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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Acts chapter #10 As we get to these last few weeks here, of
looking at the life of the apostle Peter and how he has
grown, and once you get to Acts chapter 10, would you also put
your place in Hebrews chapter #12 All right, we're going to
look at both of these texts this morning, kind of bounce around a
little bit in our Bible reading, Acts chapter 10 and also Hebrews
chapter 12. If you prepare yourself for
that, that would be wonderful. Now, I know it's going to be a
surprise to you for me to say this this morning because you're
looking at this extremely handsome face.
And so I know. Why are you?
Laughing. That was not the part for
audience participation. Unless it's an Amen.
All right. But there you go, my man.
All right, So this is you and me, Ralph against the world,
baby. All right, Looking at this face.
But believe it or not, when I was a kid, the teeth in my mouth
grew in about every direction and set the directions they were
supposed to grow, you know, had no chin.
My chin was all the way kind of back and all of that.
And so it required some correction.
And I'll talk maybe a little bit about what that was a little bit
later. But the body doesn't always
cooperate, does it? Depending on what the issues
are. And sometimes the body, the
physical body needs correction. That could be the teeth, it
could be the chin, it could be something like allergies.
And a lot of us deal with allergies and have different
things like that. And you might need allergy shots
or something like that that require correction, might have
had surgery or an injury or a fall and you had to go to
physical therapy, don't you? They work you over.
I call them physical terrorists, not physical therapist.
And you know, they'll work you over a little bit, try to get
you back where you need to be, put some correction in line.
You know, we often need correction for these, don't we?
To be able. All right, well, you're still
there, all right, To be able to see.
I've got progressives now to be able to see, to see far and to
see near, hearing aids for hearing all of these different
things. They are necessary because
there's something in the physical body that's just not
the way it ought to be. And so we need some correction
to help make it what it needs to be.
We understand this in a physical sense.
Every single one of us deal with this in some way, shape or form,
and sometimes in many different ways.
Shapes and forms of the body kind of betrays us here and
there, but you know, as much as it's.
True that our body, our physical body needs correction.
You as a spiritual being also need correction.
You. But before you get too worried,
you and I as spiritual beings, we need correction from our Lord
because there's things within our spiritual life that aren't
what they ought to be. If that's true physically, how
much more is it true for us spiritually?
Now this morning, Peter in our text has a deficiency in his
thinking and it's one that could have seriously hindered his life
and. Hindered his ministry.
So what happened? God brought him some gentle,
some loving, but very real correction to challenge his
thinking. And because Peter was open,
because Peter was willing to listen to the correction of God,
he was able to help others in his life who needed to grow
spiritually. You have to allow God to correct
you without complaint. Listen, if you get anything from
this message this morning, get this.
If you want to grow spiritually, you have to allow God to correct
you without complaint. Would you stand, please for the
reading God's Word where in Acts chapter 10 we'll begin in verse
#9 Got to be careful about speaking quickly this morning.
You know, sometimes I get excited.
I start saying things quickly. I those you were at the end of
Sunday school. You know, I was trying to pray
for the morning worship. But we've been talking so much
about Mormons. I prayed for the Mormon worship
this morning, and that's definitely not what I wanted us
to pray for. So I'm going to try to take it
easy. I'm going to try to slow down
and make sure we get everything in that needs to be said.
All right. Verse #9 Says, On the Morrow, as
they went on their journey, and drew nigh into the city, Peter
went up upon the housetop to pray about the 6th hour.
And he became very hungry, and would have eaten.
But while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and saw
heaven open, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as
it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let
down to the earth, where they were all manner of four footed
beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and
fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him,
Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said.
Not so, Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is common or
unclean. And the voice spake unto him
again the second time, What God hath cleansed that call not thou
common. This was done thrice, and the
vessel was received up again into heaven.
No, well, Peter doubted himself what this vision which he had
seen should mean. Behold.
The men that were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry from
Simon's house, and stood before the gate, and called and asked
whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, was lodged
there. While Peter thought on the
vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek
thee, arise, therefore get thee down and go with them, doubting
nothing, for I have sent them. Why don't you be seated as we
pray together and look at this issue this morning of the growth
and correction connection. As we continue to look at the
issue of growth, there's a connection between growth and
correction. Heavenly Father, do pray to help
us this morning as we look at the life of Peter.
Lord, there was something in his life that just wasn't the way it
needed to be. His thinking was wrong and you
had to correct it. Or how much more so in our own
lives do we have to deal with this as well.
Help us to have the right type of attitude.
And to take the correction, the chastening, and count it joy, or
help us to be open to what is said today.
Blessed I do ask humbly in Jesus name, Amen.
You may say, Pastor, we are in Acts chapter 10.
Weren't we in Acts chapter 10 last week?
And the answer was yes, we were. We looked at the beginning of
Cornelius who was the centurion of the Italian band.
