The title of my sermon this morning is Eating with the Gentiles.
Eating with the Gentiles.
I've been doing a bit of a series going through the book of Galatians.
Not chapter by chapter, not verse by verse, but subject by subject.
And today I really want to focus in on this little anecdote that the Apostle Paul gives
about publicly correcting Peter or rebuking Peter when he came to Antioch because there
is so much in this little story that I think it's easy to miss and to let it go by.
But the truths that are contained in the story are so powerful and it just absolutely destroys
this whole Hebrew roots movement or Torah observing Christians or you know the Seventh
Day Adventists with their dietary restrictions about not eating pork or not even shellfish.
And you'd be surprised even how many evangelical Christians or how many Baptists will get sucked
into these things.
And I just feel like if people would understand this passage that we're going to look at this
morning, all that would go out the window because this is such a powerful passage.
And so let's go through this morning and we're going to compare it with some other scriptures
and you're going to see what I mean.
Look if you would at Galatians chapter 2 in verse 11 the Bible reads, but when Peter was
come to Antioch I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed.
Now some people would ask the question you know why didn't Paul just go to Peter privately
and deal with this?
Well the reason that Paul is correcting Peter publicly is because Peter's sin is a very
public sin and he has led a lot of other people into the same error and so that's why Paul
had to set the record straight publicly.
And so he withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed.
Now obviously Peter is a great man of God.
Peter's an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Not only was he one of the original twelve disciples but even among the twelve disciples
there were those three that were even closer to Jesus, Peter, James, and John where when
Jesus would go up into the mount of transfiguration or something it's just those three.
And so Peter was definitely in the inner circle, but at the end of the day God is not a respecter
of persons and so even someone as important as Peter when they're in error they need to
be called out.
And remember what Paul said in chapter 1 that even if we ourselves or an angel from heaven
preach any other gospel unto you let him be accursed.
And so at the end of the day doctrine, truth, right and wrong is always going to trump personality
or someone's person.
Now look if you would at verse number 12 it says for before that certain came from James
he did eat with the Gentiles but when they were come he withdrew and separated himself
fearing them which were of the circumcision.
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him in so much that Barnabas also was carried
away with their dissimulation.
So we see that Peter has led other people into this error as well which is why he needed
to be corrected publicly.
One of the key things I want to point out from the get-go though is this word dissimulation.
Dissimulation is like our modern word simulation.
It's hypocrisy.
It's something that isn't real.
It's fake.
You see Peter did not have a conviction against eating with the Gentiles.
He had no problem doctrinally or spiritually eating with the Gentiles which is why he did
it before the people from James showed up.
But when those from James showed up now all of a sudden he does this not out of conviction
but out of fear of the Jews, fear of those of the circumcision.
He says oh you know I don't want to be seen doing this so then he hypocritically separates
from the Gentiles.
And then it says in verse 14 but when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to
the truth of the Gospel I said unto Peter before them all, if thou being a Jew livest
after the manner of Gentiles and not as do the Jews why compelest thou the Gentiles to
live as do the Jews?
So the thing I want to point out here is that Peter according to Paul is living after the
manner of the Gentiles, okay?
So how could he then try to compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
Now I'm going to explain to you the significance of that in a moment but the main thing I want
you to get right now is that Peter lives as a Gentile meaning that Peter is not living
the Jewish lifestyle when he's in Galatia amongst Gentiles.
You know what he's doing?
He's living like the Gentiles.
When he's in Rome he's doing as the Romans do.
It's only dissimulation when he feels like oh I can't eat with the Gentiles.
Now okay we all get it.
That's easy.
We just read over these four verses that tell the story.
We've got the gist of the story.
We see what's right there on the surface.
But let's do a little bit of a deeper dive here, okay?
Let's think about this a little bit more carefully because there's more going on here than what
we see right on the surface especially when we then compare this to some stuff from the
book of Acts.
Stop and think about this for a minute.
Put yourself in the story.
I want you to really process this story of what happened, okay?
So according to the scripture here's the information that we have.
Peter is eating with the Gentiles before the people from James show up, right?
Then when the people from James show up he withdraws himself.
Then Paul calls him out and says hey buddy you're a Jew.
I'm a Jew as far as being born and raised Jews but you're living as do the Gentiles.
So why would you then compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
Now here's what I want to stop and point out, okay?
How in the world is Paul or excuse me how in the world is Peter by withdrawing himself
compelling Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
How is he compelling Gentiles to live as do the Jews just by saying like oh we got to
stay separate.
You know I'm a Jew.
You're a Gentile.
Hey let's eat separate.
It's because what's actually going on here is not just about proximity in the lunchroom
and I think that that's what we could maybe think when we first read this just on the
surface we just think like oh eating with the Gentiles that simply means that he's sitting
next to them in the cafeteria.
But in reality that is not what it means.
What it actually means when it says eating with the Gentiles it's talking about eating
the food that the Gentiles eat with the Gentiles.
You see stop and I'm going to prove that to you.
I'm going to show you in Acts and here and elsewhere and I'm going to prove to you that
that's what's going on and that's the only way to make sense of this story with what
Paul says.
Stop and think about it.
Let's just say for a moment that the whole issue was just eating with them in the sense
of sitting at the table with them and eating at the same table.
Stop and picture this.
So we got Peter with his little kosher meal.
So think about on the airplane and they give out the normal meal and then they give out
the kosher meal.
So let's just picture this right now.
Peter's got his little kosher meal pack and he's sitting next to a Gentile and the Gentiles
got his pulled pork sandwich and Peter's got his little kosher meal and they're sitting
next to each other and they're eating.
Everybody got the scenario?
Then the people from James show up and Peter's like oh I can't eat with you anymore and he
takes his little kosher meal and eats it somewhere else.
Here's why that doesn't make any sense.
Reason number one, if he's sitting and eating that kosher meal then he's not living as do
the Gentiles because the Gentiles eating a pulled pork sandwich.
