1986, I was taller than Gabe. Brother, where's Brother Angus?
Brother, thank you for that message. What a comforting, encouraging
message that was. And I'll just add a personal
note from a Kentucky boy born and bred. I like the way you
talk. I like what you said. I couldn't help but to look around
this morning and see what a diverse crowd of people are here at this
conference, people of all ages. Speaking to you younger folks
first, many of you are, it's amazing from just last year how
you've changed and grown and you've left adolescence, you're
becoming young adults. an exciting time for you in your
life. You're thinking about your future.
Some of you have thought about college. Some of you have entered
college. Some of you are thinking about
marriage, about starting a family, having children. But have you
given any thought to God? Any thought to your falling condition
before him? Any thought to being without
Christ, without God, without hope in this world. Then I see
some of you who are somewhat older, you've already experienced
many of the things that these younger folks are approaching
your few years in your career now. You're married, you started
a family, you purchased a home, you have a mortgage. You're established
in your day-to-day life. Your job's going well. You're an upstanding citizen
in your community. You're involved in many things,
but some of you are yet without Christ. You're dead in trespasses
and sin. And you've yet to seriously consider
the Lord Jesus Christ. who is the one thing needful
to have eternal life. And you've left the important
things yet undone. And then there are your older
folks like me. You've reached that time in your
life when you realize that you have a few more suns at best,
a few more sunsets, that's it. Consider how fast the years have
gone by and you scratch your head and shake your head in disbelief.
Where's the time gone? You've seen things come and go.
You've experienced pleasant things. You've suffered many hard trials. You've lost loved ones along
the way. You've experienced highs and
lows. You're older and wiser now, yet some of you are still
without Christ. After all these years, you've
yet to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him for salvation. And you're probably thinking,
well, preacher, doesn't everyone who attends a Sovereign Grace
Bible conference know, love, and trust Christ? Well, the Lord
Jesus tells us in His Word, broad is the way that leads to destruction
and many Many there be that go in therein. Straight and narrow
is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it. And you know, as I listened to
these men preach this weekend already, I was thinking
to myself, you know, we make salvation much more complicated
than what it really is. John said, He that hath the Son
hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life. That's
not hard to understand, is it? Do you have God's Son? That's
the question. And as Brother Bruce said, Jesus
is not standing on the portals of heaven wringing His hands,
pleading with you to give Him your heart and let Him have His
way in your life. You certainly can't make Him
Lord. I had a man tell me one time, I made Jesus Lord. You
can't make Him Lord. He's already Lord. He's Lord
before you were ever born from the foundation of the world.
And God has chosen the foolish things of the world, and that's
what preaching is to the world. What we're doing here this weekend,
people would say, foolishness. But it is the very means that
God uses to save those who believe. This is serious, serious business. So with that long introduction
and that said, turn with me to Acts chapter 8. I want to talk
to you again about a, or talk to you this morning about a story
very familiar to you all. And it's not just a story about
baptism. Over the years, I've referred
to this passage of scripture many times when dealing with
the subject of baptism. But this is a story of God saving
a seeking sinner. And let me just say this up front.
I know that the scriptures are clear that there's none that
seeketh God. So if a man is seeking God, God's
already begun a work of grace in his heart. But this is a story
about God saving a seeking sinner. Now this seeking sinner's name's
not mentioned. And I was thinking, we are nothing,
we have nothing, we can do nothing. Salvation is not what we do for
God. I hear churches today talking
about all they're doing for God. That didn't have anything to
do with salvation. Salvation is not what we do for
God, is it? It's what God has done for us.
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Redemption has to do with who
does the saving and the issue is how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. And that's what this story is
about. So the question of the hour and the question of every
hour for that matter is this, what think ye of Christ? What do you think of Christ?
Now, according to verse 27, this recipient of God's grace was
a eunuch. He was a man of great authority
under the Queen of Ethiopia, and he had the charge of her
treasury. And he had come to Jerusalem
to worship. You see, seeking. Smarter men
and I have calculated that this man traveled by chariot for over
1,500 miles, and that was one way. Averaging 20 miles a day,
it would have taken him two and a half months just to get to
Jerusalem. Two and a half months. His purpose
for coming, as we see, was to worship. He sought to worship,
but like the woman at the well, he knew not what. But this man
was seeking God. The question is, are you? Are
you seeking God? And we find this man returning
home, much the way that he came, still lost, still in darkness. He's south of Jerusalem, he's
heading toward Gaza, he's in the desert. according to verse
26. And then verses 25 and 26 tells
us that Philip was preaching in Jerusalem to some Samaritans,
and an angel of the Lord spoke to him and told him to go to
the desert without telling him why. And I love the way verse
27 begins. It simply says, and he arose
and went. You know, a true servant of God,
a preacher of God's gospel is obedient to the Lord's command.
