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This morning we are picking back up in our study of the book of Acts.
Who Does God Save?
If you’re new to MCF, it would be good for you to know that we practice a form of preaching called “Expository Preaching”. What that means is we believe the Bible is best taught by taking books of the Bible, and then breaking them down from beginning to end, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, in order to understand what the Bible means in our lives today.
Currently we are doing that through the NT book of Acts. A book written by a disciple named Luke for two primary reasons:
What Does He Do To Save Them?
Who Does He use To Reach Them?
First, to give us a history of how the church started. Who was involved and the circumstances surrounding it.
Second, to provide us a template for how Jesus intends for us to accomplish the mission of taking the Gospel to the entire world.
So, if you haven’t been with us, I would encourage you to go online to www.mcf.life where you can listen to previous messages leading up to today.
Today however, we are picking back up in as Luke continues to focus on the Evangelistic ministry of the Apostle Peter.
I say evangelistic, because to a large degree, Luke’s focus on Peter gives us great insight into the process of evangelism.
And the reason Luke
And when I say Evangelism, I’m talking about the responsibility of every Christian to share their faith with people who don’t know or haven’t heard about Jesus. A responsibility that goes back to something Jesus instructed his disciples to do right before he ascended into heaven. Jesus puts it like this in :
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts
Like the first disciples, Jesus has called us to be His witnesses. Witnesses who share the gospel with people who haven’t heard about Jesus.
, listen to what Jesus says concerning Evangelism:
And as we’ve learned through this focus on Peter, there are some key components to evangelism and sharing our faith that we need to understand if we want to be affective witnesses.
We saw the first component of evangelism in through the healing of a crippled man named Aeneas who lived in the city of Lydda.
And from that story we learned Evangelism begins with three commitments: A Commitment to share our faith, A Commitment to reach broken people, and A Commitment to rely on the power of Jesus.
We then saw a second component of evangelism play out through the death and resuscitation to life of a woman named Tabitha.
You may recall from the story that a woman named Tabitha had died, and in an unwillingness to accept her death, her friends sent for Peter hoping he could help. And so Peter showed up, and after praying and seeking direction from the Lord, he looked at her and told her to rise. And rise she did. An amazing miracle of a person coming from death to life.
And from that story we learned in order to lead people to Jesus we have to approach it much like Tabitha’s friends and Peter did.
First, we have to be willing to acknowledge that people who don’t know Jesus are spiritually dead.
In other words, regardless of how good they are or how religious they are, if they haven’t put their faith in Jesus, then physical death isn’t the only death they will experience. Because the Bible says there is a second death. A spiritual death that will result in eternal separation from God. A death that can be avoided through the atoning work of Jesus, who died for our sins. But that atonement can only come if a person is willing to put their faith in Jesus and make Him Lord of their life.
And so for us to reach spiritually dead people, we have to be willing to acknowledge that some of the people we care most about, are spiritually dead.
Second, we learned in order to reach spiritually dead people, it needs to bother us that they’re spiritually dead.
In other words, knowing what we know about sin and the second death, if somebody we care about doesn’t know Jesus, then it ought to keep us up at night. It ought to eat at us to the point that we are unwilling to accept it and would be willing to go to great lengths to do something about it.
It should bother you and keep you up at night to know that if any of those people died today, they’d die in their sin, and they would be eternally separated from God. That ought to eat at you to the point that your unwilling to accept it and willing to go to great lengths to do something about it.
And let me just say this, if it doesn’t bother you, then something is wrong with your faith. Because either you don’t really believe Jesus is the only way or you’re not in tune with what’s important to God.
Because according to Jesus:
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Third, we learned in order to reach spiritually dead people, we have to see Jesus as the only solution to the sin problem. That only Jesus can bring this person from death to life. Jesus puts it like this in :
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus says He is the path to salvation. Meaning, He’s the one who raises people from spiritual death to life. That it’s not our job, but His. That we are simply the messengers and He is the spiritual healer.
Yes, we need to do our best to persuasively lead them to Jesus. Peter writes:
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
1 Peter
So, we need to be ready. However, at the end of the day, what we have to remember is that Jesus is the only one who has the power to raise dead people back to life. That it’s not our job, but His. That we are simply the messengers and He is the healer.
