44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. (Acts 10:1-48)
Who was Cornelius? It says (in verse 1) that he was a centurion and that he was a in what was known as the Italian regiment. A centurion was a man who was in command of 100 soldiers in the Roman army. He would have been a man of some authority. Verse 2 says that he and his family (actually, he and his household—it would have included servants) were God-fearing and devout. He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.
Before I go on, I want to point out something. The ‘those in need’ that Cornelius gave generously to were literally ‘the people’. He gave generously to the people. (That’s what the Greek says and that’s the way most translations render it.) ‘The people’ that Cornelius gave generously to (and probable helped in other ways also) were almost certainly the Jewish people. The New American Standard Bible actually says that Cornelius gave many alms to the Jewish people. Cornelius was a Gentile.
There was also a centurion in Luke (Luke 7:1-10) who wanted Jesus, during his ministry on earth, to heal his servant who was ill and was about to die. He asked some of the Jewish elders to speak to Jesus on his behalf. Here’s what it says in Luke 7:3, 4: “When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, ‘This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.’” This man loved the Jewish people!
It’s not certain that this is the same centurion, Cornelius, that’s in today’s passage because, for one thing, the event in Luke happened in Capernaum which is almost 50 miles from Caesarea where Cornelius was stationed, but it sure sounds like him. He loved the Jewish people. (He might have been reassigned from Capernaum to Caesarea.)
Now let me ask you something: How do you feel about the nation of Israel? Do you love God’s people? I know that Israel is a secular nation, but they are God’s people. (We are God’s people, too of course. But we are God’s people because he brought his word to us and his Son to us through his chosen nation of Israel.) How do Christians feel about the nation of Israel today? Most of the world thinks Israel is evil. But people who love the word of God support and pray for the nation of Israel. You can’t help it if you believe the Bible is the word of God. God says (through the apostle Paul) that there will be a time when all Israel will be saved. (Rom. 11:26, 27)
Besides being a centurion, Cornelius was also devout and God-fearing according to verse 2. And the God who Cornelius feared was not just any God, but the God of creation—the God who made the heavens and the earth and Cornelius and you and me and everyone else—the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Cornelius could have worshipped any of the many Roman gods, but he didn’t. He worshipped the living God, the only true God. All of his household did, too. (Do you see how much influence Cornelius had on those around him? How much influence do we have on those around us? How much influence do we have for good? How much influence do we have for bad?)
And Cornelius prayed. He prayed regularly (the other translations I use say that he prayed continually.) What do you think he prayed about? Praying is making requests of God. What do you think Cornelius asked God for? What do you think he asked on his own behalf? Do you think he asked for health and prosperity? I read that centurions were appointed not because of their valor in battle, but for wisdom and discernment. Do you think he prayed for wisdom to lead the men who were under his command? How do you think he prayed for others? Do you think he prayed for the nation of Israel? Well, it doesn’t say. But what do you think? All those in his household were devout and God-fearing. But you know what? Cornelius was not a Christian. If he had been a Christian, Peter would not have had to have gone to him. But Peter did go to him because he needed to hear the gospel.
Now, look at verse 3. God sent an angel to Cornelius. The angel appeared to Cornelius in a vision. How would you react if an angel appeared to you? Angels can be scary—or not so scary. They can be spectacular—or appear as ordinary men.
Let me ask you a question. How do you react when the UPS man comes to the door with a package that you ordered? OK, now, how would you react if the police came to your door? Are you going to be arrested for something? Has some disaster happened—a family member killed in a traffic accident? Cornelius was afraid. And he knew this angel was from God. He called him ‘Lord’.
But the angel had positive news, not negative. (Angel means messenger, by the way.) The angel had positive news: “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.” The angel told Cornelius to send to Joppa for ‘a man named Simon who is called Peter’ and told him where Peter could be found. Cornelius did what the angel told him to do immediately. He sent two servants and a soldier to Joppa. He told them exactly what was going on, too—everything that had happened.