Even when he doesn't know where or why he's going. And he's been
sent to the desert. We plant, we water, but God gives
the increase. We don't have to know why. That's
God's business, isn't it? And this is where God's preachers
spend the majority of their time, in a desert. This world is a
spiritual desert. God sent a famine in the land.
It's not a famine of bread nor thirst of water, but a famine
of hearing the words of the Lord. Undoubtedly, this man's time
in Jerusalem was spiritually unprofitable. You know, Jerusalem
was a mecca of religion and it was spiritually unprofitable
for him. And I was thinking, as I considered that, religion
is just that. It's spiritually unprofitable. Salvation must come by divine
revelation from God. That's what our Lord Jesus said.
He said, it's written in the prophets, and they shall be all
taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. God's
got to teach us this. And we're not, let's pick up the
story here in verse 29. Then the spirit said unto 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? Now, we're not told
where this man acquired a copy of the writings of Isaiah. These
scrolls were not readily available to everyone. Perhaps when he
was in Jerusalem, he acquired this scroll at a considerable
expense. You know, today you can buy a
Bible at the dollar store for around $2. But in our Lord's
day, each scroll had to be transcribed and written by hand, and no doubt
very costly. So with an unquenched hunger
and interest in the things of God, this man is heading home,
but he's reading the word of God. And God in love and in mercy
and grace sends this seeking sinner a preacher. What a gift
of grace. I remember when God sent me a
preacher. You do too, don't you? Gospel
today, religion, is an organized business. Gospel preaching is
no longer relevant. It's a day of entertainment.
Worship bands, worship leaders, gospel concerts with no gospel. I had an acquaintance one time
call me and invite me to come to his church. He said, we're
having a singing. And he said, oh, and I especially
want you to come this week because we're having an Elvis impersonator. And I can just imagine he sung,
I Did It My Way. And it would be funny if it wasn't
sad and pathetic. Oh my, not long ago I overheard
someone talking about how much the Spirit had moved in their
services. They said so much that we never
got around to preaching. Well, there was a Spirit that
moved, no doubt. But it wasn't the Holy Spirit.
The greatest gift that God can give a sinner is the Gospel. And it's through the foolishness
of what the world calls foolishness of preaching that he saves those
who believe. I'm so glad the Lord sent me
a preacher. That's what God gave this seeking
eunuch, divine revelations not given apart from the preaching
of God's word. Of his own will beget he us with
the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his
creatures. We're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. Philip approached this man's
chariot, and he heard him read from the book of Isaiah. And
in verse 30, Philip asked him a question, do you understand
what you're reading? So I want to ask you the same
question this morning. When you read this book, this
Bible, do you understand what you're reading? You can't figure
it out on your own. It has to be revealed to us by
God Himself. This eunuch was reading Isaiah
53. Who hath believed our report?
to whom is the arm, the power, the strength of the Lord revealed. It goes on to say, he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant. He is a root out of dry ground.
He is despised and rejected of men. He is a man of sorrows. He is acquainted with grief.
He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. By his stripes
we were healed. Who's he talking about? Who is
this he and who is this him? This poor man didn't know, but
he wanted to know. He was seeking to know. Do you
know who he's talking about? If not, do you want to know?
This holy book's about someone. It's a hymn book. We say that
all the time, H-I-M. It's a hymn book. It's all about
him. The Lord Jesus Christ. Philip asked this seeking sinner,
do you understand what you're reading? Do you know who this
is talking about? He said, Isaiah said, all we
like sheep have gone astray. We've turned our own way. And
there's a way that seems right unto man, but the end is a way
of death and destruction. Our way's the wrong way. Philip
is asking, do you understand what this is saying about Jesus
Christ? Do you understand what this is
saying about you? About us? Isaiah's talking about
our griefs. Isaiah's talking about our sorrows,
our transgressions, our iniquities, not someone else's. Brother Henry
once said, there's no need to talk to men and women about an
offering for sin if they don't understand that they're sinners.
Isn't that true? Justification won't be of any
interest unto you if you don't see that you yourself are guilty. There's no reason to talk to
someone about intercession if they have no need of a mediator.
This is not talking about the druggie or the drunkard. This
is not talking about the harlot or the murderer. It's not talking
about the convict in prison. This is talking about you and
me. It's talking about all of us. And sin's not just an act,
it's an attitude. And it's not just our manners,
it's our motives. And sin's not just what we do,
it's what we are. All who come to Christ come as
sinners. Do you understand what that's
saying? Isaiah's talking about Jesus Christ. That's what the
scriptures are telling you and me. Do you understand what you're
reading? Do you understand what you're hearing? Salvations of
the Lord. And I love to say this, probably
said it here. You know what comes after that
in the scriptures? Salvations of the Lord? A period. Dot. End of sentence. Salvation's
of the Lord. No ifs, ands, and buts. It's
of the Lord. It's not something that I do
for God. It's not something that I do for myself. It's something
that God does for me. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. God made His soul an offering
for sin. Do you understand your need?
