ACTS 10:34-48 GOOD PEOPLE NEED TO BE SAVED2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 10:34-48 Good People Need To Be Saved

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016.

We're going to be in Acts chapter 10. We looked at Acts chapter 10 last week as well, and so we'll be finishing up chapter 10 this week. But starting once again in verses 1 through 8 and beginning to look at the life or the man named Cornelius as we continue to consider what this impact and this passage has for us this evening. So let's begin by reading Acts chapter 10 verses 1 through 8. Here's what it says.

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius,

Verse 5. Verse 6.

Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa. Last week as we began Acts chapter 10, we looked at this passage and began to look at this amazing account that happens here in chapter 10. And as we looked at those things last week, we focused really on Peter and

We talked a little bit about Cornelius, but we focused on the work that God was doing in Peter in radically changing his heart and his perspective regarding God's will, God's plan, and what God wanted to do in bringing Gentiles to salvation.

Now, as we look at this chapter again, I want to focus a little bit more on Cornelius and understand some important things about what God did in this encounter and what that means for us. Now, as we talk about Cornelius this week, we know from the passage here that Cornelius was a centurion.

Now, that means that he was the captain in the Roman army. He was a captain over 100 men. And we see several centurions mentioned in the scriptures, uh,

every occasion that we see the centurions, we can notice that they are honorable men. These guys were the backbone, kind of the core of the Roman army. And so here, Cornelius, being a captain of 100 men, he would have been a leader of these men. He

would have lived with these men. He would have led these men. He would have been a warrior and fought with these men, and he would be willing to die with these men in battle. And so he would be an honorable man, a good man, we could say.

He was posted in Caesarea, which was a city on the coast in the northern part of Israel. And so that was his post now. We don't know where he had been before, but he ends up in Caesarea. And there he learns of the God of the Jews. He's not Jewish. He doesn't come from that background. But he, as a soldier posted there, learns from the culture and learns from the people and the land that he is in.

And as he is posted there, he begins to believe in the God of the Jews, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Now, he doesn't go all the way through to what we would call, you know, become a proselyte, that is to convert to Judaism. But he begins to engage in some of the things that he is able to, and he begins to believe in the God of the Jews.

And we learn from this passage, again, that he, as a believer, he begins to be generous and give. He was a good man. And that's important to notice. That's important to consider as we look at this passage, because as we look at the salvation of Cornelius and his household, we can learn this very important point from Acts chapter 10. It's the title of the message this evening. Good people need to be saved. Right?

Cornelius wasn't the worst of the worst. Last, well, in the previous chapter, in chapter 9, we saw Saul of Tarsus, right? He was the worst of the worst. And of course, he needed to be saved. But here's Cornelius. He's a good citizen. He's a model citizen. He's even religious. He's even faithful and generous. And everything that's reported about him is good. But

But although he was good and honorable, he was not saved. And he still needed a savior. He still needed to be saved from his sinfulness. I really enjoy as we are going through the book of Acts and we get to see kind of the gospel story.

over and over again in different people's lives. It's kind of like doctrine in action as far as I was thinking about it because we spent time in Romans just before going into the book of Acts, right? And we just saw the gospel, the gospel, the gospel, learn the doctrine backwards and forwards and inside and out.

But here in the book of Acts, we get to see that applied over and over again, and the gospel brought to different people and groups of people, and how the gospel changes lives. But it's important to note, as we look at this passage, that the gospel is needed for good people. Because, of course, if you want to really kind of get down to the details, we would be able to say there are no good people. But there are those, like Cornelius, that, generally speaking, we would look at and say, okay,

that's a good person. They're doing great things. They're doing good things. They're very religious. And yet we find that good people need to be saved. And that's what we see here in chapter 10 as we look at Cornelius. And so there's four points we will consider as we work our way through chapter 10 this evening. The first point is found in verses one through six, and that is kind of reiterating the point, good people are not good enough. The

The reason why good people need to be saved is because good people are not good enough to be saved on their own. There's no one who's good enough to be able to not need a savior, to not need forgiveness. Look again at verse one and two. It says, there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian regiment. And notice how it describes him in verse two, a devout man.

