for the help of the Lord. I direct your prayerful attention
to the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 8. I'm reading for our
text, verse 5. Verse 5. Then Philip went down
to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. and specifically the words, and
preach Christ unto them. Acts chapter 8 and verse 5. Our Lord has said to the apostles
that when they were persecuted in one city, then they were to
go to the next. God using this way of spreading
the gospel. In the days after Noah and after
the flood, then God had told them to go out and to overspread
the earth. But when they refused to do it,
he confounded their language and scattered them. In the day
of Pentecost, there was a miraculous giving and understand another language,
which is vital for the Gospel to be spread throughout all of
the world. It is not a chance thing that
men are given not only grace, but they're also given the ability
in languages, which is so necessary for the Gospel commission going
into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,
he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, and he that believeth
not shall be damned." So then, if that means of scattering was
taken away, the barrier of language taken away, how was it that they
were to be ensured that they didn't just stay in one place?
Well, it was through the persecution. That is what moved them. And
that is what we read at the entrance or beginning of this chapter,
that they, in verse 1, were all scattered and raw throughout
the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. And so on the background of the
death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. Then we have
the preaching of the Word. And we have Philippians. It's
very interesting to note in this chapter and the previous one
that those deacons that were chosen to serve tables, to allow
the apostles to preach and to give themselves to prayer, that
they are the ones that are used here to, as a first martyr, and
then here with Philip, to be so blessed in preaching the gospel. We read that in verse seven,
in that city of Samaria, there was great joy in that city. The Lord confirming the word
preached, the signs, the miracles, the wonders that were done. But then we have the solemn case
of Simon. In these chapters, we're not
just hearing about the preaching of the gospel, but we're hearing
about the effect and the people that are hearing and believing. You might have thought that when
Philip, he hears of Simon, how that he had baptised him, he'd
made profession, he had believed, but then the apostles come, and
by what Simon says it betrays that in his heart it was not
right. And so they are able to say clearly
that there has no part or lot in the matter. We can't see in
a person's heart. The apostles could tell, if Simon
was thinking that he could purchase with money the gifts of God,
he did not know the true gift of God. He did not know the true
faith of God, which could not be bought, which is sovereign
by gracious aid through faith that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God. And on that they knew that his
heart was not right. but that did not mean that they
were to be discouraged from preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
need to really realize this, sometimes we can hear of abuses
of the gospel, we can hear of those that profess that they
have been saved, and yet their life does not bear witness to
it, and we are warned of this, that by reason of such, the way
of truth shall be evil spoken of. But that doesn't mean then
that we despise or we think less of the way of truth, not at all. Philip here, our text, he preached
Christ unto them, and then as if the Lord would give him a
bouncing. And if you would say, Philip,
you've had this disappointment with Simon, I'm going to give
you another encouragement with the Ethiopian eunuch." So he
sends him there. Does he preach something different?
No, he doesn't. In fact, the Lord gave him this
text where he should begin to preach Jesus Christ, and he preaches
the same gospel. He must have preached baptism
also. The eunuch wanted to be baptized,
in view of what had happened with Simon, does Philip then
require of him some great long profession? No, he just simply
asked him. He says to him, if thou believest
with all thine heart thou mayest, and he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He went from looking
at that passage that he was reading in Isaiah, And not knowing whether
the prophet was speaking of himself or some other man, to know that
the prophet was speaking of Jesus Christ, 750 years before Christ
came, the prophecy prophesied of his sufferings and his death. And Philip then breathes him
and only requires a profession of his belief, the eunuch's belief,
even though it had the disappointment before. We should not change
our preaching, we should not change what we require of those
that believe, just because some do not believe truly in the heart. The Lord knoweth then that it
is, and like what happened to Simon, in due cause This wasn't
a real, a true faith. And the word then that is before
us is the preaching of Christ. Philip, he went and preached
Christ to them. Well, you might think, well,
what does that mean? How did he preach Christ? How
did he set him forth? And what I desire to do, I want
to begin firstly with a scripture to begin with, which is where
Philip began with the Ethiopian eunuch. But then I want to go
to preaching Christ as Paul, the Apostle Paul preached. This
chapter begins with in their soul persecuting the people of
God. But throughout the Acts of the
Apostles and Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians, there are
four verses that clearly set forth what was preached, what
was involved in the preaching of Jesus Christ. and the Apostles, they all had
