Reminder Of Grace Series

REMINDER OF GRACE

Text: Acts 11:1-18

Introduction

1. This year in my daily devotions, I have been reading through the letters in the NT. I just finished 2 Peter; in it he reminded his readers of the need to be reminded on the elementary principles of the faith.

2. “Therefore, I will always remind you about these things—even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught. 13 And it is only right that I should keep on reminding you as long as I live.” (2 Pet. 1:12-13).

3. One of the fundamental principles of the faith is grace, and we regularly need to be reminded of it.

4. Grace can be thought of as “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.” In other words, it is a gift given to us that Christ paid for that we didn’t deserve.

5. The thing about grace we need to be reminded of is that we need it just like everybody else. This is something we frequently forget.

6. Read Acts 11:1-18

Transition: When it comes to grace there is…

I. The Need to Be Reminded (1-10).

A. The Jewish Believers Criticized Him

1. Not only does the church today need to be reminded about grace, but even the early church needed a reminder. They thought this grace was only for them. Luke shows us this in vv. 1-3 where he says, “Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. 2 But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. 3 “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.”

a. As I’ve mentioned before the Jewish believers in Christ thought that salvation by grace and through faith was only for them.

b. Now, there was a group of Jewish believers in Jerusalem that believed that Gentiles could be saved but only if they became Jews first and submitted themselves to circumcision and the other Jewish laws.

c. So, when news came back to the church in Jerusalem about what happened to Peter at Cornelius’s house, he had some questions to answer.

d. We all know how church people can sometime act. If someone does something that is out of the norm, we can get a little aggravated.

e. Like the church in the movie “Jesus Revolution” when the hippies started coming to church and the people started getting upset.

f. But it’s been said, “the last seven words of a dying church are ‘we’ve never done it that way before!’”

g. Now, I can’t imagine people getting upset because people were getting saved, but it happens if those people don’t fit within the church’s paradigm.

h. Well, that’s what happened in Jerusalem and the church was about to take Peter to the carpet for it.

2. So, in vv. 4-7, Peter simply tells them the story of what happened. “Then Peter told them exactly what had happened. 5 “I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me. 6 When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, reptiles, and birds. 7 And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’”

a. Peter knew that this was a possibly explosive situation, so, he did the most logical thing he could do, he told them what happened.

b. He does a very smart thing here; he tells them he was praying! It’s kind of hard to argue with someone when he begins with “Well, I was praying...”.

c. Then he told them about the trance he was in, and how the Holy Spirit showed him a vision of a sheet filled with all kinds of animals and told him to get up, kill, and eat.

3. Then Peter continues his story by telling them of his negative response to the Spirit’s demand. In vv. 8-10 it he says, “‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.’ 9 “But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’ 10 This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven.”

a. Peter tells them that he declared that he’s never eaten anything unclean before and he wasn’t about to start now!

b. But then he says, “the voice from heaven told him not to call anything unclean that God had already declared clean.”

c. He also told the church that the Holy Spirit was very persistent about it because he told Peter three times!