As we are introduced to Cornelius, the way he's described, it would easily lead to this idea of calling him a good man.

And I want to just walk through these different aspects that are listed here in verse 2, talking about Cornelius and thinking about Cornelius being a good man.

Man, as it describes him here, I liked the way that Damian Kyle pointed out or talked about this. He says, Cornelius puts many Christians to shame. As it gives this description here in verse two, I mean, you can see these are all great things, admirable things, things that we should also be practicing and living out. These are characteristics that we should have, but even Christians

Some Christians, or many Christians, Damien Kyle says, don't measure up to the lifestyle that Cornelius had. He was a good man. The first thing that Luke records for us about Cornelius here in verse 2 is that he was a devout man. So as we think about Cornelius, we need to understand that he was devout.

That means that he was reverent, that he was godly, that he, you could also say, was faithful or religious. He was devout. Again, I mentioned he didn't come from Jewish background, but he's posted there in Israel, and he's becoming devout.

devout as a follower of the God of the Jews. He is faithful in the best that he can to follow, to believe in the God of the Jews. For a little bit of comparison, you could look at Acts chapter 22 verse 12.

where there Paul, who was Saul of Tarsus, and remember on the way to Damascus, he was converted. He went into Damascus after having an encounter with the Lord, and God said, Ananias is going to come and meet you. In Acts chapter 22 verse 12, Paul calls Ananias a devout man. Ananias was

A disciple, a believer in Jesus Christ who had a strong influence in Paul at the beginning there as the Lord used him to baptize him and to remove the scales from his eyes, to pray for him to receive the Holy Spirit. He was a devout man. And Cornelius is given the same description, the same characteristics. He's devout. He reveres God. You could call him a godly man even though he was not a Jew.

And so that's the first thing to note about Cornelius. He was a good man because he was devout, faithful to God. But then we also see that he feared God, as you go on there in verse 2. He feared God. Now, there's a particular phrase that is used here that the Jews would refer to

Gentiles who believed in God but had not yet converted to Judaism as God-fearers.

And so the idea of fearing God, of course, is to have a reverence for God. You know, I need to obey God because I'm going to stand before him, you know, at judgment day. And so I need to obey him. I need to walk with him. I need to live my life according to his ways. That's the general idea of fearing God. But it also indicates there that he was kind of on the path towards becoming a Jew. He didn't yet, and he hadn't yet, but he was on

believing the doctrine of the Jews. He was supportive of the Jewish faith. Dave Guzik says, this kind of person believed all those things, but stopped short of becoming full Jews in lifestyle and in circumcision, because that was, you know, step number one if you wanted to become a Jew. So he didn't go that far. He didn't convert to Judaism yet, but

But he was right there with them. He believed the doctrine that they taught. He believed what they believed. He supported the Jewish religion, the Jewish people. And so he was religious in that sense. And he did what he could as a Gentile in participating in the Jewish practices, even though he was limited because he was not a full convert to Judaism.

Well, then the third thing mentioned here in verse 2 is that he gave alms generously. Cornelius was a good man. He gave alms generously, freely. He gave much alms to people who were in need. That word alms, it literally means mercifulness. And the idea here is it's, well, one dictionary defined it this way. It's helpful action resulting from compassion.

So Cornelius had compassion. That is, he looked at people's lives. He looked at their situations and he sincerely, genuinely cared for them. So much so that he put his money where his mouth was and he gave to those who were in need. He gave to those that he had compassion on. He was giving to those who were in desperate conditions.

He was generous with his resources, with his money. It says that he gave alms generously. It's one thing to look on someone and have compassion. You know, your heart hurts for them. You kind of wish things were different for them or wish things were better for them. But Cornelius took it another step, and he actually engaged himself in helping those who were in need.

