Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ, and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth, simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message.
Here's Adrian Rogers. I'm glad by men to describe that book. Not even really the Acts of the Holy Ghost, although the Holy Ghost is active all through the book of Acts. But really the book of Acts is what Jesus is continuing to do.
It's the books of the Acts of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only so long ago, but right now in this 20th century. We're talking under this theme, that old-time religion. And not only is it the old-time religion, we've told you it's the new-time religion. Not only is it the new-time religion, we've told you it is the all-time religion. And therefore it is the any-time religion. That is, any time you need the Lord, He is available to you, and therefore it ought to be the every-time religion.
You ought not to turn anywhere else but to that old-time religion, which is the new-time and the now-time religion. Now you say, well, you seem to be so sure about that. Yes, I am sure. I am sure. And I want to talk to you today about how you can be sure. And I'm going to give you today from God's Word three marvelously wonderful witnesses that will attest to you that Jesus Christ is the saving Son of God, and so you can have a no-so salvation where you won't have to say, I think so, I hope so, maybe so.
How you won't have to be a question mark with your head all bent over, but how you can be an exclamation mark standing up straight and tall and saying, yes, praise God, I am sure, I know that I know. Now let me give you the background for our passage of Scripture. Cornelius was a Gentile. Up until this time the Gentiles had not been added to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All of those early believers were Jewish. But now Cornelius is a Roman army officer. He's from Italy.
He's garrisoned there in Palestine. He has a hunger to know God. And supernaturally God has gotten this Roman army officer and the apostle Peter together. Now Cornelius wants to know about the Lord and so Cornelius comes and he comes to Peter and God has arranged the appointment.
It's sort of a blind date and God has arranged it. And so Cornelius is there right in front of Peter and Cornelius has gotten all of his friends and his neighbors, his relatives, and he just as it were just comes and sits down in front of Simon Peter and says, all right, here we are, tell us about it. Just tell us. We want to know about the faith. We want to know how to be saved. We want to know how to be certain.
Tell us. Now that's where we're going to begin to read our Scripture. Acts chapter 10 now and I want you to begin reading with me in verse 38. Peter begins to tell Cornelius, and I'm going to break into the middle of a sentence for brevity, and here's what Peter begins to talk about, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses, underscore that phrase, we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people but unto witnesses, underscore that again, unto witnesses chosen before God even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.
And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. Now I'm going to give you these three witnesses, three indisputable witnesses that tell us that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that by trusting Him we can be saved. Witness number one is what I'm going to call the personal witness of the saints.
Write it down if you're taking notes. The personal witness of the saints. In verse 39 Peter says we are witnesses. Now I want you to imagine a jury, and you're trying to get on that jury, you're impanelling a jury, you want the jury to be impartial, but you want the jury to render a good verdict.
And so you're going to try to get a broad sectioning of a community and you're going to put that broad sectioning in this jury box and you're going to give them the facts and ask them to come to a conclusion. Well that's what our Lord did when He took these apostles. Now remember these apostles had been with our Lord for three and one half years. They lived with Him. They walked with Him. They were companions. They ate together. They fellowshipped together.
And I want you to think about what a group they were. For example, there was John. John was a young man. He was a visionary. He was sort of a philosopher type of fellow. And then there was Simon Peter, just the opposite of John, the big fisherman.
The hard working fisherman smelled of fish and so forth. I imagine he had pretty salty language before he got saved because he slipped into it after he got saved. He knew how to curse and swear. And then on top of that, there was Simon the zealot. Simon zillotes. The word zealot means right winger. Simon was just a little to the right of Jerry Falwell.
Simon the zealot. I mean he was a political activist. He was a Zionist.
He was for Israel and he was there. And then over against him was Matthew the publican. Do you know who Matthew the publican was? Matthew the publican was a tax collector and Matthew had sold out to the Roman government.
Now, Palestine had been occupied by the Roman government. They thought of him as a turncoat. Can you imagine having Simon and Matthew on the same jury and trying to ask them to come to unanimous verdict about anything?
