Salvation Available For All — Acts 10-11

0:00 Well, good morning. Good morning. Open your Bibles to Acts chapter 10. We're gonna actually cover Acts Acts ten and eleven because Acts 11 really is a review of what happened in chapter 10. So we will cover them both today.

0:19 And before we do that, we'd like to thank God for Jeremy who's here, works with Crew Ministries, and we're grateful that you're visiting us today. Also, Jake and Lauren, fam, glad to have you before they move to Florida. The Lord be with you in your future plans. Okay. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

0:36 What a blessing to be able to sing to his name and worship him. Right? Amen? So, now, let's let's go to him in prayer. Dear god, we acknowledge this, acknowledge you as the creator of heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in him.

0:51 We acknowledge Jesus as god in the flesh, crucified, buried, and resurrected the third day and we acknowledge your your Bible as inspired by god, reliable, inerrant, and as we look into it, we ask for the help of the Holy Spirit. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Alright. We we were...

1:17 Last week, Andy looked at Peter and the changes that he had to make in his mind in regards to how God deals with people. So today, we're going to look at we're going to focus on Cornelius and his family and also some men that were with Peter that needed to change their mind. So remember, the acts is a transitional book. Christianity has now began. They're they're still learning the doctrines and the truths of Christianity, and now their their the focus turns towards the whole world.

1:52 Remember, the fur... At first, it was in Jerusalem. They went out to Judea, to the Samaritans. So, it's the Samaritans just in case you didn't know were half Jew, half Gentile and so the Jewish people were kind of didn't like them because of that. They come to mixed breed, right?

2:10 But god says, no, I want to save them as well. The gospel is for them and after that, he says, now the gospel is for everyone, for the whole world and so, let's see what happens today. Peter then is invited to go to Cornelius' house and so we're going to take up the story from there in Acts chapter 10 and we're going to start with... Let me see where I want to start. Verse 33, ten thirty three.

2:39 Are everybody there? Acts 10 and verse 33. And so I sent to you immediately, this is Cornelius speaking to Peter, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before god to hear all that you have been commanded by the lord. Opening his mouth, Peter said, I most certainly understand now that god is not one to show partiality or your Bible might say favoritism.

3:13 But in every nation, the man who fears him and does what is right is welcome to him. The word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, he is lord of all. You yourselves know the things which took place throughout all Judea starting at Galilee after the baptism with John proclaimed. Verse 38, you know of Jesus of Nazareth and how god anointed him with the holy spirit and with power and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. For god was with him.

3:57 And we are witnesses of all the things he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem and they also put him to death by hanging him on a cross. God raised him up on the third day and granted that he should become visible. Not to all people, but to witnesses who were chosen before him by God, that is to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he ordered us to preach to the people and suddenly test to testify that this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. Of him, all the prophets bear witness that through his name, everyone who believes in him, that is Jesus, receives forgiveness of sin.

4:51 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. And all of the circumcised believers who had come with Peter, these are the ones that needed to change, right? We're amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles also. For they were hearing, then speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?

5:31 And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then, they asked him to stay on a few days. Now, we're going to turn to chapter 10 again verse one through four, alright? Now, we're to make some connections here. Same chapter.

6:16 And look at look at verse four and fixing his gaze upon him, that is the angel that appeared and being much alarmed, he said, what is it lord? And he said to him, your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before god. Father, the lord always blesses his word. Amen? Alright.

6:36 So, we're going to look at Cornelius. He was a a genuine man. He was a genuine man. Now, let's take a look at Cornelius. Look at what the Bible says about him.

6:46 He was one who feared god. Is it coming up? No, it's not. PowerPoint power problem. Okay.

6:56 Tell me when it shows up. It's important. I want you to see this. All right. Alright, here we go.

7:10 Perfect. Thank you. Alright. Notice that Cornelius which is the subject, right? And also the other men, we'll we'll look at them in a minute, was one who feared god with all his household.

7:22 He gave many alms that is he gave money. He was generous. He prayed to god continually. He encountered an angel. Anybody here encounter an angel?

7:33 You probably have but didn't even realize it. His prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before god and look at this one. He was a devout man. Now, would you agree with me that as you look at that, you would say, okay, that is what we would call today a Christian. Would you agree?

7:54 Would you agree? Alright. It's like, how would you describe someone who is a follower of Christ? And I would say, well, lot of these things would be true of him. So, let let me ask you a question then.

8:07 Was this man a Christian? What was Cornelius born again? Which I asked the question, was he saved? If he died today, at that moment, would he go to heaven? Alright.

