The Conversion Of A Worldly Man

Q: What does the Bible say about the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch?

The Ethiopian eunuch's conversion demonstrates God's sovereignty in saving those who seek Him, as seen in Acts 8. The conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch, as narrated in Acts 8, illustrates the gracious and sovereign work of God in drawing individuals to Himself. The eunuch, a high-ranking official, was on his way home after visiting Jerusalem to worship, but he lacked understanding of the Scriptures. He was reading Isaiah 53 when Philip was guided by the Spirit to approach him. Philip's explanation of the Gospel—pointing to Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy—resulted in the eunuch's faith and subsequent baptism. This encounter emphasizes that salvation is initiated by God, who sends preachers and opens hearts to His Word.

Q: How do we know that the Ethiopian eunuch was genuinely converted?

His immediate desire to be baptized after understanding the Gospel is evidence of his genuine conversion. The genuineness of the Ethiopian eunuch's conversion is evidenced by his immediate response to the proclamation of the gospel. After Philip preached Jesus to him from the Scriptures, the eunuch expressed his eagerness to be baptized as they came across water, saying, 'What hinders me from being baptized?' This spontaneous desire highlights the transformative power of understanding the Gospel—he moved from doubt to faith in a matter of moments. The rapidity of his belief and the subsequent action demonstrate that God had indeed worked faith in his heart, aligning with the biblical principle that faith without works is dead (James 2:26).

Q: Why is the preaching of the Gospel important for conversion?

The preaching of the Gospel is the primary means by which God brings people to faith in Christ. The importance of Gospel preaching in the process of conversion cannot be overstated, as it is through the proclamation of God's Word that faith is ignited in the hearts of sinners. Romans 10:14 highlights that individuals cannot call on Him in whom they have not believed, and they cannot believe without hearing the message. Philip's interaction with the Ethiopian eunuch exemplifies this, as it was through Philip's preaching that the eunuch came to understand who Jesus is and what He accomplished. The act of preaching conveys God's truth and invites individuals to respond in faith, fulfilling Christ's command to spread the good news to all creation (Mark 16:15).

