I want you to turn with me to
the Acts of the Apostles and Chapter 10 as we go through. I'm not covering everything. It's not my intention to expound
every verse of the Acts of the Apostles but to pick messages
out from it. And this week I want to look
at the account of Cornelius which is a very well-known account.
I'm sure that many of you are very, very familiar with that
account of Cornelius. The lesson of this message is
this. It's what we started the service with this morning. That
unless the Lord build the house, those who labor, labor in vain.
We must have God's Holy Spirit building His house. He must do
the work. He must open blind eyes. He must
call His people in from every tongue and tribe and kindred.
Now, even an apostle, even an apostle can miss the clear revelation
of Scripture. until the Holy Spirit intervenes."
I'll say that again. Even an apostle, even Peter,
the leader, if you like, of the apostles, not so much that he
was given that title explicitly, but the one who always stood
up and was the spokesman. Even Peter, the apostle, was
missing the clear revelation of Scripture until the Holy Spirit
intervened. You see, Peter had been there
on the day of Pentecost. He'd not only been there, but
he'd preached to thousands of people. And he'd seen the Spirit
of God poured out on lots of people. And there were people
there from different countries. There were foreigners. There
were non-Jews. There were proselytes who were
in Jerusalem, not speaking the same language. And they heard
them speak in their own tongues the glorious words of the Kingdom
of God. The Spirit of God in fulfillment
of that prophecy of Joel was poured out on all flesh. And the Scriptures were clear.
The book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah. Go to your online Bible
and put the word Gentiles in and see how many times it comes
up with promises to the Gentiles. Isaiah 60 and verse 3. The Gentiles
shall come to thy light, to God's light. The Gentiles, the non-Jews,
shall come to thy light, shall come to the truth of God's gospel
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter surely knew those scriptures,
yet he was completely missing it along with the rest of them.
Look at chapter 11 and verse 19. Chapter 11 of Acts and verse
19. now they which were scattered
abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen you know
when they stoned Stephen and there was great persecution led
by Saul of Tarsus there was great persecution and they were the
thousands that formed that early church in Jerusalem was scattered
abroad to far-flung regions they traveled as far as Phoenicia
and Cyprus and Antioch but look what they did preaching the word
to none but unto the Jews only they went preaching the word
to none but unto Jews only Peter had missed the others had missed
they'd all missed the fact that the gospel of God's grace was
for all men for men of all tongues and tribes and kindreds and we
meet one of them in the start of chapter 10 of Acts verse 1
there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius. Now Caesarea
is on the Mediterranean coast. I'm not absolutely sure exactly
where it is in terms of today's geography, but it's on the Mediterranean
coast, about halfway up the bit that the land of Israel and Gaza
is on. And this man Cornelius was a
centurion. He was a soldier, a Roman soldier
of the band called the Italian band. And look at him. He was
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
was a devout, sincere, religious man. And, no doubt, he wanted
to be assured of acceptance with God. This was the thing that
he was seeking. You see, I'm sure that Cornelius
knew that there was more to this life than just the immediate
things that he saw around him. He looked at the creation around
him and he saw beyond what the common idolater all around him
saw. He saw that there was a God in
heaven. He saw that there was one who surely was above all
things, the one who was the creator, the one who was the sustainer,
and no doubt the one who would be judge. He was devout and he
was sincere and he was seeking acceptance with this God. And
no doubt he'd been posted to this land of Palestine, to the
land of the Jews, And he'd seen the difference between his Roman
religion, the religion of idolatry, the religion of emperor worship,
where they believed that the emperor was a god and they bowed
down, they had many gods, you know, Zeus and so on and so forth. And he saw the difference between
that superstitious, idolatrous religion and the religion of
the Jews, even though the religion of the Jews all around him was
flawed with practical error, yet he knew at the heart of it
was the truth of how can a man be right with God? How can a
man be just with God? He'd seen that the religion of
the Jews was, if you like, the real deal. This was it. It was
the real thing. As Jesus himself had said to
the Samaritan woman by the well at Sychar, Salvation is of the
Jews. As Paul said in the book of Romans,
chapter 2, what profit is there in being a Jew? Because he's
saying we're all under the same condemnation. What profit then
is there in being a Jew? Much every way, for to them were
committed the oracles of God. They had the oracles of God.
