Adrian Rogers - Sharing the Light
Would you be finding Acts, the book of Acts, chapter 10, and in just a moment we're going to begin reading in verse 34. I want to ask you a question. What would happen if a man were to come to you and to say to you, "I have been a pagan, but I've heard about Christianity, and I would like to know the truth concerning Christianity. Would you come to my house and would you share the truth? I'll tell you what I would do if you'll come. I'll get all of my family, and I will gather my friends if you will come to my house and tell me what it's all about. Tell me why I should be a believer like you".
Now what would you do if somebody were to give you that invitation? I know what some of you would do. You'd say, "That's wonderful. I'll go get my pastor". What would you do? What would you share? What would you say if somebody were to invite you over to their house to explain why you believe what you believe? That's the story that we have today. The man was Cornelius. He was a pagan. He was a Centurion, a Roman army officer. An angel had told him, "If you'll send for Simon Peter, Simon Peter will come and tell you how you and your house can be saved".
And so Cornelius sent for Simon Peter. And Simon was living there in Joppa in the house of another man named Simon, Simon the tanner. God had to work on Simon Peter to get Him to go and even have, to even talk, even to go into a Gentile house, because Simon Peter was a Jew, and the Jews really didn't have much dealing with the Gentiles in those days. And so the Lord had to work on Simon Peter, and the Lord worked through an angel on Cornelius, and the Lord worked through a vision on Simon Peter. But there was something that even an angel cannot do, and that is to share Jesus Christ.
Now Peter comes to Cornelius's house, and there Peter begins to tell Cornelius why He should believe on Jesus, and He gives Him three lines of evidence, three witnesses. Those same three witnesses are alive and well today in this city, and if we share Jesus Christ, in my estimation, we'll share Jesus the same way that Simon Peter shared Him and with the same evidence that Peter had so long ago.
Look if you will now in Acts chapter 10 verses 34 through 44. Peter begins now as he's received into this house to share with this Roman army officer the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "Then Peter opened His mouth, and said, 'Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him. The Word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ.'"
And then I love this statement, "'He is Lord of all; That Word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things,'" just underscore that phrase, "'And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree, Him God raised up the third day and shewed Him openly. Not only to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is He which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. And to Him give all the prophets witness,'" underscore that phrase, "'To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.' And while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word".
Underscore that. "The Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word". And there you have the three-fold witness. There you have the personal witness of the Saints. There you have the prophetic witness of the Scriptures. And there you have the persuasive witness of the Holy Spirit.
Now folks, I want to tell you, that's the way we do it today. Now let's look at these three lines of evidence and see what we could say if we ever get invited into a home to share Jesus Christ and to have that kind of a golden opportunity. First of all, there was the personal witness of the saints. Look at that again in Acts 10 verse 39, "And we are witnesses of all things which He did". These apostles, Peter includes himself, and he includes all of his friends, his buddies, his pals, his compatriots, his peers. And Peter says, "Listen Cornelius, we were eye witnesses. This is not a fable! This is a fact! We saw it with our own eyes".
You see, these apostles had the united witness of eleven men. If you were to get a jury, and you wanted a diverse, a balanced jury to adjudicate any matter, you could not have gotten a more balanced or a more diverse jury then these eleven men that Peter's talking about when He says, "We are witnesses". You think about them. First of all, there was John. John was young, he was observant, he was sensitive. Then there was Peter. He was burly and rough, a hard-working fisherman. Then there was Simon Zealotese. He was a political activist. He was a political zealot. That's where he gets his name. He's what some would call today a right-winger. And then there was Nathaniel and Thomas. Both of these men tended to be skeptical, and they wanted to see; they had inquiring minds.
And then there was Matthew. Matthew was a political businessman, hard-bitten. You're not going to put anything over on Matthew. Then there was Andrew. Andrew was gentle and compassionate and liked the little guy. And then there was Phillip. Phillip was a thinker. Phillip was calculating. He figured out how much bread it would take to feed 5,000. And then there was James. You talk about a straight shooter. You talk about a guy who tells it like it is, there was James! All of these eleven men, diverse! And yet they have all agreed on one thing; Jesus is Lord. The verdict of the jury was absolutely, totally unanimous.
