The Spirit Came To the Gentiles

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2016 · 21 August 2016

The church was born in Jerusalem, and it was comprised mostly of Jews at the beginning. But, within this was a faction of people called the Circumcision Party; and they had come to the conclusion that the only way into Christianity was through Judaism. They made circumcision the standard to keep the undesirables out.

Well, Jesus was there to smash dividers, and this was one that had to go; and so in Acts 10, the Lord adds to the church Gentiles. These are the pagans who were despised by the Jews and who in turn also despised the Jews as well. Now, this is going to be difficult, but our Lord had already designed to build one body. As Ephesians 3 says, "The mystery of the church was that Jews and Gentiles are fellow heirs and one in Christ.”

This ultra-conservative group had no basis for it, because in the Old Testament it was clearly outlined that God didn't have favorites. Peter says in verse 34, "I perceive this. I'm learning this, that God is no respecter of persons." Jesus Himself said to them in His parting words in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations."

In Galatians 3:26-28, Paul says, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God's promise was that in Abraham's seed, all the families of the earth should be blessed.

Salvation was not just for the Jews only, but it was in order that they preach it to everyone else.

Now Cornelius is an important Gentile, because he ruled over a hundred men in the army of Rome. He doesn't yet know how to be saved, but he does know that he has found the right God. And so God brings Peter to him, who is preaching to him beginning in verse 34. Cornelius is not alone. He has gathered together a whole household of people, and they are all waiting what Peter has to say.

So this is an important chapter in the Bible, because this presentation launches the Gospel into the world; and we see the salvation of many Gentiles. Now, we have seen the sovereign call of God, and how He prepared Cornelius. Then there had to be submissive will to respond with desire to study the Gospel, and all you needed then was the proclamation. And so Peter appears with a simple presentation.

So Peter started by saying that salvation is available to everyone who believes. Secondly, salvation is in Christ, and that is what Cornelius needed to hear. Christ is your Savior and verse 42, "He is also your Judge." John 5 says that Jesus Christ was given this position of Judge by the Father. So he presents Christ as the only way of salvation.

Then he concludes with an invitation in verse 43, “whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” And what is fantastic is that it doesn't tell us what happened next. It just says in verse 44, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.” Well, how many people were saved?

Well, believe me, Peter had results. Peter never preached without results. They either came and believed Christ, or they got mad. For example, in Acts 2 Peter’s sermon caused 3,000 people to be saved, because the Spirit of God had prepared their hearts. The next time Peter preached, he preached to the Sanhedrin. What happened? They got furious, because there was no work of the Spirit. Why? Because they had already willfully rejected the message again and again.

Sovereign call and submissive will must be present for salvation to occur. Now God doesn't give His Holy Spirit to unbelievers. So having the Holy Spirit fall on them verifies their salvation. And from a human standpoint, that is the only way we can verify anybody's salvation, right? By their fruits you shall know them. Three things led up to their salvation: sovereign call, submissive will and a proclamation. And three things follow that: spiritual power, confession and fellowship.

Let's start with spiritual power. Wow, what a thrill to preach the Gospel and have everybody in the crowd get saved. Peter’s message was suddenly interrupted while he was speaking. Look at Acts 11:15, when he reports to the people in Jerusalem, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning.” What does that mean?" The minute Peter said, "Salvation is available in Christ," and when he said, "It is by faith," bang, they believed.

Immediately when somebody believes, God grants that somebody His Holy Spirit. There are some Pentecostal friends who teach us that you get the Holy Spirit later on. Du Plessis, a writer for the Pentecostal viewpoint, says that Cornelius was already saved, and this is the time that he received the Holy Spirit. The problem is, in Acts 11:14, Peter was telling the people in Jerusalem what God said to Cornelius, “Peter will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.” So they were not saved yet.

This is the time for Cornelius’ salvation, and at the moment he believed, God interrupted Peter. In effect, God said, "All right, Peter, they have received the message. I’m going to give them the Spirit, because they believe." It is wrong to say that somebody can be saved and not have the Holy Spirit. Here, they believed and God interrupted Peter's sermon and gave them the Holy Spirit. This was the Pentecost of the Gentiles.

Now that becomes the norm for every believer from this point on. When a man believes, God gives him the Holy Spirit. The first thing that happens when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, instantly God gives you the Spirit of God who dwells within you from then on, and His presence is as eternal as your salvation. That is absolutely clear in Scripture, and let me begin with Ezekiel 36 to show you how clear it really is.

Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Now, that is salvation. The man needs a new heart, because the old one is according to Jeremiah 17:9, “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” Notice, salvation and the Spirit are connected at the same time. Verse 27, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

If you didn't have the Holy Spirit, you couldn't obey God. You must have the Spirit in you in order to have the power to do anything spiritually. Remember what Zechariah 4:6 said, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” John 14:17 says, “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

Now, look at John 7:37 where Jesus says, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” Salvation could come at that day to those people if they would turn to Jesus Christ. Remember the water that He gave the woman at the well? He said in John 4:14, "If you believe in Me, I will give you water, and you will never thirst again." But Jesus explains further in verse 38-39, “He who believes in Me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.”

Here is a twofold promise. No. 1, you are going to receive the Holy Spirit. No. 2, it is going to flow out of you like rivers of living water. This means spiritual refreshment from Me, and a flowing of the water of life that comes out of Me to you and the world. That's the promise; but in verse 39 Jesus says, "You can now believe, and you will gush like a river of water; but that can't happen until the Spirit comes in.” The principle is this: all who believe will receive the Spirit.

