May it please the Lord to bless
us together for a few moments this evening as we continue our
meditation on the Acts of the Apostles chapter 8 and tonight
we'll speak from verse 25 to verse 31. You will remember that last week
we spoke about the case of Simon and we left the situation where
Simon had said, praise the Lord for me that none of these things
which he has spoken come upon me. Remember now there's Philip
and there's not the apostle but the Philip, the evangelist and
he is there with Peter and John and we read what they are doing
and they when they had testified and preached the word of the
Lord returned to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages
of the Samaritans. It was a wonderful time and opportunity
for them, that they were able to go and to preach the gospel,
they were able to testify of what God had done. And no doubt
in their testifying they were able to speak about what the
Lord Jesus Christ had done, and specifically His death upon the
cross at Calvary. There would have been that clear
testimony that they would have been able to have given and to
preach the word of the Lord. And then they returned to Jerusalem,
and as they returned to Jerusalem, they preached the gospel on the
way to many villages of the Samaritans. We can imagine, can't we, these
apostles coming back to Jerusalem, And there they were, every opportunity
that they had, they preached the gospel. Wonderful thing,
isn't it, to desire these opportunities and to be blessed with them and
to then make the most of them for the honour and glory of God
and the salvation of souls. Well, we see then this situation. And then we read, And the angel
of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward
the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Geza,
which is desert." And really, in this chapter, we see so clearly
the grace of God. We see the sovereign grace of
God, and we see how that was worked out. And perhaps very
specifically in this case, Philip being called and told to go down
to Geza, which is desert. Now, he wasn't told what was
going to happen there. You know, he wasn't told any
detail. He was just told to go, arise
and go toward the south and to the way that goes down from Jerusalem
and to Gaza, which is desert. So, he didn't know what he was
going to encounter, he didn't know what he would have to face,
what he would have to say, what he would have to do. But, the
Word of God had come to him. And as the Word of God had come
to him, he was so willing to obey that voice. And what a good
example we have here. He was given that faith to believe
that what he'd been told to do was right, and he would do it.
He didn't question the position. He didn't question, well, what's
going to happen? And what shall I be doing? He
didn't question it. He listened to what God said,
and then he obeyed what God said. And the angel of the Lord spake
unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south, unto the
way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is a desert.
He hadn't got any really precise directions apart from purely
doing this. going towards the south onto
the way that goes down from Jerusalem onto Gaza, which is desert. So
it wasn't probably a very inviting journey that he had to take. And we know that Gaza was a good
many miles from Jerusalem. And we know that round about
Gaza it was a desert situation, while Gaza itself was a prosperous
city. And so here we have this man,
Philip, in this situation. We might say, well now, Philip,
what are you going to do? Are you going to wait for a further
indication? Are you going to wait to have
a clearer direction? Or what's going to happen? Well,
we read, and he arose and went. He arose and went. Not knowing
where he was really going, what was really going to occur, but
he arose and went. And we see that the Lord was
working. The Lord was working in the life
of an unusual person, we might say. An Ethiopian, who was a
eunuch of great authority under Kandese, Queen of the Ethiopians. And this name, Kandese, for a
queen is very similar to the word pharaoh, given to kings. It was a common word, a common
name that was given to queens, so it wasn't a specific a Christian
name of her at all, it was just a name of the Queen of the Ethiopians. But here we have this person,
and we're told he was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch, and we're
told he was of great authority. He wasn't just an ordinary person,
he was of great authority. And this man, God had ordained,
who had been to Jerusalem. Now he had the treasure, He had
had the Queen's treasure, he was in charge of that, and he'd
come to Jerusalem for to worship. And this in itself is of interest
because the Ethiopians as such were not worshippers of the true
God. But it was so clear here that the Lord had put into this
man's heart a desire to go and to worship at Jerusalem. And
of course Ethiopia wasn't just around the corner. From Jerusalem
it was a long journey. And here was this man then, he'd
gone up to Jerusalem and we're told that who had charge of all
the treasures and had come to Jerusalem for to worship. And again, it's important to
note that he'd gone to worship. He hadn't gone to say, well I'm
going to see what the scene is. I'm going to see what happens
there. We're told he'd gone to worship. What a wonderful thing that is,
if God moves in the heart of people to go to a place to worship. And that was the situation here
with this Ethiopian. It would seem that he'd been
singled out by the Spirit of God to go up to Jerusalem. He'd done that, he'd fulfilled
that situation, he'd been to Jerusalem, he had worshipped,
and now we read, he was returning. He was returning. And sitting
in his chariot, read Isaiah the prophet. Now then, we observe,
do we not, that here was a man, not of the Jewish nation, but
a man singled out by God, an Ethiopian. And here he was on
his journey back from Jerusalem. We are not told in actual fact
how he benefited there. We are not told what he received
there. But we are told he was returning. And we are told what
he was doing. And what is quite clear is this,
he wasn't idling his time away. He was using his time very well. And it's a good lesson to us
today to realise that here we have an example of what we might
classify as perhaps coming from a heathen nation, and yet here
he was on this return journey reading Isaiah the prophet. Well, what a good position it
was to be in. And as we think of that in our
own lives today, there are no doubt journeys that we do make. Journeys that we make, and of
course when we're perhaps driving or doing that kind of thing,
it's not easy to read. We can of course listen, no doubt
today, to good things. But here was this man reading
his ass, and we should be diligent in our lives to make the most
of opportunities which are presented to us to be able to turn to the
Word of God. You know it's quite amazing sometimes
by doing these things the Lord grants us opportunities to perhaps
to speak to people. People may speak to us and they
may be interested as to what we're reading and they may ask
us questions and they give us the opportunity to speak to them.