He's still living as do the Jews if he's following dietary restrictions of the Old Testament.
But yet Paul says you live as do the Gentiles.
When these people aren't around you're living like the Gentiles and now all of a sudden
when they show up you're doing this dissimulation for fear of the circumcision.
Number two, think about this.
If Peter was sitting there eating kosher food just next to the Gentiles, he's just at the
same table with them and that was the issue, then how in the world could that possibly
be construed as compelling the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
Because if he's just saying well I can't eat with you guys because I'm a Jew and you're
a Gentile, that's not making the Gentiles be like Jews.
That's just saying you guys are different and I'm on a different program than you guys.
But if he is basically saying well I can't eat that pork, I can't eat that shrimp kebab,
I've got to eat my kosher food over here, then basically what he's doing is he's saying
that eating according to the dietary laws of the Old Testament is more righteous which
is why I'm doing it.
And so if you want to get to the next rung of spirituality, the next level of spirituality,
you need to also follow these dietary restrictions.
That's what he's implying.
It'd be sort of like if everybody's eating donuts and you kind of walked in and said
oh I can't eat that stuff, I'm an athlete.
You know the implication is you know yeah you're eating that stuff but it'd be kind
of better if you didn't.
Isn't that kind of the implication?
When you are a person that people are looking to and then you abstain from something for
a reason, then they might say well I want to be like him so I'm not going to eat that
either.
I'm not going to do that either.
Oh well if Peter, this key apostle, is not eating the pork and the shellfish and so forth,
well then I shouldn't either.
And so basically by his actions he's actually promoting among the Gentiles that they would
live as do the Jews.
That actually makes sense.
Now let me prove it to you further by comparing this with the scripture in Acts chapter 10.
Let's go over to Acts chapter 10.
And so what I'm submitting to you today is that in Galatians when Paul talks about Peter
eating with the Gentiles before those from James show up, it's not just about proximity
to the Gentiles.
Eating with the Gentiles means he's sitting down with the Gentiles and he's eating the
food that the Gentiles eat.
And what Paul is horrified by is the return to the law.
Because what's the whole book of Galatians about?
People trying to get you circumcised, trying to bring you under the law, trying to get
you to observe the Jewish calendar, trying to get you in this chapter to observe Jewish
dietary laws.
This is a retrograde movement because we're in the New Testament.
We're not under the law, we're under grace and so we don't want to move backward to being
under the law.
And I'm not going to re-preach my sermon from last Sunday night but we talked about that
illustration about when you're a child at home you differ nothing from a servant, right?
There's a certain bondage to living at home as a child of your parents because you have
to follow their rules.
Once you move out and you're living on your own, now you make your own rules.
Some of the rules that your parents have for you when you're a teenager are moral absolutes
that you're going to take with you for the rest of your life no matter what.
Your parents have rules like no drinking, no drugs, no smoking, no fornication, no adultery,
you know, no stealing.
You're going to keep doing those things.
Not because mom said so but because it's the right thing to do.
So you're going to continue for the rest of your life whether under the bondage of living
at home or not, you're still going to do what's right, okay, because it's right.
But then there are certain other arbitrary rules that your parents have or rules that
are specific to children that you're not going to take with you.
So your parents are going to have rules like don't touch the walls, go to bed at a certain
time.
You know, my mom had, and so those rules are totally arbitrary.
So in my house I'm not like I can't touch the walls, I have to go to bed at a certain
time.
You know, I'm not under that law of my parents anymore so now I make my own rules but the
things that my parents taught me about right and wrong, obviously I'm still going to follow
those things because they taught me morality that's right.
Now here's another third example of a kind of law that my parents had for me growing
up.
They had a rule that said you can only have four cookies.
So four cookies, that was the rule.
Now here's the thing, even to this day at age 42, there are a lot of times when I sit
down and eat four cookies.
Now it's not because I'm under the law, it's not because, you know, my mom is just, you
know, this little like apparition above me like, now Steven, you know, don't eat more,
and I'm like picture, oh man, you know.
I don't eat more than four cookies many times because I'm just thinking, you know, my mom
made a lot of sense with that principle.
That principle made sense so I'm just going to do it.
Not because I have to and not because it's a sinful right and wrong issue because let's
face it, I mean, sinful right and wrong issue would be things like, you know, don't steal,
don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't lie, those kind of things.
But when it comes to four cookies, it's not sin to have a fifth cookie but it probably
makes sense to just eat four.
You know, it's a sensible number.
It makes a lot of sense, okay.
Touching the walls, you know, like it doesn't really add anything to my life so I'm just
going to touch the walls because not touching the walls doesn't improve my life at all,
okay.
And you might disagree with that but, and kids, if your parents don't want you to touch
the walls, don't touch them.
So here's the thing, now when we think about God's laws, you know, when we were under the
schoolmaster and when I say we, I'm talking about human beings because none of us were
ever living in a time when we were under the schoolmaster because guess what, that all
happened before Christ died on the cross 2,000 years ago.
And again, if you're not clear on any of this, go back and listen to my sermon from last
Sunday night.
I went through this in great detail.
But the thing is, there are laws in the Old Testament that are just right and wrong.
Thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal.
Why do we not do those things?
Because they're clearly moral absolutes.
So whether we're under the law or not, clearly God doesn't want us to do those things.
They're just bad things to do, okay.
And that would also apply to things like getting a tattoo or cutting yourself or putting on
a woman's clothing as a man or putting on, you know, a man's clothing as a woman.
I mean, obviously, all of a sudden in the New Testament, those things don't suddenly
become morally fine to mutilate your body or to dress in drag.
I mean, it's obvious, right?
But then there are other things in the Old Testament that are specific to back then that
don't apply today like animal sacrifices, circumcision, dietary laws.
They were only symbolic pictures of things to come, figurative of things to come.
And so there is absolutely no reason to practice them in the New Testament.
We shouldn't think about those things.
Just like I'm not going to sit there and say, well, I have to take a nap because mommy told
me to.