Well, then the final thing here in verse 2 that is mentioned about Cornelius is that he prayed to God always. He prayed to God always. Now, this is referring to the Jewish practice of praying to God three times a day. We can see that in verse 3. It says, about the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius,

The ninth hour was one of those prayer times that they would stop everything and spend some time to pray to God. We learn from later on in the passage that he was praying at this time when this vision takes place. And so he is, again, he's very religious, he's devout, he's faithful, and he is always praying to God. He's honoring God with his words. He's praising God in these times. And

He's asking God for help. He's looking to God for direction. He is engaged in seeking God. He prayed to God always. Again, as you look at these things, it's not hard. It's not a long stretch to say Cornelius was a good man. But what's really interesting about this, as you reflect on these things, as you consider these things, he was devout. He feared God. He gave alms generously. He prayed to God always.

Again, the point of this whole chapter is he still wasn't saved. He was a good man, but he was not good enough to be saved, to have the promise of eternity with God, to enter into heaven with God. He was not saved, even though he was very good.

In verse 4, as we continue on reading through the passage, it says, Verse 6, He will tell you what you must do.

So here is this devout, God-fearing, generous, prayerful man. And the Lord sends an angel to him and says, I see what you're doing. I see your heart. I see all the good stuff that you're doing, but it's not enough. You're not good enough. We need to take note of these things. It's not enough to be devout. There are lots of devout people in the world today.

faithful to their religion, faithful to their idea and understanding of godliness, but it's not enough to just be devout. It's not enough to just fear God. There are those who fear God, who are terrified of judgment day, who are afraid of what God might do if they get out of line, but to fear God is not enough. And to give generously, there are generous people, but that is not enough. And there are those who pray.

And pray regularly and often. And would tell you, I pray every day. But we need to understand that these things do not earn salvation, do not constitute salvation. You can have all of these characteristics. And there are some people walking around today that have all of these characteristics, but still are in the condition of Cornelius. Because notice what the Lord tells him in verse 6.

He gives him the instructions in verse 4 and 5, you know, to send the messengers to Joppa, right? Why? Because at the end of verse 6, he says, he will tell you what you must do. Here's the point. Go get Peter because Peter is going to tell you what you must do. Here's what you're already doing. Let me acknowledge. The Lord says, look, your prayers and your alms have come up as a memorial. I see what

Your goodness, I see that you are a good man, that you're doing your best according to what you understand and what you know, but you're still missing the fullness of what I have for you. And so there's something more you must do. And instead of the Lord telling him right then what he must do, he sends for Peter to bring Peter so that Peter could tell him what he must do, what he's still lacking. Now, of course, hopefully you know

where this is going. In case you don't, here's a sneak preview. The thing that you must do, Cornelius, you must believe in Jesus. You can have all the devoutness and all the God-fearingness and all the generous giving and all the praying to God always, but if you don't believe in Jesus, there's something more you must do. Those things are not good enough for any of us.

That's not the work of God. In John chapter 6, Jesus addressed this a little bit because people said, hey, what do we need to do to do the works of God? In John 6, 29, Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he sent.

They asked Jesus, what do we do that we may do the works of God? And Jesus could have said, well, be devout and fear God and give generously and pray to God always. But that's not what Jesus said. Jesus said, believe in him whom the Father has sent. That is, believe in Jesus. Good people are not good enough. We must believe in Jesus because we don't measure up to the perfect standard of Jesus.

It's easy for us to think good of ourselves because we measure ourselves against others. And we think, well, hey, I'm better than that guy or I'm better than that lady. Or we look at them and we think, well, they're way better than I am. And so we could think, well, they're a good person. But Jesus made the point also in his ministry, there is no one who is good. Paul makes that very clear as well in Romans chapter 2 and 3.