We should always be seeking for opportunities to speak to those
who appear to know nothing of the things of God. So here was
this Ethiopian and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Now then,
God was fully aware of what was happening. It was in his great
counsel that this Ethiopian should be reading at this time. And
now the Lord knew that this man needed some help. in his reading. He knew that he didn't really
understand what he was reading. He needed some help. And therefore,
some time ago, perhaps a few days, he'd spoken to Philip and
told him to go down, to take this journey. And here we see
Philip now. And what did the Lord say? And
this man had gone and he was returning. And then the Spirit
said unto Philip, Go now, and join thyself to this chariot.
Well now, Philip was only an ordinary person. And here was
this eminent Ethiopian, no doubt with a good number of servants
with him, travelling around. He was a great authority. And
yet this man, Philip, was told by the Spirit of God to go and
join himself to this chariot. And again we see He didn't start
making excuses. He didn't say, well, is this
the reason why I've come to this place? What have I got to do
now? Surely this man is an important
person and I don't feel adequate to go and enjoy myself to this
chariot. God has spoken. God has spoken
to Philip. Philip was willing to do what
God spoke to him. We're told then the Spirit said
unto Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot. And
we see Philip's immediate response. We've seen his immediate response
before. The Lord told him to go down towards Gaza. And we read that Philip arose
and went. And now we see what happens to
Philip now. Well, he ran. And Philip ran
thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and
said, Understand this, for what thou readest." Now, you can just
imagine here, here was Philip, by all comparison, just an ordinary
person, running to this chariot. He hadn't been invited, but he
ran, because God had told him to go and join himself to this
chariot, so he ran. ran to the chariot and then as
he got near he heard what was being read and this man was reading
out loud from the prophet Esaias he wasn't ashamed of what he
was reading he was willing to read it out loud so that people
could hear what he was reading and he read it out loud and as
Philip ran He heard what he was reading, and he came, and he
asked this question, understandest thou what thou readest? You might
think, well, that's a bit of a cheat, this man, coming and
speaking to this unknown character, this apparently important person,
riding in his chariot, and here he comes, and as he went out
of the blue, asked this question, understandest thou what thou
readest." He didn't lack courage, did he? God gave him courage. God gave him strength to obey
the voice of the Lord and to be bold in his approach to this
Ethiopian. We have a lot of good example
here and good instruction for us, do we not, in a day in Asia
in which we live. And so this man, he ran to the
chariot. He asked the question and he
got this response. How can I except some man should
guide me." Again, what do we observe here? We observe the
honesty of this Ethiopian. And again, it's important to
be honest in our speech. And he was asked, did he understand?
Remember, he was an important person. But he didn't say, well,
I'm not too sure. And that's the fact he was very
honest. And it's good for us today to
be honest in our ignorance. You know, very often people are
so embarrassed because of their ignorance. And it's a great shame.
You know, we have nothing to be ashamed of really. And we
need to be honest in the things we've got. And honest when we
don't understand things. And here was this man here. In
answer to the question, understand is what they are realist. And
his response was, how can I? Except some man should guide
me. Well, and he didn't stop there. He came and he desired Philip
that he would come up and sit with him in the chariot. Well,
what a wonderful position we see. Here was clearly the Lord's
work. The Lord's work in bringing this
Ethiopian on this journey to a certain place at a certain
time, and there at this place was to be a rendezvous with Philip,
who the Lord had brought from another location, and these two
were to meet together at the appointed time. It's wonderful
to see, is it not? bring in a situation to pass
for his honour and glory and as we read on and meditate God
willing next week we see how the Lord blessed this union and
a wonderful thing it is to realise that still today we have the
same God who can bring people together for his divine purpose
for the blessing of souls and for his honour and for his glory
We can see both these people made willing in the day of his
power. And we should realize today that
we worship the same almighty God who knows every detail in
your life and in my life. And what a good thing it is to
be able to observe God's hand is upon us for good and who the
Lord is using us for His honour and for His glory and for the
salvation of souls. Well, may the Lord bless His
word to us. Amen.