Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me now to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter
8. I would like to use as my text
this morning, actually verse 36, Acts 8. And I'm going to read this one
passage of scripture, and we'll consider some of the scriptures
just before that in light of what we consider today. Acts
8.36 says this, And as they went on their way, they came unto
a certain water, and the eunuch said, See, here's water. What does hinder me to be baptized? That's what I've entitled this
message. What does hinder me to be baptized? I'd like to begin
this morning with that question that a seeking sinner An Ethiopian
eunuch asked a preacher on a lonely desert road. That's what he asked him. See? Here's water. What doth hinder
me to be baptized? Well, obviously, Philip or someone
else had actually instructed this man on the nature and the
design of baptism. And obviously the question reveals
a heart and a desire of purpose to confess the Lord in God's
ordained means of confession. Outward confession. That's what
baptism is. It's an outward confession of
our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we know this. Baptism doesn't save anybody.
Baptism is not salvation. Salvation is by grace. It's through faith, realized
by faith. And that is not of yourself,
neither the salvation or the faith. It's a gift of God. But baptism is the outward confession
of what the Lord has done for us in salvation. It's a confession before God
and men. This is what I believe. This
is what God has done for me. Just like marriage, like a marriage
ceremony. A marriage ceremony doesn't make
a man or a woman love each other. A marriage ceremony is the outward
acknowledgement. It's the ordained means of acknowledging
before others. I want to join myself to this
man or this woman. Somebody that wouldn't want to
actually be married, openly married, come together before... I mean,
that's God's means. The Lord Jesus Christ attended
the marriage in Cana of Galilee. Somebody that wouldn't want to
outwardly do the means of acknowledging marriage and living together
before others is just disrespectful, just disobedient. That's the
mean. It doesn't make you love each
other. It's the acknowledgment of it. Baptism doesn't save anybody. It's the outward acknowledgment. God's means of acknowledgment. Now hearing that question, what
does hinder me to be baptized? What I want us to do is I want
us to back up just a few verses. And I want us to consider what
led up to that question. This Ethiopian eunuch said, what would cause me to not be
baptized? Why shouldn't I be baptized? I want to be baptized. What's the situation? Well, let's just look. Here's
the first thing that I know concerning this leading up to that question. What doth hinder me to be baptized?
I know that the initial event, the first thing that led up to
that Ethiopian's question was the eternal purpose, providential
guidance of Almighty God. I know that. This is where This
is where it all started, right here. Where did it start that
that eunuch would eventually ask that question? The scripture
says in verse 26, just back up, and the angel, Acts 8, verse
26, the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and
go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem
unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose, and behold, a man
of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority, unto Candacy, queen
of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and
had come to Jerusalem for to worship." Now, two men are mentioned
in those passages of scripture. One is a believer. in the Lord
Jesus Christ, a preacher of the gospel, of God's grace. Another one was an unbeliever.
He was a religious unbeliever. But Almighty God, perveniently,
I told you that word pervenient means grace before grace. The Spirit of Almighty God preveniently
moved upon that Ethiopian eunuch and caused him to be right where
he was. I read where there was two ways
to go down from Jerusalem. One was the well-traveled road,
and the other one was this other road right here that goes down
onto Geza, which was the desert part. And the Spirit of God moved
upon that eunuch right there, that caravan that was with him,
and caused him to go down to this spot. And the Lord, the
Scripture says, spoke to Philip. How he spoke, we don't know.
Pressed him? Maybe hurt him? I don't know.
But Philip knew. This is what I've got to do.
He told him, he said, I want you to go down, go to the Word
of the South, go exactly where I tell you to go. And that's
a wonder that Almighty God, who has predestinated according to
His own will and purpose, that He would work all these things
out. according to the counsel of His
own will. Almighty God, based on what we
know, is scriptures. He absolutely, before the foundation
of the world, He purposed that this eunuch, right here, was
going to meet with his preacher on that road, that day, that
spot, And he was going to do something that that eunuch could
not do for himself. Now the steps of both these men
were ordered by the Lord. God purposed the meeting. Why are you here? What caused
you to be here? What was the events that led
up to you being right here? Well, I just decided to come
today. Really? Well, it was the Lord that ordered
your steps to be here, I'm telling you. And it's by the grace of
God that you would be anywhere, me too, where the gospel is being
preached, I'm telling you. Because but for the grace of
God, you'd be anywhere. You wouldn't be here. I tell
you this, you would not be here. God Almighty for His honor and
the good of His people, He ordered that event. Why did that eunuch
ask what he asked? What does it mean to me to be
baptized? What led up to that? I can tell you this, first of
all, the purpose of God. The purpose of Almighty God. Nothing happens by accident.
