The Wonder Full Works of God

 

 

One time William Booth the founder of Salvation Army had an audience with King Edward VII of England. The King highly commended him for his unflagging zeal and wonderful work among the poor. Booth's reply to the king's glowing words was, "your Majesty, some men's passion is for art. Some men's passion is for fame. My passion is for souls.' One Sunday evening, Booth was walking in London with his son, Bramwell, who was then 12 or 13 years old.

The father surprised the son by taking him into a bar! The place was crowded with men and women, many of them bearing on their faces the marks of vice and crime; some were drunk. The fumes of alcohol and tobacco were poisonous. “Willie,” Booth said to his son, “These are our people; these are the people I want you to live for and bring to Christ.” Years later, Bramwell Booth wrote, “The impression never left me.”

The gospel was advancing as Jesus had said it would (Acts 1:8).  It had spread as far as “all Judea and Samaria” (Acts 8:1; 9:31). But, the Great Commission (matt. 28:18-20 ; Acts 1:7-8) clearly included going to the Gentiles. There was a major roadblock to the evangelization of Gentiles which had to be removed. In Acts 10 God uses Peter visit to the home of Cornelius to convince him that the gospel is for Jews and Gentiles alike, without distinction.

Acts 9 records the dramatic conversion of Saul. Saul, soon to be known as Paul, will play a crucial role in the evangelization of the Gentiles. Another crucial role will be played by Peter the one to whom the “keys to the kingdom” were given by our Lord (matt.16:19). Acts chapter 10 marks the transmission of the Gospel from the Jews to the Gentiles. God opens the door to worldwide evangelism.

One afternoon when Peter went up on the roof to pray, God came to him in a vision. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth. It contained all kinds of animals. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” “Surely not, Lord !” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him three times saying, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:9-16).

While he was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them” (Acts 10:19-20). The Spirit takes credit for sending the men, even though it was Cornelius who actually directly sent them. God was behind the scenes. The fact that the vision about unclean animals happened three times (v.16) and that three men (Gentile men, ordinarily thought unclean) are at the door was no accident (v.19).

God uses numbers in the Scripture to emphasize great Bible truths. Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. Jesus went through Samaria about the sixth hour and spoke to the hated Samaritans (John 4:6-10). Jesus suffered on the cross for six hours making sacrifice that man might be saved. “It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two" (Luke 23: 44-46).

Peter “went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?” The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say”  (Acts 10:21-22). In human standards Cornelius was ready for heaven.

Peter invited the men for a night in the house of Simon. There was a strange company in that house that night. There was Peter, a leader among the apostles, Simon an outcast tanner who was compelled by law to live a distance from the city and three (common and unclean) Gentiles, all under the same roof. Peter’s heart was already softening towards these spiritual outcasts.

The next day Peter started out with them and some of the believers from Joppa went along. There were ten in the little group which took the journey the next day toward Caesarea. There was Peter, the three men sent by Cornelius and six Jew believers from Joppa (Acts 11:12). The six would be witnesses of what had been said and what had taken place at Caesarea, among the Gentiles.

When Peter and his companions arrived at Caesarea he was given a glad welcome. Cornelius met him, not with pomp and soldierly dignity, but he fell down at his feet and worshiped him. Peter would not permit any act of reverence offered to him. Cornelius had called together his relatives and close friends (Acts 10:24-26). This opened an opportunity for Peter to deliver a sermon to the assembled group of Gentiles.

In Acts 10:30-43, Peter gives a concise summation of the gospel. Salvation is available to men of every nation (v.34-35). The gospel is a message of peace (v.36). Jesus is Lord of all (v.36).The gospel began with the preaching of John the Baptist (v.37). In his baptism, Jesus was divinely designated as Messiah and empowered with the Holy Spirit (v.38).In His earthly ministry Jesus did good, healed the sick, and delivered those held captive by the devil (v.38).

