her from the dead, and here he is in Joppa, probably having a good ministry there, as we've read.

He doesn't know what's going on. He's just spending time in prayer, and he's hungry. He has no idea that these three men are on their way, that a vision has been given to Cornelius.

God confronts him with this vision three times in a row, and now the three men arrive.

This is all orchestrated by God. He's the one in charge. He's the one moving all of this along.

God is shepherding all of history into the fold of His glory, and the fold is in the shape of Christ.

Peter's gonna have a role in that, not because Peter is Peter, but because Jesus is who

Jesus is. He's our good shepherd. Peter is wrestling with the vision.

Verse 17 says that Peter wondered within himself. This word is very rich. It means that Peter is perplexed.

He doesn't know what to think. He does not know how to begin to even process what he just encountered in this vision.

He's at a loss. Peter grew up a

Jewish lad with very Jewish thoughts, hoping for the

Messiah promised in the Jewish scriptures. He was extremely, extremely

Jewish, and Jesus wants him to mature and to grow up, to become more and more

Christian. This is what the Lord does for everyone who comes to faith in Him, no matter what tribe they're from, no matter what nation they're from.

Someone can be very, very, very Italian, but as they grow up, they're gonna become very, very, very

Christian and still have an Italian accent and still like certain foods.

The Lord loves the tribes. He loves the nations, but when we grow up and we mature, we become more and more like Him, and sometimes the

Lord confronts us with His word, and we say, well, that doesn't really fit with me. His authority may cause us to be perplexed.

Oh, I don't know what to do now. I don't even know where to begin. And this is what

Peter is dealing with. He is, the word at its very basic means that he is doubting and that he is doubtful.

Did I really see what I just saw? Did I really hear what I just heard? How can that possibly be given

Leviticus and Numbers? That can't possibly be.

I'm just too hungry. I've been around these dead animals too long here at Simon the

Tanner's house. You have been there when you're confronted with the truth of God's word, and you have been clearly commanded in the light of Jesus Christ that this is the way forward.

You have been there. I have been there that we're trying to reason our way out of obedience. We're trying to latch on to anything that could prove, oh, this is just too much.

That's what's going on in Peter's mind. And then in verse 19, while Peter is thinking about the vision, while he's wandering within himself and doubting and being doubtful, the spirit said to him, behold, three men are seeking you.

Well, isn't that a coincidence? He just had a vision come to him three times. And now there are three men who are seeking

Peter. And the spirit says, arise, therefore, there's our key word, rise.

And we've seen three times before. Here it is again. Rise, therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing for I have sent them.

Now, the Lord has sent Peter a vision and Peter knows it's the

Lord. And the Lord tells him three times because that's how Jesus gets through to Peter. And so Jesus has said, rise, kill and eat.

He's told him that three times. And now the spirit comes and says, here's what you need to do.

You see the authority of Jesus Christ is brought to bear in Peter's life by the Holy Spirit.

Peter watched Jesus bodily ascend into heaven and be taken out of sight by the

Shekinah glory cloud. Peter saw it, John saw it, the apostles saw it. So Jesus is in heaven.

How is it that he reigns? How is it that his authority is brought to bear in our lives?

Well, Jesus said, I'm not gonna leave you orphans. I'm not gonna leave you on your own. I'm not gonna leave you in the dark with no light.

I'm not gonna leave you in the silence with no sound. I'm going to send you another comforter, the

Holy Spirit. He's going to bring to your mind all the things that I have taught you. Isn't this a wonderful thing that the

Holy Spirit by whom God breathed out all of the scriptures is the authority of God among us, in us, with us.

The authority of Jesus Christ to us in our lives is by the Holy Spirit.

And he says to Peter personally, directly, five commands.

He gives him five commands. He says, behold, he says, pay attention. Get out of your head, pay attention.

Something's going on. Behold, and then he says, arise, get up.

Go down to them, go down to these men. Go with them and look at the fifth command, doubting nothing.

