Acts chapter 8, beginning with
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 desert. And
he arose, and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch
of great authority under Kendisi, queen of the Ethiopians, who
had charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for
it 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. 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. Who shall declare his generation?
for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered
Philip, and he 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 into a certain water, and 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 said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 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.
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, and
he went on his way rejoicing." But Philip was founded as Otis,
and passing through he preached in all the cities till he came
to Caesarea." I'd just like to just go verse by verse through
this portion of Scripture this evening. Beginning with verse
29, here we see that God sends a messenger. God sends His messenger. See that? It said the Spirit
said to Philip, go, go near. Paul said to the Romans, he said,
how shall they preach except they be sent? God sends forth
his messenger. The Spirit said to Philip, he
said, you go near and you join yourself to this chariot. Our
Lord said, what man of you, what man of you having, if he lost
one sheep, Does He not leave the ninety and nine and go into
the wilderness until He finds that one that's lost? And when
He finds it, He puts it up on His shoulder and He carries it
home and He tells everybody, come, come and rejoice. Come
and rejoice. Rejoice with me. I have found,
I found my lost sheep. And Almighty, the Spirit of God
sends forth His messengers every one of his sheep. Not one of
them is going to be lost. Think of that Philippian jailer.
I often think of him. I often think of that jailer.
You know, back in those times, the jailer worked in the prison.
He never left. That was his home. How's God's
matches of grace ever going to get to him? How's that ever going
to happen? And yet God sent His men. There
they are, singing and praising God in the middle of the night.
He's cast them into the innermost part of the prison, laid them
fast, laid their feet in the stocks. How is He going to get
the message? God gets His message to His people.
Not one. Not one will be lost. How about
the thief on the cross? How about that thief hanging
there on the cross? The one that both of them, we read, railed.
They railed on our Lord Jesus Christ as they hung there. And then finally, something happened. Something happened to that one
thief. And he said, who are we? We deserve this. We deserve to
be hanging here, but not this man. Lord, remember, remember me.
Remember me." His attitude, something changed there, didn't it? His
heart, his new heart. From one that went to Raleigh,
Illinois, now he calls Him Lord. He calls Him Master. Remember
me. And the Lord said today, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise. How about Zacchaeus? We could
just go through the Scriptures, couldn't we? There's Zacchaeus.
And it says, when the Lord came... Zacchaeus, he's up there in a
tree. He wants to see what this is all about. The Master's going
to pass by. And it says, Our Lord, when He
came, He came to the place, to the place, that place that had
been determined from all eternity. And He looked up, and He saw
him. And He said, Zacchaeus, come
down. Come down. He's not going to miss one of
His. We could go throughout the Scriptures. Some of you could tell the same
story. Where did He find you? Where
did He find you when He brought you out of the sound of the Gospel
and revealed Christ to you? Well, here we see that God sends
forth His messengers and His sheep are going to hear His voice. Look at verse 30. And Philip
ran thither to him. You see that? Philip ran. Boy,
there's a... You know, when you run to something,
there's a sense of urgency in there. He ran to him. He ran
to him. And why wouldn't we? These are
matters of life and death. He ran to him. He ran to him. Philip ran thither to him and
he heard him read the prophet Isaiah and he said, do you understand
what you're reading? Now listen, salvation is a hard
work. No question about that. It's
a work of grace in the heart. But how shall they believe? How
shall they believe in whom they have not heard? Heard. We preach, we preach the word.
And the eunuch said to him, he said, how can I? How can I except
some man should guide me? Some man should teach me. Now,
we live in a generation where information is right at our fingertips. We don't ask questions anymore,
do we? We get our phone out and we Google it. We just search
it real quick, right? And you know, I don't know. I
know when I was in school, I didn't like to ask questions. You know,
somebody might think we don't know everything if we ask questions,
right? We tend to not ask questions. I tell the kids in my Sunday
school class, I say, if you don't understand something, if you
don't understand, you ask. You ask. And ask your pastor. Ask God. Ask God to reveal the
truth to you. Seek the truth among God's people,
where God's people gather. Seek Him in His Word. We're to
seek the Lord. Turn with me to just a few scriptures. Turn back to Exodus chapter 12.
Back in the Old Testament, Exodus chapter 12. Now, back here in Exodus 12, Moses had called all the people
together, and he was telling the people about the Passover.
