Hello and welcome to the show today! You will remember that last week we talked about God’s raising a woman by the name of Tabitha from the dead. And he does this through Peter, who is following the leadership of the Holy Spirit speaking both to him but also through the believers around him. Now the healing of the lame man Aeneas (immediately prior) had been a great miracle. The raising of Tabitha had been a greater miracle. And now in our passage today we come to the greatest miracle, as the way of salvation becomes o...
Hello and welcome to the show today! You will remember that last week we talked about God’s raising a woman by the name of Tabitha from the dead. And he does this through Peter, who is following the leadership of the Holy Spirit speaking both to him but also through the believers around him. Now the healing of the lame man Aeneas (immediately prior) had been a great miracle. The raising of Tabitha had been a greater miracle. And now in our passage today we come to the greatest miracle, as the way of salvation becomes opened to a gentile by the name of Cornelius.
The Most Important Chapter— Now I don’t think I’m overstating things a bit when I say that for us, this is the most important chapter in the book of Acts. In fact, I would go so far to say that no other chapter of scripture (outside of those chapters that tell us of the redeeming work of Jesus) is more directly relevant to us than this one. There are very few (if any) of you tuned in today who would be a part of the family of God if it were not for what happened in this chapter, because in it we have God revealing to (or I should say “making more clear to”) Peter that we (Gentiles) are also part of His salvation plan. Jesus is not just for the Jew, but for the Gentile as well. And you will remember that Jesus had told Peter that he would be given the keys to the kingdom of heaven, which meant that Peter would be the one to open up the way of salvation for every major people group. He opened the door of faith to the Jews in Acts 2; for the Samaritans in Acts 8, and now God was telling him to use his keys for the third and last time to open up the way for Gentiles also to be brought into the Church (see Gal. 3:27-28; Eph. 2:11-22).
After 10 Years— Now it may surprise you to know the length of time that has transpired between Acts chapter 2 and our chapter today. [This event {actually} took place about ten years after Pentecost.] And that is surprising because we wonder why it took the apostles so long to try to reach the Gentiles. In John 3:16 Jesus had clearly said that God loved the whole world and had sent His Son for whosoever would believe in Him. And in the Great Commission Jesus had given to His disciples, He so clearly said…
Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV)— 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Door 3— So we see that clearly there was no mistaking what Jesus had told them to do. And yet we see they had not yet broken into that third phase of outreach. Now God is patient; and no doubt things are moving according to His timetable. But it is fascinating to me how (for some reason) that had not yet clicked in the minds of these Jewish Christians, especially when it seems (at least in hindsight) so clear. It makes me wonder at the things I don’t yet understand simply because my own worldview constrains me from really hearing the things Jesus is saying. Do I approach scripture with a theological lens through which I have already (whether intentionally or intentionally) what God can say to me and what He couldn’t possibly be saying? Something to think about. But we see here that (in the mind of God), the time has come for Peter to use his keys for a third time to open the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27). And in this incredible drama that plays out, there are four major “acts” (you might say). In verses 1-22 you have The Preparation, in verses 23-33 you have The Explanation, in verses 34-43 you have The Proclamation, and in verses 44-48 you have The Vindication. And today we will be looking at the first of these acts: The Preparation. Go ahead and look with me, starting at…
Acts 10:1 (NKJV)— 1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,
A Certain Man— Now there’s Luke’s key phrase “a certain man” again, signaling to us that Cornelius is a non-believer, just like Aeneas had been. And this “certain man” was a centurion. And of course a centurion is Roman officer who commands 100 soldiers. And he is stationed in Caesarea, which was then [sometimes called Palestinian Caesarea, {and} was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, 32 miles north of Joppa.] It was [The largest and most important port city on the Mediterranean in Palestine], [boasted of many beautiful public buildings.], and [served as the capital of the Roman province of Judea.] This would be [the first city to have Gentile Christians and a non-Jewish church.] Now Cornelius was probably not going to be in Caesarea too much longer. It is very likely that he would soon be returning to Rome. And when we think about that (and how God of course foresaw that) we can begin to see how God orchestrated the circumstances leading up to his conversion because He wanted to use Cornelius as a key stepping-stone to further the spread of the Gospel into the empire’s capital city. Now we know a few things about this man Cornelius. It says that Cornelius was (verse 2)…
Acts 10:2 (NKJV)— 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.
