May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in His Holy Word. Let us turn to the Acts of the
Apostles and chapter 8 and we'll read verse 5. The Acts of the Apostles and
chapter 8 and reading verse 5. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. These were amazing occasions
with the new Christian church and we see how the Lord gloriously
and wonderfully worked And we're told that in the previous chapter
how they stoned Stephen and how then there were these devout
men that carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentations
over him. And we're told about Saul, who
of course was the Apostle Paul. who made great havoc of the church,
entering into every house, and hating men and women, committed
them to prison. Therefore, because of that situation,
they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the
word. And it becomes this fifth verse.
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached
Christ unto them. And it would seem that this Philip
is not Philip the Apostle, but he was Philip the deacon, who
was of course called at the same time that Stephen was. So we
have this position here that this man, Philip, went down to
the city of Samaria A place where quite clearly the gospel had
not been preached and we're told he preached Christ unto them. Well, we might think, what did
he say? What did he say? Perhaps we might
ask ourselves, what would we say if we found ourselves in
an environment where people hadn't heard about the Lord Jesus, didn't
know anything really about the gospel, and yet these people
here were, most of them would have been Jews in Samaria, they
would have known the Old Testament, they would have known that they
were expecting the Messiah to come that had been prophesied,
and yet, you see, they were not prepared and not willing to believe
the great and glorious truth that the Messiah had come who
was indeed the Lord Jesus. So how would we actually if we
were in a situation like that and we had to therefore speak
and preach and show who Jesus was and preached Christ unto
them. Well I'm sure the first thing
they would want to know was Well, who was this person? And was
he really the person that had been spoken about in the Old
Testament? The person they would have been
aware of from that perspective? How would they believe? How would they understand? Well,
we have so many scriptures in the Old Testament which confirm
the way the Lord Jesus Christ would come into this world. And as we think of this and put
ourselves in this position as to what would be spoken and what
would be said, well, we can believe that one of the most clear signs
was that the fulfilment that the Lord Jesus Christ was born
of a virgin. We know that no one had been
born of a virgin previously and no one since. And so no doubt
the apostle would have directed them, or sorry, the deacon Philip
would have directed them, perhaps to Isaiah, where we can read
about this birth and that we're told, behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. Well, that would be something,
would it not? Very positive. to realise what
here is an evidence of the Old Testament which correlates very
well with that which these people are now speaking about, the proof
that Jesus was the Christ, indeed that Jesus is the Christ. And of course, not only that,
to realise then that he was, the Son of God. He wasn't just
a man. He was a man. He was born as
a human man, but he was also the Son of God. Again, we can
turn to the Gospel of Luke and read there the words that were
spoken by the angel. And when the angel came to Mary, who was indeed the Virgin, and
told her, the Holy Ghost, nonetheless, shall come upon thee, and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. Well, that was a wonderful truth
and glorious statement. And to think that Here was Philip
now preaching Christ unto them to have established the beginning
and the truth and it's good for us today to always remember these
things. Sometimes I'm fearful that we
only think of these texts I've just spoken at Christmas time.
They're familiar then and we perhaps overdo it at Christmas
and for the rest of the year They almost seem to lie in oblivion. And yet, how vital they are,
because how they prove to us that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God, and how he did come into this world, and how our faith
should be established. And then, of course, the position
is, why did Jesus come? What was the purpose? Why did
he come into this world? Well, what a blessing it is if
you realise, no doubt this was spoken, he came to redeem his
church. He came to save his people from
their sins. He came to die as a sacrifice
for them. Now, this was evident. This was known and this was history. And to be able to explain this
to these people in Samaria, what a wonderful blessing and what
a wonderful truth it was. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. Well, we'll
continue with that in a moment, but just think of the result.