Because that's exactly what Peter's been doing. He's been doubting, he's been perplexed. He's been thinking this whole thing is beyond belief.

I can't really make sense of it. And the Spirit says, arise, go down, go with them.

Doubting nothing, I have sent them. Now, isn't that interesting?

I thought Cornelius sent them. Isn't that interesting? I thought it was, it says an angel of God appeared to Cornelius there in verse three.

How is it that an angel of God appears to Cornelius and says, you need to send men down to Joppa?

How is it that Cornelius is the one who sends a devout Roman soldier in his cohort and then a couple of his servants down?

I thought it was Cornelius who sent them. I thought it was an angel who sent them. And the Holy Spirit is saying, I sent them to you.

What are we learning from this? The Holy Spirit is God. He is

God of very God. He is sovereign and he is in control. And he is present with us, indwelling us, the new covenant temple.

So we see that the authority of Christ is brought to bear in Peter's life by the

Spirit. The commands go out and we see how important the

Holy Spirit is to this whole endeavor. What's going on with Cornelius?

The Holy Spirit, he's the one. What's going on with Peter? How he's going to need to follow these servants back.

Holy Spirit, he's the one. From this point on, as I said before, we're gonna see nine more references to the Holy Spirit throughout the rest of this section of Acts and the importance and the vitality, the crucial nature of the

Holy Spirit is going to be emphasized to us all over again as this importance has been stressed already in every chapter of this book.

In chapter one, we hear of the Holy Spirit that Peter stands up and says, the

Spirit said, and he quotes something David wrote. Why is what David wrote important to us?

Because the authority of God himself is behind it. And they are in obedience, waiting on the promise of the

Holy Spirit until he comes before they go and do the great commission that Christ entrusted to them.

In chapter two is Pentecost. The Holy Spirit comes with very visible signs and wonders, filling the people.

We see the onset of that new covenant promise of the Holy Spirit filling the new covenant temple.

Peter stands up and preaches that this is proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's proof of his ascension. It's proof of his authority.

And you must repent and believe and be saved from this perverse generation. And if you trust in Christ, not only will your sins be forgiven, but you will receive the

Holy Spirit as well. In chapter three, Peter preaches in the temple and says that the

Holy Spirit was promised by the prophets of old as these times of refreshing as the new creation comes.

In chapter four, the people of the church, the saints of the church are filled with the Spirit for bold preaching.

The Spirit came and shook the place where they were praying and they went forth in bold preaching. In chapter five, we see the danger of lying to God, lying to the

Holy Spirit himself. Ananias and Sapphira died for that crime. And we see that the apostles preached to the

Sanhedrin and say, those with the Holy Spirit, those are the true people of God. Not a very popular message to them.

In chapter six, the deacons are selected as those who are filled with the Spirit. Spirit -filled men are selected to be deacons.

In chapter seven, Stephen preaches and says, the reason why you're under judgment, O Sanhedrin, the reason why you're under judgment is that you and your ancestors have always resisted the

Holy Spirit. And Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, preaches the gospel and dies in faith.

In chapter eight, we see the Holy Spirit arriving among the Samaritans as the new covenant temple is not from one quarry, but many quarries, not just the quarry of the

Jews. Oh, but look, there's a quarry of the Samaritans. And later on, we see the quarry of Ethiopians.

All kinds of stones being brought in. In chapter nine, we see that Saul of Tarsus is saved and he receives the

Spirit. In that one verse that summarizes everything so well, we read that the churches walk in the comfort of the

Holy Spirit and suddenly, it's just no mention of the Holy Spirit. It's just no mention of the Spirit for a little while. But that doesn't mean that the

Spirit stopped working. It didn't mean that he wasn't operating and blessing and leading.

He was. The Holy Spirit is the

Spirit of the Lord. Let's turn in our

Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter three. What we're trying to stress here is that when

Peter receives this instruction from the Holy Spirit, it's not that Christ has given him a vision and said one thing and then the

Holy Spirit gives him instructions and says another. But that the Holy Spirit is bringing the authority of Christ to bear directly, applying what

Christ has told Peter. Here's what you must do. Here's how you work out the truth of the vision that you received.