So, that’s where we’ve been so far on this evangelism focus with Peter. And today Luke is going to continue this focus as he gives us one more story surrounding the evangelistic efforts of the Apostle Peter.
And unlike the previous two stories, this next story is an extensive story with a lot of moving parts, and so it’s going to require us to slow down and break it down into three parts, the first of which we will cover today.
And so, in order to set up this story and where we are going this morning, I want to begin by throwing out a question I’d like us all to consider for a moment. A question I’m not sure we give much though to, but a question we need to know the answer to when it comes to sharing our faith, specifically when it comes to a person’s readiness and willingness to respond to our witness.
And the question is this:
Question: “When it comes to salvation, what does it take for a person to be open to the gospel and put their faith in Jesus?”
And when I ask that, I’m not talking about their need to pray a certain prayer, adopt a certain belief system, or attend a certain church.
What I’m asking is, what needs to happen or where does a person need to be spiritually, mentally, or emotionally in order to receive the message of the gospel? “What opens that door?
What I’m asking is, what needs to happen or where does a person need to be spiritually, mentally, or emotionally in order to receive the message of the gospel? What opens the door for a person to put their faith in Jesus?
And when I ask that, I’m not talking about a specific prayer they need to pray, a certain belief system they need to adopt, or a specific church they need to attend.
What I’m asking is, “What is it that flips the switch? Where does
a person need to be What I’m talking about is their openness to the gospel and their willingness to listen to what you have to say.
What does it take for a person to be open to and receive the gospel message?
Think of it like this. In sociology there’s a concept called the “Tipping Point”. And the tipping point is a point in time when an individual or group rapidly and dramatically changes its behavior by widely adopting a previously rare practice.
So, when it comes to somebody putting their faith in Jesus, which is radical, what’s the tipping point? What needs to happen or where does a person need to be open to the gospel message?
That’s a great question, and there’s two reasons we need to know the answer to this question:
Reason #1 - When you share your faith, there are going to be people who are open and people who aren’t open to the message of the gospel.
And understanding that is critical, because often that will determine how you share your faith with that person.
For example, if a person is closed to the gospel message, then trying to convince them or for force Jesus on them probably isn’t going to go well. And in the end, you may push them further away from Jesus. Unfortunately, over the years I’ve seen some eager Christians make that mistake.
For example, I saw a pastor make that mistake one time. He was in the grocery store one night, and he noticed a man, who he knew wasn’t where he needed to be spiritually, buying a bottle of wine. And so as he passed by the man he said, “That will bring you nothing but heartache and despair.” And then he just kept walking.
I once had a friend who
To be honest, I’ve known a lot of well meaning Christians who are eager to share their faith, but often do it at inopportune times. And as a result, instead of turning somebody towards Jesus, they end up turning them away.
Now, how do you think that man buying the bottle of wine reacted to that comment from that pastor? I know for a fact, not well. In fact, it pushed the man further away from his faith.
And please hear me, I’m not saying if you drink wine you’re not saved.
My point is, in a case like that, better to model Christ through actions of love, kindness, and respect.
I love how one person once put it. He said, “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”
His point being, sometimes the best way to share your faith is in the way you act, live your life, and treat people.
It’s like the
However, there are going to be times when a person is open to the gospel message, when they’re at the tipping point, which leads us to the second reason we need to know the answer to this question, because when a person is open to the gospel, we need to be able to recongize it and be prepared to share our faith.
Which lead us back to our question of, “When it comes to salvation, what does it take for a person to be open to the gospel and put their faith in Jesus?”
In way, that’s the focus of our passage today. Because as we come to today, we come to a story involving an unsaved man named Cornelius. But while he isn’t saved:
He’s a man who is on a spiritual journey.
Reason #1 -
He’s a man who is seeking the truth.
He’s a man who in many respects models the tipping point, the place a person needs to be in order to be saved and make a radical decision to follow Jesus.
Because by the time we get to the end of this story in a few weeks, Cornelius is going to become a radical Christian. The question then is, “What initially got him to that point? What happened? What led him to the place where he was open and ready to receive the gospel?”
My hope today is that we can begin to answer those questions by obtaining three important insights for evangelism.
