Book of Acts: The Spirit’s Work in Salvation
Acts 10:44 - While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. 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. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? ” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.
The scripture took place in Caesarea, where Peter had gone to preach the gospel. To fully understand its significance, let me take you back to show you what God was doing.
Paul’s Conversion and early ministry
Before reaching Caesarea, Paul had begun his own powerful transformation. Once a fierce persecutor of the church, he was present at Stephen’s execution and set out for Damascus with the intent of arresting believers. But on that journey, everything changed — God wonderfully saved Paul turning him into a completely new man. Following his conversion, Paul spent some time in Damascus, where he boldly spoke in the synagogues, preaching that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. His preaching was so powerful that certain Jews in Damascus plotted to kill him.
Paul, who had once been the one persecuting the believers, now found himself the target of persecution. The Jews planned to catch him as he passed through the city gates, but the disciples learned of their plan. Believers helped him escape from Damascus and later Jerusalem, sending him back to his hometown, Tarsus.
All of this happened within what seems to be about a 12-month period.
During this time, the Church flourished in Jerusalem, with believers gathering and growing in nearby cities. Still, the gospel remained largely within the Jewish community.
Peter’s Vision and Cornelius’ Call
Peter, after healing healing Aeneas in Lydda and raising Dorcas from dead in Joppa, stayed at the house of Simon the Tanner.
Meanwhile, two days’ journey away in Caesarea, there was a Roman centurion named Cornelius. He believed in the one true God but didn’t know Jesus yet and wasn’t saved. But he feared God, prayed, gave to the poor, and lived a devout life.
And God saw that.
He sent an angel to Cornelius, instructing him to send for Simon Peter, staying at Simon the Tanner’s house in Joppa. The angel explained that he would share words from God.
So Cornelius sends two servants and a soldier to Joppa.
Meanwhile, Peter saw a vision:
Acts 10:10-16 - 10 Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance 11 and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” 15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” 16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.
Peter was pondering the meaning of the vision when the Spirit said:
Acts 10:19-20 - “Behold, three men are seeking you. 20 Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”
Peter obeyed and met the men. They explained that Cornelius had sent them, and Peter hosted them for the night.
Salvation Comes to the Gentiles
So Peter and some Jewish believers traveled the two-day journey to Caesarea. When they arrived, Cornelius had filled his house with friends, family, all Gentiles.
All waiting to hear from this man of God.
Peter walked in and said:
Acts 10:28 - Then he said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
Then he asked, “Why did you send for me?”
Cornelius explained the angel’s message.
Acts 10: 33 - So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God.”
Peter began to preach and he started to understand the vision. It was all coming together.
Acts 10:34-35 - 34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.
That’s a bit like:
John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
That’s written by John years later and this was happening to Peter in reality, right with him. He saw the vision in fullness. So he told them about Jesus. About the cross. About forgiveness.
And while Peter was still speaking — right then — the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
These Gentiles hadn’t spent years studying the Torah. They didn’t follow Jewish customs. They were simply hearing the Word and as they listened, they started speaking in tongues, glorifying God, and the Jewish believers with Peter were shocked.
Why?
Because up until that point, salvation was considered a Jewish thing. But in that moment, God was making something crystal clear:
His Spirit is for everyone who believes.
Acts 10:43 - To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.
It didn’t matter where they came from.
It didn’t matter what their past looked like.
It didn’t even matter what others thought about them.
God was confirming that no one was off-limits to His love.
Then Peter declared:
Acts 10:47-48 - 47 “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.
One family in Christ
God saves anyone who believes regardless of nationality, culture, or background.
We love to put labels on people. We divide by race, nationality, culture, background, education, wealth, reputation. But in God’s Kingdom, those walls don’t exist.
God shows no partiality.
He doesn’t see Jew or Gentile.
He doesn’t see rich or poor.
He doesn’t see worthy or unworthy.
He sees hearts that believe.
In heaven, there are no flags, no nations, but one family. Children of God. We will not see a flag of this world flying in heaven.
Philippians 3:20 - For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
If you are saved, that’s your identity now.
This was what Peter realized as he stood in Cornelius’s house. It wasn’t just about Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit; it was about God breaking every human boundary we had ever tried to put on Him.
Salvation is a Transformation
What part does the Holy Spirit play in our salvation?
Throughout the Old Testament and New Testament, we find angels or God appearing and speaking to God.
Peter, an angry man and a follower of Jesus who denied Him three times, changed when the Spirit came.
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came into Peter’s heart in a wonderful way and into all the disciples’ hearts and they burst forth out of that room, and they were changed from that day on.
And no longer did Peter doubt.
Neither did he deny.
Nor did he act with his own efforts, impetuously.
From that point on, he followed and was led by God.
This was a man whose heart had been changed, whose ear was open to the Lord.
Titus 3:4-7 - But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
The moment we are saved, something supernatural happens:
We are washed clean from every sin, every failure, every stain is removed.
We are regenerated — our old self dies, and we become a new creation.
We are renewed as the Spirit breathes new life into us, making us completely different from who we used to be.
We’re made brand new.
Guarding the heart the spirit renewed
Proverbs 4:23 - Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
We need to be careful because our old nature or the things of the world will come to try for our hearts. To taint them. To quench the fire that God gives us when we get saved.
Demon will try to make us doubt that God is in control by saying:
“You’ll never get a job, He’s going to let you down this time.”
“See? You hoped to have a job last week, and you still haven’t got it.”
“He’s not faithful, he’s let you down.”
But go back to the Word.
What does God say?
He’s faithful. (1 Corinthians 1:9)
He’s true and just. (1 John 1:9)
He never fails. (Joshua 21:45, Lamentations 3:22-23)
Let the rivers of living water flow
The Holy Spirit doesn’t just work in us. He works through us.
In John 7:38-39, Jesus says: “38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, 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; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
God says there’s a river in you. And by that, he’s speaking of the Spirit.
You will have the river flow out of you.
That’s God’s promise.
That river will bubble up and flow out of you and into the lives of those around you.
But first, you have to uncork it.
You have to put those things that would block it aside.
Doubt. Distractions. Unbelief. Fear.
Jeremiah 17:5 - Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.
When you come to that place where you can trust him completely, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water.
So, what’s blocking your river?
For some of us, it’s fear.
For others, it’s pride.
Maybe it’s sin we haven’t surrendered.
Whatever it is, the Spirit is ready to break through.
2 Timothy 1:6 - Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
Maybe you’ve been a believer for years, but you feel stuck. Lukewarm. Like the fire has died down.
Maybe you’ve never truly surrendered your heart to Jesus, and today is the day you need to say, “Lord, have Your way in me.”
Revelation 2:4 - Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
We need to make God our first love, in everything we do.
Revelation 3:18 - I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
What does that mean?
1 Peter 1:7 says, “your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire”
Get faith.
But how do you get faith? Go before the God and say,
“Lord, help me believe. I can’t believe in my own strength, Lord. But you can speak to me and then I can believe. Speak to me. Speak to me through Your Word. Speak to me by Your Holy Spirit.”
And that’s what Holy Spirit does at salvation and after.
He speaks to us in our heart.
Revelation 2:7 - “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
He speaks to us and we hear.
And that’s faith.
Watch the full sermon to let the Word stir up your spirit and uncork the river within.
