In the last newsletter on conversion we looked at how God prepares the messengers that He sends with the Gospel. The Gospel is not a message of intellectual content alone, though it is that, but it should also come from a heart that has been prepared by God. A heart that has not been prepared by God is a heart that is prepared by self and is really not a heart that knows how to declare the Gospel of the glory of God. A heart that is not prepared may mouth some words that are in line to some degree with Scripture, but it will not have spiritual insight and it will not have the proper intents and motives. In this article we will primarily look at Peter and the message he preached.
“So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.” 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.” 44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. 45 All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46 For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, 47 “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” 48 And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days (Acts 10:33-48).
It is certain that Peter said more than was recorded and that this is but a shorthand version of what he said. Verse 33 lets us know that Cornelius wanted to know what the Lord had commanded Peter to say. This is an interesting insight into preaching and evangelism. No one has the right to say anything other than what the Lord has commanded. But perhaps there is more here than meets the eye. Peter was an apostle and he was specifically sent to Cornelius by God. Paul taught that he was an apostle by the commandment of God. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope” “1 Timothy 1:1). He also spoke of the message or proclamation when he spoke as being according to the commandment of God. “But at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior” (Titus 1:3). Peter also viewed his being an apostle as one who spoke the words of the Lord by commandment. “That you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles” (2 Peter 3:2).
It is not just an idle word that Cornelius spoke in wanting to know what the Lord had commanded Peter to say. Surely this put in there by the Holy Spirit to point to the apostolic authority of this message. Cornelius had, then, not just a message from Peter, but a message from God. Peter came with the apostolic authority and the apostolic message that came from God. As such, when Cornelius asked Peter to speak he didn’t just want to hear something that the Lord had commanded, but he wanted “to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.” He did not set a time limit and did not ask for the content to be gracious and in a user friendly way, he simply wanted to hear the message that God had commanded. The Holy Spirit did not just put these words in Scripture for any reason, but they are there to instruct us. For true evangelism and true Gospel preaching to occur, a person must have arrived to a point where s/he wants to hear all that God has spoken. Until that occurs a person is still in the iron grip of pride and self. It is also true that until a minister or evangelists is willing to preach all that God has commanded, that person is also a slave to the opinion of others which means that the person is a slave to self.
This point should not be underemphasized. For the Gospel to be truly preached the whole counsel of God must be preached and not a short version of a canned message. We must preach the message of Scripture in the context of Scripture if we are going to preach the Gospel of Scripture. We must turn from our man-centered methods that try to get them to pray or make a decision and return to preaching the message that God has given. It is the Gospel that is the power of God to save and it is not our methods that will do so. A watered down message about the Gospel is not the Gospel in truth. Peter started with God and preached God to Cornelius and those with him. It is like Peter tried to be invisible and point to God and the Gospel of God in Christ. He was not there to point to himself and seek the applause of men; he was there to preach what the Lord had commanded him to do. God will have men preach to His glory and not their own honor and glory. God will have men preach Him by preaching Him in Christ. He will have men preach Him by preaching His power and life in Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit.
One reason that professing churches are so weak today is because men have forgotten that God sends preachers who are to preach the message of God. The sovereign Lord of this universe will have men to preach His message. The command of God is not just something that He speaks and then stands back (as Deism) to watch, but the God of Holy Writ is the God who commands and then carries them out. When a man stands in the pulpit by the command of God with the message that God commands, that man has the very power of God carrying out His own commands in and through that person. Peter was not there preaching in his own power, but his preaching was attended by the Holy Spirit who applied it to listening souls. The true Gospel is not one that men can actualize do in their own power, but the true Gospel goes forth in God’s power and is only applied by the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel that God commands is centered upon the one and true God who is the triune God. There is no knowledge of God apart from Jesus Christ and no one can come to God apart from Jesus Christ. There is no one who can know God apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. Notice how God-centered and focused these few verses are. In a quick count, God is mentioned in name or pronoun ten times. Jesus is spoken of in name or pronoun seventeen times. The Holy Spirit is spoken of three times though what the Father and Jesus did were by the power of the Holy Spirit. We have the basic outline of Peter’s message in the Scripture and it is of the triune God and it is thoroughly God-centered and even God-saturated. There is no hint of man-centeredness in this text. It is a message that simply drips with the glory of God and of the biblical Gospel much as Aaron’s head dripped with oil when anointed and it ran down onto his beard and garments. When we make human beings the center of the Gospel, we do not have the anointed message that Peter had. Instead of entertaining people and tickling their ears, we must learn the God-centeredness of the Gospel of the triune God. Instead of trying to make people feel good about themselves, we need to give them the truth of the triune God that they may glory in God.
The only peace that there is with God is a peace through Jesus Christ. But that supposes the biblical message that there is actually enmity between man and God. It is not just that the Law stands against man because he has committed a few sins against God, but man hates God and the wrath of God is on man. James 4:4 shows this enmity: “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” This is uncomfortable language, but until a person sees that s/he is an enemy of God, that person will not see the peace taught in the Gospel. They will just think of having an inner peace. Romans 8:7 is just one of the other verses that teach this: “because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able.” Human beings are not able, that is, they have no ability to be at peace with God. The Gospel declares that the only way of peace with God is through the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what Peter preached and what he wrote about: “Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ” I Pet 5:14).
We must preach a God-centered Gospel, which is preaching what we are commanded while centered on God. Human beings are at enmity with God and are under His wrath. Only the triune God can make peace with human beings through Jesus Christ and the blood of the cross. Only the triune God can blow forth the Holy Spirit who regenerates souls and gives them the life of the Spirit which is spiritual life. Cornelius and many with him were converted by God’s power who sent a man who would preach all that He had commanded. True conversions come when broken men preach the glory of God’s Gospel to those who want to hear all that God has commanded. Revivals come when God prepares His messengers to go out with the Gospel He commanded and preach to hearts that He has prepared to hear all that He commands to be spoken. Let us learn much from Cornelius’s conversion.
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