Remember that wasn't a music group, that was a men that were
soldiers together. And we saw that he had this
desire to be able to know who God was, and we saw last week he
was respected. He was religious, but he was
lost, wasn't he did not know Jesus Christ.
But then we picked up at the end of the chapter, we saw that
Peter came to this group of Gentiles 1000, preached the word
of God to them, and that they were gloriously saved.
But what we didn't read last week was this middle part.
How did Peter end up a few miles away in Joppa to be able to
preach to these people and let them know about salvation?
Well, it's explained to us here beginning in verse #9 that there
he was. And he was with a man named
Simon the Tanner, and he was there in his house.
And by the way, without getting too deeper this this morning,
the fact that he was even. Spending time with a man named
Simon The. Tanner Simon, a typical Jewish
name. Of course, we know Peter, Simon
Peter as well. But a man who is a Tanner, you
have to understand that to a Jew, being a Tanner was not a
typical occupation in previous time.
Why was that? Well, because you'd have to
handle dead animals to be able to tan their hides.
This was not something a Jew would typically do because they
would be ceremoniously unclean, well, almost every day.
And so for this man, Simon, to be a Tanner was still pretty a
new thing at that time. And for Peter to be spending
time with him was almost a scandalous thing to be able to
be around him. So Peter's already in.
His thinking being. Pushed a little bit because
remember when Jesus Christ died in the cross the veil was rented
too. Do you remember the veil in the
temple was torn apart? Why?
Because now we have bold access before Jesus Christ.
And those things that were a shadow of that which to come
were no longer pertaining to the Jews.
Why? Because now they have Jesus
Christ. And Peter knew this to a certain
point, but he's there. It says he's on a housetop and
he's waiting for lunch. It's about the 6th hour.
That's about noontime. And I'll tell you a lot of you
could probably, you could feel what Peter feels here because it
says he was hungry. They were making ready and he
goes into. A trance and maybe some of you
say pastor. That's how I feel about 11:45
every week. When you preach, it's like, is
he ever get done? I'm in a trance right now.
I'm so hungry. And it's like, listen, that's
not the kind of trance that he was in, all right?
This idea of a trance that he was in is actually from the
Greek word. Ecstasis and ecstasy, if you
will, that he wasn't asleep, but rather that God was speaking to
him in a very real way. And it says the heavens opened
up here in this this experience that he's having that came from
the Lord. And falling down from heaven,
slowly coming down is a sheet that's gathered together in the
four corners, kind of like a knapsack that a kid would put
together on a stick and put over his shoulder that it's falling
down from the sky. And in the midst of it are all
types of animals. Now, why is that important?
Well, because inside of this knapsack, inside of this sheet,
if you will, are animals clean and unclean.
Now to us, that doesn't mean a lot, does it?
You are like me. You go to market.
Basket, you go to Walmart, you go to Big Y and you get the
market, you get the the meat that's there and you just pick
whatever sounds good that week or whatever's on sale that week
or whatever you just want to. Cook that week.
But for the Jews, they had to be very particular about the type
of food that they ate. Why was that?
Because God had ceremonially called some foods clean.
And some foods unclean for the Jews.
They could eat animals that chewed their cud and had split
hooves, like cows or sheep or goats.
They could eat fish with fins and scales.
Most birds except for the forbidden ones, eagles,
vultures, owls, typically scavenger type birds.
They were allowed to eat specific jumping insects like
locusts. And I'll be honest with you, I'd
prefer those to be in the unclean.
Part, but the Lord knew what He was.
Doing so, I don't want to question the Lord there, but
they could have eaten locusts and we know that on the Baptist
would have eaten locust and wild honey.
But everything else including pork, shellfish, rabbits, eating
animals that had died on their own and then you would happened
upon or or even mixing meat with dairy.
None of it was allowed. Do you know what that means?
No bacon, no shrimp, no shrimp wrapped bacon, none of it.
It was not allowed. Now why is that?
Well, in essence, because God by His design wanted His people to
be different. I'm going to run that by you one
more time. God by design wanted His people
to be different. That doesn't mean that we can't
have shrimp and that we can't have bacon today, but I will
tell you this. He still wants us to be
different from the world. He still wants us to look
different than those who do not know the name of Jesus Christ.
But you go to Exodus 15 verse 26 and he says and said, If thou
wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and
will do that which is right in his sight, and will give.
Ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes.
I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have
brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee.
God gave Israel the very particular and very precise
promise that if they just followed His laws, if they just
followed His commandments, they would be a healthy people.
In fact, there's a book that I read years ago.
I don't have it anymore, but I would suggest to you, if you're
able to get your hands on it, called None of These Diseases
specifically showing how people following the Jewish dietary
laws and people following the Jewish laws, particularly at
that time. How much healthier they would
have been because God. Cares for his people.
And so God says, I don't want you to eat these things, I want
you to be different. And the Jews took this
seriously. Now listen, there wasn't a lot
that they took seriously about the law.