♪ Hanged deeply by this tree ♪
♪ Towering like a thousand eyes ♪ ♪ He let me take my leave ♪
♪ And now up within my heart ♪ But most of the great hymns,
and that's one of the greatest, most of the great hymns were
written under unusual circumstances. And they were written under great
inspiration of the Spirit of God and the unusual experiences
of these writers. just sang, Jesus, Love of My
Soul. I read years ago, you may have
heard this story, how Charles Wesley came to write that hymn. But he was sitting at his desk
studying, preparing messages or whatever, late afternoon. And a storm came up, wind started
blowing, clouds hovered over and it got dark and had a window
open and had shutters, big shutters on either side. He had on a dressing
gown, like men wore these heavy gowns, you know, those houses
weren't very warm back then, 1700 and something. And he went
to the window to reach out and pull that shutter in. to keep the wind and the rain
out. And just as he reached out to pull it to, a little bird
flew right into his fold of his rug, flew in there, fleeing from
the storm. And it just impressed him so
that he went down, went over to his desk and wrote, Jesus,
lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly. while the nearer waters
roll, while the tempest still is high, hide me, O my Savior,
hide, till the storm of life is past." That was a blessing
to me to read how that hymn came to be written. I want you to
open your Bibles now to the book of Acts, chapter 8. Acts the 8th chapter. Newton, I believe it was Newton,
we read these writers, Watson, Newton, and Cooper, and the different
ones back in those days. I love their messages, I love
their writings, but he told this story, and I'd like to use it
to precede this message tonight. Back in those days, they didn't
have hotels and motels. People stayed in taverns and
pubs. That's where the people congregated. That's where they had their social
life. That's where they ate when they
ate out at all. And that's where people stayed,
upstairs in the tavern down here, the dining hall, where the men
gathered to drink. Spurgeon was born in one of those
taverns. I visited the tavern where His
mother was heavy with child. His dad and mother were traveling,
and they went into this tavern and spent the night. And he was
born that night. They got a sign on the outside
of the tavern, Charles Ferguson was born here. But John Newton
was holding a meeting in another town. He was staying in the tavern.
And when he checked in, he signed his name, and of course everybody
knew him, and went to his room. And he hadn't been in his room
very long The proprietor's wife came up, knocked on the door,
and told him her husband had taken suddenly very ill. And
when he'd come down, Pastor Newton had talked to him, but he wasn't
a believer. He wasn't a Christian. And so
Newton went down and visited with the man. The man told him
that he'd never had any interest in the gospel, never had any
understanding of the gospel, never had any interest in church,
but he was frightened. He was a dying man and he knew
it. And Newton spent quite a bit
of time with him, talking to him, as I'm going to talk to
you tonight, about the gospel, about the conversion of a weary
man, the conversion of a lost man. And each day he would go
down and talk to this man. The man was very sick, but Newton
visited him every day while he was there for four days. And
the man came to an understanding of the gospel. And one day he
told Mr. Newton that God had spoken peace
to his heart. God had given him faith in Christ,
given him repentance and faith, and that he was trusting the
Redeemer. Well, Newton, the last night
of the meeting, he went to the service, and when he came back
to the tavern after the last service, the proprietor's wife
met him and told him her husband had died. He expressed his sympathy and
condolences, and he left the next morning. One of the first
things he told his wife when he got home, Newton and his wife
were very, very close. In fact, when his wife died,
you remember, people said it took him five years to get over
the stress and heartache of his wife. He wrote a lot of poems
about her. Somebody said he loved his wife
too much. He said, how can a man love his wife too much? He's
supposed to love her like Christ loved the church. Husbands, love
your wives as Christ loved the church. Tell me, he said, how
could you love her too much? Then anyway, when he got home,
he said, my dear, he said, this week I've had the most unusual
experience. He said, I went to this tavern
where I stayed, and I met a man in a state of nature. lost and
ruined in Adam. While I was there, I have every
reason to believe I saw him in a state of grace, clinging to
Christ. And when I left, I left him in
a state of glory with the Lord. Well, here the pastor read about
a man whom Philip met one day in a state of nature and left
him several hours later in the state of grace. You see it right here in this
story. Now here's what we know about
this man. Here's what I know about him before we look verse
by verse into this. I know this about the unit. Number
one, I know that he came to faith in Christ. You read that a moment
ago. You read as long as the pastor
was reading it. I don't have any doubt that this
