Lord's help to grant me the words
to speak to you this evening. I'd like to direct your attention
to the chapter that we read together, the book of Acts, chapter 8,
and the text you'll find in verse 36. And as they went on their way,
they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, See, here
is water. What does hinder me to be baptized? Those who were with us this morning
will hopefully remember that we spoke on that faith from Hebrews
11 that without faith it is impossible to please God. And that those
who come to God must believe that he is and he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him. And then throughout that
chapter we read of those who believed God as they had a that
God worked in their lives, they believed him and they obeyed
him and they were used by God in various ways and that God
granted them that measure of faith to accomplish his will
in their lives. And we have Abraham and Noah
and Moses and other people who are presented to us as faithful
They believed God, they obeyed God, and they pleased God. And we had Enoch, who was a man
who walked with God. He was found amongst the line
of Cain, those who called upon the name of the Lord, and he
pleased God, and God took him. He was one of those who did not
die. He was taken directly from this world to the next. And so we notice that faith is
not a natural thing. Spiritual faith is not a natural
thing. It's something which is supernatural. It comes as a gift
from God to enable someone to see themselves and to see their
need of the Lord Jesus Christ and to obey the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus says, deny yourself, take
up your cross, and follow me and someone can never truly do
that unless they have been given the gift of faith to see the
Lord Jesus Christ and his wonderful work of salvation. And then those who follow Christ
are called literally to follow him, to be obedient to him. one of the first steps of faith
that a person makes after they have been born again is that
they desire to obey the Lord Jesus in being baptized. It is one of the first acts of
obedience to publicly declare what Christ has done for you
and in doing so you testify, you declare which is also an
act of faith. You declare what Christ has done,
what you believe Christ has done for you and that you are part
of that number of the Lord Jesus Christ, part of the sheep of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you have that desire to publicly
demonstrate what Christ has done for you in following him through
the waters of baptism. You declare that you have died
to self, and that your sins have been washed away and you rise
again in newness of life. And so in our reading this evening,
we had two people who were baptised. One was Simon, the sorcerer,
who is said to have believed, and the other is a eunuch. Simon
the sorcerer believed, but then it was later found out that he
was a false convert, that his heart was still in the gall of
bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. And yet we have the
eunuch who testifies that, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son
of God. And he goes on his way back to
Ethiopia we would hope and pray that he remained faithful to
his testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so baptism was a
command given by the Lord Jesus that as the apostles were to
go forth into all the world they were to preach the gospel and
those that believed were to be baptized and we can see that
system, that obedience that Philip and the early church adhered
to. As Philip obeys the spirit, he
says go into the desert and there he would meet a eunuch and he
preached to him Jesus. He preached to him Jesus. That
was the starting point of the conversation. The man couldn't
understand what he was reading. He was reading from Isaiah 53
and he was misunderstanding, was this the
prophet or was this some other man? And Philip preached to him
Jesus from that chapter. And we know that that is a chapter
that speaks to us of the Lord Jesus Christ, the suffering servant,
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and a man acquainted
with grief. And so Philip immediately brings
him to Christ. He shows him, he would have showed
him his need of the Lord Jesus and that this suffering servant
was the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who came into the world. We go to the beginning of the
chapter that we read, we can see that there also As the early
church was persecuted, as they were pushed out of Jerusalem
and they went into the surrounding areas, they went preaching the
word. In verse 4 it says, therefore
they were scattered abroad everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip
went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. We know that as Christ sent forth
his apostles they began at Jerusalem and then they went out. Jerusalem
on the day of Pentecost received the gift of the Holy Spirit and
multitudes believed and were added to the church daily. As the gospel moved out they
went to the Samaritans and we read here that the Samaritans
also believed the word that was spoken. and they believed the
gospel. They believed their need of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They saw their sin and they saw
their need of a saviour. And they believed and they were
baptised. In verse 12, And when they believed
Philip's preaching in the things concerning the kingdom of God
and the name of the Lord Jesus, they were baptised. both men
and women and Simon also himself believed also and when he was
baptized he continued with Philip and wondered beholding the miracles
and signs that was done. And so they began with Christ,
the preaching of the gospel, go into all the world and preach
the gospel. was the message that was to be
proclaimed. Christ came into this world for
a reason, not so that his work would be hidden but that his
work would be publicized. that he gave that commission
to his apostles to go forth into the world and to carry the gospel
and preach the gospel so that people would hear the gospel.