The way of salvation was committed to them. All the rest of the
world's religion is just pure works-based superstition. and
yet the Jews had the truth salvation is of the Jews you search these
scriptures for in them you think that you have eternal life and
in that you are absolutely right but you have to look with the
key and so I'm sure that Cornelius knew that there was a true God
who was the God with whom he had to do the one to whom it
was appointed that when he died he would be looked at by that
God he would be judged by that God and so he lived a life of
prayer He prayed always, it says. He was sincere in his good works. Maybe, if out of his prosperity
as a prosperous Roman soldier, he could help those who were
less well-placed than himself. That would count for good. And
he encouraged his household. He feared God with all his house. So he taught them to fear this
God. He organized their lives so that they had time for prayer
and devotion to this God. He was a sincere religious man. He encouraged his household,
but yet for all of that, he was spiritually bankrupt. He had
no currency that had any value in respect of eternal life. Isn't
this what each one of us needs? We need the currency of eternal
life. What did Jesus say in the Sermon
on the Mount? Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth
and rust does not corrupt, nor thieves break in and steal. This
is imperishable treasure. The imperishable treasure of
the Gospel. And Cornelius didn't have that.
He was sincerely, devoutly trying to be a good man. But he had
no heavenly treasure. Think about it. How much that
is like so many around us today. There's no shortage of religious
people. Even in these godless days. Even in these days where
we have professors of godlessness in our greatest universities.
That's what they are effectively. professors of godlessness, professors
of atheism. That's what they are. We have
them in our best universities these days. Those universities
that were at the root and the foundation of the Reformation
hundreds of years ago, where the great scholars looked at
the scriptures and found the words of eternal life and truth
in them and preached those things. We now have those who are against
it. But even against that, There are plenty of religious people
all around us. Religious people who sincerely
want to pray. We don't really know what to
believe. We don't really know how to come together, but at
least we can come together and pray. Let's get together and
have a prayer meeting. And you find a lot of that. People
sincerely doing these things. It's religion mixed up with sincerity,
but it's error. We have to ask about our neighbours
and those around about us that we meet each day. Is this the
state that they're in? Is this the state that they're
in? Sincere but mixed up religion. But there's a difference when
it comes to Cornelius. And oh, we pray of God that there
might be a difference in respect of others not too far from us
here, where we are in Nebworth. Cornelius was an object of the
grace of God. We know that from later on, from
what happened. This man Cornelius, this sincere seeker, was an object
of the grace of God. What do I mean by that? I mean
that before the beginning of time, the Father's love, the
Father's everlasting love had been set upon him. I have loved
you with an everlasting love, God says to his people. From
before the beginning of time, Paul says many, many times how
thankful he is for the people that he's writing to. Elect of
God, chosen of God, because God from the beginning has chosen
you unto salvation and belief of the truth. God has chosen
you to this. He was an object of that grace,
of the Father's eternal love set upon Him. And He was an object
of this, that in time, at the right time, when the fullness
of the time had come, the Father sent forth his Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem
those who are under the law, to pay the price for his sins,
to establish righteousness, to unite with his people, and to
do all for them that was necessary, to take upon him that same flesh
that the children walked this planet clothed in. He came and
clothed himself in that for the purpose of saving his people
from their sins. But here was Cornelius and all
that had happened, but he didn't know it. He didn't know it. It
still remained for the Spirit of God to come and enlighten
him to the truth of what God had actually done for him in
the Lord Jesus Christ and bring him to faith and trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ and so in his sincerity and in his seeking
in that situation God sends him a supernatural visitor we see
it in verse 4 you see there's a hymn that we're not singing
it this morning but that hymn I sought the Lord And afterward
I knew, He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me. It was God that
moved Cornelius to be a devout and sincere man, seeking God.