He was explaining to them the Passover. He said, you take that
lamb, and you kill it, and you're going to take some hyssop, and
you're going to dip it in the blood, and you're going to put
that up there on the lintel, on the side posts. And he said,
the Lord's going to pass through the land, and He's going to smite
the Egyptians. But listen, when He sees the
blood, when He sees the blood, He's going to pass over your
house. He's going to leap over your house. And He said, you're
going to remember this. You're going to observe this
as an ordinance. And look here at verse 26. It
says, "...it shall come to pass, it shall come to pass, when your
children shall say unto you, what mean you by this service?"
What does this mean? And they're going to ask. You
see that? He said, when your children shall
ask you, what mean you by this service? Look at the answer. And look where it's found. This
isn't found on Google. This isn't found in a self-help
book. It's found right here in God's
Word. And it says this, it's the Lord's Passover. It's the
Lord who passed, listen, who passed over the children of Israel
in Egypt. He smote the Egyptians. God's
going to judge sin. He smote the Egyptians, but listen,
He delivered our houses. He delivered every one of His
people. What was the difference? They
were under the blood. They were under the blood. Well, ask And then listen, right? Listen to what God's Word says.
How can I? How can I understand this except
some man should guide me and he desired Philip, back in our
text here, he desired Philip that he should come up and sit
with him. Look at another scripture with
me. Turn to James. Turn to James chapter 1. Look at verse 5 of James chapter
1. If any of you, if any of you
lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all man liberally
and upbraideth not, and listen, it shall be given. Ask, ask and
it shall be given. Now back to our text. This gospel
This gospel, where is it found? It's found in God's Word. That's
our warrant right there. God's Word. God's Word. Because
look what he says there in verse 32. The place of the scriptures,
which he read was this. The Gospel is found in God's
Word. It's found in the Scriptures.
Think of all the events that took place in God's providence
to bring this eunuch to this place. Now, he'd been off to
some kind of religious meeting and he's coming back empty. But look, he's got a copy of
God's Word in his hand. He's got Isaiah. He's got Isaiah
53. On top of that, God's got one
of His messengers right there. People in this world would say,
boy, He was lucky, wouldn't they? Oh my goodness. Think about that. Think about God's providence.
And there He is, reading God's Word. There's God's messenger,
and He's going to declare the Gospel to Him. And I pray, oh,
I pray that the same would be true of us this evening. that
we gather here together, we've got God's Word, that He'd be
pleased to be among His people and bless us, bless us from His
Word, from His Gospel. Now let's read on here, look
at verse 32. 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 her shear, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment
was taken away. Who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth." And the eunuch answered Philip,
and he said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this?
Of himself or of some other man? and Philip opened his mouth and
began at the same Scripture and he preached unto him Jesus. He preached unto him the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now the first thing we read here,
the first thing we read here is about a lamb, about a sheep. Think about what God's Word says.
What does the Scripture say about that lamb? And we can go all
the way back in the Old Testament, back in Genesis chapter 4, we
read that Abel, Abel brought of the first things of the flock,
and the fat thereof, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and
unto his offering. That lamb, it was to be without
spot. It was to be without blemish.
And then just a few chapters later, Isaac had been taught
something about that lamb, hadn't he? Because there him and his
daddy Abraham were walking along and Isaac said, behold, behold
the fire and the wood. Where's the lamb? Where's the
lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham replied, he said,
God will provide himself a lamb. God will do it. God will do it.
Listen, the Lord Jesus Christ, He's the Lamb of God. He is God. And then we know that that Lamb
was offered unto God. God's the offended party in this
matter. That Lamb was offered unto God.
That sacrifice was offered unto Him. And then we know this, that
the Lord, the Lord will provide. The Lord, He will see to it.
He provides Himself a Lamb as a sacrifice. He's going to redeem
His people. He's going to honor His law.
He's going to satisfy His justice. He's going to fulfill His covenant.
And listen, He's going to glorify His Son and save His people.
