INTRO.- How good is good? Whom you do consider to be a good man? Billy Graham? Any others? Good men are hard to find. Here’s a story about a good man.
ILL.- Trish was working at the Olds, Alberta Canada hospital. It was a cold winter day, a very cold winter day! When Trish went to leave work that day her car needed its own hospital. The car was dead. Well at least the battery was! Now Trish was in trouble because home was at least a twenty minute drive away to the town of Didsbury and she could not afford a tow truck. She really thought about hitch hiking!
As Trish stood outside a man with a fresh bandage on his hand walked out of the emergency room door of the hospital. He realized she was in trouble and offered to assist. Well the car could not be encouraged to turn over, even with booster cables. The stranger then offered to drive Trish home.
“Oh, no you can’t,” she said, “you don’t understand. I don’t live here. I live in Didsbury.”
The stranger insisted on making the drive to the next town. Trish knew he had just been in the ER and was likely feeling some pain from his injury. She didn’t wish to inconvenience anyone, especially someone who had just been injured. Again the stranger insisted.
Trish accepted the ride home. When they arrived there she had a few dollars (definitely not enough for a tow truck) and she offered them to the man as a small token of her gratitude. She wanted to at least help pay for the gas. The man refused. He wanted nothing but to see her home safely.
Brothers and sisters, what do you think of a man like that? Well, no doubt, you probably think, "That guy is something else! Don’t see many people that good these days." AND YOU DON’T. Not many people who would do what he did.
Now, what do you think God thinks of a man like that? There is no question that God saw the good that he did and also saw the heart from where it came. God doesn’t just look on the outside, like we humans do. We are often caught up in the outward appearance and tend to forget the heart of a person.
ILL.- Take the young singer, Britney Spears, for example. She’s a nice looking young woman but she’s a mess spiritually speaking. Almost every day she’s into something else and that something else isn’t good! She was born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana in a Southern Baptist home but she’s sure gotten away from it. She looks good on the outside but she isn’t good on the inside, or so it appears.
Again, appearances can be deceiving. Good looking doesn’t necessarily mean good hearted. What about the man in our text? What about Cornelius? In the first place, his name wouldn’t inspire most of us. Did you ever know of a Cornelius? What kind of man was he?
The only Cornelius I ever knew was a student at Bible College. He was slender, not much to look at and quiet. BUT HE WAS QUITE INTELLIGENT. He just didn’t have a magnetic personality or that certain charisma, but he was a good man. Likewise, the Cornelius in our text was a good man. But not a Christian man.
PROP.- Let’s take a look at this good man and how he got saved. He was: 1- A God-fearing man 2- A vision-seeing man 3- A Christ-receiving man
I. A GOD-FEARING MAN
1At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.
Cornelius was not a Jew, meaning he was not of the Jewish faith, which could mean he had little teaching about God, if at all.
ILL.- I wasn’t raised in the most Christian home. At least, not compared to what I would consider a strong Christian home. However, my mother made sure that we three children went to Sunday School, Vacation Bible School and church. I didn’t care much for church because mother made me sit near the front with her. In fact, I remember sitting in the second pew at the front and couldn’t wait to get out and go home. Oh brother! And now I thank you, Lord, that I have that background!
Without SS, VBS and church I might never have heard about Jesus and His death on the cross, which is the most important fact of history! The most important person of history!
Being a non-Jew meant Cornelius may never have had any kind of education about God. Also, Cornelius was in the military and being in the military hasn’t always been the best place in the world to learn about God.
I was in Bible College during the Vietnam era but I’ve heard plenty of armed service stories and I know it is not a Christian atmosphere. I know of one guy who was clean cut, didn’t smoke, didn’t drink booze before going into the Army but but that changed! He came out something of a wild man! So I am suggesting that it may have been hard for Cornelius to come to know God. However, the text still says that he was God-fearing. How did he get that way? What made him that way?
Romans 1:18-20 18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
It’s highly possible that God’s creation helped to make Cornelius into a God-fearing person. HAS THE CREATION OF GOD EVER GRABBED YOUR HEART AND MADE YOU FEAR HIM MORE?