It was God who did that. The hymn also says, Thou wert
a long time with my soul. God was a long time with the
souls of all His people, preparing them. bringing them, ordering
their steps, causing all things to work together for their good,
and especially for their eternal good. And in verse 4, this supernatural
visitor comes. Sorry, verse 3. He saw in a vision,
evidently about the ninth hour of the day, three o'clock in
the afternoon, an angel of God coming into him and saying to
him, Cornelius. And when he looked upon him,
he was afraid. Roman soldier, but he was afraid.
Who wouldn't be? He was afraid and said, what is it, Lord? And
he said to him, Thy prayers and thine alms, yet the things that
you give others, your good works, are come up for a memorial before
God. And now, send men to Joppa and
call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. The supernatural visitor
came and said this. This was the message of the supernatural
visitor. Send for a certain man. That was the message. Send for
a certain man. Well, surely the messenger was
there from God, wasn't he? Stood right in front of him.
Why didn't he just tell him the message directly? Why bother
anybody else? Why didn't he just give him the
message? Do you know? I don't know the answer. But
I do know this. God says in his word that it
is by the foolishness of preaching, of men standing to preach the
gospel of grace, that he's pleased to save his people. You see,
just like the Ethiopian in his chariot reading Isaiah chapter
53 and not understanding it. What did he need? He needed a
man to come and tell him. He needed God to send him a preacher.
You know, calling upon the name of the Lord. How shall they call
upon him whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him
whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? So God sends a preacher to call
out his people. by his Holy Spirit. Just like
that Ethiopian. Cornelius needed a preacher.
It's God's way. It's the way God does things.
God doesn't come with flashing lights and voices from heaven
in these days. This is the way he works. He
works by sending a preacher. He sends a man. And there's that
golden chain. We read a bit a couple of weeks
ago. I think it's in Timothy, isn't it? that Paul had taught
Timothy, that Timothy might be able to teach others, that they
might be able to teach others also. We used to call it the
golden chain or something like that, I think it was, wasn't
it? It's passing on from one to another. God equips people
to explain and proclaim the gospel of His grace, that they might
know it, that they might pass it on. This is what preaching's
for, that you with your neighbors might be able to witness, might
be able to witness and testify what you have seen and what you
have believed and what you have heard. But there was a problem
with Peter at this stage. Go and send for Peter. But there's
a problem with him. What's his problem? He doesn't
think the Gospels for people like Cornelius. Because Cornelius
isn't a Jew. Peter doesn't think that the
Gospels for him, along with everybody else of the early church, they
were only preaching to the Jews only. And so Peter had to be
taught a lesson. An apostle was divinely taught. He was divinely taught. He had
to learn God's way. Look in chapter 10 and verses
15 and 16. Now, you probably remember the
story and so I'll just summarize it and paraphrase it. But at
the same time that Cornelius was having his vision, Peter
had gone up onto the roof of the house and He went up to pray
about the sixth hour, this was about the middle of the day,
and he became very hungry. He was absolutely starving, and
he would have eaten if there'd been anything there to eat. But
while they were making ready for the meal downstairs, and
you can imagine, you know, when you're really hungry, and you
know that food's not far away, but you're starving, he fell
into a trance, it says, and he saw heaven opened. and he saw
a vessel descending to him and a great sheet knitted together
at the four corners and in this great big sheet were all manner
of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping
things and fowls of the air loads of animal food to eat and there
came a voice to him rise Peter kill and eat he's in a trance
remember but he's learning a message a divinely revealed message But
Peter said, because there was all sorts in there, and if you
know anything of the food laws of the Jews of the Old Testament,
you know that there are certain things that it's okay to eat,
the clean animals, and there are lots of other foods that
are definitely not good to eat, the unclean, and they were forbidden
from eating them. And so it goes on to this day,
that in Jewish societies, pork pig meat is not regarded as clean
food because the pig was one of the animals that was not regarded
as clean and so no doubt in this great big blanket came down all
sorts of legs of pork and pork chops and all the rest of it
and Peter was told arise and kill and eat not so Lord for
I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean I don't
do those things and the voice spoke to him again the second
time what God has cleansed don't you call that common This was
done three times, and the vessel was received up into heaven.