Word of God has been given to you. Now it's time for you to obey. In 2 Corinthians in chapter three,

Paul builds a contrast between the ministry of death, which he also calls the ministry of condemnation.

He talks about the ministry that was written upon stones. And then he contrasts that old covenant with a new covenant, the ministry of life in which what's written is written upon the lives of the people so that Christians themselves are the epistle of Christ.

And he says that there's a contrast that there are those, there are those who read the scriptures, but they are like Moses who have a veil over their face and they can't see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we who are born again and have the light of Jesus Christ in us, we get to read the scriptures with unveiled face and we see the glory of Christ here, there and everywhere.

And then he says in verse 17, now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the

Lord is, there is liberty. Now this sounds kind of like John chapter one, verse one.

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Well, which one is it? Is it that the word is

God or is that he was with God? Because here we read that the Lord is the spirit and then there's the spirit who is of the

Lord. Yes, this is why we use the language of the

Trinity and we sang about today in our hymns. God the father is

God, God the son is God, God the spirit is God and God is one. And there is distinctions between the persons, but there is a unity in their essence, in their nature.

And so if it's so that the spirit, the Holy Spirit is in unity with the other persons of the

Godhead, then what is the Holy Spirit going to be doing other than bringing to us the very authority of Jesus Christ?

He was sent of the father, he was sent of the son and he brings the glory of Christ to bear upon our lives.

To have, this is where we have the language in the scripture, to have the spirit indwell us is to have

Christ in us. And for us to have the spirit is for us to be in Christ.

The union that we have is by the Holy Spirit. We have this vernacular that runs around in American evangelicalism of asking

Jesus to come into our hearts. Where did that come from?

Where is the root of what was meant by that at some point? In the scriptures, to have

Christ in us means that we have his Holy Spirit indwelling us, which is why we say we have

Christ in us, is by the Holy Spirit. And if we are in Christ, it's because we are in Christ by the

Holy Spirit, who gives us faith to believe, union with Christ.

I'm stressing to you the cruciality of the spirit. We cannot have the preaching of the gospel and the growth of the church and the life of Jesus Christ without the

Holy Spirit. He is absolutely essential.

Now notice what the spirit says to Peter. While Peter thought about the vision, the spirit said to him, now look in verse 19, behold, three men are seeking you, verse 20, arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.

When he gets down there, he sees a Roman soldier and two Gentile servants. You see, at the beginning of the vision that Jesus sent to him, it was just a big sheet tied up at the four corners, wriggling with something alive in it, but he had no idea what was inside till it landed.

Oh, it's a bunch of unclean animals and I'm supposed to eat? Rise, kill and eat? Same situation here,

I've sent three men to you, go down to them, doubt nothing, go with them.

He opens the door, oh, it's a Roman soldier and some Gentile servants. Notice the obedience of Peter, notice their obedience.

So they came obediently, now Peter, what does he do?

Verse 23 says, he invited them in and lodged them.

He invited them in and lodged them. What would the

Jews think? What would the Jews think? Well, we don't have to wonder what they would think, we could read what they thought.

In intertestamental work called the Jubilees, here's what the Jews thinking about that situation is.

They said, separate yourself from the Gentiles and do not eat with them.

Yeah, okay. Do not become associates of theirs. He invited them in and lodged them and he's breaking a few of these rules.

Jubilees says, all their ways are contaminated and despicable and abominable. Wow, but Peter is obeying.

He invites them in, he lodges them. And do you know what's worse than having

Gentiles over to your house? Gentiles having you over to their house and that's coming next.

But notice how, notice how the

Jews kind and compassionate and patient the

Lord is with Peter. As far as Gentile missions go, this is an absolute milk run.

Look at the five reasons given for the acceptance of this invitation. The Roman soldier and the servants know this is gonna be a hard sell.

They know how this goes. They live in the house of Cornelius anyway and they know the tensions between the relationships.

