Peter's Testimony of the Gentiles

So we're going to pick up here in verse 44 and go down through verse 48. A lot of things in here we could talk about. I want to emphasize really one particular thing here today, but let's read and then we'll come back and go through these verse by verse.

Verse 44 says, While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. Now when you read the Bible, I want to try not to, you know, we read it and we think, well, that's for back then. But you have to let the Bible come to your life today.

And you have to receive it. God didn't say, I'm going to write this book and it's only for these people back then. You people out there 2,000 years from then, well, you just have to figure your way around it.

I know it's for you as much as it is for them. And to embrace it. So while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.

Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. Well, let's pray and we're going to learn some things from these five verses. Heavenly Father, again, I want to acknowledge you in all our ways today.

Acknowledge that you're King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Acknowledge that this is the truth. And we're surrounded in this world by lies.

And we acknowledge that the devil is a liar and the father of it. And he lies to us continually. But Lord, as we continue to look to the truth and believe the truth, we can find freedom.

We can find salvation and power and grace and deliverance. And all that we need to not only live victorious in this life, but also to have eternal life in the eternal kingdom that you've prepared for us. So Lord, make the word of God as special today as it is to these who are hearing it in Cornelius' house.

And Lord, minister grace to each one of our hearts. And may faith rise again in each of us that we might please you by living according to faith. We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, verse 44 says this. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

Now for a preacher who does a lot of preaching myself, these are really blessed words because Peter is preaching. And the impact of his preaching is coming directly to these people while they hear the word of God. There was no invitation here.

There was no altar call. There was no tent meeting. There was no revival meeting.

There was no counseling session. There was none of those things. It was simply this.

Open hearts. Hearing the word of God. Believing it.

And responding to it. And all of these things that we do. You know, I think of the invitations that we have.

I like to follow Charles Finney. Charles Finney is actually the man who started this whole concept of invitations. He called it back then the anxious room.

Back in the early 1800s when he was preaching throughout the northern part of New York and into Ohio here. But he would call people after the service together, anyone anxious about their soul. They called it the anxious room.

They would have a room off to the side. And anyone who wanted to come into this anxious room to get some public counsel, they did that. And so from there you get this whole idea of invitations.

But if you look in the Bible, there doesn't seem to be these invitations, altar calls. And I'm not against them. We use them a lot.

But biblically you don't see a lot of that. In the Bible you see people hearing and believing in their hearts. And God even blessing them right where they're at.

Blessing them right in their pew. I remember preaching down in Cambridge. And we were preaching on salvation.

And a woman, a young lady, was about four or five rows back. There were you all, our brother David. And at the invitation, she got up.

She came forward. She got on her knees and she prayed. And she was converted that night.

But later on I talked to her. And she had a very beautiful testimony. She said, there was such faith in my heart there in the pew that as soon as I got to my feet, God saved me.

And before I got to the pew, I already knew I was a converted believer. And so God can do it right there in the seat. And he did it right here with Cornelius and these many people that are sitting and listening.

And in my own personal testimony, you know, I was converted not because there was a revival meeting going on. Not because there was a counselor trying to urge me to Christ. I just read a gospel tract and the word of God came to me.

And in my heart a miracle happened. I believe the gospel. I believe the word of God.

And the Holy Spirit came upon me and I was forgiven and my sins were washed away. And it happened sitting in a car by myself. And so you go throughout the scriptures, you see this.

The 3,000 on the day of Pentecost. There's no testimonies of altar calls or counselors. It just seems like 3,000 people are converted and filled up.

And all these individuals, they hear. They hear the gospel and they're immediately converted. Now notice here that Cornelius is not going to do anything to get saved.

He has done many things in the past. He is a devout man and one who fears God and gives much alms and prays to God always. He's got works in his life.

But those things do not merit him anything. They do merit the attention of God, but they're not meritorious for salvation. But all Cornelius does is sit there and listen.