Insight #1 - An understanding of what it take for a person to put their faith in Jesus and be saved.
Insight #2 - An understanding of how God responds to a person who is seeking salvation.
Insight #3 - An understanding of what our part in that process is.
So, to gain those insights, here’s how we are going to approach our passage today.
First, I’m going to read through the passage so we can get some context for the story.
Second, we’re going to in order to gain these insights, we’re going to walk through this passage and answer three questions concerning a person being open to faith in Jesus:
And then second, we’re going to walk back through the passage and answer three questions concerning a person putting their faith in Jesus.
Question #1 - What does it take?
What does it take?
Question #2 - How does God respond?
The second Part:
Question #3 - What’s our part?
How
So, let’s get started as Luke introduce us to Cornelius and his journey of faith. Beginning in , Luke writes:
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, 8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
As you can see, there’s a lot happening in this passage as Luke begins the story by introducing us too Cornelius and the beginning stages of his journey towards faith in Jesus.
begin as we answer the first question, “What does it take?”
Picking back up in , listen to what Luke tells us as he introduces us too Cornelius:
And it’s from this introduction that we begin to get some great insight into what it takes for a person to be open to receive the message of the gospel.
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.”
Acts 10:
And so in order to answer our first question, “What does it take?”, I want to begin with what it doesn’t take. In other words, what isn’t an indicator for an openness to the gospel?
How many of you are familiar with that game?
How many of you are familiar with that game or played it growing up? Most of us, right?
The way the game works is one person is choose to be the hunter
You may recall, the game revolves around a group of people hiding an object from someone, and then that someone has to search and find the object.
And they find it as those that hid the object guide them to the object by using two words. The words “Hot” or “Cold”. Hot meaning they are close to finding it, and Cold meaning they are not close at all.
And so the closer they are, the warmer or hotter they are. And the further away they are, the cooler or colder they are.
In a way that’s how Luke begins this story by progressively leading us to what it takes for a person to be open to the gospel. And to do it, he begins in verse 1 with the coldest and furthest point from what it takes. But by the end of verse 2 he’s going to lead us to the hottest point and the location for what it takes.
So, let’s go back to verse 1 as Luke introduces us to Cornelius. Luke writes:
“At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort...”
What I want you to notice is Luke begins by giving us some important details surrounding Cornelius.
The first detail is a location, the city in which Cornelius lived, the city of Caesarea. And this is a significant detail because Caesarea is no ordinary city in the land of Israel.
And it’s not ordinary for a couple of reasons:
First, because Caesarea was built by Herod the Great. And if you don’t recall who Herod the Great was, he was the Herod that tried to kill baby Jesus and ended up slaughtering an entire village of children under the age of two in and attempt to do so. So, this is a city whose founder is no fan of the Christian faith.
Second, in the first century Caesarea had become the center of government for the Roman administration in the land of Israel.
What that means then is, this is not a Jewish or Christian city with a church or synagogue on every corner. Instead, it’s a “pagan” city. A city full of Hellenistic Greeks whose lifestyle and beliefs represent a secular and sinful culture.
Meaning, for the most part, Jews and Christians don’t reside in Caesarea. Because it’s a pagan city full of pagan practices and people.
And this is where Cornelius lives. Which lead us to another important detail about Cornelius, and its found in his name.
The name Cornelius is a Greek name, and was a common Greek name in that day. Meaning, Cornelius not only lives among pagans, but in the eyes of a Jew or Christian, Cornelius is one of them. He’s a pagan. Somebody far from God.
But his association with pagan society doesn’t stop there, because not only is he a pagan living in a very pagan city, Luke says Cornelius is a centurion. Meaning, he’s an officer in the Roman army. An army that the Jewish people despised. An army they wanted out of the land of Israel.
All that to say, if you were going to pick somebody out of a line up that you thought would be ready to receive and be open to the gospel message, Cornelius wouldn’t be your first pick. Why? Because he’s a pagan man living in a pagan city wearing a pagan uniform of the nation the Jewish people despise.
But that’s kind of Luke’s point here. Because out of the gate, what Luke wants us to see, is that it’s not a persons cultural or ethnic background that qualifies or disqualifies a person from receiving the gospel message. That it’s not their current or past associations, or reputation that should serve as the indicator of their openness to the gospel message .
