Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to Acts 10:17–48. Today we come to the dramatic conclusion of this great story we began last time. God brings together Cornelius and Peter for this pivotal moment in human history—the gospel gets advanced to the Gentiles. 

But before we unpack this text, let me give you a word picture to help frame what’s happening here. Visualize in your minds, if you will, a reptile. Maybe one of those reptiles in the sheet dropped down from heaven in Acts 10—a gecko, a rattlesnake, or a lizard. When a lizard sheds its skin, it’s not a quick or effortless process. It rubs its body against rough surfaces. It wrestles it off. New skin pushes out the old for days until finally—out with the old and in with the new. 

And why does a lizard shed its skin? Was the old skin evil? No. It was good. Was it wrong to ever have that skin? No. It was purposeful in its time. But now, the old gives way to new. It’s the difference between old wineskins and new wineskins in Jesus’s memorable analogy. 

When you imagine in your minds a reptile, with difficulty, shedding its old skin, that’s the word picture of what we see in Acts 10 with the Apostle Peter. He is, with difficulty, shedding the old ways of the Mosaic covenant, so that the new covenant can emerge and have its full force. He is putting to pasture the old stallion of dietary restrictions and law observance, so that he can ride freely toward the Gentiles. 

And God, knowing Peter, did more than just spell it out for him: “Hey Peter, stop eating kosher and go minister to the Gentiles.” God gave him this elaborate vision involving a sheet full of clean and unclean animals. And then he took that sheet up to heaven and left Peter to ponder.

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And that’s where we find Peter in our passage today. In verse 19, he’s pondering. In verse 17, he’s inwardly perplexed. “What was all that about? That sheet full of clean and unclean animals? What was that?”

Last week, I left you in suspense in Acts 10. Let me get you up to speed with what’s happened so far before we dive into today’s passage. 

In Acts 10:1, we were introduced to a man named Cornelius. Cornelius is a centurion. He’s a soldier. He’s a leader of men. And he’s a man of wealth and influence. He’s a full-blooded Gentile, but he is also a God-fearer. He gives alms to the poor. He is a Jewish sympathizer. He prays prayers to the God of the Israelites.

And God shows up in Cornelius’s life and says, “I’ve noticed your good works and your benevolence. And I want you to know that there’s a way for you to be saved.” That’s wonderful news for Cornelius. Now he knows you don’t have to be a Jew to be saved. You don’t have to follow the law perfectly. A Gentile soldier, can have his sins forgiven. All he has to do is send for this guy Peter, and Peter will relay to him this vital piece of information. 

 So Cornelius sends three men to fetch Peter in Joppa and bring him to Caesarea. And while these men are feverishly traveling thirty miles in one day to find Peter in Joppa, God reveals something to Peter as well. While Peter was praying, he fell into a divinely-induced trance. And Peter has this incredible vision from heaven as a sheet of clean and unclean animals is lowered before him and God says, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat.” Peter says in response, “No way, Lord. My lips have never been defiled by that which is common or unclean.” And God responds to Peter with this command, “Don’t you call ‘common,’ what I have made clean, Peter. Don’t you do that!” And verse 16 tells us that this happens three times.  

Now look at verse 17. Luke tells us that Peter is still mulling over this vision even after God revealed the message to him three times. 

17 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed [Do you see that? He was still wrestling with this vision, trying to figure out what God was showing him] as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate 18 and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. 19 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. 20 Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” 

Now let me make two observations from the passage so far. First, the Spirit doesn’t explain the vision to Peter. Did you notice that? The Spirit doesn’t say, “You see, Peter, the unclean animals represent the Gentiles which the blood of Jesus cleanses. And Christ has come to fulfill the law, so dietary laws are no longer in effect.” The Holy Spirit doesn’t do that. He doesn’t spell it out for Peter. It’d be nice if he had done that. I’m sure Peter would have appreciated that. 

But here’s something that I’ve found even in my own life. God sometimes wants us to wrestle with his purposes. God values the inward perplexity that Peter has to struggle with. God values the pondering that Peter is engaged in. 

Because here’s the thing—the journey is sometimes just as important as the destination. Do you hear me on that? Sometimes the journey, the pondering, the wrestling, leads us to deeper relationship with God and makes the destination that much sweeter. 