Well, they were there. And then on top of that was Nathaniel. Nathaniel, he was a cynic. Remember, he was a man who said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Just a cynic. And then there was Thomas. He was a doubter.
He said, I'll not believe unless I see the print of the nails in his hand and in his side. And then there was Philip. Now, Philip, he was the figure. Jesus said, how are we going to feed these?
He said, it'll take so much money to feed these 5,000. He had one of these little mental calculators in his mind. He was one of these guys who had everything figured out and pigeonholed. He was a facts and figures type of guy. And then there was James. James was a hard-bitten businessman. He was a no-nonsense guy. You read the book of James, brother, and I'll tell you, you find out what kind of a guy James was. And then there was Andrew. Well, Andrew, he's just Mr. Nice Guy.
I mean, he's a guy running around patting little kids on the head and saying, there's a lad here. He's got five loaves and a few fish and so forth. I want to tell you, folks, you could not have gotten a wider mixture, these than these 11, and they come out with unanimity as witnesses about the Lord Jesus Christ, and they witness primarily to three things. First of all, they witness to His virtuous life. Secondly, they witness to His vicarious death. And thirdly, they witness to His victorious resurrection. I want you to notice what their witness was about. First of all, they witnessed His vicarious life. They witnessed how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, I'm reading verse 39, with the Holy Ghost and with power, watch, who went about doing good.
This is His virtuous life, healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him, and we are witnesses. They saw it. Peter said, don't tell me He didn't turn water into wine. I drank some of it. Don't tell me He didn't walk on water.
I was out there with Him. Don't tell me about it. I mean, don't tell me it's hearsay.
Don't tell me it's fable. Mister, it's fact. Don't tell me He didn't raise that little girl from the dead. I talked with her after God raised from the dead through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Don't tell me these miracles are not real.
I know that they are real, for I was there. Listen, I was an eyewitness of His majesty when He was transfigured. I heard God speak from heaven, saying, this is my beloved Son.
Now, this is what Peter says. We are witnesses. We witnessed His virtuous life.
We were with Him three and one half years, and not one flaw did we find in His character, but we saw the miracle working power of God. Secondly, we were also witnesses of His vicarious death. Notice, if you will, in verse 39, we are witnesses of all things which He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Peter says we were there standing back in the crowd, but we saw them as they drove those nails into His quivering palms. We heard Him as He cried and sobbed in anguish.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We were there when He said, I thirst. We were there when He prayed, Father, forgive them.
We were there when He said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. We were there when He gave up the ghost. We were there when they took Him down. We were there when they put Him in the tomb. We saw Him die. He didn't die for His sins. He died for ours.
He became a curse for us. He took our place. We were eyewitnesses. But not only that, listen, not only His vicarious death, we were eyewitnesses of His resurrection. Look again, if you will, in verse 41 or verse 40. Him God raised up the third day and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses, unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead. Peter says, listen, this is not fable.
It is fact. God raised Him, Cornelius, from the dead. How do I know? I saw Him. Well, how do you know, Peter, it wasn't an hallucination? I'll tell you how I know it wasn't an hallucination. We all saw Him. You don't get 11 men to hallucinate at the same time. But not only that, more than 500 saw Him at one time. Can you imagine a courtroom when you're trying to attest to the historical fact of something and you bring 500 witnesses in who say, we all saw the same thing, we all experienced the same thing? Well, you say maybe you saw something, but maybe it was a ghost.
Peter said it was no ghost. We sat down and ate with Him. You read it right now. We ate with Him. I mean, we actually, we touched Him and handled Him.
We ate with Him. Oh, you say that's all a lie. Somebody just wrote it here. You think it's a lie, dear friend? You better go back and read even secular and profane history and find out how these people died, these early Christians. They died for what they believed. These eyewitnesses died. This St. Peter was crucified upside down. Now you listen to me.
You're a reasonable person. Some people will live for a lie, but no man will willingly die for a lie. These people died for this faith.
