The Temple of God

Since I do say that. Last week, I recommended a book, if you could find it, or this one was from Elbert Josephson, God's Key to Health and Happiness. I'll leave the book in the back during potluck, in case you want to look at it or whatever. It was very good, but we went into last week, or I did, went into the different aspects of what the Bible teaches us about what to eat and what not to eat. And even though we may still be on the same page, you may say, well, there wasn't really anything new, and I know this and I know that. Hopefully, I have introduced you to some other beer than Guinness, unless you like catfish. And some of the other things that I brought up that hopefully made you think about some things. And I hope we continue to talk about that, and our nurses will help us to understand. So we talked more about the physical last week, and so I wanted to go into today not only the physical, but also the spiritual aspect. The title of the sermon—give my wife a little time when she breaks off the sermon, puts it on—the title of the sermon is called The Temple of God. The Temple of God.

The Apostle Peter makes an interesting, if not profound, statement in the Bible. You've all read it, and he was quoting from the Old Testament.

And in 1 Peter 1 and verse 16, he makes this profound statement. He makes this statement, Be holy as I am holy. Everybody heard that statement before? Be holy as I am holy.

I'd like to turn there, if you will. It's in 1 Peter. 1 Peter 1, and I'll read from the New King James.

And it says in verse 13—I'll start at 13—he said, Therefore gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober and rest your hope upon the grace that is brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lust, as in your ignorance. But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

And then he quotes, Because it is written, Be holy for I am holy, or be holy as I am holy. That's from the New King James. I want to just read those three verses from the New Living Translation so we can have a thorough understanding of what he's saying. So in the New Living Translation, it says in verse 13, So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. Kind of shoots the people in heaven waiting on us down here in the foot. Because Peter is actually saying, when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world, that our salvation will come then. So you must live as God's obedient children. He said, Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, You must be holy because I am holy. What makes you holy? Have you thought about that? May have simple answers. Do you know from the Scriptures it's not just one answer? It's not as simple as that. The world sometimes looks as clothes that make you holy. I've never worn any holy clothes. Well, I did have clothes with holes in them, but they weren't really holy. But yet, there are priests who wear a certain frock. A robe or a dress. And so everybody looks at them as a holy man. I know I worked for some monks one time in a temple, in their temple. And they all had different robes of different colors and different shapes and styles, depending on their state of holiness. You may also see rabbis who dress a certain way. And so people consider that to be a sign of holiness. But is that what the Scriptures say? Some have said a family name. Well, they're just holy people because their people before them were holy and this is how it was. Nationality. Heritage. You know, the Jews of Christ's time thought the very same thing, right? They were holy people because God chose them. And they could not see it any other way. Even when Christ brought them other teachings. They did not accept it. Most did not. And then if you look down 1 Peter 2 and verse 9, he makes this statement.

And he wasn't just talking to the Jewish people. He was talking, it says in verse 1, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in all the Gentile countries. But he says in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9, it says, but you are a chosen generation talking to the ones that follow God now. A royal priesthood. A holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Who once were not a people, but are now the people of God who had not obtained mercy, but now we have obtained mercy, have we not?

Peter quotes the Old Testament, be holy as I am holy.

But as I looked, there are only three places that he could have been quoting from. Only three places in the entire Old Testament.

4,000 years, roughly, of God's Word put out. And only three places is that phrase used. I want to look at those because that's going to teach us something. Now, which one Peter quoted from, or all of them, perhaps? Because every one of those quotes, all three, come from Leviticus. And I think he knew what he was talking about in Leviticus.

And one brings up a very good point in Leviticus 11 that we went through last week. We really delved into the clean and unclean meats, what we eat, what God says we should eat, what we shouldn't eat. And it's amazing what people eat today, even though God says, don't eat it. And I want to look into that a little bit today. But in Leviticus 11, if you could turn there with me, please. Leviticus 11, the title of that chapter in my New King James, says, food permitted and forbidden is the title. I don't know what yours has. But he goes through the entire 11th chapter talking about food, what we eat and what we shouldn't eat. Well, we are allowed to eat and what we are not allowed to eat according to our maker. Because as we found out last week, a lot of this stuff that we eat, it's not good that the world eats. And that's why we have certain food laws.

