Again, open your Bibles to Acts
chapter 10. We're gonna begin a new chapter
today. The name of the message is, A
Certain Man. Now we've been seeing this phrase,
certain. Turn back, if you would, to chapter
nine, and look at here when Peter is sent to Lyda in verse 33. And there he found what? A certain
man. Okay? And then look at verse
36 when he goes to Joppa. Now there was at Joppa a certain
disciple named Tabitha. Now today in our text, look what
it says in verse 1 of chapter 10. There was a certain man in
Caesarea. Oh my! So the name of the message
is a certain man. Now what does that do? That distinguishes
that man from all other people. Right? That narrows it down to
that single person. See, God will go out and he'll
get every sheep, won't he? Individually. Individually. Let's read Acts chapter 10 verses
1 to 8. Let's stand up and read this
together. Acts chapter 10 verses 1 to 8,
there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion
of the band called the Italian band. a devout man and one that
feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people
and prayed to God only. He saw in a vision, evidently
about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in to
him and saying unto him, Cornelius. Notice he called him by name,
that's amazing. And when he looked on him, he was afraid and said,
what is it, Lord? And he said unto him, thy prayers
and thine alms have come up for a memorial before God. And now
send men to Joppa and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodges with one Simon of Tanner,
whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou
oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake
unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household
servants and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually. And when he had declared all
these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa. Oh my. Notice that there, a certain
man in Caesarea. And then he's identified, his
name is Cornelius. Now Gary Shepard, calls our dear
brother Marcus, Don Cornelius of the Italian band. And I think
he got it right from here. So when you see Marcus at the
end of the month in July, say, hey, how you doing, Don Cornelius?
Here, light up. Here, light up. I'm in a little
group with him, chat group, and he has his name, Don Cornelius.
It's awesome. But that's, I believe, where
Gary got this from. So a certain man, a certain man. specifically
this man, called Cornelius, so he's identified. Remember the
paralytic man, or the man with the palsy at Leila, he wasn't
identified. Now Dorcas was identified, Tabitha,
she was identified, and this man's identified as Cornelius,
and he's a centurion. Oh my. Now look at Acts chapter
9 verse 43. It says, Now all this was providentially
arranged by God. We've been seeing that, haven't
we? It's been magnificent. We've been seeing how God providentially
Moves his preacher to come down and preach to these folks and
then and then to be there to to speak to the man at Lyda Then
to be there in Joppa and now he's he's in the house of Simon
the Tanner and now the Lord's gonna say Send two men down there. See the Lord knows everywhere.
We are doesn't he? Never think you ever think of that He knows
where we are all the time How does he know that because he's
ever with us? He never leaves his people Now, it's hard for
us to fathom, but it's true. At the same time He's with you,
sister, and He's with you, brother, and He's with you, brother and
sister and sister, He's with me. And He's with all of us at
the same time. Because He's God, Almighty, Sovereign
over all. And He's the Great Shepherd of
our souls. And so we see, he knows right where Peter is. And he brings forth, the Holy
Spirit brings forth here in Acts chapter 10, a certain man. Identifying
him with that phrase, away from all the other people. Peter didn't
go to see all the people in Caesarea. We're gonna see he goes to that
certain man. Oh my, this man, he's looking
forward to the Messiah, but he doesn't know the Messiah's already
come. Oh my. Oh my. Look at this. And again, this
is all providentially arranged by our great God. And Simon the
Tanner is a true believer because our great majestic God will have
Peter be with him and they fellowship together. And all the events,
now think of this, all the events in this universe, the COVID that
came and went, all these other things that come and go. are
all according to his will and purpose. All the events that
take place in this universe are for the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the exalted God-man, and it's for our good. Think of that. My, oh, my. And this applies to all of us
before, during, and after our conversion. Our Lord Jesus Christ ever cares
for us. It's amazing to think, it's absolutely
amazing to think that before we were saved, God was watching
over us like a shepherd watches over a sheep. Sister Anne, we were up in Canada.
We didn't have no idea that we were the Lord's people. And then
one day he revealed himself to us, didn't he? And our lives
never been the same. The same for anyone else here.