This morning we looked at that word where it says that faith
comes by hearing. And so that is why God commissioned
his apostles to go and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ so people could hear the message of the Lord Jesus. They
needed to know who he was, that he was God's beloved son. They
needed to know why he came and what he came to do. Philip preaches
to them regarding the kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Messiah, and he did to know what his life what he came to do with his life,
that he was born of the Virgin Mary, that he came and he fulfilled
those multitudes of prophecies, that he came and lived perfectly
under the whole law of God, working out a righteousness for his people. that he was despised and rejected
of men, that he was crucified upon a cross. And not only was
he crucified there but on the cross, but that there upon the
cross the father imputed the sins of his people upon Christ
and he paid their debt. He charged Christ with the sins
of his people and Christ paid that payment. that he rose again
on the third day, signifying that the work was accepted by
God, that he had completed the work that God the Father gave
him to do and he rose up from the grave, that his work had
been finished and completed and accepted, that he ascended up
into heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. But also, It is obvious that
he preached to them what those who believed the message ought
to be doing. Jesus says, as I've said already,
deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. And those things
would have been entwined in the preaching of the gospel. They
were to preach the whole gospel. It's not just about Christ, but
it was about those who believed. Those who believed would be baptized. as a symbol that they were now
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were obedient to the command
of the Lord Jesus. For it is a command. If Christ
says to do something, then that is a command for his people to
do. There is no compromise. You either
obey or you disobey the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ in Mark
16. And he says, in verse 15, he says, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature or every
person. And he that believeth is baptized
and shall be saved. But he that believeth not shall
be damned. there is the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ, go into all the world and preach the good news
of salvation that although man has been plunged into the darkness,
into the depths of sin and there is no hope for him, Yet the gospel
which is good news brings hope to those who are unable to be
reconciled to God that God was in Christ reconciling the world
to himself. And so the early church took
the message even when they were persecuted. Although they were
afraid and although the persecution scattered them they were not
ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They went
everywhere preaching the gospel or it has been said gossiping
the gospel. From place to place they went
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ and it seems that God used the
persecution not as a dampening of the gospel but as a fire to
spread the gospel. As they were persecuted the gospel
was pushed further out into other places and those who believed
it were baptised. so Christ says go and he that
believeth is baptized and shall be saved. In Acts 2 on the day
of Pentecost and verse 38. Well first it's 37. And when they heard this, so
faith comes by hearing, when they heard this, when they heard
the preaching of the gospel, when they heard the message about
the Lord Jesus Christ, when they understood their need of the
Lord Jesus Christ, their hearts were pricked. And they said,
what men and brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said unto them,
repent. and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remissions of sins and
you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And so that was
as the gospel came to the Jews, it was the same. They believed,
they were convicted of their sin, they saw their need of Christ
and they wanted to follow the Lord Jesus. What do we do? or
to show that you have believed, to show that you are now separated
from Judaism, then be baptised. Show, declare to others that
you are following the Lord Jesus Christ, that you have died to
self and you have been washed from your sin and you are raised
again in newness of life. And those who believed were baptised
when the gospel came to the Gentiles in Cornelius's house. And when
Peter was sent to them, he preached the gospel to them. He explained
to them that those who follow Christ are to be baptized. And he was baptized with his
whole house. And as the gospel continues to
go into this world, those who believe, they are commanded by
the Lord Jesus Christ, when you believe, then be baptized. The scripture tells us that through
the baptism they were added to the church, that the church is
the assembly of the saints. It is the called out ones, those
who have believed. They were separated from the
world. They're no longer in the darkness. They're no longer in
the world anymore. And they declare that by walking
through that ordinance of baptism and associating themselves with
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the called out ones of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the example of the children
of Israel as they come out of Egypt. They're in Egypt the type
we could say of the world. They are called out by the Lord and they follow Moses and they
go through the water of the Red Sea and they come through that
and they begin that pathway of walking through the wilderness
and going to the Promised Land. And so they begin their journey
by going through the water. And so baptism is the beginning
of the Christian journey, beginning of the external declaration that
I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and I've been called out from
the world and I want to follow him. I believe that I have been,
that I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and I want to follow him. It is an expression of our faith
in the Lord Jesus. The eunuch, he confesses that
he believes in Christ. Philip preached unto him Jesus. And they went on their way and
came to a certain water. And so you see in preaching Christ,
Philip understood, sorry the eunuch understood what now was
necessary. Because Philip had incorporated
this into the message. That those who believe in Christ,
they were now being baptised. And so on the journey, the eunuch's
thinking in his mind, well I believe. And if I believe then therefore