“Why am I going through this crisis, Pastor Tony? Why is God putting me through the wringer? Why this difficulty right now?” I don’t know. But I know two things. 1) Whatever you’re going through isn’t evidence that God doesn’t love you. That can’t be the case, because God sent his Son to die for your sins. And 2) All things work for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

 Some of you might be going through an extended season of perplexity right now. Some of you may be pondering the deep things of God and falling short of clarity on a certain matter. Don’t begrudge the journey that God is taking you on. Have faith. Trust God in the perplexity. Cling to him. And when clarity comes (if it ever comes on this side of eternity), rejoice. And when you finally reach the destination, the journey, the struggle, will be that much sweeter for you. 

In Peter’s case, when he finally gets it… when it finally sinks in what God is trying to show him, it sinks in deep into Peter’s soul. It’ll be a lesson that Peter never forgets. 

Now one thing that God values in his children in the midst of perplexity is obedience. Peter is wrestling, wrestling, wrestling… he’s trying to figure this vision out. And in the middle of that, God the Spirit says, “Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” And as we’ll see in a second, Peter obeys. He doesn’t understand what’s going on… not yet. But he obeys. And that pleases God. Obedience in the midst of perplexity pleases God. Just keep doing the next right thing. 

Let me make an additional observation from verse 20. The Spirit says, “Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation.” Now that word “hesitation” could be translated “judging” or even “doubting.” The NASB translates it “misgivings.” I think that’s closer to the mark. So the Spirit says essentially, “Turn off your guilty conscience, Peter. Go down there and accompany them without judging them in any way or having misgivings about them.” 

Why would Peter have misgivings about them? Well, because they are Gentiles. And he is going to be asked to go with them and enter into the unclean house of an unclean Gentile. And they might even serve unclean food while he’s there. And Peter’s OT alarm is going to go off. So the Spirit’s saying here, “Just be cool, Peter. Turn your conscience off. Go with them. It’ll all make sense to you when you get there.”

So, look at verse 21. 

21 And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?” 22 And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation 

Here they are just laying out Cornelius’s credentials, right? They’re telling Peter, “He’s not your run-of-the-mill, pagan, Gentile soldier. He’s a good man. He’s a God-fearing man.” 

“And he…

was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” 

Look at verse 23.

23 So [Peter] invited them in to be his guests. 

That was a big deal in itself, by the way. Inviting Gentiles into a Jewish home was a big deal. It’s not as big as Jews entering a Gentile home, but it’s a step in that direction. It’s one of the many social and ethnic barriers that are torn down in this passage. Peter is shedding his skin! 

The next day [Peter] rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. 

Go ahead and write this down in your notes. Peter’s shedding partiality here. And God is uniting people in Christ by the gospel. And here’s the first thing that God uses to unite people in Christ. 

God Unites People in Christ through:

1) Obedient messengers (10:17–23)

God the Spirit told Peter to go. Peter goes! God the Son told Peter, “Go, make disciples of all nations.” God the Son told Peter, “Be my witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.” And Peter’s almost there. The dam is about to break.   

Last week, we saw Peter make a ridiculous statement. The Lord told him to kill and eat an unclean And he said in response, “Absolutely not… Lord.” “I can’t do what you tell me to do… Lord.” But now, to Peter’s credit, he travels thirty miles north of Joppa to pagan Gentile territory, to enter an unclean Gentile house. Why? Because God told him to. And God loves obedient messengers. God uses that to unite us in him.

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So Peter and these three men hit the road for Caesarea. Verse 23 says, 

The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. 

Acts 11:12 tells us that there were six men, almost certainly Jews, who accompanied Peter from Joppa. So we have seven Jews—Peter and his posse. And we have three Gentiles traveling with them. A party of ten witnesses. 

And verse 24 says, 

24 And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 

 So while his servants were away fetching Peter, Cornelius gathered all of his friends and relatives at his house. “You guys have got to come to my house for this. This guy is going to tell us how we can be saved. This is the most important day of our lives!” And there’s anticipation in Cornelius’s house. There’s urgency. This guy had been searching and praying and hoping for clarity regarding his relationship with God, and now it’s about to happen. 

 And verse 25 says,

25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.  

“Whoa! Relax Cornelius! What are you doing?” I think Cornelius got a little carried away here. Perhaps, he was just showing respect to Peter. Perhaps he was just paying homage to Peter. But whatever the case, Peter’s having none of this.

26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” 

I find it interesting that some people who believe that Peter was the first pope, fail to recognize that their “first pope” told people, “Don’t bow down to me, I’m just a man!” For the record, I don’t believe in apostolic succession. And I don’t believe that Peter was the first pope. But for those who do believe that, I wish that they would expect their spiritual leader who follows in the footsteps of Peter to do what Peter does here and say, “Don’t bow to me… I too am just a man.” I would like to hear that more from our Catholic friends.

