When Heaven Opens: Part 5

Heaven opens, and a man dies praying to Jesus. Then heaven opens again, and a reluctant apostle finally lets the gospel cross a line his prejudice had drawn. We follow those two scenes straight through Acts 7 and Acts 10, because they expose what we really believe about prayer, salvation, and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We start with Stephen’s martyrdom and his direct prayers to the Lord Jesus, including the stunning words “Receive my spirit” and his plea for mercy toward his killers. From there we slow down on the Bible’s hope-filled language about death for the Christian: the body “sleeps,” but the believer immediately departs to be with Christ, which is far better. This is not vague comfort, it is gospel certainty rooted in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Next we turn to Cornelius and Peter, where the opened-heaven vision of the sheet forces a major shift in the Book of Acts. Cornelius is devout, generous, and consistent in prayer, yet still needs the new birth and the clear gospel message. Peter’s “Not so, Lord” meets God’s firm correction: “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” The takeaway lands hard and practical: in Christ Jesus there is no spiritual superiority of race, status, or background, and no place for a church culture that treats people as unclean.

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Transcript

Welcome And Global Reach

SPEAKER_01 0:56

All right, now a very pleasant good day to each and every one of you. I'm Brother James. I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, and I welcome you to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast, a ministry which originates in the land of Florida, the United States of America, and by the grace of God is heard in many, many parts of the world through the prayers and support of God's people. We heard just a week or so ago from uh Austria, which marked the fifty-fourth uh nation from which we've had correspondence in response to these messages, and we certainly do thank God that his word is not bound, but that it's going forth to the ends of the earth, and men and women are hearing uh the saving gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ that they might be saved, and finding uh the biblical truth that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature to be absolutely true and certain. We're so happy that you've joined us for the uh program today. We hope that God will make it a blessing indeed to your hearts. We've been discussing uh for the last three programs uh the times in the New Testament when the heaven was opened. When heaven was opened. We talked about the uh baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bible says that heaven was open, and the Spirit of God like a dove descended, uh lit uh uh fell upon him, came upon him, and the Father spake from heaven. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. We've been talking on the last broadcast about the uh stoning of Stephen and the heaven being opened as Stephen looked up and beheld uh the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father, and we almost finished our remarks upon uh Acts chapter seven and the stoning of Stephen last time, and we want to do that now for just a moment, and then we will uh look at another case where the heaven was opened, and that is in the tenth chapter of the book of Acts. But just some remarks on uh this matter of the stoning of Stephen. We need to note that Stephen, when he was stoned, Acts chapter 7, addressed his prayer to the Lord Jesus. And the question comes up uh should the Lord Jesus Christ be addressed in prayer? Many think that we should only address God the Father. You hear some praying to the Holy Spirit or to the Holy Ghost. Should the Lord Jesus Christ be addressed in prayer? Well, the Bible says that Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost, and he knew well to whom it was right to address prayer. Further, both the prayers of Stephen are addressed to the Lord Jesus Christ as God. Receive my spirit, he says. And this can be nothing more than a stirring acknowledgement of the deity of Jesus Christ. Only he who gave man's spirit could receive it back again. But more, in presenting to the Lord Jesus the identical prayer which Jesus himself prayed to the Father on the cross, Stephen renders to the Lord absolute divine recognition and worship at this most solemn moment of his life. In this commitment of his spirit to Jesus, Paul was afterwards to follow in the footsteps of Stephen with the calm, exultant confidence that with Jesus Christ one's soul is safe for eternity. Listen to this word from Second Timothy chapter one and verse number twelve, for which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Having sought the Savior's mercy for himself, he went on to pray for his murderers, Stephen did, gathering his ebbing energies in a supreme effort to express his inmost feelings, he cries with a loud voice, Lay not this sin to their charge. And then he fell asleep, the Bible says. The mighty witness closed his eyes on earth, but what a moment it must have been when his spirit was received by him whose person and glory he beheld, and into whose hands he had commended his spirit. Fallen asleep. Because