Prayer earlier, and the Lord did something for you. I want to encourage you to get some more of that at the end of the service. I think there's more that the Lord wants for you to pursue in this regard. And so at the end of our service, come and let our prayer teams pray with you about what's going on in your life, if you're new. In the past, we've taught verse by verse through books of the Bible.

I do more topical teaching now, although we exegete scriptures. But for the last four weeks, and this is week five, we've been going, telling these Bible stories from the book of acts called. And we've called this series transforming encounters. We've taken these stories in a row there, like acts, chapter seven, eight, nine and ten, and shown how individuals have these encounters that change their life with the Lord. And so today I want to talk to you about, introduce you to a guy named Cornelius.

And he goes from the Bible, calls him a God fearer at the beginning and at the end of the. Of the, of the chapter, he's God's child. So Cornelius goes from God fear to God's child. And this is kind of part two from last week when we did acts, chapter nine. Luke records two christian conversions, two people who are saved from their sins in back to back chapters in acts.

The first one is acts, chapter nine. Second one, acts, chapter ten. And he does those back to back because he means for us to compare them and contrast them. Them. Compare these two unbelievers who received the new birth.

So how are they different, and in what ways are they the same? If you'll recall, in chapter nine, the Lord himself appears to a ruthless persecutor, the number one enemy of the early church. He's a jewish rabbi named Saul of Tarsus. And because the Lord appeared to him, he transforms this jewish rabbi who is a persecutor when his name was Saul, and he changes him into an apostle and a missionary, in fact, probably the best of both of those categories and even changes his name. And we know him as Paul.

So that was chapter nine. A guy that wasn't looking for God, he was looking for people who knew God to destroy them and destroy their faith. But in acts chapter ten, we have the flip side of the coin. And he's also an unbeliever, but he's not hostile to goddess. In fact, he's a God fearer.

He is seeking the Lord, but he's seeking the Lord as a person who's a gentile who can never enter the holy place. He can't go into the sanctuary. He can only get as far as the court of the Gentiles. From Judaism's point of view, he's not welcome to know God. So in chapter ten, the Lord doesn't appear to Cornelius himself.

He sends an angel, though. He sends an angel to appear to this roman centurion. This guy has been sincerely seeking to know the God of the Jews. And so our question is, will this gentile seeker find what he was looking for? Who's going to fill in the blanks for him that he doesn't know?

And how will he learn about Jesus? That's acts, chapter ten. There are lots of verses in acts, chapter ten. I'm only going to be able to pull out certain sections and summarize the rest, but verses one and two start us off with a bang. So here we go.

There was a certain man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the italian regiment. Y'all understand that he had command of 100 soldiers. That's what that means, okay? A devout man, one who feared God with all his household, who gave generously, who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. So Luke just jumps right into it, and he doesn't hold back.

He shows us. And I'm gonna give you some lists today for you note takers. Here's my first list. In verses one and two, Luke shows us what a good neighbor who's outside the kingdom of God may possess. He may have these things, and you might be surprised.

Here's what someone, a good neighbor outside the kingdom of goddess might have in his life. In the first service, I know a guy that this was who is my modern day Cornelius. And I was preaching. I was watching him going, man, are you getting this? Just kind of hoping, you know, that kind of telepathy thing, because I've been praying for him.

I want him to have one of these Cornelius moments. Here's what Cornelius had according to the verses. Number one, he had devotion. The verse says, he was a devout man. This man had religious commitment.

He wasn't a once a Sabbath guy or one Sabbath a month, dude. This guy was going for it every day. He had devotion. Number two, he also had reverence. The verse says he was one who feared God.

So not only was Cornelius interested in the God of the Jews, he was respectful. He didn't go to them and say, you know, I think you got God wrong. Let's argue. He had this reverence, this fear of the Lord, and he saw himself as a learner. Number three, he had generosity.