For Cornelius’s part, he doesn’t know any better. And Peter has to correct him. That’s what spiritual leaders do. And look at verse 27. 

27 And as [Peter] talked with [Cornelius], [Peter] went in and found many persons gathered. 

I’m sure Cornelius was like, “This is my great aunt Helen from Ephesus. She made this casserole. She came all the way down here to hear your message. And this is my uncle Titus from Tarsus. He fears God like I do. And he wants to have peace with the Hebrew God just like me. And here are some of my soldiers who are in my battalion. They fear God too.” 

I don’t know how many people were there to listen to Peter’s message. But I would guess something like fifty people came. Remember, Cornelius was a man of influence. He had a hundred soldiers under his charge. And since centurions were well-paid, he probably had a large, palatial dwelling that could accommodate a lot of people. Whatever the case, Peter has a meaningful number of very captive listeners in this house to hear his message. This is a dream-come-true for any evangelist! I’d love to go into a house full of people anxious to hear the gospel.  

But Peter’s gospel-presentation gets off to an awkward start. Look at verse 28.

28 And [Peter] said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, 

That’s not your typical ice-breaker for an audience! “Let me start by saying how wrong it is for me to be here. Jews shouldn’t socialize with Gentiles.” “Thank you, Peter, we like spending time with you too.”

What’s going on here? Peter’s shedding partiality. He’s a reptile shedding its skin. 

but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.

Aha! Now it all comes together! This is Peter’s “eureka moment.” Because when did God show Peter that he should not call any person common or unclean? God showed him animals on that sheet, not people! When did he make the connection between those animals and the Gentiles? I don’t know. Luke never specifies.

But right here, he gets it. Maybe walking into Cornelius’s house and seeing all these people helped him to put it together… 

… God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 

Bravo, Peter! He’s got it! That bizarre, object lesson prophecy with the sheet full of animals is finally starting to make sense to him. Peter may be flawed, as we all are, but he’s teachable. Peter may be a little dense, like we all are, but when he grasps a truth that God has shown him, he gets it. He’s teachable. 

And look at verse 29. 

29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.” 

Now I don’t think that Peter understands everything just yet. If he did, he wouldn’t have asked “Why’d you send for me?” in verse 29. “Don’t you know Peter? Isn’t it obvious? They need to get saved!” Maybe he has an inkling of that, but he waits for them to state the matter clearly. 

So look what Cornelius says here in verse 30. We know this part already, because Luke told us this at the beginning of Acts 10. But Peter’s hearing this for the first time from the man himself. 

30 And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. 

Kind? Peter just rudely said that it was unlawful for him to be there. But Cornelius doesn’t care about that. He knows how difficult it would be for a Jew to enter his house. And besides, all he cares about ultimately is the message the Peter has. 

So look how he ends his speech in verse 33.

Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.” 

Talk about a captive audience. I envision this room full of Gentiles gazing longingly at Peter. They are hanging on his every word. “What’s the message, Peter?” “What is it? Tell us!”

Write this down as a second point in your message today. Here’s another thing that God uses to unite people in Christ. Not just obedient messengers, but also…

2) Receptive listeners (10:24–33)

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And let me clarify something here. This is not just some token gesture of goodwill between Jews and Gentiles. “I came into your house. You came into my house. Let’s pretend like we like each other.” This wasn’t a publicity stunt. These Gentiles don’t want to just be honored by having a Jewish guest in their home. They want the message. They want to hear from God. And Peter is the messenger. “What does God have to say? Tell us! We’ve got to know.”

Do you remember that turmoil you felt before you gave your life to Christ? Do you remember that, church? Do you remember the burden of sin that was just crushing you? And that desire that you had to know God and be at peace with God? Do you remember that? That’s what these guys are feeling.

Sanja has talked with me before about the burden she had before she came to Christ. It was such a crushing burden that she despaired of life itself. She desperately wanted to know how to have peace with God. 

And that’s what these people are feeling right now. That’s why they are hanging on Peter’s every word. They’ve got to know, “How can I have peace with a holy God? How can I have my sins forgiven? How, Peter? Tell us!” 

And there might be someone in this room listening to this message right now, and you feel similarly. “How might I have peace with God? How can I be saved? How can I have my sins forgiven? These sins are weighing me down, and I have no hope! What has God done to give me hope?” 

If that’s you right now, listen up. These may be the most important words that you’ve ever heard in your life. Look what Peter says in verse 34.   

