Eight. I do not know. Why you are here. This morning, I don't know what
is on your mind. Concerning this service. But I do hope that you are here
with a sincere desire to know, to hear, to understand the truth. It's my heart's felt
desire this morning that that's why you're here. I don't know.
I don't know your heart. I know the promises of God say
that seeking me, you'll find me when you search for me with
all your heart. The promise is to those who are
really seeking to know God. Like I said, I don't know why
you're here. I don't know. I don't know your heart. I don't
know what you've got in mind for coming here. But I do know
how you got here. The Scripture says the lot is
cast into the lap. All of us think that we made
our decision. We got up and decided, well,
I'm going to go to church this morning. But the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord, the Scripture says. We decided, but God decided
a long time ago we were going to be here at this particular
hour. You believe that? Well, you believe it or not,
it's true. You may have pondered and thought about and decided
to come here, but God had already thought about it a long time
ago. Now, while you are here, while
I'm here, whether it is for us to know
and learn the truth, For our salvation, even. Or add
to our condemnation. I don't know. God only knows.
Paul said in one place that we always accomplish, we always
triumph in the thing of preaching the gospel, and it always accomplishes
one thing or another. It either is a savor of life,
some people hear it, And it makes them wise unto salvation, eternal
life, or some people hear it and it just adds to their condemnation.
Death upon death. I don't know. I don't know why
you're here. I don't know why God Almighty brought you here,
but I sure hope. I sure hope it's God's will for
you to hear and believe the gospel. Now, let me say this, though,
as I said a moment ago, if you're interested, If you're really,
sincerely here to seek the truth, you'll find it. You'll find it. If you really want to know, you
will. You will. Because I'm confident
that's God's work. That's God's work. Whatever God
begins, and this is how he begins the work, he creates a spark
of interest. He creates a heart with a desire for the things
of God, whereas before he didn't have any as an animal, as a beast
roaming the earth. But then he turns the mind and
the heart Godward. And that's the work of God. It
doesn't it isn't the change of a man's heart and mind himself.
It's the work of God, the Holy Spirit. And whatever he begins,
if he creates that spark of interest in you, he'll finish it. He'll
perfect it until you believe Christ. Win him and be found
in him. That's the reason I keep preaching.
God, you see, God doesn't try anything. You hear that statement
made, God's trying, God doesn't try anything, God does things. God doesn't try to save, he determines
to save, and you better bet your sweet dollar he will save. All
those he determines to save. His will will be done. As I said Wednesday night, we
don't have a will, we have a want to. God has a will. God says,
I will. He will. When I say I will, well,
I just might and I might not. I won't do. But God will. If it is your will for you to
be here, to hear the gospel, to be saved, you will be saved.
That gives me great comfort in preaching this message. Now,
here in our text, here in our text in Acts chapter eight, we
find such a man. We find a man whom the Holy Spirit
has laid his hand upon, and this man is going to find Christ,
because God the Holy Spirit found him. Look at it, Acts chapter
8, beginning with verse 26. Now the angel of the Lord spoke
unto Philip, saying, Go south, go toward the south, arise and
go to the south. Now this Philip here, Is not
the apostle Philip, this is. A deacon. A deacon, a man who
was with as one of the seven with Stephen, the seven deacons,
this was a deacon. Why did I bring that up? Because
don't think for a minute that you deacons or whoever church
members can't preach the gospel. Don't think that for a minute.
You can and do to all that you approach women. I'm not saying
you get up behind the pulpit, but you do preach the gospel
to all those that you approach, all those who you work with and
so forth. Wherever you are, God put you
there for a reason, perhaps to speak to that Ethiopian that
works with you. As he did this, Philip. Well,
he told Philip, he said, arise and go south, Philip. under the
way that go down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. Go down to the desert, Philip.
And verse twenty-seven, he arose and he went, and behold a man. Every word of God is so significant
if we had eyes to see. Behold a man. Behold. Now, Philip is down down in the
desert, the desert, walking around in a deserted place, a wilderness
area, walking around. Why am I here, he thought, I'm
sure. This ain't much of a congregation. Why am I here in this desert
place? Behold a man, one man, one man appeared out of nowhere. Philip was walking around in
the desert, and all of a sudden a man comes riding up on a chariot.
