Was Cornelius Really Saved? Acts 10 Explained Verse by Verse

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, it's good to have everybody in today. And this is another series of four programs. For those of you on television, I always have to warn you, you're going to see the same faces and the same setup for the next four programs. That's a whole month. But we just are appreciating all these folk that come in from various areas of Oklahoma. And once in a while, we'll even have some from Arkansas. I guess they're not here today. But we couldn't do this without our studio audience. And so again, for those of you out in television, we'd just like to always remind you, we're just an informal Bible study. We're not associated with any group. We have no organization that underwrites us. We are totally dependent on the Lord to lay it upon the hearts to help us in all this. And again, I just have to thank our listening audience for all your support, your letters, and everything that goes into it. Again, we want to remind our listeners who have probably just caught us recently that all the past programs for the last four years that go clear back to Genesis 1-1 are available in videotape. They're also now mostly in print. We got 16 of the tapes now print thanks to Jerry Poole. And Jerry and his wife have just been working, I think, almost day and night to get them all transcribed. And so now 16 of the 18 tapes are available in booklet form. We have the order blanks ready. And if you are interested, give us a call or write to us. And my little wife takes care of all that, and she'll hopefully get them in the mail to you. I think that's all I have for sake of announcement this time. And so let's get right back in to where we left off in our last program, and that was as we finished chapter 9, one of the turning points in the book of Acts. And I always like to remind everyone as we teach the book of Acts, this is a transitional book. We're going to start out with just an extension of the Jewish program right after the crucifixion and the resurrection, and Peter and the 11 are still holding sway. They are appealing to the nation of Israel to repent of the worst sin that they'd ever committed, and that was killing their Messiah. And that's the words that Peter uses. You killed Him. You murdered Him. And God would yet pick up where He left off and send the king, and they could have the kingdom. And then as we came up through those early chapters, remember, we come to the stoning of Stephen, who also had been appealing to the nation of Israel to just realize and believe that the one they had killed was indeed the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God. But what did they do? They stoned Him. And of course at the feet of Saul of Tarsus is where they laid their cloak. And that's our first introduction to the next man that comes on the scene in this transitional book, and that of course is Saul of Tarsus, a Jew, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, who hated the very name of Jesus of Nazareth, not because he was a blasphemer per se, but because of his religious convictions. Saul of Tarsus honestly thought he was doing God's service in trying to stamp out these early Jewish believers that Christ was the Messiah. And so at the height of Saul's rebellion, he's on his way now into Gentile territory, up to Damascus, not to go and bring Gentiles under arrest, but Jews. And he goes to the synagogue, hopefully, to bring back believing Jews to Jerusalem, that they might be either imprisoned or put to death because they were following what Saul thought was an imposter. And as we saw then in our last program, just outside this Gentile city, on Gentile ground, not on Jewish ground as the other twelve were, but on Gentile ground, God in grace reaches down and saves this, I call Him a raging bull for His religion, and saved Him by grace, and immediately informs Him that He's going to send Him to the Gentiles. And that's the first indication we have in the book of Acts, that God is going to bring the Gentiles into the picture. Not that it was something new, the Old Testament was full of it, that Israel was to be a light of the Gentiles, Israel's Messiah was to be the light, but only through Israel. But now since Israel has had these seven years of constantly rejecting Peter and the eleven and their appeal, God, you might say, gives up on the nation of Israel, and sets them aside. And in just a few years after all this takes place, we know that the Roman armies destroyed the temple, destroyed Jerusalem, and the Jewish people went into a dispersion that lasted until in our generation, as they now have come back into the land since the early 1900s, and in 1948 they became a sovereign state, and of course everything that's been taking place now for the last forty-some years, is just getting ready for the fulfillment of the prophetic Word. I always emphasize there is no prophecy directed to the church. All prophecy is directed to the nation of Israel. And so since God is not yet dealing with the nation, we are not seeing prophecy per se being fulfilled. We are merely seeing the stage set. All the props are being put in place, and all the players are getting ready. And the curtain will rise at the signing of that seven-year treaty by the Antichrist and the nation of Israel, and then will begin the seven-year period of tribulation, which is again God dealing prophetically with the nation of Israel. And this is what you have to remember. There is no prophecy per se being fulfilled today. Everything is merely getting ready. The fulfillment of prophecy is yet future. All right, now then in our coming through the Book of Acts transitionally, we just saw Saul converted last program, and