34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

There it is. That’s what that sheet with all those animals was about. Peter gets it. Gentiles can get saved. “What God has cleansed by the blood of Jesus, Peter, don’t you call that unclean! Don’t do that, Peter.”

Really Peter should have known that this was Jesus’s intent all along. Jesus told them, “Go be my witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.” Maybe Peter thought that Jesus just meant to the Jews who are around the world and immigrated to the ends of the earth. No, Peter. Jesus came for Gentiles too. And God shows no partiality. 

And so, Peter preaches the gospel to a room full of Gentiles. And here’s the gospel. Are you ready to hear the gospel, church? Do you love it? Do you love the gospel? Do you believe it? Here it is. 

Peter’s preached it before. But this time, for the first time, he’s preaching to Gentiles. 

36 As for the word that [God] sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone [not just Jews… everyone] who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” 

That’s the gospel! That’s how a person gets saved. That’s how a person receives forgiveness of their sins. Do you believe that? Have you been saved? 

“So Peter, let me get this straight. You mean to tell me that even pagan, godless, Gentiles can be saved?” Absolutely. “Even Gentiles in the United States of America?” Yes. Every day that happens around the world. And this is where it all started in Acts 10.

Write this down as a third point from the message. God Unites People in Christ through obedient messengers, receptive listeners, and thirdly,

3) Gospel proclamation (10:34–43)

Look, my name’s not Peter. And I’m not an apostle. But I’m here this morning to do the same thing that Peter did two-thousand years ago. And that’s to herald the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. I’m here to proclaim that Jesus is Lord. And by faith in him you can have your sins forgiven. 

You don’t have to work for your salvation. You can’t work for your salvation. But praise be to God, Jesus has done the work for you. And as Peter told this room of Gentiles two-thousand years ago, “everyone who believes in Jesus (believes in his death as an atonement for sin and believes in his resurrection as the victory over death) …

everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

And if you want to receive that forgiveness, I want to challenge you to do that right now. Don’t wait till we get to the end of this message. Don’t wait for the final song. Don’t wait to talk to someone about it. Don’t wait till tomorrow morning. You may not get a “tomorrow morning.” 

Right now, bow your head and admit before the Lord, “I’m a sinner. And I believe what the Bible says about Jesus. I believe in Jesus’s death and resurrection. And from this point forward in my life, I confess Jesus as Lord. I can’t save myself. I can’t atone for my own sin. I can’t do enough works to compensate for my own sinfulness. I receive the free gift of salvation that Jesus gives. And it’s by his blood that I am forgiven.” Just communicate that to the Lord right now. 

And if you are already a believer in Jesus Christ, then just say “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jesus, for saving a sinner like me.” Because 

everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

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One more thing. One more point. God unites people in Christ through… 

4) Spirit-filled Baptism (10:44–48)

44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 

I love this. Peter doesn’t even finish his sermon before these guys get saved. “Sorry Peter, this can’t wait.” And the Holy Spirit falls on them. 

And verse 45 says, 

45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. 

Some have called this the “Gentile Pentecost.” I think that’s exactly right. This is like Acts 2 all over again, except this time it’s Gentiles not Jews. Maybe something like those visible “flaming tongues of fire” fell on them just like the disciples in the upper room. I don’t know. But something observable happened. The Jewish believers from Joppa were amazed by it. They heard these Gentiles speaking in tongues and praising God.

And by the way, I think that the tongues here are the same as Acts 2. They start speaking in languages unfamiliar to the speakers, but familiar to the listeners. If you remember in Acts 2, the disciples spoke in tongues that they didn’t know. But the audience that had gathered from around the world knew what they were saying. It was a supernatural event that authenticated the message and brought about mass conversion in Jerusalem. 

So I envision something similar to that happening here at the Gentile Pentecost. The Gentiles of Cornelius’s family started speaking in Aramaic or Hebrew or some other languages that they didn’t know. But the Jewish listeners did know those languages. And so the spread of the gospel to these Gentiles was authenticated by their praising God in languages that these Jewish believers understood.

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Notice too, they didn’t use tongues to extol themselves or draw attention to themselves. They used them to extol God. For the record, I’m more inclined these days towards a cessationist position on tongues than a continuationist position. But for my continuationist friends who do see the use of tongues as operative in today’s churches, I’d like to see more of this. I’d like to see more extolling God and less drawing attention to self. There’s too much charismatic chaos in churches today. And there’s not enough worship of God. 

