September 5th

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Welcome to On the Way with Tony Crisp. Each weekday, Dr. Crisp will be discussing biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Tune in daily to start your day right and deepen your understanding of how to better walk the way and enjoy the journey. Here's your host, Dr. Tony Crisp.

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Welcome to On the Way. This is Tony Crisp, and this is the 365 Bible reading plan. Today is September the 5th, and our chapter for today is Acts chapter 10. As we closed out Acts chapter 9, the scripture says that Saul began to preach the gospel of Jesus. And Peter left the Jerusalem area and went down into the coastal plain and ended up at Joppa. Now he made a trip over to Lod, which is what the Old Testament name of the New Testament city of Lida is. He was with Simon the Tanner, and the scripture says that in chapter ten something great is about to happen. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian regiment. He was a devout man and one who feared God with all of his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. Now I want to stop there and make just a few comments about this opening verse. There was a man in Caesarea. He was a certain man. He was a selected man. He was called out for a specific purpose. He was set aside in Caesarea. Now there are two Caesarea in the book of Acts in the New Testament, in the Gospel of Matthew. The Bible says that Jesus and his disciples came into the region of Caesarea Philippi. Now, Caesarea Philippi is in the ancient city of Banyas, B-A-N-I-S. Before that, it was called Panyas in the first century time. And they often went up into the north, that is, Jesus and his disciples, to get away from the stifling heat of the Sea of Galilee region because it was 700 feet below sea level. I just returned with a group of men last week from the Sea of Galilee, and it was 107, 108, with a heat index of 111 to 115. A couple of the days that we were there, it was stifling hot. But yet we the next day went up into the north, and as we went up in the north, it cooled down considerably. The higher you got away from that low lying basin around the Sea of Galilee, the cooler it got. It was at the foot of Mount Hermon, it was high, and Jesus was in that region, and he was retreating with his disciples from the heavy load of ministry. As he did, they went into that area called Caesarea Philippine. Now this was Caesarea named after the Caesar, built by the son Philip, who was the one of the sons of Herod the Great. But then Herod the Great had built another Caesarea, another city named after the Caesar. It was along the coast, and this is where this was. It was a Roman garrison. It was the capital of Judea during the days of Jesus. Now Cornelius was a centurion. That means he was in charge of a hundred men. The Bible goes on to describe him as a devout man, a god fearer. And not only he, but he taught his whole household. And he gave alms generously to the people. Now that doesn't mean that he gave in general to all the people in the area. That means he gave to the Jews. That's right, the Bible is a Jewish book. It's written by Jews, to Jews, primarily for Jews. And the reason that we don't get this is because it doesn't say to the Jews in the King James and the King James, New King James and the King James Version. But in some of our newer translations, it's obvious, so obvious in the text, that it is the Jews and the context, as you read through the rest of this chapter, that is translated that he was good to the Jewish people. Because the people here, everything is written from a Jewish standpoint, and it would not have been noticeable to God that he was giving to Romans. No, he was being good to God's people. And he was praying to God. Why? Because he was a God fearer. He had taken on the morality and the customs of the Jews. And he, as he began to read the Jewish scriptures and learn about them, he saw that salvation was of the Jews and that he was going to one day God would send a Messiah through the Jewish people, and so he became a Godfearer. And the scripture says about the ninth hour of the day, that's about three o'clock, that he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Corneas, when he observed him, he was afraid, and he said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Your prayers and your alms have come up as a memorial before God. Often my reformed friends will say, you know, God chose somebody out of the goodness of his will, and he just uh he selected them and it's grace and mercy that I understand that. But when God says this is why I chose you, when God says this is why I came to you, then we've got to accept that for what it is. Now the reason God came to Cornelius was because he was giving and blessing the Jewish people. It's right here in the text. And he feared God and he was praying. Now whether that fits into your theological paradigm and template, I could care less about that. But what the text says, not just here but other places, that this is why God chose this particular man. They may not have chosen like that. Whatever spin you want to put on that's fine, but you can't say that this is not the reason here. And so the angel said, Your prayers, your alms have come up as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa and send for Simon, whose surname is Peter. He's lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea, and he will tell you what you must do. In other words, the angel was not allowed to preach the gospel. Why? It's not their assignment. It's man's assignment to do that. Did the angels know it? Of course they did, but they haven't experienced it. Peter had. He had experienced the forgiveness of God. He had experienced what it was like to be lost and be found. He had experienced what it was to be redeemed. He had experienced what guilt and sin and shame was, and how God in the person of Jesus had forgiven him for what he had done. And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa. Now why would he do that? Because the angel told him to, and in verse six gave him specific directions as to where Peter was and how to get to him. You see, that was before GPS, that was before Maps Go. That was before any of these geographical devices. Why? Because God's everywhere, and his messengers can give very specific directions. And so verse nine, the next day, as they went on their journey, they drew near to the city, and Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour, is about noon. He was going up to pray as was his custom to do. See, that's what religious Jews did. You say, wait just a minute, now you are you saying Peter was a religious man? Well, he said that he came to Jesus and said, Depart from me, I'm a sinner. Well, a religious man wouldn't do that. No, no, no, no, you're mistaken. He would do that. And the apostle Paul, would you say he's religious? He did. He was the disciple and the Talmud, the learner, the protege of Gamaliel, the great elder. He was very religious. He said he was religious to the core. And God saved him. That didn't make him less religious. But Peter was a religious man. And the scripture says there he was praying at noon. That was a religious thing to do. That was a routine, that was a ritual, that was a religio. It was a ritual. But it goes even farther to teach us that. