Jesus: The Living Savior (LIVE)

Is God at work in your life even before you’ve said yes to Him? Acts 10 shows us He is. In the story of Cornelius and Peter, we see God preparing both the seeker and the messenger—breaking down barriers, exposing prejudice, and making room for grace.

Cornelius was devout but distant, religious but not yet redeemed. Peter was faithful yet still blinded by old attitudes. And in a powerful moment, the Holy Spirit broke through both sides—pouring out salvation on a Gentile household in what became a turning point for the gospel.

This story reminds us that God is already moving—both in you and through you. The question is, will you let Him?

Chapters

• 0:00 The Gentile Red Sea: Introduction
• 4:43 Cornelius: A Man Who Feared God
• 10:25 Divine Intervention: The Angel's Visit
• 15:29 Peter's Vision and Transformation
• 23:35 When the Holy Spirit Falls
• 32:36 Invitation and Closing Prayer

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:26

Amen, all glory to God tonight. Hallelujah, amen, welcome, welcome those of you who are here and welcome those of you who are listening online. And a blessing to have everybody here, blessing that you're a part of us out there as well, thank you. You continue to share in Australia, thank you for that, and many places here in the United States as well, and so thank you for helping us reach 68 nations around the world. You're not alone out there, and I believe there's a great comfort in knowing that you're not alone, because oftentimes the devil will come in and make it seem. He'll sort of start accusing you and start accusing God and saying, well, you're all alone and you're the only one and these people around you you can't really trust them. So you know all these accusations and lies, but well, jesus came with grace and truth, didn't he? And so the truth takes care of all those lies, amen. And so let us know how we can lift you up in prayer, let us know how we can be a ministry to you, reach out to us. You'll see all sorts of ways to reach out to us on the website. Amen and hallelujah, and continue to like and continue to share. That helps us tremendously to reach more folks, especially through social media. Amen, amen, amen. So let's come to Acts, chapter 10. Today I call this the Gentile Red Sea. You know, it's a really, really, really powerful occasion in the history of the church and it has a lot for us. Today, this is one of those chapters. You can spend six months preaching on all this and never preach the same message twice. You can write all kinds of books, you can do all kinds of historical studies and doctrinal studies and social studies, all sorts of studies on this, but for tonight, I want us to see two things here. Just out of all of that, I want us to see two things that Jesus is alive and he's invested in saving people. Hebrews 12 calls him the author and finisher of our faith. He's the author and finisher of my faith and your faith. And he's the author and finisher of the faith of every single soul who will believe on Jesus Christ. And, my friend, if you're lost, I want you to put your name there. And my friend, if you're lost, I want you to put your name there. He's the author and finisher of the faith that you haven't yet put in him, but he knows your heart and he's invested in reaching you. He doesn't want anybody to perish, but he wants everybody to come to eternal life. He's a living Savior and he's personally involved not only with shedding his blood. That's done, not only with the cross, that's done not only with the empty tomb. That's done. So today, hallelujah and amen, father, son and Holy Spirit all together are involved in reaching people, and we're going to see that through Cornelius, and we're going to see that through Peter as well, and this is an example both to the lost and to the church tonight. So, no matter where you are before the Lord, hallelujah, he's got at least one, if not 10 or 12 things to say to you. Amen, hallelujah.

Speaker 1: 4:09

So let's come on in and look at this Chapter 10, starting in verse 1. I like the way it starts. There's a certain man that means he's an example to you. It's not just about Cornelius, and it's not even just about Cornelius and his whole household, but it's an example to you throughout, you know, throughout all generations, including our own. This is an example. The Lord wants to say a lot through this man and through Peter, and through the way he worked in both men to work out what I call a divine appointment.

Speaker 1: 4:46

And so we start out with Cornelius and he's a centurion of the band called the Italian Band. He's a devout man, one that feared God, with all of his house, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. So we get a lot of detail about Cornelius here. He feared God. That's the central thing. He had a fear of God. That's the central thing. He had a fear of God. Now this man is a Roman, he's a Gentile. He's not a Jew. That's why I call this the Gentile Red Sea. He's not a Jew.

Speaker 1: 5:23

There are a lot of commentators and historians who say there was a group, especially among these high-level Romans. They were the God-fearers. They sort of feared God, but from a distance. They didn't actually go and convert to Judaism, but they had a fear of God, of God and with all of his house, and describes him as devout. He's devout, he's dedicated, he's devoted, he's religiously motivated because he fears God. That's the driving reason right now in verse 1. He feared God. That's all he had. He had a heart that feared God and so he was devoted. He gave alms, he gave money, he helped the poor who were around him. You see later on in the chapter, he had a good report of the Jews. For that reason he helped the poor. He prayed to God always, and yet God was only God.