And so he goes down to describe, and in chapter 11, verse 2, he said, These are the animals which you may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. And as he goes through the ones we could eat and the ones we couldn't eat, and he goes through the entire chapter about even the birds, the fish, the meat, and then even the creeping things, which I'm not big into eating creeping things. I don't know about you, but as long as there's something not creeping, I probably won't eat things that are creepy. But there are actually creeping things you can eat. And then he comes down to the end of the chapter in verse 43, and he makes a statement, You shall not make yourselves abominable. Abominable. Or as the margin actually says, impure. With any creeping thing that creeps, nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you become defiled by them.

And then he goes to 44, where we come into these verses. He says, For I am the Lord your God. Everybody heard I am? The great I am? I am, I am that I am? Okay. For I am the Lord your God, you shall therefore sanctify, what's that mean? Set apart. For a special purpose. Yourselves, and you shall be holy for what? I am holy. I am holy. Neither you shall defile yourself with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

So he's telling physical Israel at the time, as he tells spiritual Israel today, that what you eat has a bearing on if you're holy or not. Those are his words.

He said, For you shall not be impure, abominable, detestable to me. And then it says, verse 47, it says to distinguish between the clean and the unclean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten. And he ties that to holy, being holy.

Now he says that in another... Come over to chapter 19, Leviticus 19, the second time this is used. Leviticus 19, verse 2, he says, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I am the Lord your God, am holy. So he's wanting them to be holy. And so what does he tell them to do? And you'll find this chapter very interesting because in chapter 19, 14 times in those 37 verses, he says, I am the Lord. Why does he say that? He tells them something and he's saying, Because I say this, I am the Lord. If you're going to follow me and be holy, you better do it.

It's pretty much in their face and in our face. But here he doesn't talk about food. Well, he does touch just a little bit on it. But if you go through the whole chapter of 19, it's all about conduct. All about conduct. How you live your life.

So was Peter talking about food? Being holy? Or was he talking about this conduct? Because here you can actually go down and I'll just skip through 19 and it actually says about gleaning the vineyards and gathering every grape and how you should leave some. Why? Because I am the Lord your God. He says that. So what's he teaching us? Don't be stingy! Be able to share. Be able to share. Then he goes down in verse 11. He said, You shall not steal nor deal falsely nor lie with one another. Why? I'm telling you this because I am the Lord your God. And the great I am.

And then it even goes down to verse 14. And this is very interesting because a lot of people don't think about this, but it's part of a holy conduct. He says, You shall not curse the death. Why? They can't hear you. He said, You shall not curse the death nor put a stumbling block before the blind. But you shall fear the Lord your God because what? I am the Lord. And he talks about the poor. And then he talks about what you should do and what you shouldn't do and how you should live.

And then he even comes up, and then he even comes up, goes down to verse 28. And he says about tattoos or any cuttings on your flesh. Holy people don't do that.

Talking about prostitution, harlotry. Shouldn't be. Verse 30. You shall keep my Sabbath and reverence my sanctuary.

Why? I am the Lord your God.

And then he talks about spirits, witchcraft, various things. Don't do it.

And then he says in verse 35, You shall do no injustice in judgments, in measurement of length, width, or volume. Means you don't cheat anyone. That's a holy person. You don't cheat people. It's your conduct. He said, nowhere in weights or balances.

Says, for I am the Lord your God.

Who brought you out of Egypt.

And then the last one is in chapter 20. And it all follows through. So we went to chapter 11. We went to chapter 19. We saw about food. We saw about conduct. And then chapter 20 does something that kind of ties them all together.