Well, that man sure was lucky, wasn't he? Oh, this is what I'm saying.
This is the predeterminate will of God Almighty for these two
men to cross paths. Although this man, this Ethiopian,
was doing what he decided to do, he was doing what he wanted
to do. He was going where he had planned
to go. He took the route that he had
predetermined to take. God had planned it a long time
before. God had predetermined this man's
destination and eternal destiny before the foundation of the
world. You think about it, the providence of God in crossing
these two men's paths in thousands of miles of deserted region.
At that moment in time, just at the right time, in God's time,
these men were to meet. Just the right time. And he just
happened, this Ethiopian, had just happened to Me a gospel
preacher of all people to meet in the desert. A gospel preacher. Name Philip. Now, Philip didn't
know, but he was ready. And this man didn't know, but
he was seeking. He was seeking by God's grace and look at it
again, it says he was a Ethiopian. Behold, a man. Now, that's remarkable
in its in itself, that a man just crossing the desert runs
into a gospel preacher. But it calls him an Ethiopian.
Now, that's remarkable, too. An Ethiopian, a eunuch of great
authority. If you've got time, jot it down.
Isaiah or Psalm 68, 27 and Zephaniah 3, 10. Look those up in your
spare time. These are prophecies concerning
the people of Ethiopia. Psalm sixty eight twenty seven
says and Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God. Says the time is coming soon
when Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God. Ken Wymer
is preaching in Africa. They're stretching out their
hands. This was a marvel. This was a black man in Ethiopia.
A black man. Now listen. The scripture says, God had chosen
the things which are despised. It wouldn't surprise me a bit.
Well, I say this in the heart of the South, it wouldn't surprise
me a bit if there were more black people in the kingdom of heaven
than white people. Based upon that scripture are
more Indians, more Mexicans, more Hispanics. Wouldn't surprise
me a bit. You see, the Scripture says,
not many white, and I know we're not going to be black or white
in heaven, but I'm talking about people who were black or white. The Scripture says, not many
mighty, not many noble are called the high and the whitey man.
High and the whitey. That's right. High white honky. The high and the mighty white
man. Civilized Englishman, you know. has always despised a dark
man. He could have a touch of it in
you, I don't know. That's not the love of God, I tell you that.
But God doesn't look on the skin color. You may be white as the
driven snow, having never seen sunlight, but your heart is as
dark as coal and twice as hard. Or you may be black as the ace
of spades, but got a heart like Christ within you. God doesn't
look on the outside, neither should we. But here was this
black man. Here's a marvel of it. Here's this black man crossing
thousands of miles of desert, and here's another marvel. He
was a man of great authority. He had charge of the treasure.
He had all the money in his possession of his queen. Now, that's another
wonder that he wasn't a greedy and self-seeking worldly man. But he had come to Jerusalem.
Look at it, verse 27. It said he had come to Jerusalem
to worship. That's a marvel, isn't it? That
he had any interest at all in God Almighty. Paul said of some
people, the Romans, the pagan Babylonians, he said, I bear
them record, they have a zeal for God. That's a remarkable
thing in itself. But this man had come to Jerusalem
to worship and verse 28 says he was returning and sitting
in his chariot, he read Isaiah the prophet. He was returning
from Jerusalem. Everyone all over the world has
heard of Jerusalem. Everybody long before this place
over in Arabia called Mecca long before that Jerusalem was around
and esteemed as a religious center of activity all over the world.