I'll tell you why. Because they had learned to laugh at death because they knew that Jesus Christ had come out of that grave. Now, friend, listen, the history of the church, the testimony of the saints of all of the ages is one dramatic proof that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Are you going to tell me that Peter and Paul and James and John were knaves and rascals and thieves and charlatans? These men?
No. They said, We're witnesses, Cornelius. We are telling you what these eyes have seen and what these hearts have experienced. That's witness number one that you might know, the testimony of the saints and not only those saints, but these saints and this saint. Well, I know what I've experienced. I know what I found. By the way, a Christian with a vibrant testimony is never at the mercy of a skeptic with an argument. They said, We know what we have seen.
All right. Now, secondly, secondly, not only was there the witness of the saints, that's what I'm going to call the personal witness of the saints, but also there's the prophetic witness of the scriptures. Look in verse forty three. Verse forty three is one of the key verses in all of the Bible. You ought to be underlined in your Bible to him. Give all the prophets witness.
That's the second witness to him. Give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him should receive the remission of sins. Now, dear friend, this verse gives us the key to the Old Testament. Do you want me to tell you what the Old Testament is about? It's about Jesus. To him give a double L all the prophets witness. And do you know what the Old Testament says? It says Jesus saves.
That's what Peter said. To him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him Jesus should receive remission of sins. Dear friend, the Bible has one hero. His name is Jesus and one message Jesus saves. That's it.
That's it. It's not written primarily to give us the history of Israel. It's not written to tell us about ceremonies and rituals and all of these things. It is written to tell us that Jesus saves. You say that's what the New Testament is written about. No, friend, the New Testament is written about that, but Peter's talking about the Old Testament right here.
He's talking about the prophets. To him, to Jesus, give all the prophets witness. You open your Bible and as soon as you crack your Bible open, Jesus steps out of the pages. Right there in the Garden of Eden when God slew innocent animals and made a covering of skin for Adam and Eve, it pictured the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Cain and Abel had that argument over religion and Abel slew an innocent lamb for an atonement of his sin, that Abel's lamb spoke of the Lord Jesus. In Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 where God spoke of the seed of the woman that would bruise the serpent's head, that spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the book of Genesis where God says to Abraham, I'm going to bless all of the world through your descendants, through your seed.
Not seeds, but seed. Who is the seed of Abraham? The Lord Jesus Christ. In Genesis 22 when Isaac was offered there on Mount Moriah, that's a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for those who have eyes to see it. In Exodus chapter 12, the Passover lamb, that Passover lamb is Jesus Christ. Our Passover is sacrificed for us. In Leviticus, in all of those offerings in the book of Leviticus, all of those offerings were about the Lord Jesus Christ, that scapegoat that was there. They would take a goat, two goats, one goat would be killed.
That pictures Jesus dying for our sins. They'd take another goat and the priest would lay his hands on the head of that goat, confess the sins of the people on the head of that goat, and then somebody would take that goat and lead that goat away out into the wilderness, never to return again, picturing Jesus bearing our sins away. Christ, the sinner's scapegoat. They would take a mourning dove, a turtle dove, with its sad mournful song and kill it. Speaking of Christ, the man of sorrows. They would take a white pigeon and sacrifice that white pigeon.
Speaking of Christ, the Lord Jesus, the pure, gentle, sinless Son of God. They would take, dear friend, fine flour for a meal offering. That fine flour for a meal offering pictures Jesus bruised and beaten and baked by the fires of hell for us, for Jesus walked the burning corridors of hell for us. They anointed that flour with oil, picturing the anointing of the Holy Spirit that was upon the Lord Jesus Christ. They mixed frankincense in which speaks of the intercessory prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ because all of that, all of that was about the Lord Jesus Christ. They said, build a tabernacle. This tabernacle was about the Lord Jesus Christ. The acacia wood of that tabernacle speaks of the humanity of Jesus. It was overlaid with gold which speaks of the deity of Jesus. It had badgerskins on the outside which says that from the outside it was not beautiful.