In verse 7, chapter 20 and verse 7, it says, Sanctify yourselves therefore and be holy for I am holy. All this conduct, how we live our lives, how we eat, how we treat people. And the New Living Translation actually puts it, so set yourselves apart to be holy. Do we do that? Is it important to us?

And then we'll go down to verse 26 of Leviticus 20. And it says, as he just got done in verse 24 and 25, talking about the clean and unclean meats. And then he follows that up with verse 26. And you shall be holy to me, for I am, I the Lord, am holy, and have separated you from peoples that you should be mine. So which one was Peter quoting from?

Chapter 11, chapter 19, chapter 20, or possibly all of them? Chapter 21, chapter 20, chapter 20, chapter 20, Be holy as I am holy. Well, we see only God has the authority to make something holy. People talk about a holy place. Only God has the right to make something holy, because He's the only one. He created everything. He made things holy. So God has certain requirements of the holy.

One, if we read from the Bible what you eat can determine your holiness. I didn't say that. Bible said it. It's telling you what it says. People in the world will argue that to death. Want to beat it to death? Oh, they can't beat it.

Just love everybody. It's not what the Bible says. Now, we have a certain standard. We're going to talk about... Where did my stuff go? I guess everybody moved it. It's behind. Okay, good. It's back there. Good. I'm going to need to draw. Well, it's called writing, but sometimes people call my writing drawing.

So God has these certain requirements. What you eat, your conduct, as we just looked at, and then God has a right to make you holy.

Now, I want to turn to the New Testament in 1 Corinthians. Hope everyone knows that. 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 3.

This was new. This was new stuff that people were learning from Paul. And he writes his church. Do you remember what 1 Corinthians is all about? It's all about a church that's messed up. That's very worldly.

And they have brought the world into the church.

And that's wrong. Because it's okay for the church to be in this world, but it's not okay for the world to be in God's church. I hope we would all agree on that. But in 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 16, Paul is trying to tell these people who have very messed up lives, especially when it comes to sex, their morals, and how they live their lives.

He says, Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Hmm. If anyone defiles the temple, okay, how do we defile the temple?

God will do what? Destroy him.

Pretty important stuff here. We're learning. I don't want much temple destroyed. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. So he's saying, we are the temple of God. Because, why? The Spirit of God dwells in us. That makes us holy, because where did the Spirit come from? Him. It's his Spirit, not our Spirit. And the Spirit of God is a gift. You can't earn it. It's a gift. So now we see not only food, conduct, but also the Holy Spirit makes us holy. 1 Corinthians 6. Paul is so frustrated in this letter, because he's trying to address these people in the church.

And he tells them, you're the temple. But then he has to tell them again, because...

In 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 19, he said, Do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you?

See, that's what makes you holy. Whom you have from God, and you are not your own. Why aren't you your own? Because you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your Spirit, which are God's.

When you read that, if you go back and look just a few verses before, what is he addressing in the church at Corinth? Something that I hope I never have to address here. Because he said, in verse 15, Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not.

What is he going through? You can read the rest of it. I won't go into it. People, men particularly, are having sexual relations with people outside church. And also inside the church. It's happening. And he has to address it. Because it's gotten so prevalent, and everybody kind of turns their face to it and goes, Oh well, you know, we have to love them and forgive them. He says, No! Got to fix it. Because the church will not be blessed. Unless we have our act together. Two thousand years later, even.

So can we defile the temple of God? Have you thought about your temple?

Because here there's a direct correlation between our bodies being the temple, and what Peter said all the way back there, Be holy as what? I am holy. I am holy. The I Am. They understood it in the Old Testament, and they understood it in the New Testament. And do we understand it? What Christ is saying? See, when Christ made the statement, I Am, that just took everyone back. And he said it many times. As a matter of fact, he said it eight times, just in the book of John. He made the statement, I Am.

