All right, brethren, chapter
8 of Acts. The Lord Jesus sent Philip to
this Ethiopian man. It says there in verse 26, the
angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, go toward
the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza,
which is desert. And he arose and went, behold,
a man of Ethiopia and eunuch of great authority under Candacy,
the queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her
treasure and had come to Jerusalem for the worship, was returning
and sitting in his chair reading Isaiah the prophet. I read that
this was the old Gaza road, and that's significant. There was
a newer, shorter road to Gaza. But the Lord directed Philip
to go down to this old Gaza road toward Africa. So you see the
Lord directed him exactly to the place. The Lord Jesus is
sovereign to bring his lost sheep, the gospel. He's sovereign to
bring the gospel, the true preaching of the gospel, right to where
his child is or to bring his child under the sound of the
gospel. And that's what the Lord did here in sending Philip to
this back road in the desert. This man had been up to Jerusalem
to worship. He went up there lost and he
came back lost. And the Lord didn't use any of
the men in Jerusalem to teach him because they were lost. But this
man was a chosen child of God. He was an elect child of God
chosen from before the foundation of the world. And one Christ
was surety for, one Christ had redeemed by his precious blood.
He must hear the gospel. He must be given faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The justice of God demands he
must be called. But God didn't use those false
teachers in Jerusalem. He used Philip with the truth,
with the gospel. You think about this. What did
it take to put away our sin? It took the Son of God coming
in human flesh and obeying the law in perfection, going to the
cross, laying down his life for his sheep, which is what he said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. It took him doing that to put
away the sin of his people. Would he do that, be sovereign
to do that, and accomplish that redemption of his people? Then
send a message that declares he died for everybody without
exception. But it's up to you. Would he then send that message
to save his people? If he was able to lay down his
life for his sheep, as he said he did, and accomplish their
redemption, and sovereign to do it, and accomplished it, then
would he say, well, I guess I'll just have to save through this
message that says I died for everybody? No. Not at all. Would Christ be made a curse
and redeem us from the curse of the law and then save his
people to the message that tells sinners they have to keep the
law to be saved? Would he declare throughout his
scriptures that he's the sanctifier and the sanctification of his
people and then save through a message that gives man the
glory for sanctification? Not at all. It's impossible to
believe on Christ in truth until we've been taught the truth of
Christ by Christ. You see, when he sends his messenger,
it's Christ speaking. Go over to Romans 10. Romans
10. Romans 10.10. With the heart
man believeth unto righteousness. And with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. That's what you need. You need
righteousness, you need salvation. And to have righteousness, to
have salvation, is only by believing on Christ in the heart. That's
the only way. For the scripture said, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there's no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. See there where it says, how
beautiful are the feet of them? This comes out of Isaiah 52. And when the Lord gave that word
in Isaiah 52, He said, the feet of him. Speaking of Christ, he
said, when I come, right here he's speaking of his messenger,
them. But when Christ said, when I send my messenger, he said,
my people shall hear my voice and they'll know it is I that
do speak. That's what he said. My people
will hear my voice and my people will know it's me that's speaking
to them. And this is what the scripture says. You've learned
Christ, if so be that you've heard him, that you've heard
him. and been taught by him as the
truth is in Jesus. Christ alone is the one who fulfills
prophecy. He's the only one that does it,
and he fulfills this prophecy from Jeremiah 315. He said, I
will give you pastors after mine own heart, which shall feed you
with knowledge and understanding. That's what Christ promised to
do, and that's what he does. And he gives it to his people.
So Philip came upon this Ethiopian eunuch sitting in his chair reading
Isaiah 53. Philip didn't know where he was
being sent. He just knew the Lord told him to go there. So
he goes. He comes along and there's this
Ethiopian eunuch sitting in his chair reading Isaiah 53. This
man being a eunuch probably means he was an officer, very powerful
man as it says he is here, rather than meaning he was mutilated
so that he was unable to produce children. Potiphar is called
a eunuch, and he had a wife. Balaam was called a eunuch, and
he had Janice and Jambres were his sons. Now the word eunuch
doesn't always mean somebody that's unable to produce children.
It means an officer, and that's what this man was. He was a powerful
man. In verse 29, the Spirit said
to Philip, Go near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran
thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah. And
he said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How
can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip
that he come up and sit with him. Man by nature is proud. Man by nature is proud. You ask
most men about God and they'll tell you they know God. They'll tell you what they know,
here's what I believe, what have you. Man's proud by nature, especially
men of great authority like this man was. Unwilling to admit ignorance,
unwilling to be taught by man, especially a stranger. Philip
just shows up. He don't know Philip. and especially
God's preacher who's preaching the gospel which is offensive
to natural man. But the first indication that
the Lord has worked grace in the heart of a man is the Lord
makes the man teachable. He makes him teachable. When
Philip asked him if he understood what he read, he answered, How
can I except some man guide me? And he desired Philip that he'd
come up and sit with him. That's the work of God's grace.