He hears a message. He hears a gospel message and something happens in his heart. He may not even get up.

He may not even move. But something happens in his heart and it's that that God recognizes. That's amazing.

God recognizes the simple belief. I believe the words of Peter that he is sharing is from the Lord. It is the truth.

It is the way of my salvation. I believe it with all my heart. He may not even have said it.

It's amazing to think that God was looking down on this group and he saw these hearts. And as he saw inside the heart as Peter is preaching, those hearts saying, Amen, I agree with it. He said the Holy Spirit comes and falls on them.

And that's how God does oftentimes there in the New Testament. And the Lord can do that here today. No difference even for you who are unconverted.

And true faith rises up in your heart. And so he simply believes the gospel and he receives the forgiveness of his sins. Notice the last words that we hear before the Holy Ghost falls upon him in verse 43.

To him give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believes on him shall receive the remission of sins. And it says while Peter spake these words. In other words, I have no doubt that Cornelius, he's a God-fearing man.

He's trying to do a lot of good works. He doesn't understand that salvation is by grace through faith. And he is guilty.

He is condemned. Issues in his life. Maybe he has a wicked past.

And there's a guilty conscience there that he can't get away from. So as he's sitting there, he hears, here's how I can get the forgiveness of my sins. And as he hears those words, he believes and poom.

It may happen in two or three seconds. Just poom. The Holy Spirit falls upon him.

So I emphasize this again. For by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Cornelius, it has nothing to do with your merit, your works, your obedience to the law. God wants to save you on the basis of that belief that is in your little heart there. When God sees that faith, it's like Abraham.

Abraham saw the stars and he believed God. And it was immediately accounted unto him for righteousness. Titus 3.5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.

Verse 44 says, while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And so the Holy Spirit of God, or the Spirit of Christ is waiting to see your heart. A lot of us, we think God is waiting to see some outward thing.

No, God is waiting to see that heart. And that's why it's important to protect that heart. Guard your heart with all diligence.

For out of it are the issues of life. It is out of the heart that man believes unto righteousness. And with the mouth, confession is made to salvation.

Protect the heart. And not allow your heart to be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. See, a lot of people don't realize this, but sin causes the heart to be hardened.

And that hardened heart, it's hard to believe. And so the more we involve ourselves in sin, the harder it is to believe. And that's why the older people get, the harder it is for them to be converted.

Because the heart begins to grow callous and hard. You say, well I'll just wait and sometime in the future I'll get converted. You can't tell God those things.

So this faith cleansed them. Cornelius from sins. And I think it's one of the most beautiful things here is that this faith that was expressed in the heart of Cornelius caused him to be washed in the blood of Jesus.

I think it happened in just a matter of a second or two. When God saw faith in Cornelius' heart, the blood of Jesus washed him from his sins, cleansed his temple, and the Holy Spirit followed the blood right in there and dwelt in the heart of Cornelius. And he was, as John 3 says, he was born again.

And even though Cornelius seemed to be a very godly man, he still had iniquity on his heart. His account had iniquity and that iniquity was separating him from God. And that iniquity was going to send him to hell, even a good man like him.

Until he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Peter later on here, and we'll see this next time, but look over to chapter 11. Peter gives a testimony of this to the people at Jerusalem because they're questioning him going into a Gentile's house.

And in verse 12 of chapter 11 it says, And the Spirit made me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house. And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.

Now obviously Cornelius understands this. He's very anticipatory. He's anticipating this.

Verse 15, And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the light gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God? Now here's some good theology.

I was somewhat confused about this for many years. But there's a group of people that talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Well here, the Spirit of God bears witness with Peter.

Peter has just preached the gospel. He has just seen the Spirit of God fall upon them. And then the Spirit of God reminds Peter of a scripture verse in verse 16, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

Now what is the baptism of the Holy Ghost? A lot of people today seeking some sort of a second work of grace, seeking the baptism of the Holy Ghost. But the Spirit of God tells us what happens and what is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The baptism of the Holy Ghost occurs at conversion.