how God took him out of Damascus, and I feel took him down to Mount Sinai, the same mountain where He gave Moses the Law. And for three years in a private, solitary seminary training, if you want to call it that, God revealed to Paul, as we now know him, the mysteries. And these mysteries become that whole sphere of grace doctrine. And I've emphasized ever since I started in Genesis that you'll find nothing of the church in the Old Testament. You'll find nothing of the body of Christ in the Gospels. It is strictly a Pauline revelation, and Paul is constantly appealing to us on that behalf that we recognize that it was to him that these revelations of grace doctrine were revealed, and that up until that time it had been kept secret. It was hid in the mind of God. And ever since we were back in Genesis, when one of the names of deity, way back at the time of Abraham, was that He was the eternal, sovereign Creator God, but He was the God that could hide things if He wanted to. And you know, I've used Deuteronomy 29, 29 so often, where through Moses God said that the secret things belonging to the Lord are gone. But to those whom the secret are revealed, then He expects them to believe them. And so you'll see this all the way up through Scripture that God has kept things secret, but when He reveals it, He expects the human race to believe it, whether it be Jew or Gentile. All right, so now then that's enough for I guess a short review. Now we come to chapter 10, and we come back to Peter. Now we're only going to touch on Peter here in chapter 10, and a little bit I think in chapter 11 or 12, and Peter fades off the scene of the book of Acts, never to be heard from again. And it's going to be filled with the Apostle Paul, and of course he's dealing with the Gentiles. Now of course Peter's going to write his little epistles clear at the back of our Bible. But remember they're written just shortly before Peter and Paul are both martyred, and that both will happen just shortly before the Romans destroy the temple in 70 A.D. But for now as we come back to Acts chapter 10, Peter comes into the scene. Saul has been converted now, the head of the Gentile converts, and I showed that I think in one of the previous programs, where Paul maintains that he was the leader of sinners saved by grace. But now we come back to Peter, verse 1, and there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band. Now again, just by way of definition, a centurion was a Roman officer who had command of a hundred troops. And so we know that this is a Gentile now that is suddenly going to be touched by the sovereign grace of God, because remember the apostle of the Gentiles has just been saved, and so it's a logical fulfilling now that Gentiles are going to be coming into the scene more and more. And so now there's a particular reason, and I'm afraid I won't have time in the first 30 minutes to show it clearly, but there is more of a reason for Peter going up to the house of Cornelius than just the salvation of that household, although that was important enough. But see, God's always got the big picture. We see the little one, but the big picture here is that God is going to prepare not just the house of Cornelius, but He's going to prepare Peter for an event that will take place 12 years down the road. Now keep that up here in your computer. Peter is going to be prepared here for something that's going to take place 12 years in the future, but it doesn't bring it out here, and we won't catch it until we get to Acts chapter 15. So now Cornelius is being approached by an angel, and first I want to show you in verse 2 what kind of a man Cornelius was. He was a devout man, a Roman remember, a Roman officer, and one who feared God with all his house. He gave much of his income. He gave alms to the people, prayed to God always, but lost. That might shock people. But he's lost. Religious, even praying to the right God. He's not praying to a Roman God. He's praying to God. But he's lost. Now you say, how do you know that? Well, let's go over to chapter 11. Chapter 11, where Peter has already been up to Caesarea, back down to Jerusalem, and he's sharing all the events with his fellow Jews, who are believers, down to Jerusalem. And in that rehearsing of what took place at Caesarea, look what he says. Verse 12, "...the Spirit," Peter says, "...bade me go," and otherwise I've always said Peter would have never gone up to Caesarea, but God made it so evident he didn't dare say no. But he said, "...the Spirit bade me go with him, nothing doubting, moreover these six brethren," that is, fellow Jewish believers, "...who accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house. He showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, who stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon." Now verse 14. Here is where we get the idea that Cornelius, in spite of his praying, in spite of his believing in God, in spite of his almsgiving, was lost. Here it is. Peter said that the angel had said, "...who shall tell thee," that is Cornelius, "...who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house," what's the verb? Future. They weren't then yet. But the angel says, "...call for Peter, and he will come and tell you the words that you need, so that you can be saved." You see that? So in spite of everything that we see back here in chapter 10 and verse 2, devout, prayed, gave, he was lost. Now what's the lesson? It's the same way today. It's the same way today. Our churches are full of people like Cornelius. They're devout, they're sincere, they pray, they give, but lost. It is. It's a sad story. But it's so true. And we have to realize, in fact I've said on the program, over and over, the hardest person