As the Lord may graciously help
me, I turn your prayerful attention to the Acts of the Apostles and
chapter 8 and reading together verse 35. Acts chapter 8 and
verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus,
Acts chapter 8 and verse 35, and preached unto him, Jesus. The eunuch had been reading in
Isaiah 53, and he asked the question, of whom speaketh the prophet?
Of himself or of some other man? And Philip was able to speak
of the fact that Isaiah 53, though written 700 years before the
Lord Jesus came, was written about the Lord Jesus and what
he would do. And so as the Lord helps me,
I would love to seek to preach on the Lord Jesus. we're told in Matthew's Gospel
chapter 1, that thou shalt call his name Jesus. This is what
the angel told Joseph. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. This is what the name Jesus means. And we've come here tonight to
remember the work of God in the lives of dear Karen and dear
Paul, and how the Lord has taught them about the Lord Jesus and
why he is precious. See, if I take this one of the
quotes from Karen's testimony, she said, I felt as though I
wanted to spend my life serving him. But I can see now that throughout
it all, there was a lot of myself in it. I thought that the Lord
would be pleased with me. I didn't see myself as a lost,
ruined, guilty sinner as I do now. You see, Jesus is precious
to sinners. Jesus said, I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And Paul and Karen
were both favoured to be brought up in Christian families that
taught them of the things of God and brought them to the house
of God. And yet they needed salvation. just as we all need. All we like
sheep have gone astray, we read in Isaiah 53. And that includes
you and me. It includes all of us. There
is none of us that have been brought up in such a family so
that we don't need salvation. We need salvation because we're
sinners. And there can be this idea, you
see, that it was put into the heart of and that she wanted
to serve the Lord. And yet there can be this idea
that we've got something to give to the Lord and the Lord will
be really pleased with us. But we've got to realise that
we desperately need salvation. It is not that God needs us.
We need salvation. We are sinners that are heading
for a lost eternity. We cannot think one thought aright. Another thing that was quite
precious in Karen's testimony, a little word that her grandfather
spoke to her, sin is mixed with all we do. Sin is mixed with all we do.
But you younger ones, and you may not think, well, is that
really true? It's not true. I remember when
I was young, I was sitting in the pew here, and the minister
would say, Lord, forgive me for all that's been amiss in the
Lord's sight during the service. I thought, well, I didn't see
him do anything wrong. But you see, sin is mixed with all we
do. We need the Lord to show us. We need the Lord to teach
us. that we're sinners. And the Lord
has done this for Paul and Karen. And it's a humbling experience.
Because, you see, we like to be like Saul of Tarsus was, pleased
with our service of God. And Saul of Tarsus was. He thought
he really did please God in the way he was acting. And persecuting
the church, in his view, was being a good servant of God. but he was wrong and he thought
he was gaining salvation or gaining God's favor by all that he was
doing and he needed to realize that he needed salvation himself
and you see this is the The Great Thing in Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53
really is a chapter that is written with those that are looking back
at what happened at Calvary. Although it was written 700 years
before Calvary took place, it's written that those are looking
back at Calvary and considering what was going on. What do we
have here? The eunuch was asking, who is
he speaking of? What's happening here? Well you
see, it starts off with the humility of Christ. Who hath believed
our report? whom is the arm of the Lord revealed.
He shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root
out of a dry ground. No form nor comeliness that we
should desire. When we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. Christ, the Lord Jesus is
not precious to us unless the Lord has touched our eyes. But
the Lord is able to do this. And having said that, the Lord
can make himself precious. to young people who don't understand
all these things. And the Lord can still show them
that there's something precious in the things of God. That was
shown to both Karen and Paul. In their very early days, they
had a love for God's people. They couldn't explain it. They
didn't feel that they had it themselves. They could see there's
something that the people of God had that they didn't have.