man was converted that day. He's another thief on the cross. He came to know Christ that day.
Don't have any doubt about it because it's the Word of God.
God has given us this illustration, this story, this experience of
this Ethiopian unity. He was a businessman. He was
a brilliant man. He was a man who had charge of
the treasury. I'm talking about the treasurer
of the country of Ethiopia and the Queen's personal secretary
of the treasury. Brilliant man. And a worldly
man. And we know that he came to faith
in Christ. And secondly, we know he was
delivered that day. Not several days. One day. No
waiting period. No duties to perform, no restitutions
to make, no vote to be taken at the church, you know, voting
in whether or not we're going to receive him. No vote. The sheep was found that day
and the sheep came to Christ and was redeemed. Now, here's
the third thing I know about him, that he confessed Christ
in baptism that day. He was saved that day. He came
to the knowledge of Christ that day. And the preacher left him
rejoicing in Christ after having baptized him. All right, let's see something
about this man. Now, we'll start with verse 27
and 28. Well, you know, in verse 26,
the angel of the Lord spake to Philip, saying, Arise and go
towards the south and to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem
under Gaza, which is desert. So Philip arose and went, and
behold, a man of Ethiopia. a eunuch of great authority under
Candacy, queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasure,
had come to Jerusalem to worship. And he was returning, sitting
in his chariot, reading Isaiah the prophet. Now, this man had
an interest in spiritual things. This man, he wanted to know God. He was seeking God. He was seeking
true worship, true faith. How do I know that? Well, in
a most difficult time as far as traveling is concerned, this
man had journeyed all the way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem in
a chariot, in a most difficult time to travel in that way. But
he had gone to Jerusalem to the feast. He'd gone there to listen
to the Pharisees, talk about the Bible, and the Jewish leaders
talk about God. You know, how did Lydia encounter
Paul? Lydia was a woman of fire, Tyre,
and she came here to Philippi. She was a seller of purple. She
was a businesswoman. And she came to Philippi. There was no synagogue in Philippi. She was a Jewish woman. There
was no synagogue in Philippi. In order to have a synagogue
in a town, they had to have at least 12 Jewish families. But there wasn't 12 Jewish families
there, evidently. So they didn't have a synagogue.
So she found some women, some Jewish women, who were meeting
down by the river to pray. And that's where she went. She
was interested. She was concerned. When she came
to this town on business, she went down there by the river,
met with those women who were calling on God. That's what this
man was doing. He was seeking God. He was looking
for truth. He was looking for some understanding.
He was looking for true worship. He went all the way to Jerusalem
looking for God, the real, the true God. And he didn't find
Him there. These people didn't know anything.
Lydia was down by the river with those women, and Paul came into
town, and Paul always looked up. He went to the synagogue
first. There was no synagogue, so he
looked up these Jewish people, and he found these women down
by the river. God sent him down there, and he preached Christ
to them, and God opened Lydia's eyes. And this man was seeking
the Lord, and he was on his way home, on his way home back to
And he was reading Isaiah 53. That's the scripture he was reading.
And I'll tell you another thing about him. He wasn't aware of
what was going on in his heart. He wasn't aware that God was
calling him, dealing with him, and God was going to save him. He wasn't aware of that. Do you
think he was? No, he wasn't aware of that at
all. He didn't know he was one of the sheep of Christ. He didn't
know that. There was an interest in his
heart to know God, but he didn't know God was going to save him.
Let me show you another illustration of that. Turn to Luke 19. Luke 19, beginning with verse
2. You're very familiar with this
story. This is the story of Zacchaeus. Luke 19, verse 3. Now Zacchaeus is one of God's
sheep, but he doesn't know that. Christ knows that, but he doesn't
know that. And I say that most people who feel a need in their
heart for God and a desire to know God and a desire to know
the truth, they don't know they're one of God's sheep. But they
want to know him. He puts that desire there. Now
read this. Listen to this. And behold, Jesus
entered and passed through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans. He was very
rich. Zacchaeus was the chief among the... Brother Paul mentioned
this this morning. They were Jewish tax collectors. That's what they were, publicans.
I mean, the Jews looked down on these people. They were working
for the Roman government, isn't that right? Collecting taxes
from their own people and taking a big cut off of it. But this fellow was a very nice
fellow. But he sought to see Jesus, who
he was. And he could not for the press
because he was little of stature. And he ran before and climbed
up in a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that