We all deserve judgment because there's none who are righteous. There's none who seek after God. The most moral, the most devout, the most religious, the most, you know, the great citizens, all the good people that we could think about, their goodness is not enough. And yet that sentiment still continues. And there are plenty of people. I remember a recent conversation I was having with someone

and talking about someone who had died recently. And the conversation was, you know, basically talking about how good this person was. And so the other person I was talking to was basically sharing the sentiment. So they're, you know, they're fine. They're good because, you know, they prayed, they went to church, you know, all the outward religious things, things that could have been said about Cornelius. But again, the whole point of Acts chapter 10

is that's not enough. There is something more. Good people need to be saved. Well, moving on, we're going to jump now past the things that we spent a lot of time in last week. And so we're going to jump down to verse 34 and 35. Now, what happens in between? If you weren't here last week, Cornelius sends to Joppa, he brings Peter back.

But before his messengers get to Peter, God gives a message to Peter through a vision of this blanket coming down from heaven with all these unclean and clean animals. And God says, rise, kill and eat. And Peter's wrestling with that because those are some of the things that are forbidden in the Old Testament for him to eat. So he says, not so, Lord, I can't do that. And God says, don't call common what I have cleansed.

And then the messengers come to Peter and bring him to the house of Cornelius. And he announces there, now I understand what God was saying. God was saying, don't call people unclean. He wants to reach all people. And that's the thought that he picks up on or we pick up on here in verse 34 and 35. It says, then Peter opened his mouth and said, in truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality.

but in every nation, whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him. And so here's point number two. God desires to save all people. Good people are not good enough, but the good news is that God desires to save all people. So even the people that aren't good, even the people that don't measure up to the standard of Cornelius, God desires to save all people. And this is

it's easy for us to take this for granted, but this is a brand new concept for Peter. I mean, his mind is still kind of blown. He's still kind of reeling and trying to like process, you know, is this really true? How can this be? He's coming to grips with this, but it's still brand new to him. He's just learned this truth, you know, in the last two days. And it's different than everything he's ever known. It's different than what he would have ever thought. And

God had to intervene and give him a special vision to teach him this truth. But now that he's there and all the things are coming together and God's will and word is becoming clear in his mind and the things that the Lord taught and the things written in the scriptures are being brought back to his mind and he's trying to put all the pieces together. He's recognizing God desires to save all people.

And so he says in verse 34, in truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality. He shows no partiality. That is, he doesn't just want to save one group of people. He's not partial to one group that he only wants to save them, and he doesn't care about the rest. He shows no partiality.

partiality. This is huge. This is breakthrough. This is life-changing truth that Peter is receiving and coming to terms with, even as he is sharing these things with this household. Albert Barnes, the commentator, says, Peter here says that he had learned the error of this doctrine, and that a man is not to be accepted because he is a Jew, nor be excluded because he is a Gentile.

Peter points out a few verses earlier, it's not right for me to enter into a house of a Gentile under our Jewish traditions. But I'm here because God told me not to call common or unclean those that he has cleansed. He's breaking his traditions, breaking through those traditions that were established that were not the word of God, but that they had held to as the word of God. And so Albert Barnes points out,

Peter's admitting, I've learned the error of the doctrine that I had. I held to this doctrine. I held to this belief. I had this idea and understanding and it was wrong and I've been corrected. And so now I'm able to tell you, God shows no partiality. The Jews showed partiality. There was serious partiality as far as the Jews were concerned. They were convinced God would save the Jews automatically.

Even if the Jews were bad Jews, they were pretty much guaranteed to go to heaven because they were Jews. They were God's favorite. And Gentiles were pretty much guaranteed to go to hell. There was no way for them to be saved unless they became Jews. That was the only way for them to be saved. And so they were convinced that

Other nationalities, other backgrounds, hey, unless you change and conform and become exactly like us, there's no hope for you. That was the Jews' perspective. And we won't fellowship with you. We won't go into your house. You can't come into our house. We're not going to have meals together. We won't go to the movies together. We're not going to have any kind of relationships because you're a Gentile and we're Jews. We're favored and you're not. That was their perspective. There was a strong disconnect between these groups of people.