Now, what did they testify about? What were they eyewitnesses of? Well, first of all, they were eye witnesses of the virtuous life of Jesus. Look if you will now beginning in Acts 10 verse 34, "Peter opened His mouth, and said, 'Of a truth I perceive that God is of no respecter of persons.'" And then he begins to tell in Acts 10 verse 38 and 39, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good," just underscore that, "and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him". And He says, "We're witnesses of all these things". Now He said, "We saw His virtuous life. We were witnesses of it. He changed water into wine. How do I know"?
Peter says, "I drank some of it. He walked on the water. How do I know? I saw Him walk on the water. Not only did He walk on the water, I did. He raised Jairus' daughter from the grave. I saw Him heal the sick. I saw with my own eyes lepers cleansed. We were there with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration. He was transfigured before our very face. We heard with our ears Almighty God speak out of the Heavens and say, 'This is My beloved Son.' We were eye witnesses of His virtuous life. This one, totally unique, never another like Him, He went about doing good". But not only were we eyewitnesses of His virtuous life, we were eyewitnesses of His vicarious death.
Look again in Acts 10 verse 39. And the Bible says, "And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree". He went about doing good and how did we reward Him? We crucified Him. The one who did good was made a curse. Because the Bible says in Galatians 3:13, "Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree". And He was nailed up by those searing nails on that hellish machine called a cross. And He poured out His life's blood. And Peter says, "We saw Him die! He was dead! We were there! He was taken down from the cross. We were witnesses, not only of His virtuous life; He went around doing good. But of His vicarious death. He was hanged on a tree. He was slain". And then Simon Peter says, "And we were witnesses of His victorious resurrection".
Look if you will in Acts 10 verses 40 and 41, "God raised Him up the third day, and shewed Him openly. Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him. After that He rose from the dead". Peter says, "Listen, we saw it. We saw Him crucified. We saw Him buried. We saw Him raised from the dead. It was not an hallucination. Five hundred people don't have the same hallucination at the same time. He was not a ghost. We ate with Him. We drank with Him. We're not telling you a lie. We're telling you the truth".
Do you think that these apostles were liars? Do you think that Peter was a rascal? Do you think James was a knave? Do you think that Andrew was a con artist? These witnesses, why did they witness this way? For personal gain? No. They were going to prison. For ease? No, most of them would be martyred. They were going to get into trouble. Some men may live for a lie, but few men will die for a lie. Men don't tell lies to get into trouble, they tell lies to get out of trouble. When these men were talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they knew that they were going to get into trouble. But here was the witness that Simon Peter gave.
Simon Peter there said, "Cornelius, let me tell you something, friend. We saw the sinless, virtuous life of the Lord Jesus. We saw His vicarious death. We saw Him die. We saw His victorious resurrection. We saw the risen Lord. We ate with Him after His resurrection". Now, that's the personal witness of Simon Peter. And friend, you ought to have a witness like that. You have experienced the Lord Jesus. What you've not seen with the physical eye, you have understood with the eye of faith. You have seen the light. And I tell you, a Christian with a glowing testimony is never at the mercy of a pagan with an argument. We are witnesses. Has Jesus Christ done something for you? Don't tell me you can't witness.
People say, "Well, I just can't witness". Of course you can witness! That is, if you have; do you know what a witness is? A witness is somebody who tells what he's seen and heard. That's all a witness is. Jesus didn't say, "You'll be My lawyers". He said, "You'll be My witness". And I believe the reason that some people don't witness is very frankly, they haven't seen or heard anything. That's it! They have got nothing to witness about, but a Christian with a glowing witness is worth a library full of arguments. Amen? We are witnesses of these things.
Now, first of all, Peter used the personal witness of the saints, but He backs that up because, how is Cornelius going to know that this is not really just Peter's own auto-suggestion and wishful thinking? Well, Peter gives a second line of evidence. Not only the personal witness of the saints, but the prophetic witness of the Scriptures. Now I want you to see what He does here. It's a very interesting thing. He has this golden opportunity to witness.