When a person is converted, they are baptized in the Holy Ghost. It is the initial receiving of the Spirit of God. And Peter actually alludes to it.

The Spirit of God fell on them just like He did at Pentecost on us. The first time we received the Spirit of God, it fell upon us on the day of Pentecost. And so the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not some second work of grace.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit actually occurs at conversion. That's why the Bible says here in Hebrews 6 that the beginning principles of the doctrine of Christ, and one of them are the doctrine of baptisms, plural. There are two baptisms, the baptism in water, and we see that here with Cornelius.

But Cornelius is also going to be baptized in the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is going to fall on him, and it is going to baptize him. Now if you follow the Bible, you will find that after you are baptized in the Holy Ghost, you are commanded to be what? Filled with the Holy Ghost, filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

Allow the Holy Spirit of God to take control of you and to be filled. And so Paul says, be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. So I understand the Bible to teach this, that when you get converted, you are baptized into the Holy Spirit of God, and from that point on you are commanded to be filled with the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit.

And those are basic principles or beginning principles of the doctrine of Christ. Now here is something I think that I want to emphasize because I think we deal with this on a regular basis, and the church at Galatia got off on this. And it is something that we easily get sidetracked on, and that is this.

If you look here at verse 44 and 45, how this works. Look what it says, While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word, and they of the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with Peter, because on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now here is something that is a principle, a foundational thing that will help guide you.

When I am long dead, you can remember this, that this principle will guide you in many areas of your Christian life, and will help you to stay away from false concepts and false doctrine. And that is this, that the gift of the Holy Spirit is first of all given by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Cornelius and his group believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you look over to chapter 11 and verse number 15, it says this, And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that He had said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the light gift as He did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to them when they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. So we are going to set up something here and show you some order, but it is believing first, then it is receiving the Holy Spirit of God. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1 once, if you can.

Ephesians chapter 1, Paul addresses this order in Ephesians chapter 1. I'm going to start here in verse 11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. In whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

And so you trusted, and after that you trusted, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. So what happened in Cornelius' day is God looked down, and he who knows the hearts of all men, he saw the faith in Cornelius' heart, and because of that faith he then poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so God gives the Holy Spirit to them who truly believe.

It's not vice versa. He gives the Holy Spirit in hope that you'll believe. No, he gives the Holy Spirit to those who believe.

And by the way, just to say this, you're not going to deceive God. You know, some people say, well, I'm just going to come down to the altar, I'm going to pray a prayer and ask Jesus to save me, and I don't really have faith in my heart, but at least my family will feel good about it, the church will feel good about it, and I'll be able to be in the church, and things of that nature, but God knows the heart. You can't deceive the Lord.

I mean, you can deceive people, and you can go along with a program, and you can fit in, but it's God who knows the hearts of all men. And if there wasn't true faith in the heart, all you're doing is deceiving yourself. So let's make sure that we truly have faith in the heart.

Now here's the principle that's very important, and I would encourage you to consider this. This will stretch into many areas of your Christian experience. And that is this, that the Holy Ghost always follows faith.

The Holy Ghost always follows faith. Now this example of Cornelius, very simple. Cornelius needs to hear the Word of God.

Get Peter. I need to hear what Peter's about to say. Faith comes by what? Hearing.

So Peter, you've got to come and preach. And that's the importance of going forth and testifying and preaching the Word of God. So the first thing that happens is Peter actually preaches the Word of God.

Romans 10 says, how shall they hear without a what? Preacher. And how shall they preach except they be sent? So Peter comes and he preaches the Word of God. And let's remember that faith comes by hearing.

Second thing that happens is Cornelius believes what Peter preaches. And then the third thing that happens is God honors that faith in the Word of God by giving him the Holy Spirit of God. So if you set this order up, the first thing that's necessary is the Word of God.

Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel. That is essential because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So then Cornelius and all that were at the house expressed faith in the Word of God and the Gospel.

And after God saw faith, then he blessed him with the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God or we could call it here the Spirit of Grace. Grace came by faith or by grace are you saved through faith. Grace comes by way of faith.

So these three are in this order and it's very important that you keep that in your mind. The just shall live by what? Faith. The just shall live.

Not only is the just saved by faith, but the just are to live by faith. And here is what God wants you and I to do. And this is how you're supposed to live as a Christian.

You're supposed to hear the Word of God. You're supposed to believe it by faith. And then God will bless you with grace, power, and the gifts and blessings of the Holy Spirit of God.

That is how we live by faith. You hear the Word. You say some of you, I don't meditate or I don't say the Bible very much at all.

Well, you're going to have a very limited Christian experience. God cannot speak to you. You don't have a Peter coming and giving you the Word of God.

But the Word of God produces faith in a heart that's open. That faith, without faith it's impossible to please God. That faith is what then causes God to say, boom, you're going to get a blessing.

Ah, it's pleasing to me. I'm going to give you grace. Cornelius, very pleasing.

We're going to see this in a minute, but the church at Galatia, like many churches, and maybe even people here, they start out in the right direction, but they get all messed up. And, Cornelius, you learned something here today. Cornelius, take the Word of God, Cornelius.

Peter's preaching it to you. You believe it, and God will bless you. In your heart, God will bless you.

That's just how God works right here. Boom. So, Cornelius, he learned.

Now, I want you to turn with me to Galatians, and I want you to notice here what happens in the church at Galatia. And this is something that happens in many places in many different forms. But I'd like to teach you this, because you can use this in many areas of life.

I've always said this and try to encourage this. God is looking for this right here. He's given us the Word of God, and He's looking for this, faith.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Just let that sink in. Without faith, it is absolutely impossible to please Him.

So, you need the Word of God, and you need to believe it. Now, look what happens here in Galatians chapter 3, starting in verse number 1. O foolish Galatians! Who hath bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you. I want to ask you people at Galatia a question.

Come on. I want to learn this from you. Received you the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? How did God, Cornelius, how did God give you the Holy Spirit? Was it because you heard the Word of God and believed it, or was it because you were a devout man and you gave alms and you did all these other things? How did you get the Spirit of God? We all know the answer, right? You got the Spirit of God by the hearing of faith.

Verse 3, Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Here's what a lot of people think. I come to Jesus, believe the Gospel, and praise the Lord, the Spirit of God falls upon me, I get born again. Now I pull up my bootstraps and try to please God by my own strength and my own works and by the law.

No. This principle that you started out your Christian experience is actually to carry you through your whole Christian experience. The just shall not just be saved by faith, the just shall live by faith.

And if you don't live by faith, first of all, you cannot please God. If you don't live by faith, you cannot have grace. A lot of people struggle through their Christian life and they don't understand this very simple principle.

Here's something else he mentions. Verse 5, He therefore that ministers to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. That's just interesting.

Galatians, do you know in your church how God is healing people? Do you know in your church how God is doing miracles? Do you know how God is healing blind eyes or how He is saving souls? How is He doing that? Is He doing that because so-and-so is getting a lot of money in alms? Is He doing that because so-and-so is meriting it? No. He's doing it because people are hearing the Word of God and believing it. That's how He's doing it.

Even the miracles in your day-to-day church life comes about by the hearing of faith. The works of the law here represent merit, represent obedience to God's laws. And I'm all for obedience.

But obedience doesn't save you. Faith saves you. And Cornelius found that out.

He had a lot of obedience, a devout man. But he needed faith. You see, and here's the bottom line.

Everything is to the glory of God. What's there to do? Do all of the glory of God. Amen.

If I can save myself or if I can sanctify myself on the basis of my works or my merit, I get to heaven and I glorify myself. But if God does it all, I get to heaven and say, praise be to Him. All I did was just believe His work.