8:22 So, let me get some of your thoughts. Was he a believer? Yes or no? According to the description of what we read and what we would normally call a person a believer, was he a Christian? Yes or no?

8:35 Some people say no. Some people say maybe. What do you say, Devin? I think so. You think so?

8:53 Right. Right. Okay. So, let's look at look at what 11. You don't have to even look it up.

8:58 Acts eleven and fourteen. Peter shall speak what you were saying, Devin. Words to you by which you will be saved, you and your household. Now now I say that because we assume because someone has good behavior, they pray, they they give money, they do good things. We assume that they're saved.

9:43 He believed in god and prayed to him but he didn't know what god required of him. Now, this is important because I I I one time I did this on purpose, we were in Houston where where I grew up and where we were part of a church and there was a man who had been there for twenty years and he would never, he had never turned to Christ as savior. But he said all the Christian lingo. But if you knew him well, he was a good friend of mine. And you would tell him, hey, are you saved?

10:14 He was nah. He would tell me, nah. I will... I'm like a dog. When I die, it's over.

10:19 You know? I don't have a soul. That's what he would say. And people assume that he was a Christian. And we can easily assume someone because they pray and they say and they're sincere and they say Christian things and they sing songs and they come to church and they give money that they're saved.

10:39 Now, this guy was had faith. Yeah, I think you would agree he had if he had faith, right? And I think you would agree that he was sincere and look at look at some of the things he did that even though he was sincere were wrong. For example, he tried to worship Peter. It's in the text and Peter says, no, no, no.

10:59 I'm I'm just like you, I'm a man. Get up and so, he was sincere. He had faith but he needed some more understanding and needed to understand that he needed salvation. Now, look what else. He needed to understand that he needed to be saved.

11:15 His good works were not going to get him right with god. That that that's that that's very difficult to comprehend that because let let me give you an example. I I was witnessing to this lady and telling her about Christ. The lady told told her aunt who knew me and and then the aunt tells me, Ray, I'm glad you're telling her about god. You're a good man and I said to her, I'm not a good man.

11:42 I was saved by grace. If I was good, I wouldn't need a savior and I wouldn't need salvation. I'm not good and she didn't know how to take that. But you're good, you do good things. And and that's the assumption that people are good.

11:59 But people need salvation. In spite of their goodness and the genuineness and sincerity of their faith. He had to repent from his sins. We'll see that in a minute. He had to acknowledge Christ as the only way to heaven.

12:17 You have to acknowledge Christ as the only way to heaven. Now, look at Peter's message for example of what he says to Cornelius and what the people heard. First of all, and praise god for this. God does not show partiality. What is God like?

12:33 He doesn't show favoritism. When he looks at a human being, he doesn't care if they're rich or poor, educated or not, if they're from China or they're from South America, if they're from Korea or or or Japan. It doesn't matter to him because he looks at each one of us as creating his image as human beings that he loves and he created. And so he doesn't show partiality. He's not impressed.

13:00 In other words, if you're very successful in this world because he gave you the wisdom to be able to become successful. Right? And so he he knows who you are. He knows you in and out, and he doesn't show favoritism to any particular particular race race or or culture. Culture.

13:19 At next, we saw in verse 35, that's chapter 10, that he welcomes all. Not only does he not show favoritism and I'm very grateful for that, aren't you? Because as you travel the world, as you go to different places, there's always favoritism. There there's always a bit of racism. It happens everywhere.

13:41 If you're not the right color or the right this or the right education, but god welcomes all. And I don't know what your life has been like or who has treated you wrong, have you felt rejected, or somebody mistreated you, but god welcomes you. Praise god for that. He welcomes you and next, we saw in verse 36, those are the verses right in the side there that Jesus Christ is lord of all. He came bringing peace, the message of peace but notice that he, Jesus Christ is lord of all.

14:17 That's part of the message, that's part of the gospel, that's part of what you believe, that you have to receive in order to be saved. According to Romans 10. Yeah. And we confess with our mouth that Jesus is lord. We shall be saved.

14:57 He welcomes all. Then, the message focuses on Jesus Christ that he is lord. In other words, he's god and and god left heaven to come to Earth and god anointed god the father anointed Jesus with the holy spirit and power and he did god's will. Jesus was able to say in John chapter eight, I did everything that pleases god. Wow.