The verse says, who gave alms generously to the people. Alms is another word for offerings and money. So here's a guy who cared about the poor and the homeless and those who were sick in the first century, and he had, because he worked for the roman government and he was a centurion, he was a man of trust. He was well compensated, and he gave to those in need. So, number four, we also learned that he had a prayer habit.

The verse says, and he prayed to God always. I was thinking, I cannot look back on last week and say, you know, I prayed to God always. So here's a guy I need to catch up to in my own prayer life. Take those four things and look at them on your paper again. Devotion, reverence, generosity, and prayer habit.

If you were one on one discipling a new believer, and you met with them once a week, and you looked at the scriptures and you prayed and you said, look, here's how we live the christian life. And you were trying to help someone walk with God, and you looked on your paper and you said, here's what I see in you. Disciple devotion, reverence, generosity, and a prayer habit. Wouldn't you think you would be succeeding as a disciple maker? In fact, when you see all four of those things, don't you recognize as those are the characteristics of a growing Christian?

And yet, my friends, here's a man who's not a Christian yet, and he's got all four of them, and it's inarguable. The Bible says he had it.

And then we read in verse four, the angel says this to him, Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. In my baptist evangelistic background, which I love. And I'm so grateful that I had a, I would be taught that, hey, look, if you're going to live an evangelistic lifestyle, you need to see people as either they have the light of Jesus or they still have the darkness, and they're either one or the other, and we want them to have the light. And then, look, the only prayer a sinner can pray and God hears. I was taught this is the salvation prayer.

God won't hear anything else until they get saved. Then I read this in my Bible and go, what have you guys been teaching me? Because it appears that God's not afraid to intrude on my theological positions. It's like, hey, remember that thing you always thought when you read the Bible and see that it's different? What are you gonna do with that now, I gotta tell you, since 1992, I was saved in 89.

Started really understanding theology in 1992, grasping it. I became a doctrines of grace boy back in 1992. That means when I get to heaven, I'm seeking out John Calvin, and I'm going to give him a high five. All right, I'm going to go find Martin Luther and go. Thank you, Martin Luther.

Thank you for nailing your 99 theses or 95 or however many they are now on the door at Wittenberg. Thank you for what you did. I'm going to go find John Owen. John Owen, you puritan writer, you. Thank you for writing those books showing me about the sovereignty of God.

I'm a doctrines of grace dude. In fact, I can quote to you all the total depravity verses romans 323. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 310, there is none who seeks God in all of those verses. Yes, none righteous.

There is none who seek after God. See, there's no seekers. I go, well, I read romans 310 and see that there's no one who seeks after God. And then I read romans ten, and then I read acts chapter ten, and I see a guy who's seeking God. What in the world does that mean?

Because I know they can't contradict.

What am I going to do with this? Because this verse, acts, chapter ten, verse four, does in fact teach that God hears some of the prayers and he recognizes some of the acts of kindness that non christians make. What does it mean? Let me tell you what it means. I still think the most important verse in the Bible, perhaps, or at least about salvation, is Jonah two nine, where the Bible says salvation is of the Lord when a sinner gets saved.

It's something God did. Yes.

So how do we account for Cornelius being a non Christian still doing actions like christians do? It means that the Holy Spirit had targeted him before acts chapter ten. And he said, you know what, Cornelius? You don't know this yet, but I'm coming for you. I got you in my cross hairs.

I'm looking down the barrel of my gun, I'm looking through the scope, and I'm moving you over and I'm coming for you. And that hard heart you had that didn't care about the things of God and never thought about going to heaven when you die. I and you know the hard heart that caused you to make fun of christians and think church is a big put on and a big whatever, all of that, that hard heart, I'm getting ready to soften it, and I'm gonna soften it. And I'm gonna soften it. I'm gonna soften it until you begin to pray, you begin to be curious about the real God.

You're even gonna turn loose of some of your material possessions. You're gonna see a change being made in you, and yet you're still outside the kingdom. There's something that you need. This is the principle. If you're a note taker of more light, and the principle of more light just kind of goes like this.