And so listen to what they say. Verse 22, after Peter says, what reason have you come?

Verse 22, they said, Cornelius the centurion, they don't stop there. A just man, one who fears

God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear words from you.

Served up on a golden platter. Do you see how

Jesus did not say to Peter, Peter, it's time to go to Rome right now.

Peter ends up in Rome, but he didn't start there. You see how God didn't say to Saul of Tarsus, off to Athens with you, first thing.

Time to go up the Europagus and preach to the philosophers. No. What was first?

For Peter, it was going to Cornelius, who is indeed a centurion, who indeed is a Gentile, but look at how it's all arranged in God's sovereignty for Peter.

This is an absolute milk run. You know,

I find encouragement in 1 John chapter five, verses three through four.

It says, for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome.

His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Not our faith in faith, not our faith in the size of faith, not our faith in the experience of faith, but our faith in Jesus of Nazareth, who is the

Christ, the Son of God, who was risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the

Father, King of kings and Lord of lords. It's our faith in him, you see. It's our faith in him.

This is why the commandments are not burdensome. And Peter goes, he obeys.

But I want to focus on this response with our remaining time. The Spirit says to Peter, arise.

Arise, go down, go with them, doubting nothing. Oh, how

I wonder. I mean, we look at the situation and say, what a great lead -in.

I wish obedience was this easy every time because here they are, they come to your house.

This isn't Jehovah's Witnesses coming to try to deceive you. This is Jehovah's Witnesses knocking on your door and saying, could you please preach to us the real gospel?

Could you come down to the kingdom hall and give us a study on the divinity of Jesus Christ?

Wow, what an invitation. But the obedience that occurs here is not because Peter has got it all together.

He's full of doubt and perplexity. It's not because Peter has figured it out. He's got all kinds of prejudices and issues in his life.

It's not because of Peter. It's because of the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's the grace of God.

Let's think a little bit more about how crucial, how vital, how important the Holy Spirit is.

When we go back to Acts chapter two, Acts chapter two, verses 32 and 33, we are to be reminded that the reason why the

Holy Spirit is indwelling Peter and speaking directly to Peter and saying, here's what you've got to do is precisely because of the resurrection of Jesus.

These are the acts of the risen Lord Jesus. Acts chapter two, verses 32 and 33.

This Jesus, Peter's preaching to the crowd at Pentecost. He says, this Jesus that David prophesied of, this

Jesus God has raised up. He's risen from the dead of which we are all witnesses.

Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the

Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see in here.

What you're seeing right now, welcome to the new covenant. Look at all these things happening is because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, ascended to the

Father, and he's the one who sent forth the Holy Spirit. So there is an inseparable connection to the work and the ministry of the

Holy Spirit to the resurrection and the ascension and the authority of Jesus Christ. Now let's move forward to Acts chapter five.

And just like Peter was trying to explain the effects of Pentecost to his audience in chapter two, now

Peter's trying to explain things to a hostile audience, not just a critical or confused audience, but an actual hostile audience about why they're going to continue obeying

God rather than man. They're not going to be quiet. They're going to keep on preaching the gospel. He's going to give them a reason why.

So Acts chapter five and look at verse 29. After being threatened and so forth.

Acts chapter five, verse 29. But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey

God rather than men. Explanation, verse 30.

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.

Him, God has exalted to his right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give, to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

And we are his witnesses to these things. And so also is the Holy Spirit whom

God has given to those who obey him. This is very much like Acts chapter two.

You see the Holy Spirit comes from the resurrected, ascended, authoritative Christ. And what are the blessings of salvation other than forgiveness of sins and the gift of the

Holy Spirit? The message is the same whether in Acts two or Acts five and so forth. But look at this phrase.

The Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. Now you just ponder that a little bit and you can run one of two ways.

You can say, oh, well, whoever obeys God receives the prize of the

Holy Spirit. I sure want the Holy Spirit. I'd better obey to get him.