There's no form nor comeliness nor beauty that we should desire Him. But on the inside there was all of that fine gold and fine twined linen and there was that scarlet and blue and purple there in the veil. The veil spoke of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ as you came into that tabernacle. First of all there was a brazen altar which speaks of Christ our sacrifice because the animals were slain there. And then you come to a laver which speaks of Christ our sanctification. You go in a little further and there's a table with bread on it, the showbread which speaks of Christ our sustenance. Over here's a candlestick which speaks of Christ our sight. Here's an altar of incense which speaks of Christ our supplication. In here is the holy of holies and the mercy seat which speaks of Christ the satisfaction for the sinner's sin where the blood was sprinkled there.
It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ. Every priest in the Old Testament pictures the Lord Jesus Christ our great high priest who intercedes for His people and makes intercession for us. Dear friend, if you read the Bible you'll find in Psalm 2 where the psalmist speaks of the very Son of God and how the kings and the rulers of this world don't want anything to do with the Son of God and how true it is today. Read it in Psalm 2. Read Psalm 22. Psalm 22 my friend reads like a person was standing at the foot of the cross written centuries before Jesus Christ was born. Read that prince of prophets Isaiah who dipped his pen into gold and glory and wrote the 53rd chapter of Isaiah the gospel according to Isaiah.
It's wonderful. Read in the book of Micah where he's to be born in Bethlehem if you will. Read in the book of Zechariah where they pierced his hands and his feet. Read in Zechariah where he's coming again and every eye shall see him. Oh dear friend read in the book of Malachi the last book in the Old Testament where it is prophesied that John the Baptist would come. I am telling you dear friend that all of that Old Testament was about Jesus.
All of it. To Him give all the prophets witness. What a testimony. What a testimony to the unity of the Bible. What a testimony to the inspiration of the Bible.
What a confirmation of our faith is the Bible. No man could write a book like this. How would you like to write a portrait, paint a portrait with 40 different people and none of you had seen who you were painting? And yet you had to paint an exact likeness of Him. That's what these Old Testament prophets did.
Many of them have not even seen what the other had painted. Listen, the Bible written over 1,500 years, 40 different authors, three different languages, people from all walks of life and yet to Him, to Him, to Him, to Jesus give all the prophets witness. And don't get the idea dear friend that there are several plans of salvation in the Bible. Don't get the idea that people in the Old Testament were saved one way and people in the New Testament are saved another way. The message of the prophets is that Jesus saves.
Jesus saves dear friend. When God made coats of skin for Adam and Eve it was saying that Jesus saves. When Abel slew that lamb it was saying that Jesus saves. When Isaac was offered on Mount Moriah the message was Jesus saves. The Passover lamb was that Jesus saves.
Ruth's kinsman redeemer is that Jesus saves. Moses' serpent lifted up in the wilderness is that Jesus saves. All of it, all the way through is that Jesus saves. And Jesus said Abraham saw my day and was glad. And the Bible says the Gospel was preached unto Abraham.
There's never been but one plan of salvation and it's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And people in the Old Testament were saved by looking forward to Jesus. And we are saved by looking backward to what Jesus did. And we're all saved by looking upward to the Lord who lived then and lives now and is the Savior of the world. What a witness, what a testimony is the Bible friend. You can't get around and over the Bible. What a book this is.
What a glorious book it is. And I'm telling you friend, you can be sure, number one, by the personal witness of the saints. Number two, by the prophetic witness of the Scriptures. And number three, by the praise witness of the Spirit.
Now I want to show you something. Look here if you will, continue to read here in God's Word. Verse 44, And while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, and as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnified God.
The word magnify God means to praise God. This is the praise witness of the Spirit. Then answered Peter, Pray man forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we. And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord, and then prayed they him to tarry certain days. Now what happened is this. Peter gives the first witness, the Scripture gives the second witness, and the Holy Spirit gives the third witness.
Now while they were hearing this, now watch what happened. Peter is saying in verse 43, To him give all the prophets witness that through faith in his name whosoever believes in him should receive the remission of sins. That is, you saved Cornelius by believing in Jesus. Salvation is by grace.