And throughout eternity, you're going to just praise God for His work. It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And if it's not Him doing it, it's not going to please Him.

And the only way He could be pleased is to do it by faith. Look at Galatians 3 here in verse 13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.

For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. And so it's all about faith. That's where everything that's promised through Abraham, through Christ, all the blessings, all the power, all the gifts, all the anointing comes through faith.

I think of that story I told you at the campfire this year. I've told it numbers of times, but it was a good lesson to me that on January 1st back in the 1980s there, I took January 1st, New Year's Day, I didn't have to go to work, and I took the whole day just to read through the book of Acts. I just wanted to take the day and just read the Word of God.

That's a good faith builder, by the way. So I started, I didn't get through maybe three or four chapters, and I just started studying this in the name of Jesus. And you heard me tell a story.

But then I responded in faith to what I was hearing in the Word of God, and God gave me a real blessing and a miraculous thing that happened that day, especially in my heart. But I learned there that this is how God wants me to operate. Hear, believe, and receive his blessing.

Hear, believe, and receive. And that's exactly what happened here in Cornelius' life. And so the principle that I'd like to share with you here is this.

God wants you to hear the Word of God. Today, as you're listening to the Word of God, faith comes by hearing something in your life ought to be stirred regarding faith. Essentially, like if you're not even converted here today, wow, this is a good message for you to stir faith.

Other things might be stirred up in your heart. I'm hearing the Word of God. I'm believing it.

God's going to follow right behind my belief with a blessing. Now, I'd like you to turn over one more here to Colossians. And here's the dangers that we face amongst church people.

And Paul wrote this to the Galatians. He also wrote it to the Colossians. And in Colossians 2, he basically says the same things, but just in different words here.

In verse number 6, he says, As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him. You received him by faith. And this principle right here, the gospel, you believed it.

You received the Holy Spirit. Now you read other parts of the Bible. You believe it.

You receive the blessing of God. Now, if you started out this way, walk this way. Walk in him.

Verse 7, Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Very important principle for you to remember. Your heart and mind and your eye are to be looking to the Word of God.

Amen? Because you cannot have faith unless you're looking to the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So then here, after saying you received that way, now walk in that.

He says in verse 8, Beware. And then he goes down through a whole list of things here that will try to move you from this whole concept. He says here, Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy.

Looking up here to philosophy. You say, well, I'm just going to look to philosophy. Does that produce faith? No faith.

Does that produce then the blessing of the Holy Spirit? No, it doesn't. Philosophy may be a good thing, but it does not please God. No, without faith you cannot please God.

He goes on here, and he looks in verse 8, Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy, in vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. And so we could put up here tradition. There's a lot of groups whose mind is wrapped up in tradition.

But tradition also does not produce faith. It may be good tradition. People say, well, why do you do that? Well, we've always done it that way.

Well, what does that do to please God? How is that going to get the anointing of God's Spirit if you don't respond by faith in the Word of God? Let's keep going here. Jump down to verse 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink, or respect of a holy day, or of the new moons, or of the Sabbath day, which are a shadow of things to come, but the bodies of Christ.

In other words, getting you to look at shadows, Old Testament types and figures, distracting you away from looking to Jesus. Amen. Here's an interesting one.

Verse 18. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding to those things which they have not seen. I remember the last number of years ago, everybody's all interested in angels.

Now what's interesting to me is all these things are good things. I mean, they have some good to them. You know, you could say traditions are good, and some philosophies are good, and these shadows and types are good, and these angels are good.

The only problem is they're distracting you away from the thing that produces real faith. Please just go. And then the last one here is verse number 20.

Wherefore if you be dead with Christ in the ruins of the world, why is the living in the world? Are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, all these rules and regulations, which are all to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men. And so commandments and doctrines of men may be good things, but what they do is they turn you away from this. Now think about this for a minute.

