Take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 10.

Opening prayer

Introduction

Last week we wrapped up Acts 9. We learned about a disciple named Tabitha who lived in Joppa and had fallen ill and then died but was brought back to life by the Apostle Peter. God used the miracle to draw many of Tabitha’s townsmen to the Lord Jesus. This morning we will begin to expound on Acts 10. Acts 10 is a very important chapter in the Bible. Before we dive into it I’d like to provide you with an overview that will help to illustrate its importance. I have three examples.

Example #1

Acts 10 records a turning point in redemptive history.

In it we see the activation of the third stage in God’s global evangelistic plan and strategy. You may recall from previous sermons how I briefly touched on the evangelistic stages that are present in the book of Acts. I’m going to draw these out in greater detail now.

Stage 1 - Evangelism of Jews.

Example:

Peter and John preaching in Jerusalem at Pentecost, Solomon’s Portico, and before the Sanhedrin (Acts 2, 3, 4)

Stage 2 - Evangelism of Half-Jews.

Examples:

Stephen preaching in Hellenistic synagogues in Jerusalem and before the Sanhedrin (Acts 6, 7).Philip preaching in Samaria, Azotus, Caesarea, and all the cities in between (Acts 8).Paul preaching in Damascus and the Hellenistic synagogues of Jerusalem (Acts 9).

The activation of the third stage results in gentiles being saved in an unprecedented way. Prior to Acts 10 the Bible gives examples of gentiles being saved but they are minimal.

Think of people like Rahab, Naaman, Ruth, Nebuchadnezzar (maybe), the Centurion of Luke 7, and the Ethiopian Eunuch.

But from Acts 10 and beyond, God begins to save gentiles in droves through the ministries of Peter, (Saul) Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Epaphras, Timothy and Titus. Let’s talk about stage three.

Stage 3 - Evangelism of gentiles.

Examples:

-Peter preaching in Caesarea (Acts 10)

-Saul and Barnabas preaching in Cyprus (Acts 13)

-Saul and Barnabas preaching in Antioch at Pisidia Pee-see-dios (Acts 13)

-Saul and Barnabas preaching in Iconium (Acts 14)

-Paul, Timothy and Silas preaching in Philippi (Acts 16)

-Paul and Silas preaching in Thessalonica, Berea and Athens (Acts 17)

It’s important for us to note that when God activated an evangelistic stage, He didn’t cancel the previous stage or stages. In other words God was evangelizing Jews, half-Jews, and gentiles at the same time. So stages 2 and 3 represent a broadening of God’s evangelistic plan rather than isolated periods where God targeted a single group. This is illustrated through Paul’s missionary journeys. When he went into a new city he checked to see if there were Jewish or Hellenistic synagogues present. If there were he visited them first.

These are just three examples of how Acts 10 records a turning point in redemptive history. There are probably more examples than this.

Example #2

Acts 10 illustrates the initialization of the New Covenant for gentiles.

What is the New Covenant? The New Covenant is basically a promise given by God to the nation of Israel and to the gentile nations of the world. It includes things like the forgiveness of sin; relationship/fellowship with God; new hearts made of flesh that have God’s law written upon them, and everlasting life in the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the New Covenant Mediator (Hebrews 12:24). As Mediator, he brought the New Covenant to the world through his incarnation and he bought the New Covenant for the world with his blood. Now the Jews, from a national perspective, have yet to receive the New Covenant through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Today there are fewer than 15,000 Messianic Jews in Israel. The Jewish population alone, however, is 6 million. According to the Scriptures there appears to be a day in the future when the nation will yield to Christ and receive the New Covenant. Now for billions of gentiles throughout the world, the New Covenant has become a reality and present promise rather than a future one.

All who are in Christ, every Christian, every member of Christ’s church, is a receiver and member of the New Covenant. And our chapter, chapter 10, illustrates the initialization of the New Covenant for non-Jewish people. According to scholars, the first gentile person to be converted to Christianity and to become a New Covenant member in the NT was the Ethiopian Eunuch. This would mean that everyone that was saved prior to Acts 8:36 was either a Jew or half-Jew Hellenist. Keep in mind that there were thousands and thousands of people converted through the preaching and miracles of Peter, John, Stephen, and Philip. As well as through the scattered believers who gossiped the gospel. Maybe even through Saul’s preaching in Damascus and Jerusalem.