way. It was evident that he was passing
through Jericho and he was going that way. Zacchaeus was a short
fellow, and he ran around the crowd and climbed up in a tree,
a sycamore tree, because Christ was going to pass that way. He
wanted to see who he was. Curiosity. Curiosity. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and saw him. And he said to him, Zacchaeus,
take haste and come down. For today I must abide at your
house. And he made haste and came down.
All people whom our Lord commands to do something, they do it.
He told a man with a withered hand, stretch out your hand.
He couldn't, but he did. He told a man to take up his
bed and walk. He couldn't, but he did. He told Matthew to follow
me, and he sure had a lot of riches, but he left him and followed
him. That's just so. When our Lord calls, people come.
And so he said, Zacchaeus came down. He made haste and came
down. He received him joyfully. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they murmured, saying, He's gone to be the guest with a man that's
a sinner. This man has gone to be the guest
of a man that's a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said,
Lord, behold, half my goods I give to the poor. If I've taken anything
from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus
said to him this day, this day, Zacchaeus never seen him before.
He wanted to see who he was. But this day, his salvation come
to this house. Now what's this next line? For
as much as he also is a son of Abraham. Well, that town was
full of sons of Abraham by nature. That's not what Christ meant.
This man's a son of Abraham by grace. This man's a seed of Abraham. This man's a true seed of Abraham. Mentioned over there in Galatians,
if we are children of faith, we're children of Abraham. But
man's not the son of Abraham unless he's the son of God. And
Christ said this man, Jacus didn't know that. He found it out when
you found it out. When he announced it to the people,
that's when he found out he was the son of Abraham. So this man,
this Ethiopian eunuch, he's an Ethiopian, he's a Gentile, he's
from a foreign country, but he has an interest in Christ, in
God. You know who Christ is, the interest
in God, the true God, and worship. So he'd been to Jerusalem to
worship, and he was on his way back to Ethiopia. You know, someone
said this one time. The Ethiopian eunuch was not
aware of what God was doing in him or for him. He wasn't aware
that he was a sheep of Christ. Those who savingly come to Christ
come because they want to come, come because they desire to come,
come because they're willing to come. It's after they come,
it's after they believe that they discovered that he found
them. They didn't find Him. That's
right. That He called them before they
called on Him. That He sought them before they
sought Him. That He loved them before they
loved Him. They find that out afterwards.
They come to Christ. But they come willingly. Thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power. So what I'm
saying to you is this man had this urge and urgency and sincerity
and desire to know God, and he'd taken this trip all the way to
Jerusalem under difficult circumstances, and he'd listened to those fellows
up there, but they didn't know God either. And so he left there
and was going back to his country, and he had the book of Isaiah,
and he was sitting in his chariot reading it. So God sent him a
preacher. Now look here at verse 29. He
was sitting there, verse 28 said, reading Isaiah the prophet. Then
the Spirit of God said to Philip, go near and join thyself to that
chariot. God sent him a preacher. And
I'll tell you this, God always will. A man will hear the gospel. He'll hear the gospel. He'll
read it or he'll hear it preached. Now, our God is able. I'm not
minimizing the power of God. Our God is able to call an Abraham
out of idolatry. Abraham, God said, get thee out
of thy father's house. Our God is able to fill a man
with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb like John the Baptist.
Our God is able to preach the gospel to the shepherds by the
angels. The angels preach the gospel
to the shepherds. They said, this day in the city
of David is born unto you a Savior who's Christ the Lord. That's
the gospel. God is able to take a man called
Paul out into the desert and teach him the gospel. Isn't that
what Paul said? He said, I didn't learn the gospel
from any man. He said, when God called me,
I didn't go to Jerusalem to them who were apostles before me. I went into Arabia, and there
God taught him the gospel. See, an apostle, there's two
requirements for an apostle. Number one, he has to have seen
the Lord. Number two, he has to have gotten
his gospel straight from Christ. And that's the reason they accused
Paul of not being a true apostle. A long time during his ministry,
they said, he's not an apostle. He wasn't with the original group.
He didn't get his gospel. Yes, he did. He said, I saw the
Lord as one born out of two times. I saw it. He was taken up into
the third heaven on one occasion. He saw the Lord on the road to
Damascus. He saw it. And he received his
gospel directly from Christ. So our Lord's able to do that.
But let me tell you this, and I'm not lessening or minimizing