Let's say you're the devil, and you realize the power that's in this right here. Boy, these people, if they look to the Word of God and believe it, God's going to bless them. He's going to anoint them with power.

He's going to save them. He's going to give them gifts. And if we could only get them to look at any of these other good things here, good things, but not where God wants you to look.

So oftentimes you'll hear people, you ask someone, why do you dress that way or why do you wear that head covering? Their response is, well, our church says we have to. Let me ask you a question. Do you think God is pleased with that answer, that heart? He's not.

Why do we do what we do? We respond to His Word and it's faith in His Word. You know, many people wear head coverings. Muslims wear head coverings.

Is God pleased with that? You know, God is concerned about the motive of the heart. So here's how we live. We live by faith.

Faith looks to the Word of God, and when you believe, then God is able to give you all that you need. The grace, the power, conversion, the anointing of His Spirit, all comes through this channel. Word of God, faith, and believing.

Now let's go back here to Acts chapter 10 and verse 45. Acts 10 verse 45, And they of the circumcision which were believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter. Now, the people that are with Peter are Jews, and when these Jews see the Spirit of God fall upon Cornelius and these Gentiles, they were astonished.

Now keep in mind that Peter has just seen this vision. Maybe he doesn't understand everything. I don't know if he's communicating with these people that are with him, but as Peter's preaching, he sees the Holy Ghost fall.

He probably says, yeah, I'm learning. But these other people are astonished. It shocks them that they are getting the Holy Spirit just like the Jews, and God is reaching out beyond the nation of Israel.

If you look over to Acts 11 and verse 19, it says this. Here's the philosophy back then. Now when they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Pharnacia and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.

There's a lot of people still. Gentiles, they don't have any place in the kingdom of God, only Jews. Let's preach only to the Jews.

So this is a transition time. Peter, his mind is being opened, and others are being opened. Paul is going to be very open to the whole idea of the Gentiles.

Verse 46, let's keep reading. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Now here's an interesting passage here.

God shows them evidences that the Holy Spirit of God is fallen upon them. Now just put yourself in their position. The Lord is trying to teach them that the Holy Ghost is not only just for the Jews, but is also getting to the Gentiles.

So what happens is God shows them this by allowing the same signs that happen on Pentecost and other places with Jews is also happening now with Gentiles. And then they could say, look, the same thing that happened to us is happening to them. And in their heart they said, God is making no difference between Jew and Gentile.

Now, in every conversion in the New Testament, is this what happens? These evidences, no, it does not happen this way. Philip, there's no evidence that he did any of these things. The Philippian jailer, the 3,000 at Pentecost, I don't believe that you have to do these things as evidences of your salvation because there are many different times this didn't happen.

But I will say this, there ought to be evidence of salvation. There ought to be evidence of salvation. There ought to be a changed life.

You know, Jesus said the wind bloweth. He talks about being born again, but he likened it to the wind blowing. I was down in South Carolina and we were on the coast there with my family and a hurricane had come through there just a week before.

This hurricane Ina went through Florida and came up and curled around and went right through South Carolina. I went 30 miles south of where we were. I tell you what, there's a lot of evidences of wind when we were down there.

A lot of evidences. A changed life ought to be one of the evidences of your conversion. The fruits of the Spirit ought to be an evidence.

God's blowing upon your life. I see the evidence of that life, a clear conscience, a new affection. There are many evidences, and yes, even if you speak in tongues or glorify God or prophesy as they did in the New Testament, my question has always been how can the Spirit of God come into your life and it not change you? I guarantee you if on the other side the devil comes into your life, it will definitely change you, really change you.

If the Lord Jesus enters your life, it ought to truly change your life, your direction. Let's keep reading here, verse 47, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? Wow, these Gentiles are blessed just like us. And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.

Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. And so there's two baptisms that are mentioned right here, this plurality of baptisms, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, when the Holy Ghost fell upon them, and the baptism by water. And just to remind all of you again, repetition is the key to learning.