Nothing, nothing is left undone. That's what our Lord declared
on the cross. It's finished. It's finished. Our song leader
back home, he sings that song, it's finished. Battle is over. Oh, it's finished. It's finished. Well, John said this of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, Behold, behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And then, back
in our text, it says, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and like a lamb, dumb before his shears. Here we see our Savior's
willingness to suffer. His willingness to suffer unto
God. His willingness to suffer for His people. And listen, He
was all-powerful. All-powerful. Look at Luke chapter
4. Turn back to Luke chapter 4. Let's begin with verse 25. This is our Lord speaking. He
said, I tell you the truth, many widows were in Israel in the
days of Elias when the heaven was shut up three years and six
months, when great famine was throughout all the land. but
unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of
Sidon, unto a woman there that was a widow. Many lepers were
in Israel in the time of Elias the prophet, and none of them
was cleansed, save in the name of the Syrian." And all day in
the synagogue, when these religious people heard this, they were
filled with wrath, and they rose up to thrust him out of the city,
and they led him into the brow. They were going to throw him
over the hill, head first. But he, he passing through, the
midst of them. You see that? He went His way. His hour was not yet come. But then, look at, turn over
to John chapter 18. When it comes to His people,
look at John chapter 18. Let's begin with verse 3 of John
18. Judas, then having received a
band of men, and the offers from the chief priests of the Pharisees,
came together with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus, therefore,
knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and
said unto them, Whom seek ye? And they answered him, they said,
Jesus of Nazareth. And he said unto them, I am he.
And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon
then as they had said unto them, I am He, they went backward and
fell to the ground. And then He asked them again,
Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And Jesus answered, He said, Have I told you that I am He?
If therefore you seek Me, let these go their way. Let these
of Mine go their way. There He stands. There He stands.
in all his power. And you see his power. He said
when he spoke, they fell backward. But he says, if you seek me,
you let my people go. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
suffer. He must needs have suffered.
And he did it willingly. willingly. Luke 9, it says, it
came to pass when the time was come that he should be received
up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. He must go. He must suffer in the room instead
of his people. Back in Isaiah, we read it, he
set his face like a flint. No turning back. No turning back. Well, back to our text here in
Here in Acts chapter 8, verse 32, the place of the Scripture
he read was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter like
a lamb done before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth. You know when a person gets caught
for doing something wrong, when they're guilty of something, They usually say they're sorry.
I mean, that's typically what we do. But then, in time, we
start coming up with a whole laundry list of reasons that
we did what we did trying to justify our actions. But you
know, when a man's guilty, when a man's truly guilty, there's
nothing to say. There's not a word to say. And
my friends, our Lord, He's guilty. He's guilty. Because He's got my guilt. He's got my sin. He's got my
shame put upon Him. And the guilt and sin and shame
of all of His elect, of all time, was laid on Him. He opened not
His mouth. He opened not his mouth. Guilty.
Guilty. Let's read on in verse 33 here. We read in his humiliation. His
judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. His humiliation. Think
about how he was humiliated. Almighty God became a man. He became a man. He made himself
of no reputation. He took upon himself the form
of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. He became
a man. He was arrested. He was bound. He was scourged. He was condemned
to die. He was mistreated by those soldiers.
In Isaiah we read, he said, I gave my back to the smiters, my cheeks
to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from
shame and spitting. He was mocked. He was spat upon. They placed that crown of thorns
on his head. They hung him on the cross between
two common thieves in his humiliation, listen, in his humiliation of
being made sin. He was made sin. 2 Corinthians
5.21. You guys are familiar with that
passage of Scripture. For He. Let's turn over there. Let's just turn over there real
quick. 2 Corinthians 5. Listen, as He hung there, He
cried out, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? He was
made sin. Almighty God made Him sin. He
hath made Him, Almighty God hath made Him to be sin. Him, the
Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin for us, His elect people. The
Lord Jesus Christ who knew no sin, but He was made sin by God
the Father. But don't we love the rest of
that? That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him,
in Christ and Christ alone. Well, back to our text. Let's
read on here in verse 33. In His humiliation, His judgment
was taken away, and who shall declare His generation? For His
life is taken from the earth. His life was taken in a most
cruel way by the will of the Father. No man has ever suffered
like the Lord Jesus Christ. And the eunuch answered, look
at verse 34, the eunuch answered Philip and he said, I pray thee, who's the prophet speaking of
here? Is he speaking of himself or some other man? And Philip
opened his mouth. Philip opened his mouth, and
he began at the same Scripture, and he preached unto him the
Lord Jesus Christ. Philip, by the Spirit of God,
did what I'm trying to do here, preach Christ from the Scriptures. You guys didn't come here to
hear about social issues tonight. You didn't come here to hear
man's wisdom or what's popular in religion right now. We want
to hear about Christ and Christ alone. Nothing but the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul said to the Galatians, he
said, though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel
unto you, other than that which we've preached, let him be accursed."