Speaker 1: 6:41

At this point there was still a distance between Cornelius and God. He was just God. He wasn't his father yet. He wasn't his Abba father. He wasn't his savior, he wasn't the affectionate Lord Not yet. But you see his heart, my friend, because Cornelius did these things and you go back in the Gospels, I believe Scripture bears this out. He did not give alms or pray in the same way that the Pharisees did. He might have gone through some of the same actions I bet his prayers were a bit different but he didn't give alms just to give alms, because it was the thing he was supposed to do. He didn't pray just to be heard of everybody and so that everybody around him could say oh, look how righteous and look how good, look how His heart was different. I say he had a soft heart.

Speaker 1: 7:49

This was a man of war. This was a dedicated man. This was an educated man. This was a wealthy man. This was a man of means in the Roman Empire, a commander of one of the major bands the Italian band was a big deal and he was a centurion. He knew violence, he had done violence and he taught other peopleurion. He knew violence, he had done violence and he taught other people how to do violence.

Speaker 1: 8:21

But, even so, the fear of the Lord, he had it, and that is the beginning of wisdom. See, it's not the ending place of wisdom, but it's the beginning of wisdom. So I need to ask my friend, because the fear of the Lord, not only the awareness that there is a God, but the belief that this God is higher than you are, and the belief that this God is mighty, and the belief that this God is good, and the belief that this God is good, and the belief that this God is holy, and the belief that this God has given you life, and there's a natural human fear. There's a reason why you know everybody in Scripture whenever just an angel shows up and Cornelius is no exception whenever an angel not God himself, but a ministering spirit that God sent, shows up, everybody gets afraid, and we heard it this past Sunday. You know how many times does Jesus have to say fear not, fear not, fear not. There's a natural fear because we're naturally separate from him and he is holy and we're not holy, and Cornelius was no exception, but his heart, though unsaved, though not born again.

Speaker 1: 9:45

At this point God looked at this man's heart and then he gave Cornelius a vision, in verse 3,. He saw in a vision, evidently about the ninth hour of the day it was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, as we reckon time An angel of God coming to him. And this is verifiably an angel of God. Once you look at how God does this, god moves. And then God tells you that yes, this is God, because it is radically different from what you know by experience, by culture, by upbringing, by education. I bet Cornelius wasn't looking for this to happen and coming to him and saying to him, cornelius, and when he looked on him he was afraid. There's that fear. See, notice how the man's rank didn't matter anymore, the man's human authority didn't matter anymore, the man's wealth and education and standing, and political past and political future in the Roman Empire, it didn't matter anymore. What mattered was he had a fear of God.

Speaker 1: 11:22

And now God has sent a ministering spirit walking in form of a man literally into this man's house and the man says, cornelius, humanly nothing matters anymore, hallelujah. He said what is it, lord? And he, the angel, said unto him Wow, thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. God remembered you, god looked at you, god looked at everything you've done in the past and God remembered you. And now, see, god starts to move here.

Speaker 1: 12:15

Now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon whose surname is Peter. He lodgest with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake to Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually. And when he declared all these things to them and my, what a conversation that had to be, amen. When he had declared all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa. Oh bless God. See, god spoke to a centurion in a way that a centurion could understand. He said call these men, give them an order, go find this one man. He's about 30 miles away from you in Joppa. He gave them pretty much the whole address.

Speaker 1: 13:08

But I think there was something else going on here. You know, cornelius feared God and he had a household that also feared God. God knew something about Cornelius. God wanted Cornelius to gather his household together Because God was about to do something amazing. God was about to do something holy. God was about to do something good. God was about to put his glory on display. God was drawing a whole household to Jesus Christ. God was actively working in this man's life and in the life of his household, and he knew something about Cornelius. He knew that Cornelius would want his household to hear this, and so he didn't send Cornelius directly. It would take a few days to make the trip to Joppa and get back.