And Peter was wondering, what on earth was this all about? He's been taught a lesson, you
mustn't regard anything as inherently unclean and not fit to be touched. What's this all about? And while
he's thinking that, the knock comes at the door, and the men
that Cornelius has sent arrive. And they say, we've been sent
to ask for somebody called Peter. Is there such a man here? Yes,
I am he whom you seek, verse 21. What's the cause for you
coming? Well, we don't really know, but Cornelius, who is our
master, and he's a really good guy, verse 22, and he's got a
good reputation with all the Jews, and he was warned of God
to send for you here. And so anyway, they come in,
they lodge overnight, and then off they go back to Cornelius'
house. Peter had to learn God's way. He had to learn that God's purposes
were for people from all nations, every tribe and kindred. Jeremiah
16 verse 19 that we read earlier says this, Oh Lord my strength
and my fortress and my refuge in the day of affliction the
Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth that's
what he had to learn that's what Peter had to learn this gospel
was for people from all nations and shall say surely our fathers
have inherited lies vanity and things wherein there is no profit
Surely our fathers have been bound up with worthless religion,
in which there is no spiritual currency, in which there is no
forgiveness of sins, in which there is no acceptance with God,
because it's only the pure gold of the gospel of grace, that
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Anointed One, there is forgiveness
of sins, there is cleansing, there is union with Him, and
if there's union with Him, how can there be anything other than
acceptance? if you're in the Lord Jesus Christ
as we sang in that hymn united with Christ when God the Father
says to God the Son this is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased he says that to you and to me if we're in the Lord Jesus
Christ so anyway verse 29 of Acts chapter 10 Peter asks why did Cornelius send for
him? Oh sorry, before that, verse
25. So they come to Cornelius' house
and as Peter was coming in, I just put this in just as a little
aside, this isn't really part of the main thrust of the message,
but look in verse 25, as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met
him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. Cornelius
tried to worship the apostle Peter But Peter took him up,
saying, Stand up! I myself am also a man. I'm just a man. Don't worship
me, please. They say that Peter was the first
pope. Have you seen how the popes accept the worship of men and
women? How they crawl, you know, on
their knees and they do obedience and they lift them up and carry
them on chairs? You see what a pagan, pagan, deluded religion
it is, when the Word of God is so clear. Peter said, don't worship
me, I'm just a man. I'm just a man, just like you.
You know, this shows that the Lord Jesus Christ truly is God.
When Thomas fell at his feet, when Thomas saw the risen Christ
and fell at his feet and worshipped him, he said, my Lord and my
God, And Jesus accepted that worship. In the book of Revelation,
every time John falls at the feet of one of the messengers
to worship, they say, no, no, no, no, don't worship us, worship
God. But when he falls at the feet
of the Alpha and the Omega, who is Christ, that worship is accepted. So anyway, Peter asks, why did
Cornelius send for him? Verse 29. And Cornelius tells
him the story. He replies, the vision that he
had and what he was told to do and in verse 33 he says this
immediately therefore I sent to thee and thou hast well done
that thou art come now therefore are we all here present he got
his whole household together gathered in all his friends and
and people all around before God to hear all things that are
commanded thee of God God told me to send for you, he says,
to hear what God has told you to tell us. God told me to send
for you to hear what God has told you to tell us. And so,
in verses 34 down to the end, Peter preaches the gospel. Peter
preaches the gospel of God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He didn't know why he'd come there. And they said, well, it's
because God told us to send for you, so he comes and Peter opens
his mouth and says, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter
of persons. But now he's learned his lesson,
verse 35. In every nation, he that fears
him and works righteousness is accepted with him. The gospel
is for all. It's for people of all backgrounds,
all races, all nations. So then he goes on and preaches
the gospel. And I want you to look particularly
down at verses 39 down to 43. He says there, we are witnesses,
he means the apostles, are witnesses of all the things that Christ
did. He's speaking, he's preaching, as they always did, peace by
Jesus Christ. That's what he's preaching. Verse
36, you're seeking peace with God. And so he preaches peace
by Jesus Christ. And he says, we're all witnesses
of the things which Christ did. Many of us, we're not deluded,