So Jesus says, "Do nothing till the Holy Spirit gets here." And that's what they did. And then in Acts 2, the water started to gush; and it flows all through the Book of Acts. Those believers, they filled Jerusalem in a matter of weeks till the Sanhedrin said in Acts 5:28, "Oh, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine." Those believers were all filled with the Spirit and in right away, the Word of God was gushing rapidly from their hearts.

Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me.” So if a Christian did not receive the Holy Spirit when he was saved, he would not have the capacity to communicate his faith. That is contrary to everything we know about the commission that God has given to us. Some say, “Maybe you can do it on your own strength.” Well, the Gospel record shows us that before the cross of Christ, before His resurrection and His ascension and before He sent the Spirit, the disciples couldn't do anything.

The power behind the rushing of living water is the power of the Spirit of God. In John 16:7 Jesus says, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” And Jesus went, and He sent the Holy Spirit. There aren't any qualifications at all except believing. And in the life of a man, at the very moment he believes, wherever that man is in the world, the Spirit of God is dispensed to that man's heart. If it is not so, then we have no power to witness nor any power to obey.

Romans 8:9 says, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Some have said to me, "Well, I am saved, but I don't have the Spirit.” Well either, "You don't know you have the Spirit," or "You are not saved." If you are saved, you have the Spirit. If you don't have the Spirit, you are not saved. 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, “I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”

If a person says, "Well, I'm saved, but I don't have the Spirit," you wouldn't even know your identity, your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's part of salvation. In 2 Corinthians 6:16, Paul says, “For you are the temple of the living God.” As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jude 1:18-19 says, “There would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.”

If we don't have the Holy Spirit, we are totally incapacitated. Here are the reasons: No. 1, the Spirit is given to you for power for witness. The second reason you need the Spirit is for prayer. Romans 8:26-27 says, “The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us[b] with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

I need the Holy Spirit in my life, because He's praying for me. He is my advocate on earth, as Christ is my advocate in Heaven. Third reason you need the Spirit is for security. If you do not have the Spirit, you don't have any security. Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

What does the seal mean? When Jesus was buried, remember what they did to His tomb? Pilate sealed it, which was saying, “Rome secures this grave.” Only a higher authority than Rome could open it; and He did. The seal meant security, it cannot be broken. Now when you were saved, God said, "Secure" and He gave you a seal. Who is it? The Holy Spirit. The only one who could ever violate that security would be a higher power than God, and none exists.

The fourth reason is that the Holy Spirit has been given to me as a seal for authenticity. In 1 Kings 21, Ahab, raja Samaria said, I like Naboth's vineyard, and I want it." Jezebel said, "Honey, whatever you want." So she wrote a letter, and she sealed it with the king's seal. That was an authentic letter. How you can tell an authentic Christian? One that is really saved has the king's seal, which is the Holy Spirit. That is God’s seal of authenticity!

The fifth reason is that the Holy Spirit is your guarantee. In Ephesians 1:13-14 it says, “you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” God promised this in Ephesians 1:11, “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” How do you know you are going to get it? Well, the Holy Spirit is the down payment on the full inheritance of Heaven.

Another thing, you need the Holy Spirit to guide you into truth. John 16:13, “when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

Meanwhile, in Acts 10:44, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.” The Spirit then comes instantly at the point of faith, and the Jews see it. And verse 45 says, “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.” God made sure there were plenty of Jews there to see the Gentiles get it too.

There are two kinds of hearing. You can hear without faith or you can hear with faith. Cornelius and all of his gang heard it with faith, and they believed, and God immediately dispensed to them the Holy Spirit. And the Jews who wanted to prevent the Gentiles from coming in were astonished. Why? Because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. God was destroying their prejudice. How did they know this truly happened?

Well, because it says in verse 46, “For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.” The Jews heard them speak in foreign languages. Nowhere in the New Testament is speaking in tongues ever recorded as occurring in a single individual, as in most modern Pentecostal experiences. In the Book of Acts, on the three occasions where tongues are mentioned, they come to an entire group at once. They are a corporate, church-founding group conversion phenomenon in Acts, and they never occur subsequently in the experience of any one individual.

Verse 47, “Then Peter answered, “Can anyone forbid, that these should not be baptized with water who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” Notice how important baptism is? If you have been saved but not been baptized, you are disobedient. That is your public confession. It symbolizes the death and burial and resurrection of Christ as you are identified with Him. Verse 48, “And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.” You know what Peter did? He let those six Jews baptize all the Gentiles.

Peter goes back and says, “Our group baptized them, these guys were right in on it." He wanted to have some corroboration to his testimony, so he has them do the baptizing. Do you know what the third sign of true salvation is? Sweet fellowship. Have you ever known a baby that didn't want to eat? Here Peter had a whole bunch of new converts. He wasn't going to walk out the door. They asked him to stay a few days. Peter, please feed us spiritually, love us and teach us.

So we see salvation coming to this group of Gentiles. What a glorious chapter. Let me zero in on the one lesson you can see this evening. God is no respecter of persons. The door to heaven is wide open. I hope you don't have any prejudice. I hope you're free to share the Gospel with anybody and any time. And that is what Jesus always said, He is the friend of sinners, and that includes all of us. Let us pray.