I Am who I will be. I Am actually means in the Greek and in the... also the Hebrew, the very same thing. I Am means always. Always will be.

It means actually Yahweh. Y-H-W-H. Tetragrammaton. Telling that He's God. That's what it is.

Moses had to tell him when he went in. He said, who do I tell the people you are? He said, I Am. That I Am, they'll know.

I Am also means ongoing forever and ever and ever. Always was, always will be, always existed. That describes God.

But it says, it makes the defining statement that in John, that Jesus Christ was God. That's why they were so upset with Him. Because what? John 6, verse 35, He says, I Am the bread of life. What does that mean? It means He will keep you alive. I Am the bread of life. Is He? Do we eat of that bread? Every day?

I Am. He says, I Am the light of the world. Is He the light in your world?

He said, before Abraham was, I Am. Telling He existed way before them. He says, I Am the door. Was He? Is He your door to salvation?

Is He the door to communication between you and God the Father? We heard that on atonement, didn't we? He is our high priest.

He said, I Am the good shepherd. Is He your shepherd?

That's why these words are in there. He said, I Am the resurrection and the life. Who's going to resurrect you?

Jesus Christ.

At the sound of a seventh trumpet. He says, I Am the way, the truth, and the life is His way, your way.

I Am the true vine.

Is He? You go to Him for your life every day?

It shows that there is a powerful statement, that statement that says, I Am. You remember the story at the Garden of Gethsemane last night at Christ? You remember the story, right? The guards all that came to get Him, led by Judas.

And one of them, I'm sure, I would have loved to have seen the scene, made the statement, are you He? And what did He say? He said, I Am. Remember what happened?

That group of soldiers and men just fell backwards. They were knocked off their feet.

Quite a statement. The last time He said, I Am. The last time He said, I Am.

You wonder what they had to want to say. What happened to us?

That statement is very powerful.

Do you want to be I Am?

Do you want to be ongoing forever and ever and live forever? Be holy as I am holy. Powerful, profound statement by Peter. Wanting the people to get it. I want you to live forever. And the only way to do it is to be I Am. To be holy. Just as Jesus Christ was holy.

So, I'm going to be the only way to do it. So, is God saying, be holy as I am holy? Absolutely. Is God telling us we shall be holy forever?

A powerful, powerful statement. Last week, I asked you to think of some outward signs of an authentic Christian. Remember that? Because there are signs of an authentic Christian. We'll dig into this a little bit deeper in next week's sermon. But I wanted to for the fact because we just looked at how we eat can determine really if we're an authentic Christian. Was an authentic Christian? One who actually follows the same life that Jesus Christ lived and followed.

And I said there are seven signs. That if I live next door to you, and I did not know that you were a part of God's Church, I could look at some of the things that you said and did. Not that you would say, let me tell you about the Bible, good neighbor.

No. There are certain ways in which I can tell. I think it is obvious. So, I'd like to go through there with your help. I'd like to do that today. Since we talked about one is, if you're an authentic Christian following Christ, number one that's going to happen is what?

One thing we talk about is food, right? I can tell if I'm working next to you or seeing what you're cooking on your grill or smelling what you're cooking on your grill, find your neighbor by what you eat. Whether you're really an authentic Christian, right? You may work with somebody and you can see typically what they eat. And if I'm an authentic Christian following what the Bible says, how Jesus Christ lived his life, that person is not going to be eating pork. He's not going to have shrimp. He's going to have certain things that they do and don't eat, right? How about something else? What does an authentic Christian do?

Well, okay, take that. The Holy Day, right?

The Holy Days. They're going to be attending these Holy Days. Because why? Jesus Christ observed them and they're in the book, right? That's an outward sign. So if your neighbor saw you, for one thing, you never cook any, you know, pork chops. You never have any shrimp on the bobby. But you eat this food, right? And then, on these days, they don't know when, some of them happen in the middle of the week. You get dressed up and you go to church. And nobody else on the block is doing it. An outward sign of an authentic Christian. How about something else? There's seven. What is it? Seven.