We're told, and the people with one accord gave heed unto those
things which Philip spoke, hearing and seeing the miracles which
Jesus did. What an amazing scene. The people
with one accord listened to what Philip spoke and believed those
great and wonderful truths. And the result, of course, was
that there was great joy in that city. Wouldn't it be wonderful
today if the Holy Spirit came and moved people to believe the
glorious truth of the gospel in reference to the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and believed and rejoiced because it is a
wonderful time. when the heavenly light shines
into our dark and dismal soul and reveals to us Jesus Christ. Well, it's important that every
one of us comes to that realisation, that every one of us has Jesus
revealed to us, as Jesus is preached to us where we have the right
spiritual understanding that this was and is the Son of God,
the glorious Saviour of sinners, and to truly rejoice in it. It's a great blessing, isn't
it, to be able to consider these truths that we have here in this
eighth chapter. And we should be very thankful
And yet we see in this chapter also a warning. And the warning
is with this man called Simon. Simon who we're told believed,
at least he believed in his head. He didn't believe in his heart. There wasn't really a spiritual
work going on there. Because he saw the others had
been baptized and therefore he followed. And he wanted to be
baptized. And then, of course, when Peter
and John came amongst them and laid hands on the believers and
they received the Holy Ghost, he wrongly thought he could purchase
the Holy Ghost. And he offered the apostles'
money to achieve this. Well, of course, these great
blessings are freely given. We don't earn them. We cannot
pay for them. But by the grace of God, we do
receive them. And if we do, do we not, should
we not truly praise God? Yes, well, Simon was deceived. And may we not be deceived, but
may we realise the great and wonderful truth that you and
I walk by faith. And so here we have the Apostle
Philip then preaching Jesus, preached Christ unto them. And what a great and glorious
effect it was. And then of course we move on
in this same chapter to that account of the eunuch, the Ethiopian
eunuch. And he was traveling back from
Jerusalem, he'd obviously been there to worship, and he was
reading the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. And he didn't understand what
he was reading. Well, Philip, by the grace of
God, had been told to go down to Geza, the place of desert. And there he found this eunuch
sitting in his chariot and reading the prophecy of Isaiah. Now the Ethiopian, he wanted
to know what he was reading. He couldn't understand it. And
you know it's a good thing, it's a great blessing to be able to
confess if we don't understand the truth of God. Often perhaps
we might pretend that we understand things when we don't. Well that
won't do us any good at all. This eunuch, he confessed. He
didn't understand. And he asked Philip what it meant. And where was he reading? Well
it was quite remarkable, really we might think he was reading
in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. And of course that speaks in
prophecy very wonderfully about the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is very likely that when
Philip was speaking indeed to the people at Samaria He would
have spoken about the prophecy of Isaiah where it speaks about
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're told that the Ethiopian
invited Philip to come and sit by him in the chariot and Philip
then preached under him Jesus. He preached Jesus from the 53rd
chapter of Isaiah. And I hope most of you are familiar,
at least in some degree, that this speaks to us about the sufferings
of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he endured. It's good for
us to be able to consider these things and to have some understanding
of the application of this to our own lives, to realise that
these things were done for us. As I often say, real religion
is personal. This eunuch received it as a
personal word to him. And we're told about the Lord
Jesus very vividly in this chapter. And we're told, as Isaiah says,
he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root
out of a dry ground he hath no form nor comeliness and when
we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire
him. Well it's good to understand
that, that naturally there's no beauty in the Saviour that
we should desire him. Artists try and produce pictures
of what they think of the Lord Jesus and usually produce a very
beautiful picture. But we're told here he had no
form or comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no
beauty that we should desire him. So you and I will not desire
Christ because of his natural beauty. And then we're told about
him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and equated with grief. And we hid, as it
were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed
Him not. We again look back in our lives.
Perhaps it's still like it today. Perhaps we have not esteemed
the Saviour. Perhaps we've not viewed Him
as that glorious One who has died upon the cross at Calvary
to take away our sins. Perhaps it's been true, as Jeremiah
says, is it nothing to you or you that pass by? And in reality,
and again, it's good to be honest, that Christ has meant nothing
to us. What a mercy if Christ does now
mean something to us. And we can answer that question
that begins this chapter, who hath believed our report, and
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? What a blessing if
Christ has been revealed to you and me as our Saviour. And we view him then as that
one who stood in our place, we're told, surely hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. And then he says, he comes to
very personal statements, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement, the punishment, of our peace was upon him, and
with his stripes we are healed. Well, these words had a gracious
effect upon the Ethiopian eunuch. And perhaps they also had a gracious