Speaker 1: 14:06

In that few days time, cornelius we see this later on in the chapter had gathered his entire house together, and so God started in Cornelius and hallelujah. After he did that, god started working in Peter. After he did that, god started working in Peter. You see, god's always going to get you ready for what he wants you to do as a Christian, as a church. He's got what he wants you to do and, church, he knows you're born again, he knows you're saved, he knows you're spirit filled. But God is still always going to get you ready for what he wants you to do in the future. And so look at what Peter did. So on the morrow, verse 9,. As the men from Joppa are making the journey and they're drawing closer to the city, they're getting there.

Speaker 1: 15:11

Peter went up on the housetop to pray at about six hours and became very hungry and would have eaten and while they made ready he fell into a trance. And he has this vision, he has this entire vision and it's heavily out of Leviticus. And to fast forward a little bit just for the sake of clarity in the message, peter, god showed Peter that he shouldn't call any man common or unclean, and the vision was repeated three times. And then Peter after that got a direct word from the Holy Ghost when the men showed up. Because you see, peter, peter had to see this, because the way Peter was brought up and the way the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the way they interpreted and taught the law, you could deal with a Gentile in the marketplace. You could deal with a Gentile economically you could deal. But you did not ever go into the house and you sure did not eat with them. There was a limit, there was a wall and Peter as a born-again man, born again, saved. I mean you go back through the book of Acts.

Speaker 1: 16:46

God had used this man mightily already up to this point. Peter was the guy who preached at Pentecost. Peter had raised up Aeneas, peter had raised up Dorcas and the Lord had moved mightily through him just in the city of Joppa, much less all the way around the region. At the same time, that's absolutely true. At the same time, had God not ministered to Peter on this area, peter would have, in the name of God, completely written off what God was doing over this attitude and Peter didn't even think anything of it. It's just the way things were. At this point they had not seen a Gentile get saved. God was working that, but first before he would use Peter in that way. And you see, christians, take heart, god knows your heart. Notice how God got things going with Cornelius, got the men coming, and then God ministered to Peter. God knew Peter would listen. Now, Peter had such a relationship with God because, amen, god showed him this vision and it's flip back a little too far there.

Speaker 1: 18:28

Amen, peter sees heaven open back in verse 11, and a certain vessel is descending to him and it was like a great sheet and it was knit at the four corners and it was being let down to the earth. Wherein were all men are four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts, and creeping things, fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him and this voice is in red. So I believe this voice sounded exactly like Jesus, because it is Rise Peter, kill and eat. And we got Peter being Peter, hallelujah.

Speaker 1: 19:01

He straight up says not so Straight up. That's what I love about Peter. I mean he's just straight. He said no, not so. I've never eaten anything that's common or unclean. And the voice spake to him again the second time. I mean maybe the Lord was smiling up there a little bit Amen. He said what God has cleansed, that call not thou common, don't call it profane, don't call it unclean, don't call it unclean. God cleansed it. And this was done three times. There were three men who came.

Speaker 1: 19:46

This was done three times and Peter didn't quite get it yet he doubted in himself what the vision could mean. You have to understand this was so different on a human level and church. I don't know what the Lord is speaking to you, Church here and church abroad, brothers and sisters abroad. But God, this was not done up to this point and the Lord knew that. The Lord knew that Peter would need to be assured that this was truly of God, because it went not only in the ran direct, contrary to the Pharisees and the Sadducees. This ran direct contrary to the way he had probably always heard the law taught. This ran directly contrary. You get into issues of national identity over this stuff Cultural family. You know how he grew up, what he'd experienced, what he'd seen, and the Lord knew it all. But the Lord knew that he was on the inside of Peter.

Speaker 1: 21:06

Now Peter had the Holy Ghost, but even so, this is how the Lord dealt with him. The Lord didn't slap him around or beat him down or anything. He gave the vision once. He gave the vision twice, he gave the vision again and then, when Peter was still doubting in himself, the men show up, they ask for him and then he gets a direct word from the Holy Ghost and verse 19,. While Peter was, he thought on the vision. The Spirit said to him behold, three men seek thee. You gotta love how detailed God gets. They just showed up, peter, they're out there, they're at the gate, they're seeking you. Arise, therefore, and get thee down and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. And then Peter went down assured, and Peter traveled with them all the way back to Cornelius and Caesarea.

Speaker 1: 22:20

My friends, god's good isn't he? He knows you and he knows he loves you. He knows your attitude and I believe it. You know, my wife testified 12 years of marriage. We've both gone through this with each other. We were saved back then. We were born again back then, but we still had some attitudes that were ungodly. We still had some growing up to do in the Lord. We still had that, and yet we were born again. And so God is going to be God Because he sees the end from the beginning.