Never been the same. It's amazing. I was talking to
Bob and Jim this morning, and I said, you know, I had no clue
the Lord was going to call me to preach. And you talk to most
preachers, we all feel the same way. We had no idea. It's the
last thing on our mind. But look what's happened according
to God's divine plan and purpose. You're here. I'm here. And we're
praising God. Isn't that amazing? All glory
goes to Him, doesn't it? All honour and all praise goes
to our great God and King. Oh, my. So, He cares for us before,
during, and after our conversion. And that applies to all the Lord's
people, all of them. My oh my and even to his preachers
where he places his preachers wherever he wants. I'm here because
the Lord put me here Right I was in Canada got taken down to Oregon
and now I'm out here and and and I'm I'm Vicki's I got to
share something with you Vicki's mom keeps saying when you gonna
move back when you're gonna move back And I said have you told
her that I want to die here Oh my, I have no desire to go
out back there. Oh my. This is my home. You are my people, right? You're
my fellow brothers and sisters. We're God's people, aren't we?
We're God's people. Praise his mighty name. Praise
his mighty name. Now, Peter could not have been
in any other location. Do you know that? He couldn't
have been. That's the amazing thing. Our
Lord sent him exactly where he was to be. And then get word
from Cornelius, and we're gonna see in the following week, so
he goes to him. He goes to him. His chosen blood-bought child
is there in Caesarea, and Peter must go to him. Again, he's identified
as a certain man, right? He's identified as a certain
man. And our God told Cornelius exactly where Peter was in the
text, didn't he? Right to the house. Now Peter's
enjoying, he's enjoying sitting by the seaside. Right? Well, his rest is over. It's time to move. We're going
to see what he does in the following weeks. Turn, if you would, to
Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. We're going to read verses 22
to 34. Actually, 22 to 26. I made an error there in my notes. Oh my, actually no, we'll go
to 34, yeah. But we're gonna stop at 26. Look at this. I love this narrative. Now here's
Paul, he's at Mars Hill. He's at Mars Hill where the Greeks,
all the philosophers get together and all the who's who of the
Greeks get together and they all talk about different things.
And here's Paul. Now he can speak fluent Greek,
right? He can speak Hebrew, he can speak Greek. And here he
is, and he's a Roman too, remember. He's a Jew and a Roman, right? Oh my, look at this, I love this.
This is just thrilling. I can't wait to get here when
we do our study. Then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill and said, you men of Athens, I love this, I perceive
that you are in all things too superstitious. That could be
said of even today, couldn't it? people bowing down to statues,
bowing down to all different things, things made by man's
hands. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found
an altar with the inscription to the unknowing God, whom therefore
you ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. Now, you see, this
such truth, to natural man, he's unknown. He was unknown to us before we
were born again. You ask a hundred different people
on the street who they think God is, you're gonna get a hundred
different answers. See, he's unknown. He's unknown
to us by nature. That's why he must reveal himself
to us, right? Or we'll never know him. We'll
never know him. And look what Paul says, he says,
I'm going to declare him unto you. So every, actually, every
time a preacher gets up, we declare the unknown God, unknown to natural
man, known to his people, praise God, but unknown to natural man. See, let's bring it home. Before the Lord saved us, we
had a God of our imagination, didn't we? See, my God, I thought,
would weigh me in scales and say, well, Wayne, you're not
all bad. You've got more good than bad.
See, that's the God of my imagination. But the true God says my justice
must be satisfied. My law must be satisfied. And praise God, I found out,
by the grace and mercy of God, that he sent his son to die for
me. Is it so for you? Have you trusted Christ? Is he
your all in all? Because I'll tell you what, at
that great day, he's either going to be your judge or he's going
to be your savior. One or the other. And man will
be fully responsible for going to hell because of our sin. But if he ever find yourself
in heaven by the grace and mercy of God, it'll be 100% God that
did that. Ah, it's mercy. It's mercy, mercy,
mercy. So here he says, I'm going to
declare unto you the unknowing God, God that made the world
and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and
earth. Look at that. What a declaration.
He's declaring, Brother Brian, the sovereignty of our great
God. He's Lord. He's Lord of heaven and earth.