He was crucified by those who rejected Him (v.39). His resurrection was evidenced by His appearances to many, and to the apostles in particular, who were appointed to testify to His resurrection (v.40-41). Jesus then gave His witnesses the Great Commission (v.42). He will return to judge the living and the dead (v.42).  Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus receives the forgiveness of their sins (v.43).

Before Peter had finished, the Holy Spirit came upon all those who had gathered to hear him speak. Their hearts had been prepared so they immediately grasped the good news. They already knew and believed most of what Peter told them. What they really needed to hear was not only that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but that faith in Him would bring salvation, whether for the Jew or for the Gentile.

Salvation of these Gentiles came as the Spirit fell on all of them. They spoke in tongues and praised God, just as when the Spirit came at Pentecost (Acts 2:4,11). The Jew believers who accompanied Peter from Joppa were astounded “that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles”(Acts 10:45). Peter really had no other choice than to order that these saints be baptized.

In Acts 10:28, Peter says “God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean”. God rules no one out of salvation on the basis of ethnic origin or cultural or physical distinctiveness. Christians should never look down on a person or feel they are not worth evangelizing. Or they are too unclean to share the gospel. Don't write off anybody. Don't snub anybody. All people are acceptable candidates for salvation.

In Acts 10: 35 Peter says, "in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to God." Here he is not talking about everyone getting a chance, like he was in verse 28. Here he is talking about some in every nation. In every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to God. Here he says that only those who fear God and do right will be accepted. After salvation holiness is required.

Was Cornelius already saved before Peter preached to him? Was Peter's visit just to inform him of the acceptance and salvation that he already had? If the answer is yes then many people like him, in all the unreached peoples of the world, are truly born again and accepted by God and saved without hearing or believing in Christ. The answer is “No!” At this point Cornelius was not yet saved.

The angel told him “send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved”(Acts 11:13-14). Notice that the tense of the verb is future, "a message through which you will be saved ". Cornelius was not yet saved. There was a message that he needed to hear to be saved. The gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes (Rom.1:16).

The message Peter brought was the way Cornelius was saved.  If Cornelius sends for Peter and hears the message and believes on the Christ of that message, then he will be saved. And if he does not, he won't be saved. This is why the whole story is built around God's miraculously getting Cornelius and Peter together. Cornelius had to hear the gospel message to be saved.

The story of Cornelius teaches the insufficiency of human goodness for salvation. He was devout, honest, generous and prayerful. Everybody spoke well about him, but he was not a saved man. It was not until he heard the message of Jesus Christ from Peter and responded to Christ by faith that he was truly born again. You may be humanly good but not born of God. It is possible to be very religious but still be lost! The only hope is to believe on Jesus.

There are many people today who think that all you need to do to be acceptable in God's sight is to be religious, to be sincere, to be generous, to live a good, clean, moral life. These wonderful traits cannot save a man's soul from Hell. Here is a man exactly like that, but he is not yet born again. Works of righteousness and religious sincerity do not solve the problem of sin. Jesus said “truly, truly , I say to you. Unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).

Peter says “he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead... everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:42-43). Jesus is only one way to God the father. No one goes to the Father except through him (John 10:1,9; 14:6).  Tragically, there will be many "devout" men and women in Hell because they failed to believe in Jesus Christ.

Cornelius represents a kind of unsaved person among an unreached people group who is seeking God. His story demonstrates God’s willingness to use extraordinary means to reach those who desire to know him. Cornelius and Peter were thirty miles apart yet God prepared each for the other. He prepared Peter to speak to Cornelius and Cornelius to receive the message of Peter.

Noah had three sons Ham, Shem and Japheth. The three sons entered the ark with their father to survive the great flood and subsequently repopulated the earth (Gen. 6:10, 9:18). Acts 8 records the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch, a descendant of Ham. Acts chapter 9 records the conversion of Saul, a descendant of Shem. Acts chapter 10 records the conversion of Cornelius, a descendant of Japheth.

Symbolically, the gospel door was opened for all men; the gospel would finally spread to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).  Eventually the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab.2:14). Do your part faithfully,we are almost there.

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