The Arabs even venerate or highly esteem Israel or Jerusalem right
now. The mosque you know the Dome
of the Rock so forth. That is the place where Mohammed
rose to heaven, supposedly. And they esteem Jerusalem very
highly, even Arabs. And this man had come to this
place called Jerusalem to worship. It's the reason I believe he
was sincere. I believe this is the man. The reason I believe
that the Lord revealed himself to this man was this was a man
like Nathanael. Nathanael, the Lord said, I had
no dial. That is, he was not. Two faced. Cheat. A liar, a hypocritical
sort of fellow, he was a sincere man, he really wanted to know
the truth, and he went to the place he thought where the truth
was going to be. He went to worship. He was a sincere seeker, I believe. He wanted to know he wasn't playing
church. He was serious about God. He wanted to know the truth,
and he was going to find it. Every man, every woman, according
to God's promise, who seeks with all the heart, that is, in sincerity
of heart, they're going to find the truth. God gave that promise. And it says he was in his chariot
reading. That's difficult in itself. to
read, riding along in a buffy chariot. But this man was serious
about what was going on. He was reading the Bible. He
had bought him a Bible, and he was seriously reading it. And
perhaps he had read or heard some of it read. Perhaps he had
heard this very passage read while he was at Jerusalem, going
to one of these services. And he was traveling home and
reading this passage of Scripture in verse 29. And the Spirit said
to Philip, Go near and join thyself to this chariot. So Philip, verse
30, ran thither up to him. Philip had been walking and wandering
through the wilderness, wondering, why am I out here? I just wonder
why I'm out here. All of a sudden, a chariot comes
riding up, and the Spirit spoke to him and said, now you go to
that chariot right there. That's why you're here, one man. Well, Philip ran up. You know,
the chariot was driving by, and he ran to catch up with the chariot.
And he heard the man reading. Evidently, the man was reading
out loud. Now, he was serious, wasn't he? He wanted to get the
full meaning. Sometimes it helps to read the
Scriptures out loud. You'll retain what you've read
better. Your thoughts won't interfere. He was reading out loud the Scriptures,
Isaiah. And look at verse 30. And Philip
ran up to him and heard him read Isaiah and said, Do you understand
what you're reading? He must have been running alongside
the chariot. Do you understand what you're
reading there? I tell you, this was written to
me. If only some preachers were really
interested in people understanding what they're preaching. Understanding,
knowing and understanding the gospel, and not in just delivering
their staid sermons. or inciting some kind of emotional
fervor in the people. But understanding, this is what
we're going to deal with tonight, the knowledge of the truth. It's
necessary. Paul said this in 1 Corinthians
14, 6. He said, What shall it profit you, except I speak to
you either by revelation or by knowledge or preaching or by
doctrine? In other words, if the trumpet
doesn't give a certain sound, if it doesn't give a clear sound,
if nobody knows what the preacher is saying, what in the world
is he doing up there? He might as well be banging a gong or
clanging a cymbal. I need this. Jonathan Edwards
said this, of all people, but he said this, and it's good.
He said, I'd rather be understood by ten than admired by 10,000. Maybe a man ought to stop every
10 minutes and say, now wait a minute, did you understand
what we just read? Did you understand? Do you understand? This is what
Philip asked this man. Do you understand? And verse
31. Now this man was an honest, meek, humble man, an humble seeker. And it's the only kind of people
that find the truth. He's the only kind of people
God's going to deal with. He's not going to reveal himself to
a wise and mighty and high and noble man. He's not going to
reveal himself to a know-it-all. Would you? If you had some glorious
and marvelous thing, a truth or whatever, would you go to
the learned, the professors, those that say, well, I know
that already. Would you take your time to reveal something
to somebody? I knew that. You didn't tell
me that. Oh, no. You'd go to a simple childlike
person, somebody who'd really appreciate what you're about
to say, wouldn't you? Well, this man was an honest
man, a humble seeker, and he said to Philip when he asked
him, do you understand what you read? I hope it didn't offend
you. And I say, we'll get down and ask you if you understand
it. We don't know. I don't. We don't know anything. The Scripture
says, if any man thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing, yet
is he off to that. The first thing, the foremost
thing that man needs to know is that he knows nothing. Then
he's on the road to understanding something. Yea, everything. But this honest and humble seeker
of the truth, he said in verse thirty one, he said, How can
I? I don't know. I don't know. I
don't understand this. How can I accept some man should
guide me? Now, pride will keep you from
knowing the truth, though you think you know everything. Pride
will leave you ignorant. But an ignorant man will soon
know everything. David said in Psalm 119, he said,
I know more than my teachers, because I esteem thy precepts
above all things. He said, I know more than the
ancients. David wasn't a learned man. David
wasn't schooled. But he desired Philip, it said.
He desired Philip, verse 31, that he would come up. I just
don't understand this. Would you tell me? Would you
please, let's sit down and look at this together. You come on
up here and sit beside me. Let's look at this scripture
together. Oh, I'd love to have somebody say that to me. Instead
of, well, this is what we believe. This is what our catechism says.
