the body of believers, and they
are to be used. Not to be shelled, but to be
used. I don't want to be guilty of being like that man who had
one talent, and he hid it. He hid it in the ground. The
Lord said, why did you do that? He said, you could at least put
it in the bank and drew interest on it. The others that he gave
it to doubled. They doubled the talents. God
took the talent from that one man and gave it to the one who
had the ten. And whatever He gives us, gifts and abilities,
as He gives me the ability to recognize them, we're going to
use them. Now turn back to Acts chapter
8. The saving of a sinner. This is how it takes place. There are four things that happen
when God is going to save a person, a sinner. And we see these four things
in this chapter. We have the book he was reading. We have the question that he
asked. We have the message that He heard,
and we have the confession that He made. And that's what we're
going to look at. God sends His messengers where
He will. He doesn't ask the messenger
where he'd like to go. He doesn't ask that. Because not one messenger would
say, send me to a desert place. No, we'd be in the tropics or
something. We still have that much sin in us. The servant does
not pick his place of service. There is absolutely no way I
would have ever conceived of being down here. No way. Never crossed my mind in any
way, shape or form. There was a sinner though from
Ethiopia, from Africa, that had come up to Jerusalem to worship. Somewhere in this man's past,
God had created an interest for this purpose, for this time.
He didn't know it, but whatever that incident was that brought
him up to Jerusalem, and created an interest in his heart in worshiping
God, only God knows, but he did it.
God did it. God crossed this man's path years
earlier, somewhere along the way, and I'm sure he didn't even
realize, just like you didn't. And he went up to Jerusalem,
it says, to worship. Another rendering of this is he went
up to Jerusalem on purpose. He went up to Jerusalem with
a purpose. He had a purpose, just like we have a purpose here
this morning, to worship God. Our purpose for being here this
morning is to worship God, to give unto Him the glory and honor
due unto His name, to hear our Father speak. I want to hear God speak this
morning. I hope I'm not the one you're just hearing this morning.
I want to hear God speak. But while this man was at Jerusalem, he had gotten his hands on a
copy of Isaiah. The prophet Isaiah, the Old Testament,
he'd gotten a copy. I don't know that he had the
whole Old Testament, but he got a copy of Isaiah. Someone wrote, God works in mysterious
ways his wonders to perform. He plants his foot upon the sea
and rides upon the storm. God's preparing this man to meet
his preacher. He's preparing this man to meet
his Word. He's preparing this man to meet
himself, God. And God's preacher Faithfully. All he did, all Philip did was
preach the gospel to him. He didn't try to get him to make
a decision. He just preached the gospel to
him and left him alone. That's why I want to do it. I
want to just be able to preach the gospel and leave it alone.
The Holy Spirit will do the work. I'm not going to do His work.
I can't do His work. We were leaving Ashland, and
Vicki Ashley said, you see that sign that they're doing again
this year? They're showing a movie on the
flames of hell. You know, our Lord said, I'll
tell you who to fear. Fear Him. Not hell. And what they're going to do,
here's exactly what's going to happen. They are going to scare,
which I don't know if you can scare this generation into anything
anymore. We're just about We've about
been scared out. All the horror movies and stuff
they make now, I don't know that you can shock this generation. But they're going to try to scare
these kids into making a profession. They're going to get them into
a false refuge. And these kids are going to grow
up with a false refuge. They ought to hang those guys.
I'm serious. I ought to run him out of town. But that's what they're going
to do. Philip didn't try to scare him. He just told him about the
One who saves. I'll tell you what he preached
to him. I'll get to it in a minute. Substitution. Substitution. Now Philip was
told by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, to go to a certain
place. There in verse 26, 27. Let me get back to the books
of Acts here in chapter 8. Acts chapter 8, let me find my
place. Here it is. I was looking at
chapter 9. And the angel of the Lord spake
unto Philip, saying, arrives, go toward the south and to the
way that goes down from Jerusalem into Gaza, which is desert. It's
desert. And he arose, he obeyed, he was
an obedient servant. He arose, he went, and behold,
a man of Ethiopia, eunuch, great authority under Candacy, queen
of the Ethiopians. And he had a charge of all her
treasure. He had a charge of all that. So Philip was told
to go to a certain place, and he did so. He left a very successful
meeting in Samaria. Things were going well in Samaria.
The Lord was doing a great work in Samaria. And then right out
of the, I'd say right out of the blue, the Lord says, Philip,
I want you to pack your bags, and I want you to go to the desert. A place that's nothing but a
desert place. God's servant usually ends up
where he least expects it. But he ends up where God sends
him. Christ said, where I am, there
my servant will be also. Where I am, my servant will be
there. You can be sure wherever Christ
is in a congregation, he's gonna have a preacher in that congregation.