That's God's grace that gives us that heart. To be willing
to know I can't know this unless I have some man to guide me.
Only God can give a sinner a willingness to be taught by the man God sends
to him. That's just God's way. That's
offensive to men, but that's God's way. I want you to note,
too, the humility, the humility that God had put in this man.
Verse 32, the place of the Scripture which he read was, he's led as
a sheep to the slaughter like a lamb done before his shearer,
so he opened not his mouth. It's reading out of Isaiah 53.
And we get down to verse 34, and the eunuch answered Philip
and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this, of
himself or some other man? That is a rare and precious thing
right there, that somebody hears the Scripture preached and is
humble in spirit and willing to admit, I don't understand
the Scripture. Will you teach me? That is a
rare thing. God gives that. A man desiring
to be taught the Gospel, what a rare and precious thing. Only
the Lord gives it. Verse 35, Then Philip opened
his mouth, and he began at the same scripture, and he preached
unto him Jesus. He was reading from Isaiah 53.
And verse 32 says, the place in the scripture where it says,
He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. I can hear Philip
declare, It's one who was led as a sheep to the slaughter.
This One that was submitted to be led like a lamb is the Lamb
of God. This One is the Son of God, come
down in human flesh. This is God in human flesh that
came forth, submitted Him to God who made the world, God who
upholds all things, God who's in sovereign control of every
man's heart, submitted for men to lead Him like a sheep to the
slaughter. He came not to condemn his elect. If he opened his mouth, he's
going to condemn them, because he's innocent. He's innocent. And if he opens his mouth, he's
going to condemn those he came to save. And so he kept his mouth
shut when he was accused, like a lamb done before his shearer,
so he opened not his mouth. He opened it not. And in his
humiliation, humbling himself, opening not his mouth, his judgment
was taken away. They came and they took him from
prison, and they had a mock trial, and they took judgment from him.
They brought up false charges and railed on him, mocked him,
did all the things they did to him, took his judgment away,
and then they took him and led him away to the cross and nailed
him to the curse tree. And he was in control of everything
that took place. They were doing what God before
determined to be done. That's what every man in this
world is doing. They're doing what God determined before to
be done to glorify Christ and save his people. And that's what
was taking place on Calvary's cross. He suffered the holy justice
of God, the wrath of God. He suffered the hell that every
one of his people, you sitting here right now, he suffered the
hell that his people earned, that we deserve. He suffered
it. He went under the wrath of God and bore the hell we deserve,
that living, eternal death in hell that we deserve. That's
what Christ bore for us for bearing our sin. and he satisfied God's justice.
That was his own justice. That was his own law. He's God,
and he satisfied his own justice. He satisfied his own law, fulfilled
it for his people, and he took away the sins of his people like
the scapegoat pictured. He took them away to a land not
inhabited. That means a land where nobody
can find them anymore, a land where God don't even remember
them anymore. God said, ìI will be merciful
to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more.î Heís talking about every chosen child
that He chose by free grace and gave to Christ, who Christ laid
down His life for and justified and purged all our sins away. God said, ìI will be merciful
to their unrighteousness.î Has He been merciful to your
unrighteousness? Does He keep being merciful to
your unrighteousness? He's merciful to our unrighteousness
before we knew Him and after we've known Him. He's merciful
to their unrighteousness. And He said, and their sins and
their iniquities will I remember no more. Do you know what good
news that is? I won't remember it anymore.
God's forgotten the sins of His people. They've been put away.
They've been paid for. They've been atoned for. and
having manifest the righteousness of God, having conquered sin,
death, and hell, that grave couldn't hold him. The grave couldn't
hold our Lord Jesus Christ. He came out of that grave and
ascended to the right hand of the Father. And I can hear Philip
saying to that Ethiopian eunuch, this one who was led like a lamb
to the slaughter, this one who opened not his mouth, who suffered
and bled and died in a room instead of his people, this one is risen
and has all power in heaven and earth. Sir, he's the one that
sent me to you to preach this gospel to you. He's the one that
sent me out here on this old Gaza road to preach the gospel
to you, to declare him to you. And he said those who believe
him, those who trust him, those who see by faith that they were
really in Christ and crucified in Christ, and that justice had
already destroyed their old men of sin before the law of God,
that they went into the grave and were buried. And when they
came out, they came out in Christ, a new man risen, seated with
him at his right hand, where they are there right now, their
life is hid with him. Those who believe Him and see
Him, they want to confess Him. They want to show it in believers'
baptism. They want to go into that watery
grave and show, I died with Christ, I was buried with Christ, I arose
with Christ. They want to confess Him publicly
because they are not ashamed anymore to confess Him. Verse 36 says, And as they went
on their way, they came into a certain water, That's pretty
convenient, wasn't it? It just so happened. After Philip
preached the gospel to them, they came to some water. The Lord led them right there
to that certain water, just like He speaks about a certain man
being one of His chosen people. There was some certain water
right there, just chosen for this man right here. And the
eunuch said, See, here's water. What doth hinder me to be baptized?
