How To Establish Religious Authority #21

A. Was Cornelius, the Roman centurion, saved before he was baptized for the remission of his sins? Was he saved without being baptized? Many denominations officially teach that Cornelius received the personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit prior to being baptized in Acts 10:44-48. But
Acts 2:38, says that only the repentant, believer receives the Holy Spirit to be God’s gift as a seal of
ownership after he or she is immersed, baptized to have their sins forgiven. Acts 22:6-16, Tells
about the conversion of the apostle Paul. Paul saw and Heard Jesus and realized he had been
sinfully wrong in his belief about Christianity. He asked Jesus what can I do? Jesus said, “go into
Damascus and someone will tell you what to do.”
1. Question? Why did he have to go hear some teach him? Why couldn’t he just be saved now that he had seen, heard and believed in Jesus? If not then, why not today? Because in Acts 2, God had already, set in stone how man was to be accepted into the New Covenant of the Messianic Kingdom.
Once God establishes a Covenant, the terms of that Covenant do not change. One of the terms God
established in the New Covenant is that Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Rom
10:12?17.
a. That’s why Jesus gave the Great Commission in Matt 28:18-20. After Acts 2, without exception,
every conversion followed the same established pattern. The Gospel was taught, it was believed. That belief created faith that led to repentance of sin. Confession of Jesus as the Christ was made and was followed immediately by immersion in water for the forgiveness of sin.
As soon as sin was forgiven God gave that person the Holy Spirit as a seal of salvation. That
established, once and for all, the Biblical pattern for being saved. Only taught, believing,
repentant, immersed for the remission of sin people become children of God and receive the
Holy Spirit.
(A) That’s not than what many denominations are teaching. They say that Cornelius was a
child of God before his baptism. But their argument is invalid for several reasons. Remember in lesson #18? We saw that the purpose of the Gift of Tongues was to teach the Gospel in a foreign language. It was for the purpose of fulfilling the great commission to every ethnic group on earth. What those apostles and prophets taught was inspired by the Holy Spirit and the Spirit also gifted them to teach in any language that was necessary to the understanding of that people.
(1) We will also remember that Cornelius’ reception of the Holy Spirit represented a very unique situation. He was the first Gentile to be offered the gospel. This was a revolutionary step in the unfolding of God’s scheme of redemption. This event informed Peter and the Jews that the Gospel was for people of for all nationalities and not just the Jewish nation.
(a) The fact is, the supernatural work of the Spirit in this case had nothing at all to
do with Cornelius’ personal salvation. This outpouring of the Spirit was to
persuade the Jews that Gentiles (Gentiles were non-Jews) had a right to
enter the kingdom of God, as well as Jews. Note these scriptures: Acts 10:45. Peter explains why he was willing to baptize believing Gentiles into
Christ in these words, Acts 11:17; 15:8-9. Now the question is, “How does
God purify our hearts by faith? By faith and by taking away their sin. But,
how does He do that? By teaching the Gospel and by immersing taught
believers in water to have their sins washed away, Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:38;
22:16; 1 Pet. 3:20-21.

(b) 2nd, the apostle Peter, in his defense of the Gentiles’ acceptance into the church, made it very clear that God made no distinction between them [Gentiles] and us [Jews]” in the matter of salvation Acts 15:9 . What does that mean? What God required of one to be save, He also, required of the other in order to be saved. What ever that process was for the Jews the same identical process applied to Cornelius and all other. When the Jews were saved God required “they repent and be immersed...for the forgiveness of sins.” Cornelius and his household were under the same obligation. Acts 10:48.
(2) 3rd, Acts 11:15, says, the Spirit fell upon Cornelius just as the apostle “began to speak.” That means that before this Gentile even heard the Gospel message so they could faith they were saved by being empowered by the Holy Spirit. No one can be saved by faith before obtaining faith that comes by hearing the word of God, Rom. 10:17. That would mean Cornelius was saved without faith. That is an impossibility.
(a) It is argued that Cornelius was saved because he prayed the “Sinner’s Prayer.” Question? Does God grant pardon from sin to the “alien sinner” by means of prayer? Many, today, argue that Cornelius proves that it does.
(b) This scripture does teach that that God hears the prayers of those who have not been baptized. Acts 11:31, says, “The angel told Cornelius, ‘your prayer has been heard.” And yet the centurion was not baptized until later.
(B) Understand, God is omniscience, He is “all-knowing.” God knows everything there is to know – past, present, and future. That means that God He is aware of the alien sinner’s prayer. But, that in no way implies that God responds to the alien sinner’s prayer, by automatically granting forgiveness of sins, separate from the plan He Himself initiated in eternity, established on the cross and proclaimed in Acts 2:1-42. NOTE: The “Alien Sinner” is the lost person who never surrendered to the conditions of God’s plan of salvation. They are alien because they are outside of the Father-child relationship that is found exclusively in Christ Jesus. Eph. 2:19.
(1) Being a Christian is a Father-Child relationship. Christianity is a spiritual family relationship. You enter into a physical family by the process of physical birth. The same is true of God’s spiritual family. It is a birthing process.
(a) That’s precisely the message of Christ in His teaching to Nicodemas in Jno. 3:3-5. To be born into a family there is the planting of the seed. Paul describes Gospel Preaching as planting the seed of God’s Kingdom, 1 Cor. 4:15. Then there is a conception described as the producing of “faith.” In 1 Jno. 5:1; 1 Pet. 1:23, and, the birth process deliverance out of the water of immersion – Eph. 5:26; Tit. 3:5.
(b) There is not one case of conversion in the Book of Acts where the outside-of-Christ sinner prayed for (and received) pardon from his past sins. You can read them for yourself. Acts 2:38; 41; 8:12-13; 36-39; 9:1-18; 10:48; 16:15; 16:33; 18:8; 19:5; 22:16. Not a single one was saved by praying the sinner’s prayer.
(2) Acts 20:32.

Spur - 07/06/03 am