You just believe in the Lord Jesus and you'll be saved. And Cornelius right there, his heart is so hungry. I mean he didn't have to talk Cornelius into anything. He wanted to be saved. He just believed.
I mean that's what he'd come to do. He wanted to know and he just believed. And when he believed he received. Immediately he receives the Holy Ghost. And Cornelius receives the Holy Ghost and he begins to speak in tongues. Now tongues are foreign languages that one has never learned. It is a sign gift that God gave in these days. Now why did God give Cornelius the sign gift of tongues?
I'll tell you why. God now is enlarging the church to include the Gentiles. The whole story of Cornelius is that the Gentiles are now being added to the church and both Jew and Gentile are becoming one body. The first time we saw these tongues was in Acts chapter 2 when the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out and they all spoke with tongues.
That was the Jewish Pentecost. And now in Acts 10 we have the Gentile Pentecost. And God now is saying to Peter, Peter you know what you received back here in the book of Acts in chapter 2? Cornelius has got the same thing you have. Now the same God that saved you Peter has now saved Cornelius. And the same sign that I have given to you I am giving now to Cornelius. Now folks listen. Tongues are for a sign to confirm what God is doing.
Now pay close attention, close attention. The important thing was not the speaking of tongues. That was the outward evidence of the internal work of God in the hearts of these people. The amazing wonderful thing was that God was giving the Holy Spirit to live within the hearts of men and these tongues issued in here as an inaugural sign, as an inaugural sign was showing that God had worked in the heart of Cornelius. Now what does all of that mean?
Well it means this folks, listen, listen. When you believe in Jesus, God gives the witness. You know what the Bible says in the epistle of John? If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. And he that believeth on the Son hath the witness in himself.
Isn't that wonderful? You see the same thing is in Romans chapter 8. God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Now you've got the three witnesses, watch. You've got the personal witness of the saints. You have the prophetic witness of the scripture. And you have the praise witness of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God inside of you just says Jesus is Lord, praise him, praise him.
They began to magnify God as they believed. And as they believed, they had that internal testimony. You want me to tell you how I know? I know first of all because somebody witnessed to me just like somebody witnessed to Cornelius and said it's real. I also know because God's Word testifies. And I also now know because I've got the witness in myself. He lives in me folks and I give him praise.
Listen to me. Faith is rooted in evidence. Thank God for the evidence. Faith goes beyond evidence. It has to in order to be faith. But then faith becomes its own best evidence. And I believe because I believe. I know because I know. And God's Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am a child of God. Do you have that internal evidence?
Is the Lord Jesus Christ to you a bright living reality? We're talking about an emotional feeling. It's not an emotional feeling. How does God know something? Does God know something because He feels it emotionally? Is that the way God knows? You say, of course not. Well, does God know something because somebody tells Him?
Of course not. God's not waiting on you to tell Him anything before He knows it. Well, does God know something because He figures it out? He doesn't have to figure it out. He just automatically knows, doesn't He? He knows because He knows.
Now, how do I know that I know God? Because I feel it? No. Because I learn it? No. Because somebody else tells me?
No. God's Spirit just bears witness with my spirit. I just know.
Do you know what I'm talking about? You just know because you know. Because there's that witness of the Spirit in your heart. God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God. There's the witness of the saints, the witness of the Scripture, and the witness of the Spirit.
And a threefold cord is not easily broken. Oh, my dear friend, today I want you to know Jesus Christ. I want you to be saved. I want you to receive Him as your Lord and as your Savior.
I want you to trust Him today. If you would say, Lord Jesus, come into my heart, forgive my sin and save me, I commit my life to you as my Lord and Master. Save me, Lord Jesus.
He'll do it. For the Bible says, for the same Lord over all is rich in all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Jew or Gentile, young or old, rich or poor, white or black. You ask Jesus and He'll save you, friend. He will. Whosoever will may come. Father, I pray there will be many who will say yes to Jesus and like Cornelius will believe and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and have the witness in themselves. In your dear name I pray. Amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with Him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.