effect on those at Samaria who heard these words as Philip came
and preached Christ unto them. and expounded unto them who Christ
was and what he'd done, and drawn this glorious analogy that the
scripture sets before us. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every man, every
one, to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Yes, the whole sins of the whole
Church of God were laid upon Christ. What a blessing if, therefore,
the truth of God's Word is applied to our hearts, so that we, by
faith, can believe the glorious Saviour died for us. Because we've gone astray, and
to think that He bore chastisement, the punishment for us. Well, only you know whether you
can understand such a great truth as this, and it is a great truth. And you can imagine these Samaritans,
like the Ethiopian, having these glorious truths put before them. And again, as we read that statement,
there was great joy in the city. Great joy. Well, if these truths
are made over to you and to me, if they're spoken by the Holy
Spirit into our souls, And we have, by the Holy Spirit of God,
a personal interest in these wonderful truths. We shall truly
rejoice. We shall truly praise God. And we shall, I believe, stand
amazed. We'll come in with a hymn writer
and say, what was there in me to merit esteem? or give my creator
delight, was even so far that we ever must sing, because it
seemed good in thy sight. How humbling that is to realise
the only begotten Son of God came into this world to suffer
and to bleed and to die. so that you and I might receive
the glorious gift of eternal life. Is it nothing to you or
you that pass by? We each have to answer, don't
we, before God. We all have to answer. It's not
a theory. It's a blessed experience. It
shows and gives us the union with Christ And then we understand
what he suffered. Isaiah goes on. He was oppressed
and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep before
her shearers is done, he opened not his mouth. And try and appreciate
this is the son of God, the creator of all things. who willingly
suffered in order to save, in order to redeem our souls. Is
it not a great and glorious gospel? What a privilege it was for Philip
to declare these truths to those Samaritans. Also, when he came
to the eunuch to be able to open up the scriptures, what a wonderful
privilege and what a glorious result it had. The words didn't
Fall into dry ground. No, my friends, the ground was
prepared to receive these great truths. And what a wonderful
thing if our hearts have been prepared to receive these great
truths, so that we don't reject them. And we don't say, well,
they have no relevance to me. We realize how vitally good and
how important they are. And then he goes on and says,
he was taken from prison and from judgment. And who shall
declare his generation? For he was cut off as the land
of the living for the transgression of my people. Was he stricken? And when you think of that, he
was 33 years of age, naturally speaking, in the prime of his
life. And he was cut off. Cut off from worthy sinners. It's a wonderful gospel. And
he made his grave with a wicked, and with a rich in his death,
because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his
mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him
to grief, when thou shalt make his sorrow an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. Well, try and ponder that. Almighty God, suffering in order
that you and I could be set free from that condemnation of the
law of God which says, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Freedom in Christ, he shall see
and the trouble of his solace shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. Well, can we not rejoice tonight
in these truths? These truths which were clearly
preached to the Samaritans and clearly to that Ethiopian and
a wonderful effect it had. My friends, may it have had and
may it have a good and gracious and blessed and glorious effect
upon us. May it not just pass us by. May it not have no effect. Because if it has no effect,
What does it show to us? It shows that we are spiritually
dead. There's no life in us. We don't
possess that new birth. But how encouraging it is if
we find in our heart a movement, a thankfulness to our gracious
and glorious God for his mercy, for His love, for His favour
toward us, and we can indeed rejoice in what He's done. Yes, well, it's a mercy if the
preaching of Christ has a good effect upon us, as we understand
He's come in the flesh, a real man, and yet still Almighty God. And how He did, the will of His
Father in order to redeem our souls. It was a tremendous cost,
wasn't it? And it was carried out by the
glorious sinless Son of God. He didn't die for His sins. He was sinless. But He died to atone for us unworthy
sinners. And the price that was required
to save our souls, to redeem our souls, to bring us home to
glory was His own sacrificial death upon that cross at Calvary. And He didn't turn back. My friends,
we should come and say tonight, what a Saviour! How unworthy I am! to receive
any blessing, to receive any mercy, to receive any favour. How wonderful it is to think
that this great God, determined in eternity fast to redeem my
soul, can understand then what the Lord said in the upper room
to his disciples, ye have not chosen me, But I have chosen
you and redeemed you that ye should go and bring forth fruit
and that your fruit should remain. Our lives then are for the honour
and glory of God and not for ourselves. We are in this world
not to please ourselves. We're in this world to please
our God. We're in this world to serve
Him. We're in this world to do His
will. And it's wonderful if the Lord
gives us that grace and gives us that true desire to ever follow
Him. As we read in that 53rd of Isaiah,
we're all like sheep. We've all gone astray. Yes, we've
all wandered away. and what a mercy of the Lord,
like he did after that one sheep. He left the 99 and went after
that one sheep and carried it back on his shoulders. You see the love of God. He knows
where his sheep are. We perhaps have been like that.