You can count on it. Now just look, the book he was
reading, the book he was reading was the Word of God. The same
book we're reading. He was reading the Word of God.
The Bible is the book he was reading. Now he didn't have the
New Testament as you and I have it, but he had Isaiah as we have
it. In this book, this book right
here that we have in our hands, in this book is revealed The
beginning of creation? I'm not an evolutionist. You're
not an evolutionist. God created all this, didn't
he? You go back into the Old Testament,
and so many times when the prophets identified God, they first identified
God as their creator of heaven and earth. The only reason evolution ever
got a foothold, the only reason why is because it's a lot easier
to look at a monkey and say, look how far I've come, than
it is to look at God and say, look how far I've fallen. It's
a lot easier to say, oh glorious man that I have become, than
oh wretched man that I am. That's the only reason evolution
ever really got a foothold. It's a lot easier on this flesh.
A lot easier. In this book is revealed the
beginning of creation. In this book is revealed the
One who created all things. The Lord Jesus Christ. In this
book is revealed the fall. How we got into this mess. How we got into this mess. How
sin came into this world. How I became a sinner. How I became what I am. I found
that out in this book. That's how I found it out. I understand. I understand from
this book We know this from the work of the Holy Spirit teaching
us, because I tell you what, this book is a closed book until
God opens it. Remember when John was in heaven,
when he was receiving this revelation, he was writing the book of Revelation,
and in chapter 5, he wept because no man was worthy to open the
book and to loose the seals thereof? This book is a closed book until
Jesus Christ comes on the scene, who is the key of knowledge. And he opens this book. He opens
it. And then you begin to understand.
You begin to understand who God is. For the first time, God is
not like me. You know what he said in the
Psalms? You thought I was altogether like yourselves. Now that's a
very low estimation of God and a very high opinion of myself. You thought I was like you. But when He opened this book,
when Christ opened this book, I understood who God is. 1 John 1, God is light. He is absolute purity. He's holy. That's who God is. He is of pure
eyes than to behold iniquity. I am sin. I don't just do some
sins. I am sin. Everything I do has sin attached
to it. I've never made a mistake in
my life, but I sure have sinned a lot. I should have done that. That
was a mistake. No, it's just sin. But here's
the good part, Christ died for sin. He died for sinners and
to put away sin. He didn't die for mistakes. He
died to put away sin. But through this book, I understand
who God is, who I am, and I understand who Jesus Christ is. God in the
flesh. That's who He is. He's my Savior.
And this book has revealed my Savior. I just read it to you
out of Isaiah 53. The substitute. We are reading
the same Word this eunuch was reading. God does not save anyone
apart from His Word. Of His own will, we saw this
Thursday night, of His own will began He us with the Word of
Truth. Truth. Philip asked this man, He said,
do you understand what you're reading? Do you understand this? The Son
of God has come and given us an understanding. Do you understand
the gospel? Do you? I say to you what the Lord said
to Peter when he said, who do men say that I am? Some say you're
a prophet, some say you're this, some say you're that. But Peter
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And he
said, Blessed are your eyes, Peter, for they see, and your
ears for they hear. My Father, my Heavenly Father
has revealed this unto you. Revealed this unto you. If you
understand the gospel, God has revealed, He has revealed the
truth to you. He's revealed Himself to you.
And he's done so out of this book. Out of this book. And then the question he asks,
Who is this man speaking? Who's the prophet speaking of?
Himself? Or someone else? Is he talking
about himself? That this is going to happen
to? Or is he speaking about some other man? Who's this book speaking about?
This book is speaking about one person. It's a message of one
person. This book really, this book truly
is a hymn book. This is a hymn book. It's all
about Him. It's all about Him. The Lord
Jesus Christ. It's all about Him. From Genesis,
the seed of the woman, actually going back to creation. In the
beginning, God. That's Jesus Christ. the Word
of God that was made flesh and dwelt among us. Who is this other man? If he's
not speaking of himself, who is this other man? Boy, I tell
you, wouldn't you want to sit down and talk to somebody who
has that kind of interest? Tell me about Jesus Christ. Who is this other man? Well,
turn over to 1 Timothy. Turn over to 1 Timothy and we'll
see who this other man is. In 1 Timothy 3, chapter 3, verse
16. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. That's who this other man is.
He's telling this eunuch, that's who he is. He's God manifest
in the flesh. Justified in the spirit, seen
of angels, preaching to the Gentiles, believed only in the world, received
up to glory. But this man, this man, sir,
that you're reading about, this other man, he's not the prophet.
It's not Isaiah the prophet. He is that prophet, but not Isaiah. is God. He's God. Who is this man? He's that tender
plant. Look over there in Isaiah 53. I have no doubt Philip just took
this verse by verse and just preached Christ to him. Who is
this man? In verse 2. He shall grow up before Him as
a tender plant. This man is that tender plant.