Look in Acts 10 verse 43 now of this same passage, "To Him," Jesus, "give all the prophets witness that through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins". Not only our personal witness, but the witness of the Holy Scriptures. This verse sums up all of the Old Testament. "To Him give all the prophets witness". The theme of the Old Testament is the Lord Jesus Christ. And fulfilled prophecy, precious sweet friend, fulfilled prophecy is one of the greatest proofs that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And all of the prophets, not some of them, all of the prophets speak in unanimity with no contradiction, and they all say that Jesus is Lord. It is estimated that there are more than 300 direct Old Testament prophecies that prophesy the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the first time.
The fulfillment of these 300 prophesies in one person, apart from divine inspiration is an absolute, total mathematical impossibility. You know what the skeptics say? They say, "Well, it may appear that He fulfilled these prophesies, but actually it was a scheme. Jesus just managed it all. He acted it out. He rigged it so that it would seem that He fulfilled these prophesies. He managed it". Well, come up close I want to tell you something. He did manage it. He did manage it. Let me show you what He managed. First of all, He managed where He would be born.
Did you manage where you were going to be born? He managed where He would be born, Micah 5 verse 2 in the Old Testament, "But thou Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me He that is to be ruler in Israel". And then we read in the New Testament in Matthew 2 verse 1, "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea". Yes, He managed that centuries before He was born. In eternity past He managed that. He managed that before He would ever be born, Isaiah would give intimate details of His birth and prophesy His virgin birth.
And in Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14, "Behold a virgin shall conceive and be with child," and then, the fulfillment of that prophesy in Matthew 1 verses 18 through 25. The Lord Jesus was born of a virgin. Isaiah told about His life in Isaiah chapter 53 verses 4 and 5, "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed".
Isaiah prophesied the Lord Jesus, His bleeding, bruised, broken body. The stripes laid upon His back. Isaiah prophesied it all. Isaiah prophesied that when He was buried, He would be buried in a rich man's tomb. Isaiah prophesied that He would be crucified between thieves. Listen, to Isaiah chapter 53 verse 9, "He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; and because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth". How did Isaiah know that Joseph of Arimathea would take the body of Jesus? Read there in Matthew 27 verse 57 and 58, "And when the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple. And he went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus".
And then it goes on to tell how Jesus was buried in a rich man's tomb. How He was crucified there between the two thieves with the wicked, Matthew 27 and verse 38. And then, another thing that Jesus arranged, He arranged that Judas would betray Him for 30 pieces of silver. Because we read in Zechariah chapter 11 and verse 12 "And I said unto them, if ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver". And then read in the New Testament the fulfillment, Matthew chapter 26 verse 15, "And said unto them, 'What will you give me, and I will deliver Him unto you?'"
This is Judas speaking, "And they covenanted with Him for thirty pieces of silver". Yes, friend, Jesus arranged, He arranged to be born in Bethlehem. He arranged that He would suffer, bleed and die on that cross. He arranged that in Psalm 22, His crucifixion is so described that it sounds as though somebody is sitting at the very foot of the cross. And so Simon Peter says to Cornelius, "Cornelius, let me show you something, friend. Let me tell you why I believe in Jesus.
Let me give you my personal witness, what I saw, what I experienced. Now let me, number two, give you the prophetic witness. Let me take this Bible, beginning in Genesis and going on through to Malachi. Let me show you sir, how Jesus Christ wonderfully, gloriously, magnificently fulfills the Scripture". I want to say again, that it is an absolute mathematical impossibility that these Scriptures could be fulfilled apart from divine inspiration and the deity of Jesus Christ.
Now there's a third witness. First of all there's the personal witness of the saints. Thank God for that. Then there's the prophetic witness of the Scriptures, "To Him give all the prophets witness". But now while Peter is speaking, the Holy Spirit begins to move on the heart of Cornelius. And that is so important because in Acts Chapter 5, the apostles said in verse 32, "We are witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey Him". Isn't that right? And didn't Jesus say in Acts chapter 1 and verse 8, "And ye shall be witnesses unto Me after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you".
