The Salvation of a New Testament God-Fearer Acts 10:1-11:18 10/22/06 Introduction: I want to set the stage for my message tonight by showing you some pictures of the remains of an ancient Palestinian city.... the city of Caesarea. Show PPT map ( The Kingdom of Herod the Great ) The city of Caesarea was built by Herod the Great, the Herod that was king when Christ was born. It had a population of about 100,000 in Herod s day. Herod spared no expense in building the city, and filled it with many beautiful buildings. A temple, a palace, a well engineered harbor. In order to build the harbor Herod set huge rocks 50 feet long, 9 feet high, and 10 feet wide down into the ocean... 120 feet deep. He made hydraulic concrete that would hold under water. He designed a sluice system that kept the harbor free of silt. The harbor had huge statues set up on columns... and sailors on ships coming in would be amazed. He made it a point to impress, and if possible astound guests. Paul saw this harbor as he sailed to Tarsus, and at other times. (Acts 9:30; 18:22; 24:27; 25:1, 4, 6, 13). Show PPT pictures of harbor The Palace: -He built a palace where he could spend the summers. -it jutted out into the Mediterranean Sea. The picture I m about to show you is all that s left of the palace, but it gives you an idea of how Herod wanted to make a statement by putting it out into the sea. The centerpiece of the palace is a swimming pool that s almost Olympic size. 1
According to Josephus, it was into this palace that King Agrippa I was carried when died because of the events listed in Acts 12. Show PPT pictures of palace. The Amphitheater: Show PPT pictures In Acts 12, and from the writings of Josephus we learn that it was in this amphitheater that King Agrippa I appeared at a festival: -because of his beautiful royal clothes the people began to call him a god -because he proudly accepted everyone s worship, God struck him down, and his insides were eaten out by worms, and he died five days later. That happened right here in this amphitheater. An inscription was found here about Pontius Pilate as well. Show PPT picture of Pilate inscription This inscription confirms that Pilate was indeed a prefect, and the New Testament accurately labels him as governor (hegemon), not a procurator (Sailhamer 1998: 114). General info: -Caesarea was the capital of the Roman province of Judea -it played a big role in the happenings of early Christianity -people like Philip (21:8), Paul (Acts 9:30; 18:22), and others from early Christianity spent time here. (Origen lived here from 231-250 A.D.; Pamphilius (d. 309) continued Origen s tradition of scholarship. He created a library second only to that of Alexandria. In 630 A.D. it had 30,000 volumes. Eusebius (260-340) was Pamphilius student. He lived here 25 years, writing the Onomasticon and Ecclesiastical History. He became bishop of Caesarea in 314. What I m really interested in tonight however is the life of one man who lived in Caesarea.... he was a devout man, feared God, but he didn t know God. And I m really interested in how he came to know Christ. Does anyone know who I m talking about? 2
Cornelius Turn in your Bibles to Acts 10. Pray I. The Man Cornelius Who was he, what was his occupation, what was he doing in Caesarea, what made him tick? Read verse 1. The first thing you need to understand about Cornelius is that he was a soldier through and through. A. Cornelius was a centurion. Caesarea was a very important military city: -it headquartered thousands of Roman soldiers -one of those soldiers was Cornelius. -as a centurion, he commanded roughly eighty men (rather than their official designation of 100). -a centurions was not like an aristocrat. An aristocrat came to his position without having to work for it. -a centurion on the other hand had to work his way up through the ranks. -centurions were the... backbone of the Roman army. (F.F. Bruce, Acts) Show PPT The ancient writer, Polybius says this about centurions: Centurions are required not to be bold and adventurous so much as good leaders, of steady and prudent mind... able when overwhelmed and hard-pressed to stand fast and die at their post. (Polybius, History vi. 24) That s Cornelius... a tough soldier, worked up to being a centurion. -Five cohorts were stationed at Caesarea. (IVP Bible Background Commentary, Keener) 3
