See The Vision Series

SEE THE VISION

Text: Acts 10:9-33; 44-48

Introduction

1. Illustration: Walt Disney never lived to see the opening of Disney World. During the opening ceremonies, someone is reputed to have said to Walt’s wife, "It’s a shame Walt is not here to see this." To which she responded, "He did see it, or it wouldn’t have been here."

2. Acts 2:17-18 (ESV)

17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;

18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

3. What does Scripture mean by the word vision?

4. Vision: an event in which something appears vividly and credibly to the mind, although not actually present, but implying the influence of some divine or supernatural power or agency

(Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains, Under: "33.488).

5. In other words, it a Holy Spirit given ability to see the way things the way they will be, not the way they are, but the way they will be in the future.

6. In our text today Peter received a vision from the Holy Spirit of the church the way it would become. In this text we see…

a. Receiving The Vision

b. Giving The Vision Legs

c. Realizing The Vision

7. Let’s read together Acts 10:9-16.

Proposition: A Holy Spirit given vision is a snap shot of the way the church will be in the future.

Transition: First we see…

I. Receiving The Vision (9-16).

A. What God Has Made Clean

1. One of the great promises of the age of the church is that “God will pour out his Spirit on all flesh.” That God would no longer be selective as to whom he gave his Spirit, but rather he would give his Spirit to anyone that asked.

a. However, a part of that promise had to do with seeing visions.

b. It didn’t take long for that to become a reality.

c. What happened to Peter this day on Simon’s roof was undoubtedly a vision from the Holy Spirit.

2. It says in v. 9, “The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray.”

a. Peter was in Joppa staying at the house of Simon the Tanner and about the "sixth hour" (which is dinner time) he went up on the roof to pray.

b. The flat roofs of Palestine, approached by an outdoor flight of steps, were common places of prayer in biblical times.

c. It was a good place to pray during the daytime as it was separated from the activity of the house, and the sea breeze and an awning helped cool the place (Fernando, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Acts, 320).

3. Then in vv. 10-12 we read, “And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air.”

a. Now being the good Pentecostal that he was, Peter got hungry.

b. Since it was dinner time, Peter became very hungry and while he waited for the meal to be made, he saw a large sheet being let down from heaven with every kind of animal imaginable.

c. Isn’t it just like the Holy Spirit to speak to Peter when his belly was empty?

d. The problem was that the Holy Spirit was showing him a vision of food that as a good Jew he wasn’t allowed to eat!

e. It goes back to the dietary regulations that we read about back in the OT. God gave the Israelites a list of animals that they were forbidden to eat.

4. So look at Peter’s initial response to the Holy Spirit’s vision. Look at vv. 13-14, “And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”

a. The voice he heard was the voice of the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit was telling him to do something that was against everything that Peter had been taught.

b. This command would be unacceptable for him as a Jew, as some of the animals were not kosher (Fernando, 320).

c. Therefore, Peter says "No way!" He has never eaten anything unclean and wasn't about to start now (Bruce, NICNT: The Book of Acts, 206).