Just had to go through the old. Testament.
Find out. They weren't typically very
seriously about the law, but they were very serious about
kosher food. They were very serious about
eating that which was clean. And so all of this takes place
and this all comes down in the sheet.
And what does God say? He says this rise, Peter kill
and eat. And Peter looks in there and
sees a pig. And Peter looks in there and and
he sees a rabbit and he says, excuse me, he says.
No, Lord, I can't do that, that it's not something I can do.
It's not something he'd ever done in his life before, that he
had never done such a thing. But yet the voice responds to in
verse #15 and says, what? God has cleansed that call not
thou common. Now God has a very curious way
of taking things that are understandable, that are right
down home where we are. To be able to help us to learn
about things that maybe are not quite as understandable.
That's why there were parables, There were earthly stories with
heavenly meanings that the Jews would not have understand
certain things about heaven that we wouldn't have.
But as an Agricultural Society, there were certain things that
he could talk about with seeds and sowing that immediately
would help them to be able to understand.
Is God really talking about animals here?
Is God super concerned with Peter making sure that he has
bacon in his life now? I'm concerned about Peter
getting some bacon his life. I hope he did before the
marriage supper at the Lamb. I think it's be unlimited bacon
there that I'm looking forward to that.
It's going to be like a Golden Corral, but like good, you know
what I'm saying? That's what it's going to be
like. But but he's not concerned about
that. What he's concerned about is
this is that there's a man named Cornelius who happens to be a
Gentile. There's a man named Cornelius
who happens to be, according to the Jews, unclean.
There's a man named Cornelius who needs to be saved.
He, he needs someone to come along and give him the good news
of the gospel. In fact, there's been a vision
that's already taken place. There's some men, three men who
are going to be coming to Peter's door, there where Simon
the Tanner lived, where Peter was lodging.
And they're going to come and they're going to ask for Peter
to come and preach the good news.
And God is trying to tell Peter when that time comes, don't
hesitate. When that time comes, you go.
They may be Gentiles, but don't call them common.
Don't call them unclean, he said.
I want you to know they need to be saved just as much as the
Jews do. Now why was God doing this?
Because he wanted Peter to know. Don't look down upon the
Gentiles. Don't look down upon them.
Now why was this important? Is this news to Peter?
Had Peter not known this or heard about this?
The problem is, Peter had already heard about this.
Peter should have already known this.
Acts chapter 1 don't turn there because I want you to turn to
Hebrews chapter 12 in just a few moments, but I'm going to read
you Acts chapter 1. Remember Jesus about to ascend
into heaven. And it says in Acts chapter one
verse 6, it says, when they therefore were come together,
they asked of him saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore
again the Kingdom of Israel? And he said unto them, It is not
for you to know the times of the seasons which the Father had put
in his own power, but you shall receive power after that.
The Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses
unto me. So what does He say when the
Holy Ghost comes upon you? You will be witnesses.
Now where He says to Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and
unto the other most part of the earth, which happens to be the
domain of the Gentiles. You see, the Church had already
been given the commandment to go to the Gentiles, yet they had
not yet. O Peter was faithful.
We've seen him grow. Peter was doing well, there's no
doubt about that. But there was this little bit of
a hitch that he had in his spiritual life where for
whatever reason, even though he was becoming more comfortable
being around Jewish type gentiles, like a Simon the
Tanner, who maybe he wouldn't even have associated with not
that long ago, he had not completely given himself to
ministry of the Gentiles. He'd even preached to the
Samaritans, who were the half Jews, the people who had
animosity against the Jews and back and forth between them.
But yet he had not gone to the Gentiles, but.
Peter had to be reminded by God. I had already told you this
before, by the way, in case you're curious about it.
Jesus had great concern for the Gentiles as well, not just.
The Jews. Jesus.
Had said this several times, the disciples Matthew chapter 8
verses 10 and 11. After healing the centurion
servant, Jesus said many shall come from the east and the West,
and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
In the Kingdom of heaven, to go to Matthew 28, don't go there,
but Matthew 2819 go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing
them name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Luke 2447 Repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in His name among. All nations beginning at
Jerusalem. What I'm saying is, is that
Peter should have already known, Peter should have already
understood. But yet what happens?
God brings this vision down. And here he says it not just
once, but twice, but three times.
He has to be told by God and that sheet goes back up into
heaven, the animals. Go away if it was me, he's like.
No, no bacon, come back. Please come back.
But it goes away. And it says he doubted in
himself. What was the meaning of this?
What happened? Well, Peter needed some
correction. If he was going to grow
properly, he needed to be corrected here and there.
God had told him before. God had told him again, all
nations, all nations, all nations.
But right now it's just Jews and Samaritans and God knows that if
those three men come and his meth is thinking is not
corrected, what's going to happen?
He may not go with them and may not preach to the Gentiles as
God wants him to do. So we all need correction here
and there, don't we? You know, Can you relate to
Peter this morning? Been told and told again.