The Bible says that there are no atheists. Did you know this? Now, atheists will argue this, and that's fine, but God knows more than them. He says that his divine nature and his eternal qualities have just been clearly seen from what's been made outside. You can go outside and see the sunset today and know that that chance didn't make that happen.

You know that if there's a design in nature, there must be a designer. You know that Romans 19, psalm 19 says that the heavens declare the glory of God, and you can look at natural revelation and know that someone's out there doing something. There's a higher power that you can. It's enough to condemn you, but that knowledge is not enough to save you. And this is what's happening here.

Cornelius is getting more light. He sees that there's something more. God's given him a little bit of light. And then we read in Luke, chapter eight that Jesus talks about, hey, nobody lights a lamp and puts a shade over it so nobody can see it. You light a lamp so that everybody can enjoy the light.

And then Jesus is going to say this. If I give you a little bit of light and you don't do anything with it, I'll even take the little that I gave you away from you. Here's the principle of more light. Luke 818. Therefore, take heed to how you hear.

For whoever has. And in brackets, you can put the word light. Whoever has some light, to him, more will be given. There's the principle of more light. If I give you a little, more will be given.

But whoever does not have even what he seems to have will be taken from him. My brothers and my sisters, where we are right here in acts, chapter ten. Cornelius has responded in faith, and he's obeyed the light that he's received. It's only been a little bit, but he's been faithful to it. How do we know?

Well, the verses teach us that he fears the one true God. He prays to that one true God regularly, and he acts in love to people in need among the folks around him. So he's doing some good things. Now, you should stop me right here and say, but, pastor, does this mean that Cornelius obedience is a works righteousness that earns his salvation? What's the answer to that question?

It's no, because we have a lot of light, too. We know what the scriptures teach. It looks like it. But if you keep reading in acts, chapter ten, you'll see why. We can just tell by God's response.

God doesn't say, hey, Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have come up as a memorial for me, and now you're a saved person. He doesn't declare Cornelius saved. Instead, he grants Cornelius more light by which he and his household can be converted. You know what he does? Here's the more light that he does.

God commands Cornelius to send for the messenger, a human being who carries the gospel. That messenger who carries the gospel is the additional light. Here's acts ten, five, and six. Now send men to Joppa, a town far away, and send for Simon, whose surname is Peter. We know that's the apostle Peter.

He's lodging with another Simon, a tanner whose house is by the sea. He'll tell you what you must do. So, look, Simon Peter went to his friend Simon's house because he wanted to go to the beach. He's hanging out, and he's not expecting to do any ministry. But God had other plans.

And so the angel of the Lord appears to Cornelius the next day. God's going to send Peter when he's out at the beach, a vision. But here's my question. Why does the angel say to Cornelius, look, what I need you to do is, there's a guy you haven't met, and he lives in another town. Send some of your soldiers to go get him, and he'll tell you what you must do.

Now, I don't know about you guys, but I like efficiency sometimes in my life, and I look at that and I go, couldn't the angel just have told him? Why does the angel not just say, Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have come up as a memorial to God. Here's how to have a relationship with God instead. The angel says, I need a human to tell you this. Send for him.

Why didn't the angel just tell Cornelius right then and there? Well, I wonder, did God have something in mind, not just for Cornelius, and not just for Cornelius's family and his household staff? Because I'm going to give you the punchline at the end. They all become christians and are baptized but did he have something also that. A work that he wanted to do in Peter and the men who traveled with him?

Is that why he sent for him? Now, here's what he does for Peter. I'm going to read verses nine and following through 15. This is the next day the angel appears to Cornelius. The next day, God sends Peter a vision from heaven.

Acts, chapter ten, verses nine. And following, Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the 6th hour. And then he became hungry, and he wanted to eat. But while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and he saw heaven opened. And an object like a great sheet bounded at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth.