And what do y'all, what do y'all wear down there at the church?
You sing hymns? Man, oh man, what difference
does that make? Let's sit down and study the truth together.
Let's learn the truth of God, of man, of the God-man, of sin,
of salvation. Let's sit down and settle that
first, then we'll talk about where. In the place this man was reading,
verse 32 and 33, the place of the Scripture which he read was
this. This was Isaiah 53. These are verse 7 and 8. The place of the Scripture which
he read was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and like a lamb before his shearers, 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 this man evidently pointed this out to Philip, and
the eunuch said, verse 34, he said, Philip, I say, he answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
this? Who is this talking about? Is
he speaking of himself or some other man? Bless God, he wasn't interested
in where Cain got his wife, was he? He wasn't asking some foolish
question, endless question, endless genealogies, was he? Who's this
talking about? What's all this talk about of
iniquity laid on him? Who is it? Who? That's the work
of the Holy Spirit, isn't it? To lead a man to ask who, not
what, where, when, and how. Who? Isn't it? Who? Salvation is going to come to
a man when he sees a who, not a what. A who. Let's turn back
there and look now at what he was reading. Isaiah 53. We read it a moment ago. We've read it hundreds of times. I personally read it from this
pulpit at least a half a dozen times in the two and a half short
years I've been here. Isaiah 53. It said that he began
at this same scripture. Now, don't think for a minute
that he just read those two verses. No, it's like you and I saying,
well, where was he reading? I was reading the other day,
and it's like us quoting one verse. What we did was we read
the whole chapter, right? We went through the whole thing.
We didn't just read two verses. Nobody starts in the middle of
a passage, and neither did this man. He started at Isaiah 53,
verse 1. But for brevity, the Scriptures
recorded only these two verses, but you can guarantee that he
started at verse one, based upon his confession. Now look at it. Isaiah 53, verse 1. And this
man and Philip looked at this together, as we. May God reveal it to us. Who
hath believed our report? Or doctrine? The word's doctrine
there. Who believes our doctrine? You know what we preach here.
It's unbelievable. By the natural man, it's unbelievable,
and I don't believe that it's what they'll say, I believe anything
but that election, predestination and so forth. Sovereignty, I
believe anything but that. It's unbelievable. It's unnatural. It's hated. The average natural
man, religious though he may be, he hates this. Who hath believed
it? Not many. Right, not many wise
men after the flood, not many mighty, not many noble, and I
might add to that, Christ said, not many religious. See, I didn't
come to call the righteous, but sinners. Who hath believed our
report? I'll tell you who. It's to whom
the arm of the Lord is revealed. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? What is salvation? It's a revelation of the arm
of the Lord. What salvation is? It's a revelation
of the power of God Almighty. Where is the power of God? In
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is called throughout
the scriptures, he's called the right hand of God, the right
arm of the Lord. He shall bring salvation, Psalm
130. The right arm of the Lord hath
gotten the victory. Salvation is God revealing his
all-sovereign power in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Giving
salvation, giving the kingdom of heaven to whom he will. None
stay in his right hand. To whom is this revealed? To
all whom the Holy Spirit, who God decides to reveal it to.
He has mercy on whom he will. He gives grace to whom he will. It's according to his sovereign
power. And if you've had it revealed to you, you bless God from the
top of your lungs. He didn't have to. Who hath believed
our report? Do you? Has the arm of the Lord been
revealed to you? Yeah. Who? Verse 2. For he, you see
that? The arm of the Lord is a he. He shall grow up before God as
a tender plant. He shall grow up before God.
Isaiah 9, 6. Philip May brought this out.
You see, Mr. Eunick, I know you've heard of
this Jesus, this man who walked the face of the earth. I know
you've heard of him. He was a man, yes. But the Scripture
says a long time ago that a child would be born. But the Son, the
everlasting, eternal Son of the Most High God is given. He's
sent. He's the sent one, Mr. Ewing. The sent one. And I know he looks
like a root out of dry ground, a root out of dry ground, no
form nor comeliness. He's seemingly an insignificant
man. You've heard of this Jesus of
Nazareth, but I'm telling you, he's more than a man. He's God. You better believe Philip told
him he was God. I know he doesn't have any form
of commonness, looks like any other Jewish man walking the
earth, a little man in a plain brown wrapper, but like that
tabernacle in the wilderness, he's golden on the inside, got
a crown on his head. Oh, I know he's despised and
rejected, verse 3, he's despised and rejected of men, everybody,
the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, The rulers of this world, they
turn thumbs down on him. I know that, but God turned thumbs
up on him. You see, it doesn't matter what
man says about him, but it sure matters what God says about him.