the same Holy Spirit, that which is written and recorded in the
Word is inspired, but they were all given the same Spirit as
we are. We are not inspired, but we preach
the Word of God, and we preach Christ, and it will be to the
end of the world that Christ is preached. And I hope it is
so tonight, and really every time that a minister gets up
to preach, it will be preach Christ unto them. Preaching is the authoritative
declaration of the word of God, of the gospel, the good news
of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that and that
only has been promised to be blessed by our Lord, and that
is our commission, to preach the Word. Not some new revelation,
not something different, but the Word. So we want to then
look first at a scripture to begin with, thinking of our text,
preach Christ unto them. And the scripture that he began
with was on Zion 53, and we read it in this chapter, a summary
if you like, or perhaps a different rendering of it, in verses 32
to 35. The place of the scripture which
he read was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter Like
a lamb done before his shearer, so openly not his mouth, in his
humiliation his judgment was taken away. And who shall declare
his generation whose life is taken from the earth? So, here
is and has been reading the Prophet Isaiah and Philip then. He begins at that same scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ is set
forth in that beautiful chapter, and I want to just briefly look
at that chapter. Who hath believed a report to
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He shall grow up, and all the
time He is speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ in Isaiah 53. He is speaking of how He shall
appear as a root out of dry ground, nothing that would attract and
draw us to Him. He is also speaking of those
sufferings that He endured and throughout this chapter there
is an intertwining of His sufferings and the benefit that flows forth
from those sufferings. And sometimes it is good for
us to, in our preaching, to separate them so it's more clearly seen,
the sufferings or the path that our Lord went in, and then the
blessings that flowed out from it. Because in verse three, we
read what he endured as sufferings from men. He is despised and
rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with greed. We heard, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. And we picture our Lord Jesus
Christ, the heart of his sufferings, and really right through his
ministry, he is suffering on account of men. But then we have in verse 4 that
he is now, in the middle of that verse, we are seeing him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. So now it is not men that are
afflicting the Lord, it is God himself that is afflicting him. And then we And in verse six,
the Lord laying on him the iniquity of us all. We read of how that
he was oppressed and he was afflicted, how that he opened not his mouth,
how that he's taken from prison and from judgment, how that he
made his grave with the wicked. Then in verse 10, that the pleased
the Lord to bruise him, have put him to grief and the travail
of his soul is set before us. The sufferings of our Lord are
right through this chapter. The sufferings from men, the
sufferings in his body, the sufferings in his soul, the sufferings from
God, wounded, bruised, striped, those things are all set before
us in verse five. And then right through, intertwined
right through, surely hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. With his stripes we are healed. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. Verse eight, people, the transgression
of my people was he stricken. His soul, verse 10, was made
an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, his people. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. Verse 11, He shall bear their
iniquities. He shall justify many, because
He bears their sin, their iniquity. The closing of the chapter, numbered
with the transgressors, He bared the sin of many and made intercession
for the transgressors. Now Philip, he began, a scripture
to begin with, he began here And the answer to the eunuch,
is it the prophet? No, it's not Isaiah. This is
the mother man. This is Jesus of Nazareth that
He is speaking of. This is He that was born of Mary. This is He that was crucified
and slain and risen again. This is the one that was preached
to the eunuch, is a beautiful chapter to start with that sets
forth what our Lord endured, that the people of God should
have endured, and why He endured it, because of their sin, and
the benefits and blessings that would flow from it. And that
He saw His seed, He saw His people, particular redemption He knew
for whom He died, whom He laid down His life. May we always
think of this, when we think of the preaching of the Gospel,
when we think of Philip preaching the Lord Jesus Christ unto the
Samaritans, that this is a scripture to begin with. He began at the
same scripture, verses 7 and 8 was what? The eunuch was wounded,
he was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not
his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is done, so he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. the sufferings of the Lord Jesus
Christ. If we have a concern for our
souls, if we value our souls, if we desire to believe and to
see the Lord Jesus Christ as a unit in it, may we begin at
this scripture. May this is where we focus our
prayers and ask that the Lord would grant us the same blessing,
and not just at the beginning, but right through our profession,
right through our lives. You say, can you ever wear out
hearing of the Lord's sufferings, of His death? No, the Lord has
given an ordinance of the Lord's Supper, As oft as ye eat this
bread and drink this cup, ye do show for the Lord's death
till he come. The Lord has chosen to show to