Because that was for a different time and I'm an adult now and so that doesn't apply
to me anymore, okay.
But then there's a third type of law in the Old Testament, things like the Sabbath day.
Now here's the thing about the Sabbath day, again, it's not an absolute right and wrong
issue but there's wisdom in resting one day in seven so it's kind of like the four cookie
rule where I'm not going to observe the Sabbath like an under the law kind of observation
of the Sabbath, not a legalistic observation but more like, you know, it really makes a
lot of sense to rest one day in seven.
And I've noticed that both times that I severely threw out my back, I had done workouts back
to back for like ten days in a row with no rest day.
So now I'm like, okay, I better rest that one day in seven because it's just smart to
do so.
And pretty much any exercise book is going to tell you rest one day in seven.
It's just kind of a universally understood phenomenon.
So I'm not keeping the Sabbath because I'm living under the law but sometimes I'll just
kind of take a Sabbath, it could be a Tuesday, you know, or whatever, just make sure that
I get adequate rest when it comes to hard exercise or hard physical work.
So does everybody understand that we're not under the law but there's still a lot of wisdom
in the law?
I'm not under my parents but there's a lot of wisdom in what my parents taught.
Some of the things my parents taught are just right and wrong in a way that transcends their
rules.
It's just universally right and wrong.
It's the same way with God's law.
So that was a little bit of a review from last week but I just wanted to make sure we
all know that going in.
Did I have you turn to Acts chapter 10?
So let's go to Acts chapter 10 with that in mind and we're going to see this story about
the apostle Peter.
So this is Peter, verse 9 of chapter 10, on the morrow as they went on their journey and
drew nine to the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour.
So the sixth hour is like noon, okay, because we're starting at 6 a.m. with the reckoning.
And he became very hungry, right?
We're all hungry at noon.
And would have eaten but while they made ready he fell into a trance.
So they're preparing lunch, he's up on the roof praying, all of a sudden he's no longer
just up on the roof praying but he falls into a trance so he's seeing a vision.
And it says that he fell into a trance and in verse 11 he saw heaven open and a certain
vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knitted the four corners and
let down to the earth wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, wild beasts
and creeping things and fowls of the air.
And there came a voice to him, rise Peter, kill and eat.
And so here comes this sheet with just all of the animals that under the Old Testament
law they would not be allowed to eat because they're only supposed to eat things like cows
and sheep and goats and chickens and they could eat beetles, they could eat locusts,
insects but they were not allowed to eat things like cats, dogs, bears, foxes, even
pigs, right, shrimp, things like that.
So there are all kinds of just wild beasts that are coming down in this sheet and Peter's
hungry and God says to him, arise Peter, kill and eat.
Now Peter right away is thinking oh I'm not supposed to do that because I have to follow
these Old Testament dietary laws.
He doesn't understand fully the New Testament yet.
And so he says not so Lord, verse 14, for I have never eaten anything that is common
or unclean.
He's like man my whole life I've never had pork.
My whole life I've never eaten some of these birds that are unclean birds or you know I've
never eaten anything common or unclean in my entire life, I'm not going to start now.
So God tells him kill and eat and he basically says no, I'm not going to.
And then God said good, I was just testing you, good answer.
No that's not what he says.
He corrects Peter and says what God had cleansed, verse 15, that call not thou common.
This was done thrice and the vessel was received up again to heaven.
So the vessel comes down, shows him a bunch of wild animals and Peter's told kill and
eat Peter and he's like no, I'm not going to, I've never eaten this stuff my whole life
and God says what God has cleansed, that call not thou common or unclean.
And then it happens a second time.
And then it happens a third time.
And so three times in a row this happens.
So God is really being persistent about this, isn't he?
Then he snaps out of it, he wakes up from the trance, he wakes up from the vision that
he's having.
And it says in verse 17, while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen
should mean.
So he's really perplexed, he's confused by this, he's trying to figure out what's going
on here.
Why did I just see this?
While he's pondering this, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's
house and stood before the gate.
Now who is Cornelius?
Cornelius is a Centurion, he's an Italian and he is not Jewish.
He is a Gentile, okay.
Now here's the thing, remember Jewish is not an ethnicity, Jewish is a religious practice
because anybody of any race throughout the entire Old Testament could become circumcised,
keep the Passover and join the nation of Israel.
And you have lots of people throughout the Old Testament doing just that.
Even Caleb himself is one of them, okay.
So you have Caleb's family that is, you know, because he's a Kenite, different nationality,
they joined up.
So anybody can join and become, this guy is not joined, this guy is a Gentile but he believes
in the God of the Bible, he's a devout man, he donates money to the Jews, he's kind unto
the Jews, he loves the Jews and he believes in God but he hasn't taken the step of, you
know, becoming Jewish but he does believe in God.
And so God sees this guy, he's a sincere guy and so God says, you know what, I've seen
and I'm paraphrasing but you can read the story on your own, I've seen your good works,
I've seen the alms that you do and he sees that this guy is a sincere guy so he says
look, go send for Peter and he'll tell you what you need to do.
So he sends his messengers who come to Peter and right before the messengers get there
Peter is having this vision, Peter's having this trance with the wild animals and stuff.
So then when the guys get there he realizes, wait a minute, that's what God was telling
me in that vision, he's telling me that I need to go with these guys who are Gentiles
and I need to go to their house and go back with them and not worry about going and lodging
with and staying with a Gentile and spending time with these Gentiles.
I shouldn't think of the Gentiles as being these unclean people, right?
So the animals are like a metaphor for people.
What God has cleansed, that call not thou common or unclean, you know, it's not just
the animals but we're talking about actually the people that are coming to get him, the
people that came from Cornelius.
He should not go with them.
And it says that they called, verse 18, and asked whether Simon which was surnamed Peter
were lodged there.
While Peter thought on the vision the spirit said to him, behold, three men seek thee.
Now hold on a second, how many times did he go through that vision with the animals?