God is highly exalted, this man, giving him a name above every
name. He's more than a man, Mr. Enoch. Even though he has no
form or comeliness, even though he's despised and rejected, men
hated him. A man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. I know he looked sorrowful. I know he wept while
he was on this earth. But he didn't weep out of helplessness. Oh, this is the mercy and the
goodness and the compassion and the grace of God. Oh, man ain't
walking this earth and weeping for such wretches as we are.
He didn't have to weep. It could have sent us all to
hell. But men hated him. Now, he had
to have said this, this unit. Man, we despised him. We rejected
him. Men hate God. The natural man doesn't receive
the things of God. Foolishness to him. Neither can
he know him. Can he know them? The carnal mind, the natural
man, is an enemy of God Almighty. Hates God. Why? Because man's
a sinner. A wretched, depraved, vile, God-hating
sinner. Despises God Almighty. And he
hates holiness. And here, holiness walked the
earth. Goodness walked the earth. Personified. And what did men
do? Men showed their utter content
for holiness. They killed Him. Why? Because holiness reveals our
unholiness. You let a good and perfect man
walk in front of you, and he'll expose your hypocrisy and your
sin and your wickedness, look right through you. That's what
Christ could do. He looked right through them.
He heard their thoughts. And they wanted Him out of their
hair. And it says, but it says we. It says we, Mr. Younick. You're that natural
man. Franklin Countian. We hid, as
it were, our faces from him. We did. We. We didn't want anything
to do with God. We. We didn't want anything to
do with Christ. We. Yeah, we. But look at verse
4. Here's the marvel of it all.
Surely He hath borne our griefs. Why in the world? Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. But yet, like those Pharisees,
we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God. The Pharisees said, God's
punishing this man. Well, they were true. They were
right. But He punished him because that's
what we were supposed to give. Surely He hath borne our griefs.
Surely. Why? Surely because He's a surety. He got what we surely must have
gotten. See that, John? He took what
we deserve from God Almighty. That is shame. We ought to be—God
ought to spit in my face. Is that too crude for us? We
spit in God's face. God ought to spit in my face.
Why? I'm despicable. And so are you. He bore the shame, the mocking. We ought to be mocked. Why? Because
we're worthy of being mocked. We're the hypocrite from the
sole of our feet to the top of our head. Aren't we? Yes, we. I say we first. We ought to carry
the grief that is uncontrollable, weeping and wailing and gnashing
of our teeth when God Almighty cuts us off from His presence
eternally. Grief like no man has ever... You see, we're sheep. And I'm saying this in a saving
sense. But always, see, God is the Creator. We're a creature.
He made us. He does all things for us. He
provided for us. He did all things necessary for
us. And yet we've gone astray. But, verse 5, he was wounded
for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities. God make this more than a sermon. He was brutally beaten and destroyed
because that's what I deserved. For a life of rebellion, a chastisement
of our peace, you see, we're at war with God Almighty, the
natural man. It's at war with God. Don't believe
it? Go out there and tell somebody
that God rules and God reigns. We'll see, we were that way until
God in mercy and grace revealed the gospel to us. Our peace,
the chastisement, that is, the chastening God should have laid
upon us for our wrath and rebellion against God, it was laid on Him.