Here, Peter is breaking through that. He's breaking through all of these preconceived ideas, all of these things that he's been taught. And he's coming to this understanding, God desires to save all people. Now, this is really important for us. Again, I think it's easy for us to take some of this for granted because we don't have this Jew-Gentile culture that we're living in. But it is still so easy for us to kind of automatically exclude people

from our minds, the opportunity to reach groups of people. And we need to break through. If there's any of those kinds of ideas or stigmas in our head, we need to break through like Peter. Allow God to correct us and recognize there's nobody that God is not concerned about. There's nobody that God's okay just, well, yeah, that's fine. They can go to hell. God's not okay with that.

for anybody, for any group of people, no matter what it is or no matter what is going on. And so maybe there's some things that are built up in your heart. There's some animosity. There was a lot of conflict and animosity between the Jews and the Gentiles. And it's not just that the Jews, you know, would easily say, oh yeah, you know, they're going to hell. But there would be kind of a desire, like I kind of want them, you know, I can't wait for them to burn. That would be the heart. And

And as dark and as horrible as that is, that can begin to develop in our hearts, or maybe it's been established in your heart for a long time, regarding a person or a group of people. But God desires to save all people. And we need to accept this truth, this reality, and like Peter, break through those boundaries and those traditions that have

Verse 35, he goes on to say, In every nation. So again, he's breaking the boundaries. He was thinking only Israel, only Israel. But in every nation, expanding the horizon, recognizing whoever fears God and works righteousness, whoever turns to God is accepted by him.

Now, don't take this to say that Peter is, you know, saying whoever fears God and works righteousness is saved. But the idea of being accepted by God is that God accepts them and so he brings them the gospel. Here's another way to put it. God will make sure that everyone who will listen has a chance to hear the gospel. You can see that demonstrated here in this account in Acts chapter 10.

Cornelius was one who would listen and God says, okay, I'm going to work out great, fantastic, supernatural things to bring the gospel to Cornelius. You could go back a couple chapters in Acts chapter 8. Remember the Ethiopian eunuch there on the way home from Jerusalem. He went seeking God, didn't encounter him.

Left, still confused, reading the scriptures in Isaiah, and God arranges for Philip to meet him on the road and explain the gospel to him. For those who will hear, God will make sure they will have an opportunity to hear the gospel. In every nation, whoever fears God and works righteousness is accepted by him. God's going to be working in the life of those who are seeking him. Over and over in the scriptures, God promises, if you seek me with all your heart, you will find me.

That's the idea that's being conveyed here. Cornelius was seeking God, and so God's promise is fulfilled, and he found him. And sometimes when you're talking about the exclusiveness of the gospel by faith in Jesus Christ, and Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. One of the objections that's raised is, what about that guy in the

But here's the truth that we can hold on to. In every nation, whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him. The one who seeks after God. There is light that is revealed. Paul deals with that in Romans chapter 1. Creation reveals that there is a God, there is a creator, and that's sufficient. And so for those who will respond, for those who will seek God, even just at the basic revelation of creation,

God will accept that and begin to work in bringing the gospel to them. We can count on that because God desires to save all people. In Romans chapter 10 verse 12, Paul says, Again, we read that, it's like no big deal, but

In their day, in their culture, in their understanding, no distinction between Jew and Greek? That's crazy talk. I mean, that's radical thinking. But that's the way that God sees it. He shows no partiality. He doesn't love you more than anybody else or less than anybody else. There's no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him.