And the reason we need to understand that is because that’s what many Christians tend too do. Based on surface based indicators, we judge and determine who would be open to the gospel and who would not be.
Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about.
Let’s say as a Christian you decided to take a vacation to a city like San Francisco. A city known for embracing the LGBT community. And while you were there, you observed two men walking down the street hand in hand.
Now, if you’re honest, your initial surface assumption would be that those two men are not open to or ready to receive the gospel message.
Why would you think that?
Probably because based on a surface indicator, you would automatically associate these two men with a certain group of people who have obviously embraced a sinful lifestyle.
And so, solely based on surface appearance, you would automatically make the judgment call that these are two people who probably wouldn’t be open to the message of the gospel.
Am I speaking some truth here?
And what Luke wants us to understand is that you can’t base a persons openness to the gospel based on the indicators of ethnic status, reputation, cultural setting, and only what you can see and believe allows a person to be open to the gospel.
Because that’s exactly how most Christians in the 1st century on a visit to Caesarea would have viewed and judged Cornelius as he walked down the street wearing his pagan uniform. Based on appearance alone, they would have judged him as somebody that is definitely not open to the gospel.
And what Luke wants us to understand is you can’t let what’s on the surface of a persons life be the automatic determiner or indicator of whether a person is open to the gospel or not. That would be a mistake.
But that’s what many Christians do. Based only on what we can see, what we’ve heard, or what others have told us, we judge a persons openness to the gospel based strictly on surface indicators.
But that’s not how God works. Because when it comes to leading people to Jesus, God doesn’t work from the outside in. He works from the inside out.
Which leads us the next important detail that Luke gives us concerning Cornelius. Because there’s more to Cornelius than meets the eye. Look at what he tells us about Cornelius. He says he was:
2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.
Luke now dips down beneath the surface of Cornelius’s life and gives us a deeper understanding of who he is and what he believes.
Notice first Luke says he was “a devout man who feared God with all his household”.
In the Greek, the idea here is that he was a “God-fearer”.
In other words, while he maybe isn’t fully sure who God is, he does believe there is a God. He believes in the God of creation. A God who created him and his in control of his life. A God that should be respected. A God he holds in high regard. A God who has standards to be lived up too. And as a result, he lives in a way that represents those standards. Because Luke says as a result of this, he:
“....gave alms generously to the people...”
“
Luke says he is a compassionate and generous man. A man who meets the needs of others.
In sense, Cornelius is what we would call a good person. He believes in God and does his best to treat others with respect.
In sense, Cornelius is what we would call a good person. He believes and fears God and he lives his life out of that belief.
In a way, he live out the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
But it doesn’t stop there. Because Cornelius doesn’t just believe in God. He doesn’t just do good deeds. Luke writes:
“and (he) prayed continually to God.
“and (he) prayed continually too God.”
What Luke is indicating here is that Cornelius’s deep desire was to know God. To have a relationship with God. And so on a daily basis he continually prayed and sought the God of creation.
So, what’s this saying? What is Luke wanting us to understand?
What Luke wants us to undestand is that the indicator that a person is open and ready to receive the gospel doesn’t start on the outside, it starts on the inside. It starts with a person’s desire to know God. You could say it like this:
A person is most open to the Gospel when their hearts desire is to know and be right with God.
And this is important for us to understand for a couple of reasons:
First, because we need to be careful that we don’t dismiss somebody’s desire to know God based solely on what we see on the outside.
The fact is, you don’t know what might be going on the inside of a person. You don’t know where their heart is. It could be they are seeking to know God. It could be their sick and tired of being sick and tired. No they don’t have it all figured out yet. Yes, they’re still some visible sin in their life. But deep down in their heart, they’re seeking truth. They’re asking questions. They’re searching for something more.
Well,
The point is, don’t dismiss somebody’s desire to know God because their not living or acting like you think they should.
But that’s not how it works.
Second, we need to understand this because until a person comes to this point, it will be difficult for them put their faith in Jesus.
because until a person comes to this point, it will be difficult for them put their faith in Jesus.