Jesus died, death for Stephen and for all believers, is only sleep of body, an awakening of soul with Christ in glory. Now listen to these words from the Bible, if you will. This is such a such a blessed and a stirring truth. In Luke chapter eight and verse number fifty-two, the Bible says, uh this maiden she had died, and the Bible says all wept and bewailed her, but he said, This is Jesus speaking, Weep not, she is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. He put them all out, took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway, and he commanded to give her meat. Now, was she dead? Well, yes she was. The spirit had departed the body. But the body had fallen on sleep, and that's that's the Bible term in John chapter eleven. John chapter eleven, and verse eleven. These things said he, and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. And again from First Thessalonians chapter four, verse thirteen, I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. So death is referred to as the sleep of the body, and the awakening of the soul with Christ in glory, which follows immediately after the body falls into this state of sleep. The Bible says in Philippians chapter 1, verse 21, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Well, it wouldn't be gain to enter into some unconscious uh sphere, but if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, yet what shall I choose, what I should choose I won't not, for I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better, nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. So death is referred to as the body falling asleep, and the real you that lives inside that body departs into a far better state in the living presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was an immediate entrance made by Stephen into the presence of the Lord. They only are to be pitied and mourned who, while living, are living a life of death, and who, when they die, can have no heavenly vision, no son of man standing to receive them. Don't pity Stephen. He departed to be with Christ, which is far better. Now in the first part of the book of Acts, the apostle who is foremost is Peter. Though it must always be remembered that the main actor and authority is the risen Lord Jesus, in whose name these men preach and work. But after chapter twelve, another apostle comes to the forefront, and that is Paul the apostle to the Gentiles. The earlier chapters of the book of Acts are centered at Jerusalem, and the atmosphere is decidedly Jewish. But the center will change to Antioch in chapter 13, and the work will expand into Gentile regions. Already we are being prepared for that change. Antioch and its doings will be introduced to us in chapter eleven of Acts. Paul's conversion has occurred in chapter 9, and he is brought down to Antioch in chapter 11. However, the man who opened the door of faith in the Gentiles, the man who was given the keys, was not Paul but Peter. Chapter 10 of Acts records how this came about. It did not come about by the enthusiasm and zeal of Peter. Indeed, it required a vision of an opened heaven to push this reluctant apostle to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. It started with a Gentiles' prayers. Then it came up against the Jewish believers' prejudices, but the program of God had to go ahead, and it did. Let's read together from Acts chapter ten. Acts chapter ten and verses well, we'll go down at least to verse ten and see what we can see. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision, evidently about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him he was afraid and said, What is it, Lord? He said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodgeth with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and devout soldier of them that waited on him continually, and when he had declared all these things unto them he sent them to Joppa. On the morrow, as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up on the house top to pray about the sixth hour, and he became very hungry and would have eaten. But while they made ready he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth, wherein were all manner of four footed beasts of the earth, wild beasts and creeping things of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. The voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed that call not thou common, this was done thrice, and the vessel was received up into heaven. Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate, and called and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. While Peter thought of the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. Now in Acts ten verses one through eight, we have a very brief biography of a man who dared to be holy as far as the light available to him would allow. In the most unlikely of circumstances he was living a holy life. A man may be a brave soldier, and yet a religious coward, but this was not the case with Cornelius. He was a very sincere seeker after God, but he needed something more. We read in verse six that he needed to seek out Simon. We must never assume that because a person is sincere, because he prays, because he does good works, that he is a child of God. Cornelius was a sincere man, a devout man, a religious man, a praying