the power of God, but that's not the usual way God saves sinners. It's by the preaching of the
gospel. Let me show you that in a few verses. Turn to, we
don't need to turn to this, you know it, listen. He told his
apostles, he said, you go into all the world and preach the
gospel. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Isn't that what he said? You go preach the gospel. Aren't
this, you know this passage. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? And then turn with me to 1 Corinthians
1. I want you to look at this, 1
Corinthians 1. This is the way God calls His
people. This is the way He reveals the
gospel to his people is through the Word, through the Word and
a preacher. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 21,
Brother Paul quoted this on the radio
this morning, For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world
by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that That's how men are saved. Preaching
of the gospel. Preaching of the gospel. The
Word of God is read. The Word of God is preached.
Brother Bill Clark and I were over in Spain in 1968 preaching. And we preached in Barcelona. We preached in Carcahenti. We
preached in Valencia. And when we went down in Carcahenti,
there was a large Baptist church there. And I preached to quite
a number of people in that church. And they had an organist, a man,
a male organist, and he could play that organ. They really
could sing and play that organ. And I asked the David Estrada. Do you remember David Estrada,
the missionary who got this invitation for us? I asked him, I said,
where'd you get that organist? Where did you find somebody playing
an organ like that? And he said, well, it's a story
behind that man. He said that he was the organist
at the Catholic Church. You see, the Catholics, 99% of
those people are Catholics. It's just a powerful, powerful,
powerful organization. And the Baptists have to meet,
they can't even put a sign on the door back in that time. where they can. They have a pretty
good-sized building. But he was a Catholic organist.
And he said he was at the Catholic Cathedral one day practicing
on that big pipe organ. And the priest came in, and the
priest was carrying an armload of books as he walked through
the door of the cathedral down the aisle. And this organist
said, Father, he said, what do you have in your arms? He said,
I've got some Bibles that I've collected from the evangelicals. He said, the evangelicals have
been distributing Bibles among some of our people and I've been
going around picking them up. And the organist said, well I've
never seen one of their Bibles. Could I look at one? And David
told me, he said, the priest took that Bible and threw it
to that organist. And when he threw him that Bible,
he threw him eternal life. He threw him the gospel. He threw
him salvation. Because that man read that Bible.
He took that Bible home. He didn't have one. He took that
Bible home and started reading it. And he found out he was a
sinner. Found out he was lost. Found
out he needed God. Found out he needed mercy. Found
out he needed salvation. And he went down to that little
evangelical church. and met that pastor. That pastor
showed him Christ, just like this Ethiopian. Just like this
man did. Seeking, searching. This Ethiopian
was seeking truth, seeking God, seeking answers, seeking understanding
of the Bible. That's not of the traditions
and the duties of religion and organizations and all these things. He was seeking God. And I'll
tell you if a man, our Lord said this, if you will to do His will,
you'll know His will. You find me somebody that's really
serious about this business of knowing God, knowing the true
God, knowing the true way of life, and really crying out to
God. God will send him a preacher.
God will send him a preacher. Sure will. Let's look here at
verse 32. So the place where he was reading,
well, let's see verse 30. And Philip ran thither unto him,
Acts 8, 30, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah. And he said,
Do you understand what you're reading? And the man said, How can I,
except some man should guide me? But don't feel too bad about
that. Even the apostles couldn't understand
the Scriptures at first. You remember when our Lord met
those two on the road to Emmaus, and then He went off to their
place and stayed with them, and He opened their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. And He showed them
through the Old Testament, Moses, the major prophets, the Psalms,
the minor prophets, these things were about Him, concerning Him,
speak of Him, and they understood the Scriptures. Our Lord did
the same thing for the apostles that Philip did for this man.
How can I understand except some man showed me? That's what I'm
doing tonight. That's what I do at home all
the time. That's what I do on television, trying to show people
Christ. Christ. You see, let's read this
here. How can I accept some man guide
me? He desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
The place of the scripture where he read was Isaiah 53. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter like a lamb, dumb before his shepherds, so open 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? Now this man is reading
about a man and reading about a lamb. That's right, he's reading