It says, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Oh, he didn't dwell in temples
made with hands. Neither is worship with man's
hands, as though he needed anything. Does God need anything? He don't
need nothing, does he, Brother Travis? He needs absolutely nothing. Nothing. People say, oh, God's
hands are your hands, and God has no feet but your feet. That's
a bunch of, I hold my tongue. That's just not, that's wrong.
That's so wrong. It says here, he doesn't need
anything. He has no counselors. See, our
president and other leaders in the world, they all have counselors,
don't they? He doesn't have no counselors. He don't need them.
He does whatever he wills, when he wills, and as he pleases.
And you know what? Now, let's bring it home and
marvel at this. It pleased God to save you. That's wonderful, isn't it, sister?
It pleased God to save us. All according to his will. So
he's Lord of heaven and earth, it's declared. Seeing that he
is Lord of heaven and earth, that's not up for debate, notice
that? There's no debate within that statement. Dwelleth not
in temples made with hands, neither is worship with man's hands,
as though he needed anything. Seeing, look at this, he giveth
life and breath in all things. He gives breath to the very ones
who curse him. My. Our God is benevolent, isn't
he? He has the rainfall on what?
Just and the unjust, right? My, oh my. My, oh my. Now look at this statement in
verse 26. You've heard me say many times that there's only
one race. And you know what? that were
called the human race. See, man has divided man by ethnicity
or one race. And how do I know that? Look
at this. And hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell
on all the face of the earth. And hath determined, now look
at this, and hath determined the times before appointed, and
the bounds of their habitation. Now this is amazing. Before the
world was made, God determined that all men would spring from
one man, Adam. One man. All spring from Adam. Note in
verse 26, hath made of one blood all nations of men, All the so-called
races of men that man divides have their origin in one man.
So we're called the human race. The human race. We're of different
ethnicity, but we're all the same blood. We're all related. oh my my oh my one race with many distinguishing
traits and this verse also declares that god has determined look
at this and hath determined the times before appointed and the
bounds of their habitation This brings forth that God determined
the time and place of every man's birth and every woman's birth
and every child's birth. The space where we would occupy
on this earth is all determined by God. It's all determined by God. The
time that we would spend upon this earth and also the means
of our death. Let's read that verse in one
again. And hath made of one blood all
nations, of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth,
and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds
of their habitation. Job brings this forth. He said,
is there not an appointed time to men upon the earth? Is there not an appointed time when we're born and when we die?
Yeah, Job says yes. He says, are not his days also
like the days of a hireling? Just like that. People say, well, I got lots
of time to flee to Christ. Well, there's some people who
died yesterday who probably would have said the same thing. There's
some people who probably have died since we've been here, around
the world, who probably would have said the same thing. Oh my. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation.
Now. Flee to Christ. He's the only
hope for sinners. And then Paul, echoes what Job
wrote, he echoes in Hebrews chapter 9, we're very familiar with this
verse, and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment. Do you know the only ones who
are going to escape the judgment? God's people who are covered
in the blood of Christ. There's therefore now no condemnation,
no judgment for those in Christ Jesus who walk not after the
flesh but in the spirit, but after the spirit. Praise his
mighty name. But there is judgment waiting
for those outside of Christ. Oh my. and fully recognizing the responsibility
of all men to properly take care of their health, it must be understood
then that the most careful shall not extend his life a second. And the most careless shall not
shorten his life by a second. As my wife says to me, quality
of life, Wayne. How do you want to meet your
maker, hurting or healthy? And I love the fact,
that's true, right? So I try to, you know, you guys
know I have diabetes, so I try to take care of myself. My oh my. But we will not extend
our life or shorten our life by a second. By a second. Because you know
why? And what comfort this is for
God's people, I'll tell you. This is comforting for our souls.