But you know what I'm talking about? The Sabbath, right? An authentic Christian, what? Keeps the Sabbath. So if you don't keep a Sabbath, guess what? Can you really say you're a Christian? Christ-like person? No. Not according to this book. And where to be judged, if you remember Revelation, by the words from this book. So the Sabbath, an authentic Christian, is going to keep the Sabbath. Every Saturday, they're going to get up and go to services because it's a holy convocation. And they come together where God's Spirit, and that's how people are empowered.

Anybody?

I got them hearing everywhere.

You pray? Well, people don't typically see you pray. No? Right? You should pray. That is a sign, but that's something basically between you and God. What? A tire? Would you say a tire is something? No? Okay.

Okay, a tire isn't one. That's just what you say. Now, if somebody comes in and they have a top cut down to here, have a skirt so short that it leaves nothing to the imagination, right? Would that be? That's all they have.

A tire? Would it be? I mean, if everybody just dressed in blue jeans and t-shirt, would you consider a authentic Christian?

Words that come out of your mouth. Ah, so speech or tongue, because that was mentioned down here. Would an authentic Christian be what? F this, F that. Right? Right? I mean, you hear it in the world, would you expect to hear it from Jesus Christ? Would you hear that from Jesus Christ? So let's say the tongue, right? Because many of you may work. I work construction, right, Mike? It's weird. You're strange if you don't curse. You're just, there's something wrong with you. Something weird. Now, maybe it's that way in nursing. I don't know. I'm never around nursing. Maybe it's the way in your job. But it is in construction, and a lot of people think nothing of saying the word. But I would never see Jesus Christ. Now, let's go back to the attire part, since we're looking at this. Would Jesus Christ wear something that you could see He wasn't an authentic Christian? If Jesus Christ was married, which He is marrying eventually, it's church. What would His wife be dressed like? Anybody? Would she show the world? Was she head? Well, could you picture Jesus Christ getting dressed up to take His wife out on a Saturday night date with skin-tight blue jeans? Could you see Jesus Christ doing that?

Couldn't, could you? It just doesn't fit. So could attire be a Christlike appearance? Because we're talking about seeing, not really talking to people. So it can affect us. It can affect people looking and going, whoa! Now, Traceland brought up, well, that's what's what if that is all you have? My answer to that is, what if it's not all you have? Would you still wear it? Probably not.

Because you're trying to show what? Holiness, right? And if you did, that's all you had, and you begin to learn about God, what happens? Your mind changes, doesn't it?

And you begin to not see life as it was. The people called me this week from Aruba, and they had gotten found in their mailbox a good news magazine. They didn't ask for it, they just found it four or five months ago. And they read it and became convinced through that magazine that Saturday was a Sabbath. And so then they said, well, we don't know where this magazine came from, and I don't know anything in Cincinnati, Ohio, so you know. So what did they do? They started trying to find a church. They kept Saturday, and they went to two or three, and they said, just didn't feel right. So then they came back and they got on the website and loaded, downloaded a bunch of booklets. And so they spent the next two or three months reading these booklets. And then they got more of the good news magazine sent to them. And so then they said that they got the correspondence course, Bible correspondence course, and they'd been pouring through it, or about a third way through it. And they made this phone call because they found my number, because they went to the website, found out who was director of the Caribbean. So then they call and they go, do you have a church here? I said no, but we have good news subscribers there. And she said, well, we need a church here. And I said, okay, well, it's not really that simple, but we'll work at it. She said, he said, well, we have to do something. This has completely changed our lives. We are not the same people we are. We are so much happier. And said, we understand why we're here. We have to get this out to other people. On this island, it's not that big. We can do it. We want to help you do it.

What would your answer be?

We're going to find a way.

This changes people's lives. Being holy, learning how to make changes will change people's lives.