And in it were all kinds of four footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, rise, Peter. Kill and eat. But Peter said, not so, lord, for I've never eaten anything common or unclean. And a voice spoke to him again, the second time, what God has cleansed, you must not call common or unclean.

So here's what happened. Peter's out praying at the appropriate time of the day that the Jews would pray a couple times. And it was time. So even though he was hungry, he's like, I'm gonna miss lunch for this. I'm gonna go talk to God.

And he just didn't expect God to talk back to him. And God puts him in a trance, and he lets him see this vision. And what he sees is a sheet coming down from heaven, a white sheet at the four Corners being held up. And when it gets down now, it's like a picnic blanket. And there are all sorts of animals, kosher animals, unkosher animals, things Jews that are devoted to God will eat.

Things Jews that are devoted to God won't even touch. Things that they love, things that make them gag. They're all on the sheet. And God says to Peter, get up, Peter. It's time for a barbecue.

The whole buffet is available to you. Peter looks at what's on the sheet, and he goes, you guys remember Peter? I mean, Peter says things where Jesus goes, you know, when I hear what you're saying, it reminds me of the voice of Satan. So could you get behind me, Satan? Remember this?

Like he tells Jesus, no, all the time. Like Jesus says, I'm going to go to Jerusalem, die for sin on a cross. I'm going to be raised from the dead. And Peter says, no, Lord, no one will ever kill you. Do you remember this?

Peter has this habit of telling Jesus, no. And you should never do this. You should never have a sentence in your life that has a negative word in it, like no. And the word Lord in the same sentence because they cancel each other out. So God tells Peter from heaven, I'm changing for you what you can eat by grace.

And I'm doing so as an illustration because what you think about those unclean animals, you hadn't realized this yet. You also think that about non jewish people. And you don't call unclean what I've cleansed. Now, the verse I didn't read for you says that God sent that vision a total of three times because Peter didn't get it first. But he says, not so, Lord.

Whoever you're saying not to is not your lord. Does that make sense? You don't tell lords, no. So God has a plan to do something in Peter's life. And here we are.

Now, I gave you a list earlier. Let me give you two more. Let's talk about Peter. He is a Christian who is maturing, but he's not all the way mature yet. So what a still maturing believer may possess.

This could be you. You're a Christian, but you're not growing in the Lord all that quickly. But you might have these three things. Peter had. Number one, spiritual discipline.

He prayed every day at the appointed times that the Jews had for prayer. He had a daily quiet time. He had a devotional life. He had it at the same time. He had this habit of meeting with God at the same time every day.

He prayed at appointed times. We know that from the verses. Not only did he have spiritual discipline, number two, he had Bible knowledge. When the Lord said, see all the animals on the sheet? Kill and eat all of them, Peter says, nope, I've read the rule book.

I've read the books of Moses. I know what I can and I know what I can't. I've been taught, for crying out loud, I was in the crowd at the sermon on the mount. I am not lacking in Bible teaching or Bible knowledge. I know I can't eat that.

I know what the verse says. And he also had powerful experiences. Do you guys remember when Jesus walked on water? Peter did it first. This is acts, chapter ten.

Just back in acts, chapter three, Peter heals a man. Walking in signs and wonders, Peter saw the empty tomb. Second, remember that John outran him and told him in his gospel, how would you like to have a friend like this? He's like, I'm gonna write some Bible, and I'm gonna tell her by, you're slower. Than me, right?

Remember that. So they run to the tomb. John gets there first. Peter sees the empty tomb. This guy has seen some things, and he's still not mature in the Lord.

Because spiritual discipline, Bible knowledge and powerful experiences don't necessarily make you ready for the kingdom of God. We're still growing by grace. He lived the ministry of Jesus. So that's what a maturing believer had. But here's what a still maturing believer might be missing.

See, Peter is missing two things in this story. Number one, he was missing love outside the group. If you weren't jewish, he wasn't interested in you having the good news.