All our times, from when we were conceived, and even before that,
but when we were conceived, all through our life, and if we live
to grow old, right, all through those times, are all in God's
hands. All of God's hands. You saints
of God, who've been through much trial, much tribulation, whether
it be health-wise or even for our faith, know this, that all
our times are in God's hands and were in his hand. And here he said, I'll never
leave you nor forsake you. And he'd proven that to us, hasn't
he? Has he not proved that to us? Oh, he's so wonderful. He's so wonderful. Now let's
read the rest of Acts chapter 17. That they should seek the
Lord, if happily they might feel after him, and find him, though
he be not far from every one of us. For in him we live, and
move, and have our being. A certain also of your own poets
have said, for we are also his offspring. For as much then as
we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the
Godhead is likened to gold or silver or stone, graven by art
and man's device." So now he's talking about statues that men
make and stuff, right? He's saying those things are
going to perish. God's everlasting. The true and living God, the
unknown God to natural man is not like the supposed gods of
stone and gold and silver. You can, I'll tell you what,
you can take a stump of wood and you can bathe it in gold
and it's just a golden stump of wood. Right? That's all it is. You can take
a rock and bathe it in silver and make it the most valuable
rock in all the world. It's just a rock with silver
on it. It can't talk, it can't save
you, it can't deliver you, it can't do nothing. It's just a
piece of rock and a piece of wood. That's all it is. I've told you the story about
my mom when we went into a dollar store one time, and this grieved
my heart so much. And she said, oh, look at that
statuette. I'm going to buy that. That'll
answer lots of my prayers. And I said, mom, that's a piece
of stone. It can't do nothing. You're praying
to an idol. Well, she wasn't very happy with
me, but I'm going to tell her the truth. I'm not going to lie to
her. Oh, my. It's nothing. And it was a dollar store statue
of Mary. Can't do nothing. My. Only God can save. I can't save
you, you can't save me. Mary can't save anyone. Mary
had to be saved herself, didn't she? Oh my. So look at Paul's bringing
forth the foolishness of these idols. And the times of this ignorance
God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. That goes forth even today, doesn't
it? Repent. What is repentance? Repentance
is turning away from our sin and turning to God. Well, how
do we do that? Thy people shall be made well
in the day of God's power. Born again by the operation of
God. How do I know if that happened?
Are you seeking Christ? Is he everything to you now?
Is he your all in all? Is he your only Savior? Rejoice. Rejoice. Oh my. My, oh my. Look at this. Because he hath appointed a day
in which he will judge the world in righteousness, And you know
who the world's going to be judged against? The perfect man, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we all fall far short. But praise be to God, He saved
a people. Look at this, by that man whom
He hath ordained, that's Christ Jesus, the Messiah, whether he
hath given assurance unto all men, and that he raised him from
the dead. How do we know it's Christ? Well,
Christ's the only one who raised from the dead, didn't he? And
as we've seen in our studies earlier in Acts, that the whole
reason Peter and John were hauled before the Sanhedrin was because
they preached the resurrection. That's why Paul was in prison,
in house arrest. He preached the resurrection,
beloved. I was listening to a message by Henry. He bought that forth.
He says, he says, gospel preachers were getting tossed in jail back
then because they preached the resurrection. And the Jew said,
that's heresy. And Paul said, the way you call
heresy is the truth. It's the truth. My, oh, my. So he's called commands every
man or repent, repent before God. My, oh, my. So no man is guiltless. All men
are guilty before God by the law. And when they heard of the resurrection
of the dead, look at this, some mocked and others said, we will
hear thee again of this matter. Do you see right away some of
them? What are you talking about, Paul? That's a fairy tale. No, it isn't. No, it isn't. He raised from the grave. He's
seated at the right hand of the Father. That's our hope, isn't
it? Because he was raised for what?
Our justification. So in order for us to be able
to stand before God and in his presence, we have to be justified. We must be. Because as we saw
in Sunday school, this corruptible can't put on him incorruption,
can it? This mortal cannot put, because
we're corruptible in our bodies, we're sinners. But how can we be justified right
now? The question is, even before we get to heaven. We must be
clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We must be. And praise God, God the Father
has clothed us in the righteousness of Christ, hasn't he? It's wonderful. Oh my. And then look, it says,
so Paul departed from them. Halibate certain men, clave unto
him, and believed. Oh, there was some lost sheep
there, beloved. Isn't that wonderful? I love this. They believed. Among the witch was Diwa, I can't
say these words, Dionysus, and Aeropagite, and a woman named
Demarius, and others with them. So there's three we know of,
and it says, and others with them. Praise be to God. The Holy Spirit moved, not among
all of them, right? But what do we see in our text?