So, we had conduct. Right? Sit.

Conduct. I have one more, but you may have others.

What is one way of seeing somebody from the outside?

You're close. Ah, agape, right? By this, all men know that you are my disciples, if you have what? Agape, one to another. Love, one to another. Have you worked with... See? You can have some of these. I've worked with people that had a lot of love towards each other. They would treat their conduct was good. And so, people have gotten confused in the past, and go, well, yeah, he's a good Christian person. This is what makes you an authentic Christian. Not just one or two things, but it's a holy lifestyle. It's how you live. That's what makes you the temple. And it's hard for you to be the temple, because I've known people that did this and this, but came down to the last... came down to love.

Agape? It wasn't there. It wasn't present.

It takes it. Why? Because God's Holy Spirit, you are the temple. The Holy Spirit's going to be here, and it's going to guide you through these things where you want this, and it's going to come down to agape.

And it's just naturally going to come out. If you are the temple of God. All at once? No. Conversion is a lifelong process, isn't it? None of us have it yet. Now, I'll bring this up, because it crossed my mind. And I am not, if you do not agree with this statement, totally fine. But I could not see Jesus Christ wearing a Rolex watch. Okay? I don't see it.

Now, it's not that I've got a Seiko watch. My wife bought me for my birthday. I don't know what it costs. $150-$200. If she spent more than that, I'm going to be upset.

But could I see Jesus Christ wearing a $10,000 Rolex watch? I just don't see it.

Do I see him wearing rings and everything else that we talked about from James when we went through the book of James? No. Now, you may say, well, if you can afford it, I'm saying even if you could afford it, do you want people looking at it? Wow! I mean, you buy a Rolex watch and you know it's a Rolex watch. It's got diamonds, it's got gold, and it's authentic.

Nothing, not there's anything wrong necessarily with that, but I just don't see Jesus Christ doing it. Could you? Would you? It's your own opinion.

One statement that stood out for me is when Peter was on a boat. Remember Peter who said, Be holy as I am holy?

You remember Peter was there on that boat and Jesus Christ came up to him and said something to him. And Peter was a sailor, a fisherman, a rough hand, rough talking, as you know, from his cursing the night that Jesus Christ was even taken. You remember? He reverted back and he just cursed like a blue blue street, right? But Peter had a mind that really brought it all home, because when Jesus walked up to him, he said, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man. Depart from me, for I am a sinful man. And little did he know he would be one of the leaders of the church. So we all start from one place, but it doesn't mean that's where we're being taken. I have answers from people who do not agree, because I get this question in the Caribbean. I get a lot of questions sometimes, even on the airplane. You're sitting beside someone for two or three, four hours when you're flying, or you're in the airport, conversation starts. They see me open my Bible. I'm reading my Bible, and you'll get occasional questions. And one of those is about food. I've gotten at a time or two. And what makes your… Okay, because they say, you know, well, you're a minister, what church? I say, well, I've never really heard of it. What makes your church unique or different? Oh, okay, glad you asked. So then I go into a few things that make us unique and different. And they usually don't have anything but the food laws. That usually gets somebody's attention, like, whoa, you mean. And I just wrote down three of the things that people actually said to me. Well, only Jews and Muslims keep those laws, don't they? The other one was the food laws are Old Testament stuff, aren't they? And then one was, oh, I learned in our church, our school, that the cross cleaned all the unclean. The cross, when Jesus Christ, cleaned all the unclean things in the world. How would you answer these things, brother? I want to give you, as we wrap this up, as we start in the last minutes here, I want us to be able to have an answer for a simplistic answer. Because I get questions sometimes that I've had to find an easier way to answer them. Because I can't go, well, if we go into the Greek, I can tell you this and this and that. Well, how many people have got a Greek lexicon or a strong or something like that? So, realistically, we should be able to explain why we're holy. And we should need, because sometimes you don't even have your Bibles, do you?

