This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, Sharing the Light.
What would happen if a non-Christian came to you and said, “I’ve heard about Christianity. I’ll gather all of my family and friends if you will come to my house and tell me what it’s all about. Tell me why I should believe in Jesus Christ.”
What would you do?
That is the story in Acts 10. The man was Cornelius. He was a pagan and a Roman centurion. An angel had told him, “Send for Simon Peter.” So he did.
The Lord worked through an angel on Cornelius, and the Lord worked through a vision on Simon Peter. Because there is something that even an angel cannot do, and that is to share Jesus Christ. An angel is created by God; Christians are saved by Jesus. A Christian has a testimony the angel does not have and cannot share.
So Peter came to Cornelius’s house and told him why he should believe in Jesus Christ. Peter used three lines of evidence, three witnesses to the truth of the Gospel—and those same three witnesses are alive and well today.
Peter told Cornelius and his family:
The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached….And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tre. (Acts 10:36-37,39; Emphasis added).
These apostles had united witness. If you assembled a jury to adjudicate any matter, you could not have one more balanced or diverse than these eleven men. And all of them agreed on one thing: Jesus is Lord.
Of what were they eyewitnesses?
Peter began to tell Cornelius…
…how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him (Acts 10:38).
Christ went about doing good, and how did we reward Him? “…Whom they killed by hanging on a tree” (Acts 10:39b). The one who did good was made a curse. (See Galatians 3:13.)
And Peter said, “We saw Him die.”
Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead (Acts 10:40-41).
Five hundred people do not have the same hallucination at the same time. (See 1 Corinthians 15:6.) Do you think that these apostles were liars? Did they witness this way for personal gain? No—they were going to prison. Most of them would be martyred. Some men may live for a lie, but few will die for a lie.
That was the personal witness of Simon Peter, evidence of Jesus Christ. You ought to have a witness like that if you have experienced the Lord Jesus. What you have not seen with the physical eye, you have understood with the eye of faith. A Christian with a glowing testimony is never at the mercy of a pagan with an argument.
But how is Cornelius going to know that this is not just Peter’s own wishful thinking? Peter gives a second line of evidence.
To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins (Acts 10:43).
We do not give only our personal witness, but also the witness of the Holy Scriptures.
The theme of the Old Testament is the Lord Jesus Christ. Fulfilled prophecy is one of the greatest proofs that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And all of the prophets—not some, all—speak unanimously that Jesus is Lord.
There are more than 300 direct Old Testament prophecies that prophesy the first coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The fulfillment of these 300 prophecies in one person is a mathematical impossibility—apart from divine inspiration.
Christ managed where He would be born. (See Micah 5:2.) He arranged that Judas would betray Him for 30 pieces of silver. (See Zechariah 11:12.) Isaiah prophesied Jesus’ Virgin Birth centuries beforehand (see Isaiah 7:14), and His bleeding, bruised, broken body (see Isaiah 53:5). He foretold how Christ would be crucified between thieves and buried in a rich man’s tomb (see Isaiah 53:9-12).
So, Simon Peter says to Cornelius, “Cornelius, here is how Jesus Christ gloriously, magnificently fulfills the Scriptures.”
Remember this that Jesus said…
“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
This is the preacher’s secret. We do not depend upon rhetoric and oratory to convince you. Anything you can be talked into, you can be talked out of.
We are totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit of God to convince people of the Gospel message—just as Simon Peter was.
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word (Acts 10:44).
While Peter was speaking, the Holy Spirit was there saying, “Amen. That is true.” He is the one who really persuades us to believe the good news of Jesus Christ. How does He do that?
The Holy Spirit witnesses to you:
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son (1 John 5:9).
We all know what it is to trust. We trust every day. You are trusting the person who made the chair you sit in. You get in an airplane, you trust the pilot. You go in for surgery, you trust the doctor. You go to a restaurant, you trust the cook. We live by trust—the witness of men.
The witness of God is greater. What is the witness of God? That is the Holy Spirit. While Peter used the Word of God, the Holy Ghost fell on them. That’s wonderful. That’s glorious. “And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him” (Acts 5:32).
As an ambassador for Christ, before you witness to unbelievers, you must say, “Holy Spirit of God, speak through me.”
What happened as a result of Peter visiting Cornelius?
And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God (Acts 10:45-46a).
This was the Gentile Pentecost. There were Jews present, wondering, “Can the Gentiles be a part of the Church of God?”
God says, “Oh yes! I will show you.”
Then Peter answered, “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days (Acts 10:46b-48).
If you believe that Jesus suffered, bled, and died, that He was buried, that He was raised from the dead on the third day, you will want to be baptized in obedience to Him. You will not be ashamed of Him.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matthew 28:18-20).
Acts 1:8, 5:32, 10:34-48; Galatians 3:13; 1 Corinthians 15:6; Micah 5:2; Zechariah 11:12; Isaiah 7:14, 53:5-12; 1 John 5:9
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise (Proverbs 11:30).
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:14-15).
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound… (Isaiah 61:1).