A certain man. named Cornelius. So Paul went
to Mars Hill by divine direction. God ordained that he would go
there and that these three that are mentioned in verse 34 would
hear the gospel and would be born again of the Holy Spirit
of God. And it says, in others with them. My, what a gospel. What a salvation
we have in Christ, in Christ alone. What good news for sinners. See? Dionysus and Areopagite and Demarius
didn't know who the unknown God was before Paul got there. And
who revealed the unknown God to them? Who revealed the one
true living God? God the Holy Spirit. Same thing he's done for you
and I. And he gave them faith to believe, didn't he? And they
were made willing in the day of God's power. Oh, my oh my. Now for 4,000 years the revelation
of God was restricted to the nation of Israel. Now these were
Gentiles here. who the Lord just saved. But
for 4,000 years, the revelation of God was restricted to the
nation of Israel and to the Jews alone. They only had the light
of divine truth. Everyone else was in darkness.
My, oh, my. And then, because of their unbelief,
after Christ came, God rejected the physical nation of Israel
and sent his servants, what? To preach the gospel into all
nations. There it goes. And here we sit today. Here we
sit today. We who are born again blood-washed
saints of God, redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here we sit today. And, oh my. And the reason his
gospel goes forth into all the nations is that God might gather
all his elect from the four corners of the earth. My oh my. And we see in our text that the
apostle was, Peter is going to be sent, we're going to see that
in the next few weeks, but we're identified here by a man called
Cornelius, who was a Gentile, and Peter is sent to preach the
gospel to him. We're going to see that further
on. He's a Gentile. Peter had to learn a lesson. You know what he had to learn? Let's look at what's in Acts
10, verse 34. This is something Peter had to learn.
Because remember, Christ came to the Jews, right? But look
what Peter had to learn, and look what he's learned. And we've
all learned this as believers. Then Peter opened his mouth and
said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons,
but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness
is accepted with him. See, natural man doesn't fear
God, do they? Oh my. How do we know Cornelius
was saved? Look at verse two. A devout man
and one that feared God. He feared God. Natural man doesn't
fear God. Believers fear God. But natural
man don't. Not at all. My oh my. The grace of God, praise God,
is not dependent upon or limited by earthly human distinctions.
God has no regard for those things that separate and distinguish
fallen men one from another. Only fallen men do that. Only
human beings do that. Pride and racism are intolerable
evils that must never be accepted by the church of God. Never. Our brothers and sisters are
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, beloved. And let us always remember that
we are all one in Christ. No matter our ethnicity, we're
one in Christ. One in Him. Whether we be rich
or poor, whether we be black or white, whether we be male
or female, whether we be learned or unlearned, it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter, we're one in Christ, beloved. All true believers are brothers
and sisters in Christ. All true believers. There's no
distinction of race, because we're all the human race. There's
no distinction of sex or social class, and none should exist
in us. The unity, this unity in Christ
of Jew and Gentile in Christ was perhaps the most difficult
obstacle for the Jews who'd been converted. Because the Jews didn't
want nothing to do with the Gentiles. Now some of them, you know, bought
pigs, remember? All them pigs that went flying
off the edge. Those were Jews that had them.
They weren't supposed to have pigs. Somebody was making money off
selling bacon, right? But what happened? They all ran
over the cliff, didn't they? They all ran over the cliff.
after the Lord commanded the demons, the legion that was in
the gathering demoniac, to go into the pigs. And then the folks
said, you need to get out of here. Oh my, they didn't even know
who they were talking to. My oh my. So the Jews looked upon
the Gentiles unclean, had no dealings with them except by
necessity. And now we see Peter staying
at Tanner's house. Someone who deals with dead animals,
as I said last week. Something that's strictly forbidden
by the law. Something happened to Peter,
hadn't it? And as we just read in verse 34, he says, I perceive
God's no respecter of persons. Wow, he's really, the Lord's
really starting to show him how the body of Christ is diverse.
People of all kindreds, tongues, and nations. My, oh, my. And again, the Jews looked at
the Gentiles as unclean. They wanted nothing to do with
them. And now he's going to visit a
Roman centurion, not only a Gentile, but who the Jews would consider
an enemy to the state. to the country. Let's read verses 1 and 2 now.