If you've been living under a rock, in three weeks, we're going to have a big election here. Is that true? Is it okay to talk about politics from the front? I'm just going to talk to you about Jesus from the front. So look, our church building is a polling place.

And the last election we had that Trump was a part of, the lines were out the doors, down the sidewalk to the end of the parking lot. Everybody's coming that day.

Can I just say to you that we can't make another camp politically our enemies and refuse them the gospel because they don't vote like us. Amen.

Fill in the blank on the most well known verse of the Bible. For God so loved the world. God is a worldwide lover of souls. We can't make false religions into our enemies. They're our mission field.

Does that make sense? So we got to get rid of the camps when it comes to the gospel. This was so important. God gave Peter three visions from heaven because this stronghold is hard to shake. Peter didn't love gentiles and didn't think they were worthy of Jesus.

And God said, peter, you're the one who's wrong here. So look, we can't be ours. And these, when it comes to our church's ministry, it's saved and lost. It's sheep and goats. The only thing that keeps folks from being like us is the gospel.

We have to get that to them. Does that make sense? Is that fair? We can't be Peter and say, I'll be glad to tell good news to people that are like me. It's got to be the other way around.

He lacked love outside the group, so much so that he said, not so for I've not eaten anything common or unclean. And God says, you think I'm talking about animals? I'm talking about people. So he didn't possess love outside the group. And you know what else?

He didn't possess an understanding of the reach of God's grace race. Peter, did you know that I haven't put any restrictions on who I love and who I can save. Now, everybody needs to believe. Everybody must repent. You don't get to keep your sins and come into the kingdom of God.

But there is no one who's disqualified themselves because of how they vote, because of the color of their skin, because of the socioeconomic condition they're in, because of what school they go to, none of that. Because of their. Because of their own perversion. None of that says, well, I guess Jesus can't save them. No, he's a mighty savior, and he can do it.

Understanding the reach of God's grace, what God has cleansed, you must not call unclean. Well, let me read verses 19, 2022 and 24 to make the story move on. While Peter thought about the vision, the spirit said to him, behold, three men are seeking you. Arise, therefore go down and go with them, doubting nothing. You should circle that in your bible, for I have sent them.

The Holy Spirit says, and here's what those men said to Peter. Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God, who has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear words from you. Peter was not expecting on his beach vacation to hear anything like that. And the following day, they left. They entered Caesarea.

Cornelius was waiting for them. Check this out. And had called together all his relatives and close friends. Every mission trip that I've been on in either Mexico or Brazil, I've gone into villages prepared by church planters and missionaries, and we'd go door to door. We'd go up to homes, and the man of the house would have sitting around his circular walls elbow to elbow.

No room left. Everybody in his family, everybody, that is, his close friends, and anybody who was interested. And they would be waiting for us to enter their home and share the gospel with a translator, either in Spanish or Portuguese. I have seen this before. God's still doing it.

So Cornelius relays to Peter what the angel says to him, and then he signals to Peter, we're all here, and we're putting a lot of trust in you, because whatever you tell us, we're gonna do it. You have a signed blank check with us. Now, listen. On the narrow road, there's a ditch on either side, and the narrow road leads to life. And it's the one Jesus has set out for us.

And one ditch on one side is the ditch of being too inclusive. Too exclusive. And the ditch on the other side is the ditch of being too inclusive. And God is saying to Peter, don't fall in either one of these ditches. The Lord made it clear to Peter from the vision and from the need for him to appear personally at the centurion's house to avoid either of these ditches.

The one ditch is. The one ditch says, no one's fit for the kingdom of God unless you're a jew. Peter's over in this ditch right now and God's pulling him out of it. But the centurion and everybody in the roman empire, they're sitting in the other ditch because they're a polytheistic culture that says, look, all roads lead to God, all religions are valid. If you just, if you're just sincere, you go to heaven.