Nothing. There's the first cause. There's
the first cause in this event and every event. is the power
and pleasure of the Lord. Here's the second thing that
led up to that question. The Lord caused that sinner to
cross paths with His Word and a preacher of His gospel. I'm going to send preachers,
pastors according to my purpose, according to my heart. They're
going to teach you. Now here's an amazing thing.
And I'll be the first to admit, listen, I've told you before,
you're talking to a struggling sinner. One that absolutely will
be the first to admit who is sufficient for these things.
But I know this, Almighty God raises up preachers, preachers
of the gospel, highest calling that would ever be found in this
world, a preacher of the gospel of God's grace. And Almighty
God calls those men and qualifies them. He qualifies them by teaching
them the gospel. Every preacher of the gospel
knows the gospel because he's been taught the gospel by the
Spirit of God. God teaches him. And then the
Lord is pleased to order absolutely crossing of the paths of these
two men. The Scripture says for verse
28, He was returning and sitting in His chariot and He was reading
Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip,
Go near and join thyself to this chariot. Isn't that amazing? Which chariot do I go to? There's
a bunch of people there. Go to this chariot. And Philip
ran thither to him and heard him. And he heard him reading
the prophet Isaiah. And he said, Understandest thou
what thou readest? Now look at the amazing thing.
This eunuch, he had a copy of the Scriptures. And he was doing... Everything he knew to do. He
was reading. He was reading the book of Isaiah. And he had been in Jerusalem
and he was hearing these Scriptures read, and now here he is continuing
on reading. Reading in that specific spot. No other reason but for the grace
of God could explain why he was reading here, or why he was reading. Why he was reading. I thought
that was an amazing thing. How many times have you ever
left from where the gospel has been preached and then you find
yourself later that day reading, continuing to read? If we're
honest about it, probably not very many. Probably not very
many. But here is a man that We're going to find out in just
a minute. He doesn't know God. Not at this point. Not at this
point. And here he was reading. Had a desire to read. Wanted
to read. Why? God Almighty put it in his
heart. Was he searching the Scriptures
daily to see if what he had been hearing from whoever was reading
was so? I don't know. Here he was reading. And while he was reading, God
sent this preacher and caused the paths to cross. Whatever the means, whatever
the reason used by God, it caused this man to be where he was.
Here's what the Lord said to Philip. I want you to go and
join yourself. I looked up that word, join.
This is an amazing word. Listen to this. Glue yourself.
Glue yourself. I want you to glue yourself to
this chariot. And the scripture says, Philip
ran. He ran. I've got to go. I've got to go. This is what
the Lord has commanded me to do. I've got to go to this one
and join myself. And he did it. Not fearing rejection. I'm not saying that he didn't... I don't know. I don't know what
went on. But I know this. He knew. I've got to go. He went according to the Lord,
and he heard this man reading out loud Prophet Isaiah, and
the Lord directed Philip to ask that man this question. He says, Understandest thou what
thou readest? Do you understand what you're
reading? What a searching question. One,
but for the grace of God that would provoke animosity. One
day I was with Brother Scott. We were sitting in a McDonald's. And he pointed over to a place
and he said, I came through here one day and he said there was
a man reading, he had a Bible open. And he was sitting there
reading. And Scott said, I walked past
him and I said, do you understand what you're reading? And he said
he slammed his Bible closed and he said, yeah, I understand what
I'm reading. But for the grace of God, that
question would provoke anger, animosity. Resentment. How dare you insinuate that I
don't understand what I'm reading? Who are you anyway? Why don't
you mind your own business? That would be something that
very easily could have come up. But something was really different
here. And here's the third thing that
led to the event of that eunuch's question. Almighty God in the
day of God's power. God made that eunuch willing
in the day of God's power to be honest, submissive, meek,
concerning his ignorance. Boy, what a mark of God's grace. A God Almighty would just cause
a man, Just be quiet. Be quiet. Look at verses 31 to 34. And
he said, after Philip asked him, Understandest thou what thou
readest? And he said, How can I, except some man guide me? And he desired, Philip, that
he'd come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which
he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and like a lamb done 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 and said, I pray thee,
of whom speakest the prophet this, of himself or some other
man? Oh, the wonder of God's mercy
to bring a man to admit, I'm ignorant, I need some help. I need to be taught. I don't understand what I'm reading. I'm thinking to myself, Lord,
oh, do that today. Lord, show us. Give us a heart
that readily admits, Lord, I need to be taught. That eunuch didn't start confessing
his former religious life. He liked Paul. Philippians 3.7,
what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Things that I formerly trusted
in. He had gone to Jerusalem. He had gone to the synagogue.
That's where he'd been. And that by the grace of God
that he was there. And here he is coming back now
still reading. Reading out loud because Philip
heard him. He said, you understand what you're reading? You heard
him read. Oh, before God lifts a man up,
He's going to bring him down. Going to put him in the dust. Going to show him what he is.