about a man. He, his generation, his suffering,
opened up his mouth. This is the man he's reading
about. But it's a lamb that he's reading about. And you know that
fella just left Jerusalem where he watched them kill those lambs
and shed the blood. Didn't he? He just left Jerusalem.
And that's where, it was at a Passover feast probably, and they were
sacrificing lambs. So here he is reading about a
man, and this man is a lamb. But you know, that's what the
Old Testament's about, and the New Testament too. Remember Abraham
and Isaac were walking, y'all be patient with me, I'm gonna
take a little time. Abraham and Isaac were walking up the mountain.
They were going up there to worship God. And Isaac was a pretty good-sized
boy. He wasn't a little fellow like
you. He was a big boy, a young man. He was carrying the wood
on his back and carrying the fire. And his father was carrying
the knife. And they went, both of them together.
That's the father and the son, went to sacrifice, went to worship
God. And Isaac turned to his father
and he said, Father, here's the wood, here's the fire. Where's the lamb? Isaac knew
there had to be a lamb. There had to be a sacrifice,
had to be an atonement, had to be blood. And Abraham prophesied
about this lamb. He said, my son, God will provide
himself a lamb. That's prophesied. All right,
Moses came along and typified the lamb. Moses told the children
of Israel, God's going to come through here at midnight. Not
a death angel now. God doesn't do business with
death angels. He does. He said, I kill, I make alive.
I wound and I heal. I'm going to pass through the
land of Egypt and I'll smite the firstborn in every home.
I will. Now you take a lamb without spot
or blemish. Christ is sinless. Put him up
for four days. Our Lord lived on this earth
thirty-three and a half years. He was tried by the law. That's the Lamb typified. And
then put that blood on the door, on the lintel and the side post.
That's the Lamb applied. The Lamb prophesied by Abraham,
typified by Moses, applied by the believing Jews. And then
in Isaiah chapter 53, would you turn over there? Here this man
is reading about the Lamb personified. It's a man. We're talking about
a man. We're talking about the God-man.
We're talking about the substitute, the Lamb personified. While you're
finding Isaiah 53, old John the Baptist identified him. He said,
when he saw Jesus Christ, behold, the Lamb of God taketh away the
sin of the world. And then those Jews took the
Lamb and crucified Him. And then in Revelation, John
said, I saw a Lamb in the midst of the throne glorified as it
had been slain. And all the heavenly choir was
singing to His glory unto Him who loved us and washed us from
our sins in His own blood. So this Lamb is what this man
is reading. Do you understand it? We do,
by His grace. He's a man, the Son of God. He's
the Lamb of God. He's the substitute. He's the
atonement. Now here in chapter 53 of Isaiah, The word he, his,
and him is in here 43 times. 43 times it's a person. This eunuch didn't see a plan
of salvation, he saw a person. Philip didn't preach a plan to
him, he preached a person. He didn't make a proposition
to him, he preached a person. Let's read about this this lamb,
who hath believed our report? Not many folks. To whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed? The arm of the Lord is the power
of God. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. To whom
has the Lord revealed His power, His sovereignty, His grace? Listen,
for He shall grow up before Him, before God, as a tender plant,
as a root out of a dry ground, a nation Israel It was like a
dry ground. He had no farm, no comeliness.
They thought their Messiah was coming as a king and he came
as a carpenter. They thought he was coming to
sit on a throne in Jerusalem. He came to die on a cross outside
the city walls. No farm, no comeliness. He didn't
come in satin clothes. He came in a robe riding on a
mule. No form, no comeliness. When
we see him, there's no beauty about him. We should desire him.
Well, we know him, the Pharisee said. He's the carpenter. We
know his mother. We know Joseph, his father. We
know his brother, Joseph, and Judah. And we know his sister.
We know who he is. He's been in this part of the
country for a long time. We know him. There's no beauty
about him. He's despised and rejected of
men. Everybody who's anybody, turn
thumbs down on him. He's a man of sovereigns, he's
acquainted with grief. We hear this where our face is
from him, he's despised, we esteem him not. But here he is, that's
him, Christ the man, Christ the second Adam, Christ the God-man,
Christ in human flesh, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh,
born low as you could be born, that he might be identified with
you and me. laid in a manger, no room for
him in the inn, despised and rejected of men. He can identify
with everybody here. There's nobody but the Lord Jesus
can identify, tested, tried in all points as you are yet without
sin. Now here is the substitute. Listen.
But he, surely he hath borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. We do esteem him smitten of God
and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. By His stripes
we're healed. This is what Philip is telling