Do you understand your guilt? Do you understand what you deserve? And the eunuch said in verse
31, how can I? Except some man should guide
me. And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with
him. And the place of the scripture which he read was this, he was
led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb done before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his
judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation
for his life is taken from the earth. And friends, this is how
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Christ was
led as a lamb to the slaughter in his chosen sheep room instead. He opened not his mouth in a
way of defense because you and I were guilty. He's standing in the believer's
place. It's called substitution. It's
the most glorious thing I ever heard. That God Himself became
a man, came to this earth, lived perfectly, died in my room and
place. Humiliation speaks of just that,
humbling Himself and coming obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. And God highly exalted Him and
gave Him a name that's above every name that we should bow
to Him and confess Him to be our Lord and Savior to the glory
of God the Father. That's what this is all about,
the glory of God. And verse 34, and the eunuch
answered Philip and said, I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet,
this of himself or some other man. And Philip opened his mouth
and he began at that same scripture, now look at this, and preached
unto him, Jesus. This seeking sinner wanted to
know who this tender plant was. Who is this tender plant? Who
is this root out of dry ground? Who is this despised and rejected
man? Who is this man of sorrows acquainted
with grief? And Philip opened his mouth and
he began at the same scripture and he preached Christ unto him. And that's our message. Every
man that stands here this weekend is going to proclaim that message
to you. Jesus Christ, who he is, what
he's done for sinners. That's our message. Jesus Christ
and him crucified. Christ is the arm of the Lord.
He's our representative and federal head. He's the believing sinner
substitute. He was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities.
So just for a few minutes, allow me to quickly give you five things
that always accompany this salvation. And the first thing is an interest. A sinner that God saves will
have an interest in the things of Christ. This man had an interest. Now he'd heard some things and
he took a long, perilous journey to Jerusalem. He'd heard about
the God of Israel somehow. And he was interested in what
he heard. The question is, are you? Are you? Are you interested
in the things of Christ? He didn't receive anything in
Jerusalem. It was there that Christ came into His own and
His own received Him not. The scribes and the Pharisees
couldn't help this man. Well, they didn't know the Lord
themselves. And it didn't discourage him. You're not going to discourage
a child of God. Not one that's seeking God. Not
going to discourage him. He wasn't discouraged. He's heading
home, but he's reading the scriptures. And when God begins a work of
grace in a sinner's heart, there's going to be an interest placed
in their hearts. Rahab the harlot, she had an
interest. Oh, did she have an interest?
She said, she told those two spies, she said, we've heard
about your people. We've heard about you. We've heard about
your God. We've heard what your God has
done. For 40 years now, we've heard. And our hearts didn't
melt when we heard. Some of you've heard for 10,
20, 30, 40 years, yet you still have no interest. Oh, may God
be pleased to give you an interest. Rahab had an interest in God
showing kindness, brother Angus. And you know what he did? He
showed her kindness. What about Lydia? She went down
to the riverside to endeavor to worship. She had an interest.
And the Lord sent her a preacher named Paul. This man had an interest. He spent two and a half months
going to Jerusalem, and he wouldn't have done that without an interest
in the things of God. If you've got an interest in
this glorious gospel, miles won't stand in your way. No, sir. Some of you have come many miles
this weekend because you're interested. God is going to give his people
an interest. Secondly, if you have an interest,
God's going to cross your path with a preacher, a messenger,
a voice crying in the desert where you are. And it's God who
does this. God sent Philip from Samaria
to the desert where this man was. Philip didn't know who he
was there to see. He didn't tell him. The Lord
didn't tell him. He said, just go. And he went.
Philip saw the chariot and the spirit of God said, you go near
and you join yourself to that chariot. Brother Gabe, it was
a certain chariot. I'm sure there were many chariots
traveling through the desert at that time. I think they traveled
together often for safety reasons. But this was a certain chariot.
He said, you go join yourself to this chariot. And he joined
himself, and he heard that man reading the writings of Isaiah. God gave that man an interest
in God's word, and then God sent him a preacher. God sent Peter
to Cornelius. God sent Ananias to Paul. God
sent Paul to Lydia. And God sent Philip to this eunuch. And God sent a preacher to me. And God has sent a preacher to
you. God has sent Kingsport a preacher,
a gospel preacher. Do you have an interest? I pray that God give you an interest.
