I invite you to join me in Acts
chapter 8. The Church, Kitchens Creek Baptist
Church in Ball, Louisiana, sends their greetings to all of you. The men at the prison, one of the prisons where I go,
they prayed for us Monday night during the services and just,
they told me, said, tell everybody hello. So, this meeting is thought
about and is prayed for. And I do pray the Lord will speak
to our hearts. Acts chapter 8. Now, the church in Jerusalem,
the church in general, is going through a terrible time of persecution,
as it tells us in verse 1. It was great persecution at Jerusalem. He said, that's so sad and it
was so good because they were scattered abroad throughout the
regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. And devout
men carried Stephen who had just been killed, assassinated. They carried him to his burial.
They mourned his death. And Saul, Saul of Tarsus, he
was going about what he was doing, wreaking havoc among the church. Verse 4, And therefore they that
were scattered abroad, they went everywhere preaching the word. This is not the apostle Philip.
There were several different Philips mentioned in the scriptures. This is the evangelist Philip. Preacher Philip. Philip went
down to the city of Samaria and he did what all God's ministers
do. He preached Christ to them. And it stirred up problems. Some
got glad and some got mad. You can't help that. And the
moment we try to make everybody glad, we quit preaching the gospel.
There's a stirring. There's a plowing that is done
when the gospel is preached. And you know, when the seed's
going to be planted, you put that plow to the ground, it rips
it to its heart, doesn't it? I mean, it just tears it all
to pieces. And then after you get through
turning it over, then you put the disc in there and you chop
it up some more. and you chop it, and you chop
it. And then you're going to get your hair out, and you're
going to run that over, and it's just going to tear it up some
more. It's a destruction. This gospel destroys everything
that we count dear. Did you know that? But once that ground is torn
all to pieces, then the seeds planted. Like I say, there was
some here, with one accord, they gave heed to the things which
were spoken by Philip there, hearing and seeing the miracles
that he did. Unclean spirits, crying with
loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them.
And then there was another one. He wanted this power. His name
was Simeon. He said, what's it going to cost
to get to do that? Everything. Everything. Everything. And I'm just trying
to give you a little background because I want to get down to
what I want to say to you tonight. And they, when they had testified
and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem and
preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. And the angel
of the Lord spoke to Philip. He said, Arise and go toward
the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza,
which is desert. Who wants to go to a desert?
That's where you go preach the gospel. It's a desert. And Philip just did it. He arose
and went. And then verse 27, I like that
word, behold. And behold. I love that word. You know that word, if we can
describe it, it's the marquee lights. You've been over here
to Reno, Been down in Las Vegas at night, and all the signs,
everybody vying for your business, trying to get your attention,
and the lights going off. That's what this word right here
is. Some marquee lights. There's something going on here,
and the Lord's calling our attention to it. Behold! Something from
all eternity has been purposed, planned, and brought to pass.
Behold! It wasn't just luck. What did
it have anything to do with it? That there was a man, as always,
a man. A certain man. A certain woman. A certain person. The Lord always
deals with us as individuals. Always does. He speaks to us. You know, on that road to Damascus,
Paul saw a great light. The rest of them said they heard
a noise, but they didn't know what was going on. They saw a
light, but they didn't know what it was. But there was a man,
a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch, great authority, condescee, queen of the Ethiopians. He had charge of all of her treasure
and he had come to Jerusalem to worship. And he was returning
from Jerusalem back to Ethiopia. Now we don't know much about
this man. We don't know how this man became this slave of the
Queen of Ethiopia came to be a reader of the Scriptures. I've
read everything that I could find. I've gone back and tried
to find out and all you read is tradition says and legend
says. But this man, somehow or another,
had come across the scriptures, and had read the scriptures,
and had been moved upon to make this long journey, and you get
your maps out, and you'll find that Ethiopia was a long way
south of Jerusalem. I guesstimated about 1,500 miles. It may be more than that. A long
journey. that this man had made. And you
know, when they went up to the synagogue, you remember Paul,
one time when they went into Macedonia, their custom was on
the Sabbath day to go into the synagogue, and they were reading
the Law and the Prophets. And when the elders finished
reading the Law and the Prophets, they invited Paul They said,
do you men have any word of exhortation for the people? And Paul stood
up and preached the gospel to them. He just told them what
this all points to Christ. Everything you just got through
reading has spoken of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the
gospel that we preach to you. That's what he told them. But
when this man went up to Jerusalem, obviously they must have been
reading the Law and the Prophets as was the custom on the Sabbath
day. And he was on his way back. And
he was going back over what had been read. I'm sure. He's reading out of the prophet
Isaiah. I don't know how much light this
man had. But what light he had, he followed.
