WWUTT 2618 Peter Meets Cornelius (Acts 10:17-29)

An angel appeared to Cornelius. The Lord appeared to Peter. Then the Holy Spirit spoke to Peter. What's with all these voices? Well, God just works in mysterious ways. But for our good and for his glory, when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it. Visit our website at www .wutt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Peter’s Vision and the Spirit’s Instruction in Acts 10

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Acts, we come back to chapter 10 and we're picking up where we left off last time. We read of Peter's vision, how he saw this sheet coming down from heaven and in it were all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the sky.

And a voice came to him saying, rise up, Peter, slaughter and eat. But Peter replied, by no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything defiled and unclean. And the Lord spoke to him a second time, what God has cleansed, no longer considered defiled.

And this happened three times and immediately the object was taken up into heaven. Now, we're picking up there at verse 17 and I'm gonna read through verse 33, hear the word of the Lord. Now, while Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen might be, behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions for Simon's house, appeared at the gate and calling out, they were asking whether Simon, who is also called Peter, was lodging there.

And while Peter was reflecting on the vision, the spirit said to him, behold, three men are looking for you, but rise up, go down and accompany them without taking issue at all, for I have sent them myself.

Cornelius’s Messengers and the Meaning of Peter’s Vision

And Peter went down to the men and said, behold, I am the one you are looking for, what is the reason for which you have come? And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man, well-spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and hear a message from you.

So he invited them in and gave them lodging. And on the next day, he rose up and went away with them. And some of the brothers from Joppa went with him. And on the following day, he entered Caesarea. Now, Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

And when Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter raised him up saying, stand up, I too am just a man. As he talked with him, he entered and found many people assembled.

And he said to them, you yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him. And yet God has shown me that I should not call any man defiled or unclean.

That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was summoned. So I asked, for what reason you have summoned me? And Cornelius said, four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour and behold, a man stood before me in shining garments.

And he said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Therefore send to Joppa and invite Simon who is also called Peter to come to you. He is lodging at the house of Simon the Tanner by the sea.

So I sent for you immediately and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been ordered by the Lord. And that's as far as we will get. We'll see if we get that far today.

The Angel, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit Speaking in Acts 10

But then next week, when we resume our study of Acts 10, we will hear specifically the sermon that Peter then delivers to the household of Cornelius. Coming back up to verse 17, which picks up right after Peter's vision.

He was perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen might be. Now, remember, we've already covered this in my exposition. I know I had a gap in there between lessons. I had a medical thing happen.

I'll explain that on the Friday Q &A. But anyway, that's the reason why it seemed like the podcast stopped there for a little while. But remember, we've already covered the vision and in much depth, not just looking at what Peter saw, but the significance of it, and why he would have been hesitant to go with the men from Cornelius's house unless that vision had been shown to him.

So if you missed all of that, check those episodes out, which would have been the last Monday and Tuesday that I had covered these first 16 verses of Acts 10. So he was perplexed as to the vision, but then these men show up and summon Peter to come with them to the house of a Gentile.

And this was not for Jews to do. You hear that in Peter's explanation. It was not lawful for us to entertain an invitation to come to a Gentile's house. But I was told in a vision not to call unclean what God has made clean.

So we'll consider that when we get there. But this is all connected. The vision is so that when these men come and summon Peter, that he will go with them. And so Cornelius having asked directions for Simon's house or the men that Cornelius sent rather, they appeared there at the gate right after Peter had this vision.

This is the providence of God putting all of this together for Peter to go to Cornelius's residence and share the gospel with him and with his household. Verse 18, calling out, they were asking whether Simon who was also called Peter was lodging there.

And while Peter was reflecting on the vision, the spirit said to him, behold, three men are looking for you, but rise up, go down and accompany them without taking issue at all, for I have sent them myself.

Now we've got three voices so far that have spoken in Acts chapter 10. First of all, we've got an angel that has appeared to Cornelius and has spoken with him. And that angel has said to Cornelius to summon the man named Peter to come to your household and preach to you.