But then the Lord has to kind of rattle your bell.
Bring your cage a little bit to be able to tell us what we need
to do. When your life doesn't line up
with God's expectations for you, you need correction.
Listen, When your life doesn't line up with God's expectations
for you, you need correction. He tells us what we need to do
and when we don't do what He wants us to do, we need to be
corrected. Now, where can we find some
great teaching about that in the Word of God?
Hebrews chapter 12. Now the good news is you're
already there. So put your ribbon in Acts
chapter 10 and go to Hebrews chapter 12 very quickly because
I want you to see this this morning.
I could quote it for you, but there's so much that's here you
need to be able to see it for yourself.
I'd encourage you if you're a Bible marker, you mark in your
Bible. This is a place you need to mark
in your Bible. All right, for Hebrews chapter
12, look at verse #5 and. We have forgotten the
exhortation which speaketh unto you as children.
My son despised not the chastening of the Lord.
You say, What is the chastening of the Lord?
Well, keep reading. Nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him. Oh, OK, you weren't sure about
the first part you got in the second part, isn't it?
A chastening is when God has to correct us.
And what does it say to those of us who are believers?
Don't despise the chastening of the Lord.
I don't know about you, but I don't like anybody correcting
me. I'm like anybody correcting me
about nothing. Why?
Because I think I'm right all the time.
You say, well, that's a pretty. Arrogant thing to do?
Well, of course you think you're right when you do things, if
you. Didn't think you were right.
You wouldn't do them. But there comes a time maybe
you're in the middle of something.
You say, I don't think this is right.
Or sometimes you get to the end of it and you're really sure
you're right and you're way. Off.
But we all have places and times and seasons where we need
corrections. So he says.
Do not despise. When God corrects you in your
life or 6. For whom the Lord loveth he
chasteneth and scourgeth every son who he receiveth.
You know my evil wicked father, His name is Victor Rivero.
He he brought physical. Punishment to my life?
Say what kind of physical punishment?
I'm not sure if the statue of limitations has passed yet, so I
don't know that I want to say, but it involved making sure that
my hindquarters understood. What up here should have
understood? And that's all I'll say about
that. And I thought my dad hated me.
Now, I'm not talking about my dad decking me.
I'm not talking about my dad making me pick myself up off the
floor, by the way, There's nothing biblical about that.
I'm talking about physical correction in a place that is
very well designed for physical correction if done properly and
lovingly. And I remember one time my dad
said it's time for, you know, And so I remember before he came
to the room, I went into my room.
I was probably about 6 or 7, and I had a crayon box, a big
plastic crayon box inside, had all the change that I had
amassed, probably about four or $5 worth of change in there, you
know, in the 1980s. That's a lot of money, you know.
And so I gave it to my dad and I said, will you please not do
what you're about to do? I'll give you all this money and
my dad said all right, kid, all right, that's it.
No, he didn't say that. You asked my.
Dad to say, well, I'm about $5 light anyway, so this is
perfect. Opportunity knocks.
You answer, you know, you know what my dad, because he loved
me, said, no, son, you need what you need.
And at the time I didn't like it.
But, you know, I look back now and I said, well, I'm thankful I
had a dad. They caught a mom who was
willing to not give me what I wanted, but what I needed.
You know, I didn't understand at the time, but now I look at, I
say I did not. I don't despise the correction I
received now because I needed it, because I would have been a
spoiled punk if I continued the way that I was going without the
correction of my parents. Look at verse #7.
For if you endure chastening, God deal with you as sons.
For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
But if now listen to this. But if you be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers, you are bastards and
not sons. Now somebody say, oh, hold on a
second pastor, that's not good language to be able to use.
And I would understand that if that word is used in a very
casual way today, certainly it's a curse word and not a word that
should be used in the mouth of a believer.
But I will say that this word here as it's used is not used as
a slur, but rather it's a neutral legal and social
designation. Meaning someone that was born,
that was outside of the family. Someone.
Who is not within the family? Again, this is not a slur.
This is not someone using this as a curse word here, but rather
legal and matter of fact of what it said.
And why is this important? Because if you are part of the
family of God, if you know Jesus Christ as Savior, He will
correct you. Amen.
Remember my wife and I talking to a young lady several years
ago and we were unsure about whether she really knew Jesus
Christ as our Savior. And we were talking with her and
counseling with her, and her parents were there.
And she had done some things that were, well, not good, to be
honest with you, and done some things that I knew would not.
Please the Lord. And so we asked her after she
came to talk to us, it had been probably a couple weeks of that
issue taking place. And I said, did you ever feel
guilty about it? Did the Lord ever correct you?
Do you ever feel within your spirit that you needed to get
right? And she said.
Not really. And she thought about saying no,
not at all. It was that moment I realized
this young lady doesn't know Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Why? Because he corrects his own.