And they wanted it, and they desired it. But you see, as the
Lord has led them on, that they've come to realize their great need,
you see, of salvation. He is despised, we read, and
rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And
we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and
we esteemed him not. We didn't think much. Is it nothing
to you or ye that pass by? They didn't see the value of
Christ. These are looking back and saying, well, he didn't mean
anything to us. This man of sorrows, we didn't
need him. Saul of Tarsus, you see, he didn't
need a suffering saviour because he had his own righteousness.
He had his own righteousness. He kept the law, blameless in
his opinion. But you see, when he realised
that his so-called keeping of the law fell short, he needed
somebody then to stand in his place. But you see, as it goes
on in this precious account, we hear, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. If Jesus
Christ is being ridiculed, we can look the other way, dissociate
ourselves from him. think something else must have
gone badly wrong. And interestingly, you see in
verse four, it says, surely he had borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God,
and afflicted. And it's interesting, if you
look at the cross-reference in Matthew's gospel, chapter eight,
And verse 16 and 17, we have this. In Jesus' life, this is
Matthew 8, verse 16. When the evening was come, they
brought unto him many that were possessed with devils, and he
cast out the spirits with his word and healed all that were
sick. that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken of Isaiah as the prophet saying, himself took our infirmities
and bare our sicknesses. So it seems that clearly this
verse 4 is particularly referring to Jesus' acts of kindness and
healing that he did when he was on this earth. He did so much
for the people and yet when he was when he was tried and put
before Pontius Pilate, the crowds were crying out, crucify him,
crucify him. There's this term here, yet,
we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God. We saw him hanging on
a tree, and we concluded that cursed is everyone that hangs
on a tree, and therefore we don't understand it, but this one's
cursed of God. This man's cursed of God. If
he was the son of God, God would appear for him. But you see,
there's a great turning point in this chapter of Isaiah 53. And I believe it's in that word,
but in verse five, but he was wounded for our transgressions. This is the great turning point. Yes, he was smitten of God. Yes, he was afflicted. But why? On whose behalf? For what cause? Well, Job's friend said, well,
there must be some sin in this man. You must have done some
secrets in. God wouldn't do this to an innocent
person. If God was really your God, he would appear for you.
You wouldn't stay like that, Job. Job, that type of Christ,
of the one who was truly totally innocent, and yet totally smitten
of God and afflicted. And it was all because of him. what he was doing for others,
all for his church, all out of love to his people. And that's
a tremendous thing to grasp hold of. And I believe Paul and Karen,
in their testimonies and in the lovely hymns that we've been
able to sing, that there's a sense of, you see, a personal interest. And Paul mentions in that university
room, as he was reading through Isaiah 53, it felt like their
words were for him. They were personal and they need
to be applied, you see. But he was wounded for our transgressions. It's personal. And this is so important in our
lives that the Lord Jesus needs to show us that we are sinners
and that we need a saviour. We need this forgiveness. We
need one to stand in our place. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. With his stripes we're healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. Yes, there's those that are brought
up in Christian households and those that are brought up with
no Christianity at all. But all we like sheep have gone
astray. Yes, we carry on in different
ways, but we're all going away from God. We're all walking in
pride. in different ways. But you see,
all we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid
on him the iniquity of us all. You see, one of the hymns that
Paul quoted in his testimony, we claim no merit of our own,
but self-condemned before thy throne, our hopes on Jesus' place. In heart, in lip, in life depraved,
our theme shall be a sinner saved and praise redeeming grace. You
see, this is preaching unto them, Jesus. This one that gives hope
for sinners. Those that have come to the end
of their own righteousness, yes, It is a true desire to seek to
serve the Lord. It is a wonderful thing to do,
but we don't do it to gain salvation. We are totally his debtor always,
a debtor to mercy alone, and we never get anything other than
debtors. We're debtors to his. We live upon the bounty of God. And then if we give the rest
of our lives in service to God, we are but unprofitable servants.