we're all witnesses of all the things that he did. Of everything
that he did leading up to him being hanged on a tree, crucified
on a wooden cross. but him God raised up the third
day and showed him openly not to all the people but unto witnesses
chosen before of God therein again we see the sovereign grace
of God even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose
from the dead he really is risen from the dead whatever he did
really is attested and accredited by God the Father that His sacrifice
was the truth, the one true sacrifice for sins. And He commanded us,
verse 42, to preach unto the people and to testify that it
is He, this Jesus, who you know. His fame has gone abroad. He
didn't need to explain who He was. He was well known. It is
He which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and
dead. to him give all the prophets witness that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins
this Jesus is the one who is ordained of God he's the promised
one he's the Messiah who would come he's the one who would come
as the substitute for his people for that's what it means the
word Messiah the substitute the one who would stand in the place
of his people It's on the basis of the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, it's in His name, that
through His name. That doesn't mean just the words,
just the letters, J-E-S-U-S strung together. You know, you see people
trying to get themselves into a trance, like repeating over
and over again the name Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, and as sort of
a charismatic trance. That's not what it means. through
his name means through his person and through his work through
all that he did for his people that there would be remission
of sins that he is the one who was the one who would come and
it's on the basis of him that there will be judgment of the
quick and the dead this doesn't just mean he comes to judge in
terms of who's done right and who's done wrong. For all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Cannot just mean
that. It means that He is the great
divider. And this is the great divide.
Are you in Christ or are you outside of Christ? Because if
you're in Christ, in His name, you will receive remission of
sins and you will be brought to believe the truth of that.
as all scripture testifies all of it all the prophets give witness
all of them witness to this fact these are they which speak of
me that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive
the remission of sins whosoever he has lived for and he has died
for to establish their righteousness and acceptance with God will
be brought to believe in his name and trust in his name Do
you know, how do you know that you're one for whom Christ lived
and died? You know and you have assurance
because you believe the gospel. And you believe the gospel because
God the Holy Spirit has brought you to believe that gospel. And
this is it, verse 44, look at this. Now there's Peter, he's
just simply proclaiming that which God has told him. He's
saying what God has told him to say. And while Peter yet spake
these words, the Holy Ghost fell. on all them which heard the word
while Peter spoke he's just speaking and the Holy Ghost comes upon
them and it was manifested in extraordinary gifts in those
days because this was the days of the Apostles before the scriptures
were completed and those gifts were attesting to the fact in
the face of Jewish believers who'd come with Peter to this
place it was attesting to the fact that their belief was real
that their faith was real that the gospel they believed was
the same one that the Jewish believers had believed and the
real gift in this case the Holy Spirit falling was the light
that he shines into darkened hearts you know the verse in
2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6 that the God who said
let light shine in the darkness at creation is the same one who
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as Peter was
preaching this gospel and this is God's way as Peter was preaching
this gospel as he was standing and declaring that which to the
natural man is foolishness hence the foolishness of preaching
a message which is foolishness to the natural man while he was
doing that the Holy Spirit came upon them and shone that light
of the glory of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ
into those hearts and minds of those Gentiles in Cornelius'
house and he gave them a gift now see what the gift is look
at chapter 11 and verse 18 This isn't until they're back in Jerusalem
reporting these things. And the conclusion of it in verse
18, When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified
God, saying, Then hath God also unto the Gentiles granted repentance
unto life. Repentance unto life. God gave
them that gift. What is it? What is it? It's
rethinking. a turning around of your thoughts,
a turning around of your thoughts from, I can be right by God on
the basis of what I do, to, I can only be right with God on the
basis of what Christ has done. That's it. That's repentance.
