January 19, 2022
Author: Pastor Bernard Ibrahim
January 19, 2022
“At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what
was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all
his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed
continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a
vision an angel of God come in and say to him ”Cornelius.” And he
stared at him in terror and said “What is it, Lord?” And he said to
him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.
And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He
is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” When
the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants
and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having
related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.”
Acts 10:1-8
We are told a few things about Cornelius in these very first two
verses. You will notice about him - his name, the city that he is working
in - Caesarea just North of Judea (modern day Syria). He’s a centurion, a
soldier, a leader over a group, and part of a specific cohort of
centurions. But, notice we’ve learned a little about his internal
person. We see he’s a devout man, committed, sincere, and feared God
with all his household. He feared the God of the bible. He’s not a Jew,
but he fears God. He gave alms generously, does good works, and prayed
continually to God. The prayer is clear from our bible, that this is a
prayer from an unbelieving man. We often think about prayer
specifically around believers praying to God through our Mediator and
Advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ. But here we have a very clear case of a
man - not even a Jew - fears God, is devout, does good works, and prays
continually.
Tonight I would like for us to focus on the prayer of the unbeliever
and what we as believers should be praying for them. You will notice
that in the rest of the chapter is the beautiful story of how Cornelius
and his household are brought to salvation and how Peter’s ideas and
thinking about who is worthy of salvation gets changed. You see it
there in verse 42. This is Peter relaying the story of Jesus and recent
history to him saying you have heard obviously of this, Cornelius. You
couldn’t be living in this time or area without having heard something
about Jesus. Peter is relaying the gospel in verse 42. “And he
commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one
appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.”
Now, look at
this gospel summary in verse 43. “To him all the prophets bear witness
that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through
his name.” Peter is obviously not preaching to Cornelius a works
salvation or a righteousness by what you do. You’re a devout man, you
give alms, you pray continually. Peter didn’t say "ok you’re going to be
fine". Peter said this is the gospel. This is how you are going to get
forgiveness of your sins. It’s through the name of Christ and you must
believe in him. Those are the exact words.
You will notice that this
is very similar to the situation in John 3:3. Christ our Lord is
speaking to another religious man. In this case he is a Jew and Jesus
says to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he
cannot see the kingdom of God.” Or, Peter talking primarily to a Jewish
devout crowd on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:21, and he’s quoting from
the Old Testament prophet, Joel 2:32: “And it shall come to pass
that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
We
have example after example, including Paul and Silas talking to the
Philippian jailer just a few chapters later in Acts 16:31, “Believe in
the Lord Jesus and you will be saved….” We see that being religious is
not enough, being devout is not enough, doing good works is not enough.
But we can pray, as we often do, even if we have a child, a relative,
or a friend who is religious, devout, does good works, and is a good
person - we know they need Christ. The miracle we pray for is exactly
what we see here in Cornelius’ life. He got word from God that he
needed to do something. He needed to go and have Peter come to his
house and he obeyed. He didn’t know what he was being asked to hear
from Peter till Peter got there and shared the gospel with him.
That’s
what we should pray for. It’s wonderful to see that whether it’s our
children or other family members and we’re not sure they believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their own sins. That’s what
Cornelius lacked and that’s what every “good person, devout person”
lacks. They need Christ and that the Lord would make them ready and
willing to hear the gospel and be ready to believe in it. And we would be
ready to share with them that Jesus Christ is the only way to
salvation.
So brothers and sisters, I hope this is an encouragement for you as
you think about when we pray for our children, our friends, relatives,
spouses, someone in our family who is close and dear to us, is a good
person and does good works. What do they need? Just like Cornelius
they need to hear and believe the gospel.
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