We've done but what it was our duty to do, because he's done
so much more for us. Surely he's borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Well, he was taken from prison
and from, well, what's quoted in where the eunuch was reading,
he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
Here's the sufferings of Christ and his silence, his humility,
his obedience, obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. When he was reviled, we read
in Peter, he reviled not again. And when he was, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. He committed his cause to his
father. They laughed at him, and they
said, if you are the son of God, then come down from the cross. He was the son of God, but he
had a work to accomplish, and he had a work to accomplish that
we, hell-deserving sinners, might have a great salvation. So there
was so much to thank the Lord for in all that he has done.
He has made a way. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? So there
was an idea here, you see, that Jesus was falsely accused. He was innocent, and yet he was
accused. But you see, he had taken the
sin of his entire church upon himself. And then when he was
accused, you see, of being guilty, as the substitute, he was carrying
the sin of the entire church. All their pride, all their lust,
all their vengeance, all their sin, all heaped upon the holy,
harmless Lamb of God. And he took it in obedience to
his father, in love to his father, in love to his people. And there
you see, that's why there's a response in us to love him in return. We've been singing of that in
that hymn that we've just sung. Sweet the moments, rich in blessing. You see, in that last verse,
it picks that up. Love and grief, my heart dividing. You see, love for him and grief
for sin. Love to seek to serve him the
rest of our lives, but grief that we come short. Grief that
sin is mixed with all that we do. love and grief my heart divided
with my tears his feet are bathed constant still in faith abiding
love life deriving from his death that's why the death of the lord
jesus is so precious to his people because in his death they see
their life they see that's what they that's what they should
have done they should have died you see of his suffering so intense
angels have no perfect sense they're the sufferings of christ
but he endured it before his entire church so that they might never have to go to hell, so that they might never be left
to be shut out of heaven. So this is the great, and he
preached unto him, Jesus. This is the great theme. that
Philip was able to preach about, this one. And you see, this preaching
of Jesus had an effect, had an effect on the eunuch, this man
who was of great authority. He had all the treasures in charge
of the treasures of the queen of Ethiopia. He was a well-to-do
man. But you see, this shows how the
Lord Jesus in his presence And knowing his love was more important
to this eunuch than all the treasures. It's like Moses. Karen mentioned
it in her testimony, that lovely word in Hebrews regarding Moses. Moses choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ. greater
riches and the treasures in Egypt. That's what Moses did. That's
what the eunuch did here. There was something more important
than the treasure. He wanted to lay hold upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. And in their experiences, Paul
and Karen have been able to say that Knowing the Lord Jesus and
the blessing of that has been a greater privilege than anything
else. And Paul was due to have that
great privilege in earthly terms of that OBE. But you see, he's
tasted of something sweeter yet. And you see, the Lord is able
to take the sweetest things on earth and show that they pale
into insignificance compared to the knowledge of Christ. You
see, all the things here below, however good in their place,
are passing away. But to have a hope beyond the
grave, in what Christ has done, has eternal effect. And you see, solid joys and lasting
pleasures, none but Zion's children know. Well, this eunuch traveling
with Philip, as Philip was preaching Jesus to him, He says this, on
their way they came to a certain water, and the eunuch said, see,
here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip says, if thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we call it believers
baptism. It is for believers, those who
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who have come to put their
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ because you see this that little
comment that Karen has said she walked in really for 10 years.