the ordinances of his house in baptism, buried with him by baptism
into death, risen again in newness of life, all the time setting
forth what is in this chapter, a chapter to begin with. want to then look at the Apostle
Paul's preaching, preaching Christ as the Apostle Paul did. If we turn to Acts chapter 9 and
verse 20, this is when Paul was first converted. first brought to know that those
that he was persecuting that believed in Jesus of Nazareth
as the Son of God, he was brought to believe himself and to preach. And what does he preach? Who
he is. In straight wording, he preached
Christ. Our text says that Philip preached
Christ unto them. But here is Paul, he preached
Christ. And what did he preach? That
he is the Son of God. What was the unit? Confession. He answered and said,
I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Because Paul, or Saul
as he was, did not believe that he was the son of God, then he
persecuted the people that did. Now Paul is to preach. This is
the first feature of his preaching. The Jews in Christ's time, they
said, it's not this. Jesus, the son of Joseph, the
carpenter's son, they viewed him just as a man. And the preaching of the apostles,
the preaching of Philip, they lift him up, they set him forth
as the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, made manifest in
the flesh, dwelling upon this earth. That same one that Job
saw, verse, he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth
and I know that my Redeemer liveth, the same one that He saw also
that He would be raised from the dead, and that He would see
Him, the same one that Solomon said, Will God in very deed dwell
upon the earth? Heaven and heavens cannot contain
Him, how much less this house that I have builteth. But He
did. dwell upon the earth. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. In John's epistle, the second
epistle, it is very clear that if any bring not this doctrine,
the doctrine that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, receded
not into your houses, neither be it in God's feet. It is a
central truth and doctrine, and so it was the That is what the very first thing
that Paul is preaching. May then that be something that
we desire to be very precious to us, realizing that many could
not see it, could not believe it, did not believe it, Paul
did not believe it, but was converted and brought to believe it. May
we be brought to view and see through the preaching of the
Word of His four creatures that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son
of God, something that the Jehovah's Witnesses deny. They do not suppose
to be a witness to Jehovah, but they deny the eternal sonship
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, the second thing
that Paul set forth is found in Acts chapter 17. And we read there in verse 2,
if we go from the first verse, now when they passed through
Amphilopolis and Napoleon, they came to Thessalonica, and where
was the synagogue of the Jews? and Paul, as his manner was,
went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the Scriptures." And then we get a picture of his reasoning
of his preaching, opening and alleging that Christ must needs
have suffered and risen from the dead, and that this Jesus,
whom I preach unto you, is Christ. Again, it is setting before them
who Jesus of Nazareth really was. We read of the sufferings
of our Lord in Isaiah 53, but here there's an added aspect
to it, that Christ must meet If he had not suffered, then
salvation had not been secured for the people of God. I'm only
thinking of this aspect of the preaching of the Gospel. Philip
preached Christ unto them. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
met with the two on the way to Emmaus, he said, O fools and
slow-hearted lame, Ought not Christ to have suffered these
things, and to enter into his glory? And he began, that Moses,
and all the prophets, and all the scriptures, the things concerning
himself. It was John Baptist that pointed
out the Lord as the Lamb of God. It was as a lamb that was led
to its slaughter that the Ethiopian eunuch was focusing on. And of course the Jews were used
to it, that there was a Lamb. But when we think of Abraham,
who saw Christ's day and rejoiced at it, we see Isaac taken off
the altar, the ram put in his place, substitutionary offering,
but the need of an offering was established right back with Abel. Cain and Abel, two worshippers,
two offerings. A offering with the blood and
with the death of the lamb, accepted by God. An offering with no blood,
just from the lamb that was farmed of the lamb that Cain had. God
had not respect to that. That was not acceptable. And
so there's a pointing that without the shedding of blood there is
no remission. The whole of salvation is to
deliver us from the sentence of death. In the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And any salvation that does
not address that, that does not save from death, is no salvation. The Gospel of our Lord, it sets
forth the Lord in the sinner's place. This is what we deserve. This is the wrath of God that
we should endure eternally, that He was to endure. I speak respectfully
that God Himself on His throne, with all His power and might
and ability, cannot, without the sufferings of Christ, just
say, I'm going to pass by the sin of these people. I'm just
going to forget them. Because God is a just God, a
true God. A God that desires a just weight
and a just balance. If we go and pay for something
in the shop, we pay the price that is put on that item. And
when we have paid that price, we can take the item. It is ours. The Apostle Paul says, you are
bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are his. Redeemed is set free
from death by the payment of a price. And so the Apostle speaks
how necessary Christ's sufferings were. What a solemn thought.