Several weeks ago I told you that I would share more with you on the issue of tongues in the church. Let’s address that now. There are three occurrences of tongues in the book of Acts (2:3–4; 10:46; 19:6). In each of those cases, those tongues are foreign languages. It’s not gibberish. And God used tongues in this NT era to confirm the Holy Spirit’s presence in believers. That was important in Acts 2 at Pentecost. And that was important here. 

Notice what the text says in verse 45.

45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.

There are other ways that the gift of the Holy Spirit was manifested in a person’s life, but this is the most obvious example. This was evidence of a miracle. So God was showing these Jewish believers here that they share one Spirit in common with these Gentiles. To use Paul’s language later in Ephesians: “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:4–6).

Now, can God use the gift of tongues in our own day to confirm the gift of the Spirit? I would answer, “Yes, of course, he can.” But that’s not normative in the Christian church. My official position on this matter is called “Open but Cautious.” Yes, God can do that. But it’s not his normal means of revealing the presence of the Holy Spirit in the church. I would even say that it’s not the normal way in which the Holy Spirit is revealed in the NT. The Spirit is displayed through multiple means. And the gifts of the Holy Spirit are myriad and varied. Tongues is presented as just one of those gifts. 

So here’s our official position on this matter as a church. We’ve spent some time drafting this as elders. And we want to read it to you now.

Sign Gifts: Cessationism and Continuationism

“Sign gifts are the demonstration of the Spirit through the gift of healing, the gift of miracles, the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues, and the gift of prophecy. These gifts as shown in the New Testament had specific uses, primarily for the authentication of the message and the messenger, and the furtherance of the Gospel. Additionally the gift of prophecy was primarily for the proclamation of divine revelation and/or proclamation of future events as revealed through that gift. We believe that the revelatory part of the gift of prophecy ceased with the canonization of the Bible. Additionally, we do not accept the teaching of apostolic succession nor the present-day office of apostle, believing that the office of apostle ended with the closing of the biblical canon.

There are two main viewpoints concerning the remaining sign gifts – that they have ceased or that they are continuing. At VBVF, many will hold to one or the other of these viewpoints. We welcome believers who hold to either viewpoint. With that said, the preaching and teaching of the Word of God as well as the orderly worship of our God during services, small groups and other VBVF gatherings are preeminent. The disruption of either of these main focuses of VBVF is prohibited.

We believe that the excesses of the current charismatic movement and associated teaching and practices are not biblical, and this movement puts an over emphasis on the sign gifts and related phenomena not found in Scripture. Examples would include holy laughter, being slain in the Spirit, uncontrolled use of tongues, the practice of “teaching” the gift of tongues, and other disruptive practices that detract and distract from biblical teaching and worship.”

That’s our official position on that matter. I know that may surface questions for some of you on how this is understood or practiced in our church or in your own personal life. We welcome you to come and talk to us if you have specific questions on this matter.  

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Back to the narrative. Let’s not lose sight of the broader presentation of what God is doing here in Acts 10. What did the tongues among Cornelius’s household suggest? For Peter’s part, Peter recognizes it as conversion. Peter recognizes that these Gentiles have gotten saved. Because look at verse 47.

Then Peter declared, 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

This is a rhetorical question, by the way. Can anyone withhold water? This is like a pastor saying at a wedding, “Is there any reason why these two shouldn’t be married?” Of course not. They’re up there in their wedding garments. They’ve already taken their vows. The horse is out of the barn. 

Peter says, 

“Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people[?]

No, They’re saved; they should get baptized. 

48 And [Peter] commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. 

Peter says, “Get baptized!” He commanded it! Not in order to be saved, but because they were saved. If there’s someone here this morning who is a saved, but unbaptized, follower of Jesus Christ, let me tell you what the Apostle Peter told Cornelius and his household two-thousand years ago. “Get baptized!” 

Then they asked [Peter] to remain for some days.

That last sentence is really significant. Peter stayed on with these “unclean” Gentiles at Cornelius’s “unclean” house for some days. This further proves that Peter now fully understands what God told him, “Don’t you call unclean what I have cleansed.” Peter has shed his skin. He’s shed his partiality. He knows now that uncleanness isn’t a matter of Jew or Gentile. It’s about faith in Christ.

It doesn’t matter what the color of your skin is. It doesn’t matter what country you’re from. It doesn’t matter if you are from a big city or a small town. It doesn’t matter how old you are or what kind of family you grew up in. It doesn’t matter if you’re Scottish or English or German or Israeli. It doesn’t matter if your Chinese or Swahili or Croatian or Cameroonian. God shows no partiality! God is no respecter of persons! And those who are part of the family of God are one in Christ Jesus. Amen?