Now let’s look at verses 9 through 16. I’ll read them. This is about God’s preparing Peter to go to Cornelius’s house with the message of the gospel. It took quite a bit of preparation:
9About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. (Acts 10:9-16)
Verse 9 says that while the men that Cornelius had sent were on their way (it was about a 30-mile trip), Peter was up on the roof of the house where he was staying. He had gone up there to pray. It doesn’t say whether or not he actually got to pray, but assuming he was praying, what do you think he would have been praying about?
Well, Peter was an apostle. What is an apostle? What do apostles do? Apostles are men who are sent on a mission. The English word missionary is, according to what I have read, derived from the Latin word for apostle. Peter was appointed by Jesus to take the message of the gospel to the ends of the earth. And he was sent on a mission.
So, what do you think he might have been praying about? Well, of course it doesn’t say. It does say he became hungry, according to verse 10, so he might have been praying about food, but probably not. (I think he was hungry because God was going to offer him some food.) On the other hand, he might have been asking God where he wanted him to take the gospel next. But it doesn’t say.
It does say however that Peter fell into a trance. (This is not a trance like in Eastern religions or New Age practice, by the way. It was nothing occult. Peter did not put himself into a trance as in transcendental meditation, but this was something God did to prepare him to receive the vision. In any case, Peter was hungry and God showed him in the vision all kinds of unclean animals and told him to kill and eat them.
Now you might think that being hungry Peter would have been tempted. But I don’t think so. Peter had been brought up all of his life to never eat food like that. It would have been completely disgusting to him. He probably would have gagged.
When Peter was told to kill and eat, he protested that he had never eaten anything impure or unclean. The voice commanded him, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Notice that Peter didn’t say he wouldn’t do it. He just said that he had never done anything like that. But still, he didn’t eat. (It says that this happened three times. So I presume that Peter protested each of the three times and each time the voice told him not to call anything that God had made clean impure. It was something that Peter had a hard time learning and accepting, so God made it plain.)
Now let’s look at verses 17 through 23a:
17While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
19While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. 20So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
21Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”
22The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. (Acts 10:17-23a)
Well, Peter had no idea what the vision meant. But while he was thinking about it, the men Cornelius had sent arrived and were asking for Peter. (What a coincidence!) But, you know what? The Holy Spirit still had to tell Peter to go with them. I think he would have just stood there and looked at them if God hadn’t spoken to him. (Do we ever do anything like that? Think about it.) Peter went with the men.
Now let’s go on to the rest of the passage. Look at verses 23b through 26:
The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along. 24The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.” (Acts 10:23b-26)
Why do you suppose Cornelius called all his relatives and friends to hear what Peter had to say? I’ve tried to get people to come for something that I think is great, but they rarely come. I might have not even bothered if I had been in Cornelius’s place.
But this was from God and it was something Cornelius knew would be really great. He might have had an inkling of what it was. (Later Peter said that they all knew about Jesus and the message of the gospel—verse 36.) I think that we (or at least I) just don’t have enough zeal. That’s why it hard to get people to come and hear a message from God.
Do you remember the woman at the well in John chapter 4? She was like the scum of the earth in her town—married and divorced four times and living with a man to whom she was not married. She was miserable. (And I’m sorry to say that it’s so common today that people are no longer despised because of it.) The woman had come to the well to get water in the heat of the day, a time when none of the other women would be there. She was avoiding them. They probably avoided her in town, anyway. Then she met Jesus. After Jesus talked to her, she left her water jar behind and ran back to town and told everyone about Jesus. She got the whole town to come to the well and meet him! It’s the power of God! You know, when you receive something really great from God, you stop thinking about yourself and want everyone around you to receive it, too and then the whole world.
By the way, it also says that Cornelius fell down and worshipped Peter, but Peter made him stand up. (verse 26) You don’t worship the messenger, but the one who sent him.
Now let’s look at verses 27 through 29:
27Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. 29So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?” (Acts 10:27-29)
Verse 27 starts out by saying that Peter went inside Cornelius’s house. This was certainly a first for Peter. He was doing something that was drilled in to his head from childhood that he must never do—go into the house of a Gentile. You remember even at Jesus’s trial that Pilate came out of his palace so that the Jewish leaders wouldn’t have to defile themselves by going in to Pilate’s palace.