They didn't expect God. They didn't expect the Messiah
to come as a babe in a manger. They didn't expect that. They
expected Him to come in riding on a white horse with an army
behind Him. No. They didn't expect a babe
being laid in a manger. They didn't expect that. Who
is this tender plant that's grown up? He's grown up before the
Lord. Who is this? This is Jesus of Nazareth. That's
who He is. Who is this root out of dry ground? Well, this root out of dry ground
is the root of David. That's who he is. That's the
root of David. Who is this lamb being led to
the slaughter? Who is it? It's God incarnate. When he took the Isaiah 53, he
took the land, he took the tender plant, he took the root, and
he preached Christ to him. He preached Christ to him. Our
Lord said this, search the scriptures, and then you think you have eternal
life. Listen, I don't have eternal
life in the scriptures, I have eternal life in Christ, who is
life. But the Scriptures testified.
The Scriptures are able to make you wise unto salvation. But
they thought when they searched the Scriptures, they searched
the Scriptures and said, look, what do we do next? Let's see
what we do next here. Here and here. They searched
the Scriptures to see what to do next. They completely missed
the one who... whose life. They missed him. When you search the Scriptures,
when you and I search the Scriptures, Let's search the scriptures looking
for Him. Looking for Him. To study Him. He said, take my
yoke upon you and learn of Me. He's the teacher and He's the
lesson. He's the object of our faith.
He's the object of our hope. If you would know God, If you would know salvation,
search the scriptures and find Christ. Find Him. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. In Adam, I lost the way to God.
In Adam, I lost the truth of God. In Adam, I lost the life
of God. Everything I lost in Adam, Jesus
Christ has made that to me. He doesn't just give it to me.
He is that to me. He is the way. He didn't just
show me the way. He is the way. He didn't just
give me life. He is my life. Christ is my life. But you give Christ your life.
What's He want with mine? You give Christ your heart. I
don't even want it, but why would he want it? Why don't you give
him something you don't even want? That's what you have rummy
cells for, isn't it? Get rid of stuff you don't really
want. No, he is life to me. He is the
way to me. He is the embodiment of truth. It says the law was given by
Moses. It was given to Moses and Moses
gave it to Israel. But grace and truth, it does
not say grace and truth was given by Jesus Christ. It came by Him. He's the embodiment of it. He
is literally the embodiment of truth and life. Here's the message he heard.
It was a true message. It was a true message. It was a heavenly message. The
message of grace that we have came from heaven. Came from heaven. Not a group
of men who got together. You couldn't make this up. If
we made it up, it would be of works. We'd be building another
tower like they did in Babel. That's what we'd do. It's a heavenly message. It's
right from the throne of grace. It's a message of good news to
the guilty. You know, the gospel is only
good news if you're guilty. It's only good news if you're
guilty. Those Pharisees said, we be not sinners. Well, then
I'm not talking to you. Not talking to you. Christ died
for the ungodly. I'm not ungodly. He didn't die
for you. He died for the ungodly. He died
for sinners. If you are a bone, John Bunyan
called them Jerusalem sinners. If you're a bona fide sinner,
Christ died for sinners. Everyone who God chose were nothing
but a bunch of sinners. That's all. And He died for sinners. You say, well, everybody's a
sinner. Yeah, you go find one. Spurgeon said, a sinner is a
sacred thing for the Holy Spirit has made him so. It takes the
work of the Holy Spirit to make a man or a woman say, I'm guilty
and not blame it on anybody else. Just go to the local jail and
find somebody in there that doesn't have an excuse for being in there. You'd be hard pressed. David said, against thee and
thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. He heard the message of substitution,
of Christ being made sin for us. That Christ taking the place of a multitude of sinners, don't
make a number. Christ taking my place. You know, I used to think of
substitution the way the Armenians presented it. It's like someone
gave me an illustration years ago. It's like you're playing
football and the coach takes you out of the game and puts
somebody in there to take your place. It's deeper than that. Substitution is deeper than that.
It is Christ being made what I am, that I might be made what
He is, the righteousness of God in Him. And God made him to be
sin. Now, brethren, I can't plumb
that depth. I can't dive that deep. I cannot
with my mind comprehend that transaction. Only God can make Christ to be
what I am. Over in Psalm 40, he says, My
sins have gone over my head. In Psalm 22, he said, I am a
what? A worm. What did he call Jacob? He said, thou worm, Jacob. And then in Psalm 22, he says,
I'm nothing but a worm. I can't explain that. I'm not
going to try to explain it. We start getting in trouble when
we try to start explaining the gospel. instead of proclaiming
it. We are called upon to declare
the gospel. That's why John said, I declare
unto you. 1 John 1, I declare. He was made in 2 Corinthians
5.21, he was made. And that to be is in italics. You can take it out. He was made
sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And brethren, I'm telling you
what, that's more than just legal paperwork. That's a real transaction. When God dealt with Jesus Christ
on the cross, God dealt with me. That's me hanging there. And when it was over, justice was satisfied and the
sinner set free. That's what he heard. He heard. Oh, he heard of Jesus of Nazareth
being the Son of God, being the Son of Man. He heard of his substitutionary
work. He heard of him as the... I have
no doubt, I have no doubt that Philip took him back to Genesis.