He was an obedient son from day one. We were rebels from day
one. Come forth from the womb, speaking
lies, shaking our fists in every manner of authority. Ultimately,
God Almighty. Yet He bore our stripes. We ought
to get a cat of nine tails. Forty stripes save one. We got a few when we were boys,
didn't we? It wasn't enough, was it, Steve? Joe Perk didn't
whip you nearly enough. Or me. And God hadn't whipped us at
all, but gave Christ every lick. He was smitten. And we, like sheep, have gone
away. Even now, still, even now we call ourselves sheep, followers
of Christ, having heard the blessed truth, disciples of Christ. Go
astray. Go our own way. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of Saul. 2 Corinthians 5.21. Oh, my soul. No man can explain this. God
made him sin, a despicable principle. an evil essence called sin that
is within us that makes us think lustful thoughts, that makes
us lie, that makes us hate, wrath, envy, that principle that indwells
each of us. God took all the sin of all of
His people which we were charged with under the wrath and condemnation
of God. God took all of that sin of all
of His chosen people from the foundation of the world until
the last man. and laid it on him. And when
he saw his son, he saw a despicable thing. He saw sin. And he had bruised it. He stepped
on it. His wrath was poured out upon
him. And God said, the wages of sin is death. And
that's exactly what this man got, Mr. Enoch. Mr. Franklin Countian. He got death. You see, the soul that sinneth
must surely die. Surely you can't say you've never
sinned. Yeah, all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. I told you a while ago that God's given us everything we
have, and we haven't been thankful. Neither acknowledged God. He
said in Romans 1, didn't like to retain God in their knowledge.
That's all of us by nature, yet He's given us so good to us.
And we went all those years without giving Him the first thought. It comes short of it, and the
punishment for sin is death. Now, we either got to die eternally,
the condemnation of God, or somebody did it for you. You understand
that? Do you understand that? We understand
what we're reading here. I tell you what, if we really
understood it, I'm talking substitution. I'm talking somebody took their
place now. It hath not yet entered into
the heart of man. It doesn't enter into our hearts right now.
It hasn't entered into my heart, or I couldn't contain myself,
and neither could you in here and then. God let it enter into
our hearts right now, because God decided to spare some people. It didn't have to. God doesn't
have to spare anybody. You know what this is called?
It's called mercy. It's called sovereign mercy.
What in the world does God need with a world with a sinful, wretched
globe full of rebellious creatures shaking their fists in? What
in the world does God need with us? But blessed God, we needed Him. And in mercy, love, and grace,
He decided that all of them are going to perish. They all deserve
to, but they're not. So we sent Christ down here to
take our punishment. And he might have related this
to this Ethiopian. In ball games back then, just
like they do now, you have a man comes in and takes the place
of another, a substitute. Well, I'll tell you what, it
really meant something back then. When I was down in Mexico, they
played a game, and they did even back in ancient Rome. They played
a game, a ball game, to where the losers, the losers of the
game got their heads cut off. Buddy, you'd play with all your
mind, wouldn't you? Buddy, you'd want to win that
game, wouldn't you? Well, what if? You are on the losing team. And some fellow says, hold on,
I want to take his place. Substitute, pinch hitter, if
you will. Oh man, it means something to
you then. Oh, you'd be hollering substitution. That's what Christ
did. Oh, we have gone astray. We're
lost. We've come short of the glory
of God. He didn't. He didn't. He lived for the glory
of God, perfectly obedient to God, loved God with all. He received
the approbation, that is, the acceptance of God, the favor
of God. God said, I'm well pleased with
this man. You don't have to die. These do. You don't have to.
Come on up here. You're a good man. No, wait a
minute. According to our agreement, our
covenant, I'm going to take this, his blade. And he's going to
be accepted by you in my stead. Verse 7, he was oppressed and
afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth.
You see, all we... What several things the law say
to them that are under the law? Why? That every mouth may be
what? Stopped. We can't, we're not going to,
man's not going to be able to stand before God and say, but, but,
but, no buts. Stop your mouth, hush, you're
guilty. But I didn't. No, you didn't. Your heart was
full of covetousness, iniquity, hypocrisy. You drew near with
your lips. Yeah, I know, but your heart
was far from it. He could have. He could have
opened his mouth and said, what? This is not just, this is not
fair. Couldn't it? Couldn't it? Couldn't Christ
have said, I don't deserve this? And he'd have been right, wouldn't
he? He could have saved himself,
but he couldn't have saved us. See, when we stand before God,
if we want to stand on our own, we're not going to be able to
open our mouth. Justice is going to be served. You're going to
get exactly what I deserve. But Christ stood in my place. And when charges were leveled
against Him, you didn't love God with all your heart, did
you? But He did. But I didn't. You're a sinner, aren't you?
Thank God, don't you? But I did. Oh, have you ever been wrongly
accused? Huh? Has anybody ever accused you
of something you didn't do? Oh, you can't contain yourself.