Those out of Christ, how necessary their sufferings will be. how
necessary that they endure what the Lord endured, that hell,
instead of just being a place where God is not, it is where
God's wrath is, eternally felt and endured. The same wrath that
was felt by our Lord for his people is to be felt by those
that are not his people, and they are to endure that eternally. No one can accuse him, you're
partial. Why have you saved some of mankind
and not another? Because I'm suffering. And it
has cost me. It has cost me my life, my blood,
and all the sufferings. It's not been without cost. You know, if someone was to do
this and perhaps set some people free by a payment of price on
earth. Would you say to them, well,
why did you only pay the price for some and not others? And
you could say, well, I needn't have paid any, but those that
I had paid, I paid with my own money, I purchased them. And
were the end of us, if we had to go and purchase something
in a shop, you wouldn't that he accosted when he came out
and said, look, why have you only bought that item? There's
a whole shop full there, why didn't you buy it all? He said,
because I chose just to buy this item, and that is now mine. And
the Lord is to soften like that. But all that he brings to heaven
he has suffered, bled, and died for, and endured their hell and
their place. And so, The Apostle Paul, in
this Acts 17, we have a little view to the preaching of Christ. He must needs have suffered. And then thirdly, when we come
to Paul's letters in Corinthians, his first letter and chapter
one, we read in verse 23, the effect of preaching Christ. He says that, in verse 21, for after that in
the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So this is Philip, he went down
and preached Christ to them, Why is it foolish for poor sinners
to stand up and to authoritatively declare the Scriptures and the
Lord Jesus Christ, what He went through, what He suffered and
why? But it's pleased God to save
them that believe through that way. The Jews require a sign,
the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Philip, when he prays Christ,
he prays Christ crucified. Not just Paul, but we pray Christ
crucified. But what is the effect? Unto
the Jews, a stumbling block. Why, this is just Jesus at Nazareth. Unto the Greeks, it's foolishness. What a foolish thing. called Jesus as if He could save
and savour people. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God." Through this chapter the Lord emphasises it's not
the wise in this world, it's the foolish. He emphasizes that
darkness and unbelief is over man because he has been given
the ability to do many, many things, wonderful things. But
the things of God he cannot see, he cannot understand. The natural
man is seen as not the things of God, neither can he know them
because they are spiritually discerned. And so it is the sovereign
work of God, it's a miracle of grace, that the Lord should use
a method that man's wisdom says this is foolish, but he uses
that method, this preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, to draw
sinners unto himself. If I be lifted up above the earth,
and he is lifted up on the pole of the everlasting gospel, who
will draw all men unto me. No man can come unto me, except
the Father which sent me draw him. and I'll raise him up at
the last day. And we see the simple preaching
and declaration of the gospel and those that are called, called
by God, called through this method of means. Today, especially when
churches are growing, few, few attending, many are going down
the track. Well, how can we allure people
in? How can we present the Gospel in a more attractive way, a better
way? The way in the Scriptures is
preaching. And the way that souls are saved
is God blessing the preaching of the Word. The effect is wrought
by God and not by man. Tarry at Jerusalem until ye be
endued with power from on high. And they had to wait. Wait in
the city of Jerusalem until they had the Holy Spirit, and then
they were to be obedient to their commission, and that is still
the same today. And the effect of preaching the
Gospel will still be the same today. We read in one account,
as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed. In another account we read that
some believe the word spoken and some believe not. It is God's
sovereign word. to divide amongst those that
hear the word of God, and may we be found amongst those that
are given a hearing ear. In the letters to the churches,
he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. In all the parables the Lord
spoke, he that hath an ear, let him hear. An ear is given by
God. My sheep, they hear my voice,
they follow me. and it is the preaching of the
Gospel that will bring the effect of a soul being brought from
darkness to light, from being a far-off to be brought nigh,
to being an unbeliever to be the believer, to be a persecutor
like Saul of Tarsus to a believer like Paul. It is God's work that
endures, not my not in the heart. With the heart
man believeth, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So the Apostle Paul sets forth
Christ crucified, and he doesn't. He's not put off that the Jews
are saying that this, we want some kind of a sign. He's not
saying Well, because it's a stumbling block to the Jews, I'm not going
to preach him. He's not saying, well, the Greeks,
they think it's just foolishness, so I'm not going to preach him.