The church was really big and it was filled with Jews and half-Jews. But then God added a gentile, to his covenant family, the Ethiopian Eunuch. And then in Acts 10 we will see how He initialized the New Covenant for gentiles in an extraordinary way. The days of one here and one there will come to an end. God is about to go covenant wild on the pork-eating population!

Example #3

Acts 10 shows how God began to apply the Abrahamic Promise to all the nations of the world.

In Genesis 22:17-18 God promised to bless the world through the descendants of Abraham because Abraham believed and obeyed God. God was referring to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would later come through the lineage of Abraham and initiate worldwide blessings through his life, death, and resurrection. He was also referring to the members of Christ’s church.

Every believer is a descendent of Abraham. Even gentile believers. We have been grafted in. Redemption and its many blessings are not intended for Jews only but for everyone who repents and believes in Jesus Christ. Revelation 7:9 says that God’s elect is an innumerable amount from every tribe and tongue. In Acts 10 we will see, for the first time in Acts, the gospel proclaimed to and received by large numbers of gentiles and that shows how God began to apply the Abrahamic Promise to all the nations of the world.

This is not to say that God has never before blessed gentile nations. He has. Think of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria (Nineveh), and Persia. Many nations today enjoy the blessings of God and don’t even realize it. God gives rain and sunlight and crops and animals for food and so on. All the nations are blessed by the God whether they recognize it or not. But God’s New Covenant blessings are far beyond His universal or providential blessings.

His universal or providential blessings do not include things like eternal life, citizenship in His kingdom, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, unshakable joy, peace that transcends all understanding, and fellowship with Him and His people. Only His New Covenant blessings include those things. And God promised Abraham that through his descendants, Jesus and the church, he would dispense His New Covenant blessings to people from every nation. And chapter 10 marks the beginning of the distribution of God’s New Covenant blessings to the nations. Why? So that the Abrahamic Promise would be fulfilled. Even today God is fulfilling His promise to Abraham. Every time a sinner repents and believes in Jesus the promise comes closer and closer to being fulfilled. And one day, when the nation of Israel finally turns to Jesus and the full number of the gentiles is in, the Abrahamic promise will be completely fulfilled.

Messianic Jews and gentile Christians will then together enjoy the kingdom of God forever. We will worship and rule with Christ forevermore! Hallelujah! Another thing that is extraordinary about Acts 10 is that the things I’ve mention basically started with two men and two visions from God. Our God is a God who has chosen to begin many large scale endeavors with very little. Examples:

God populated the world through Adam and Eve.God repopulated the world through Noah and his children.God took Abraham and created a nation from him. God took five loaves and two fish, multiplied them, and fed five thousand men. God took five loaves and two fish, multiplied them, and fed four thousand men.God took one church in Jerusalem, scattered it through persecution and planted countless churches throughout the world.God sent one savior and twelve disciples into the world and now there are two billion disciples worldwide.

Why does God like to start small? Because He likes it when people marvel at his ability to multiply and then worship Him for doing so. This principal is a great encouragement to me. I often wrestle with feeling insignificant or maybe ineffective as a minister. Many things contribute to this. But one thing that I’ve learned in my own life is that God has consistently grown the smaller things into larger things.

I’ve Been Multiplied

When I first started in ministry I began as a facilities employee. I used to fix toilets, urinals, and sheetrock. My next ministry job was in the visual arts. After that I became a pastor to Jr. High students. And here I am today, the planting and lead pastor of RHC. The same principal applies to my knowledge of the Scriptures.

When I was first saved I had an extremely limited knowledge of God’s Word. And today I still have an extremely limited knowledge of God’s Word! I know more today than I did eleven years ago, way more. I want you to be encouraged but what I’m saying. You may feel that your service, influence, and knowledge are small and insignificant. You may feel ineffective. But that doesn’t mean that God isn’t at work in your life or working through it. He is. You know we might be one of the smallest churches in Modesto. But I believe God is here and at work preparing us for greater things in this community and beyond. We’ve only just begun. And if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, mountains can be moved. We need to rejoice in who we are in Christ as individuals and as a church. He has us right where he wants us. And he is leading us. He is the Good Shepherd.