You see, this is the preacher's secret. I am not depending upon my rhetorical and oratorical ability to convince you. Anything I can talk you into, somebody else can talk you out of. You know, sometimes people say to me, "You know, it's a shame that you got into the ministry? You'd make a good salesman". Folks, I'm not interested in being a good salesman. I'm not interested in just convincing you through any kind of logic or any illustration. I am absolutely, totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit of God to convince you what I preach, just as Simon Peter was so long ago. Because there was the personal witness of the saints, there was the prophetic witness of the Scriptures, but here's the crowning thing, there was the persuasive witness of the Spirit.
Look if you will please in Acts 10 verse 44 now in this same passage of Scripture, "And while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them, which heard the Word". I love it! While Peter is speaking, the Holy Spirit is there saying, "Amen, Amen, that is true". You see, He is the one who really persuades us. Now how does the Holy Spirit of God do that? Well, first of all, the Holy Spirit of God witnesses to you. By the way, put your bookmark there and turn, if you will, to First John chapter 5 for a moment and look if you will in verse 9. First John chapter 5 and verse 9, or else listen carefully as I read it to you.
Now we're talking about the persuasive witness of the Spirit. And here's what John says, here's John's argument. He says, "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater". Now what does that mean? Well, we all know what it is to trust. We trust every day. You're trusting the people who made that chair. You get in an airplane, you trust the pilot. You go in for surgery, you trust the doctor. You go to a restaurant, you trust the cook. I mean, we live by trust, don't we? We receive the witness of men. We could not exist in society without receiving the witness of men. Now, he says, "The witness of God is greater". What is the witness of God? That is the Holy Spirit.
As a matter of fact First John 5 verse 9 begins, "If we receive," the word if has the sense of since we received. "Because we received the witness of men, the witness of God is greater". It is God the Holy Spirit that convicts you that what I say is true. While Peter was speaking, while Peter used His personal testimony, and while Peter used the Word of God, the Holy Ghost fell on them. That's wonderful. That is glorious. That's the reason that the apostles said in Acts chapter 5:32, "We are witnesses of these things and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey Him".
You know what? When I preach, I'm really not all that concerned as to what you think about it; I hope that doesn't insult you. But that's true. I preach for an audience of one. If He likes it, it's okay with me. If He likes it, but you know why? Because I am dependent upon Him to convince you, and so I must have the smile of Heaven. And before I preach, I get on my knees as I did this morning and say, "Lord God, I want Your anointing". And before you witness, you must say, "Holy Spirit of God, speak through me". There was the personal witness of the saints, thank God for that. There was the prophetic witness of the Scripture, thank God for that. But, oh, the persuasive witness of the Holy Spirit.
Now, you're still in First John chapter 5, notice this; first of all, He witnesses to us in verse 9, and then in verse 10, He witnesses in us. Notice what He says in First John 5 verse 10, "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself". First of all, He witnesses to you, you believe on Him, and now the witness lives on the inside. That's the reason I said, "A Christian with a testimony is never at the mercy of an infidel with an argument". Why? Because you've got the internal witness.
Now suppose Bob and I are over here eating apple pie a la mode. And suppose over here Jim and David are looking at us, and they're saying, "Well, they're a couple of fanatics over there". And they're saying, "We don't believe in apple pie. There is no such thing as apple pie, and if there is apple pie, it isn't any good". Now, Bob and I are over here having a wonderful time. You know why? We've got the witness in ourselves. Amen! That's what the Bible says. The Bible says in Psalm 34 verse 8, "Taste and see that the Lord is good". Jesus is real to those who know Him. First of all, the Holy Spirit of God witnesses to us, and then the Holy Spirit of God witnesses in us. And when the Holy Spirit of God witnesses to us and in us, then He witnesses through us, you see.