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat. But while they made ready, that is the people in the household, he fell into a trance. And he saw heaven to open and an object like a great sheep bound on the four corners descending to him, let down to the earth, and in it were all kinds of four footed animals there, wild beasts, creeping things, birds of the air, and a voice came to him and said, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. And what'd Peter do? Hey, that's what I always do. I always eat lizards and other creepy, crawly things. I'm not supposed to, according to Torah. No, Peter said, No, 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 again unto heaven. Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men whom had been sent from Cornelius made the inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate. Now did you get what happened there with the cloth that was coming down from heaven? It was filled with all kinds of creepy things. Those are non koshrut, non kosher. You've heard that saying before, non kosher, kosher. Well that means that they follow what was prescribed in Torah, but more specifically the definition of what was clean and unclean as spoken of by the sages and elders in the Talmud. As you read the text, it's obvious that Peter was kosher. For those of you who have not been around Jews very much, and most Americ most Americans have it, you say, Well, there's a lot of Jews in Chicago and New York and Miami, LA, and Atlanta, but most of the United States population doesn't live in those four or five cities where Jews are everywhere. No, the people in flyover country and the people in the region where I am in Upper East Tennessee, many people that I talk to on a regular basis have never met a Jewish male or female in person, still to this day. Why? Because not because they're prejudiced or because they are anti-Semitic, it's because no Jews live in the area. And this is all over America. The Jews are gathered together in mostly the uh big cities. I've already named those and maybe a couple of others. There's a lot in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the Houston area, but they're not everywhere. Certainly not in the rural towns, and so many people have never met a Jew face to face. Because of that, they don't know the customs of the Jews. And so there is no observant kosher Jew that's going to eat creepy crawler things that are not specifically talked about in the scripture as clean. Only a religious Jew would say, I've never eaten from my youth. That means his family was religious, and they taught him to be religious, and he was an observant Jew. That's right. The disciples of Jesus, for the most part, were religious Jews. Now I know that goes against the grain of what we want to hear because we want to say, hey, uh Christianity's a relationship, not a religion. Well, it is a relationship, and that's the heart of it. But it also is a religion, whether you like it or not. It is filled with rituals and routines, and that's what religio is. It is a routine or a ritual. Yes, it's expanded its definition since its uh inception, but that's what it means and what it meant. And so there are routines that lead to a godly life, and we need to be involved in those, and there's nothing wrong with it. We don't throw out the baby with the bathwater just because some people have perverted religion. We don't say, well, I'm not religious. Well, you better be religious. Jesus was religious. His disciples were religious. Paul was religious, but they entered into a relationship with Jesus and it changed everything. Jesus of Nazareth changed their lives. So religion took on a brand new meaning and a new concept. But I want you to see that Peter was obedient to the heavenly vision, and while Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men are seeking you. Verse twenty, arise, therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. And so Peter went down the men who had been sent from Cornelius and said, Yes, I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come? And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who is a God fearer, has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews. Now you say, Why did you say back in the early part that the alms were to the Jews? Well, do you think he had a good reputation with the Jews by giving alms to the Romans? Well, a lot of people did that. No, no, no, no. The reason he had a great reputation among the Jews is because he was giving. He had a heart for the Jews, and he was helping them, he was giving alms, he was doing acts of righteousness and giving money to support the Jewish people. And so Peter went with them. And then just because of time, let me look at with you at verse 31. When Peter got there, Cornelius, in verse 30, said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour. At the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. This is amazing that God remembers the gifts that Cornelius gave, and he remembered to whom he gave them. Does God know all of that? Does God care who we give to? Does God see who we give to? And is he interested in that? Well it sure seems he is. And so with that being said, why would he be impressed with that? The same reason the apostle Paul said in the book of Romans, he said, Isn't it the natural thing that if we would have not heard the gospel without the Jews? If we wouldn't be where we are without the Jews, we wouldn't have the Bible without the Jews, we wouldn't have the Messiah without the Jews, we wouldn't have all of the things that we have spiritually without the Jews, you say, Well, all that comes from God. Yes, but God uses means. And when God ordains something to be done, God also ordained the means whereby it would be done and be accomplished. And so God used the Jewish people. So Paul said, It's a little thing. It's just the natural thing, the logical thing that if the Jews have blessed us spiritually, we should turn around and bless them financially when they have a need. And they did have a need. This is why the Apostle Paul was taking up an offering for the family saints in Jerusalem. God loves it when we give to the Jewish people. When we see them in need and we help them. Why? Because it shows our spiritual perceptivity and that we understand that we're where we are standing on the shoulders of the Jewish people. And when we bless them, it blesses the heart of God. You say, Well, I just don't know about that. Well, just take a chance and just do something good for the Jewish people. I assure you, God likes it. And He loves it when we understand even more so what we're doing. Well, that's all the time I have. For On the Way, this is Tony Crisp.

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Thanks for listening to On the Way with Tony Crisp. Tune in every weekday for information on biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Fridays are for your questions. Email your questions to questions at TonyCrisp.org, then just listen for your question to be answered on Friday's podcast. That's Questions at Tony C R I S P dot org. Thanks for listening and have a blessed day on the way.