Three times.
Three men seek thee.
Arise therefore and get thee down and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.
Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius and said, behold,
I am he whom you seek.
What is the cause wherefore you come?
And they said, Cornelius, the centurion, a just man and one that feareth God and of good
report among all the nation of the Jews was warned from God by an holy angel to send for
thee into his house and to hear words of thee, right?
We just talked about that.
Come down to verse 27.
As he talked with him, he went in, so now fast forward, he went to Cornelius' house,
he goes into Cornelius' house, and he found that many were come together.
So it's not just Cornelius, but Cornelius has brought a bunch of people together to
all hear the Gospel, right?
Everybody's all there to hear the Gospel.
And they said, or sorry, verse 28, and he said unto them, you know how that it 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.
So notice how Peter interprets the vision.
The animals were shown to him, and he tells him, eat these animals.
No I won't.
Well, you're wrong, Peter, because what God has cleansed, that call not thou common or
unclean.
Don't call these animals common or unclean.
Eat them.
No, I don't want to.
But God has cleansed, that call not thou common or unclean.
Peter says, well, what I learned from this vision was that I shouldn't call any man common
or unclean, because these three guys showed up, they're Gentiles, and I got it.
It made sense to me.
He got the vision, right?
But now look at verse 1 of chapter 11, because we're not done here.
It says in chapter 11, verse 1, the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that
the Gentiles had also received the word of God, because when Peter preaches to them,
a bunch of them get saved and baptized, and it's a great thing.
But when the brethren and apostles that are in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also
received the word of God, and when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the
circumcision contended with him, saying, thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, watch this,
and didst eat with them.
Now what is the problem here?
The problem is you went in unto those men and you ate with them.
Does everybody understand?
You ate with them.
That is the problem.
And see, part of this is maybe a little bit because our culture is different.
We constantly are just going to restaurants and hotels and places like that.
In the ancient world, you don't necessarily have a lot of restaurants and hotels.
Even in a lot of places in this world, you don't have a lot of restaurants and hotels.
But in our Western culture, I mean, we have a lot of restaurants and hotels.
Some of you people have a kitchen and food in it, and you're still going to the restaurant
constantly.
But I'm saying that these people, if you're going to go travel to some distant city and
go visit some guy, you're probably going to be staying at his house, you're going to be
eating his food, and it probably would have been disrespectful, oh, sorry, I can't eat
your food.
I'm Jewish.
Probably that's why the Jews are just not going unto one of another nation or being
with them because as soon as the Jews hear about this, what are they most horrified by?
You ate with those guys.
You ate their food.
That wasn't kosher food.
And then he defends himself and tells the story.
But before you turn there, let me also draw the connection between keeping company and
eating.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5, 11, now I've written unto you not to keep company
if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or
a drunkard or an extortioner with such a one know not to eat.
Don't keep company with them.
With such a one, don't eat.
Because those two things kind of go hand in hand, don't they?
Look at Peter's defense in verse 4 of chapter 11.
Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning and expounded it by order unto them saying,
he tells the whole story about being told to slay and eat the animals, right?
Verse 7, I heard a voice saying unto me, arise Peter, slay and eat.
But I said, not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my
mouth.
But the voice answered me again from heaven, what God hath cleansed, that call not thou
common.
And I'm not going to repeat the whole story, but the story is pretty much repeated here.
And then at the end, what's the reaction from those in Judea to Peter's defense?
Look at verse 17, Peter says, for as much then as God gave them the light gift as he
did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand
God?
When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God saying, then hath
God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
So they accept Peter's response and say, wow, this is great.
The Gentiles are getting saved, amen.
Now here's the mistake that a lot of people make when they interpret this passage.
Here's what they would say.
Oh, you know, the thing about killing the animals, that was just a metaphor.
We're not actually allowed to eat those animals.
It was all about the people.
Now if you ask a seven-day Adventist, and believe me, I've asked many seven-day Adventists,
well, what about this part where Peter is being told to eat these egg leaves?
Oh, no, no, no, that's just about the people.
That just represents the people.
Here's why that is such a ridiculous way to interpret this passage.
Why would God use something sinful to be symbolic of it's okay to do this?
Stop and think about how dumb that is for a second.
Here, let me show you a sinful illustration so that you can know what's not sinful.
Here's the way this works, is that a parable is an earthly truth that expresses a heavenly
truth or a carnal truth that expresses a spiritual truth, am I right?
So there's some truth about fishing, and that carries over into spiritual things.
There's a truth about a woman kneading dough, and that carries over into spiritual things.
There's a truth about farmers.
They sow seeds.
Some of the seeds that they sow, birds eat the seeds.
If birds didn't actually eat the seeds, that wouldn't be a very good parable, would it?
It's got to be an earthly truth that sheds light on a heavenly truth.
Now, if eating those unclean beasts were not a truth, how could it express anything?
Let me give you another illustration.
Let's say Peter's on the roof praying, and a sheet comes down with a whole bunch of women.
Arise, Peter, and commit adultery.
Oh, not so, Lord.
I've been faithful to my wife all these years.
Oh, what God has cleansed, that call not thou common or unclean.
Oh, I get it now.
I'm going to go with these guys, but of course I would never commit adultery.
You see, that would be absurd.
What about this?
Let's say a sheet comes down, and it's got Best Buy, the Apple Store, Neiman Marcus,
and he says, Arise, Peter, and loot these stores.
And he says, not so, Lord.
I've never participated in looting.
Even in the summer of 2020, I didn't participate in looting.
And God says, well, you know, what stores God has cleansed are not off limits unto looting.
You see, if God were telling him to steal, or to commit adultery, or kill, or do anything
wrong, it would be stupid, because God's not going to tell you to sin.
God's not like, here, do this sin.
I wonder what this vision means.
Oh, I know.
God told me to do something sinful three times, and I refused to do it three times.
So that means I should go with these guys, because it's not a sin to go with these guys.