So far we’ve made a case for why Acts 10 is such an important chapter in the Bible. We’ve now set the stage for our exposition of it. I’d like to spend the rest of our time working through the first verse. I’m going to read it out loud and then break it down. Read Acts 10:1

Verse

1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.

Commentary

The first thing that Luke does in verses one and two is introduce us to one of the key characters of chapter 10. His name is Cornelius. Luke list six key things about him. Let’s study them together.

1. Cornelius was from Caesarea

Caesarea is a port city located about fifty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem, on the Mediterranean, just south of Mount Carmel. It was built by Herod the Great in 25 BC as a tribute to Caesar Augustus. Today it is part of the Israeli territory and has a population of about 4500 people. Caesarea was where Philip the Deacon settled after he preached the gospel in the towns below Caesarea. He began in the south at Azotus and then worked his way north to Caesarea and then made his home there. He would have been living in Caesarea at the same time that Cornelius was.

2. Cornelius was a centurion of the Italian Cohort.

A Roman legion at full strength consisted of 6,000 men, and was divided into 10 cohorts of 600 men each. A centurion commanded 100 of these men, and each legion therefore had 60 centurions, who were considered the backbone of the Roman army. The Roman historian Polybius described centurions as “Soldiers who stand their ground and keep their post even to the point of death rather than daredevils who initiate attacks in open battle.” Like the other centurions in the NT, Cornelius had reached his rank by proving to be a strong, responsible, reliable man.

The text also says that Cornelius was of the Italian Cohort. This makes him special. The Italian Cohort was based in Caesarea and had been appointed to protect it as well as the Roman procurator who resided there. This city was a special city. It had been built and named after a Roman Caesar. To be chosen to serve there was a tremendous honor and privilege. This was the kind of assignment that enlisted men wanted. Some scholars even suggest that Cornelius may have served as the bodyguard for the procurator.

3. Cornelius was devout and feared God.

Devout means that Cornelius was an uncircumcised Gentile convert to the Jewish faith. This is absolutely extraordinary. When Italians were carried into provinces to live in warfare they ran to and fro like hungry wolves to get some prey. They were brutal and savage. Calvin wrote that they had “no more religion than beasts”. And yet Cornelius was devout and feared God. Let me break down the word “devout”. Devout means that Cornelius was devoted to God, to God’s Word, and to God’s people. What a difficult and awkward position to be in as a Roman centurion. The Romans conquered the Jews. The Romans despised the Jews and their religion. And the Jews despised the Romans and their paganism. And yet, Cornelius was devout.

“Devout and feared God” means that Cornelius believed the Truth and lived it out to the best of his ability. “Devout and feared God” signifies that the grace of God was at work in Cornelius’ life well before the events of Acts 10 took place. By grace God led Cornelius to the truth and to the religion that God was working through. By grace Cornelius understood his need for forgiveness as well as atonement and the sacrificial system. By grace Cornelius understood that he was to live his life in a way that honored and glorified God.

By grace Cornelius believed that God was going to send a Savior into the world. As a devout half-Jew, Cornelius was awaiting the arrival of God’s sent one.

He just didn’t know that God had already sent him! He was about to find out! Another thing that the grace of God led him to do was to be the spiritual head of his family. This leads to the 4th key thing.

4. Cornelius’ household feared God.

Cornelius led his family in the knowledge of God and trained them to fear and obey him. He was the priest of his home. There is an unprecedented amount of men in the church today that have shirked this responsibility. I’ve counseled dozens of wives/mothers over the years that complain about their husband’s lack of leadership and spiritual activity.

-My husband is too busy with work.

-My husband skips church all the time.

-My husband never prays with us.

-My husband never reads his bible.

-My husband never talks about spiritual things.

-My husband doesn’t serve at our church.

-My husband doesn’t want to give any of our treasure.

-My husband doesn’t like fellowship events.

It’s time for men to step up. It’s time for men to lead. It’s time for men to become the priests of their homes. The consequences for not doing so are great. Unspeakable damage is done. God takes these things very seriously.