I live at 7922 Woodvale Circle. Growing up for 17 years, I
didn't go to 7924 Woodvale Circle to get correction and I
didn't go to 7920 Woodvale Circle to get correction.
I didn't go to 7920 Woodvale Circle to get correction.
I knew her correction came from 7922 Woodvale Circle, Tampa, FL
33615, phone number 81388623511. Of the last numbers that I
remember. None of us remember phone
numbers anymore because of our phones, right?
But I knew that's where correction came from.
Why? Because that's where my dad
lived and I was part of his family.
You know, if you belong to the Lord, He will correct you.
And if He doesn't correct you, can I tell you, you need to get
saved today If you've never been corrected by the Lord, He says
right here, that's problematic. Because he corrects his own.
Look at verse #9 Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh
which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.
Didn't you come to a place where you understood that what your
father did was right? Didn't you come to the place
where he said this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you
and at the time? You're like, yeah, right.
And then you get to a place in your life where you realize,
wow, he was right, particularly as you may have children of your
own. And you have to go through that
process and it tears you up inside.
And it says, if you give reverence to your father's in
this life who aren't even perfect, don't you give
reverence to God Almighty who always chastises you in the way
that's perfect and the way that's right.
Listen, He never chastises us out of control.
He never chastised us in a way like like we could where we just
get riled up within ourselves and maybe say something we ought
not or do something we ought not Listen, God has never chastised
someone incorrectly ever. He always does right.
They barely 1st 10 for a few days chastened us after their
own pleasure, but he for our What's that word prophet that
what? We might be partakers of His
Holiness. No chastening, for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous.
If there is ever a truer saying in the Bible, that's it, isn't
it? In the moment never feels good,
but nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble
knees. Listen, you need God to correct
you in your life. If you want to grow.
You want God to correct you in your life.
If you're going to grow, and when He does, it's good and
right and it will be joyous. Why?
Because it brings the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
If we just go on our own, if we just go our own way and God
ignores us, that's not love on His part.
No, no, He loves us so much. That he corrects us when our
thinking is wrong. He didn't do it for his joy, He
did it for love. And that brings US joy.
You know, he is joyous that we are reconciled to him, but he
didn't do it out of a twisted sense of I'm going to get even
with them. Know the joy that he has.
And you can go to the very top of the chapter and find out that
Jesus, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross
and the shame it was he did that.
Why? Because he knew what the end
result would be. How do you feel about
correction? It says here we're supposed to
take it and we're supposed to take it with joy.
Well, how did Peter take it? What can we learn from Peter?
Go back to Acts chapter 12 quickly.
I know you got your ribbon there.
Acts chapter 10 rather, I'm sorry, what do you need to do in
these situations to grow? Peter gives us an understanding.
The first thing you need to do is this.
Recognize when God's speaking to you.
Recognize when God speaking, Do you look at verse #13 It says
there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat.
And Peter said not so what's the next word, Lord?
He recognized it was the Lord who was speaking to him.
Peter recognized the voice of God.
When correction comes in your life, it need not be an audible
voice. It's the Holy Spirit who speaks
to our hearts and tells us what we have done wrong.
John 16 verse 8 And when he the Spirit has come, He will reprove
the world of sin of. Righteousness and of judgement.
It's the Holy Spirit who's the one who tells you you ought not
to do that. It's the Holy Spirit says you
ought not to touch that. You ought not to turn that on.
You ought not to think that. You ought not to let that come
out of your mouth. It's the Holy Spirit who tells
us after we do those things that we ought not to do.
You shouldn't have done that. You need to make it right.
You need to repent. You need to get right with the
Lord. Listen, if you're reading your
Bible, you should be seeing things that need to be
corrected. You shouldn't just be reading
your Bible. Well, I want to know more about
Abraham, or I want to know more about Isaac, or I want to know
about Jacob. Well, listen, I find myself in
parts of Abraham's life, and I find parts of myself in Isaac's
life. And I find parts of myself in
Jacob's life, you know, like, not like the polygamy part, but,
you know, all the other stuff in his life.
I mean, what's the matter with you people?
What are you thinking? All right.
But I see lots of myself and Jacob, the instability in Jacob,
the way they bounce from one thing to the next.
And when I read that, it's not like, wow, I learned something
new about Jacob today. It's wow, I learned something
about myself today that the Holy Spirit revealed to me and I
don't like it. I need to get it right.
When we come to hear the word of God, is it just to hear some
platitudes is just to be able to say we've done our religious
thing. Do I just get up here to preach
so I can show you how eloquent I am?
If I've done that, I've failed. Remember Mormon worship this
morning. That's not what it's about.
No, it's about this that thus sayeth the Lord means that
there's some things in my life that aren't right.
And when the pastor preaches, when Jeff Abel's preaches,
whoever it is that preaches the Word of God, here there comes a.
Time in our life where we say he's saying that's what the
Bible says, but it's not what I'm doing.
So I need to be correct. I need to get it right.