Peter is up on the housetop and he has this vision where he sees these animals coming down in the sheet. This happens three times and all three times a voice has said to him, rise up, Peter, slaughter and eat.

Now, Peter addresses him in verse 14 as Lord. So it's reasonable for us to assume that this is Jesus who is speaking to Peter because he addresses Lord. Now, previously when Cornelius had addressed the angel that appeared to him, he said Lord.

So this is Acts 10 .4, looking intently on him and becoming afraid, he said, what is it Lord? And he said to him, your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. But we know that this was an angel of God according to verse three, because the narrative tells us that.

So this wasn't actually God. And what I had said when we were looking at that portion of the scripture back in verse four, is that Cornelius just wouldn't have known the difference. If some great being is going to appear to him, he's gonna assume it's God.

So it could be that his address as Lord is a general sort of respectful comment, like calling someone my Lord. You know, what is it my Lord? In the old English, the Anglo-Saxon, right? That could be the title that's used here by Cornelius, a matter of respect to somebody that he perceives as having great authority.

So he refers to him as Lord. It could be that, or it could also be that Cornelius really thinks this might be God appearing to him. He was a God fearing man, but how would he know the difference between God actually appearing to him and an angel?

And that explanation is further verified by the fact that when Peter comes to the house of Cornelius, what does Cornelius do? He falls down at his feet and worships him. Now, Peter's just a man. Peter's not even appearing there in shining garments like the angel did.

And yet Cornelius thinks of this man who was sent by God to be of such reverent stature that he thinks he needs to fall down and worship at his feet. Cornelius still has an unbelieving heart in the sense that he's not yet been transformed by the Holy Spirit to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

That has not yet happened because we have the preaching of the gospel that is yet to come. And I'll explain more about that, the condition of Cornelius's heart as we go on, and we'll kind of read that about him, though it's already been said to us that Cornelius is a God fearing man.

Now that condition would not have been by Cornelius's nature. It's not because he is by nature a God fearing man. The scripture doesn't lend itself to understanding that of Cornelius in any way. Cornelius fears God because the Holy Spirit has been upon his life in such a way that he would have that kind of reverent attitude before God.

He's not yet been transformed to become a follower of Jesus Christ. That has not yet happened, but he's at least been tilled in his heart to fear God and want to honor him so that he obeys the word that God gives for Peter to come to his house and preach the gospel to him.

All of this is still the work of God. Even Cornelius's God fearing heart is the work of God in Cornelius. And God works in mysterious ways. The scripture has said to us, Jesus talking with Nicodemus in John chapter three, that the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways.

As you don't know where the wind comes from or where it goes, so it is with the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said to Cornelius, Jesus said to Nicodemus. So we're not trying to dismiss the mysterious work of the Spirit as saying, well, it's too mysterious for us to understand.

We want to understand what the scripture says to us. But as far as the scripture's working or as far as the Spirit's working is concerned, that is a matter that we won't fully comprehend. It's God's work.

It is not ours. We can only follow what is said to us according to the scripture. But this work that has already been done in Cornelius's heart is the work of God. And by God's providence, there is still more work to be done as it is in the heart of every single one of us.

None of us are complete. None of us are done yet. God is still working in us. Though we may have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who have now become justified before him, we're declared innocent before him because of our faith in Jesus and his blood that has covered over our sins.

Though that may have happened for us already, we've not yet been fully sanctified. And we remember that statement that Paul made with the Philippians in Philippians 1 .6, he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it at the day of Christ.

So there's still work being done. And as we see that here, even in the life of Cornelius, that there's still work to be done. So anyway, three voices, as I mentioned, we had the first voice of an angel that spoke to Cornelius.

We have the voice of the Lord that we would know to be Jesus that happens in verse 14. Peter, of course, knows the voice of Jesus. He had seen him before he died. He had seen him after he was resurrected.

And so Jesus, even speaking to him in this way, Peter knows the voice of the Lord. So though Cornelius may not know who he's addressing as Lord, Peter does. So Peter's statement in verse 14 indicates that Jesus was the one who was speaking to him.

So there's the second voice. Where is the third? Well, Peter hears from the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, behold, three men are looking for you, but rise up, go down and accompany them without taking issue at all, for I have sent them myself.