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion
of the band called the Italian band, a devout man and one that
feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people
and prayed to God always. Notice in verse 1 again, God's
distinguishing grace is brought forth again with the words, there
was a certain man. Certain man. Cornelius was a
chosen, blood-bought child of God, beloved. He was distinguished
from all others by this term, a certain man. We've looked at that in our past
studies in this wonderful book. And Cornelius was a Gentile,
a centurion of the band called the Italian Band. He was a centurion,
which again was a Roman soldier, which was an enemy of the Jewish
state because they were controlling Israel, they had
occupied Israel. And a centurion is one who has
a hundred soldiers under his command. They're men of authority,
they're highly respected in the Roman legions. And I don't know
what rank of centurion he was, but if he was the first centurion,
then he was a hard soldier that had been in many, many battles. We don't know, but centurions
were picked to be centurions because of their fierceness in
battle and because of their leadership skills. And they carried around
a cane. And any time one of their soldiers
was out of line, they'd whack him with this cane, and it hurt. My, oh, my. But here we see he's
of the Italian band. So when the Roman legions went
and conscripted men, they would conscript them out of certain
places. So them being the Italian band, they were Roman citizens. They were Roman citizens. And
they were most likely all from the same area. Pompeii. had several of his legions came
from Spain. Several of Caesar's legions came
from Italy. And some of them had, both of
those guys, even when they fought, you're talking legions that warred
together fighting each other. It was awful. It was like our
Civil War. But here he is. This centurion
is from Italy, so he's an idol worshiper by nature. But not
anymore. He's worshiping the one true
living God now. He fears God now. He didn't before. And I'll tell you what. Let's read verse 2. A devout
man and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much
alms to the people and prayed to God always. We see here's
a man of faith. He's believing, he's looking
for the Messiah. He's a Gentile in whom the grace
of God was evident. He'd been converted from paganism
to the faith of God's elect. And he worshiped God according
to the law of Moses. He saw, now he, what he, and
to bring that forth, he was ignorant of the fact that Christ had come,
we're gonna see that later on, and fulfilled the law as a sinner's
substitute, but he believed God, and he saw Christ pictured in
all those Old Testament sacrifices, just as all the Old Testament
saints did. They looked forward to the cross,
and we look backwards to the cross. But he had not yet heard
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God. Therefore God
sent Peter with good news of the gospel, telling the centurion
that the Savior for whom he had looked for, the Messiah, he'd
come, and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. My, oh, my. Just like Simeon,
remember Simeon? The Lord said, you won't die
till you see the Lord's Christ. He saw him, didn't he? And he
proclaimed that Christ was his Savior. A little baby! A little
baby. Oh my. So like Simeon, he looked
forward. And Cornelius was a man in whom
all the characteristics of saving faith was evident. It's true
that he had not yet heard that the promised Messiah had come,
but like all saints under the Mosaic economy, he saw Christ
of God in all the sacrifices. And he saw Christ in all those
glorious truths that typified him in the Old Testament. There's many who sinfully deceive
their hearers by using Cornelius and try and support their belief
in salvation by works. But our text describes Cornelius
as a man of true saving faith. He was a devout man. He turned
away from paganism to serve the one true living
God. He was a Gentile proselyte into
the Jewish religion. And he worshiped God. He worshiped
God with the light that the Lord had given him. And look at verse two. Again,
a devout man and one that feared God with all his house, which
gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. Scripture
here declares, or the scripture declares of the natural man in
Romans 3.18, there's no fear of God before their eyes. But
Cornelius feared God. God done a work in him, hadn't
he? Just like he'd done in us. Was Abraham born again? His faith
was counted as his righteousness, right? He was given the same
faith we believe. He was looking to the Messiah.
So was Canaan. He just doesn't know he's come
yet. Oh my, but God sent Peter. And Peter's going to tell them.
