PT-1 "Salvation Presented" (Acts 10:34-43)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/21/2018 10:05 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: PT-1 Salvation Presented

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 10:34-43

            Message of the verses:  “34 Opening his mouth, Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35  but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. 36 “The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all) - 37 you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. 38  "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 39 “We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. 40  "God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42 “And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. 43 “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.’”

            The sermons that Peter had given in other areas of the book of Acts that we have already looked at earlier in our study of Acts are very different than what he tells to Cornelius and those who were with him.  The ground had been plowed and was ready to be planted and so Peter gives the details of what is necessary to become a believer. 

            When we see the words “Opening his mouth” it is a colloquial Greek expression that makes what follows something very important, and I suppose that there could be nothing more important to follow than understanding the truth of the Gospel.  1/21/2018 10:16 AM  1/21/2018 11:29 AM

            In opening his mouth Peter began by shattering what still remained of the barrier separating the two groups with his fresh insight:  “: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35  but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.’”  God does not show partiality as perhaps the Jews were thinking.  God brought forth the nation of Israel not to hide His truth as found in His Word, but for the people of Israel to tell others of it, something that they failed miserably, and now Peter surely understands this truth about God.  As believers we cannot and must not put God into a box.  Perhaps Peter was thinking back to what Jesus was saying in John 10:16 “"I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.”

            We know that Paul elaborated on this truth “29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one (Rom. 3:29-30).”  11 For there is no partiality with God (Rom. 2:11).”  “9  And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him (Eph. 6:9).” 

            Peter goes on to say “in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.”  John MacArthur writes:  “Some have misunderstood this verse to be teaching universalism, that God accepts all who are sincere on the basis of their works.  That view is obviously inconsistent with biblical teaching and absurd.  If Cornelius and the others were already saved, what was Peter doing there preaching that only through the name of Jesus can souls be saved (v. 43)?  Further, that they were not yet saved is clearly stated in Acts 11:14.  There are some who would deny that there is any pre-salvation work on the part of the sinner, leading to salvation.  This, too, is absurd, since the text clearly states that salvation comes to those who fear God and do what is right.  Is this salvation by works?  Of course not.  Peter is simply expressing the reality that there is a Spirit work in the heart of the sinner (cf. John 16:8-11; Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25).  That work produces a person ‘who fears’ or reverences God ‘and does what is right,’ and who ‘is welcome or acceptable (dektos) to God.  That word means ‘marked by a favorable manifestation of the divine pleasure,’ as used in 2 Corinthians 6:2, ‘At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you; behold, now is ‘the acceptable time’, behold, now is the ‘day of salvation.’’  This text shows that the welcome or acceptable time is the time of salvation.  No matter what the age, race, sex, or social strata, when the heart hungers for God and for righteousness (Matt. 5:6), it is the welcome time for salvation.  Commenting on this verse, Evert Harrison remarks, ‘The meaning is not that such persons are thereby saved (cf. Acts. 11:14) but rather that they are suitable candidates for salvation.  Such preparation betokens a spiritual earnestness that will result in faith as the gospel is heard and received.’”

            Cornelius responded to the work of God in his soul; however we cannot think that he did that on his own, apart from the grace of God.  It was some time later on in my walk with the Lord that I understood this truth, that I know that I wanted the Savior on that January day in Florida in 1974, but at that time did not realize that it was the Spirit of God who drew me to the Savior so that He could save me.  I accepted because I was drawn to the Savior by His Spirit using His Word.  My heart was prepared through the working of the Holy Spirit and Peter introduced his message to Cornelius and his friends assuring them that salvation was available to the prepared heart.  MacArthur adds “Yet it was not enough for them merely to know of its availability; they needed to know how to appropriate the forgiveness of sin and deliverance from judgment.  Peter turns, then to the main theme of the gospel, namely that salvation comes through Jesus Christ to anyone from any nation.”  MacArthur then goes on to quote a portion of a verse from “The Church’s One Foundation,” the church is

Elect from ev’ry nation,

Yet one o’er all the earth.

            We will continue looking at this section in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have written about “divine appointments” and many of my SD’s and there probably is not a better example of this term that what is found in this 10^th chapter of the book of Acts. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will give me many more divine appointments as I go through my life here on planet earth.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Egypt” (Genesis 16:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was the wife of Aquila?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/21/2018 12:07 PM