this man. See, he began at this scripture
and preached unto them Jesus. He's doing the same thing to
this eunuch that I'm doing right here tonight. You see, there's
one vocation that is unchanged. Every vocation, medicine, education,
politics, carpentry, plumbing, it's all changed with time. You
wouldn't know it from back then. They've got different books,
textbooks, different means and methods and skill and everything's
different. You wouldn't go to a doctor that
was 200 years old and do it like what they used to do. But the
ministry, that same textbook, singing the same psalms, preaching
the same messages. Here I am reading a message preached
3,000 years ago, Isaiah 3,000 years ago. Tell me a vocation
that tonight is studying a book 3,000 years old, trying to learn
what to say. This is what's wrong with preaching
today. They've left their vocation. They've left their textbook.
They've left their manners and means and methods and music.
They've changed it all, trying to accommodate a generation that's
not interested in God. But the ministry is a vocation
that's unchanged. If it's changed, it's not of
God. If it's a new way, a new deal, a new plan, it's not of
God. Write it down. That's so now. My messages, every message I
preach is 6,000 years old, back from the beginning. The seed
of woman's going to bruise the serpent's head. I'm saying the
same thing Preachers have said all these years, Jesus Christ
is the Lamb of God, and He bore our sins in His body on the tree.
And all we like sheep, verse 6, have gone astray. We turned
to every one to his own way, and the Lord laid on him the
iniquity, iniquity, trespasses, walking on land that you've got
no business walking on, sins, laid them all on Christ. I tell
our young people at the church, there I am, flesh and blood and
bones, but I got a lot of sins. They're very heavy, they're very
black, they're very many. They separated me from God. My
sins have separated me from my God. I was born in sin. Christ
Jesus came down here a man. bone of my bone, flesh of my
flesh, born of a woman, made under the law, identical to us,
except He's the Son of God. He's without sin. He had no sin.
He took mine and yours, all of them, the weight of them, the
filth of them, the blackness of them, the guilt of them. He
took them out. Our sins were laid on Him, and
God took Him to the cross. He was smitten of God and afflicted.
All of the justice righteousness and holiness of God and the wrath
of God was poured out on Christ on these sins. You see, my sins
separated me from God and my sins separated him from God because
he cried, My God, why have you forsaken me? I'll tell you why,
my sins and yours. That's exactly right. And he
paid for them and put them away in the depths of the sea. behind
his back to remember that no more had done for us. And I don't
have, he doesn't have, he was bearing rose without sin unto
salvation, ascended and sat down at the right hand of God. He
doesn't have it. But if he doesn't have it, where
are they? I don't have it. You, payment God's justice cannot
twice demand, first at my bleeding shirt, his hand, again at mine.
That's not possible. God doesn't operate that way.
If the debt's paid, it's paid. That's my hope. That's your hope. And that's what this means. That's
what Isaiah's saying here. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray.
We turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Laid it on him! Verse 10, Shippo verse 10. It
pleased the Lord to bruise him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. You please the Lord, please God to bruise his son, yes? That's right. Our Lord Jesus
said, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not, but a body thou
hast prepared me. In sacrifice and offering for
sins, O Father, thou hast had no pleasure. All the blood on
Jewish altars spilled and slain, cannot put away sin. God never
had any pleasure in those offerings, but it pleased God to bruise
him. And God's justice was satisfied, his law was honored, and God
was pleased. That's right. It pleased God
to bruise him. He put him to grief. When thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, Christ didn't just suffer
in body, his soul was made an offering. That was his greatest
suffering, soul suffering. He shall prolong his days of
pleasure. The Lord shall prosper in his
hand. All that my Father giveth me, there'll come to me. He shall
see of the travail of his soul. And this is what Brother Paul
was talking about a while ago. He's satisfied. He is seated
at the right hand of God. Do you know that these types
of Christ, these Old Testament priests, they never sat down? There were several kinds of furniture
in the tabernacle, but no chairs. No chairs. They never sat down. Their work was never done. One
offering after another, never sat down. Christ, after one sacrifice
for sins, sat down at the right hand of God because we are redeemed. He sat down, waiting till his
enemies become his foes too. All right, let's see what happens.
Acts chapter 8. Now I'll close. Acts chapter
8. Let's see what happens. So in
verse 34, And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray you,
of whom speaketh the prophet this, of himself or some other
man? I know he's talking about a man.
The eunuch said, I know he's talking about a man, but is he