Folks, does anybody see how utterly ridiculous that is?
But you know what that is?
That's people who are just hell-bent on a certain doctrine.
They don't care what the text is actually saying.
They don't care what the Bible's actually saying.
You see, when God showed him that sheet, he's doing double duty.
There's the literal interpretation, and there's the spiritual interpretation.
The literal interpretation is, you can eat these unclean beasts in the New Testament
because we're not under the law anymore, and it's not a moral issue.
There's nothing morally wrong with eating pork, okay?
But then there's a symbolic, secondary, metaphorical meaning of three guys that are Gentiles are
going to invite you to come stay with them.
Go stay with those guys, okay?
This is all of God.
God has ordained all of this.
Now here's why these two things come together, is that if you go with these Gentiles, and
you follow these guys, and you stay with them, you're going to end up eating their food,
and that's okay.
And that's what the vision is also showing him, is that that's okay.
That's why when the Jews say, you ate with them, he's like, no I didn't.
I preached the gospel to them, but I didn't eat any of that pork.
I didn't touch that stuff.
I didn't touch those pork rinds, okay?
He doesn't deny that.
He explains the whole thing, including the part about God telling him to eat unclean
beasts.
Now case closed, as far as I'm concerned, just from Acts 10 and 11 alone, God specifically
tells him to kill and eat those animals, and if that weren't allowed, that wouldn't make
any sense.
But we have lots of other scriptures in the New Testament that will also confirm this
for us, because we don't want to necessarily base a doctrine off one passage.
We want to get other confirming scriptures, right?
So if you would, flip over to First Corinthians chapter 10.
First Corinthians chapter 10.
While you're turning there, I'll read for you some other verses like, for example, Colossians
2 16 says, let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holiday
or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come but the
bodies of Christ.
He says, look, meats, drinks, holidays, new moon, Sabbath days, that was a shadow of things
to come.
Don't let anybody judge you for not doing or doing those things, because those are not
binding in the new covenant.
We're not under the law.
Those are the law things that were the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.
We're not under the schoolmaster.
We're not under the law.
Those things were symbolic.
They were figurative.
They were imposed on them until the time of reformation, shadow of things to come.
It's all about Christ now.
Don't let anybody judge you, Colossians, on that.
Some people would say, well, it's okay for the Gentiles not to do this stuff, but the
Jews still have to follow it.
Gentiles don't need to get circumcised.
Gentiles don't need to eat, but Jews do need to follow those things.
Well, hold on a second, though.
What did Galatians say?
Peter, you're living as do the Gentiles.
You live as a Gentile, Peter.
You're a Jew, and you live as a Gentile.
That shows that it's not a different set of rules for Jews and Gentiles.
Not only that, the Bible says that in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
We're all one in Christ Jesus, so there's not these two separate programs here.
He says you are living as do the Gentiles.
Now look down at your Bible there in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 25.
Here's Paul talking to the Corinthians.
Whatsoever is sold, verse 25, whatsoever is sold in the shambles, shambles is like a butcher
shop or a meat market.
That eat asking no question for conscience sake.
Whatever, anything that's sold at the meat market, eat it and don't ask any question
for conscience sake.
Go to the meat shop, go to the butcher, whatever meat they're selling, don't sit there and
worry.
Is it kosher?
Is it not kosher?
Is it on the approved beast list?
Is it not on the approved beast list?
You just go there and you eat whatever meat they sell and there's no issue.
For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast and you be disposed to go.
So you're a Corinthian, you're a Greek and you're a saved Greek and unsaved Greeks invite
you to their feast and you be disposed to go?
Whatsoever is set before you eat asking no question for conscience sake.
When I'm supposed to believe that we as Christians aren't allowed to eat this big long list of
meats then why would he tell them go to unsaved people's houses and whatever food they put
in front of you, shut up and eat it.
Can somebody explain to me how that's consistent with this Judaizing, Torah observing thing
that says no, we have to follow Old Testament dietary laws.
Why didn't he say as long as it's kosher?
As long as it's in conformity with the Old Testament dietary laws.
He says no, whatever they put in front of you, eat it asking no question for conscience
sake but if it's pork, is that what it says?
No.
It says but if any man say unto you this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for
his sake that showed it and for conscience sake for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness
thereof.
Here's what he's saying.
Let's say there was meat offered in sacrifice to idols and you don't know that it was offered
in sacrifice to idols, then who cares because idols have absolutely no power and because
idols have absolutely no power, the molecular structure of that meat is the same as before
they put a hex on it or whatever and so you don't have to worry about oh no, I wonder
if this meat is, you know, if I got to do an exorcism on my meat.
He's saying look, who cares?
If you're at the meat market, maybe it was offered in sacrifice to idols, maybe it wasn't
but what you don't know can't hurt you and if you go to somebody's house and they're
just pulling mystery meat out of the fridge, eat the mystery meat.
You can look kids, you can eat at the school cafeteria because there's always mystery meat
down there but you can eat it and ask no question.
You might ask questions for some other reasons but ask no question for conscience sake.
You might ask question for health sake.
If meat is really gray in color, you might wonder about it but there's no conscience
issue but then he says this, if the person just outright says to you this was offered
in sacrifice to idols, he says do not eat it.
Now it becomes sinful because now you're participating in this idolatrous meat offering whereas if
you didn't know about it, you're not guilty.
You have to know that you're doing that in order to be guilty of that.
You know, nobody's guilty of eating food, ah, gotcha, sucka, that was offered in sacrifice
to idols.
Oh, let me go to the bathroom and spit it out, you know.
Does everybody see how clear this passage is?
Look, according to 1 Corinthians 10, there's no way that God is expecting us to keep these
dietary laws.
Funny how the New Testament never teaches us to keep these laws.
It's not like there's all these other verses in Paul where he's like, hey, remember to
follow those laws about the meats.
There's nothing telling you to do it.
We've got Acts 10 and 11 telling us not to worry about it.