And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
is God's one requirement for a sinner to confess Christ in
a believer's baptism. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
is God's one requirement for a sinner to confess Christ in
a believer's baptism. This man never met Philip. He
never heard the truth of the gospel preached. Philip comes
along, he preaches one gospel message to this man, and this
man asks to be baptized. Would you baptize him? He didn't sit and listen to 3
years or 4 years worth of messages or 15 or 20. He just heard one
message. Peter preached one message at
Pentecost. 3,000 sinners confessed Christ
and apostles baptized them that day. Paul preached one message to
Lydia in her house, and the Lord opened her heart, the heart of
the elect in her house, and she confessed she believed. Paul
baptized her that day. Paul preached one message to
the Philippian jailer in his house, and that night they confessed
they believed the Lord Jesus Christ, and Paul baptized them
that night. There's one requirement. There's
just one requirement. Verse 37, If thou believest with
all thine heart, thou mayest. This is the one requirement to
confess Christ in baptism. We just read it, With the heart
man believeth unto righteousness. Somebody will want to confess
Christ. Well, I just, I don't see any righteousness in him.
That's why he believes on Christ. That's why he's confessing he
needs Christ. He don't have any. You believe under righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Look
at Hebrews 11 with me. Hebrews chapter 11. Now faith
is the substance of things hoped for. Hebrews 11 1. Faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by faith the elders obtained
a good report. That's how. That's how God received
them. They believed the Lord Jesus.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the
word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things
which do appear. We know that through faith. We
believe that. By faith Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being
dead yet speaketh." Only thing Abel did, only thing Abel did,
he did exactly what that Ethiopian eunuch is doing. He came before
God confessing, I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all
my righteousness and all my hope. That's why God testified he pleased
God. By faith Enoch was translated
that he should not see death, and was not found because God
had translated him. For before his translation he
had this testimony that he pleased God." When you read faith right
there, you can put Christ in the place of faith right there.
Because faith is believing Christ has done it. That's what faith
believes. And it's not just your faith
that did all of that, it's Christ who faith lays hold of. But without
faith, it's impossible to please Him. Without believing on His
Son, who He's pleased with, it's impossible to please Him. He
that cometh to God must believe that He is. That He's what? That
He's everything He says in His Word. That He's a rewarder of them
that diligently seek Him. Well, what about John the Baptist?
He told those Pharisees, bring forth fruit, meat for repentance.
He said, who told you generation of vipers to flee from the wrath
to come? Bring forth fruit, meat for repentance. Why did he tell
them that? Because that's what they did to other men. They were
the holy men. They set the bar and you had
to meet their expectation or you couldn't be accepted. And
John the Baptist turned it right back on him and he said, you
men are the ones that need to bring forth fruit of faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance from everything about yourself
and every work you've ever done. That's what, when we confess
faith in Christ, we are confessing repentance
from any and all former confidence. We are confessing a total denial
of self. We deny ourselves confessing
that all our former religion and all our thoughts of God was
a worthless lie. That's all it was. We didn't
know God. We deny ourselves confessing
that no righteousness, no holiness is of us. We're not the producer
of it. We confess we are the sinner. That's the only thing we're glorying
in. That's the only thing we can take the credit for. We are
the sinner. I'm not talking about a theoretical
sinner and a doctrine of depravity. I'm saying I am a sinner. I am
a sinner. I sin every day, every hour of
every day, every moment of every day. I'm sinning right this minute. I'm talking about a real sinner.
