\ Acts 10, Peters Vision regarding Unclean Food

Clean and Unclean Food — Peter's Vision in Acts Chapter 10 Pastor John Shane Vaughn — First Harvest Ministries International ________________ 1 Now I just want to be honest with you; the clean and unclean food was one of the hardest things — clean and unclean food was the hardest part of this message that I had to accept; because I'm a Louisiana boy, I'm a cook and I'm a chef, and I love every one of those unclean foods; I absolutely love them; this was a huge test of my faith. 2 And so I want to talk tonight about so many people that misunderstand the word of God, and then they judge those that choose to take a stand on this subject; so anyway, get your Bibles, let's go to Acts chapter 10. 3 And we're going to see if Peter's vision did away with the unclean food laws; because see, all my friends and family out there, they think we've all lost our minds, and I don't blame them; I would have thought the same thing five years ago or two years ago if someone had told me they was eating clean food, and I would have thought they'd have lost their mind too. 4 And I would have always gone to Peter's vision to prove that we can now eat unclean food; so let's go, get your Bibles, and let's go to Acts chapter 10, because I'm tired of our people getting picked on, if you will, from the church world, with Acts chapter 10. 5 So we're going to go read Acts chapter 10, and we're going to see exactly what the Bible says, and we're going to try to just bring some balance to this subject; all right, first of all, before we go any further, I want to talk to you about two types of food in the New Testament. 6 Now there is unclean food, which we know God forbids us to eat, from Genesis to Revelation; I can prove to you Yahweh forbids it; when Jesus comes back, when Yeshua returns, the Bible said that Babylon will have fallen, and that all the unclean birds would be in a cage, if you will. 7 Well, if God did away with clean and unclean, then why does John still use that terminology about the coming of the Lord? We can go a little further into Isaiah's writings and see when Jesus comes back he will destroy all of those that are eating swine flesh. 8 But when we come to Peter's vision, it causes a great amount of confusion until you understand the difference in the word common and the word unclean; now what is unclean food? Any animal that's not made to eat — a buzzard, a worm, a snake, a catfish, a pig — any garbage can animal that God said, I don't want my people eating; he said, let the world eat them, but I don't want my people doing so; I want them to live a separate life, separated from the world. 9 So there's two types of food — unclean; but then we have another type of food that is known in the New Testament as common food; now let's talk about that; common food is not unclean food. 10 There was a tradition among the Jewish people that anything clean that touched something unclean became common; and they made up their own law; God did not make this law; they made up a law that if anything clean touched something unclean, then it became unclean; but you see, God never said that; that was a Pharisee law that they made up, and Peter was abiding by that tradition against common food. 11 Now there are two Greek words I want you to write them down, and I want you to know the difference; I'm going to test you when I'm done in about five minutes; I want you to know the difference in common and unclean; common food is the Greek word koinos, k-o-i-n-o-s; it does not mean unclean, it means common, or food that has become unclean because it touched something unclean. 12 Now here we go; thank you, brother Logan, you're exactly right; now let's go on; now the word for unclean is akatharos in Greek, and it means unclean; but common does not mean unclean; why am I focused on these two words? Because until you learn the difference in common food and unclean food, you will stay confused in the book of Acts. 13 Now in the early days of the church, there were many Christians that refused to eat meat; why did they refuse to eat meat? Because they were afraid that this meat had become unclean because it was sacrificed to false gods; they would cut the throat of a clean animal, offer that animal to some false god, then bring that animal to the common market, sell that animal, and the Christians they never knew whether they could eat that meat or not, because it had become common food — not unclean, but common — offered to false gods. 14 Now when we get in Acts chapter 10, you must know the difference in common food and unclean food; so let's go and let's read Peter's vision, Acts chapter 10; and remember now, Peter believed that the Gentiles were common, they were unclean, and he believed that if he touched a Gentile, if he touched an unclean person, if you will, he would become unclean; that's why he wanted nothing to do with the Gentiles. 