We've got Galatians 2 which I am making the case this morning is also telling you that
it's fine and then we've got Colossians chapter 2 telling you not to worry about it but I
think this is a really clear one right here in 1 Corinthians 10.
The only issue is just idolatry.
There's no issue about what meat we're talking.
Whatsoever, I mean what does whatsoever mean?
Because when we say whosoever believeth in him, is that certain people?
The soever part there is making it really broad, isn't it?
Because if you just said, well, the one who, whosoever, the soever part is kind of like
letting you know, hey, it's just anybody who believes is who we're talking about.
Whatsoever, you know, when the Bible says whatsoever you do, do it to the glory of God,
it's not talking about certain things.
The whole point is that it's everything that you do.
That's the force of that soever ending, right?
So whatsoever is sold in the shambles, eat it.
Not worrying about Old Testament laws because we're not under the law in the New Testament.
Does everybody understand that?
One last place we can look at on this, Romans 14, Romans chapter 14 and then we'll come
full circle, we'll end up back in Galatians chapter 2 now that we've got some context.
And you know why this context is especially relevant?
Because Acts 10 and 11 is literally about Peter, the same person that we're seeing in
Galatians 2.
So it's extremely relevant and Acts 10 and 11 takes place before this incident in Galatians
chapter 2.
So Peter's already got this Acts 10 and 11 experience under his belt when he goes into
Galatians 2.
And look if you would at Romans 14 verse 1, it says, him that is weak in the faith receive
ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Here's what the Bible's saying, look, people are going to be weak in the faith, they're
going to have some weird beliefs, they're going to have, and I'm not talking about heresy,
but they might just think things are wrong that aren't really wrong or just have rules
that don't really make sense or maybe they just haven't learned a lot.
So him that is weak in the faith receive ye, you know, be friends with this guy, put up
with this guy, have fellowship with this guy, but not to doubtful disputations.
You know, don't get in a bunch of arguments with this guy.
Don't sit there and have disputations and get into all these gray areas and arguments.
Just, you know, you don't have to worry about changing the guy necessarily.
You know, the guy needs to grow and learn and whatever.
Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
For one believeth that he may eat all things.
That's me and pretty much everybody in this room.
Another who is weak eateth herbs.
So you guys that are into lifting, uh, you know, veganism is not your pathway toward
a stronger lifts in the gym, but obviously that's not what we mean here.
We say weak.
I'm kidding.
But you know, it's talking about being weak in the faith.
Okay.
So it, you know, yeah, the others, yeah.
For one believeth that he may eat all things.
It says another who's weak eateth herbs.
Now don't miss this.
What does it mean when it says another who's weak eateth herbs?
What are we, what would we call that in 2023?
What would we call that?
We'd call it a vegetarian or a vegan, am I right?
One believes he may eat all things.
The other who's weak eateth herbs.
Are we talking about, oh, one believes he may eat all things and another one's following
Moses's dietary laws.
Is that what the Bible says?
No, because eating herbs is not Moses program.
Eating herbs is called vegetarianism or maybe veganism.
He says one believeth that he made all things.
Another who's weak eateth herbs.
Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not.
Let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth for God hath received him.
What's Paul giving leeway to?
He's saying, look, if people are vegetarians, you don't have to just constantly be giving
them crap about it.
You know, if they want to be a vegetarian, let them be a vegetarian.
They're vegan or vegetarian, whatever.
Maybe they just need to grow in the Lord a little bit, learn a little bit more about
the Bible.
Maybe they're coming from Hinduism or coming from some kind of a, a libtard background
or whatever the reasons.
He's saying it's fine.
He's like, look, if people are, and look, I'm not saying everybody who's a vegetarian
is a Hindu or a libtard.
I'm not saying that.
You know, some people have a lot of reasons for the reason why they choose diets.
And look, people do all kinds of wild diets.
They do, you know, there's guys who go to In-N-Out Burger, they get 12 burger patties
with nothing else.
I couldn't believe you got that for $14.40, that was pretty incredible.
I mean, I was like, hold up.
So here we got, we got, we got this brother over here.
He's not weak in faith.
He's got, he's got 12 burger patties from In-N-Out Burger with nothing else.
Okay.
So we got this guy who's just eating like this carnivore.
Now is that a religious thing for you?
No, it has nothing to do with religion.
Okay.
He's just doing this carnivore diet.
And then there's other people that are doing a keto diet, South Beach diet, Atkins diet,
Dr. Stillman diet.
You know, all these diets, you got vegan, vegetarian, carnivore, keto, paleo, am I missing
anything?
Potato.
What?
Potato.
Potato?
Whoa.
Man, the potato diet.
So then you just go to In-N-Out and you're just like, give me five orders of fries.
Fish only.
Okay, yeah.
It's out there.
Now here's the thing.
I personally don't do any of these diets.
I just eat, you know, I'm still on the food pyramid from the 1980s.
I'm sorry.
Okay, train up a child in the way he should go and when he's old he won't depart from
it.
Sorry.
But I just, I love having cereal at the bottom as the basis, you know.
Hey, whatever.
Don't judge me.
But the point is that, you know, I don't do that.
You probably don't do that.
But here's the thing.
The people in our church that are vegan, vegetarian, paleo, carnivore, they're not doing it for
a religious reason.
It's just a diet that they found works for them and for whatever reason, maybe it gives
them energy, makes them feel good, they like the taste, it helps them manage their weight,
whatever.
And I'm not throwing stones at anybody because hey, whatever works for you, you do what you
want, okay?
People can have a lot of reasons for being vegetarian.
Maybe they're worried about cruelty to animals.
Maybe it has nothing to do with religion.
Maybe it's just, well, I don't like, you know, animals being killed or whatever.
Now look, obviously the apostle Paul is telling us that it's fine to eat everything.
But he's saying, look, there are people that are weak in faith, maybe they're a new believer,
they might have these ideas where they're eating herbs or whatever.
Hey, don't judge them, don't worry about them.