We should be able to explain that. Very simply put, or tell someone why we believe what we believe and why it's true. And the most common story that you use, and you've all heard it many times, is that all the food was cleaned in Acts 10. Can we go back to Acts 10? And perhaps I can give you something today that I have used many times to explain it. Because this is a very common story, that you go back to the New Testament and say, well, yeah, I remember Peter found out that all the food was cleaned. But in Acts 10, I like to start in verse 1. Acts 10 and verse 1, there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously or gifts to the people and prayed to God always about the ninth hour of the day. He saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying, Cornelius! And when he observed him, he was afraid and said, what is it, Lord? So he said to him, your prayers and your alms have come up as a for a memorial before God. Now, send to Joppa, which is about 10 to 12 miles away from Caesarea, and send for Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the sea. And he will tell you what you must do. And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants, a devout soldier, from among those who waited on him continually. So after he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa. The next day, as they drew near on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up to the housetop to pray about noon, about 12 o'clock noon. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat. But while they made ready the food, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened in an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners descending to him and let down on the earth. And it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him saying, Rise, Peter! Kill and eat! But Peter said, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean. And a voice spoke to him again the second time, What God has cleansed you must not call common. This was done three times and the object was taken up into heaven again.

There it is. God set it clean. All the stuff. Now, while Peter wondered in verse 17, What? How dumb is Peter? God told him three times these animals were all clean. He could eat them. How dumb are you, Peter? Or was he so dumb? Now, while Peter wondered within himself what this vision meant, which he had seen, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius made inquiry into Simon's house and stood outside the gate.

And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging it. While Peter thought about the vision, still thinking about it, knowing it just wasn't that simple. Knowing God wasn't just saying this. The Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise and go with them. And so then it says that he went with them. And we come down to verse 24. And the following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for him and had called together his relatives and close friends. This is an amazing thing because how many centurions, which was a very, very powerful man in the Roman army, and the headquarters of the Roman army was in Caesarea, which meant he had worked his way all across Judea because they moved you every so many years because you'd stay so many places.

So he was in Caesarea at this time and had a whole household set up. And so he was one of the top men in the Roman army. And Peter was coming in.

Cornelius met him and fell at his feet and worshipped him. Imagine that happening to you. But Peter lifted him up, saying, Stand up. I myself am also a man. And he talked with him. He went in and found many who had come together. Then he said to them, You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go into one another's nation. But God has what? shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. As God used symbols down through the time, he used symbols here to show that they were not like the animals unclean or should be called common.

Therefore, I came without objection as soon as I was sent. For I asked them, For what reason have you sent from me? And Cornelius said four days ago, I was fasting. Now, you come to the point of verse 34, Then Peter opened his mouth and said to him, In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in, and this is very important scripture, so if you do not have this marked, please mark it, but in every nation who ever fears God and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

What is righteousness? I point you here. There is right and there is wrong. So God is waiting for those in every nation who fears Him and works righteousness. Now, in verse 44, while Peter was still speaking, these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon those who heard the word and those of the circumcision who were there with Him, who believed were astonished as many as came with Peter because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles.

And then, in 48, and He commanded them to be baptized, and in the name of the Lord, then they asked Him to stay a few days. So He baptized these people. They received the Holy Spirit. Cornelius and all his household received the Holy Spirit were baptized. They were no longer considered common or unclean as people perceived them. Now, down in chapter 11, verse 1, 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, and they said this very vehemently, You went in to uncircumcised men, and you ate with them? How disgusting! And then Peter goes on to explain the very same words that we had just read, what happened to him. And he explained it in detail the same things to all the apostles. See, the apostles were all here. This was a major teaching. So what did he do then? You came down to verse 15. I want you to stay with me just in these last three verses.

Chapter 11, verse 15 of Acts. And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as upon us at the beginning. Pentecost. Then I remembered the words of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized her water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If therefore God gave us the same gift, 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?