Psalm 40 verse 2, He brought me up also out of a horrible
pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and
established my goings. And here's the fourth thing that
led up to that question, what doth hinder me to be baptized?
Here's the fourth thing. That Ethiopian eunuch heard the
gospel of God preached to him. Look at verse 35. Then Philip
opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached
unto him Jesus. He started right where that eunuch
was. Why? Because these scriptures
right here, these are they that testify of me. All the Scriptures sent forth
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of them. And Philip started
right where he was, and he preached unto Him Jesus. The man. The God-man. Man. God. He preached unto Him the Lord
Jesus Christ. He told him what the gospel was,
that God Almighty had eternally purposed to save a people. That
God had chosen a people out of every nation, and kindred, and
tribe, and tongue. They had fallen in Adam. And
God Almighty who would not allow His people to perish, He sent
His only begotten Son, because God loved the order of man. And
He sent. His Son. Made of a woman. Made under the law. And He came
into this world. Born of a virgin. He came forth. The Man. Christ Jesus. And He
walked before God Almighty for His people. Represented His people. Established the righteousness
that would enrobe His people. He obeyed God. Man's lost. He can't help himself. Dead sinners
against God. But elect sinners that God's
not going to allow to perish. And he lived for them, and he
went to the cross. Made sin. Not made a sinner. Not made a sinner. You say, how
can he be made sin and not made a sinner? He was obedient. is the disobedience of God's
law. By one man's disobedience. But here, a marvelous thing is
revealed in 2 Corinthians 5.21. Christ was obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross.
And He was made sin obediently. You say, I can't understand that. I agree with you. I agree with
you. But it does not change the fact
that He was made what we are by nature, that we might be made
what He is, in Him, righteousness of God. And so He preached unto
Him, Jesus, and He told Him of God's sovereign grace, God's
electing grace, redeeming grace, quickening grace, that Almighty
God has put away our guilt. by the sacrifice of himself.
He delivered us from the curse of the law being made a curse
for us. Philip preached unto this eunuch,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and something marvelous happened. Here is the
fifth thing that led up to that question. God gave him a heart
to believe. He heard the gospel preached.
He'd just asked him before, you understand what you're reading?
How can I? How can I? Does some man teach
me? Some man reveal? How can I? And
he preached unto him and set forth the only means of God's
grace in the salvation of a sinner. The gospel. The gospel of Christ. And the Scripture says in verse
36, As they went on their way, they came unto a certain water.
And the eunuch said, See this water? What doth hinder me to
be baptized? And Philip said, There is only
one hindrance to being baptized. One hindrance to being baptized.
If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the
chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water,
both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they
were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught
Philip away, that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went
on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus,
and passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came
to Caesarea. This eunuch wanted to be baptized. Why? Because the Lord had given
him a heart to believe. God had called him out of darkness.
God had revealed Christ to him. This eunuch now saw, by the grace
of God, salvation is in the man, Christ Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth. A man approved of God. You believe that? You believe
that? I believe that Jesus is the Son
of God. I believe that this Jesus of
Nazareth is the one promised of God. I believe that He is
the revelation of all that God prophesied. I believe that it's
He. I believe that's God's Messiah.
I believe that. And Philip baptized Him. And
that eunuch went from that point He was doing exactly what he
was doing before, but a changed man. He was rejoicing in the
Lord. Thanking God that God had shown mercy to him. Went on back
to where he was. He was the one that watched over
the treasurer of Kansas City, the queen. But now, by the grace
of God, he was a sinner saved by the grace of God. Baptized,
confessing before God Almighty and men, I believe Christ. He's my hope. I have no confidence
in my flesh. I have nothing to glory in save
the mercy, grace of God Almighty. This is it. The Lord Jesus Christ
is all of our hope. There's no hope. There's no hope. I'm telling you. in your works. He wasn't baptized in order to
be saved. Now, I'm going to ask you a question.
Do you believe that there's nothing that you could possibly do to
merit salvation before God? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that Almighty God chose you according to the Scriptures? Ephesians
1.4, just one of them. 2 Thessalonians 2.13, that God
Almighty chose to show mercy to you. He chose to show mercy
to you. Do you believe that when the
Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures, John 10, that
He laid down His life for the sheep? Do you believe that? According to the Scriptures,
He said so. Do you believe that you are totally unable to do
anything of yourself? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that the Spirit of God, who blows like the wind, moves as He will,
according to God's purpose and God's will and God's pleasure,
do you believe that God Almighty powerfully and mercifully brought
you and put you under the sound of the gospel? And has given
you a heart A new heart to believe what God Almighty has eternally
purposed to do. Do you believe that? If you've
never been baptized and you believe that, it's what Philip asked
him, if you believe that with all your heart, with an honest
heart, you believe that, what doth hinder you to be baptized?
May the Lord bless these words to our heart for Christ's sake.