And look, when I've hung around with vegetarians, I'm not just constantly like trying to sneak
meat into their food.
Like here, let me slip a little meat in, then I can watch their face light up like, mmm,
this is really good.
Oh, you like that, huh?
Well, let me tell you why you like it, because I fried it in bacon grease.
You know, I'm not trying to sit there and sneak meat into their food.
You know, when I'm hanging around with vegetarians, because I have hung around with vegetarians,
I've hung around with vegetarians at our church before, I've hung around with vegetarians
just out in the world, and I'm helping them like, oh, well, let's go to a restaurant that
has something nice for you too.
Because I'm just trying to live at peace with all men, I'm not just trying to just fight
everybody on their diet.
You know, and I'm not going to sneak any vegetables into your meat or anything, you know.
But the point is that the Apostle Paul is saying, look, people are going to have beliefs
that they're not really about something critical, it's not heresy, it's not a doctrine that's
super important.
So if they want to just eat herbs or whatever, let's not be judgmental, let's not worry about
it.
Some people want to observe one day above another, he says in verse 5, other people
observe every day alike.
Some people want to have like a Christian Sabbath and say Sunday is the Christian Sabbath.
Hey, if that's what people believe and they don't want to work on Sunday, great.
If they want to treat every day alike, no problem.
But you want to know what Paul does not have any time for?
People who want to be kosher because Paul's like, nope, I'm afraid of you, I'm afraid
of you.
You don't want to eat pork, I'm afraid of you.
You only eat the meat that is approved on the Mosaic law, I'm afraid of you.
I think I might have wasted my time with you.
I think I've bestowed labor on you in vain.
I'm doubting whether you're even saved.
In fact, you seem like you are following another gospel.
You've departed from the gospel of Christ.
I was just talking to a friend yesterday who was raised as an evangelical Christian and
he said that his parents went through this phase when he was a teenager and he said that
they went out and they bought a shofar so they could blow the trumpet on the new moon
and they started eating all this kosher food.
They didn't force it on him so he just made his own meals.
But they started eating all this stuff and whatever.
That's the kind of thing that would have horrified the apostle Paul.
And not only that, but there was a guy, the same person I was talking to yesterday told
me about a guy on YouTube who as an adult, some YouTuber with 300,000 subscribers went
out and got circumcised as an adult man because he basically got sucked into this Judaizing
doctrine.
That's the kind of thing that horrified the apostle Paul.
So when Paul talks about Christian liberty, he's not saying, hey, you want to follow the
Mosaic law?
That's cool.
Is that what he's saying?
Hey, you want to follow the Mosaic law?
No problem.
No, you know what he would tell you?
He would tell you Judaism is a false religion and putting ourselves under the Mosaic law
as Christians is tantamount to basically saying that Jesus Christ didn't die on the cross
and so we're back under the old covenant again.
That's what Paul would say.
Paul would not be cool with you following Jewish dietary laws or getting circumcised.
If you want to be vegan or something, he might roll his eyes inwardly.
But he's allowing for Christian liberty.
But it's funny, he's not allowing for that in Galatians.
He's like, hold up.
Are we all going to eat this food or what?
Why?
Because he's worried about the gospel.
He's worried about the doctrine.
Go back to Galatians 2 with all that in mind.
While you're turning to Galatians 2, just a quick review of the evidence.
Acts 10, Peter is explicitly told that he can eat all these beasts.
Then he goes to Gentiles and they say you ate with those people and he explains here's
why and then they back off.
He never denies that he ate with them.
Galatians 2, don't let anyone judge you about meat, drink, respect of a holiday, new moon
or Sabbath days.
Obviously stuff that is squarely in the old covenant, not moral issues, not anything that
we would do when we're no longer under the school master once we're adults.
Romans 14 talks about how, yeah, we can tolerate people who don't eat everything because they're
eating herbs.
No mention of, hey, we should tolerate Judaizers who want to restrict the meats that we can
eat.
First Corinthians 10, probably one of the most powerful pieces of evidence, First Corinthians
10.
Whatever they sell at the meat market, buy it and eat it, no question.
Go over to unsaved Greek people's houses and whatever food they put on your plate, eat
it.
How is that kosher?
It can't be.
I feel like First Corinthians 10 might get the award for being the strongest point of
the sermon but it's hard to pick because Acts 10 is pretty good too.
It's hard to say.
Galatians chapter number 2, let me get back there.
Verse 11, but when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was
to be blamed.
For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles.
But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with them and so much that Barnabas was carried
away with their dissimulation also.
But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel.
I mean look, you may think that the Apostle Paul is exaggerating here when he looks at
them worrying about eating and dietary laws and eating a separate meal and then turning
around and saying, you guys aren't walking according to the truth of the gospel.
You might be like, hold up, that was kind of a jump there.
But to the Apostle Paul, imposing circumcision and imposing dietary laws is tantamount to
denying the gospel.
Now you might say like, I don't agree with that, that's overboard, that's extreme.
But hold on a second, it's the Bible.
Now I've heard a lot of people say this, man, wouldn't it be nice if we had someone else's
account of this story?
Because this story is not found anywhere else, it's only found in Galatians.
And wouldn't it be great to get Peter's version of this story?
Wouldn't it be great to get Barnabas' version of this story?
Wouldn't it be great to get the Galatians' version of the story?
But guess what?
God only gave you Paul's version of the story.
You want to know why?
Because Paul's version of the story is the definitive version.
That's the definitive version.
It doesn't need to be supplemented with anyone else because Paul is 100% right.
And the reason why we only have Paul's version is because that's the only version we need.
The right version, Paul's perspective, Paul's version.
Now look, that's not to say Peter's not a great man of God who's right in other areas.
And by the way, I will bet you any amount of money that Peter immediately took this
from Paul and agreed with him.
Otherwise it wouldn't make sense for Paul to even bring it up.
Because Paul's whole point in chapters 1 and 2 is how the Jerusalem apostles have agreed
with him on what the Gospel is.