I use the term guilt a few moments ago, and I said that
incorrectly. You know who tries to make you
feel guilty? Satan.
Second Corinthians. 710 For godly sorrow worketh repentance
to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world
worketh death. You know what guilt from Satan
does that makes you feel like you'll never get right?
Guilt from Satan says, you know what, you ought not to go to
church. They're good people and you're
not, by the way. We're just people saved by the
grace of God and hanging on by a thread some days.
But we're here. And it's guilt that says you
don't belong, you can't get right.
Oh, you're going back to him again?
How many times you're going to ask forgiveness for that?
What? What kind of loser are you
spiritually? Do you keep going to him over
and over again? And by the way, what does that
accomplish? You say, well, I'm going to go
to him again. I've asked for forgiveness 10 *
20 * 100 times. Listen, the Bible says that we
could say 70 * 7. And the alternative is this.
I'm not going to ask for forgiveness and just not be
right. Well, who wants that?
Satan does. In your life, recognize when God
is speaking to you. You know what the voice of God
says to your heart. Repent.
The voice of the Lord in your heart says this.
Get right. Let your life be in alignment
with God's word. But don't just recognize when
God speaking to you. Secondly.
Resist telling God no. Resist telling God no.
Looking at verse #14 it says but Peter said not so Lord Peter had
a bad habit of telling Jesus no. There were several times that
Peter said, Jesus you need to get this right to the point
where Jesus said get thee behind me, Satan, don't.
Don't tell me no. Listen, you could have a lot of
honest conversation with the Lord.
I believe that the Lord in his grace, the Lord in his
benevolence toward us, is so patient.
But I will say this. That patience is exhausted when
you flat out tell God no. Where do we find an example of
that? You could find an example that
Moses. There's the Lord in the burning
Bush, and God tells Moses what needs to be done.
And Moses? Starts with the.
Excuses, doesn't he? He says I'm I'm nobody
important. Who am I?
He says They'll ask me what your name is and what am I supposed
to tell them? They won't believe that I am the
the the speaker of the Lord. I'm his emissary.
I won't believe nobody believe me because I'm a terrible
speaker. And every time Moses gave an
excuse, God gave him an answer, didn't he said What's that, nine
hand a rod? Throw it down.
By the way, that worked out pretty well with Pharaoh, didn't
it? He says I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm,
I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm. Slow speech, He says.
Your brother's coming. He's going to speak.
And by the way, once Moses got rolling, you couldn't shut him
up. He started, he may have said he
he needed Aaron's help, but it seems like Moses got that
speaking thing figured out after a while.
But the 5th and final thing Moses did was he told God, nay,
send someone else. And it says the anger of the
Lord was kindled against him. Was God angry when he said I
don't know what to say? Was God angry when he said I
don't know what to do, I don't know who to tell him who sent
me, I don't know what to do with this mouth of mine.
But. When he finally.
Got to the place where God says, listen, if I've called you to do
it, I'll do the work I'll do. Just make yourself available to
me. I will do what needs to be done.
You can't make rivers turn to blood.
You can't make lice come out of nowhere.
You can't turn the sun to darkness.
You can't do it. Just be available and be a
vessel that I can use. But Moses, after God gave him
all of his. Provision.
He said no. And the Lord got angry.
The anger of the Lord was kindled.
Now let's say this, I want you to listen very carefully while I
say, listen to it all the way through.
Don't just take the first sentence or two and then go into
a trance. You know what I'm saying?
But if you have never responded at an invitation, if you've
never responded when the Word of God is being preached, either
God's not speaking to you or you're saying no a lot to him.
And neither one of those are good.
Now, here's the part where I know some of you were thinking,
OK, pastor, so you're saying if I don't March myself up to this
front, you're saying if I don't March myself all the way up here
and make a performance or make a show and make sure I get down
here, So what? So I could be seen am in so
everyone can see that I'm coming down here.
Oh, here's the parade. I bet, pastor, you know, they
count the offerings and they count how many people are.
I bet they count how many people are at the altar.
I bet they count all those kinds of things.
That's what you want, pastors. It's just so so you can go on
social media and say look at all.
All the people that came to the altar.
And the answer is no, I'm not talking about that kind of
response. Now, is the altar available
here? Yes.
Do I think it's good to use the altar?
Yeah. Like we built it here so that we
could use it. But you know, I've seen people
going on the altar and Boo hooed and cried buckets of tears and
got up, sat down and live, live like hell on earth on Monday and
never really got right with the Lord.
There's not godly sorrow that worketh under repentance.
But I've known people that maybe have never come forward, but you
can tell in their heart God spoke to them.
Then we say bow your head and close your eyes, that they're
not really paying attention to everything else that's going on.
They may kneel at their seat, they may just bow their heads,
but they're getting something right with the Lord.
You know, I'm not looking for a performance.
God's not looking for a performance.
He's looking for us to get right.
