Cornelius: Lost, but Religiously Devout

Is There Eternal Life?

In her grief over the loss of a loved one, a young woman asked me, “Chris, is there eternal life?” I think she didn't want only an answer to the question, but she wanted the answer to be, “Yes, there is eternal life.” All of us know that everyone eventually dies yet deep down we know there is something so wrong about it. Why do we die at all? It just seems so wrong like it isn't supposed to be this way. We seem to know this instinctively. We don't believe children were meant to lose their parents or parents their children. We weren't meant lose anyone. Death isn't a friend and if you are one of many people who refuse to accept death I want to tell you that you are not alone. According to the Bible, death is not a friend, but an enemy. The Bible says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26).

Cornelius: Religious, but Lost (Acts 10)

Cornelius was:

1. A religiously devout man who feared God
2. His family feared God with Him
3. He was generous to those in need
4. He prayed regularly

The Bible says that on one occasion while this religiously devout man prayed an angel appeared to him telling him that God had heard his prayers. The angel instructed him to send for the Apostle Peter because Peter would declare to him a message by which he and his family “would be saved” (Acts 11:14).

Now, what's astonishing about this angelic visit is the fact that despite all his religious activity the angel implies that Cornelius was lost. I mean, the Bible vouches for Cornelius' devotion. We're told he feared God and he had taught his family to do the same; he gave to the needy regularly. He prayed regularly. Yet despite these religious activities, the Bible also speaks of him as lost. Not clueless, but lost. The angel says that Peter would deliver a message and that through the message he would be saved on the condition of course that he welcome it in faith.

You see, like everyone else, Cornelius knew there was a God, he knew God existed and he reasoned that he would do well to fear God. The problem was that Cornelius didn't know God personally. He knew some things about God, but he didn't personally know God. He didn't know God through the only way we can know Him namely through God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Cornelius didn't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior from sin. When the angel told him to send for Peter saying, “[Peter] will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household” (Acts 11:14) the message he was referring to is what the Bible calls “The Good News” or “The Gospel.” What the Bible calls, “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

Sin Separates us from God

Cornelius didn't know that despite all of his devotion and religious activity none of those things could make up for the fact that he, like everyone else, was a sinner and that his sin separated him from God. We are all in the same boat. We're all helpless. The Bible says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We continually sin against Him and cannot “make it up” through religious activity and devotion. The Bible says, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight” (Romans 3:20). This means that no one can or will ever be acquitted or judged acceptable by God on the basis of “good deeds.”

A Message By Which You Will Be Saved

So what exactly did the Apostle Peter tell Cornelius when he arrived? Remember. The angel said that Peter would deliver a message and that through that message Cornelius would be saved.

Peter told Cornelius about “peace through Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:36). Of course the peace he was talking about was NOT inner peace as in inner emotional tranquility. It is true that God grants inner peace in that sense, but that isn't the peace Peter referred to. It's more of a peace between two warring parties. You see, the Bible teaches that sin puts us at odds with God. Sin makes us enemies of God. But God sent His Son Jesus as an ambassador of Heaven, as someone to remove the hostility and create peace between us and God the Father. The Bible says that it was “while we were enemies [that] we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10); “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly...God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6, 8).

The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23); this means that sin's paycheck is death, ultimate separation from God. The Good News is that God sent Jesus to take our place. The Bible says God sent him “that he might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9).

Jesus was:

...pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6).

Peter went on to tell Cornelius that after Jesus had been put to death on the cross, “God raised him on the third day” (Acts 10:40). Peter told Cornelius, “[Jesus] commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead...that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:42-43).

Application

God raised Jesus from the dead for several reasons:

(1) One of those reasons is that the resurrection shows that Jesus' sacrificial death was accepted by God. Jesus' blood will cover the sins of all who will trust in him.

(2) The resurrection also demonstrates he's been given power over death. Jesus is the first of many who will rise from the dead; He said,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:25-29).

Earlier I said, “For the wages of sin is death," but didn't quote the rest of the verse. It says "but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). 

The Good News is that because of what Jesus did on your behalf the free of gift of eternal life is offered to you yet it can only be received by faith. Jesus said, “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).