In the Bible, when they were converted, they were baptized the same day. Same day, every one. As a matter of fact, the poor fellow that was converted at the jail there in Philippi, they go home to his house, and they wash the stripes, and the jailer washes Paul and Silas' stripes, and it's midnight.

It's after midnight because at midnight is when the earthquake occurred. And it says that same night they baptized. I mean, that's from midnight to like five in the morning, probably sometime around three in the morning.

I'm sure somebody would say, well, let's just go to sleep, and we'll call the church together tomorrow, or maybe next Sunday we'll have a baptism, we'll celebrate. No, no, no, we're baptizing right now. It's three in the morning.

I like to do that. But that's biblical baptism. The eunuch was baptized immediately the day of Pentecost.

They were baptized that same day, and the jailer. And here, it's time to be baptized. Because baptism is so linked to the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the baptism in water.

We do that together. And there's many today who want to wait for baptisms to where we have a whole group that can be baptized, maybe set a few days all year that they do their baptisms. Many people have a waiting period, and we'll wait until we get baptized, maybe give you six months to prove you.

And all these things are traditions. They're traditions of men. They're not the commandment of the Lord.

I will say this. I was converted by a gospel track. I was in my car going home from work.

I was 19 years old, and I had a Cornelius experience. Basically, I was reading the Word of God, and I believed it. I was saved.

But nobody taught me, or I didn't read anything about being baptized. And I was in my car by myself. I wasn't yoked up in any churches, didn't have any disciple.

I was just kind of like Philip, you know. He went on his way rejoicing, like, what do I do now? And it wasn't until about two and a half years later that I was actually taught and understood, and so that's my fault, what it was that I needed to do. I was in a Baptist church in Houston, Texas.

You know what I did when I heard I should be baptized? Walked the aisle and said, I want to be baptized. And they baptized me that day. And so I'm not the best example of this.

I wish I would have been baptized that night, but there was nobody there to do it. My son, Ezra, called me last week, and he said, Dad, Keturah is thinking about getting re-baptized. I said, oh, really? Yeah.

She was a part of a church where she was sprinkled, and she feels like it's an immersion. So he said, Dad, do you think she should get re-baptized? I said, I think she should. If it troubles her in any way, just go ahead.

It's not like some baptismal thing that, you know, you do it the way the Bible teaches. So she was re-baptized by immersion. So Cornelius hears the word of God, believes the word of God, and boom, miracle occurs.

Baptized the same night. So brothers and sisters, let me just say this in closing. Are you so foolish? Having begun your Christian experience like this, are you going to be sanctified and grow any other way? No, you're not.

You know how we're supposed to grow in grace? We behold the perfect law of liberty, and in beholding the perfect law of liberty, we're changed into the same image. I read it. I believe it.

God uses it to change my life. Don't be distracted by all these voices. Look this way.

Look tradition over here. There's tradition. Look at the angel over here.

Look at the commandments of men. Look everywhere else. Just don't look here and have faith and believe.

So let's not be like the Galatians who started out on the right step by believing the truth and God saying, I like that. You're pleasing me by faith. I'm going to bless you and give you what you need.

And then say, well, I don't need the truth. I don't need this looking into the Bible and believing it and receiving from God. I'm going to go off and study philosophy.

I'm going to go off here and get involved in the traditions of the church. I'm going to get involved in the worshiping of angels or in the commandments and doctrines. I'm going to get involved in all that.

It's not the direction you want to go. Okay, we're going to pick up in chapter 11 next time. So let's close a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your word, for the truth. Lord, I trust I've been able to share it in truth and the direction that you would have me do so. If there's anyone here this morning who can correct or can add to it, Lord, may the spirit of the Lord inspire us that we want to understand the truth.

Lord, I pray for anyone here who has a heart that's open to believe the truth. Whatever area you're working in their life, may they believe it and please you and receive your favor and blessing. Lord, help guide our lives into this principle.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.