- He belonged to the Italian cohort, which was probably an infantry unit of probably 500 to 1,000 troops. 1 C. Cornelius feared God. (vs. 2) This is somewhat of a twist. You wouldn t expect that of a rough and ready centurion in the Roman army. Cornelius was a Gentile who belonged to a special class of Gentiles who were commonly called, God-fearers. -a God-fearer was a technical term to refer to a Gentile who had become loosely affiliated with the Jewish religion. -they hadn t gone so far as becoming a full proselyte, they were kind of incomplete converts to Judaism. (IVP Bible Background Commentary, Keener) -some were probably attracted by the Jewish monotheism, or the synagogue worship, or the high ethical standard of the Jewish people. -in the case of Cornelius, I think he just wanted to know God. -some of the God-fearers attended synagogue and got involved in prayers and Scripture lessons. -some of them observed the Sabbath and abstained from certain kinds of foods. -but something you need to understand is that a God-fearer was not considered a full proselyte to Judaism. -a full proselyte had to be circumcised. -because of that many men decided they didn t want to be proselytes, but were content to stick with being just God-fearers. (F.F. Bruce, Acts, p. 64, 215, 216) And that s what Cornelius did. So that s the man Cornelius. He s about to have an encounter with the Living God that will change his life forever. 1 Freedman, David Noel. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1996, c1992. 4
-I couldn t help but think about the similarities and differences between Cornelius and Naaman (whose experience we saw last week). -They were both soldiers, rough, ready, go-to guys. -They were both serving pagan governments. -But how different they were... they lived centuries apart, one was kind of religious, while the other was a blackhearted pagan. Relevance: It goes to show you that God calls people to become worshippers of Him from every imaginable background and nationality. -He calls Arabs, Taliban, soldiers, doctors, nurses, polytheists, Pharisees, housewives, students, shut-ins, inmates, children, presidents, senators, skid row convicts... you name it, God is calling people to Himself. -and what that means for you and for me who have committed ourselves to Christ is that we must realize that every person we see is a potential candidate for salvation. The Great Commission says.. go into all the world. II. The Memorial of Cornelius (vs. Read vs. 2-8 We have some interesting wording in verse 4. A. The prayers and alms of Cornelius Notice that Cornelius didn t just give a few alms to the people, and offer just a few prayers to God: -vs. 2- He gave much alms to the people. -alms were charitable gifts to the poor... relief money and gifts to the needy -he gave much to the poor -vs. 2- He prayed to God always or continually -vs. 3- He is in prayer to God at the ninth hour- this was about 3:00 in the afternoon. It was one of the Jewish hours of prayer, corresponding to the evening sacrifice. -so you see how devout Cornelius is. 5
So what do you make of all of this? What do you make of all this religious activity on Cornelius part? B. These prayers and alms were a memorial to God. That is to say, God took note of these things, and remembered them... and as a result of these things decided to give more revelation of Himself to Cornelius. Memorial here means that God remembered the prayers, and actions of Cornelius. Look at verse 31. Why would God take note of the religious activity of Cornelius? After all, we know Scripture is clear about the fact that if you re trying to work your way to heaven, it s not going to happen. The religious activity of Cornelius was the overflow of a heart that wanted to know the true God of the Bible. Cornelius was genuinely seeking God, not just religion. I find it interesting that God would hear the prayers of an unbeliever. But God saw Cornelius heart, the fact that Cornelius really did want to know God, and God heard his prayers. Relevance: That s why I believe that unbelievers who want to be saved, and people who are not sure of their salvation can legitimately pray and ask God to show them the truth. Most of the time we say that God does not hear the prayers of unbelievers. But in the case of an unbeliever who genuinely wants to know God, God listens to their requests for truth. C. The spiritual yearning, and activity of Cornelius life was an indicator that God was preparing his heart. Cornelius had had contact with the gods of the Romans: -Jupiter, Augustus, Mars, Venus, etc... -But somehow, he saw something in the God of the Bible. 6
How can you account for that... only God could ve awakened those longings in Cornelius heart. When you and I see religious people, we need to train ourselves to see what lies behind some of their actions: 1. Some of them aren t really seeking God, they re just looking for a way to say they earned heaven on their own... which is impossible. 2. But others are seeking the true God... and we need to watch for those kinds of people. The true God wants us to be His spokesmen and women to those kinds of people. God knew Cornelius heart, and remembered and took note of his prayers. Additional Relevance: By the way, before we go on... are your prayers the type that God would remember? Are they of the quality and earnestness that God would hold them in memorial... take note of them... remember them? Do we remember them? Do they mean so much to our hearts that we pray them continually? Just some thoughts. So we ve seen: 1. The Man Cornelius 2. The Memorial of Cornelius III. The Moment of Cornelius (vs. So Cornelius sends off two servants and a soldier to get Peter. As these men are getting to the house where Peter is staying, Peter is having a vision in which God is preparing him to go with them to Cornelius house. Peter goes with the men to see Cornelius. And here s where Cornelius meets his moment... all his searching for God comes to fruition in a moment of time. Let s pick up the reading in verse 34-38. This is the moment where Cornelius trusts Christ. 7