15:24 And he was full of the holy spirit. He was full of power and and when he spoke, the Bible says here that demons would leave people and that he would heal people and he did so many signs And so Peter is saying to Cornelius, did you realize this about Jesus? Well, he probably didn't because it was new to him and the people that were with him. And they're listening. They're like, wow, We didn't know this.

15:51 And then he says, and we are witnesses, Peter and those who are with him because for the 3.5, Peter and the and the apostles and others walked with Jesus and they saw everything he did. They they saw when when when he calmed the storm, and they saw when he raised Lazarus from the dead, they they were looking at all of these things that he were doing, and they were... They could say, we are witnesses when it's not made up. He truly did heal people and he did great things and great signs. Then he says the the next true statement.

16:25 They, look at verse 39 again, and we are witnesses of all these things he did both in the land of the Jews in Jerusalem and they also, watch this now, put put him to death by hanging him on a cross. They are the Jews and the Romans. The Jews and Romans put him to death on the cross. Now, it's not explained in this particular text but remember, we look at scripture as a whole As we go throughout scripture, we realize that that it says in first Corinthians that he died on the cross for our sins. And so when they put him to death, god in his sovereign will allowed it to happen so that then through his crucifixion, he could put pay for our sins on that cross.

17:19 So, he put him to death on a cross. They they rejected Jesus, the Jews, the Romans and they put him death on the cross, but that was the the means of our salvation. But look at what God did. They rejected him, but God uses that in order to pay for sins on the cross, but God then raised him from the dead in the third day. In other words, god was fully satisfied with what Christ did on the cross for our sins.

17:48 He paid for everyone on the cross. And he was satisfied. Father, it's finished. Everything you demanded for man to be forgiven is done. And how do we know that he approved it?

18:20 So, they were aware of this and and and they know that there there was witnesses that saw him when he rose from the dead. The the the the 12 saw him resurrected and then it says in Corinthians that over 500 saw him at one time. So, people saw him resurrected and it it's interesting because the the Bible says that they ate with him. In other words, he rose physically from the dead. They sat down and they were eating.

18:50 They saw him eating food. So, it wasn't a ghost but he literally physically rose from the dead. And the disciples saw it, and they were they were able to eat with him. Now here comes the next point. This Jesus that died on the cross and paid for sin, shed his blood, was buried, and rose again.

19:14 Here's what god did because he approved of him and he says, he gave him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow. Praise god, right? Notice what it says in heaven, on earth, and beneath the earth. In heaven, they already acknowledge him as the lord of lords as the name above all names as the judge. On earth, you and I, we need to get to the point where we acknowledge him as the judge of the living and the dead.

19:47 He's not just some man. He's not just a prophet, but he is the Christ who rose from the dead and is exalted and above all. Now, this Christ, those who are believers will stand before him and he's going to say, alright, I saved you and I had a plan for you. And according to how you follow the plan that I had for you as a safe person, I give you rewards. But to the dead, the dead is a non believer.

20:21 He's going to say, I died on the cross. I rose from the dead. I offered forgiveness. You rejected it and he's going to become the judge. See, god appointed Jesus, the judge of the living and the dead and you can find that all over the New Testament.

20:41 Next, everyone who believes in him, ah, here comes the good stuff right here. Watch. Everything is good. Saw the word of god, right? Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.

20:53 Wow. You see, that's the gospel. That's the gospel that if you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, that he was buried, that is because the Bible says he really did die. That's why he always emphasize that he was buried. And that he raised him on the third day.

21:12 If you believe that, what does it say? You will be forgiven of your sin. What a message. That what look at what Peter was preaching to this guy and and they're listening and look what the Bible says followed after that. Look at the response of Cornelius.

21:29 Of course, with that, I mean, everybody was in that room with him because it wasn't just him listening. It was his relatives and friends. By the way, it's a good idea to invite relatives and friends so they can hear the word of god. He and those with him believed. What a what a glorious moment, They're they're listening to the message.

21:52 They're listening to the gospel and in their hearts, they believed. They believed that message and look what happened after that. We read it. It's right there in verse 45, and let's read it. And all the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles also.

22:18 Remember when when Peter says, god does not show favoritism? When it says the the circumcised, what it what it means there is that Jewish men who were of the Old Testament law, right? They got saved. They turned to Christ for salvation but they didn't want to let go of their old religious roots. And so they thought that when that god, first of all, only saved Jews and secondly, they thought that to truly be saved, you have to go through the mosaic rituals and one of them being circumcision.