Now, why didn't the Holy Spirit just do that? Why did Peter have to have the vision and have that vision three times? And that apparently wasn't enough to convince him to go. It wasn't until the Holy Spirit comes to him then and says, three men are looking for you, so go with them and don't hesitate to go.

I've sent them so that you may go with them. Why didn't the Holy Spirit just appear to him and say that? Well, again, because the Spirit works in mysterious ways. This is by God's providence that it would happen in this way.

And not just that Peter would be told, go with them to the house of a Gentile and preach the gospel to them, but also so that Peter would know that they're not defiled. And there's not going to be any distinct separation between Jew and Gentile any longer.

The two of them are going to come together and be one people in the gospel of Jesus Christ. So Peter, still being a devout Jew at this particular time, thinks that Jews need to be separate from Gentiles.

As he's going to explain in just a moment. And this was the reason for the dietary laws, as I explained in the first 16 verses of Acts. The purpose of those laws was to keep the people of Israel distinct.

Even the dietary laws as we have them in Leviticus 11, as those things would be repeated in the book of Deuteronomy. The point is, as they were going into the promised land, that they would remain distinct from the pagans that live there.

They weren't even to sit at the same tables and dine together because they would be eating different food. One food was intended to keep God's people separate from the Gentiles, but there wasn't anything about that food that was inherently unclean because the Noahic covenant had already given to everyone any kind of food to eat.

Any kind of creature that crawls may be food for you, but it's only when calling out the people of Israel and giving them the promised land among the Canaanites in which they would dwell, among whom they would dwell, until they had driven them off the land, which of course Israel did not do.

But for the place that they were given, God's land, which he gave to them, they were to remain a separate people and that included even the food that they ate. They would be ceremonially unclean if they ate that food.

So the vision is to show Peter, and three times it is shown to him, that these foods do not make you unclean and they should not keep you separated from people that God has called to himself. What God has cleansed, no longer considered defiled.

And so even the Gentiles are not to be considered defiled because of the food that they eat. That's not what makes them unclean. So now that the gospel would go out to more people than just Jews, even Peter himself is going to become an apostle to Gentiles.

Now, Paul is mainly called to be the apostle to the Gentiles and of course we see that as we go on with Acts, but the first people to declare the gospel to Gentiles, it's not the apostle Paul. We've seen Philip do it, we're gonna see Peter do it.

And so here by the commission that Jesus gave in Acts chapter one, is the gospel going even to Gentiles, even into the very homes of Gentiles, which is where Peter is going to go. So we have the voice of the angel, we've had the voice of Jesus and now the voice of the Holy Spirit.

And this is by God's providence that he would work in this way to show Peter this vision and then to deliberately and specifically say to him, go with them, taking no issue at all. So Peter goes down to the men, behold, I'm the one you're looking for.

What is the reason for which you have come? And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man, well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was directed by a Holy angel to summon you to his house and hear a message from you.

So this is a man who has done great things for the Jewish people. This isn't said in Acts 10, but I want to say I read somewhere that Cornelius had built a synagogue for the Jews. I can't remember where I read that.

If there was some historical record somewhere, could have been in my archeology Bible, I don't know. But somewhere I want to say that I read that Cornelius had even by Roman money, had used that money and Roman manpower to build a synagogue for the Jews in the city in which he lived.

So he was well thought of by the Jews. And this is being said to Peter so that Peter would have no hesitation in going with them. You're coming into the home of a God-fearing man. We mean you no harm.

This is not a setup, it's not a trap. You can ask who you need to ask. Hey, am I okay to go to this man's house? Oh yeah, yeah, he's done. He's very sympathetic toward the Jews. This is not a man who uses his Roman authority to Lord himself over us.

So they say he's God-fearing. He's well spoken up by the entire nation of the Jews. He was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear a message from you. And so now it's all clicking with Peter.

It's all coming together. Okay, that's why I had the vision. That's why the Holy Spirit is telling me to go with you. So he invited them in and gave them lodging. And on the next day, he rose up and went away with them.