That's too inclusive. Only jews can go to heaven. It's too exclusive. In the middle is the truth. Here's the heart of Peter's address.

Verses 38 through 40 and 42 and 43. 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, 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. Him God raised up on the third day and showed him openly. And in verses 42 following he who was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead, to him all the prophets witness that through his name, whoever believes in him will receive the remission of sins.

I submit to you that that's a fantastic summary of the gospel pieces that everybody needs to know and hear. Let me summarize them for you in list form. Here's what Peter says about Jesus. He says, jesus is set apart by God to do good, to heal and deliver. Then he says of Jesus, his crucifixion and his resurrection are attested by eyewitnesses.

This is no myth. Then he says that same Jesus is judge of the living and the dead. So you must make a decision about him. And then finally he says, and this is what the Old Testament scriptures have been pointing to for thousands of years. He's testified to by the prophets that he's the one who saves.

That's a great sermon. Can we agree with that? And he doesn't even get to the invitation part. Look what happens in verse 44. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word, can we agree that's a divine work, that God did that, that it's all of God?

And Peter didn't even finish his speech. He doesn't get to give an altar call because God, who's the knower of all the hearts in the room, has chosen to cleanse their hearts by faith. In that moment, mid sentence, Peter looks at that and he goes, holy cow. Verses 47 and 48. Can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized who receive the Holy Spirit just as we have?

And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. And then they asked him to stay for a few days. Peter asked, in essence, anybody bold enough to stand in the way of God's work here, because it seems he's just saved some sinners. And now they believed and they must be baptized. By the way, Peter doesn't say, don't you want to be baptized?

Oh, you want to wait for the photo op when all your family can be here? No, no, he doesn't even. There's no option here. He commands them to follow their new lord and obey this first step and be baptized. That's a word for somebody here today, I'm sure.

All right. Finally today we get Peter this point. He hears about Jesus. The spirit of God falls on him and his family. He's baptized.

Peter stays a few days, I'm sure, teaching him the Bible. You know what we learn? We learn what a good neighbor who's outside the kingdom is missing. I told you all four things that he was like at the beginning of the sermon. At the end, we know even though he had all those things, he was still missing three.

He was missing the gospel. Nobody had told him how God anointed Jesus, who went about doing good and healing, whom they killed by hanging on a tree, and that God raised up the third day. He didn't know that you can't be a Christian without knowing it. He also didn't have the Holy Spirit. Peter was still speaking, and the Holy Spirit fell on all of them.

And he also didn't have saving faith. He gets saving faith when the spirit falls on him after he's heard the preaching of the gospel. And we know that because Peter was willing to baptize. Can anyone forbid water? That they should not be baptized who receive the Holy Spirit just as we have?

I'm speaking to good people today, like my friend in the first service. You're so decent. You're such a good neighbor. You even have characteristics in your life that the christians around you share. But you didn't have a grasp on what the gospel was.

You don't have the Holy Spirit, and you haven't had a saving faith moment. And the spirit of God is saying to you, today is your day. In the next few moments, it's time for you to believe. It's time for you, like Cornelius and his household, to stop trusting in all the good decency that others see in you and trust in the work that Jesus did for sinners. So here's how we apply this to our lives.

Two ways you can come for prayer for one or both of these. I wonder if this is you. I wonder if this is your confession. Well, pastor, truly, I've been trusting in my own decency instead of Jesus and his sacrifice to make peace with God for me. And now I know I shouldn't do that.

Or you might be Peter. I can identify with Peter's longstanding prejudice, and I need God to change my heart about others. One or both of those may be you. And I want to just invite you at the end of our service to come and apply this message to your life by getting prayer for those two things. I think that's good enough for today.

Let's bow for prayer. Father, our prayer, as always, is that you give us ears to hear, a heart to receive, that you not allow the enemy to steal. The seed that was planted today in the hearts of these friends of mine at the preaching of your word, Holy Spirit, do what you do in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Trevor.

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