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Transcript 265C — Was Cornelius Saved to Begin With? [Acts 10:2]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Good evening, Brother Camping. I'd like for you to explain Acts 10:2. Could you please explain to me if Cornelius was a sinner? And I'd like to take the answer over the radio.
HC: Now let me see if I have your question. You're talking about Acts 10. And you're speaking of Cornelius. And you're wondering, was he a Christian, or was he a sinner? All right. I'll be glad to speak to that.
Yes. In Acts 10 we have a very interesting man in view. And the question is raised: What was his relationship to Christ, as we begin to look at him? Now let me read a couple of verses, Acts 10:1: "At Caesarea [that was up in Judea, a little northwest of Jerusalem] there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort [in other words he was a Roman centurion, a Roman soldier, under the command of Caesar], a devout man, who feared God with all his household, gave alms liberally to the people, and prayed constantly to God."
My, my, that's a pretty high commendation, isn't it? It certainly sounds like this man is a believer, that he has placed his trust in God. But when we continue through Acts 10, we find that he was not saved. We find that he had not become born again. And it was only when Peter came, to bring the Gospel to him, that he actually became a child of God, because you see, in Romans 8:9 it says that we are none of His unless we have the Holy Spirit.
Now Cornelius did not receive the Holy Spirit, we read in verse 44, until Peter began to preach the Gospel to him. Now you see, in the world there are many people that God is determined to save. They are called the elect. They have been predestinated before the foundations of the earth to be saved.
But the exact moment of their salvation is God's business. And God frequently may begin to deal with that person either shortly before or long before salvation actually is accomplished.
We have another example in the case of Paul. He, on the road to Damascus, was struck down. And he cried out, when he was struck down, "Who art Thou, Lord?" And the answer came back, "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutes." And so effectively he had begun to call Christ Lord.
Then for three days and three nights, in his blinded condition, he was in Damascus praying. And we would have to say, "My, he must be saved." He's already called Christ Lord. He is praying for three days and three nights. But when Ananias, the preacher from Damascus, came to see him, Ananias spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and said to Paul, "Arise, be baptized and wash away your sins," thereby indicating that Paul had not yet become saved, even though he was praying for three days and three nights.
But you see, God was dealing with him. And God was preparing him for that moment when he would become born from above, when he would become a child of God.
Now here, for a long time, is Cornelius and his family. And God is preparing him for salvation. Cornelius begins to find that he has a real interest in the God of Israel. And he is becoming a more and more devout man. And he's beginning to give of his substance, to the cause of the God of Israel. And he's beginning to pray to God constantly. Now does God hear these prayers? Absolutely God hears these prayers. Those who seek will surely find. Those who call upon Him will not be cast out. For those who knock the door will be opened. And for Cornelius, too, God did not disappoint him. In due time there appears Peter to him, with the true Gospel. And then Cornelius also becomes a child of God.
You may have seen this in your own life. Maybe weeks or months or even years before you actually became saved, so that you really could say, with all of your heart, "I know that Christ is my Savior and Lord. I know all of my sins have been forgiven, and I want to serve Him with my whole life," before you came to this total assurance, which is the assurance based upon the fact that you indeed have become born again, you have been interested in the Word. You have asked a thousand questions of your Bible teacher. You have begun to search the Word. You have been intrigued by so many things you heard of the Gospel, but you weren't sure. You didn't really know. You hadn't really come to that final place.
And so this is the way God draws us. As Jesus put it in John 6:44, "No man cometh unto Me except the Father draw him." The Father was drawing Cornelius. The Father was drawing the apostle Paul, before he was saved. And He draws each one of us in one way or another, until finally comes that glorious moment of being born again.