And some of the brothers from Joppa went with him. Now I'm gonna read that in our text, but I want you to keep it in mind because that's gonna come up again. And I'll show you later when we get to the end of Peter's sermon, how that's relevant.

But note that Peter does not go alone. He doesn't just go alone with these men, but there are other Jews who are believers because they're called brothers, some of the brothers. So they're Jews who are also Christians.

They go with Peter from Joppa to the house of Cornelius. Verse 24, and on the following day, he entered Caesarea. I already gave you a geography lesson earlier. This is not the same place as Caesarea Philippi.

It's a different location. It is up the sea to the northwest of Jerusalem along the Mediterranean Sea. So Joppa is to the southwest of Jerusalem. Caesarea is to the north. So they come to Caesarea and Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

This is according to God that Peter has a message for you. So he wants his entire household, his family and everybody else, friends of his to hear whatever it is that Peter has to say. And when Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.

And again, Cornelius just doesn't know any better. Peter raising him up saying, stand up for I too am just a man. But I think that this still speaks to us not to just bow down to anything. You know, even if you've got a cross in your church, you don't go before the cross.

Could be an empty cross, doesn't look like a crucifix. You may not have all other kinds of symbols or iconography around your church, but you've got a cross. Don't kneel down in front of it. Don't do that.

Even if it's not in your heart to worship it, it has the perception of worshiping it. And we certainly should not be bowing down to statues of figures from the Bible because those statues don't even accurately represent the images of the people that we read about in the Bible.

Any statue of Jesus doesn't even represent a picture of Jesus. We should not be bowing down before these things and worshiping them. God is not in them. And the way that the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox will teach about such things is that the very image or the statue itself is connected with the actual person so that venerating, as they would call it, it's not, it's worship, but venerating that object directly channels the reverence to the person that it represents.

And all of that is nonsense. It's just mysticism. It is not in any sense biblical. Here you've got Cornelius bowing before Peter and Peter denying such a gesture, refusing it, saying, no, stand up for I too am just a man.

Peter is just a man. And if Peter were alive today, we shouldn't be bowing before Peter or any of the other apostles. We can show great appreciation of them. And we do so whenever we obey the word of God.

When we read the words that the apostles wrote down and we obey them, we give honor to the apostles that wrote them because we recognize that the church is built on a foundation of the apostles and prophets as said in Ephesians chapter two, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

So any sort of honor that we would show to those who came before us would be in our keeping the word. Our worship though is meant for God alone. So anyway, verse 27, Peter talked with him, entered and found many people assembled.

And he said to them, you yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him. And yet God has shown me that I should not call any man defiled or unclean.

Any man. So those distinctions that existed previously between Jew and Gentile, Peter is saying now by the vision that I've had, by the instruction that I received by the spirit, I should not call any man defiled or unclean.

Now that doesn't mean that any man is not a sinner. Don't read that into what's being said here. No man is a sinner. Everybody is clean. That's not what's being communicated here, but rather what they eat or the very fact of being a Gentile does not inherently make them unclean.

It's what comes out of a person, not what goes into him that makes him unclean, as Jesus said. So Peter goes on to say in verse 29, that is why I came without even raising any objection when I was summoned.

So I ask for what reason you have summoned me. And we'll stop there and pick up with our study of Acts chapter 10 next time. Next week, we'll finish it up. Verses 30 to 48, considering the words of Cornelius and the sermon that Peter has to preach to the household of Cornelius.

And then finally, the result of that sermon, what the reaction of the people is, which is another pretty important part of Acts chapter 10. Lots of important parts, but it's great doing this study together.

And I hope that you have enjoyed it. Remember, God works in very mysterious ways. We trust his plan and his process, and he is still working in us to something great, which we won't reach the end of until we reach glory.

Heavenly father, we thank you for the work that you are doing by your spirit. You have come to us through the preaching of the gospel. You have transformed our hearts to be in awe of you, where previously we hated God and we're trying to run away from you.

Now we run to you, who is the savior of our souls. Lord, I pray that you would cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that we would walk in paths of righteousness for your namesake. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.