And he even says that when Peter's doing this, he's doing it for fear of the Jews.
I guarantee you that when Paul called out Peter, you know what Peter said?
I guarantee you he said, you know what, you're right brother, I'm sorry.
Because otherwise why would he even bring it up if it were some bone of contention between
them?
And by the way, if Peter would have been like, well no buddy, I'm going back to being kosher,
he'd be calling out Peter as a heretic and calling him all kinds of names like he calls
all these other people that are Judaizers.
He's bringing it up to show that Peter's not above being corrected.
And he's bringing it up to show that Peter believes like him but that he had this lapse
where he did something out of fear but he still believes like us.
That's the whole point of saying it was dissimulation.
Even Barnabas did it and we know Barnabas believes like us.
You know, it's just something that they did.
They got scared, they panicked, you know, they threw their ribs under the table real
quick and just kind of like, you know, they just grabbed some hummus and were just like,
oh yeah, nothing, you know, how you doing circumcision people?
Greetings fellow circumcised Jews.
So he says they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel.
How is it a violation of the truth of the gospel to say, well you have to do these other
things?
Even if you're saying that you don't have to do them for salvation, what you're saying
is though to be a full-fledged member of the community or to be the people of God.
Because here's the thing, not only does believing on Christ make you saved, you know what else
it makes you?
The chosen people.
It brings you into the community, brings you into the club as it were.
You're brought into the commonwealth of Israel.
So here's the thing.
If you're saying, well no, no, no, to get all the way into the club, yeah, okay, believing
in Christ, that might get you to heaven, but you're not really one of us till you get circumcised.
You're not really one of us while you're eating that pork sandwich.
Does everybody understand?
That is a violation of the truth of the gospel.
You say, well I don't think it is.
Well then you're disagreeing with the Bible because the Bible says it's a violation, you
know, they're not walking according to the truth of the gospel.
And then it says, I said to Peter before the mall, if thou being a Jew, liveth after the
manner of the Gentiles.
And the Gentiles aren't sitting next to other Gentiles with a kosher meal.
Peter was eating the food that they ate with them.
So eating with the Gentiles isn't just, hey I'm going to sit next to you and eat something
separate from you.
Eating with the Gentiles is breaking bread with Gentiles, we're all eating the same food.
You know, we went out to eat and we got the family feast.
Not our own little separate styrofoam meal.
You know, they're going to Panda Express and getting the family feast.
And they're all dipping into that honey walnut shrimp, okay.
And he says, thou being a Jew, liveth after the manner of Gentiles.
This inspired scripture saying that Peter, although he was Jewish in the beginning, is
now living like a Gentile.
It's not even just Paul, Peter's living like a Gentile.
So Peter can live like a Gentile, but in 2023, I need to go buy a shofar, I need to start
eating kosher.
Think about how absurd that is.
And not as do the Jews.
Why compelest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
Again, if this were just a proximity issue, it would make no sense.
Because how would it be compelling them to live as a Jew, just saying, well sorry, I'm
a Jew, I have to eat separate.
That's not compelling them to do anything, because how can they not be separate only
by becoming Jews, and then they wouldn't be Gentiles living as Jews, they'd be Jews
living as Jews.
But he's not telling them to become Jews.
He's acting like, oh yeah, we're not really supposed to be eating this all of a sudden.
But he knows it's fine, because he saw the vision from the Lord, but he's scared of the
circumcision people.
And you know, some people have even speculated that maybe some of these circumcision people
were violent people.
And that might sound crazy, but remember what happens around 66 AD, the Jewish-Roman War,
where you have the Jews literally at war with the Romans and everything.
So you had a lot of really zealous, radical Jews in the first century that led to that
revolt in 66 AD, which ultimately led to what?
The destruction of the temple and everything.
You know, you could have a lot of radical Jews that are literally, they're going to
kick your butt if they see you eating a hot dog.
You know what I'm saying?
Like it's not just, you know, so when it says he feared them, he might have just feared
what they thought.
Or you know, he might have even feared things getting physical.
We don't know.
But it doesn't really matter, does it?
Because what matters is that he's not doing what he's doing out of conviction, but out
of fear.
And we shouldn't live by fear.
We should do what's right, no matter whether somebody's going to say something to us, or
even if someone were going to kick our butt.
Well then you know what?
Come kick my butt, because I'm standing for the Gospel.
Right?
We're supposed to be faithful unto death.
And so it says he feared them, and so he's compelling the Gentiles to live as do the
Jews by implying that they need to, you know, be more like him.
Because he's leading by example, by pulling out and eating different food.
And then we have the climax here in verse 15 and 16.
We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed
in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works
of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
So you know, the law can't save you.
The law doesn't make you God's people.
Faith makes you saved, and it makes you the people of God.
And so what's the point of the sermon?
Don't buy into this Judaizing doctrine.
Don't buy into this Torah observing Christian nonsense.
These people are literally the exact people that Paul's warning the Galatians about.
Whether they're on YouTube, whether you know them in your personal life, they have missed
the point of what the law was for back then.
Is the morality of the law good?
Yeah, the stuff my parents taught me growing up was good.
But does that mean like, you know, my dad taught me never buy gas, it's shell gas.
My dad will never go to shell.
But you know what?
Is it a sin for me to go get gas at shell this afternoon?
I'm not going to do it, because I do hear that voice of my dad, you know, when I'm tempted
to.
But you know what?
Sometimes when I'm running out of gas, I still go to the next place.
Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord.
And we thank you for this great passage, Lord, and I pray that it was understandable to everyone
who's here, Lord, and that we would not ever want to go back under the bondage of the law
or think that keeping the Mosaic law is somehow going to make us more spiritual.
Of course, we know it doesn't save us, Lord, but it also doesn't make us more spiritual.
It doesn't make us a better person.
It doesn't bring us closer to you at all, Lord.
Help us to walk in the Spirit and follow the New Testament program for our lives, which
is superior.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.