Not so, Lord
Peter was staying at a believer’s house, and had gone up on the roof to pray.
There, he saw a vision.
Acts 10:11-15 “And saw heaven opened, 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:
Wherein was all manner of four-footed beasts, 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 have 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 common.”
“Not so, Lord.”
Can Jesus Christ really be Lord, if we are saying, “Not so”?
You see Peter was thinking like a good Jew. They had been commanded never to eat these “unclean” things; yet God is using these foods as a lesson to His disciple.
They had been called to go out to all the world and preach the gospel to “all nations” (Matthew 28:18-20)
They were to preach of a crucified and risen Savior, Jesus Christ.
And they were to teach others in the commandments that Jesus had given them.
But so far, no Gentiles had been preached to.
“Do not call anything common or unclean, that I have cleansed.”
Peter was about to be sent to a Gentile’s house. To preach Christ Jesus to these “unclean” people.
Yet Jesus has just told Peter that if He sends him to preach to a people, whoever they are; they are not to be considered “common or unclean”.
The important thing was: has the Lord “cleansed” them.
It is to be “Yes, Lord”; instead of “Not so, Lord”.
Yet Peter learned his lesson, and when the time came to go, and preach to this Gentile house; he did.
What did he preach to them? Jesus Christ, of course.
Acts 10:38-40, 42-43. “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.
And we are witnesses of all these things which He did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
Him God raised up the third day, and showed Him openly;
And He commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is He which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead.
To Him give all the prophets witness, that in His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.”
And these Gentiles received the good news of Christ Jesus, and was given the gift of the Holy Spirit; and was baptized.
Acts 10:44-45, 48 “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word.
And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.”
It is as we say, “Yes, Lord”; that His good news is spread abroad.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 