"There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa."
Today's is the beginning of a series of lessons that demonstrate the difference between simply believing that there is a God who has dominion over all things, and actually doing those things God demands of all mankind before they can achieve eternal life.
We should first pay close attention to why God sent His angel to Cornelius in the first place. It was because Cornelius already believed in God, he also knew that God ultimately had control of his life and all things in it. We can know this because Cornelius often prayed to God.
However, Cornelius was obviously not a saved man because he had not yet been taught eternal salvation, by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.
This quote says, in essence, that Cornelius was good man who prayed to God and who always provided for those in need as God demanded of His own. In simpler words, Cornelius was a truly "good" man who devoutly believed that God existed and was in control of all things.
There are many so-called Christian isms today who contend that after professing faith in Christ, one must continually be a "good" person in order to maintain their supposed salvation. Nothing could be further from the truth. The "goodness" of anyone other than Jesus Christ has NOTHING to do with one's eternal salvation. It's worthy of note that Cornelius was a "good" man, BEFORE he heard to gospel of Christ yet he still required something more. Therefore, the "goodness" of a man or woman, has nothing to do with whether or not they are eternally saved.
This contention will be borne out in upcoming lessons.
Obviously Cornelius had, at some point, and in some way, asked God what he should do to to receive everlasting life because in verse six, after telling Cornelius to send for Peter, the angel said, "he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do."
This statement makes if vividly clear that Cornelius was not yet right in the sight of God and the the purpose for Peter's visit was to tell him what more he needed to do to be saved, "he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do."~
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