22:55 So, they call themselves the circumcision party. I had a friend, a lady that came to Christ. She was Latin, and she tells me, after after five years of being saved, he's, I have I have to confess to you. What do you want to confess? She goes, it took five years for me to stop worshiping Mary as god because I was raised being taught that Mary was god and I I just worshiped her and worshiped her And even after I was saved, I couldn't let go of it.

23:31 But finally, the Holy Spirit took it out of my heart, and now I worship Jesus and him alone. It's hard to let go of the old religion stuff, or what you were brought up in and taught. And so these guys were like, they were sitting there like, wow. God is reaching out to Gentiles, to non Jewish people and and they they had to change their way of thinking. Because the gift, verse 45, of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles also.

24:05 Wow. Ain't that glorious? Because God reaches out to every human being. And if you're not saved today, today is the day of salvation for you. Today is the day you can turn to Christ.

24:52 And now with the Gentiles, when they turned to Christ, there was physical proof. Why? Because the Jews that were there, there was six of them. We'll look at it in a minute. They they wouldn't have believed it unless they saw some kind of physical or anything.

25:06 They're like, the same thing that happened to us in Acts chapter two happened to them. So, there's no doubt that the Holy Spirit came upon them. No doubt at all. And so they they saw the physical evidence to erase any doubt that they're truly saved and now notice this next. And then after that, Peter answered and said, verse 47, surely no one can refuse water for these to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did.

25:40 Can he? So, what what happens when you trust the lord? Well, then you get baptized. This is a biblical pattern. So, you see then, a man sincere and genuine but he wasn't saved.

25:53 He heard the gospel. God sent Peter to go and explain to him how he could be saved and he did. He came to Christ. He got saved. Well, they all did the people who heard.

26:03 Now, what happens after that? You receive the Holy Spirit. The moment of salvation. Then, what? From our part, we get baptized.

26:14 Why? Right? They gave public testimony that they believed in Jesus. That they believed in Jesus and that's why we get baptized. You publicly say to everyone, I've turned to Christ for the salvation of my soul.

26:31 Therefore, I'm getting baptized to proclaim it publicly that I'm saved. Not to get saved but because they were saved and because they had the holy spirit, right? Okay. Now, what does god grant? What does god grant?

26:46 Watch this. Repentance that leads to life. Alright. Now, what does that mean? What does it mean repentance that leads to life?

26:57 Alright, so what repentance means to change your mind, to change your mind. For for example, my mom and dad thought that you you had to behave, your your good conduct was going to take you to heaven. That's what they thought. And they also thought that once you die, you had to pray pray to for the dead so they can get prayed out of purgatory. That's what they were taught.

27:27 And when they heard the gospel, that is through Christ alone and by faith alone, and then they changed their mind. They they repented. We no longer trust in our good behavior, in our religious acts to to get us to heaven now. We trust in Christ and Christ alone. That's what repentance mean.

27:45 They change their mind. So Cornelius and his family being that they were Italian. Now, at that time, they weren't Catholic. At that time, they were Greek. The Italians in in their religion and so they believed in multiple gods.

28:01 And then Cornelius says, well, I'm going to try the Jewish religion. I I believe in the one god but he still didn't understand the gospel. And then finally, he goes, ah, now I see that salvation is by Christ and in him alone. And so he repented. He changed his mind and put his faith in Christ and in him alone.

28:22 So he can be saved. That's what repentance means, to change your mind. And it comes with a change of behavior as well, if you truly repent. So that's what he means by they were like, wow, look at, okay, we'll get there in a second. Just hang on with me.

29:05 And when Peter came to Jerusalem, those who were circum... Of who were of the circumcision took issue with him, saying, you went to an uncircumcised men and ate with them? Alright, remember, we said that not only Cornelius and his family had to repent and change their mind, right? Because god was communicating to him how to be saved and he was saved. He turned to Christ alone for salvation of his soul But the the Jewish believers, the circumcision here, they had to, after they were saved, they had to change their mind as to how god looked at other people.

29:48 So, we have to understand that that god loves all people. The the worst thing we can do as born again believers is look down on another person because of the color of their skin or their education or how they look or how they behave. Whether that be a drunk or a prostitute, whether it be a a black or white, it doesn't matter. Every person has value in the eyes of god and he died for them on the cross. And so these people couldn't understand that.

30:21 They kept thinking, well, if if you're not Jew, then if you get saved, then you have to be Jewish and start doing Jewish stuff to really be saved. And and now chapter 15, when we get there, they're gonna they're gonna clarify this. We're not... We'll see that in a couple of weeks. But but that's what they were saying.