Knowing what you are in and of yourself and how utterly lost
and incapable you are. Knowing how holy and pure and
perfect is God and his justice. Knowing how far short of it you
are and seeing in the Lord Jesus Christ the perfect satisfaction
of every requirement of God on behalf of his people. and He
gave them the gift of repentance. He shined light in and they repented
and they turned around from their works-based view of how to be
right with God and they saw that it was on the basis of the substitution
and the work completed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know
there's true repentance and there's false repentance? Just look at
2nd Corinthians. We're nearly done. 2nd Corinthians
and chapter 7 and verse 9. 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 and
verse 9 now I rejoice says Paul not that you were made sorry
but that you sorrowed to repentance is one thing just to feel sorry
for yourselves but it's another thing if your sorrow is to repentance
for you were made sorry after a godly manner that you might
receive damage by us in nothing for godly sorrow works repentance
to salvation not to be repented of But the sorrow of the world
works death. There's a difference, there's
a huge difference between true godly sorrow leading to repentance,
a turning round of the thoughts, and that which is just merely
the sorrow of the world, a worldly sorrow, because that just leads
to death, says Paul. This gift that was given to them
was that true godly repentance. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God was shined into their hearts. And the point is
this. It was only because the Holy
Spirit came upon them. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. We don't belong to him. That's
what Paul says in Romans 8. The Spirit of Christ is the possession
of all his people. Without the Holy Spirit, we can
do nothing. We cannot see the truth. We cannot stay in the
truth. Unless the Lord builds the house, those that labor,
labor in vain. He gives knowledge. He gives
knowledge of union with Christ and the blessings that flow from
that. The blessings of eternal life
and justification. That is the solid currency. What
makes you sleep soundly when you go to bed at night? What
makes you unconcerned about whether you wake in the morning or whatever
might befall you in days to come. What makes you unconcerned about
that? Is it not just this? That in the Lord Jesus Christ
there is that currency which is treasure in heaven for your
soul's eternal good. It's that to know that you are
right with the Living God, that your sins are forgiven, that
you're cleansed, that you're accepted in the Beloved. that
knowledge of union with Christ that's what it is and the assurance
that stems from it and so finally verses 47 and 48 they professed
in baptism can any man forbid water that these should not be
baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we
and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord and they
prayed for him to stay with them the reason why I mention it is
this just simply this because the baptism was not just something
that you do. It was not just some ritual that
you go through. It wasn't something that they
just had to do to be initiated into the assembly. It was this. They were saying,
this is what we believe. That when Christ died, I died
in Him as we sang in that hymn. And when Christ rose from the
dead, I rose in Him. You go down into the water, showing
death and union with Christ and come back up out of it, showing
union with Him in newness of life. And that's what they did.
They confessed that faith. So Peter learned a lesson. Cornelius,
an object of God's grace, was brought to hear with his household
the truth of the gospel of grace. and the Spirit fell upon them
and they believed. This is how God works. All that
the Father has chosen in Christ from before the beginning of
time will come to Him. You read John chapter 6, it's
quite clear. He won't lose any of them. Read
John 17. What is the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ the night
before He was crucified? This is His prayer. that of all
that the Father has given to him he should lose nothing but
that everyone for whom he was going to that cross to die for
would be saved how different this is from the free will works-based
religion that's preached in the name of Christ almost everywhere
all around us in the book of Kings 2nd Kings chapter 17 and
verse 33 we read this, no need to turn to it it talks of a people
who feared the Lord. They were taught by a priest
to fear the Lord, and yet they retained all their old gods. They served their own gods. They
feared the Lord in an outward way, but they served their own
gods. And is that not how it is? There
are so many that use gospel phrases. They talk of Jesus dying for
sins, yet they don't believe it, and they don't preach it,
and they don't proclaim it. And it's falsehood. It really
is. It's rebellion against the truth
of God in the gospel of His grace. And the answer is to flee from
the wrath to come. Later today, we're going to look
at Psalm 2, where it says this, Kiss the Son. Kiss the Son, lest
He be angry with you. Speaking of Christ, come to Christ. Join yourself to Him. Okay, we'll
finish there.