He extends the offer of salvation. He extends his grace and his mercy to all who call. And then Paul quotes from the Old Testament there in verse 13, again, to establish that not only is this truth and it's radical truth, but this has always been the truth. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. This has been God's plan from the beginning. The gospel, salvation is for all people. And so good people need to be saved because salvation

Good people aren't good enough, and God desires to bring them to salvation. Moving on to verse 36 through 43, here we have point number three, and that is all people who believe are forgiven. So God desires to save all people, to reach all people, and everyone who responds is forgiven. Now here in this passage, as we continue on in verse 36 and following, we're

Peter is going to preach the gospel to this group of people gathered at Cornelius' house. And so he's going to bring forth the gospel message. It's one that we're familiar with. So let's read through it and then I'll come back and highlight a few things pretty briefly. Verse 36. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all.

That word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Verse 39. And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree.

Verse 42. Verse 42.

So here, Peter brings forth a pretty simple and straightforward gospel message, similar to the ones that we've seen before, except with a little bit more explanation because his audience here are Gentiles.

who are in the land and familiar with some of the events that have happened, but they're not like the Jews in Jerusalem. So Peter's message in Acts chapter 2 is a little bit different, but the same concepts are there. The same core principles are there. And so we can learn a lot from Peter's message about Jesus to this group of people. There's a few things I'd like to highlight here from his message about Jesus for us to remember about Jesus and

and then to understand the forgiveness that he offers. So the first thing I'll highlight is Jesus is Lord of all. In verse 36, Peter says, we're preaching through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. The idea that Jesus is Lord of all speaks to the deity of Jesus Christ.

speaks to the fact that Jesus is God, that he has always existed with God, that he is the creator, that he owns essentially everything. He is Lord over all. He is Lord of all. He is the rightful ruler of all creation. That's an essential part of the gospel message. As Peter brings forth the gospel, he recognizes Jesus is Lord of all.

Now, when I'm sharing the gospel very briefly, I often say it this way, Jesus being God became man to die upon the cross for us. That's kind of the format that Peter is following here. He's Lord of all. And then going on into verse 38, we see that Jesus demonstrated the power of God. He says, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him.

And so he talks about his origins. He's Lord of all. He talks about his ministry. He went about for that time of ministry demonstrating the power of God. The miracles in the ministry of Jesus came alongside the message that he was bringing forth as authentication.

that he genuinely was from God, that his power was God's power, that he is the son of God and that he is the savior. It was a demonstration or authentication of his message. And so he walked this earth. He ministered in the power of God to the world around him. Then we go on to see that Jesus was crucified. In verse 39, he says, "'We're witnesses of what he did "'and then how they killed by hanging on a tree.'"

He was nailed to the cross. He was put to death there on the cross outside the city walls of Jerusalem. This is an essential part of the gospel message, that Jesus being God became man. He ministered, and then he was put to death. He died upon the cross, although he was sinless.

But Jesus, of course, didn't stay there on the cross. He was resurrected on the third day. In verse 40, him God raised up on the third day and showed him openly. And so Jesus died. He was buried, but then he rose again. The heavenly father raised him up, resurrected him on the third day and showed him openly. We'll get to that in just a second.

But he was brought to life. Now, if the miracles in the life of Jesus attested to the message, the resurrection is the ultimate authentication of the message and ministry of Jesus, proving once and for all his claims to be God, his claims to be the Savior, the way, the truth, and the life, the only way to the Father. Everything that Jesus claimed was authenticated and proved in

by his resurrection. It was God's stamp and seal to declare once and for all that Jesus is the one appointed and anointed to save all humanity. Well, then he goes on to talk about Jesus being seen alive. We see that in verse 40, he showed him openly, but then verse 41, he clarifies, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God.

So after Jesus resurrected, he stuck around for a little bit. He, for about 40 days, was hanging out with his disciples and coming and going. But from the scriptures here, what Peter is saying, it seems that he only appeared to believers. Now, Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, at one time, it was a group of over 500 believers. So it wasn't just, you know,

One person here, one person there, a couple people in the corner, so that we would doubt the claims. But it was groups of people, and sometimes massive groups of people. But he revealed himself to those who had believed, because the path that God has chosen, the way that God has chosen for the gospel to be brought forth, is for his people to

to be witnesses to Jesus. And so he revealed himself to witnesses, to those who believed in him, so that they could in turn testify and witness to the people around them that Jesus was alive.