Truth’s Funeral— So here we have a Roman who is worshipping the God of Israel. How he came to do so, we are not told. But Rome of course had a whole Pantheon of gods to choose from (if you wanted to choose). And this was because the people Rome would conquer were often deeply committed to their gods. And so in order to help integrate people into Roman society and culture, they would simply absorb into their Pantheon the gods of those nations they conquered. It was a way to keep everybody happy. And that is what we have done in the United States today. We have absorbed all the false of gods of the world, allowed idolatry to thrive, and call it multiculturalism. Now we think we are helping people by doing this; that we’re being tolerant and accepting. But what is ending up happening to us here in the United States is exactly what had happened to Rome. When all things (particularly religions) are true, then nothing is really true anymore. And I want you to remember that. When all things are true, then nothing is true anymore. Remember what Pilate had asked Jesus in John 18. It says…
John 18:37-38a (NKJV)— 37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”
Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” 38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”…
Seeking Hope In Judaism— Now that’s a pretty scary thing to hear your leader say, isn’t it? But you see, Pilate (in the interest of what could have been called tolerant multiculturalism) had distanced himself from the one true God; and in doing that he lost the very concept of absolute truth that is necessary to even come to God. And Cornelius knows this. He knows the religious bankruptcy of his culture and has become tired of the myths and empty religious rituals of Rome and has therefore turned to Judaism in the hopes that in that belief system he might find salvation. And really he [was as close to Judaism as he could get without becoming a proselyte. There were many “God fearers” like him in the ancient world (Acts 13:16), and they proved to be a ready field for spiritual harvest.] And note how he is already demonstrating the fruit of a heart that is genuinely seeking God. It says that he was (verse 2)…
Acts 10:2 (NKJV)— 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.
Close To Salvation— Now here we see demonstrated clearly just how close somebody can be to the salvation and not have it. I mean Cornelius had a lot together spiritually; and you can find a lot of similarities between him and the centurion that Jesus had encountered back in Luke 7:1-10. He is being faithful to lead his household in the fear of God, he is giving generously to the needy, and he is praying to God (the text says “always”). And keep in mind that he [was not permitted to offer sacrifices in the temple, so {what he did was} he presented his prayers to God as his sacrifices (Ps. 141:1–2).]
Psalm 141:1-2 (NKJV)— 1 Lord, I cry out to You; Make haste to me! Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You. 2 Let my prayer be set before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
A Model Religious Person— So that is what he’s doing. And [In every way, he was a model of religious respectability—and yet he was not a saved man.] But he was different from many other religious people both in his day and ours because he knew that his religious devotion was not enough to save him. Whereas people so often try to earn their way to heaven through good works and sometimes even character, Cornelius knew that that wasn’t enough; and so we find him praying fervently before God, asking Him to reveal to him the path to salvation.
Like John Wesley— One author wrote that: [In many respects, John Wesley was like Cornelius. He was a religious man, a church member, a minister, and the son of a minister. He belonged to a “religious club” at Oxford, the purpose of which was the perfecting of the Christian life. Wesley served as a foreign missionary, but even as he preached to others, he had no assurance of his own personal salvation. On May 24, 1738, Wesley reluctantly attended a small meeting in London where someone was reading aloud from Martin Luther’s commentary on Romans. “About a quarter before nine,” Wesley wrote in his journal, “while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed, I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” The result was the great Wesleyan revival that not only swept many into the kingdom, but also helped transform British society through Christian social action.]
Those Who Haven’t Heard— Now sometimes people ask the question (and it is a valid one); “What will happen to the unsaved men and women who have never heard about Jesus? And that’s an important question; one that we often grapple with in relation to the justice of God. But note here that while Cornelius wasn’t a believer, he was still seeking God and living a God-pleasing and God-seeking life as best he knew how; demonstrating both reverence for God and generosity towards others. And scripture promises that God will make Himself known to people who are actively seeking Him like that. It says in…
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)— 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
James 4:8a (NKJV)— 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Well here we see God keeping He promise. He uses some pretty extraordinary means to reach Cornelius and make Himself known to him (which we will see later in this chapter) because Cornelius is already seeking (in everything) to draw near to God. And that is the message of hope I want to leave you with today. If you have a heart that is earnestly seeking God, He will make Himself known to you.
Jeremiah 29:13-14a (NKJV)— 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the Lord,…
So I encourage you today, seek the Lord. No matter what you are going through, what questions you might have, or where you are on your spiritual journey. God will not leave you in the dark. If you are seeking Him, He will reveal Himself and His truth to you, just as we see He will do for Cornelius. So seek Him today. Amen.