Peter's going to tell them. Now, notice in this verse, too,
it says that, look at verse two, a devout man and one that feared
God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people
and prayed to God always. He couldn't control the hearts
of those in his house, but he could control what took place
there. Couldn't he? And we're seeing in our future
studies in this chapter that our Lord Jesus Christ used Cornelius
as an instrument to prepare the hearts of many in his house to
receive the truths of the gospel. He wouldn't allow pagan worship
in his house. And he's going to hear the gospel
from one of God's ordained preachers, isn't he? Peter. Kineos was a kind and generous
man who considered the needs of others. Our text tells us
that. He gave many alms to the people. Not because he was trying
to work his way to heaven. No, he wouldn't do that. Like,
none of us would do that. But because he was a recipient
of God's sovereign grace. I was talking to Vicki last night
and I said, you know, one thing that's evident with God's people
is we who have received grace give grace. Now I know we all
look at ourselves and go, I'm not very graceful. Right? Because
we know who we are. But we do. We're more prone to
be graceful to people when we remember what God's done for
us. Right? Look at how much mercy he showed
you and I, beloved. It's wondrous. It's absolutely
wondrous. And we know that this grace only
comes to us through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our
salvation only comes through the merits of the Lord Jesus
Christ and his perfect sin atoning work and the shedding of his
precious blood. So we have nothing to boast in.
Why should we be unkind when God's been so kind to us, so
merciful to us? Right? My oh my. And the giving spirit of Cornelius
was a result of a new heart. He wouldn't have feared God in
a natural state because the scripture declares there's no fear of God
before their eyes. Again, was Abraham born again?
Yes. Oh my. And Cornelius was a man
of prayer. He prayed to God always. Now
let's read verses three to eight. He saw in a vision, evidently,
in about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming into
him and saying unto him, Cornelius. And who looked on him, he was
afraid and said, what is it? What is it, Lord? And he said
unto him, thy prayer and thine alms are come up for a memorial
before God. And now send men to Joppa and
call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodges with one
Simon the Tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell
thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angels which spake
unto Cuneus was departed, he called two of his household servants
and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually.
And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent
them to Joppa. So he sent two servants and one
of his soldiers. And we see in verse three, it
was about the ninth hour, around three o'clock in the afternoon,
when he was praying, which, again, was one of the Jewish appointed
times of prayer. Cuneus wasn't praying to a god
of his own imagination. No. He prayed to the one true,
living God, as our text says. His heart was right with God
through Christ Jesus, our Lord, and with the true and living
God, And now the natural heart doesn't know God, therefore the
Lord Jesus Christ don't even hear their prayers. My oh my. But his heart was right
with the true living God. And while Cornelius was praying,
he saw in a vision an angel of God coming unto him. The angel
was God's messenger to instruct Cornelius to send for God's preacher. Send for God's preacher. Now,
angels don't preach the gospel, do they? No. No. Only men who have experienced
God's saving grace are preachers. See, I can't tell you about the
saving grace of God if I haven't experienced it. But praise God,
He saved my soul. I'm going to tell everyone about
it. I can. Oh, it's wonderful. Isn't it
wonderful? God saved us, beloved. He redeemed
us with His blood. Oh my, it's wonderful. And we
see Cornelius saw in a vision. It wasn't a dream. People say,
oh, I had this dream and, you know, just stop. Dreams are dreams. All the sign gifts ceased when
the apostles died. God speaks to us right here.
through this word, right? Doesn't he? Oh my, the
Holy Spirit make application and we'll just be like, oh Lord,
that's wonderful. That's wonderful. And then the
next week we come and go, oh Lord, that's wonderful. We listen
to your sermon through the week, oh Lord, that's wonderful, right? It truly is. It truly is, beloved. I was listening to Henry today,
I'm like, praise God, that's amazing. He was preaching on
Philippians, like I told you. And when he was talking about
what we gain when we die, it's amazing. My, this mortal shall put on
immortality or forever be with the Lord. There'll be no more
sin. There be no more death. There
be no more pain. There be no more sorrow. There
be no more sickness. There be no more sin. Praise his mighty name. We will
never struggle with sin again, beloved. Oh my. So this wasn't a dream. He's
wide awake. Cornelius isn't in a daze. He's
wide awake. He's not in a trance. This vision
did not appear to him in the middle of the night, but in the
middle of the day when Cornelius was alert mentally. He was alert
spiritually. And he not only saw with both
his eyes wide open, but he also heard an audible voice calling
him by name. Look at this. And he looked on
him, and when he looked on him, he was afraid, verse 4. And he
said, what is it, Lord? And he said unto him, thy prayers
and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. Our text
tells us Cornelius looked on this angel with physical eyes.