And if you've never contemplated at the end of a message, Lord,
are you talking about me? You know, not as pastor talking
about me. I know this might be hard for
you to believe, but I don't sit in my office during the week and
say, let's see how many people I can get this week.
Oh man, I want to know. I'm going to look on their
social media. I'm going to call their friends.
I'm going to call their I'm going to call their bosses.
I want to find out what they're doing.
I want to find out what they're saying.
I want to know everything coming.
Honestly, I don't want to know nothing.
I want to be your friend. I want to love on you.
I don't want to know about those things.
I don't want them in my mind. I don't want them in my heart.
I want to know when I preach the word of God that I'm just
preaching. And if it lands, listen.
That's because the Holy Spirit landed it.
Amen. Amen.
But if you never respond, not here.
But if you never respond in your heart, either God's never spoken
to you and that's problematic, or you're consistently telling
God no, and that's problematic too.
Listen. Not so, Lord, hey.
Don't do that. Recognize the voice of God.
Resist telling God no. And 3rd and finally, retain the
lessons that you learn. Retain the lessons that you
learned. And I know we talked about this
briefly on Wednesday night that we have to be reminded things
over and over again. But when God has you get
something right in your life, make some steps to be able to
retain the things that God has taught you.
Look at verse #28 Peter goes. What I love is that in verse #17
it says that while Peter doubted in himself, but in verse #20 God
says, listen, go with them and doubt nothing.
So the Lord knows what's happening in our hearts, by the
way, because as Peter's doubting, the Lord says, don't
doubt, just do what I'm telling you to do, but then drop down
again to verse #28 And he said unto them, you know.
How it was, how that is an unlawful thing for a man that is
a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation.
But God has showed me that I should not call any man common
or unclean. 3 days later, by the way, Peter standing in front of
these gentiles in a way he never has before, and he looks at them
and says on my own I wouldn't be here.
If you'd asked me 3 days ago where I'd be.
I'd be back with Simon the Tanner.
God spoke to me. He said I need to be here
because it's not just salvation for the Jews, salvation for the
Gentiles. By the way, salvation for the
Gentiles ought to get all of us excited because I'd say we're
probably all Gentiles here. So thank the Lord for salvation
of the Gentiles. But you know.
It wasn't just that go to Acts chapter 15 and we're going
moving a lot in the word of God today.
That's OK. If you that's, that's a lot.
Wait till tonight. We're going to be moving a lot
in the word of God tonight. Acts 15, the verse #1 There was
a problem. 15 years later or so, give or take, there's a problem.
Peter and Barnabas had gone out and given the gospel to Jews, or
the Gentiles rather, and there's some Jews that were.
Upset about this, at the end of the first missionary journey, it
says that certain men came down from Judea, taught the brethren,
and said, except you be circumcised after the manner of
Moses, you cannot be saved. Whoa.
Oh, that's not the gospel. 1st 2:00 and then therefore Paul.
Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them.
They determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of
them should go up to Jerusalem under the apostles and elders
about this question. And being brought on their way
by the church, they passed through Fennis and Samaria,
declaring the conversion of the Gentiles.
And they caused great joy and all the brethren.
And when they were coming to Jerusalem, they were.
Received. At the church and of the
apostles and the elders, and they declare all things that God
had done with them. But there rose up certain sect
of the Pharisees which believe saying that it was needful to
circumcise. Them and to command.
Them to keep. The law of Moses so Paul
Barnabas talk about how wonderful it is the Gentiles are
saved then these judaizers get up and say, listen, they may you
may think that they're saved, but they're not saved unless
they keep the law of Moses they got to live like Jews and the
church was at an. Impasse.
But there was a man. Who learned a lesson a few years
ago and it says verse 6 and the apostle and elders.
Came together for to consider this matter and when they're
been much disputing, Peter rose up.
And said unto them, Men and brethren, you know how that a
good while ago God. Made choice among us that the
gentiles by my. Mouth should hear the word of
the gospel. And believe.
And God, which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness,
giving them the. Holy Ghost, even as He did unto
us, and put no difference between US and them, purifying
their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why attempt he
God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear?
He said we couldn't have kept the law.
Why are you making them? Keep the law, but we believe.
That through the. Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we shall be saved even as they. Peter learned his lesson and
years later Peter. Peter remembered his lesson kind
of encourage you if God spoken to your heart during a.
Message if God is just put upon. Your heart there's.
Something that needs to get right.
You know what would be great thing to do in your Bible?
Write it down next to the text which was preached today.
Maybe the back of the flyleaf? Of your Bible just write down
some decisions that God has had you make if you're in the
journaling group that likes to journal write that down I'll be
honest with you I I I don't like journaling at all but just
recently I've gotten A5 year journal it's just a couple lines
every day for five years I'm looking.
Forward. In year 234, looking back at
some of the things God spoke to me about from before you can
find them online. You could.
If you're of the persuasion, you could make a note on your.