Well, then he goes on in verse 42 to make the point that Jesus is the judge. It says, This also speaks to the deity of Jesus Christ, starting with, you know, he's Lord of all, but also ending with he is the judge. He's the one we're going to stand before and give an account to. He's the standard by which we'll be judged today.

He is the judge of the living and the dead. He's the one who has the final say over our lives, over our eternity, over our souls. And then finally, in verse 43, we have the final point in Peter's message. Whoever believes in Jesus will be forgiven. Notice it says in verse 43, to him, all the prophets witness that through his name, whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins.

It's not just our doctrine, Peter says. All the prophets witnessed this. When you go back to the Old Testament and you study, you find this was the fulfillment of what the prophets declared by faith in Jesus Christ. Whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins. And this is the key. This is really the climax and the whole point of Peter's message. Important points about Jesus. He's Lord. He's

demonstrated power. He was crucified and resurrected and seen alive. But all of that leads to this point that whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins. And this is the key because no good deeds can earn forgiveness. That's why going back to Cornelius, he was not good enough and nobody is good enough because no good deeds can make up for the sinfulness of our hearts and the

In one sense, forgiveness is our primary need. Because of our sinfulness, we deserve judgment. We deserve the penalty for sin. What we need most is to be forgiven so that we no longer have that penalty due to us. Cornelius was a good man, but he was not a forgiven man when he was devout and feared God and generous and prayed every day. All great things, all good things, very religious, but he was not forgiven.

Forgiveness doesn't come by those things. Forgiveness comes by believing in Jesus, and whoever believes in him will receive the remission of sins. So all people who believe are forgiven. Good people need to be saved, and that happens not by being good or doing more good stuff. It comes by believing in Jesus Christ, accepting the truth about who Jesus is, accepting the truth about his lordship, and

His crucifixion and resurrection, understanding that that was on our behalf to pay the price for our sin. Understanding that it really happened. It's not just stories. He was seen alive. We have eyewitness testimony of that. And he's the judge that we'll stand before. And so we live our lives to please him. That's what it means to believe in Jesus. So all people who believe are forgiven. And then finally, we'll move on to the final verses in the chapter.

Point number four, all people who believe are born again. As Peter's giving this message, he's just bringing forth great clarity about who Jesus is. The people are eager to respond, so eager. They're believing it as Peter's speaking it. And so a miraculous works takes place right in the middle of the message. Verse 44, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.

And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.

This has often been referred to as the Gentile Pentecost. We saw the Holy Spirit poured out upon the church in Acts chapter 2 where the Jews were filled with power by the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues and God did this great work there in Acts chapter 2. Well, that expands now to the Gentiles here in Acts chapter 10. But it happens while Peter is speaking. And this further demonstrates the previous point.

What's required for salvation is to believe because as Peter's speaking, it's not that they then have to go and be baptized and then, you know, this work happens. The baptism will happen after the fact. But this happens while Peter is speaking because while he's speaking, they are believing.

As he's talking about Jesus, they're saying, yes, I believe that. He's Lord of all. Yes, I believe. And I know he demonstrated the power of God. And oh, yes, I know he was crucified and resurrected. And I know, yes, I believe he is the judge. And oh, believing in him, I receive forgiveness of sins. I believe that they're accepting this truth. They're receiving it for themselves while he's speaking it. That is how salvation is received, by believing in Jesus. Now,

This group of people here at Cornelius's house, they had heard about this angel that appeared to Cornelius. He told the servants about it, remember? And then he sent the servants off and it took a day or two for Peter to come back. And so this group is gathered together. There's this anticipation. They know God wants to say something. They're eager to listen. They're eager to hear. And as they're

