“…What God hath cleansed that call not thou common,”

Acts 10:15

The Scriptures warn us of the devastating consequences of treating the Son of God and His finished work at the cross as a light thing. “How much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?“ Hebrews 10:29.At first pass we might think that this warning is given only to those who are outside the Covenant of Grace, and living in abject rebellion to the LORD Jesus, His shed blood, and the salvation He accomplished at the cross. And yet, we must confess that each of us has within us the very same nature of unbelief as the children of Israel who, when put to the test in the wilderness, began to loath the Manna and consider it a light thing for their daily sustenance.

Should the LORD ever take His hand off of any of us, we would most certainly turn on the LORD Jesus and begin to question whether His blood shed is really as precious to God as what HE says. Question how? It might be something as subtle and unspoken as questioning in our own heart whether the blood of Jesus Christ alone justifies us, or whether God does actually require something more to ‘seal the deal,’ with Him. Have you not ever wondered in the face of some glaring sin whether the LORD might require something more, than the blood that Christ shed at Calvary? Have you never in a moment of doubt begun to weigh whether you need to do something more for acceptance? Our flesh is a real, living enemy within that strives against the Spirit, and would turn our eyes from Christ and His blood shed alone as ALL our salvation, redemption, sanctification, and justification with God. Were it not so, we would not need the exhortation found in Hebrews 12:2-“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…”

More significantly, however, is not just in how we look on ourselves, but how we perceive others. We tend to judge others in their weakness and sin as being unlikely candidates for salvation, thereby questioning the Promise and Power of God to save even the worst of sinners. Is that not to question the Word of God that declares, ‘This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief,” 1 Timothy 1:15. We all suffer from the terminal illness of pride that causes us to measure ourselves against others, and judge ourselves better than them, when in reality there is NONE righteous, no not one, other than those declared righteous by God because of the completed work of the LORD Jesus in His perfect life and obedient death for the worst of sinners.

When the LORD sent Peter to the Roman centurion, a Gentile, against whom Peter, raised a Jew, might have had some prejudice, it took the LORD, by His Spirit, to break him down and give him repentance and the will to go preach the Gospel to him, Acts 10:9-16. In a vision the LORD showed Peter that what He had cleansed, ‘call not thou common,’ (unclean) Acts 10:15. Here is one that Peter most certainly would have thought to be an unlikely candidate for salvation, whom the LORD had already cleansed. How? By the blood of the LORD Jesus already shed for him just as for Peter, Matthew 26:28. It would take the LORD bringing His Word home powerfully to Peter to go and preach the Gospel for this other elect, redeemed sinner whom Peter would later discover was his brother already in the eternal will and purpose of God, and by the blood of the LORD Jesus, thereby having torn down the middle wall of partition between them, having slain the enmity thereby, making of the twain one new man (the body of Christ), so making peace,Ephesians 2:13-22.