Turn with me if you would now
to Acts chapter eight. Acts chapter eight. Let's begin reading together
in verse 26. 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.
And he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia
and eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians,
who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem
for to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot read
Isaiah the prophet. 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 said,
understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, how can
I except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that
he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture
which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter. And like a lamb dumb 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 the eunuch answered Philip
and said, I pray thee, "'Of whom speaketh the prophet this, "'of
himself or of some other man?' Then Philip opened his mouth,
"'and began at the same scripture, "'and preached unto him, Jesus. "'And as they went on their way,
"'they came unto a certain water, "'and the eunuch said, See, here
is water, What doth hinder me to be baptized? Not too long ago, a few of us
were working here. I believe it was on a Tuesday
night. And we were all working on different things, all going
in different directions. And I was looking for something
that I needed. And I went down into the basement
to see if it was there. And when I got down there, Brother
Mike was down there doing something. And he and I had a moment there
alone, and we started talking about how amazed and how grateful
we were for what the Lord has provided for us. We'd started talking about how
thankful we were to be a part of his ministry. A lot of work, but how thankful,
just how thankful. We were talking about how thankful
we were for the fact that he saved us and called us Listen to these next three words.
Into his family. How thankful just to be included. Just how thankful. How amazed,
how grateful. Look at what the Lord has done.
Look how privileged we are to be a part of it. In the midst of all of our thankfulness,
Brother Mike said to me, he said, I've actually been meaning to
talk to you about baptism. Baptism is confessing all of
that thankfulness to everybody. That's what baptism is. So we started talking about baptism
and he told me a little bit about his life's story. It's a story
that a lot of believers can relate to. A lot of God's people can
relate to. He said when he was a kid, he
grew up in false religion. They told their lies to him,
and they had him convinced that all he had to do was stand up
in front of everybody and make a profession, and then get down into a pool
of water, and that was it. He'd be saved. It's just that
simple. You tell a child that, and you tell an adult that. Okay,
and so he did. He was, in quotes, baptized. And then he went on about his
life. He grew up, he joined the military. But while he was in
the military, he met a girl named Cindy Pruitt. Been a while since you heard
that name, hasn't it? And to his great benefit and
his great fortune, Cindy liked him. So much so, she took him home
to meet her parents. And while Mike was there, he
heard Cindy's father, Darwin Pruitt, preach the sovereignty of God
Almighty in the salvation of His people. And something was different.
This is what we talked about. This is what he was telling me.
He didn't know I was listening this hard. But something was
different. As he listened to Brother Darwin
time and time again, He heard the truth of God's will, not
mine. God's way, not mine. God's work, not mine. God's choice, not mine. God's glory, not mine. He's high, I'm low. He's in the
heavens, I'm in the dust. Through the preaching of the
gospel, the Spirit of God opened His eyes to see Christ in the
midst of all religion. The Lord revealed Christ to our
brother. The substitution of Christ from my own personal experience. Substitution has been and is
every time I think about it, just the most glorious light
bulb moment for me. We were talking about that in
the hallway. Substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we just heard our brother
Saul say, what must I do? How many people came to him saying,
what must I do? He said the very same thing that
others said to him. That's what everybody says, what
must I do? And then the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed. And the substitution of the Lord
Jesus Christ is revealed. And the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ is revealed. And the finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ is revealed. God revealed to him. It is finished. What must I do is finished. Oh, that's great news. You are complete in the Lord
Jesus Christ. So with that, he told me right
down there in that basement that for years now, he has felt a
dilemma. He said he knew that baptism
was one of the ordinances that the Lord gave for us to observe. But he said he didn't want to
do it because he had to do it for his salvation. How many people
can relate to this? I'm telling you his story because
I know we can relate to this. I know we can. He said, I didn't want to do
it because I had to do it for my salvation. That was the false
condition that was put on him from that false baptism of his
childhood. Something has to be different
from that. But he said, and I'm paraphrasing,
you know that. He said in his own words that
the Lord finally revealed to him that he just wanted to confess
Christ. The Lord finally lets all that
stuff go. How, you know, how does this apply to me? What do
I what am I? And then he just reveals Christ.