No, it's a lie! You'll say it's a lie. And all
these blasphemies and these mockeries were hurled against Christ. What
did He do? He didn't speak out. Don't you know his heart and
his soul was boiling with a bubble of it, like wine ready to burst.
I loved God, or how could you say this about me? But I didn't. I don't right now. That's the reason I need to substitute
right now. I'm going through the motions
right now. Yeah, I look like I'm sincere. If you pluck his
heart and you open it up, you'll see hypocrisy. You'll see a preacher
going through the motions. We need a substitute. We need
somebody to take our place before this holy, all-seeing eye of
God Almighty, and to shut his mouth in my place, in place of
my big mouth. Look at this. Skip on down here
to verse 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Why did he do this? Huh? Because God needed me? Oh, my
son. Like Oral Roberts said, because
God was lonely and he needed some chillings? My son. Why did he do this? It just pleased
him. He just decided to. For his own
glory, that's why he did it. For his glory. Why? So we'll
give him all the glory. He'll get all the glory for this.
No flesh is going to glory in his presence. Yet the Lord did
this. Why? It says it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. He, God, put him to grief. Men,
I know men with wicked hands taken and crucified the Lord
of Glory, but they did what God determined before to be done.
I know men did what they wanted to do, and we do what we want
to do, but bless God, if He's determined before for us to be
saved, we'll do His bidding. And I hope
by His good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. That's the
only reason we'll get there, by His good pleasure. It says, verse 10 again, he shall
see his seed. Now here's the gospel. God made
his soul an offering for sin. He put him to grief. He made
his soul an offering, an offering, a bloody sacrifice. This world,
Paul, this world is taking blood out of the religion, isn't it?
We've got a sugary-coated, God-loving-everybody, harmless A fenceless message
today, I'm telling you. It took blood, either mine or
Christ's. It took blood to make atonement
for my soul. The blood of Jesus Christ. And it says, he shall see the
travail of his soul. He'll see what he's done and
he'll be satisfied. Mr. Unick, he didn't make an
attempt. He's not trying to save anybody.
Jesus wasn't just another martyr to come down. He just wasn't
another one of the prophets that men took and killed. He's a sacrifice,
an eternal Lamb of God Almighty sent down here for the express
purpose of taking the place of his people. And every one of
them that he took the place for, shed his blood for, poured it
out on the mercy seat for, they're saved, Mr. Eunice. And then God, look at this, verse
12, God divided him with him, a portion with the great. I'm
telling you, Mr. Unick, God made this Jesus. Yeah, Jesus of Nazareth. You've heard of him? He's made
him, given him a name which is above every name. That's the
name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess
that he's Lord to the glory of God the Father. He's God. And he did what he set out to
do, saved his people. Now, Mr. Unick, now turn back
to Acts 8. Do you believe this?" They went on their way, and they
came to a certain water. He's bound to have told that
fellow. Now, everybody that believes this Everybody believes Christ,
they go through this ordinance that Christ commanded. He said,
everyone that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Everyone
that confesses Me, that goes through this, yes, ceremony,
but it's a type, a symbol, a profession, a confession before the world
that you're buried with Christ, you're crucified with Christ,
you rise to walk in newness of life as a disciple of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Unashamed of the gospel of Christ,
yet even thankful for it. You've got to go through this.
He commanded it. It doesn't wash away your sins,
no. Your blood washes away your sins. But you go through this
to identify an answer of a good conscience. You're not ashamed.
You're thankful. And before the world you say
this, I believe this Christ, this Jesus, is Lord and my only
hope. You see that, Mr. Eunice? So
they were riding along. Philip been preaching, I don't
know how long, maybe an hour, maybe less. And they came to
a certain water, just happened to be some water around in the
desert. They came to a certain water
and the eunuch said, wait, stop, here's water. What's stopping
me from being baptized? Well, we don't have the deacons
and elders here. We've got to take a vote on your...