And he was afraid. He knew this was no ordinary
man that appeared to him. Didn't have a bunch of wings
really. He appeared as a man. Oh my. My oh my. And think of this,
this is a Roman centurion. This is a man who had proved
himself in battle, who had seen the depravity of man in battle. And I'm talking these guys, these
centurions, again, they were the top pick of the hundred that
they were in. And we don't know what rank of
centurion he was, but if he was up in the upper ranks, he went
through a lot of battles. So he saw on the battlefield,
he saw the depravity of man in full view. Men slaughtering men over a piece of land. My, oh my. Or because they hate
each other. Now the Romans had invaded Gaul,
and had invaded many of these areas, and I can understand,
it'd be like if someone invaded us, right? The American people
would rise up against them. Right? And there'd be no love lost,
would there? No. But this man, he had been on
the battlefield, he had seen things that we can't even imagine. And I'll tell you what, there
was no, you can't do this in the Roman Legion. There was no, you can't attack
them until they attack you. There was none of that stuff
going on. They'd go into places and they'd kill every man, woman,
and child. If they come to a city, this is how, if they came to
a city and there was any resistance to it, they would slaughter everyone. I mean it, they would just put
the sword there, no quarter. But if the city capitulated,
or the town capitulated, they'd enslave the men, and they'd enslave
the women and children, or they'd leave the women and children
and some of the young men so that later on, as they get older,
they could come and draw troops out of them. They called them
the auxiliaries. They would draw auxiliary troops
out of whatever nation they took control of. But if you resisted
them, no quarter. So he'd been a party
to this kind of stuff. This is a hardened soldier. And
he's afraid. He's afraid. And when he looked
on him, it says in verse 4, he was afraid. And said, what is this, Lord?
And he said unto him, thy prayers and thy alms are come up for
a memorial before God. Matthew Poole says, when he says,
what is it, Lord? It's equivalent to saying, what
wilt thou have me to do? And the angel said unto him,
Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for memorial before God. In other words, God was pleased
with the prayers of Cornelius. How is God pleased with our prayers?
Only through Christ. Only by faith, looking to Christ.
My, oh, my. We find no favor with God outside
of Christ. That's why I said, is Christ
your Savior? Because if he's not, you have
no favor with God. You have no salvation. And if you die in that state,
you're going to a Christless eternity. Oh my, now is the day of salvation. The angel said unto thy prayers
and thy alms are come up for memorial before God. Again, God's
pleased with your prayers, and we know that's through Christ.
He's accepted them. This clearly proves that Cornelius
had saving faith. Because without faith, the scripture
says, it's impossible to please God, right? Ah. Hebrews 11.6 says this, but
without faith, it is impossible to please him. You know, we can't
please God outside of Christ, which means we can't please God
by anything we do. God's only pleased by the work
of Christ and what he's done. The perfect, sin-atoning work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, but without faith it
is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
seek him. Who's our reward, Brother Travis?
Amen, amen. And the angel of the Lord toward
Cornelius to send for Peter, giving him specific, clear, specific
directions to the house of Simon the Tanner. Marvel again at this
fact. It proves that Peter was exactly
in the right place where God had put him, that God had purposed
him to be. Let's read verses five to eight. Look at this. And now send men
to Joppa and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodges
with one Simon of Tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall
tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which
spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household
servants and a little soldier of them that waited on him continually.
And when he had declared all these things unto him, are unto
them, he sent them to Joppa. Beloved marvel, marvel at the
sovereign hand of God at work in bringing Peter to Lyda, then
bringing Peter to Joppa, then taking Peter and going to Simon
the Tanner's house. And now God himself tells Cornelius,
you're gonna find Peter, go send for him. And you know what Peter
does when he hears? He comes right away. My, oh my. Marvel, again, at the sovereign
hand of God at work in the salvation of his people. A certain man
in Lyda. A certain disciple in Joppa. A certain man in Caesarea. Oh my. Do you know that you and
I as believers were a certain man or woman whom God sent his
gospel to? Brother Travis.