Note 2 at Acts 10:2: Cornelius was a very godly man but that was not enough. He had to believe the gospel and that's why the angel instructed him to send for Peter. His holiness paid him dividends in the sense that the Lord responded and sent him someone who shared the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with him. However, if he would have refused to believe on Jesus for the forgiveness of his sins, trusting instead in his performance to make him accepted with God, he would have "split hell wide open."