He followed it. I don't know how much light the
Lord's given you. But whatever He's given you,
follow it. Follow that light. He'll give you some more light.
And I've said it so many times, it's like climbing that ladder.
Don't start climbing on the top rung of that ladder. You've got
to start at the bottom. And you put all your weight on
that first rung before you can go to the second rung. But you've
got to do that. What the Lord shows you, believe
it with all your heart, Then He'll show you something else.
But don't start in Revelation until you started in Genesis
and work your way to it. Don't expect to know all the
mysteries until you start at the bottom. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Start there. Who He is. What He's done for us. What God
demands of us. How far short we've come. How
we've missed the mark. Start right there. And maybe
the Lord will reveal something, something else to you. This man
had a desire and an interest to know the truth of God. And
ever how that desire started, ever how that interest was started
in him, he followed it. He wasn't bound by his customs
or his traditions or he'd never gone up to Jerusalem. So many
people, they're so bound up by their customs, their traditions.
They're so bound by what mom and grandma and grandpa said
to them that they won't, you know, well, how many times have
you heard, well, my Bible doesn't say that. That never surprises
me. It doesn't surprise me at all.
Their Bible doesn't say that. Their Bible. because it's a figment
of their imagination doesn't speak of who God is and who we
are. What the Lord God of heaven demands
of us and what His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has provided for
us. This man, though, he wasn't bound
by his customs and his traditions. Whatever the Lord's revealed
to you, follow it. And instead of complaining that
you don't have any more light. Just make good use of the light
you have. What He's given you, what He's shown you. Believe
it with all your heart. And this man, this Ethiopian,
Munich, a slave, he'd become a proselyte to the
faith of Israel, somehow or another. And he made this long, dangerous
journey up to Jerusalem. And having been there enjoyed this worship, this time
of worship, whatever was going on in Jerusalem at that time,
he was on his way home. And while he traveled, he continued
to read. He continued to read the Word
of God. Oh, I tell you, if we would just
do that, continue to think and meditate upon what we've heard.
In our paper, I take the paper. I get the biggest kick out of
reading it. You know, you never have to invent an illustration. The paper's full of them. Especially
on Saturday when it gets religious and they put the religious section
in them. And they're interviewing this preacher. I use that word
loosely. But, well, tomorrow you're going
to have your morning religious service. What are you going to
do in the afternoon? And he said, well, I'm going to eat some pasta. And he said, I'm going to drink
some wine. And he said, then I may go play a round of golf.
Now, I'm not fussing anybody to go play a round of golf on
Sunday afternoon. What I'm talking about is the
importance of thinking back and remembering and meditating on
what we've just heard, not forgetting it. This man's a good example
that he didn't forget. He was thinking about it. He
was on his heart. He wanted to read some more. There was something that was
just annoyed at him that he couldn't get rid of. And in God's gracious
providence, he was reading from one of my favorite passages of
Scripture. At this particular time, when
Philip came up close, it said in verse 28, he was returning
and sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet. And over
there on the other side, here's the Spirit of God working on
this man to read again what he just heard read, and to think
about it, to meditate it. And over here on the other side,
and the Spirit of the Lord was speaking to Philip. And he said
to Philip, it's the way it always works out, you know? Always. He said to Philip, you see that
chariot over there? I can just see Philip looking
off over across that desert. Yeah, I can see the heat. But I can see that chariot way
off over there. And the Spirit said to Philip,
go to it. Go near. And not just near. He said, join thyself. to this
chariot. And Philip said, well, let me
pray about it. No. He said he ran, doesn't he? He ran there. Couldn't get there
fast enough. Just ran there. And he heard
this man, this Ethiopian, reading the prophet Isaiah. And Philip
asked him one of those other great questions. Donna, you can
add to that list. You were just talking about this
morning. Do you understand what you're reading? Do you understand? How can a
man be just with God? Do you understand what you read? Do you understand what you read? And he said, how can I? How can
I? And this is the spirit of every
person without exception that the Lord God of heaven is moving
on. How can I? Some man should guide me. The surest sign that the Spirit
of God is not moving on your heart is when you say, I don't
need a preacher. I don't need a preacher. I don't
need that preacher to tell me anything. I can do it myself. I can find it out myself. Just
mark it down. Spirit's not dealing with you.