Phone and just. Write down things that the
Lord's taught you. Remember the lessons that God
has taught you. Why?
Because you need to grow and I need to grow.
And the only way we truly grow is by correction.
What does God tell us to do? Well, there's a.
Lot of things that we need to get right.
It could be about gossip. Having a gossiping tongue could
be about being angry. A hasty and angry spirit could
be about speaking. Words that are of health and
kindness. Job 625.
How? Forcible are right words, he
said. Could be that lust.
Is eating you up. We're going to look at that
tonight. Could be a while since you've
read your Bible and prayed be living a spiritual double life.
You look good on Sunday. Everyone thinks there's nothing
going on but you and the Lord. No different.
But what do you need to do? If you want to grow, you have to
be willing to be corrected, and sometimes that correction hurts,
but it's needed. By the way, nobody makes it
without being corrected by the Lord.
You know, don't let Satan get you in this place.
Well, why do I always need corrected?
Because you're saved and you're human and you're still dealing
with the flesh. We'll look at Romans chapter 6
tonight. It's going to speak.
Much to that to crucify our flesh to deal with this every.
Day, we're going to need correction.
Proverbs 12, verse one. Whosoever loveth instruction
loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof.
Is. Brutish.
Don't be a brute. Except correction Proverbs. 1532
He that refuses instruction despises his own soul.
But he that heareth reproof. Getteth understanding why do we
hate correction so much? It's 5 little letters.
PRIDE, remember? We think we're right.
That's why we do what we do and no one likes God telling us what
we're wrong. But there's physical correction
that's needed. Spiritual correction is needed.
And sometimes it hurts. Remember I talked to you a few
moments ago about my my teeth and my chin growing up actually
had flat feet as. Well.
And I was about 5 or 6 years old and they put metal plates inside
of my shoes. I don't think they do that
anymore. There's probably a good.
Reason. Why they don't do that anymore?
But I remember having, you know, my kids because, you know, back
in the 80s, like, that's the the thing, you know what I'm saying?
I got my kids and inside my kids are steel plates.
I'm glad there's no TSA back. Then because they.
Would have wondered what am I carrying in my shoes but they
hurt man walking around with steel plates.
Inside of your shoes. But they did the job, you know?
About second, third grade. Didn't have a chin, remember?
They gave me a dental. Appliance now wasn't.
That headgear that some of those had back in the day, remember
the headgear that was just like, you know, medieval barbarism,
you know, back in the day. But I had, it wasn't even a
retainer. It filled my whole mouth.
I couldn't move my teeth. So I talked.
I had to talk like this. For two years.
And every month I would go to the orthodontist and they would
move that a little bit. They turn a key and it would
come out a little bit and it would make my chin come out.
And I want you to get, can we get a close up of this?
I mean, look at this right here, this my mom, if my mom was still
with us, I mean, she was very proud of this Chin, let me say,
because she it was most of her pension.
I think she pulled out early to be able to get that Joe.
That's good. No, that's, that's that's my
stomach. All right, Just don't let's not
focus in there, right. This is why I shouldn't have
that screen back there because now I know what they're focusing
on. It's throwing me off, but I'm
just going to move over here, all right, anyway.
But then I had braces after that.
Had to get the teeth right, you know, then they.
They put the the different stuff in there and move it around.
You have to put wax in there because it was scraping on your
mouth. Then when that was done, I had a
retainer to make sure that everything stayed where it need
to stay. So basically from about first
grade until about 10th grade, I had some sort of appliance on my
body trying to make it what it needed to be, and they hurt do.
You know what today. I'm glad that I went.
Through it. Because there was some stuff
that needed correction. Listen, when God corrects you,
listen. He don't smack you around, you
know what I'm saying? He doesn't just Willy nilly,
just. Kind of.
God with love, concern, and care will correct you.
Why? Because he loves you so much and
if you weren't part of the family, he'd let you on your
own. But he loves you so much that he
wants you to be corrected. People say, well God loves me
just the way I am. God loves you just the way you
are, but He loves you far too much to keep you that way.
He wants you to be conformed into His image.
When was the last time you gave in to God's correcting measures
in your life? When was the last time you got
to the end of a message? When was the last time you were
in the middle of your Bible reading?
Like I got to read 2 chapters today, but you had to stop.
Like Lord I, I got to stop, right?
Here because this is me and I got to.
Get this right? If not, then why are we reading
our Bibles? Why are we listening to sermons?
He wants to make us better, not better.
He wants to make us conform to the image of Christ.
And that requires correction. By the way, that includes me,
because if I don't get it right then I can't stand up here and
be able to tell you. I say it the Lord if.
I'm not willing to have the same thing happen in my life.
Are you willing to be corrected? And if you've never been
corrected, do you truly know if you're born again or not?
Perhaps today is the day you need to come to know Jesus
Christ your Savior. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from. The Pulpit of Liberty Baptist
Church If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's
any way we can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.