man. But he wasn't born again. He wasn't a child of God, in spite of his good works, good name, and good reputation. The fact that this story reveals is that despite all that Cornelius had, it was just not enough. There was something lacking in his life, and he was conscious of it. One remarkable thing in the story is the wonderful character of Cornelius before he became a Christian. Just as the Lord Jesus had said, You must be born again, not to a man vile, contemptible, and notorious in sin, but to Nicodemus, the highest product of Judaism, the teacher in Israel. So here also, the first Gentile admitted into the blessing of God and the recognized fellowship of the church, was a Gentile who had come so far as he could apart from the gospel. The vision came to Cornelius while he was at prayer. Hours of supplication are God's hours of communication. He who prays much will see much. God wanted Peter to bring Cornelius the gospel message, and he could count on Peter to do it. So that in verse 6 he made Cornelius, God made Cornelius a promise which, well, it would have been broken if Peter had failed. God's word depended upon the faithfulness of God's servant. God could stake his reputation on Peter. Could God count on you? Could you be so faithful that God could could speak that go to Peter and Peter will come and tell you what you need to hear? I know that you would do it. Well, Peter was that kind of a man, but but he had a prejudice that he had to deal with. These prejudices show up in first of all in verses 9 and 10. Now Peter had already come some way from his prejudices. He was staying with one Simon, a tanner, and tanners were almost outcasts to the Jews, because they traded in the skins of dead animals. The trade of a tanner was unclean. He worked with the bodies of dead animals, and therefore he was he was permanently unclean. Listen to this from the law that God gave to the nation of Israel in chapter 19 and verse eleven. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean, but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from Israel, because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean, his uncleanness is yet upon him. Well, for a man to be a tanner, he had to continually be touching dead animals, and so there was no way that he could ever be uh ceremonially clean according to the law. Now no rigid legalistic Jew would have dreamed of accepting hospitality from a tanner. Nevertheless, uh he he was doubtless a Christian. And Peter was beginning to see that Christianity was not bound by these ceremonial laws. He was beginning to learn one of the lessons of the Christian faith that so-called ceremonial uncleanness is nothing if a man has been morally cleansed through faith in Jesus Christ. Whilst upon the house top, Peter had a vision of a sheet knit together at the four corners, and it looked like a like a parachute coming down out of heaven upside down in an upside down fashion, and and in this this upside down parachute, if you will, were all manner of beasts, the Bible says, clean and unclean. And Peter is commanded to kill and eat. Now that involved the violation of the Mosaic restrictions, which differentiated between Jew and Gentile. Jews did not eat what the Mosaic law called unclean, but Gentiles were under no such restrictions. Peter is now called upon to eat that which, as a Jew, he had always regarded as unclean. All the prejudices of the Jew in Peter rose to the forefront, and he said, Not so, Lord. And what a what a what a paradox that statement is. You can't be saying not so to the Lord. If he's the Lord, you do exactly what he tells you, and there's there's so flagrant a contradiction found here that you can't find a greater contradiction anywhere in the Word of God. Whosoever says not so should never add Lord. And whosoever truly says Lord will never say not so. But Peter Well, Peter's just Peter. It's not for the servant to dictate to the master. It was not the first time Peter had made refusals. Matthew sixteen, verse twenty two. Matthew sixteen, twenty two. Old uh Peter jumps in here and says something just about the same. The Bible says in verse twenty one, Matthew sixteen, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. Jesus said, This is how it's going to be, Peter, and Peter grabbed him and began to rebuke the Lord. Told him it wouldn't be so. John thirteen, in verse number six, then cometh he to Simon Peter. Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Now the response from heaven to Peter's refusal was sharp and clear. In Acts 10, verse number 15, what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. The Lord's saying to Peter, I'm the Lord. And if I tell you it's clean, it's clean. And don't you rebuke me, don't you argue with me, don't you try and uh tell me how to run my business, Peter. If I tell you it's clean, it's clean. Now, Peter learned the lesson. He got the message. It took the Lord three times, but he learned the lesson. Look at verse uh twenty-eight. Well, in fact, let's go back up here to verse twenty-four. Peter goes down to Cornelius' house. The morrow after they entered into Caesarea. Cornelius waited for them and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter. Who obviously wasn't the first pope, took him up saying, Stand up, I myself also am