1 Timothy 5:8

“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

Was Paul referring to physical provision like food, clothing, and shelter, alone, or did he mean spiritual things as well? The end of chapter 4 shows us that Paul included spiritual things. He told Timothy to “keep a close watch over his life and teaching”. Dads are to provide spiritual guidance for their children. They are to train their kids to live lives that are honoring and glorifying to God. If dads do not provide this instruction they have “denied the faith and are worse than an unbeliever.”

Cornelius did these things well and he didn’t have Christ or the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. His household feared God, does yours? The fifth key thing.

5. Cornelius gave alms generously to the people.

Cornelius was a doer of the word, not a mere hearer. Because of his knowledge of the Torah he adopted the ancient Jewish practice of generosity. He gave alms. He gave money to those in need. Some translations place “Jewish” before people. The rendering becomes “gave alms generously to the Jewish people”. This seems to better line up with what Luke intended. It was the Jewish people that Cornelius gave to.

Cornelius had a heart for the Jewish people, the people of God. He considered the Jews his churchmen and he provided for their needs. This reminds me Acts 2:45 where the Christians were providing for one another. Where do you suppose they got the idea for this? From the Jews! Things like hospitality and generosity are commanded in the Torah or OT and the Jewish people practiced them regularly.

We could even go as far as to say that Cornelius backed his faith with good works. Faith and good works is a biblical principle, not a mere NT concept. God has always required that good works follow faith. Faith is what produces good works. The two go in tandem. Faith apart from works is dead faith (James 2:17). And works apart from faith are filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). These are biblical principles. And Cornelius lived them out. Lastly:

6. Cornelius prayed continually to God.

Cornelius was a prayerful person. As a half-Jew he no doubt prayed three times a day as other Jews did. Morning, afternoon, and evening were the designated prayer times. The term “continually” implies that Cornelius prayed all the time rather than at the designated times. I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to “Pray without ceasing” in 1 Thess 5:17. What did Cornelius pray for? The most common prayer for Jews was for deliverance. They were always praying for God to send their Savior to rescue them from the Romans. Did Cornelius pray for the same things? That would be awkward. “Lord, deliver me and your people from me and my people.” I doubt it. The Jews had a couple prayer liturgies back then, the Shema, and the Tefilah. He could have been praying those things. It’s hard to tell. I did a little research but couldn’t come up with much.

Closing

I wonder if you picked up on this. In the previous chapter Luke told us about a follower of Jesus named Tabitha. He told us about her amazing faith and how she was active in giving her time, talent, and treasure. Did you notice how Luke did the same thing with Cornelius?

Luke actually recorded more details about Cornelius’ faith than he did Tabitha’s. And Cornelius wasn’t a Christian! That’s interesting to me. Why would he give us two very similar examples through two very different people and religions, back to back? Here is the point.

1. Our faith is to be like Tabitha’s faith. It is to be accompanied by godly behavior and good works.

Tabitha loved God and others and gave generously to those in need. She made an impact on her community for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. Our faith is to be like Cornelius’ faith. It is to be accompanied by godly behavior and good works.

Cornelius was devout, God fearing, the priest of his home, generous, and a man of prayer. Cornelius was godlier and more generous than most Christian’s are today and he didn’t even have Christ. So what we have are two examples of faith that was marked by godly behavior and generosity. The example of a Tabitha, the Christian, and the example of Cornelius, the religious Jew. Both examples are meant to get our attention. Both examples are meant to convict us if we aren’t honoring God through our lifestyle and giving or to affirm us if we are. The question is, are you like Tabitha and Cornelius? Are you exhibiting godly behavior and doing good works? Another thing, it is true that religion can lead us to engage in these things. But religion cannot save a person. If it could then the story of Cornelius would not be recorded in Acts 10. In spite of Cornelius’ godly behavior and good works, he needed a Savior, he needed Jesus. Tabitha on the other-hand had Jesus. And her godly behavior and good works were inspired and motivated by her knowledge of what Jesus Christ had done for her, by the gospel.

Luke 12:48

To whom much has been given, of him much will be required.

If you have Jesus, you have been given the greatest treasure in the universe. Infinite riches. And much is required of you. You are required to give yourself wholeheartedly to Christ and to his cause. You are required to put your flesh to death daily. You are required to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to the Lord daily. You are required to exhibit godly behavior and to do good works daily. You are required to be a doer of God’s Word not a mere hearer.