I remember when I was a teenager—15. We went on a camping trip in Canada with the YMCA. The area where we went was full of lakes. (The lake we spent most of our time on was Lake Temagami.) We traveled around in canoes and swam and fished for three weeks.
Now it had been drilled into my head from a very young age (and all my friends, too) that we were never to drink water out of a river or a lake or anywhere else but the water faucet. (We would surely have gotten some horrible disease.) But, we were told that the water in Lake Temagami was OK to drink. It was tested every year. The lake was deep and, except for the surface, it didn’t get warm enough for bacteria to grow. Each of the canoes was equipped with a cup on the end of a string to dip water out of the lake to drink. Nevertheless, it really was a strange and scary feeling to dip water out of the lake the first time and drink it. I thought so and everyone else said the same. I think if you multiply that by about a thousand, you will get an idea about how Peter felt. But God had told him to go. When God tells you to go, you go!
Peter asked Cornelius why he had sent for him. (verse 29) (It’s instructive to see how God works. The angel that came to Cornelius could have just told him the message of the gospel. But God used Peter to take the message—and he didn’t even tell Peter what he was supposed to say or do when he got there. He just said, “Go.” Peter went. When Peter asked Cornelius why he had sent for him, Cornelius explained in verses 30, 31 and 32—I’m not going to read them—all that had happened and then said (in verse 33), “Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”
Well, the Lord had not commanded Peter to do anything but go. But earlier he had commanded the following: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20) And that’s just what Peter did! He followed that command.
Now, let’s look at verses 34 through 38:
34Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. 36You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. (Acts 10:34-38)
Peter knew how true it was that God does not show favoritism. He just hadn’t accepted it until now. Do we do the same thing? Do we show favoritism even though we know better? (And we’re not talking about accepting the sin along with the sinner as some do, but about not rejecting people because they are somehow different from us.)
Also, Cornelius and all those who were with him all knew the message of the gospel—that Jesus is Lord of all and that it is through Jesus that we have peace with God. They all knew the message of the gospel. They knew it! We know it, too! And the people in this neighborhood know it, too. Jesus healed all who were under the power of the devil. We were all under the power of the devil at one time, too, but by God’s grace, no more.
Look at verses 39 through 43:
39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, 40but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen— by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:39-43)
It was impossible to kill Jesus. They killed him, but he rose from the dead. He just wouldn’t stay dead. That is true for all who believe in him, too. It’s true for us.
And Jesus is the Judge. Do you know the Judge? Jesus is the Judge who takes the sentence you deserve and puts it on himself. Can you reject an offer like that? You don’t dare! Everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness in his name!
Now let’s look at verses 44 through 48:
44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. (Acts 10:44-48)
God showed his power—the power of the Holy Spirit. They all began praising God and speaking in tongues while Peter was still speaking. The Jewish believers were still astonished that the Gentiles had received the same gift that they had. (Do you know why Peter didn’t go to Caesarea alone? He was the only one that Cornelius had sent for, but some others tagged along. Here’s what I think: Peter needed some other witnesses when he told the rest of the church about it. We’ll see what happened next week in chapter 11.)
Peter and those with him stayed with Cornelius for a few days. Not only did they enter Cornelius’s house, but they also stayed with him several days.
Now I have just a few more comments. Cornelius was a devout and God-fearing man. God commended him for that. So were all those in his household. But that didn’t save Cornelius and it didn’t save the rest of his household. They were all saved by faith in Jesus Christ! That’s what saved them.
And by the way, again, where was the sinner’s prayer? I can tell you they were devout and God-fearing men. God says so. But they also knew that they were sinners. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. God says so. If you think you can make yourself righteous, it’s nothing but pride. You will fail and be condemned with the world. But God can make you righteous. All these people heard the message, knew they were sinners, believed in Jesus and were saved. God makes you righteous through the blood of Jesus.
Now one more thing: Let me quote from Hebrews 11:6. Here’s what it says: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Cornelius believed God existed and was earnestly seeking him. God rewarded him. He showed him the way of salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ!
Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord lift up his face to you. May the Lord be gracious to you and give you peace.
[Prayer]