No, he has a mind to the commission of God and knowing that there
will be those that are called and those that are drawn and
quickened through this work, through this gospel. The last
one I bring before you is in the same epistle, chapter 3,
1st epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 3, and verse 11. And it's the foundation, the
one foundation. For other foundation can no man
know, and that is laid which is Jesus Christ. It's a vital
thing in the preaching of the gospel that his liable Jesus
Christ is not added to all of the other gods. When the Apostle
Paul was preaching in the 17th of Acts to those of Athens, he'd
seen all their altars to all the other gods and then an altar
to an unknown god, and he was to declare him unto them. But
if he had just preached And He begins with the God that
made heaven and earth, that in Him we live and move and have
our being. And it's a vital aspect. You
see, so many today are saying, well, you believe this and you
believe that, and we're all going up this hill, we're all going
to the top, it doesn't matter what you believe, what you profess,
you'll be saved. No, the Gospel says, There is
only one name given among men whereby we must be saved, and
that is the name of Jesus. The Lord said, if you believe
not that I am thee, ye shall perish in your sins. There is
no other name. There is no other way of salvation
but the Lord Jesus only. Always remember meeting a lady
outside of our chapel after one of our services, And at first
she seemed to be quite pleasing to talk to and get along, but
then when it came to the exclusivity of her Lord, Jesus only, she
was so offended. She said, well, what about people
that haven't heard of Him? How will they be saved? And the
idea that there was one God and one Savior, one Lord Jesus Christ,
was offensive to her. But there is. only one name given
among men. And as the Apostle says to the
Corinthians here, there is only one foundation. What other foundation
can no man lay than that that is laid, which is Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, and of it in our first hand, as Christ is
your foundation stone. building our hopes upon what
He has done, what He has suffered, what He has endured. And that
is our hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' love and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. He went down to Siberia and he
preached Christ unto them. He would have most certainly
preached Him as the only name given among men whereby we must
be saved. The only foundation that they
weren't to build on anything else but God's only beloved Son,
the eternal Son of God. What was I to think regarding
the foundation? It goes back before time. Chosen in hand before the foundation
of the world. Thine they were, thou gavest
them thee. Thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, Therefore with love and kindness have I drawn thee. This
is the foundation of the people of God. It is not a saviour that
is just born and that's the beginning of his existence. The Eternal
God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms. That
which is done before time cannot be undone in time. That which
is done before time is ratified in time in the death and sufferings
and rising again of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that which
is done in time in the calling of God's people through the preaching
of Christ, preaching Christ unto them, shall result in all of
those chosen before time shall be at last as innumerable multitude
in heaven when time shall be no more. And so don't we come
with our texts where Philip went down to the Ascension of Samaria
and preached Christ unto them and we just have that summary
of what he did. We can, when we look at how Philip
preached to the Union and how Paul preached we can tell what
was the substance of his sermon. We have, of course, the summaries
in 1 Corinthians 15, the first few verses. We have the summaries
that are in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 10, 10 years after Pentecost. This is when the Apostle Peter
speaks and he preaches and it's only very, very short, especially
this one. So it clearly sets forth the
Lord Jesus of Nazareth. He says to them in Acts 10 and
verse 37, that word I say Ye know was published throughout
all Judea and again from Galilee after the baptism was done 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 which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in
Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Here God raised
up the third day and showed 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 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 or living
and dead. to him give all the prophets
witness, Isaiah 53, that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins. Then we read that while
Peter was speaking those words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them
which heard, that they believed and they were baptized. Peter
has seen the effect at Pentecost, he sees the effect now, and so
we have these examples of the preaching of the Word. It's all
centred on Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, the eternal Son of God, the true
Son of God. May our esteem of the preaching
of the Word be heightened this evening. May our expectation
of the blessing of God upon it be strengthened. And may we join
in prayer when we gather together the strengthening of our faith,
bringing us to faith and bringing us to walk in obedience as the
Eunuch did. So may we know the blessing as
the Eunuch did, as Philip preached. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And I hope I trust this evening
and I have preached Christ. Amen.