There is no other gospel. There's only one gospel. That's
the gospel concerning His Son, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And it pleased God. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Not,
listen, not entertaining. That's what's going on in most
circles today is nothing but a bunch of just entertainment.
You turn on the TV, There's no time for that. There's no time.
We preach Christ and Him crucified. Well, as they went on their way,
look at verse 36, they went on their way and they came unto
a certain water and the eunuch said, see, here's water. Here's
water. And listen, God sends His messenger. In this text we see a seeking
sinner. Reading God's Word, we see a message, a message from
the Scriptures, declaring the Lord Jesus Christ who was made
sin, who suffered and died in the place of His people. And then listen. Look here in verse 36. Here's
water. and they went on their way. And
a certain water in the inn said, here's water, what doth hinder
me to be baptized? And Philip said, if you believe
with all your heart, thou mayest. And he answered. Now if there's
any confusion about what Philip's been talking about all this time,
from Isaiah 53, he says, you believe you may. Believe what?
He said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot
to stand still. And they went both down into
the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized. He baptized him. If you believe with all your
heart. And he answered. He said, I believe. I believe. I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. And in verse 38, that eunuch,
he publicly confesses and identifies with the Lord Jesus Christ in
His death, burial, and resurrection." It's a public confession. Baptism
is a public confession. It's not the putting away of
the filth of the flesh. It's a public confession. This
is what I believe. I identify with Christ. I want
to confess. I want to confess Him. Over in
Matthew 10, He said, "...whosoever shall confess Me before men,
Him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven." And
he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they went down both
into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized them. Now again, baptism is a picture
of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. I'm dead to that
old life. I'm buried. My sin's been put
away. and were risen, risen to walk
as new creatures. Romans chapter 6 verse 4, he
said, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we should walk in the newness, in the newness
of life. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. He's all my hope. He's all my
salvation. And then last, look at verse
39. They were come up out of the
water. Spirit of the Lord caught away
Philip that the eunuchs saw him no more and he went on his way
rejoicing. His rejoicing was not in the
man Philip. Philip was caught away. We don't
know if he ever seen him again. But listen, this eunuch had reason
to rejoice. Back in Acts 8, verse 27, we
read there a little bit about that eunuch. And we know this. We know this. We know that he
was a man of authority. He was a man of authority. I mean, he worked for the Queen.
He had charge of all her treasure. He was a man of power. I think
we'd look at this fellow today and we'd say, well, he's a man
of power, he's a man of influence, he's a man of wealth. And in
earthly terms, people might just say something like, well, that
eunuch, he's got it all. He's got power, he's got wealth,
he's got influence. What more could you ask for?
But listen, without the Gospel, without Christ, He's nothing. He's nothing. But here in verse
39, what's it say there? He went on His way. After this,
He went on His way rejoicing, didn't He? God sent Him a messenger. God revealed Christ to Him. Through the preaching of the
Gospel, He revealed the Savior. He revealed the Lord Jesus Christ
to this man. God gave him faith to believe,
gave him a new heart, and he must, he must confess Christ. True happiness, true happiness,
true rest, true joy, true hope, true salvation, it can only be
found in one place. It can only be found in one person.
And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to one more passage
of Scripture here. Turn back to Jeremiah. Jeremiah
chapter 9. Look at verse 23 of Jeremiah
9. Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not
the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, he knows Christ,
that I am the Lord, which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and
righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord." Oh, that God would give us an
interest in His Word, that He would continue to send forth
men to declare His Gospel, to preach His Gospel, that Gospel
concerning the Lamb of God, that Lamb slain from before the foundation
of the world, that Gospel that can only be found in the Scriptures,
that He'd grant us faith to believe, faith to believe and reveal our
need to confess Him. If He's pleased to do so, I believe
we'll go on like that eunuch of old. We'll go on our way rejoicing. All right. I pray God will bless
His Word.