I'm not somebody that if it was left to you for one second, God
puts you in hell and be just to do it. I'm talking about a
sinner. That's what God's people are confessing. We confess we
believe Christ alone is our wisdom and our righteousness and our
sanctification and our redemption. He alone is. Faith rests in Christ
and trust Christ to save me to the end. Every step of the way. When Philip said, with the whole
heart, if you believe with the whole heart, he doesn't mean
strong faith. He doesn't even mean full assurance
of faith. It may be weak faith, and it
usually is. It may be imperfect faith, and
it always is. He means if you truly believe
on Christ from the heart. The Spirit of God gave this Ethiopian
faith in the Lord Jesus. Listen to this, verse 37. This
is how he answered. He answered and he said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now I'll tell you what
he didn't say. He didn't say, I believe in the
doctrine of total depravity. He didn't say, I believe in the
doctrine of election. He didn't say, I believe in the
doctrine of predestination. I believe in the doctrine of
particular redemption. I believe all those things, and
God's people believe all those doctrines. But the doctrine didn't
lay down his life and save me on Calvary's cross. And if a
man came confessing that to Philip, Philip would have said, no, we'll
wait a while. We'll wait a while. This man confessed he didn't
know much. He didn't know much. But he believed Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. That's faith. That's true faith. That's saving faith. That's a true confession. I believe
that Jesus, that man Jesus, he's the only Savior of sinners. His
name shall be called Jesus, Savior, for he shall save his people
from their sin. I believe that Jesus Christ,
that he's the one anointed of God, God chose him, God anointed
him to be the prophet, priest, and king of his people. You know
what that means, prophet, priest, and king? Everything you need
to be saved. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. I believe the man Jesus is God
in human flesh. He's the only begotten of the
Father. He's equal and He's eternal with God the Father and God the
Holy Spirit. And the redemption He accomplished
is eternal. He's God, the Savior. That's a true confession of faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. They kicked out that blind man
that the Lord gave sight. He didn't measure up. They kicked
him out because he said, I don't know much about this man. He
said, all I know is I was blind and I see now. And they put him
out. Mom and Daddy wouldn't even side
with him. Put him out. The Lord came to him. Jesus heard
that they cast him out. When he found him, he said to
him, Does thou believe on the Son of God? And he answered and
said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said
to him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with
thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. When the
Lord turned to Peter and the rest of the apostles, and that
multitude was walking away, They heard the Lord preach Christ,
preach Himself, and preach that you have to be called of the
Father, and you have to eat His flesh and drink His blood, you
have to believe Him alone, or you have no life. They said,
it's a hard saying. Who can hear it? And they went
away. And the Lord turned to Peter and the Apostle, and He
said, Go with them. You're welcome to go. You want
to go, go. Simon Peter answered him, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. God's people believe a person
is salvation. We believe a person is righteousness.
We believe a person is holiness. We believe a person is redemption.
We believe a person is salvation. And we don't believe that we
contribute one bit. not one iota. And if you set
a bar for somebody to meet, that's a fatal mistake. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, listen now, whosoever shall confess
that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in
God. That's God's Word. Whosoever
believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone
that loveth him that begat loveth him also that's begotten of him.
Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God. John said the things written
in his gospel were written for this reason. And John 20, 31,
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you might have life through His name. You believe on Christ? John said,
if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, you have the
witness in you. And he said, and if you believe
Him, you have eternal life. Got to be more to it than that,
only for the Pharisee. Only for the Pharisee, not for
God's people that he saved. Christ is all. Christ is all. We're learning more and more
every day how foul we are and how incapable we are of contributing
anything to salvation. That's what we're learning. And
we're learning more and more every day the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Are you learning the grace of
the Lord Jesus? Has it been gracious to you? Was he gracious to you
when you didn't know him? Was he gracious to send a gospel
and call you? Has he been gracious to you since
he called you? Has he forgiven you every single
day? Every single day. Has he been merciful to you?
He's teaching us this more and more and more. the grace of our
Lord Jesus. And He's growing us in knowledge
of Him that He is everything. He's God. He's salvation. He is. And if you have Him, you
have all. If you have Him, you have acceptance
with God. You think about it. You believe
in God. He is God and you believe in
God. And that's the only way you have acceptance is believe
in God. Well, don't we have to know something?
You have to know Him. You have to know Him. How can you believe on Him whom
you've not heard? You've got to know Him. But when
He's revealed Himself to you and you know Him and you believe
Him, you have life. That's what we confess when we
confess Him in baptism. Philip knew God's the judge. When somebody asks to be baptized,
I don't know their heart. I don't know anybody's heart.
But I'm not the judge. I'm not the judge. God's the
judge. God alone knows the heart. And
Philip believed God. He believed God. He took the
man's confession knowing it was between the Ethiopian and God. And that's what it is. It's between
God and the child he's called. Verse 38 says, 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
called away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more, and he
went on his way rejoicing. Brethren, when the Spirit gives
a man faith in Christ, he will confess Christ in water baptism.
Believing Jesus Christ is the Son of God is the one prerequisite
to water baptism. That is how we're saved. Believing
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Amen.