We may have wandered away, We may have not wanted to be tied,
as it were, to a religion which follows the Saviour. We may have
said in our heart, I will not have this man to reign over me. But what a wonderful blessing
if all the barriers that we erect are broken down. They're removed
out of the way. And all those things which were
objected to have been nailed to the Saviour's cross. And he
paid the price to redeem our soul so that one day we shall
be in glory with him. Well, it's wonderful, isn't it,
that this deacon Philip was able to preach the glorious gospel
and the wonderful effect it had to the people of St. Mary and
it's a wonderful thing if it has a great and glorious effect
upon us because not only should we consider Christ was crucified
but also to realize that he rose again. And not only did he rise
again, but he entered into glory. And in the first chapter of the
Acts of the Apostles, we're told, and when he had spoken these
things, that's Jesus, he was addressing the disciples on the
Mount of Olivet. While they beheld, he was taken
up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they
looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men
stood by them in white apparel, which said, also said, ye men
of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus,
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. And if we are amongst
those who are redeemed for whom Christ died, that day will be
a wonderful day. It'll be a glorious day because
we shall be forever with the Lord. If we're on the earth still,
when the Lord comes, we should be caught up in the clouds to
be forever with the Lord. Well, no doubt these great truths
were spoken to these people There's something to rejoice in, isn't
there? You see, our life, when our life finishes, our spiritual
life does not end. Our spiritual life is eternal. It doesn't end. It goes on and
on. And what a blessing it is if we therefore have the wonderful
gift of eternal life. And if Christ has been revealed
to you and me as that one who's died to atone for our sins, It's
really quite staggering, isn't it, to think that God should
come and die to redeem our souls, to pay the price for every sin
that you and I have committed. How willing was Jesus to die
that we fellow sinners might live. The life they could not
take away, how willing was Jesus to give. He gave his life, a
ransom for many. And my friends, it is so vital
and so important, isn't it? That you and I have the evidence
that Jesus has died to redeem our souls. Blessing it is. if we can trace
out the work of the Holy Spirit. And you may ask, well, how do
I know that? Well, I believe we can test that
in this way. Look into our heart and discern
there that which God has done for us that we could not have
done for ourselves. to realise that it is the blessed
work of the Holy Spirit. Because that is an indisputable
evidence that the Lord has loved us with everlasting love. And he hasn't passed us by. He's
come to us. And he's shone the glorious light
of the Gospel into our hearts. Well, my friends, it's a great
mercy, isn't it? If that is so. Well, we have
this account here. It's a lovely account, really.
It's perhaps not one that we read very often. We may read
the last part with the Ethiopian, but not too much about the other
part. But it's grand and glorious truth
to see how the Spirit worked in those early days of the Christian
church and worked wonderfully and powerfully it was a great
blessing because we're told unclean spirits crying with a loud voice
came out of many that were possessed with them and many taken with
pauses and they that were lame were healed yes healed naturally
healed spiritually and there was then that rejoicing there
was great joy in that city my friends when the Holy Spirit
comes and touches our hearts and reveals Christ to us. There is great joy, great joy
within us to realize that the great God of the universe has
condescended to remember us. It's like the dying thief. Pray
to the Lord Jesus on the cross, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. What a mercy it is if God has
remembered us, looked upon us. We didn't deserve it. We never
will deserve it. We deserve to be passed by. What
a great and glorious God we have with that plan of salvation.
You'll rejoice in it. You'll bless God for it, for
that wonderful plan. Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us. It's amazing, isn't it? We're
hard-hearted. We're rebellious. We say in our
heart, we won't have this man to reign over us. I'm going to
please myself. I'm going to live my own life.
I'm going to enjoy my life on this earth. And yet our life
on this earth is transient in its passing. we have an eternal
soul but how glorious it is to know we have a saviour who has
condescended to come into this sinful world and to suffer and
to bleed and to die on our behalf as an individual. All of us are
individuals We all need our sins to be forgiven so that one day,
by his grace, as the apostles spoke, John, when he had that
vision, and he tells us, behold, he cometh. He cometh with clouds
and every eye shall see him. It's a very solemn time, isn't
it? When the last trump shall sound. Every eye, every eye, shall see
the Saviour coming, every eye. And they also which pierced him
and all kingdoms of the earth shall wail because of him. Well, my friends, I hope we're
not amongst those that wail when we see that great and glorious
God and realize that we're out of the secret. But what a blessing
it is if we rejoice at the wonder of it and are drawn up to meet
the Saviour in the clouds to be forever with the Lord. That's the prospect of the Church
of God. And no doubt here we're just
told very simply Philip preached Christ unto them. And we can
believe that he did preach the whole gospel. And because he
preached the whole gospel, he didn't leave them in a void.
He didn't leave them, there was the whole plan of salvation laid
out before them. And that was a cause for great
joy. My friends, it's a cause for
great joy for us today. And I hope we can, by the evidence
we have in our own heart of the work of the Holy Spirit, and
just let me reiterate, that which God has done for you and me,
which we could not do for ourselves, when the Lord's come and brought
spiritual life and whereas we were dead whereas we now are
alive and therefore alive for evermore well let's remember
these great truths and take them to heart and examine ourselves
because we don't want to come up short, do we? in that 53rd
of Isaiah the question was who hath believed our report. You have to answer tonight whether
you believe the truths of the gospel or not. And if you do,
by the grace of God, it's well with your soul. If we don't,
my friends, endless perdition is before us. Oh, that you and
I may know the grace the mercy, the love of the Saviour in dying
for us, standing in our place, bearing the curse and paying
the price, so that we have to say humbly but gloriously, what
a Saviour and indeed worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Amen.