I should be baptised. That was his line of thought. And they come then and he sees
some water. And he says to Philip, well,
here is water. What then does hinder me to be
baptised? And Philip said to him, If thou
believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answered
and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now, there are two people, as
I said at the beginning, two people here who testified that
they believed. Simon, and a eunuch. Simon was baptised but it was
found out over a period of time, we don't know how long, that
he was a fake convert. We know that baptism of itself
does not save anybody. It is not the saving waters of
baptism, it is believers' baptism. And we as the church, we can
only listen to the words that somebody says. We can be deceived. Someone may have a wonderful
testimony. They may declare that how they've
been affected by the ministry in a wonderful way. But it may
just be like a wonderful firework. that explodes in the night sky
and then dwindles down to nothing. It may just be an emotional experience
that they have had under a hard message of the gospel but there's
no true faith within the heart. There's no true transformation
of the hard nature. That's what happened to Simon. He saw that everybody else was
being baptized. And he thought that it may be
good for him to be baptized. And he thought he would join
the bandwagon. And as everybody else was being
baptized, well, I will also be baptized. And I don't fully understand
everything that is going on, but I think this is a good thing. And so he is baptized. He confesses
Christ from his head. and not from his heart. He wasn't
truly willing to surrender all and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
He wasn't truly willing to come to the bottom of the pile. He
had always had the preeminence. He had always been somebody in
society. People claimed, people elevated
him to be a great one. And he still wanted that greatness
when he came to Christ. He didn't want to just be amongst
the number, but he wanted to have the preeminence. He wanted to be elevated above
all the others that were being baptised at that time. And he
wanted these amazing gifts, these amazing abilities to lay his
hands on people so that wonderful things would take place. so by
his words and his actions his heart is exposed. I remember my grandma saying
to me about someone who had been baptised and I think she probably
had doubts but she said time will tell, time will tell. Because time cannot hide the
heart forever. We cannot hide what is truly
in our hearts for a truly length of time. It will always come
out that we're a fake. When I was in Kenya, we were
deceived many times by people with great testimonies, people
who knew what to say, Some had been baptised already and we
allowed them into the church. Some hadn't been baptised and
we baptised them. But it was proved that they were simons. They wanted something
more than just to follow Christ and to hear his word. They wanted
some material things to go along with their salvation. They're
not willing to stay at the bottom of the pile they had ulterior
motives for their salvation. And so it's good for us to be
challenged by what the scripture presents to us that there are
those who may be baptised that doesn't guarantee that they are
saved, that doesn't guarantee that they are truly followers
of the Lord Jesus Christ if their lives do not testify that they
have denied themselves and taken up their cross and followed Christ.
Simon was exposed and Peter says to him, repent therefore of this
thy wickedness And pray God, if perhaps the thought of thy
heart may be forgiven thee, for I perceive that thou art in the
gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. And Simon answered
and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me that none of these things
which ye have spoken shall come upon me. He wasn't sorry. He had no true repentance over
what he had said or what he had seen. He was just worried about
the consequences of what he had done. He wasn't willing to take
the punishment but he wasn't willing to truly see the sin
that he had committed and to be brought to repentance But
he immediately says, you, you pray for me that these bad things
that you have said won't happen. And so, there were these two people.
One had a head knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ without a transformation
of the heart. But he still confessed, I believe,
but his works didn't go along with that belief. The eunuch,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. And he commanded
the chariot to stand still and they went both down into the
water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptised him. It was a symbol of what had taken
place in the eunuch's life. That he had heard the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, he had believed the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ and he wanted to obey the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ and he wanted to show that and declare that publicly
that he was now a follower of the Lord Jesus. And so he says,
what does hinder me to be baptised? And so baptism then is a symbol,
a declaration of this is what has taken place in my life. I
want to publicly show to people that I am now a follower of the
Lord Jesus. It doesn't save us. but it declares
what Christ has done, that he has saved us and that we want
to testify to others that fact by undergoing that ordinance
of baptism which Christ has commanded his people. We say that I am
a person of God, I'm a person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
child of the Lord Jesus Christ and I want to follow him. I want
to be obedient to him and I have a testimony of what he has done
in my life and I want to declare that publicly by going through
the ordinances of baptism. In Romans 6 from verse 1 it tells
us there of something of the symbol. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? This is where Simon was found
out, isn't it? That those who have truly been
born again have been made dead to sin. They don't have that
desire to live any longer in sin. They have separated themselves
from sin. And they have declared that by
going through the waters of baptism. It's the old me. I've died to the old me. I'm
walking in newness of life. and we are dead to sin and we
don't want to live any longer therein. Know ye not, or don't
you know, that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ,
were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism unto death, that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also walk
in newness of life. And so there it is demonstrated.