Thirdly, there was an understanding. Philip said, understandest thou
what thou readest? And the eunuch said, no. No,
I don't. You know, it's OK not to know
everything. The eunuch said, I understand
about money. I understand about finances. I understand about
heater bands, whatever they are. I understand the treasury, I
understand investments for my queen, but I don't understand
what I'm reading. I have no man to teach me. You
see, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, they're foolishness to him. Neither can he know them,
they're spiritually discerned. They have to be spiritually revealed. You have to be given spiritual
life to understand them. A natural man has no spiritual
life. We don't believe and then God
saves us. God saves us and then we believe. Over and over again, the scriptures
talk about a great mystery. Mysteries have to be revealed,
don't they? The mystery of Christ, the mystery of the gospel, the
mystery of godliness, the mystery of Christ and His church. Paul
said, I show you a mystery. How can a man be just with God? What a mystery that is. How can
he be clean as born of a woman? What a mystery. How can God be
just and justify the ungodly? That's a mystery of the gospel.
How can the law justify and at the same time curse? How can
the justice of God punish and yet forgive? How can mercy and
truth be met together? How can righteousness and peace
kiss each other? What a mystery. God gave this
man an understanding. This man had an encounter with
a preacher of God. And this man received an understanding
from God. That's the way God does things.
That's God's order. There's a man that stands in
this spot every week, several times a week. If you're interested,
this man will teach you some things. That's God's ordained
means. Fourthly, this man received a
revelation from God. He was given the revelation that
Isaiah was speaking of Jesus Christ. He asked Isaiah, is he
speaking of himself or another? And Philip told him that Isaiah
was speaking of another. He was speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He preached Christ to him from
the book of Isaiah. And let me tell you, it wouldn't
have mattered what scroll that man had. What Old Testament scroll
that man had. He could have preached Christ
to him from any one of them. This book's about him. Beloved,
there's only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Just one. One. One. In him, Jesus Christ, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. It pleased God to separate
this eunuch from his mother's womb and call him by his grace
to reveal by divine revelation his son in him. And that's exactly
what he did, as God revealed his son to you. And then lastly,
when God converts a sinner, that sinner's gonna confess the Lord
Jesus Christ. God gave him an interest, God
sent him a preacher, God gave him an understanding, God gave
him a revelation of Christ, God, for God so loved that he gave,
he gave. God's still giving. God's still
giving. And it was then that this man
made a public confession and was baptized. Look at verse 36.
And they went on their way, they came into a certain water. And
the eunuch said, not Philip, but the eunuch. Philip didn't
plead with this sinner to be baptized. Philip didn't say,
okay, turn to 240 in the hymn book and listen just as I am
through four or five times. No, the eunuch said, what hinders
me to being baptized? What hinders me? What hinders
you? What hinders you? Verse 36, the
eunuch said, see here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?
And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and he said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded
the chariot to stand still. And they went down both to the
water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. So let me
say this, you are yet without Christ. What hinders you from
coming and confessing the Lord Jesus Christ? You have an interest? God sent you a preacher. God's
given you an understanding. God revealed his son to you.
What hinders you? What hinders you? And this place
presides a faithful pastor and preacher. His message is Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. And to confess Christ, it's to
identify with Him. It's to identify with His people. It's to say to the whole world,
my only hope of forgiveness and reconciliation to the Holy God
that I have offended is in this One who loved me and gave Himself
for me. Baptism represents being dead
to the world, buried and raised to walk in newness of life. It's
to say to the world, Jesus Christ is my everything. I put my trust
in no other. And you know, I love how this
story ends. It's the same ending for all
God's children. It's a happy ending. I like happy
endings, don't you? I don't like to watch a movie
and it has a bad ending, I want a happy ending. Verse 39, and
when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the
Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more, but
what happened to the eunuch? And he went on his way rejoicing. He's rejoicing. This man made
his long way home rejoicing. Rejoicing in Jesus Christ. And
he had good reason to do so because Christ had put his sin away.
Boy, there's something to rejoice about. The Lord's taken my sin
and he's put it away. Oh, what a rejoicing. Rejoice
in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. He'd
been forgiven forever. He'd been made a new creature,
a new creation in Christ. Old things were passed away.
All things have become new. You know what that means? That
means that all his sin was gone and replaced with the perfect
righteousness of Christ himself. And when I stand before God that
day in judgment, he's going to say to me, well done, thy good
and faithful servant. Me? What have I ever done? Doesn't have anything to do with
what I did. It has everything to do with what Christ did for
me. That's the beautiful thing about salvation, isn't it? I can't do anything to save myself,
and I can't do anything to be lost. And people say, well, Preacher,
now you'll lead people into sin. People are already in sin. They
don't need anybody to lead them into. Oh my Lord, what mercy
and grace you've shown to unworthy worms like we are. The eyes of this man's understanding
were enlightened. Have yours been? Now Christ in him was the hope
of glory. Is he your hope of glory? And
this is something to rejoice about. And I tell you that you
can leave this place today rejoicing. What hinders you from doing so?
What hinders you from doing so? Thank you.