Speaker 1: 23:04

I heard Harold Wilmington said about this chapter God works on both sides of the line. God's working in you as a lost person right now. God has been working as a lost person as you're listening to this message lost. I want you to hear that God is working in your life. There's a reason you clicked on this message. There's a reason, and I don't know it yet. That's why I love to hear these things. I don't know what the last 5, 10, 15 years of your life have been like, but I do know that God's got something to say for you now and he's saying it in the context of your entire life, and he's saying I want you saved, I want you born again, I want you alive, I want you out of your sin, I want you with me, I want you to have eternal life.

Speaker 1: 24:00

And so I'm bringing you to this message and using the example of this man who had a basic fear of the Lord, maybe, like you do tonight, maybe you're disciplined, maybe you're religious, maybe you're pious, and maybe you have a fear of the Lord Even though you're involved in a church, even though you might be involved in some ministry, even though you might be involved in doing, you know, good things in the Word of God. There's still a distance. God wants to bridge that gap tonight in church. God wants you to reach these people and God wants any attitude that's ungodly about anything to be dealt with. And this is the way he deals with you. He deals with you as a son, he deals with you as a daughter, he deals with you as a bride, he deals as someone.

Speaker 1: 25:01

You know each other and the relationship isn't in question. You see, I've had that with people in this room. You know they're straight with me and I'm straight right back with them, and sometimes, when iron sharpens iron, you've got to understand the sparks fly. But it always comes back to the relationship. It always comes back to the love, it always comes back to you're in the Lord and I'm in the Lord, and the Lord's doing something in me and probably at the same time he's doing something in you because he wants to take me somewhere, he wants to take you somewhere and he wants to take a church somewhere, he wants to take churches somewhere, hallelujah. And so, before the Lord's going to use you, oftentimes he's got to minister to an attitude, he's got to minister to an ungodly belief, he's got to minister to something that's still kind of holding on there. He's got to minister to something that's still kind of holding on there Because and this is the real gravity of it, and I got to say it again had God not done this in Peter's life, peter would have missed everything that he was doing in Cornelius and Peter would have missed.

Speaker 1: 26:28

And churches need to hear that Peter would have missed because Peter would have held on to the way the law had been taught and the way he inwardly interpreted the law, yet saved, hallelujah. But Peter would have missed the entire first harvest from the Gentiles had he held on to that attitude. Church, I need to. You know, trust the Holy Ghost.

Speaker 1: 27:05

When you preach amen, what's God showing you? You preach Amen. What's God showing you right now? He's showing you a vision for how he wants to use you, and that's true. Don't knock that at all, don't put that aside at all. Hallelujah, this is natural. This is normal. What is he showing you now that you've been holding on to and you've been saying, well, the vision's great and you're going to do that somehow, and wonderful, but, but, but, but, but in Peter's case. But they're Romans, they're on the level of the old Philistines. We deal with them because we have to deal with them, but they're unclean. What is that in you? I say believe God tonight. God was good enough to save you, he's good enough to keep you and he's good enough to grow you up and he's mighty to deliver you and to use you. So hear the Lord tonight, and whatever that may be in your life, so hear the Lord tonight in whatever that may be in your life. And I've got to leave you with the end, sort of the end of the matter. Amen.

Speaker 1: 28:34

Come on down to verse 44. You see, cornelius recites his testimony, hallelujah. Peter recites his testimony, hallelujah. And they walk into his house together and Peter sees all these people gathered and he opens his mouth, hallelujah. He opens his mouth and he starts to preach. And then we come to verse 44. While Peter yet spoke the words, he's right in the middle of his message Hallelujah, the Holy Ghost.

Speaker 1: 29:16

The Holy Ghost fell on all of them which heard the word While Peter was preaching. See, peter just had to go into the house and preach. God did all this. Just get him into the house and preach, because he was God's man here. And it wasn't Peter who did a thing. All he did was obey. All he did was believe God. All he did was follow through. All he did was walk it out. All he did. He didn't have anything planned. He just opened up his mouth and he started preaching. And you see, the Holy Ghost did all the heavy lifting. The Holy Ghost fell on them, and I love the words here.