15 But you see, that was not the law of God, that was the law of the Pharisees; and so now Peter must be corrected — not about food, but about people; I'm going to prove this to you; now let's go, let's get your mind right, because you've got your church folk bothering you; people that are obedient to Yahweh, you're obeying the word. 16 And here come these religious folk, got cleaves down to their fingers, preaching a law that God didn't create, and condemning you for keeping the law that God did create; oh, hall, listen — you better know this Bible; you better know it from a Hebrew perspective; you better get that American mind out of your head and go back to the Hebrew understanding of the word. 17 All right, so let's go down to Acts chapter 10, and we're going to start somewhere around verse number 10; and Peter became very hungry, and while they were preparing a meal, a vision came over him; and he saw heaven open, and he saw something lowering like a great sheet being let down by four corners upon the ground, in which were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth and birds of the sky. 18 And a voice came to him and said, rise, Peter, you must right now kill and eat this food; now Peter, when he heard that, said, not so, my Lord, because I've never eaten anything common or unclean; notice these two words — common, koinos, is common; akatharos is unclean; this is not the same category of animals. 19 He said, I've never eaten anything common, I've never eaten anything unclean; however, God had never told him that he couldn't eat something common, something that had become unclean; now watch this carefully — this sheet comes down from heaven, there's all kind of animals in this sheet, clean and unclean. 20 But you see, the clean animals are touching the unclean animals, and therefore the clean animals in the mind of Peter, who comes from a Jewish background, a Pharisee background, in his tradition, not the word but in his tradition, those clean animals are now unclean, and therefore they become common animals. 21 He believed that if he mingled with the Gentiles, that he would become common and unclean by touching them, by having anything to do with them, and therefore the gospel was being hindered from reaching the nations; because if God did not give Peter this vision, the gospel could not have left Jerusalem. 22 Peter had to understand that God was going to reach the world, and he would have to touch unclean people, but that he had to learn a lesson that that would not make him unclean; so he sees this vision, and God says, now eat all of them. 23 And he tells God exactly what he should have told God — not so; because God never changes; it was Yahweh that told Peter and all of the thousands of generations before him that thou shalt eat no unclean thing; Peter knew what the church world today doesn't know — he knew that God never changes. 24 And when God told him to break God's law, he said, absolutely not, this cannot be what God is telling me to do; and Peter was exactly right; he knew that God never changes, and he said no; he said, all of these years nothing common or unclean has touched these lips. 25 Now you know what I find funny about that? Peter ate over 2,500 meals with Yeshua; you would think during one of those meals that Yeshua would have told Peter what the church today is telling you — that all food is clean; but you see, Jesus never told him that then, and he's not telling him that now. 26 So what is God telling Peter? Let's keep reading; let's pick up in Acts chapter 10, verse 14; but Peter said, certainly not, Lord, because I've never eaten anything; even 60 years after you've left the earth, Lord, I still have not eaten unclean food. 27 And again, a second time a voice came to him and said, what God has cleansed you must not declare common; notice he does not use the word unclean here — it's the Greek word koinos; learn the difference in these words; God does not set Peter straight about unclean food; God is having to set Peter straight about common food. 28 What is he having to set Peter straight about? About a Pharisaical law rather than the Torah; and so here it is, he tells Peter, Peter, you've had it wrong about common food; and don't call common what I'm going to clean and what I call clean; because that's exactly what Peter had done; and this happened three times. 29 I want you to notice something — Peter had no idea what God was trying to show him, and God showed him a vision three times; brothers and sisters, if this vision was about eating unclean food, now why would God have to show it to him three times? 30 It would seem pretty simple to me; if God was changing the food laws — bam, bam, thank you, there it's done, eat unclean food; but Peter knew better; sadly, you don't know better; you've believed the lies of the modern-day church, the Babylonian system; you need to question God about this just like Peter did. 31 And three times God's trying to get a message to Peter; and what is that message? Don't call koinos or common what I have cleaned; God's getting ready to clean the Gentiles; God's getting ready to go to Cornelius's house, filling with the Holy Ghost, and he wants Peter to go to that house. 32 He don't want Peter afraid that if he touches those Gentiles that it's a sin; he is going to straighten Peter up on this Pharisaical law about common food; God was teaching him a lesson, and we must learn this same lesson; notice God said, don't call common what I call clean; he never said, don't call unclean what I call clean; don't call common; and this happened three times. 