And you just say, I just want to tell everybody, I just want
to say Christ. Just wants to confess what Christ
has done for him. He told me right down there,
he said, I know it's not salvation. It's a confession of salvation. So to that I said, Amen. Amen. He said he wanted to confess
to the Lord that he believed on Him. He wanted to confess
to everybody else, all of his brethren, that he believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I said to him, well then
I think you ought to be baptized. I don't always say that in conversations,
but after that conversation, I said, I believe you ought to
be baptized. And now here we are. For this confession, I wanted
to look at this story because what Brother Mike said to me
down there in the basement made me think of what this eunuch
said to Philip. He said at the end of verse 36, what doth hinder me to be baptized? What would hinder me from being
baptized? Our brother said, I don't want
to do it because I have to do it for my salvation. And that's
right. That's right. If we feel that
way about it, if we feel that we have to do this for our salvation,
then we ought to be hindered from doing this. Well, let's
wait a little while. What should hinder us from going
into that water right there? What should hinder us? Well,
seeing it as being our salvation should hinder us. Seeing it as being a component
of our salvation, seeing it as being the final step that actually
saves us, if that's what we believe about that tap water right there,
then that should hinder us from doing this. All right, well then what should
encourage us to do this? Seeing this right here, seeing
this right here should encourage us to do this. Look at verse
32. The place of the scripture which
he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter. And like a lamb dumb before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth. Does that make you want
to say, thank God, as they were sending all those accusations
at him. He did this and he did this and
he did this. Don't you cry. Thank God that
man did not open his mouth. He didn't do it, I did, but God
the Father put me in Him. I was standing there in Him and
they were pointing their finger at me in Him. And as they said,
Gabe Stoniker, you did this and you did this and you did this,
our Lord Jesus Christ did not open His mouth. Verse 33 says, in His humiliation. I am humiliated over my sin. And not only did He take my sin,
He took the humiliation that goes along with it. He stood
there in my humiliation. He made it His own. In His humiliation,
His judgment was taken away. What does that mean? That means
he was judged. And who shall declare his generation
for his life is taken from the earth. He died. He died. What does that mean for us that
he endured that? What does that mean concerning
us? What did he do for us by enduring
that? Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Isaiah. He was reading, this eunuch was
reading Isaiah 53, which is so glorious, but turn with me to
Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63. This is Christ declaring what
He endured and what it means for us, what He accomplished
through His suffering for us. Isaiah 63, verse 1, it says,
Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from
Basra, this that is glorious in His apparel, traveling in
the greatness of His strength? Who is it? I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. That's who it is. That's who
is coming in his red dyed garments from the sheepfold. When you
look up all the names of those cities, that's what it means.
Red dyed garments from the sheepfold. Christ said, I'm coming, your
Savior is coming. I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. Verse two says, wherefore art
thou red in thine apparel? Why are you red in your apparel?
And thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat. Why
does it look like you've been treading grapes? Verse 3, he
said, I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there
was none with me. For I will tread them in mine
anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be
sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in
mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked,
and there was none to help. And I wondered that there was
none to uphold. Therefore, mine own arm brought
salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me. And I will tread
down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury,
and I will bring down their strength to the earth." He said, I endured
the wrath of God's vengeance on the sin of my people alone. It was a moment of vengeance. It was a moment of anger. It
was a moment of wrath. And I endured it alone. Verse
7, he said, I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord.
and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord
hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house
of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them, according to his mercies
and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. For
He said, surely they are My people, children that will not lie. He said, I am not going to leave
them in their sin. He went on to say, so He was
their Savior. I'm not leaving them there. So
He was their Savior. Watch verse 9. In all their affliction,
He was afflicted. And the angel of His presence
saved them. In His love and in His pity,
He redeemed them. And He bare them and carried
them all the days of old. What did His suffering mean for
us? What did it accomplish for us? Salvation. redemption, deliverance
by the love and pity of God Almighty. That is all that we're confessing
in this. That's all that we're confessing.
We are confessing what He accomplished for us. We are confessing our
hope in His accomplishment. His accomplishment alone. We
get in this water and we go down under it. And this is what we're confessing
in that, you know, our Lord gave the Passover, which he did away
with when he established the Lord's table. And between the
Lord's table now and baptism, he gave us these ordinances.