Speaker 1: 30:00

It starts out the Holy Ghost fell upon them and then it sort of it turns aside a little bit. The account does. And they that were of the circumcision he said Peter didn't go alone they of the circumcision which believe, were astonished. We're standing in a Gentile's house, a whole group of them up there, peter's preaching, and the Holy Ghost is moving on them. On the Gentiles was also poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost, for they heard them. They saw Gentile Pentecost, they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God and then answered Peter, can any man forbid water? That these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost? You see, the Holy Ghost started coming upon them.

Speaker 1: 31:05

The Holy Ghost started on the outside. All these people had a fear of the Lord. They're doing everything out of the fear of the Lord. And the Holy Ghost came on the outside, just like he would do in the Old Testament. He came on the outside first and he came upon and he pressed, sort of like the Holy Ghost pressed, not physically but on the heart, on the soul. The Holy Ghost pressed and every single one of these people, in response to the Holy Ghost, embraced him. The Holy Ghost sort of reached out and pressed and from his side sort of embraced on the outside, and then every single solitary soul in the room reached back and embraced him back. He received them and they were spirit filled At that second. They were born again. Their sins separated from them. No longer would they just do anything out of only the fear of the Lord. Now they would walk. As Jesus said, we ought to walk If you love me. If you love me. If you love me, obey me. If you love me, follow me If you love me. And oh, they received that promise. They were the church at this point. They were grafted in.

Speaker 1: 32:31

At this point, romans I think it's chapter nine, you got to go there to explain this but they were grafted in. They had the same Holy Ghost, they heard the same Jesus, they heard the same gospel. They're under the same blood, they're under the same inheritance. Abraham just became their father. They were grafted in at this point, hallelujah. You see, god was doing the work.

Speaker 1: 32:59

I want you to see that he worked on both sides. He worked on Cornelius and he worked on Peter, and now he brought them together. Now he had brought, he brought the lost people to the church and then he brought the church to the lost people and he got them together. So, my friend, what's the Lord doing in you if our musicians would come forward tonight? Oh, my friend, are you lost and in the fear of the Lord? Oh, hallelujah, you're in good company.

Speaker 1: 33:37

Now, my friends, be saved tonight, because Jesus, he loves you and this is how he loves you he comes into your life and he reaches. He comes into your life and he speaks. He comes into your life and he ministers, because he's already shed his blood for you. He's already dealt with your sin, no matter how great or how small you believe it to be. Jesus has dealt with it all. His blood was shed for you. His death was died for you. His heart is for you and not against you.

Speaker 1: 34:12

If you're listening to this message and the Lord is drawing you, I want you to know that he's for you and not against you. He's for you being born again. He's for you being delivered from your sin. He's for you being saved from the wrath of God that hangs over your head even now. He's for you.

Speaker 1: 34:33

And what does he say? Believe on the one he sent. What does he say by grace, you're saved Through faith. What does he say Without faith, you're saved Through faith. What does he say Without faith, it's impossible to please him. What does he say Put your faith in him. What does he say Call upon the name of Jesus and you shall be saved. What does he say? Hallelujah, I want you to come up to him and talk to him and ask him to be born again right now. Hallelujah, if you're in this room, come forward and be born again and be saved.

Speaker 1: 35:08

Tonight, if you're abroad, listening, listening at your house, listening along with a church somewhere, even listening in your car, I mean pull over right now, stop, don't wait another moment and ask the Lord to save you, because my friend, anyone who asks out of a genuine believing heart Is born again. And I say that because it's not in the words, but it's in the Lord, and he's faithful and he hasn't let anyone go, he hasn't turned anyone away, he sincerely believes on it and church. May the Lord use this to revive you. May the Lord use this to minister to you and sanctify you. May the Lord use this to minister to you and sanctify you. May the Lord use this to grow you up. May the Lord use this to deliver you from a bondage that's you've still been in, but the Lord doesn't want you to be in it anymore. And so he speaks to you now. He speaks to you words of grace and words of truth, hallelujah. So respond to him now. He speaks to you words of grace and words of truth, hallelujah. So respond to him tonight. Amen, and thank you for being here in the room tonight. Thank you for being with us abroad Again, reach out to us Gracebaptistabernacleorg, I believe, is the new website address, hallelujah and so reach out to us there.

Speaker 1: 36:42

Send us a letter, send us an email, send us text messages, give us a phone call. We want to hear from you, we're looking forward to hearing from you, and so feel welcome and feel encouraged to contact us. Amen. We want to know what the Lord's done in your life. We want to meet you in person as well, and so please feel welcome at all of our services Now. Welcome and encourage to come. Amen. And so may the Lord continue to richly bless us tonight, amen.