The phrase on its own, you can read it that way or you can read it the other way. The Holy Spirit whom

God has given to those who obey him. Those who obey him, you know who they are because those are the ones to whom God has given the

Holy Spirit. You see, you can read it one of two ways. Now the question is, brothers and sisters, when you come across a phrase like that in the scripture, how can you tell which one it is?

Which way are you going to read it? Read other scriptures. And let the scripture interpret the scripture.

Let's look over at Romans eight. If I start in Ephesians, I'm just going to never get out of it.

So let's go to Romans eight. And let's just look at the answer to our question.

Is it that those who obey him and do really well, God will give them the Holy Spirit? Or is it that those to whom

God gives the Holy Spirit, those are the ones who obey him? Let's look over in Romans chapter eight. And let's read from verse seven.

Let's start in verse seven of Romans chapter eight. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

Meaning that someone who is in the flesh, who doesn't have the spirit of God, cannot obey

God, cannot subject himself or herself to the law of God, cannot hear the instructions and commands of God and then obey.

It cannot be. Verse eight, so then those who are in the flesh cannot please

God. But if... Verse nine, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

If indeed the spirit of God dwells in you... See the contrast? If you're in the flesh, you cannot please

God. But if we're in the spirit, well, that's a different matter.

Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.

In other words, without the spirit, we're dead. With the spirit, we're alive.

Without the spirit, all we can do is remain dead in our trespasses and sins and continue in displeasing our

Maker. With the spirit, made alive in the spirit, we can please

God and live for God. In fact, Paul goes on to say that if we're in the spirit, we not only can obey the

Lord, we actually fulfill the law. Something that the old covenant folks never were able to do.

So, back to Acts chapter 10. Notice what happens in the text.

The Holy Spirit brings to mind what Christ has just revealed to Peter.

Here's the word of God, Peter. Here's the word of your Savior, Jesus Christ. This is what he has said, rise, kill, and eat.

Do not call unclean what I have declared clean. And now these men are here.

Now you rise, go down, go with them, doubt nothing, and we see that Peter obeys.

He goes down, he goes with them, he goes with them to Caesarea, and he preaches the gospel to them, even confessing to them that he had had doubts, but now he doubts no more.

So we see the obedience of Peter, don't we? He obeyed all those commands of the Holy Spirit, but what do we then say?

Dare to be a Peter. Way to go, Peter. You should be more like Peter.

Praise Peter. No, don't you see who is in charge here? Don't you see what's going on here?

Praise the Spirit. Praise the Holy Spirit. Praise Christ who sent His Holy Spirit that we may live in obedience.

Praise the Lord. Praise God. Give glory to Him for His grace. We don't praise

Peter. We praise the Lord. We rejoice in the salvation that He brings to us by His Holy Spirit.

It wasn't going to be Peter who overcame the barriers. It wasn't Peter who was going to overcome his prejudices.

It wasn't Peter who was going to overcome his Jewishness and grow out of one thing into a new thing, out of the old man into the new man.

It wasn't Peter. It was the Holy Spirit. And so we give praise to God for what's going on in Peter's life.

Now, one last thought. Where do we find Peter in this situation?

Why was he up on the roof? He wasn't on the roof because he was hungry. He got hungry when he was on the roof.

He wasn't on the roof to get a vision. He had no idea a vision was coming. He wasn't on the roof to make it hard to find, so he'd make himself hard to find, and Cornelius' men had a hard time finding him, had to ask all around town.

Why did Peter go up on the roof? To pray. He went up on the roof to pray.

I don't think he thought that's how God would answer his prayers. But we see that God did answer his prayers.

Let me encourage you to pray. What are the things that we need to grow in?

What are the things that you need to grow in? What are the challenges that you are now facing? Pray. I don't know how

God's going to answer them, but we can trust that he will. Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for the time you've given us in your

Word. I pray that you would help us to trust you in everything and that we would pray in faith, pray with faith, pray with faith confident that you will answer and give us wisdom in our time of need, mercy and grace in our time of need.

You've given us your Son. We know that with him you will freely give us all things. We pray these things in his name.