And whenever he gave the Passover, he said, as you do this, when
your children ask, why are you doing this? You tell them why. You tell them, we're remembering
what the Lord did for us. And you explain to them what
this means. Well, in this, when we go into
this water, we go down under it. And what we're confessing
in that is, I deserve to die. I am a sinner and a wage must
be paid for my sin. And that wage is death, and I
know that. But my hope is that I died in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's appointed unto man once
to die. And my hope is that when he died
2,000 years ago, I truly died in him. Our Lord said, he that
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. He said, Martha, do
you believe that? I do. To his credit, he has caused
me to believe it was appointed unto me once to die. And I died
in him. Will I lay this body down? Sure
I will. That's not death. That's life. That's being delivered
from the body of this death. But my hope and our hope and
every believer's hope is that when He died, we died in Him. When He died hanging right there
on that cross, our hope is that He really did die for me right
there. And my hope, our hope is that
He satisfied God the Father for the payment that I owed Him.
God is not looking for a payment out of me any longer because
Christ truly settled the debt. He truly settled the debt for
me, for us in the grave of His death. And my hope is that when
God the Father gave life to Christ again, and raised Him from that
grave of death, my hope is that God the Father gave spiritual
life to me, born again. In time, the Spirit brings that
life to His people. But raised me, raised us from
the grave of death with Christ, and then with Christ, in Him,
there's no possibility of returning to that grave. Christ has removed
all the sin that could bring me there. In Him, because of
everything He endured for me, there is nothing left on me to
condemn me. Nothing. He took care of all
of it. He put it all away by the sacrifice
of Himself. And that's what we're confessing.
When Philip declared that to that eunuch, he was reading Isaiah
53, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and the eunuch
wanted to know, what is this? And he preached the Lord Jesus
Christ to him. And when Philip declared that
to that eunuch, go with me back over there to Acts chapter 8. Philip declared what Christ sovereignly
and lovingly did, and the Spirit of God opened that eunuch's heart And he caused him to see. He
caused him to believe. He caused him to fall in love
with Christ, his Savior. And it broke him. It put thankfulness in him. And
that eunuch said, Brother Philip, is there anything that hinders
me from confessing to everybody what Christ has done for me?
Is there anything that would hinder me from that? And Philip
said in verse 37, Acts chapter eight, verse 37, Philip said,
if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the son of God. It takes the power of
God to put that faith in a person. I believe that Jesus Christ is
God manifest in the flesh. I believe Jesus Christ is the
begotten holy image of God himself. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the only man who could accomplish so great a salvation. I believe that there's no other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
I believe He is my all and in all. I believe the blood of Jesus
Christ is the only hope I have before the judgment throne of
God. Thank God I believe He has covered
me in it head to toe. I believe and I'm putting all
my trust and all my hope in the fact that He's covered me in
His blood head to toe. Philip said, Stop the chariot. Verse 38. And he commanded the
chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water,
both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. Now, I know
from personal experience That Philip was thrilled to baptize
that man. Baptism is not our salvation. But when somebody says. I love
Jesus Christ and I want everybody to know. My heart skips a beat. Would you baptize me? Would you
mind baptizing me? Would I? I'm telling you from personal
experience, I know Philip was thrilled to baptize that man. When a servant of God baptizes
a man or a woman, often we say, I baptize you, my brother or
my sister. We mean it. That's what this confession is
acknowledging, union with God in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Unity, union, brothers and sisters
with him, joint heirs with Jesus Christ. That's amazing, isn't
it? That's what we are, brothers
and sisters in and because of our elder brother. Our Lord Himself was baptized. Does that tell us anything on
should we do this? Is there any importance in this?
God Almighty come down into the flesh, the likeness of man. He
was baptized. What was He doing being baptized? Confessing His union with His
people. He said, I want to tell everybody.
I want to confess my union with my people. We are confessing
our union with Him, being joined together with Him, in Him, one
in Him. We have a glorious union with
Him, in Him, and with each other in Him. We are family. We are blood family because we've
been included. Included into the family of God.
By the blood of God. And I know this is maybe an unconventional
baptism message. I normally don't even say people's
names, but Mike. It thrills my soul to baptize
you. Knowing your confession. Believing
your confession. It thrills all of our souls to
call each other brethren, doesn't it? We believe this. He said, if
you believe this with all your heart, we believe this, don't
we? You believe this, don't you? You believe that Jesus Christ
is the only provided redemption that there is, don't you? As soon as a person confesses
that with their tongue, it's time to stop the chariot. Stop the chariot. Philip said,
come on, brother, let's both go into the water. Come on, brother,
let's both go into the water. Let's both go into the water.
May our Lord be glorified as we observe this ordinance together. All right, Brother Mike, you
can go back. Brother Eddie, you come up and a few men would move
this pulpit.