He made that statement to all the apostles, to all the ministers there in Jerusalem. And here is your quencher.

And when all these apostles, all these Jews, heard these sayings, they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, okay, thank God, now we can all eat unclean meat.

Is that what it says? Well, thank God, now we can eat pork, we can eat all these. That's not what is said, is it? He takes two chapters to explain this, and it's that simple. So when somebody wants, just read that and say, what did he say? Now we can eat all clean meat. No. He actually said, then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. It's that simple. And if they still, one wants to say that he believed everything was clean, if you go by that and all the animals were cleaned, then what God is also saying is that the whole world is clean, and there's no need for salvation. Right? Because if all the food's been cleaned, he cleaned and he also said this compared to the men, so now there's no reason to have Jesus Christ. The whole world is saved, and salvation is before everyone. And one of the things we close this, another one someone gave me was 1 Corinthians 6, like you turn back there. 1 Corinthians 6.

And we just read where you are the temple of God in verse 19 and 20. But someone read me this scripture and it says, well, I know everything is okay to eat because in 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 12, it says, Paul said, all things are lawful for me. And then he says in verse 13, foods for the stomach and stomach for the food.

At which I say, all things are lawful for me. Really? Is that what Paul's saying? So all food is lawful for him to eat. That's what they're saying. Okay, murder is lawful for me. I can murder anyone because all things are. I can commit adultery on my wife because all things are lawful for me. Doesn't make sense at all, does it? Especially when Paul in Acts 25 verse 8 and Acts 28 verse 17 and 23 says, when he was taken before the kings, when he was taken before all the leaders, his testimony was, I have never, against the law of the Jews or against God, has taught people not to observe these things. He lays it out in his testimony before them. I have kept these things all my life.

Christ. Question.

Christ came into a valley. And there were, he cast out a legion of demons. Remember the story? He came in, found this man possessed, and he cast out this legion, which thousands of demons.

And he goes and he destroys this whole herd of goat. Right? Sheep. Cattle. Pigs.

Swine. Right? Now, would he have destroyed, if it had been cattle? Why were those pigs there? Didn't I say last week? They were what? Human walking, I mean, not human. Animal walking garbage disposals, right? They clean up all the dead. How many pigs were there? Remember? 2000. Right? Do you think they needed that land was so bad that they needed 2000 garbage disposals running around? No. What do you raise 2000 hogs for? Meat! You're going to eat them! The Romans ate them! They were making money! Right? I do not believe he would have cast those into good food that people were raising.

The father of the prodigal son. Remember the story? Luke 15? Remember how the boy went off and he was so poor and so he went and worked for this farmer and took care of what? This, you know, got to slopping the cows, you know, and he just wanted to eat even what the cows ate. And so he finally found his way back and so then he found his way back home. He was poor and almost dead. But so his father said, oh great! The son is here! Kill the fatted hog and let's have a party. He didn't say that, did he? Boy didn't take care of didn't slop the cows, did he? Slop the hogs when he was what? Away from God. When he came back to God, where was he? What did he serve? How we act, how we eat, and God's Holy Spirit makes us the temple of God. It is important what we eat, but brethren, it is very, very important how we live our lives, how we represent God, and that we stir up the Spirit. Because when we stir up the Spirit, what's going to happen? We're going to become more like God.

How clean is your temple? We're going to learn something this afternoon from people who have been educated in it to help us to keep our physical temple clean. Because when our physical temple is clean and we feel good, and all of us know that, we all know when we feel good, it's such a wonderful feeling that even our outlook towards God changes. I need help. We all need help.

To make sure that our temple is kept clean and God can stir up and fill us full of the Holy Spirit. He can keep our temple wholly clean and, as it says in Matthew 5, become you perfect just as a Father. So, what we've learned in the last two sermons, it matters how you live, and it matters who you are. And the one that matters most to you is to God.