ILL.- Do you like bears? Have you ever had an bear encounter? Do you think that would do something for you? Here are some bear facts and black bears are all over our state.
1. eat mostly berries, nuts, grasses, carrion, and insect larvae
2. have color vision and a keen sense of smell
3. are good tree climbers and swimmers
4. very intelligent and curious
5. can run up to 35 miles per hour
6. weigh an average of 125 to 600 pounds
7. are typically shy and easily frightened. Yeah, sure.
ILL.- On Friday, Sept. 21st, we had a copier service man here at the church. He’s 35 years old and an avid hunter. You name it and he hunts it. He told me about encountering a mother black bear near Hardy one time. He’d been deer hunting and was walking back to his 4-wheeler where he was loading his deer stand, gun, etc, but had no gun with him at that time. It was near dusk and suddenly he looked up and there was a bear, not many feet away from him. He wondered what to do in those few seconds. "Should I run at her, screaming?" He decided he’d better wait out the bear and see what she did.
And fortunately after about 15 seconds that bear decided to head out, into the forest, and right behind her went two little cubs, which he had not previously seen, AND THAT COULD HAVE MADE FOR A BAD SITUATION BECAUSE MOTHER BEARS ARE VERY PROTECTIVE!
Brothers and sisters, having an encounter with God’s creation like that would most certainly put some kind of fear in you! And something needs to put the fear of God into people or make them into God-fearing people! WHAT DO YOU THINK IT WOULD TAKE? Another war? A worse war? Financial tragedy? Reading scripture? Preaching? In the old days, it was preaching.
If you recognized that God was the creator of the universe and everything you had came from Him and that someday you just might meet Him face-to-face, it only makes sense that you would fear Him somewhat. And perhaps it would make you want to pray to Him and do good to the less fortunate.
Cornelius was so God-fearing that he prayed regularly to God and gave money to the needy. SOMEBONE OR SOMETHING TAUGHT HIM WELL. However, he still wasn’t saved from his sins.
II. A VISION-SEEING MAN
3One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!" 4Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea." 7When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
Cornelius had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel. Did you ever have a vision? Did you ever see an angel? Did an angel ever speak to you? It may have happened and you didn’t know it.
ILL.- When my daughter Holly was just an infant, about six months old, my car broke down in the winter and in the middle of blizzard conditions in northwest Missouri. My car JUST HAPPENED to stall right in front of a small Christian Church on hwy 65, seven miles south of Trenton, MO.
And there JUST HAPPENED to be a Highway Patrolman sitting in his car in that parking lot. He helped me pushed that car into a farmer’s driveway and then he took me back to town to get a tow truck. That patrolman said only a few words. "Do you have towing insurance?" I said, "No." Then he took me to a garage. If that officer was not an angel he was most certainly angelic, because he knew the best garage in town where I wouldn’t get ripped off. HE WAS ABOUT THE FIRST AND ONLY HIGHWAY PATROLMAN THAT I EVER CONSIDERED TO BE AN ANGEL! Most are not.
Occasionally, we may have an encounter with someone whom we consider to be a messenger of God but what we may think is a message from God may not be at all.
ILL.- For example, faith healer Oral Roberts said in 1983 that Jesus had appeared to him in person and commissioned him to find a cure for cancer. In 1987, during a fund raising drive, Roberts announced to a television audience that unless he raised $8 million by that March, God would "call him home." Some were fearful that he was referring to suicide given the passionate pleas and tears that accompanied his statement. He raised $9.1 million. Later that year, he announced that God had raised the dead through his ministry.
Brothers and sisters, I don’t question God’s ability to raise the dead or cure cancer. God can do it if he so desires, but He doesn’t always work through people like we might think.
Why did Cornelius have a vision at three in the afternoon? It’s highly possible that he was praying when he had this vision.
Have you? I never have, but I have envisioned doing certain things after prayer. Or I have envisioned seeing greater things happen for the Lord AFTER I’ve been in prayer. And certainly all of us need to catch God’s vision that is laid out in scripture. After reading or hearing God’s Word preached we should see more clearly what He wants us to do and also be motivated to do it.