that we have died to sin, we have died to self, we have died
to our own will and we have surrendered all to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Simon was not willing to surrender all to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He still had his own will. He still wanted his sin. He still
wanted to be the leader. He still wanted to be somebody,
to be seen as somebody in society and to have great gifts and abilities.
He wasn't willing to die to self, die to his own nature, crucify
the flesh. He did not want to walk in newness
of life. And so we testify by walking
through that ordinance of baptism that we have died to self. The old man is put away and we
are now walking as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ on the
narrow way that leads to life. And those who have gone through
that ordinance of baptism, that is what people expect to see.
They expect to see someone walking in newness of life. They don't
expect to see someone going off and committing all manner of
worldliness and sinfulness. They expect to see them walking
in newness of life, in Christ-likeness. They expect to see that they
have crucified the flesh and the lust thereof. They expect
to see them at war with sin, Satan and the world. They expect
to see that they have denied themselves and taken up their
cross and followed the Lord Jesus Christ, that they have surrendered
all to the Lord Jesus because they have testified that fact
by being baptised. It's no light thing, being baptised. It is a serious thing. And once
you have gone through the ordinance of baptism and joined the church,
your life is as a light in a dark place. Your life is on display,
that you are a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ because
you have declared it. by going through the ordinances
of baptism, you have said, I follow the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not
my own. I am brought with a price. I
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. Like the eunuch, if you believe
with your whole heart, every atom of your being trusts in
Christ, then that will be seen in the way that you live. You
can't say that, you know, I'm a follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ and then you follow Satan for the rest of the week. You
can't say, I don't know, I'm a follower of Manchester United
and then go and watch Liverpool. It doesn't work. You can't say
I live in the light then you walk in the darkness. It doesn't
work. A follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ is consistent with that walk, with that calling of that
obedience to the Lord Jesus. Simon was inconsistent. He said one thing outwardly but
he did another thing. The thoughts of his heart were
exposed by his actions and by his words. We have died. to self and we
demonstrate that by being placed under the water and being lifted
up in newness of life. Colossians also, chapter 2, speaks
of the same thing. In verse 6 it says, As ye therefore
have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Remember Enoch. Enoch walked
with God. tells us in the book of Galatians,
to walk in the Spirit. He not walked with God, God was
with him. He walked in step with God. He delighted to obey God. He obeyed the commandments of
God. And as ye therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord
so walk in him as Enoch walked with God. So you should be walking
with the Lord Jesus Christ in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you believe with your whole
heart you may. In verse 12 it tells us there we
are buried with him in baptism wherein also ye are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised
him from the dead. And ye, being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out
the handwriting and ordinances that was against us. which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the
cross, buried with him in baptism. So the old you, who was once
dead in trespasses and sins, the old you who was once walking
after the imagination of your own heart, the old you that was
once walking in rebellion against God, when you were baptized,
was put away. and you rose again symbolically
as a new creature in Christ and therefore there's a difference.
You walk now in newness of life understanding that your sin has
been nailed to the cross given to the Lord Jesus Christ.