Why? Because that’s where salvation starts. It starts with a desire to know and be right with God, which then leads us to the way we can know and be right with God, which comes through a relationship with Jesus.
And this is the point Cornelius has come to. And while we don’t know what has brought him to this point, what we do know is that he’s finally at a point where he recognizes there’s something missing in his life. He’s at a point where he’s tired of trying to find fulfillment in what the world offers. He’s at a point where he’s seeking real answers, real truth, and real hope. He’s at a point where he’s recognized there’s more to life than just existing. And so now instead of looking horizontally for answers, he’s looking up as he continually prays and seeks to know God.
He’s like the Psalmist who prays:
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
You see, until a person reaches this point, until they acknowledge their need to know and be right with God, it will be difficult for them to be open to or receive the gospel.
The first heart
So, a great question would be, “How do you get somebody to that point?”
:
Well, to be honest, that’s not our job. Our job is to be Christ like, share the gospel, pray for them, and then trust that God will use what we’ve shared to eventually bring that person to faith. That’s really all we can do.
Probably the greatest illustration of how this works is found in where Jesus compares the person who shares the gospel to that of a farmer who is sowing seed in a field. And he says when a farmer sows seed, it falls on four different types of soil. Some falls on hard soil, some falls on rocky soil, some falls on weedy soil, and some falls on soft fertile soil.
The second heart is the rocky heart, and while the seed begins to
He then say it’s the same for the person who shares the gospel. That as they share the message of the gospel, it falls on four different types of hearts.
20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,
The first heart is a hard heart, a heart that is not open to the gospel. A heart that is not seeking God. Of this heart Jesus says:
19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.
The second heart is the rocky heart, a heart that is initially open to know God, but doesn’t understand the cost of following Jesus. Of this heart Jesus says:
20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
The third heart is the weedy heart, a heart that cares more about this life than the next. Of this heart Jesus says:
22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
And then there’s the fertile heart. A heart that wants to know God and is open to the gospel. Of this heart Jesus says:
23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
This is the heart of Cornelius. A heart that desires to know and be right with God. A heart that is ready to receive the gospel.
And as I said, until a person reaches this point, it will be difficult for them to receive the gospel.
Acts 10:3
So, in a nutshell, that’s what it takes.
This then leads us to our second question.
When a person reaches that point, How does God respond?
Let’s find out as Luke continues the story. Beginning in verse 3, Luke writes:
3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.
Wow, that’s an amazing response from God! And for me the most amazing part of this story because it shows us the heart of God. And the heart of God is to reveal himself to us. But for that to happen, like Cornelius we have to seek Him.
But
So, how does it work? How does God respond?
Notice again what Luke tells us:
3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.”
Couple of things I want you to notice that are key here:
First, Luke says when God responds, it was the ninth hour.
That’s important detail because the ninth hour was one of three time periods during the day that Jewish people prayed. And while Cornelius isn’t Jewish, for some reasons he appears to be following this practice.
And what it’s meant to show us is that if you want God in your life, it starts by seeking Him. It starts by having a conversation with Him. It starts by praying. Because that’s where communication with God takes place, and that’s the place God meets us.
So, what’s this saying? What it’s saying is, “God responds to people who seek Him”.
So, what’s this saying to us? IWhat it’s saying is
The writer of proverbs puts it like this:
17 I love those who love me,
and those who seek me diligently find me.
The writer says, the person that finds God, is the person who seeks Him.
Jeremiah puts it like this:
13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
The Psalmist writes:
8 You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
And maybe one of my favorite passages that proclaims this:
9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”
The point is, God is looking for people who are looking for Him.
Here’s what we need to understand. When a heart is open and is seeking God, God will go out of His way to respond. In Cornelius case, he sent an angel, and the word for angel here in the Greek means “messenger”.
So, Cornelius seeking God, God responds and has something to say too Cornelius. So, what does God have to say? Luke tells us:
4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.
Acts 10:4
As you can imagine, Cornelius is a little taken back by the presence of an angelic being, but he recognizes it’s a messenger from God, so he says, “What is it Lord?” or “What’s this about Lord?” And the angel responds:
“Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.”
In other words, “Cornelius, God sees your heart. God sees your life and desire to know Him, and He is pleased. Cornelius. So he’s sent me to bring you a message.”