ILL.- Dr. A.J. Gordon, while preparing his Sunday sermon, was so tired that he fell asleep in his study. He dreamed that it was the next morning in the pulpit and the church was packed. (a good dream) A stranger walked in and a deacon let him have his seat. The stranger was so commanding yet attentive, and Gordon found himself as if speaking to him alone. He decided to meet this stranger after church.
As the congregation filed out one by one, the pastor (in his dream) looked in vain for the stranger until everyone was home. “Do you know him?” he asked the deacon. “Why, yes. He is Jesus Christ.” “Oh, how I wished I could have talked with him!” Gordon lamented. “It is all right, pastor,” assured the deacon, “He’ll be back next Sunday.”
Gordon awoke, realizing that every time he preached, Christ was in the midst and heard every word! This dream revived both the pastor and church. And Gordon preached with a new power.
Perhaps if more of us had a dream like that, that is, we were in the presence of Christ wherever we were (and not just church) then we would live with greater power and victory in life.
III. A CHRIST-RECEIVING MAN
Acts 10:44-48 44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, 47"Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." 48So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
The Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. I wish this were true for us today. However, this was a specific incident that didn’t happen all the time and doesn’t happen today very often, even though some people claims that it happens to them.
ILL.- As you know, many years ago I used to run marathons, that is, 26.2 mile races. And I realize to the normal individual that’s a pretty incredible feat. And it is. I always believed that some people could run that distance but I never dreamed that I could ever run that far. In 1988 my best marathon time was 3 hours and 29 minutes or 8 minutes a mile. I went to Huntsville, AL, in December to run the Rocket City Marathon and try to qualify for the Boston Marathon for the next April. To qualify I needed to run as fast as 3 hours and 10 minutes, which is about 7 minutes and 15 seconds per miles. WELL, I DID IT. In fact, I beat that time. I ran 3 hours and 4 minutes, which was about 7 minutes per mile. And when I went running through that finish I went through yelling, "I DID IT! I DID IT!" with my hands waving overhead.
Somebody asked me just after I crossed the finish line, "What happened to you?" I said, "I just got the Holy Spirit!" Huh? No, they didn’t ask me that and I didn’t say those words.
However, there are times when some kind of spirit seems to take over our thinking and emotions and we may well holler out some words. Haven’t you ever witnessed people at a ball game almost go berserk and start screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs? SOME SPIRIT CERTAINLY OVERTOOK THEM but I wouldn’t say it was the Holy Spirit.
And just as the human spirit can be overcome with emotion and express itself, so can the Holy Spirit when He overtakes a human being. The Holy Spirit came on these who heard and spoke in tongues. We may wonder why the Holy Spirit came on these Gentile unbelievers before they were baptized in water. We know that Acts 2:38 teaches that a person must repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and then they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
So why would the Holy Spirit come on these people BEFORE THEY WERE BAPTIZED? This was a miraculous incident in scripture that God performed in order to teach Peter and the other Jewish believers that God had accepted the Gentiles into the kingdom of God.
God was saying to Peter, "Don’t you get it? I am not a respecter of persons. All people who call on Christ can be saved and accepted into the kingdom."
We do know that Cornelius and probably his whole family were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. THEY WERE BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST. Is that significant? Of course, we are baptized into union with Christ.
Romans 6:4-6 "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin."
Even though Cornelius was a good man he still needed Christ to save him. We believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him. John 14:6. GOODNESS BY ITSELF WON’T GET THE JOB DONE!
Eph. 2:8-10 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
We are not saved by our good works, otherwise we would boast. "Well, look at what I did!" Instead of saying, "Look at what Christ did for me!"
CONCLUSION----------------------------
ILL.- John Newton said, “When I get to heaven I shall see three wonders there. The first wonder will be, to see many people there whom I did not expect to see—the second wonder will be, to miss many people whom I did expect to see; and the third and greatest wonder of all, will be to find myself there.”
It’s by grace, by God’s grace, and not by our goodness, that we are saved. And all people, no matter how good they are, must enter by God’s grace or they won’t enter at all.