33 Now let's read verse 17; and Peter was greatly perplexed within himself; whatever could be the meaning of this vision? Brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, you have drank the Kool-Aid so long of the modern church, and I did too, that you have never been perplexed like Peter was. 34 Why was Peter perplexed if God was telling Peter all unclean food is now clean? Don't be perplexed, brother, go to shouting, you can eat pigs now — what are you perplexed about? Oh, but Peter was not perplexed because of what God said; he was perplexed because he knew God's word never changed, and yet God is telling him something and he needs to know what God is saying. 35 He begins to pray, he begins to meditate, because he knows God's word never changes; he knows that God's hated unclean food from the beginning, and he'll hate unclean food in the end; so he wanted to know the meaning; he was troubled by this vision; surely it didn't mean that pigs was now clean. 36 Oh, but let's find out exactly what it did mean; and while he was pondering upon this, there were three men that came to his house, Gentiles, common men, men that were unclean; and he touches them; according to the Pharisee tradition he becomes unclean; God come to set him straight. 37 So the gospel could leave Jerusalem and go to the nations of the world, so that Israel could be a light to the nations like she was supposed to be; until God changed Peter's mind about men — not animals, but men — Peter would not have gone and preached the gospel, and been there at Cornelius's house when the Holy Ghost was poured out. 38 So now let's continue to read, and let's go see around verse number — hallelujah — let's slip down, and as we continue to read, let's go about verse 31; therefore, immediately I sent for you, for God has showed me that no men are unclean, no men are common; he tells you right now, I finally figured it out; I come to know that this vision's not about animals, it's about men. 39 What kind of men? Gentile men; and now I understand; Peter said that God had to get my thinking right; God had to teach me, to break me free from that Pharisee tradition of koinos or common food; you see, God never gave a law about common food. 40 This is why, when you get over into Romans chapter 14, when the saints are refusing to eat common food, Paul had to set them straight; he had to tell them, listen, this is not a law of God about common food; and he had to tell them, give thanks over that food, and don't worry about whether it's touched something unclean or whether it's been offered to an unclean God; there is no law concerning common food or koinos food. 41 Brothers and sisters, I want you to learn how to read your Bible; we have people following this message around the world, and you are being picked on by the Baptists, the Pentecostals, the Episcopalians, the Catholics, and all of those churches that we have ran out of; and they want to mock us for trying our very best to obey Yahweh. 42 Ladies and gentlemen, I did not go looking for this message — it came looking for me; do you think that we just decided one day, why don't we give up this good food that we like? Or do you believe that a greater light shone upon our path? 43 Now, brothers and sisters, you've got friends and family out there, pastors and former leaders, that would mock you for obeying the word of Yahweh, while they're preaching against so many things that's not even in the book, my Lord — short sleeves, long sleeves, and you know, things that ain't even in this book — but they'll mock us for obeying the written word. 44 I want to encourage you around the world today that are watching — don't you dare allow the unlearned and the ignorant to come against the learned and the knowledgeable, those that have searched these things out. 45 You see, my brothers and sisters, listen to me — thank you, brother Clifton — we're preaching against a man having facial hair, and there's not a scripture in the book about it; but we can go from Genesis; oh yeah, we could go from Genesis. 46 You see, Moses did not start the unclean law; quit letting these people convince you of these lies; Moses didn't start it; how do you think that God told Noah to separate the animals on the ark, two unclean and seven clean? Do you think Noah said, oh, I got to go ask Moses what that is? No — years before Moses was ever on the scene, Noah knew clean and unclean. 47 Do you know the only job of the minister? Go read the word of God; the job of the true minister of God is to teach the people the difference, the difference between the clean and the unclean, the holy and the unholy; it's not your job to convince people that God loves them and that he's got a mansion in the sky for them — it is your job to teach them the difference; the difference. 48 Don't ever quit teaching the difference; sin is sin, but it's not what we used to think sin was; sin is breaking the commandments of God; I dare you today to learn the difference between the clean and the unclean, the holy and the unholy. 49 You see, God had to get Peter's thinking right; he's got to get your thinking right; lay aside everything that God forbids and live this sanctified life; God bless you; share this video with those that might be confused about Acts chapter 10; I assure you of one thing — Peter knew that God was not changing the food law; he was changing the false Pharisaical law of common food.