Then we become persuasive. Simon Peter knew what He was talking about. Because Simon Peter said, "Cornelius, I'm glad to have this opportunity. Let me tell you, we were eyewitnesses. Let us tell you what we saw, what we experienced". That's the personal witness of the saints. "Now let me tell you what the Bible says. That's the prophetic witness of the Scriptures. Let me show you how Jesus Christ wonderfully, gloriously fulfills all of the Scriptures". And now the Holy Spirit comes with the persuasive witness of the Spirit and takes what Simon Peter had to say, and drives it, rivets it into the heart of this man, Cornelius.
Well, go back to Acts chapter 10, and let's see what happened there then as a result of that. In Acts chapter 10 they began to speak with tongues. Notice, in Acts 10 verses 45 and 46, "They of the circumcision which believed," that's the Jews, "were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost". Well, how did they know that the Gentiles had received the Holy Ghost? "For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God".
Now this was the Gentile Pentecost. At Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 the first few verses, you had the Jews, devout Jews from every nation under Heaven. And God gave them the ability to speak as a sign to the Jews a supernatural language. And now there are Jews present, wondering, "Can the Gentiles be a part of the church of God"? And God says, "Oh Yes! I'm going to give you a miracle sign to show that Gentiles also are a part of the church of God". And this was the Gentile Pentecost. Hey, folks, what this is showing is; that the old time religion is the all-time religion, the any-time religion, the every-time religion. It is for everybody. "Red, yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight".
And do you know what Peter said when they said, "We believe"? In verse 46 through 48 of Acts 10, Peter said, "All right, now, get baptized". You read it. Read it. He commanded them to be baptized. And I'm going to say to those of you who are in this building today, if you truly believe, if you believe that Jesus suffered, bled and died, that He was buried, that He was raised from the dead the third day, when you believe that, you're going to want to be baptized in obedience to Him, because He has saved you, and you're not going to be ashamed of Him.
Now let me just wrap this up by talking about evidence, and I'll be finished. How do we know who Jesus is? I mean, are we fools? Are we sentimentalists? Is this maudlin sentimentality? No? How do we know? Folks, what we believe is real. Millions of people, millions of people will say, "Jesus Christ transformed my life". I'm one of them. I was saved as a teenage boy. Jesus is more real to me today than you are. There's the personal witness of the saints.
Number two; there is the prophetic witness of the Scriptures. The more I study the Scriptures, the more I find hidden beauties, not hidden flaws. I've been studying this book seriously for over 40 years. And the more I see, the more I see there is more there yet to see. The more I love that book. The more I'm convinced it's the Word of God. And the hero of the Bible is Jesus, "To Him give all the prophets witness". And friend, the more I walk with him, the more the Holy Spirit of God whispers to my heart, He's the one. He is the one. He is the one. The Holy Spirit of God witnesses to us and He is witnessing in us.
You say, "Well, Adrian, you haven't proven anything to me". I don't intend to prove anything to you. Let me tell you about faith. Faith is rooted in evidence. But faith goes beyond evidence in order to be faith. And then faith becomes its own best evidence. I know because I know. I believe because I have believed. I have seen the Light. And I want you to know Him. I want you to know Him today, and not know about Him, know Him, receive Him, receive from Him eternal life.
Would you bow your heads in prayer? Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. Now if you're not absolutely certain that you're saved, I want to guide you in a prayer. And in this prayer, you can receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. If you know that you're saved, would you begin to pray for those round about you who may not know that they're saved. Lord Jesus, I pray now that You will open hearts. Holy Spirit of God, I pray that You will witness to people as they pray. And if you want Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord, would you pray this way?
Dear God, I know that You love me. I know that You want to save me. Jesus, I'm a sinner. I'm lost. I need to be saved and I want to be saved. Lord Jesus, I believe that You're the Son of God. I believe that You went about doing good. I believe that You died for my sin on that cross. I believe that God raised You from the dead. And I now, by faith, like a child, receive You as my Lord and Savior. Come into my heart. Forgive me. Cleanse me. Live in me. Begin, from this moment, to make me the person You want me to be. And help me, Jesus, never, never ever, to be ashamed of You. In Your name I pray, Amen.