a man. If Peter was the first pope, which of course he wasn't, uh he he certainly set a good example for the popes that followed. Uh letting them fall down and kiss their feet and kiss their rings and kneel before him to receive a blessing and all this kind of stuff. If those fellows were men of God, they'd say, Get up! Just a man like you are. Of course you probably couldn't tell them a man like you this dress I'm wearing, but I I'm just a man like you. All the crown, pay no attention to the crown. Uh I'm I'm just a common man. No, Peter Peter's wearing no crown, he's wearing no mitre, he's carrying no scepter, he's wearing no Halloween costume, he doesn't have any bodyguards or soldiers round about him. He's a preacher. He's a saved commercial fisherman with a wife. And this man falls down at his feet to worship him, and Peter won't have anything any anything to do with it. He took him up. He didn't say get up, he took him up, he grabbed him by the arms and the shoulders and pulled him to his feet and said, Stand up. I myself also of a man. And as he talked with him he went in and found many that were come together, and he said unto them, You know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or to come unto one of another nation. Now that's the law, that's the strict letter of the law. But God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. He got the message, didn't he? In the Christian economy, there was to be no superiority of race and no religious superiority. The sheep was lowered and raised three times. It was a reminder to Peter. Three times he had denied his Lord. Three times he had been asked, Peter, do you love me? So there was no doubting of the origin of this vision, and Peter must obey. You know Jonah had a big problem with this. Old Jonah, he he was sent to Nineveh. And he didn't want to go to Nineveh because they were the enemies of Israel. I understand. We had a fellow, uh one of our uh associates, uh one of our assistants there in the church, he uh brought us a good message here a week or so ago on a Sunday night, and he talked about the Ninevehes and how cruel they were to their enemies and the hatred that existed between the people of Nineveh and the children of Israel. But you know it didn't it didn't matter to God. He was not willing that any should perish, and he called Jonah to go there and preach, and eventually Jonah ended up going there and preaching the message God called him to preach. The Bible says in Galatians chapter three and verse twenty-eight there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. Now, obviously, when a man gets saved, he doesn't become neuter. When a woman gets saved, she doesn't become neuter, you're still a male, you're still a female after the flesh. But in Christ there is true spiritual equality. The Bible never tells the bond man when he gets saved to revolt against his master and start a civil war and a revolution and uh try and get his freedom. No, the Bible said if you're called being a servant, care nothing for it. Let every man abide in the calling wherein he's called. Uh if a man's a free man and he gets uh born again, he's not to sell himself into slavery. We're not talking about your your economic social status. It may differ vastly. But in Christ, there is no distinction made between the rich and poor, the bond and the free. We are all brethren living off the riches of God's glory. Now, is there Jew or Greek? Is there a distinction physically between the Jew and the Gentile? Certainly there is. Is there a distinction physically between the uh descendants of Ham, the descendants of Shem, the descendants of Jacob's uh Japheth? Certainly there is. But in Christ Jesus, there is no distinction made. You are no more a saved child of God. You are no greater in the sight of God because of your race, one way or the other. And Peter had to learn this lesson. Peter had to learn that all saved, born-again children of God are on an equal footing in the eyes of God. No respect of persons with God, no exaltation. You are born again not of the flesh, not of blood, not of the will of man, but of God. And so there should be no distinction made within the body of Christ based upon racial considerations, based upon considerations of social standing, based upon considerations of sex. Thank God we're all saved. If we are saved and born again, if you listen to my voice right now and you're a saved Christian, you are saved by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Or you're not saved. If you're listening to my voice today and you say, Well, I'm poor, I can't be saved, I'm rich, God won't have me. I'm black, I'm white, I'm yellow, I can't approach God. God's the God of the Jews and the Hebrew people? Absolutely not. There is one Lord, there is one faith, there is one way to heaven. Jesus Christ the Lord said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. How do we know this? Well, God gave Peter a revelation one time when the heaven was open.

SPEAKER_00 28:13

Thanks for tuning in today. Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast. For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, James W. Knox Service, our sermon audio page, Bible Baptist the Land, or our website, BibleBaptisttheland.com. Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.