No, don't say that. Here's water. I tell you when
this man, this is what the gospel does to you. When you finally
hear it, you will not contain yourself. I will, the song says,
I will hasten to him, hasten so glad and free. People that
don't normally, now this is the way it is. We've seen this for
years. People don't normally sit and listen to the gospel
for any length of time without believing it. It's just the way
it is, isn't it? Generally, if they hadn't become
hardened, God may, God may, after a while, He may, in the eleventh
hour, speak to somebody. But most of the time, when somebody
hears the gospel, they receive it, believe it, and walk in it. And this man, when he heard it,
he said, Dear water, what hinders me to be baptized? I want to
be baptized. And Philip said in verse thirty-seven,
Well, if you believe with all your heart, Believe what? Let's go back and turn to Isaiah
53. Believe all that the prophets
have spoken. How? That Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures and on down through he must reign
and so forth. Believe what? Not a what. I preached Christ. I didn't just
preach doctrine to you. I preached the doctrine of Christ,
the truth of Christ. Our salvation is wrapped up,
wholly dependent upon a person, a substitute doing for us what
we cannot do. And Phyllis said, if you believe
with all your heart, if down deep in your heart, not your
head, I know you understand the doctrine, you at least understand.
I made it clear enough where you can understand it in your
head. Salvation is not being a Calvinist. Salvation is not
knowing and understanding some truths in your head. Salvation
is having the gospel revealed inward, Christ revealed to your
heart. You see, head knowledge, you
and I were talking about this, Nancy. Head knowledge, I know
some things about this world that haven't changed my life
in it. I know some, you might know some
doctrines, but it might necessarily not have changed your life in
it. But I tell you what's in the affection, what's in the
heart, what's in the inner man, what's foremost on his mind and
in his affection, rooted down deep in his being now, he'll
believe it. He'll act upon it. He'll live. The just shall live. It'll be
his life, not a secondary thing, not a Sunday-go-to-meet-and-thank.
His life. Christ, our life shall appear.
Then we shall appear with him. If you believe with all your
heart, and the Ethiopian eunuch said, I believe that Jesus Christ
is a son of God. That seemed like a simple profession,
didn't it? Well, he believed what had been
preached. And though you might not be able
to right now articulate and carefully explain and describe the gospel
that I've just tried, with the help of notes, to proclaim, do
you believe with all your heart, mind, soul, and affection, do
you see your desperate need of this substitute? Huh? If you believe with all your
heart, you may, yea, you will be saved. And he commanded that
chariot to stand still, and they went down into the water, Philip
and the unit, and he baptized him. He confessed Christ right
there. And when they were come up out
of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away. That
unit never heard from Philip again. Why? The message ain't
important. The preacher wasn't important.
I bet you he highly esteemed that man for the gospel's sake.
Oh, yeah. I bet you that eunuch esteemed
Philip awful highly for the work's sake. Loved his soul. His heart
was knit to that man and would have loved to have seen him again.
But he didn't. Why? But no flesh with glory.
And it says there, second to last verse, that Ethiopian went
away rejoicing. Very jealous. Here's water. We got a well full
of it. Yeah, we do. Got a spigot that
works. We can fill that thing up right there. What does hinder
you from confessing Christ, believing Him? What hinders you? Well,
I just don't feel... Who says anything about feelings?
But I just haven't been sitting long. Well, all the more reason
to hasten. You might not sit here another
time. You might not hear it again. Well, I just don't know. Do you
believe with all your heart Christ is your only hope? God's on the
throne, you're a sinner in the dust, and Christ is your only
hope? If you believe that with all
your heart, you mayest, thou mayest, be baptized. That's not
salvation. It's just an answer of what God
has already done. But we'll fill her up and put you right under
it. And God, I tell you, God will
fill you up just like that eunuch. He was filled up, full of joy,
unspeakable, unspeakable. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this in prayer. Our Lord, we hope and pray that
you'll use this for whoever or whatever you see fit. I bless you. You bless my heart.
I thank you. I just believe if I could be
baptized again, I would, if it was necessary. Thank you for
Christ. Thank you for this gospel. Make
it more real to us. Make it dear to our hearts. Yea, make it consume us with
it. The gospel of Christ, our substitute. Make it more than just a religious
service. Make us more than just religious everyday Christians.
Make us Christians, disciples of Christ. followers of Him from
this day forward and the rest of our lives until we gather
together with Him. And then we'll sing and we'll
praise Him as He ought. In Christ's name, we've met together,
and as we sing, amen. You're dismissed.