You understand the one who paid for you to undergo
the freedom that you have is the Lord Jesus Christ and that
knowledge that you have of Christ paying the debt of your sin causes,
or should do, causes us to have a desire to walk worthy of our
calling to walk in godliness and holiness and Christ-likeness,
following the Lord Jesus Christ. Let this mind be in you, the
scripture tells us, that was also in Christ Jesus. Simon what? It was exposed, full of pride,
full of self-promotion, not willing to deny himself, not willing
to walk humbly, but wanting to self-elevate and to be somebody. but it was exposed that that
was the sin of his heart, that he was still in an unrepentant
condition, that he was still in his sins. He had not truly
been converted, even though he had externally been baptised. You think of the Apostle Paul,
a man who was a murderer, a persecutor of the church, but the Lord Jesus
Christ met him and dealt with him. And he went from this proud,
arrogant Pharisee persecuting the church to a believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he was baptised. He believed
and he was baptised. And his life continued to testify
that that baptism was true. that the old Paul had been put
to death, that the old Pharisee had been put to death and he
walked in newness of life. His life was consistent to his
testimony. I wonder if our lives are consistent
with our testimony. Those of us who have been baptised,
we have put on Christ, openly, publicly declared that we follow
the Lord Jesus. We've openly declared that we're
walking on the narrow way that leads to life and our hope, our
faith is fixed in heaven. That's where we believe that
we are heading. And I wonder if our lives do
testify of that. Obviously you can't follow me
around my whole life. You can't go everywhere I go
and see, is James really a Christian? Is James really practicing what
he preaches? And I also can't do the same
with you. I cannot follow you around. I
can't go where you go. And so we have to leave all of
these things to the Lord. But you and I can examine ourselves. We can look into our own hearts
and see, am I a Simon? Or am I a eunuch? Is my testimony
true? Have I truly denied myself and
taken up my cross and followed Christ? Have I really died to
self and to sin and to Satan? Have I really put to death my
own nature as I testified I have when I walked through the waters
of baptism? See here is water. What does hinder me to be baptised? So there are in our meeting this
evening those who have been baptised and those who have not been baptised. And I wonder if you've ever asked
the question, what is hindering you? or what is hindering me
from being baptised? And I thought there's only two
things really. Either you have no faith in Christ. You're still in the darkness
and you have no concern to follow the Lord Jesus. You're happy
doing your own thing. or the Lord has a work begun a work
in you. You can say truly I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God but you are afraid. You're afraid
to take the next step. As we looked at this morning
without faith it is impossible to please God. And so if Christ
said go into all the world and preach the gospel and those who
believe were to be baptised then you're testifying that you believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ and you don't want to be baptised
because you're afraid and you are failing to exercise your
faith that has been given to you. And I can say that you are
walking in disobedience and you are not walking in a way that
is pleasing to God because you are hiding what he has done in
your life. We are trophies of his grace. He has saved us for a purpose.
He has saved us to be part of the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, to be of use to his church. And when we walk in unbelief,
We don't want to exercise faith by testifying of what Christ
has done for us. We walk under a cloud of his
frown and not his smile. What does hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest
with all thine heart thou mayest. Nothing was hindering this eunuch.
He testified that he believed in Christ the Son of God and
he desired to be obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ by publicly
declaring he was a follower of the Lord Jesus and as he publicly
declared that he was one of Christ's he is then physically attached
to the spiritual church of the Lord Jesus. Obviously with the
eunuch he went off to Ethiopia and we don't know if he began
to preach there and a church was formed there. We see the
others they were added to the church And so in our day when
someone believes upon Christ and their life declares that
belief and they are accepted by the church they are baptised
and they are joined then to the church so that their life may
be of a use to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are called to follow
the Lord Jesus and not to deny the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture
says so let your light so shine before men that they may see
your good works, or may they see your good works by being
obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ. See here is water, what does
hinder me to be baptised? Amen. Let us sing in conclusion number
135 from Gadsby's to the tune 227. 135, how sweet the name
of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows,
heals his wounds, and drives away his fear. 135. In the name of Jesus and in the
name of liberty. It saves his sorrows, heals his
wounds, and drives away his pain. Spirit come, and comes a troubled
friend. Tis manner to the hungry song,
and to the weary song. O'er all the ways I've built,
I shield and hide in place, I never fail in faith with you. Almighty God we thank thee for
thy word and we thank thee Lord for this day that thou has given
to us set aside for thy worship. We pray that thou dismiss us
with thy blessing to be with us as we journey on the roads
and to enable us as we go back into our lives tomorrow that
thou be with us through the week and as we meet together according
to thy will on Wednesday do bless Mr Hyde, do grant him freedom
and liberty as he brings a message unto us and do be with thy ministers
who are amongst us as they go out as they prepare themselves
throughout this week to grant them words to go with and to
use them as instruments in thy hand. May we see, Lord, if it
could please thee, a moving of thy Holy Spirit to grant the
people of faith to walk in obedience to thy ways. Now may the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with
the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with
us each now and for evermore. Amen.