Sin is mixed with all But the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth us from all sin. And that's the other side of
it, you see. The Lord Jesus does not just show us our sin. Satan
will quite sometimes, Satan will be happy to show us our sin if
he can drive us into misery. But you see, Christ shows us
our sin to bring us to repentance and to lead us to forgiveness. You see, we have a merciful God. This is the nature of God. He
is merciful. He is holy, but he is merciful. And you see, we need to come
with repentance. And Paul and Karen have had that
God-given repentance and sorrow for sin, and they have obtained
mercy. But the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth us from all sin. For many years, Karen could not
be able to say that, but then she felt she could. And what
a blessing that is. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
us from all sin. A sinner saved by grace. This is the gospel of the grace
of God. It is for sinners. Saul of Tarsus,
in his unregeneracy, he didn't need a substitute. He could stand
before God in his own righteousness. See, Romans 10 says this, for
they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. That's us by nature. That's us
in a religious sense. But you see it goes on and says
in chapter 10 of Romans, for with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. So there is that way. Well, on
the confession of the eunuch's faith, Philip then and the eunuch
went down into the waters. And Philip baptized him on the
profession of his faith. And that is what we seek to do
this evening as dear James is able to take them through the
waters. Let us just have a moment to
think of what this baptismal service means. Well, firstly,
the baptismal pool, it's showing obedience. In Acts chapter 2,
when Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost, he said, repent
and be baptized. It's obedience. We don't believe
that going through the waters of baptism is saving in itself. We believe it's an outward manifestation
of what the Lord has done internally in our hearts. And then out of
love and obedience, we follow him. in what he has done and
what he would have us to do. It's not the rich, the poor. It's the same ordinance to go
through those waters in obedience to what God has said. And dear,
Paul and Karen have been brought to that place of obedience and
to follow the Lord. So firstly, it speaks of obedience,
but then it speaks of forgiveness. As they go down into the water
and are totally submerged under the water just for a moment of
time, there's this need of total cleansing. You see, Karen says,
sin is mixed with all we do, and therefore we need to be totally
washed. we need to be cleansed. The blood
of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. So it pictures
cleansing, the washing of water, cleansing us from all our own
so-called works of righteousness to serve the living God. Well, also, baptism also speaks
of It's picturing the grave. Jesus went down into the grave
and then he rose again. And we are to have union with
Christ. And so we are to follow him down,
as it were, and to raise with newness of life. It pictures
the dying to self, living for your own ego, for your own ends,
for satisfying your own desires. It's not just living to ourselves. Now we have a new master. We
have a new definition of happiness. Happiness, thou lovely name.
Where's thy seat, O tell me where? Learning, pleasure, wealth and
fame. All cry out, it is not here.
It's something else you've got to be following now. Object of
my first desire. Jesus, crucified for me. All to happiness aspire, only
to be found in thee. Everything is centered around
Christ. And if we have him, we have everything. If we don't have him, we have
nothing. Dying to sell, no longer living to ourselves, but then
rising out of the water to walk in newness of life. Karen said,
how much she desired to serve him. Well, it's a wonderful thing
for one that's come to the end of their own righteousness. and
then to be clothed with Christ's righteousness, then to seek to
serve, to serve this one, not to gain favor, but out of love
for what he has done for us. It's a wonderful thing to serve,
but not so that God will be impressed with us. To serve him because
he is worthy of our eternal praise. So a dying to self and a rising
again in newness of life. And fourthly, it's an identification. The Lord has blessed you in your
souls, Paul and Karen. But there comes a time when you
need to declare openly to the world around you, this is my
beloved, and this is my friend, and I follow him. He went through
these waters in Jordan. I will follow him. I will obey
him. I will go where he tells me to
go. I will do what he wants me to do as the Lord gives me grace.
He is my Lord and my master, a follower, a follower of Christ. So as we go down into the waters,
Christ himself was baptized. not in his case because he needed
washing, but he did it to fulfil all righteousness. We have not
an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, tempted in all points like as we are, even in going
through the waters of believers' baptism. And so may we this night,
as we are here to witness, and those that are perhaps able to
listen online, to witness what the Lord has done for you, dear
Karen and Paul, and to glorify God and that others may see this
is the way to true happiness. The world would have a different
formula for happiness, but solid joys and lasting treasures, none
but Zion's people know. You see, this is the way to real
joy. Or the world would say, it kills
joy, it kills all the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life.
But you see, Christ becomes precious to his people in his beautiful,
unselfish humility. He was so unselfish was Christ. He laid down his life, a ransom
for many. He was so humble. There's something
very beautiful to the eye of faith of the Lord Jesus. In every office he sustains,
in every victory he gains, in every council of his will, he's
precious to his people still. And dear Paul and Karen are declaring
tonight that Jesus is precious. May the Lord add his blessing,
amen.