Whatever you feel, it's not the Spirit of God. the Spirit of
God is going to bring you into contact with God's messenger
without exception. Without exception. And Philip
desired in verse 31, or rather he desired Philip, that Philip
would come up and sit with him. And the place of the scripture
which he read was this, Isaiah 53. He's reading At this particular time, verse
7 and 8, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a
lamb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation,
his judgment was taken away. And who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered
Philip, Now he's answering the question, do you understand what
you read? Then we had that little parenthesis
put in there where the Spirit of God showed us what he was
reading. And here he answers Philip the question, do you understand
what you read? And he said, I pray thee, here's
another good question I had to that. Of whom speaketh the prophet
this? Is he talking about himself? Or is he talking about some other
man? Who's he talking about? And Philip, he just opened his
mouth and began at that scripture and preached unto him, Jesus.
What are you going to do? My, what an opportunity. He just
opened his mouth and preached to him, Jesus. And as they went
on their way, they came to a certain water. And the eunuch said, see,
here's water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, if you believe
what you've just read, what the Spirit of God just spoke into
your heart, you believe it with all your heart, you may. And
he answered and said, I believe. And oh, what a statement. I can't
even read it with the power that I'd love
to read it, with the fullness with which I'd love to be able
to read this statement. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. Now, you go out here on the street
and you ask, do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?
Oh, sure. Swapping their bubble gum from one side of their mouth
to the other at the same time, popping it on the way over. I
wish I could say it, what it means. And we could spend all
eternity talking about that one statement right there, if we
never went anywhere else. And he commanded that unit. He's the one in command of this
chariot. He said, stop it right there. Commanded that chariot
to stand still. I just take it that he believed
what he said he believed. And they went both down into
the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and Philip baptized him. When they were come up out of
the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip that
the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing.
But Philip, Philip went back to the office and started Filling
in the log book, well, baptized another in the day. No, Philip, they just found him
at Zotus, passing through, he preaching all the time until
he came to Caesarea. He didn't stop. Just continued
to do. Well, let's slide these numbers
out. We've got another one we've got to stick in here in the board
up on the wall. We've got another. You've been
reading in the paper how concerned the organization is, the great
Baptist organization, of how much baptisms have fallen off. And they're planning a big campaign
right now, nationwide, because baptisms have fallen off. The
easiest thing in the world is to get somebody to duck them
in that water right there. But you know what? I tell you folks, as a pastor,
I have them ask me. And I say, no. I had a man, we
were, you know, I wouldn't say friends in that sense because
I don't know if I'd give my life for him and I'm sure he wouldn't
give his life for me, but we were acquaintances and we talked
a lot. And he said, Brother Milton,
he said, would you baptize me? He said, I've been baptized in
every Baptist church. In central Louisiana, he said,
except yours. He said, would you baptize me?
I said, no. Sure wouldn't. He didn't particularly like what
I told him. And that's just one illustration
of it. But in God's providence, I want
to talk about this man just a minute. In God's gracious providence,
He was reading a portion of the scriptures, and Philip preached
unto him Jesus as this slain Lamb, the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world, the willing sacrifice for guilty
men, the Lord who always bring His chosen to cross paths with
His gospel minister, His gospel messenger. And I ask you this same question
tonight. Do you understand this? Do you
understand what you read? There's a need to understand
what we read. We must know that the Scriptures
speak of Christ. And if you don't find Christ,
you've missed it. Man, you know, I get passages
of Scripture thrown out to me. People that have had sometimes
days and weeks to think about a particular passage of Scripture,
and they say, Pastor, you've got a minute. They'll flip away.