30:43 And now today, they don't practice this circumcision stuff in religion anymore. So, what has it been replaced by today? Well, you gotta get baptized. A lot of people say it. You gotta be baptized to be truly saved.

30:56 No, we get baptized because we're saved, right? But not to be truly saved. What saves us? The work of Jesus Christ on the cross. And we're saved by grace.

31:11 That's what saves us. Grace means it's an unmerited free gift of God that he offers us. It's free, and we take it. But we don't add to his work. We don't add to his work.

31:26 It's free. And so they were really struggling with this. And in fact, look how bad it was. Look at chapter 15 and verse one. Some of the men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, unless...

31:53 Acts 51. Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And so there was a big debate over this issue. And it was clarified that that's not true. Right?

32:09 That it's by the grace of God that we are saved. Look at verse eight. And God who knows the heart bore witness to them giving them the Holy Spirit just as he also did us, and he made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. So how does God cleanse our hearts? By faith.

32:33 By faith. Now, look at verse 17 of chapter 11. Go there, and let's start to close this out. If God if god therefore gave to them the same gift as he gave to us, also after believing in the lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in god's way? So, Peter is still transitioning and realizing, wow.

33:07 I I can't stand in god's way. He's saving anyone who believes in the lord. Because you remember the the lesson of last week, he had to change his mind. He had to learn that that god reaches out to anyone and he had to stop being prejudiced. And who is out of standing god's way?

33:33 Right? So, if god therefore gave them the same gift because salvation is a gift what is it? Believing in the lord Jesus Christ. We can't stand in god's way and then notice, notice how the circumcision, the the that the people were promoting that you had to do those certain rights to truly be saved. Look at look at how they responded.

33:59 Verse 18, and when they heard this, they heard what? That non Jewish people were getting saved and that god wasn't having favoritism. When they heard this, they quieted down. And they've glorified God. In other words, they stopped saying, you know, they can't be just saved by faith.

34:20 They had to be Jewish and do religious stuff. Quieted down and realized, wow, they don't have to do that. So the the the six that were with Peter... By the way, if you wanna see the six, verse, 11 and verse 12. And the spirit told me to go with them without misgiving and the six brethren also went with me.

34:42 And we entered the man's house, Cornelius' house. So Peter didn't go alone. He went with six men who were of the circumcision, right? Because God wanted those six men to change their mind, To see the grace of God at work. Wow.

34:58 Isn't that great? And they did. And these men who were opposing that, you know, this whole thing quieted down. In other words, they changed their minds. And they glorified God.

35:14 They glorified God. Well then, verse 18, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life. Ain't that great? The gospel. It's free.

35:33 You you repent, you change your mind, and you turn to Christ for the salvation of your soul. Have you done that? Have you done that? God is inviting you today to be saved, to to turn to him, and the rest of us, what do we do? We glorify god for our salvation, right?

36:26 My dad, when he got saved, he started preaching to all of his brothers. There was nine of them. And there was one particular brother who was very, how I say, very righteous. He was a businessman, and he would never cheat anyone. He would always do everything correct, and he wasn't a Christian.

36:46 And so my dad comes and tells him, Lito, that was his name. Of course, it was all in Spanish, I know, right? Lito, he says to him, you you need to be saved. He goes, why should I be saved? He goes, because you have sinned.

37:03 He goes, what? You got offended. You got mad. But but what are you saying? You know me, he told my dad.

37:11 I I I don't cheat on my wife, and I do great work with... In business. I don't lie to anybody. I don't defraud people. I do everything correctly, and you know it.

37:22 He goes, yeah, but do not. That's not enough to save you. Only the work of Christ on the cross will save you. And you know that? He died rejecting that because he said I'm good.

37:35 I do... I'm honest in my work. I I can't accept that. And he rejected it. And he died rejecting it.

37:44 How are we saved? By the grace of god, unmerited favor where god says, turn to Jesus for the salvation of your soul and I pray that if that's not clear in your mind today, you would turn to Christ. If you want to talk more, please come and see me afterwards and we'll talk about this but don't leave if you're not sure of your salvation. Let's pray. Dear lord, we thank you for Cornelius and his family and how they got saved.

38:15 Wow. What a glorious thing that happened. We thank you that the six men realized that they they can't interrupt your work and they can't put conditions on salvation. They changed too. They quieted down.

38:33 They glorified your name. And father, we thank you for the gospel. For it has transformed us. And I pray right now. If there's someone here who has yet to turn to you for the salvation of their soul, that today, they would believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved.

38:50 We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.