the man or some other man? And Philip opened his mouth and
began at that same scripture and preached unto him, Christ,
the God-man. You see, they're just two men.
Just two. God made the first one, Adam.
That's the only man God ever made. Adam. The rest of us came from him.
We're the seed of man. The woman came from him, too.
God didn't create the woman from the dust to the ground like he
did Adam. He took that woman out of that
bad sign. Adam was her head. When Eve took the fruit, we didn't
die. Adam took it. He's the head.
In Adam, we die. By one man, sin entered this
world, and death by sin. The woman was deceived. The man
wasn't. He did it on purpose. He did
it deliberately, knowing what he was doing. The woman wasn't
deceived. And when Adam sinned, he fell,
and she fell, and we fell. By one man's sin entered this
world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. But now
wait a minute. God said, when he put Adam out
of the garden, when he sinned, the last thing he said was this,
the woman's sin. Woman don't have a sin. Man's
sin. But this one that's going to
come is going to come with a seed of woman. No man's going to have
anything to do with his birth. No man's going to have anything
to do with his incarnation. He's going to be born of a woman.
The Spirit of God is going to come on that woman and she's
going to have a son. And you call his name Jesus because
he's going to save all these people from their sin. In that
first Adam we died. In that second Adam we live.
In that first Adam, we lost the way, the truth, and the life.
The way to God, the truth of God, and the life of God. In
that second Adam, we got it back again. The way to God, the truth
of God. Christ said, I'm the truth and
the life of God. We live, born again. Philip preached
that to him. This is the Lamb. This is the
Lamb of God. This is the Lamb, the substitute.
This is the atonement. This is the sacrifice. This is
the man from heaven. This is the second Adam. In Adam
we die, in Christ we are made alive. And they rode along little ways. And as they went their way, verse
36, it came to some water. Now, I don't know how long he'd
been that chariot. And I don't know what all Philip
preached to him, but Philip must have said something about baptism.
Must have, don't you reckon? He told him how Christ died,
buried, and rose again, how his people confessed him. This is
the way to confess Christ. And they came to that water,
and Philip never asked him, would you like to be baptized? There
was no pressure on the part of Philip. There was no invitation
on the part of Philip. There was no altar call on the
part of Philip. The eunuchs were the ones that
responded. At Pentecost, the people responded. Who invited
the thief to come to Christ? Huh? Nobody. God called him. Who told the
publican to go to the temple and pray? Who told the harlot
she ought to find Jesus and pour some alabaster ointment on his
feet? No, that desire was here. And this eunuch sitting there
by Philip, and Philip was talking about Christ, and he said, there's
water. I want to confess Christ. Somebody
asked me one time, you don't give an invitation, you don't
give an altar call, you don't get people to the front. How
do you get people saved? God say so. I tell the pastor, just the last
three weeks, I baptized 11 people. Every one of them came to me
and said, the Lord's done a work of grace in my heart. I want
to confess Christ. Never thought of one of them. And I didn't save them. I don't
have to keep them saved. You see what I'm saying? I didn't
talk them into a profession. The Spirit of God did. So he'll
take, he'll keep them saved. If I can talk you into something,
another man can come along and talk you out of it. But if you've
got your gospel from God, then nobody can talk you out of it.
That's right. In the heart. God saves them. And this eunuch, God, this was,
this man Philip didn't do a thing but tell him about Christ. And
when I get through telling you about Christ, my work's done.
Now my work's done. Thank God his work's not done.
Thank God He won't let you be still until you confess Christ. He won't let you rest until you
find your rest in Him. He won't let you rest until you
find your rest in Him. He won't let you go back to your
works and deeds, not if you haven't seen Him. He won't let you rest
until you find your rest in Him. And when you do, you say, Lord,
thank you for saving me. And then you'll come to the preacher
up here and you'll say, Pastor, I want to confess Christ. I want
to confess Christ. I want to tell everybody what
the Lord's done for me. I want to follow Him in baptism.

The Conversion Of A Worldly Man

What does the Bible say about the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch?

How do we know that the Ethiopian eunuch was genuinely converted?

Why is the preaching of the Gospel important for conversion?

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The Conversion Of A Worldly Man

What does the Bible say about the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch?

How do we know that the Ethiopian eunuch was genuinely converted?

Why is the preaching of the Gospel important for conversion?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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