He said, the last one, Ezekiel 8. I think it was. What does that mean? What does
that verse mean right there in Ezekiel 8? I think it's somewhere
around verse 13, 14, something like that. I can't remember.
Don't go look it up. I'm not even sure if it was chapter
8. Not even really sure if it was Ezekiel. I think it was. I said, I don't know. But, I
said, I do know this. It's talking something about
Christ. But I said, man, give me a little
time. A few days. I said, I'll see you Monday,
the Lord willing. And I said, This was like on
Thursday. I said, give me the Monday. Let
me read it. I didn't have time to read it then. But I said,
go back to the first verse and start reading. And read all the
way down to the end of that chapter. And if you still don't find the
answer, either start earlier or just keep reading. I said,
you'll find out what that means there. But I said, just remember
this. It's speaking of Christ. Whatever else. Somewhere it's
talking about Christ. Somehow or another. This isn't
a history book. It's not a philosophy book. It's
not a rule book. It's talking about Christ. It's
a love letter from God to His people. Speaking of the spouse,
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. When you read it, see Christ. Philip asked this man, he said,
do you understand what you read? Well, I just want us to look
a little bit about what this man was reading. Turn back over
to Isaiah 53 with me. Isaiah 53. I want us just to
think about what this man had been reading. Now, he was reading verse 7 and
8. But that was just when Philip
got there. That's what he heard. And I'm
sure he didn't just let the Bible fall open put his finger on a
verse and then start reading. I think he was reading before
that. And we could go back to verse
1 if we wanted to, but just for time's sake, just look at verse
6. He had to have been reading that. Look at verse 4. He said,
Surely he hath borne our griefs, carried our sorrows, yet we did
esteem him strict and smitten of God, and afflicted. But, that's
what we think, but he was wounded for our transgressions. Substitution. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes we're healed. Are we? All y'all, that's what we said
in Texas, all y'all, all us, all we, like sheep. You know, when the Scripture
calls us sheep, that's such a blessing. Just imagine to be one of God's
sheep. But many times in the Scriptures
when we're called sheep, it's not very flattering. This is
one of those places where it's not very flattering that we're
called sheep. Probably one of the dumbest animals
that ever lived. You ever seen one in a circus? I could go on, but I won't. That's
not my message tonight. But he said, all we, like sheep,
have gone astray. I've never raised sheep. Been
around a lot of them. Talk to people that raised them. And
they'll tell you, they'll put their head down and start eating
and walk over a cliff, never lift up their head. They'll wander
off. I was preaching in a detention
center, one of ICE, Immigration Customs Enforcement, detention
centers for illegals. And we had 90% of them were Hispanic,
but there were some English-speaking people there. So I was doing
a bilingual service. And I was preaching from Psalm 23. And
I got talking about the sheep. And I said, they have no defense.
They're ignorant. They're stupid. And I went on. I got done. This black man came
up from Africa. And he said, I can't imitate
the way it sounds because it would come out like an African
lived in Texas. He said, pasta? Sheep have one defense. I said,
really? He said, yeah. He said, they
all stay together. He said, and the lion, they get one big animal. He said, lion won't attack the
sheep when they're all together. He said, the only way they'll
attack if they can separate one out. I said, you just blessed my heart.
You don't know, but you told me something that I'd never heard
before. Sheep stick together. That's
our only defense. And the lion won't attack us
while we're one. We're together. Oh, but if He
can ever separate us out, it's amazing. The destruction can divide us. All we like sheep
have gone astray. That's us. We've turned everyone
to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. You notice it starts with all,
it ends with all. That's ALL. That's not the kind
of all you put in your car. That's ALL. ALL. A whole bunch
of us. All of us. He had been reading
that. Well, that's me. He was oppressed. He was afflicted. And he opened
up his mouth. Who's talking? Is this talking
about the prophet? Is he talking about somebody
else? And then he had to have been
reading through these passages of Scripture. Over in Isaiah
54 verse 3, I had to come across this verse.