You see, as earnest as Cornelius was to know God, he was still ignorant... he was still in the dark about one Person... Jesus Christ. He knew some things about the God of the O.T., but he didn t know Jesus. A. The Content of Peter s Message What is one of the biggest concerns people have about telling others about witnessing? I don t know what to say! Well we ought to sit up and take note of what Peter said here, because it s a perfect outline of what a person needs to know to be saved. This is a classic primer on what to say in evangelism. Here are the things you need to include when you share the gospel: 1. He reminded them about how Jesus came to earth, and the power He demonstrated. (vs. 37, 38) -what s Peter doing here? He s establishing that Jesus was God, and possessed the authority of God. -with this he presents the fact that Jesus Himself is the Judge of the living and the dead. (vs. 42) -He s establishing that it s Jesus every man and woman will answer to... so the implication is that we d better be right with Jesus. People can argue all they want about every subject under the sun, but at the end of the day, the question will be, What did you do with Jesus? 2. He told them that Jesus died and rose again. (vs. 39-41) 3. He told them that they could be forgiven of sins by believing in Jesus. (vs. 43) Do you see how Peter does this? -he challenges what they believe about Jesus: certainly Cornelius had heard of Jesus... but he had to be challenged about whether or not he believed Jesus was just a nut, or the Son of God. -then he had to see the work of Jesus on the cross and resurrection. -then he had to see why he needed the work of Jesus... because he, Cornelius was a sinner. 8
-then Cornelius had to see that it was decision time...was he going to believe in Jesus. The beautiful thing is that: B. Before Peter even finished, Cornelius and his household believed. (vs. 44) I often say that you don t have to say a prayer to be saved: -Cornelius didn t say a prayer... his heart simply responded in faith. -I don t see Saul, or Paul, in Acts 9 saying a prayer. I m not implying that saying a prayer is wrong... but I am saying that we often think that, Hey, unless they ve said a prayer, then they can t get saved, and it s my duty to press them to say a prayer. Cornelius simply believes as Peter is talking, and the Holy Spirit falls, as Peter is talking! Talk about a man who was ripe and ready to be saved... that s Cornelius! C. How do we know that this was genuine salvation? A number of things: -11:13- Peter is explaining to the Jewish believers what happened... and he recounts how God in His message to Cornelius says that Cornelius would be saved as a result of Peter s message. -11:17- Peter says they believed in the Lord. -15:7-9, 11- Here, sometime later, Peter is referring to Cornelius and his household getting saved. D. One last thing about Cornelius It s the issue of when Cornelius was baptized. People are saying today that you need to believe and be baptized to be saved: But what about Cornelius, was his baptism part of his salvation? Well let s look at the text again. Let s look at the order of events in the conversion of Cornelius: 9
1. Cornelius believes in the Lord (11:17) 2. Cornelius is given the gift of the Holy Spirit immediately as he believes (10:44) 3. After all of this, Cornelius is baptized (10:47, 48) Question: When did Cornelius receive the Holy Spirit, before or after he was baptized? Answer: Before (10:47, 48) Question: Are spiritual gifts and the Holy Spirit ever given to an unbeliever? Answer: No Conclusion: Cornelius was saved before he was ever baptized. The matter of his salvation was settled, his faith was in Christ, and baptism wasn t something they added to his faith, simply to make sure he was saved. His baptism declared that he was already a believer. Conclusion: H.A. Ironside said that when his father, John Ironside died, John kept repeating portions of Scripture from Peter s vision in this passage (10:11, 12): -John kept saying, A great sheet and wild beasts, and... and... and... -and his father just couldn t remember how it finished. -so John started over again, but stalled out on the same place -Finally a friend bent over and whispered, John, it says, creeping things. -John said, Oh yes, that is how I got in. Just a poor, good-for-nothing creeping thing, but I got in. That s how we all get into heaven... poor creeping things, who have been confronted with the truth of the gospel... who take it by faith, as a free and clear gift. Have you taken that gift the way Cornelius did? Are you like Peter, going out and telling it to others? 10