for God to bring to a place of salvation is this kind of a person. They're so good. They're so religious. And they see no need for any salvation. But they need it. And so does Cornelius. Alright, now let's go on. Verse 3. So Cornelius saw in a vision, evidently about the ninth hour day, that's three o'clock in the afternoon. And he saw an angel of God coming in to him and saying unto him, Cornelius? And when he looked on him, he was afraid. And he said, what is it, Lord? Now you see, how many times, even back in the Old Testament, pagan people would refer to the God of Abraham as Lord, but they didn't know him as Lord. It was just a term. And the same way here. Cornelius couldn't call him Lord by virtue of a personal experience or a relationship with him. It was just a term. And so he says, what is it, Lord? And he, the Lord, said unto him, thy prayers and thy alms are come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa. Call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter, and he lodgeth with Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. Well, we're going to take all of this verse by verse, because most of you know this forwards and backwards probably better than I do. But anyway, we come now down in the Narrative to Peter, down there at Joppa. Now, I've already got my timeline on the board. I thought I might be using it, and I may yet, but I always like to put my old makeshift map up here, because I think it just helps see some of these things. Here's the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River, and over here is Jerusalem, and down here on the seashore was Joppa, and up here is Caesarea. Right up the seacoast. Now, you want to remember Israel is small, so this probably isn't more than 60 or 70 miles from Joppa to Caesarea. All right, Peter's down here at Joppa, and Cornelius is up here at Caesarea. Now, verse 8, so when he had declared that his Cornelius had shared all these things unto the men that he's going to send, the servants, he sent them to Joppa. Now we come down to verse 9, and we're going to pick up Peter. And on the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh to the city, that is of Joppa, Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. What time of the day is that? Well, it's noon. And from time immemorial, I think people, if they can have the wherewithal to do so, will usually eat a breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And I've only known a few cases where that wasn't true, and that's some of the pagan tribes that our missionary friends work with. They only eat when they get so hungry they can't go any further, regardless what time of the day it is. But normally, under our Western civilization, people still eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All right, Peter was the same way. It was noon our time, it was lunchtime, and he's hungry. And so he went up to the housetop to pray about the sixth hour, verse 10, and he became very hungry and would have eaten, because it's lunchtime. But, while they, I imagine the women of the house, while they made ready, well made what ready? The food, the lunch, whatever you want to call it. And so while the ladies down in the kitchen were getting things ready, Peter begins to fall into a trance. Now God's going to work here supernaturally, because we're under a supernatural situation. Verse 11, as soon as he falls into this trance, heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth, wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. Now, if you know Leviticus, I think it's chapter 11, God had explicitly defined which types of animals and fowl and fish that Jews could eat, that were clean. But see, this doesn't include just the clean animals, it's everything, the clean and the unclean. All right, read on. Verse 13, there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, now this is the verse that I imagine most people miss the crucial part. And Peter said, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. Why does he say that? He's under the law. Now, I'm going to make a point. We know that I've put a vast chasm between law and grace. Hopefully I'm being known for it. You cannot mix law and grace in the church age. But Peter is still practicing the law. Is he mixing it? No. No, Peter's not mixing anything. He hasn't been told to stop temple worship. Peter hasn't been told that he's no longer under the law. He's under grace. Peter is just simply like the followers of Christ and His earthly ministry. He's a Jew who had believed that Jesus was indeed the Christ. He had no doubt repented of his sin and been baptized. He was the typical Jewish believer, but he's not yet aware of the doctrines of grace. And so he is still much aware of the law. And so he says, Lord, I have never eaten anything common or unclean, and I'm not about to. All right. Second time. The voice said, What God hath cleansed, call that not common. And it was done thrice, or three times, and the vessel was received up again into heaven. Now while Peter, verse 17, while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men who were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood at the gate. You know what our God is? He's a God of intricate timing. The timing was perfect. Just as the men who had made their journey from Caesarea are at the gate of Simon the Tanner asking for Peter, Peter has just come through this vision of the sheep. And it all comes together at the right moment. And verse 19. So while Peter thought on the vision, the Holy Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. Now like I've asked my classes over the years, if it had not been for such a supernatural environment, the trance, the men at the gate, the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking, do you think Peter would have gone to Caesarea? No way. No way. Because as far as Peter was concerned, Gentiles were still dogs. And God could have nothing to do with them. You know, I always have to remind people what we've learned before, come all the way back to Matthew, because Peter was not some pig-headed Jew that should have known better. Peter was a Jew who knew what was expected. He wasn't being way out in left field. He was being absolutely in accord with the program thus far. Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. And this is at the very onset of Christ's earthly ministry. Matthew chapter 10 and verse 5. Verses 2, 3, and 4. He has chosen the twelve up there around Galilee. Like I said at the opening of the program, they were all chosen within the borders of Israel. They're all Jews. And now Jesus gives them their marching orders. And He says in verse 5, go not, and it says He commanded them, go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of Samaritans, enter you not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Plain language? Oh, you bet it's plain. All right, come over to the other account that's so clear and kind of shakes people up. And that's where He deals with the woman of Canaan. I think that's chapter 15. A Gentile lady who also wanted the Lord to do something for her. And so she approaches Jesus during His earthly ministry, of course, in Matthew 15, and I'm going to start at verse 22. Matthew 15, verse 22. And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same borders and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with a demon. But He, Jesus, answered her not a word, and His disciples came and besought Him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after. Now that was the 12. But what are the 12 aware of? What Jesus told them back there in chapter 10? You're to have nothing to do with Gentiles. Go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. They're under God's control. They're not being bigoted Jews. And the whole purpose, as I've stressed now, ever since we started back in Genesis, this is all in fulfillment of that Abrahamic covenant that Israel was to be a nation of people established in their geographical area of land over which God Himself would one day come and be their King. And that was only for a Jew. And then Israel could go out and evangelize the nations, but not until. And so these Jews are correct in their mentality that they were to have nothing to do with Gentiles. All right, now if you'll come back quickly then to Acts chapter 10. We only have a couple minutes left. We have to understand that if it hadn't been for God really putting the pressure and the proof on Peter that this is where He was supposed to go, Peter would have never gone. He would have been more obstinate than Jonah ever thought of being. You know what Jonah thought? How in the world can I go to those Gentiles? They're our enemies. But see, God had something else on His mind. And so here, God tells Peter, you go with these men. All right, so they go all the way up to Caesarea. And let's pick it up at verse 23. And I think we've got just time enough to get as far as I want to go. And then they called Him in and they lodged them. And on the morrow, Peter went away with them and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. Now we're going to pick up a little later in the chapter, in chapter 11, that there were six believing Jews that go with Peter. And that makes a total of how many? Seven. God's perfect number. See, everything fits. So six believing Jews and Peter are going to go with these men from Cornelius up to Caesarea. So verse 24, the morrow after they entered into Caesarea, Cornelius waited for them and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. In other words, his relatives and probably some nearby neighbors. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet and worshiped him. What does that tell you about Cornelius? He's pagan. You don't worship a fellow man, but he did, or tried to. And so Peter took him up and said, Stand up, I myself also am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in and found many that were come together, that is of these Roman citizens, Gentiles. And he, Peter, said unto them, Now watch this, You know, in other words, these Romans, especially if they had duty in Palestine, they understood the Jewish community inside out. And so Peter says to Cornelius, You know how that it is an, what's the next word? Unlawful. Unlawful. What is Peter coming back to? The law. The law, see? He said, You know that it's an unlawful thing for him that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation. But, see? But, Peter says, God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Where did God show him? In the vision of the sheet with all of these clean and unclean animals. And then Peter got the drip. Oh, he's not talking about just eating food, he's talking about the human race. Now you want to remember, the apostle of the Gentiles was saved in chapter 9. And so the gates are now being opened to Gentiles. And when we get into chapter 11, it's going to get wider. And then all of a sudden in chapter 13, Paul and Barnabas go out on their missionary journeys. And what is it? Gentile, for the most part. The Jews are rejecting it, see? So keep these things in mind. Number one, he said, I have never eaten anything common or unclean because he was a law keeper. He was uncomfortable going into the house of Cornelius because it was unlawful for a Jew to go into the house of a Gentile. But, Peter says, God has shown me that I cannot call anybody common or unclean. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick. Amen.