The Lord speaks through Peter. They're receiving it. They're accepting it. Yes, I believe. Yes, I believe. Yes, I believe. And so while Peter is speaking and while they're believing, the Holy Spirit falls upon them. They are born again, right? They're just listening to the message because that's how easy it is to receive the forgiveness of God, to have your life transformed. It's not by a bunch of works. It's not by being devout and praying, you know, every day and

Those things are secondary. What we must do and what we must preach is the necessity to believe in Jesus Christ. Verse 46 says,

Then he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days. Here you can see that God has done a work in Peter and prepared him for this moment, but his companions are not quite there yet. And so in verse 45, it says they were astonished. I can't believe God would save those people. I can't believe God would give them the Holy Spirit. There was this shock and

I can't believe that. They're not even circumcised yet. I mean, they haven't converted to Judaism. What's wrong? How could this happen? They're just completely astounded. But they hear them speaking in tongues and magnifying God. They're recognizing this is a work of the Holy Spirit. It's not that they're doubting what's going on. It's just they never expected this to happen. And so here Peter says, well, who could forbid them to be baptized? They've received the Holy Spirit just as we have. God clearly says,

has accepted them, has saved them, they're born again, it's appropriate for them to be baptized because that's what Jesus said to do. As believers in Jesus, we are baptized to demonstrate the work that he's done in our heart. It's the first step on a lifelong path of obedience to the Lord. So they need to be baptized because they're saved.

It's not baptized to be saved, but it's baptized because they're saved, because God has done that work and poured out the Holy Spirit upon them. All people who believe are born again. They're given the Holy Spirit. They're regenerated, given spiritual life by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes up residence and indwells those who believe. And on top of that, the Holy Spirit will empower those who believe to enable us to live the life that God has called us to live.

And so here in Acts chapter 10, as we look at this passage, good people need to be saved. Even people as good as Cornelius, they're not good enough. Whether we're devout, or we fear God, or give alms generously, or pray to God always, or all of the above, it's not enough. But God does desire to save all people. So even though we don't measure up, he has provided the way through Jesus Christ so that those who believe can be forgiven. Our sins can be washed away.

Even though they were once scarlet, we can be white as snow because those who believe are born again, given new life by faith in Jesus Christ, regenerated by the Holy Spirit and empowered to live a new life. And then we can be devout and fear God and give alms generously and pray to God always based on what the Holy Spirit empowers us by God's enablement for us to live the life that God's called us to live. And it's not those things that save us.

But those things are the result of the work that God has done in us. And so good people need to be saved. I pray that that speaks to you, but also that you would take that and allow it to speak to you in a way that you could speak it to others. That sentiment, that idea, well, they're a pretty good person, so they're probably okay. God will accept them. They'll enter into heaven. That's not the way that it works. Salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ, his grace, his mercy towards us.

By grace, you are saved through faith. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your incredible grace and mercy towards us. Lord, the idea that we can't be good enough to earn forgiveness, to earn and merit heaven, that could be kind of scary. But Lord, we thank you that even though we can never measure up,

Lord, you've given us opportunity to be forgiven, to be washed, to be cleansed. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to grasp hold of that truth. Lord, that we would receive what you've done for us, receive the forgiveness that you have for us. Lord, accept that truth that we are forgiven by believing in you.

that if we confess our sins, you're faithful and just to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Lord, help us not to live under a sense of guilt that does not need to be there any longer as we believe in you and seek you with all of our hearts. And Lord, I pray for opportunities. This week, Lord, in the days and weeks and months to come, Lord, give us opportunities to bring forth this truth and

to a lost and dying world, to those who are convinced they're good enough and don't need a savior. Lord, help us to bring forth this truth even to those that, Lord, we wouldn't, maybe even this evening, want to speak to or want to give this offer of salvation to, Lord, if there is that animosity that's built up in our hearts like there was between the Jews and the Gentiles. Lord, I pray that you would break down those walls and those barriers and, Lord, help us

to reach beyond those social boundaries and share your love to whoever you bring across our path. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.