the seed of the woman, the tabernacle, the high priest, the priesthood,
the Passover. He took him back, no doubt, through
those types and pointed him and pointed every one of them to
Jesus Christ as their fulfillment. He fulfilled all of them. And
that Ethiopian standing there listening with his mouth shut,
just listening. And God is creating faith in
that man's heart. A work of grace going on. A work of grace. And then the
confession he made in verse 36. And as they went on their way,
they came to a certain water. Evidently, Philip had said something
to him about baptism. About identification. Not that
it cleansed him or anyone else. But it's identification with
Christ. It's to be identified with Him.
Whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ is baptized shall
be saved. And Enoch said, here's why, and
what does it mean to be baptized? And Philip said, if you believe
with all your heart, with all thy heart. See, this is a heart
word. Salvation's a heart word. You may. You may. You know, the only hedge that's
put around baptism and partaking of the Lord's table is this.
Faith. Do you believe? Do you believe? I had a... Years ago when I was
preaching as a young man, preaching the gospel, I was at a church
up close where we lived. And they wouldn't talk to me about
being a pastor. And that conversation, there
was a couple of things that came up. Number one, they asked me
if I preached against abortion, against rock and roll. They said,
you preach and bring messages against rock and roll and against
abortion. And I said, I preach Christ.
They said, well, we know that. But what we want to know, do
you bring messages on these subjects for our young people? I said, well, first of all, let
me say this. If they quit listening to rock and roll, and they don't
have abortion, they don't have premarital sex, they're still
going to hell. I said, they're still going to
perish if they don't come to Christ in faith. I can make a
bunch of Pharisees out of them. Now I said, I deal with these
things, I will deal with things as they come up in the Word of
God. You go verse by verse, you deal with some things. You go
first Corinthians, you're going to deal with some things. I said,
but the message is Christ. And then the second thing they
wanted to know is if, I believe, then close communion. I said, well, I knew what it
meant, but what are you talking about? They said, well, if the
person is not a member of this congregation and we have communion,
then they can't take it. I said, so you mean to tell me
that if my pastor, Henry Mahan, comes here, and we have communion,
and I'm going to tell him he can't take it?" I said, that
ain't happening. I was only about 24 years old, but I had enough
sense to know that. I said, no. I said, the only
hedge around baptism and the Lord's table is, do you believe? Do you believe? And that's it. That's it. And so he confessed
that he believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he said,
what hinders me from being baptized? Philip said, if you believe Jesus
Christ, there's nothing. But they stopped that chariot
right there. Isn't that something? The water
was right there. I wonder how that happened. They're in a desert
place. Think about it. They're in a
desert place. And all of a sudden, when they get to that point in
the message, there's a pool of water. And they went down, Philip went
down and baptized him. He confessed Christ. And when
he come up, God sent Philip to another place. He's got some
people somewhere else. And that eunuch, he didn't see
him anymore, but he went home. It said, Rejoice in Him. Rejoice
in Him. I would think, now I have to
say, I was thinking about this when I was doing this, I would
love, I would love to be able to follow that man back to Africa
and witness the fruit that came out of that. The fruit that came
out of that one man. You know, and I was telling Doug
this here a week or two ago, back in I believe it was 55. Rothbard came to town. I've heard him on tape, but it's
a powerful preacher of the gospel. And anyway, Henry heard Rothbard. And Henry heard the gospel. He's
just a young man, 24 I think, 24 or 25. And he heard the gospel. And if you check history now,
because this is now in the history books, They attribute all the Sovereign
Grace conferences going on now back to when Henry had that first
one in 1955. They attribute it to like an
awakening. Henry called everybody he knew
that preached the grace of God and brought them there and had
their conference. I believe it was in 55. And how many places have now
came from that one incident. All the Bible conferences that
we know of that goes on right now came from that one incident.
I would love to be able to, if history could be traced, to go
back and see the fruit that came out of that one meeting between
Philip and that eunuch. And who knows? Who knows? I was thinking about this last
night. Who knows? There still may be fruit over
there right now. That's from this one incident.
This one incident. It's amazing. You don't know. You and I don't know. God may
take one of these young men here and turn the world upside down.
We don't know. But that's how God saves sinners. That's how he saves them.