Sometimes you get a chance to do it on your own time, but read
all this. Verse 3 of chapter 54, he said, Break forth on the right hand
and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles."
Gentiles! Hey, he just called my name.
That's my family name. I'm of the Howard family. I just
think that's unique. He just said, man, I thought
this was to the Jews. And he just put me in there.
Gentiles. And his seed. Well, that's Christ. He's going to inherit the Gentiles.
I'm one of those Gentiles who's going to be possessed by God's
seed, Christ Jesus. He's going to make the desolate
cities to be inhabited. Then he must have got to this
next part while he was doing all of this reading because it
had been a pretty long journey from Jerusalem. Chapter 55, there
he said, Ho! Everyone that thirsteth. No distinction. The only qualification
is thirsty. Brother Scott Richardson said
you fit the character. You thirsty? That's all he said.
Didn't say Jew or Gentile, did it? Are you thirsty? Ho! Everyone that thirsteth,
come to the waters. And that's not an invitation.
The only way we can distinguish words in English is by voice
inflection. Now, I'm not a Greek scholar,
I'm not a Hebrew scholar, but I do know a little bit about
Spanish. And that word right there is a command for them.
It's imperative. Come. You don't ever find God's
prophets, God's preachers, inviting people. They commanded them to
bow. Come. Come to the waters. You thirsty?
Where do you go? To the waters. And he that hath
no money, come ye. Who? Me, ye. Buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine, milk, without
money and without price. Look at verse 6. Look at verse
6. Seek ye the Lord. Again, that's
not an invitation. Buscar al Señor. That's a command. Imperative. Seek ye the Lord
while he may be found. Call, that's not an invitation,
another. Llamadle. Mientras puede ser hallado. Call
upon Him. Command for Him. While He's near,
call upon Him. And then he had got down to...
Look back at verse 5. Here in Isaiah 55. He had to have seen this promise
while he was reading through this. Behold, there it is again. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run
unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One
of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. And then he had to have
gotten down to his favorite part of Scripture. Chapter 56, look
at verse 3. Neither let the son of the stranger
that hath joined himself to the Lord speak, saying, The Lord
hath utterly separated me from his people. Neither let the eunuch... EUNUCH! That's like saying Milton Howard. He just called my family name
Gentile, now he's calling my name. The eunuch, huh, neither let the eunuch say,
behold, I'm a dry tree. Can you imagine him reading that?
For thus saith the Lord. The Lord speaks to eunuchs? Thus saith the Lord. That's what
he says. Unto the eunuchs that keep my
sabbaths. Let's think about that for a
minute. And choose the things that please
me and take hold of my covenant. Look at that, verse 5. Even unto
them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons
and of daughters." Who's he talking about here? He said, I'll give
them an everlasting name and they shall not be cut off. Can you just let your mind wander
a little bit, your imagination work just a little bit, and put
yourself... Have you been there? When all
of a sudden, you say, the Lord spoke to me
this morning. Have you heard that? You pastors
that are here? You go out and somebody comes
and says, the Lord spoke to me. That was for me. this morning. Maybe nobody else heard it. And
I can imagine all the people there that were there in Jerusalem
when they read the Law and the Prophets, they heard this. I imagine some of them didn't
make much of an impression on them, but I bet you one thing,
it made an impression on this eunuch because they called his
name here. He saw God's love toward those
who were despised. He's a slave. He's a foreigner. He's a stranger. Sometime you
have time, go back and read about the strangers and the command
that the Lord God of heaven, the commands, plural, that the
Lord gave concerning the strangers. in the land. Here was a man who
was an Ethiopian, a slave, a eunuch, a foreigner, and a
stranger. But here's God's love toward
those who are despised by this world. And Philip took that passage
of And he spoke to him. And he speaks to us. We're that
eunuch. Ain't a Jew in here, I don't
imagine. He speaks to us. Oh, I pray you
speak to our hearts tonight. Thank you, brother Gene. What do you think? Come and have a look. If you
keep crying so much, you can't see.