Let's open our Bibles back to
Acts chapter 8. I believe this is a fairly familiar
passage of Scripture. I preached from this Scripture
recently, this passage recently, but the Lord willing, I want
to focus our attention on one verse. this morning, one verse
of this scripture. Look at verse 36 of Acts chapter
8. The eunuch asks a question here.
It says, when 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? What doth hinder me to be baptized? I pray the Spirit of God would
enable us to see the answer to this question this morning. I pray we could see three things.
Three things. First, what were the events that
led up to the eunuch asking this question? What are the natural objections
to that question? What are the answers that come
to our head when we, what doth hinder me? What doth hinder me? And then third, Philip's answer. Philip's answer to the question.
So first, what leads up to this question? In verse 26, we see
that the Spirit of God sent one of his messengers. It says, The
angel of the Lord spoke unto Philip, saying, Arise and go
toward the south, unto the way that goes down. And over in the
book of John, speaking of our Lord, the scripture said, He
must needs go through Samaria. Similar to what we saw this morning. God sends His messengers to His
people. He'll find them. He'll find them. Years ago, me and Dale rode down
to Crossville. He was going to be preaching
there for Donnie. We stayed in this hotel. It had
this big glass window. I don't know what caught her
attention. I think it was the flashing lights outside the window, but
all these police cars kind of just converged on the parking
lot all at one time. And what in the world was going
on? And then the next thing you know,
they had this dog, like a bloodhound. It would just go back and forward
and back and forward. And we could actually see off
in the distance This fella, he had hid. He had hid down in the
ditch. And slowly, methodically, boy,
they just worked their way, worked their way. And finally, that
fella pops up out of the ditch and takes off running. And they
chased him down and tackled him and threw him in the back of
the police car. But I say all that, they found
him. They found him. There wasn't
a chance that fella was going to get away. And the same is
true of God's sheep. He's not going to lose any of
them. He'll find them. He'll find them
and He'll bring them to Himself. You know, our Lord, He passed
through Samaria. Paul and Silas spent a night
in prison to preach to that prison guard and his family. God's Word
is going to reach His people. Over the years, we've seen this.
We've seen this not just in the Scriptures, but we've seen it
by experience. God sends His messages forth
to preach to His people. I think of Brother Tom Harney
25 years ago. The Lord called him down to be
the pastor of that congregation. We could name just men after
men that God has called to the ministry and He sent them to
the place of His choosing, to His people, to hear the gospel
of His grace, to preach the gospel of His grace. We read in the
Scriptures, how shall they hear without a preacher? How shall
they preach except they be except they be sinned. He sends His
messengers to His sheep. Then we see this message, this
messenger, Philip here, he brings forth the message from God's
Word. It's a message concerning the
Lamb. It's a message concerning the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. The Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of the world. Over and over again, we
read, we're taught of the Lamb. It's that same Lamb Abraham told
Isaac about when he told him, God will provide Himself a Lamb
for a burnt offer. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is,
He's the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God that is God,
He is God. The Lord provides that Lamb for
Himself. He's both just and justified. The Lord will provide. He will
see to it. The redemption of His people,
the honor of His law, the satisfaction of His justice, the fulfillment
of His covenant, the eternal glory of His Son. He will provide. He declared on the cross, it's
finished. It's finished. Salvation is accomplished. The Lord will provide Himself
alone. This is declared throughout the
Scripture. And the eunuch was reading about
this land. We see this, look at verse 27. We read that this eunuch, he
was returning from Jerusalem. I couldn't help but think, Jerusalem,
the holy land, as men would call it. He had come to Jerusalem
for to worship. He was returning. He was coming. And it would appear that he knew
nothing more returning from Jerusalem than he did when he went. You
know, maybe he felt a little holier as men say they do when
they travel to those so-called holy lands. But Philip asked
him, he said, do you understand what you're reading. You understand
what's in these scriptures. And he said, how can I accept
some man should guide me? How can I accept some man should
teach me? Notice here, this eunuch, he
had a, God had given him a teachable. He had, think about this eunuch. This eunuch was, he was somebody.
I mean, he, he was a, He was a man, we read he was a man of
great authority. He was a man of wealth. He had
charge of all the queen's treasure. He was somebody. And Philip comes up to him and
sees him read, and he said, do you understand what you're reading? You know, the natural response
to that question is, well, of course I understand what I'm
reading. What do you take me for? Of course
I understand. Why would you ask such a thing? Just this past week, out in our schools, we had a
man come out there in our buildings. I'd never seen him before. And
I tried to offer him a few suggestions on things that might help him
as he went through the buildings. And his reply was, I've worked
here, but I've worked in schools before. To me, that says, just
leave me alone. Just leave me alone. I don't
need your help. I know what I'm doing. And if we're honest, that's
probably our response most often. A response of pride, but not
this eunuch. Not on this day. This eunuch,
he said, how can I? How can I understand that some
man should teach me? Oh, that the Lord would give
us that same spirit, a teachable spirit, a desire, a desire to
learn, a desire to hear, to know more, In verse 35, Philip opened his
mouth and he began the same scripture that he preached unto him, Jesus. He preached unto him the Lord
Jesus Christ. He preached the gospel to him. As I was studying and preparing,
I wondered, I wonder how many, just thinking about this, I wonder
how many men had went to Jerusalem, to whatever that ceremony was,
and come back empty. I wonder how many chariots were,
I don't know if they were somewhere there on the road, you know,
was it a traffic jam with the chariots back? How many chariots
were sitting there, with maybe men sitting in there, looking
at God's Word? We read of one. We read of one. Went to Jerusalem. He was returning. He was sitting there in that
chariot. God sends a messenger. Not the chariot beside him, not
the chariot behind, but the hand. Maybe, I don't know, how
many of them went home empty? How many of them got caught up
in just the, all the events that were going on, but this man,
this man, God's, he's an object of God's mercy. This one man, this one unit on
this particular day, in this particular place, he's gonna
hear the gospel. There he sits, there he sits
with a copy of Isaiah 53. Almighty God sends a messenger. Gives this man, this eunuch,
a teachable spirit. He prepares the soil to receive
that seed, to receive humility. He preaches the gospel of God. Reveals the truth. Isn't that what God does for
many of us? The other day, a few days ago,
Brady and I were somewhere. We drove by a church building
and these signs everybody puts out
front and they put something silly out on the front of them. This may have taken the cake
for me. It said Christian Committee. And it gave the guy's name and
it gave the time. Brady looked at me and he said,
Dad, what is that? I looked it up. And there's one
thing to describe it. It's entertainment. It's entertainment. And I fear, I'm confident, that
in most places, that's what goes on today. Not preaching the gospel,
but just entertainment. Entertainment. Play the music
louder. Whatever. It's entertainment. I believe it's what Henry used
to refer to as entertaining sinners on the road to hell. God's merciful to us. God's pleased in places to raise
up men to preach the gospel, call His people under the sound
of it and reveal the truth. Aren't we thankful? Aren't we thankful? You know,
I'm afraid we don't stop and consider that often enough. God would be pleased. God's been merciful to us. Why me? Why me? Why would the
Lord be merciful? Paul said in his letter to the
Galatians, he said, when it pleased God who separated... Paul could
speak something about that, couldn't he? He had been caught up in
all that. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son. How did I end up here? How did
I end up under the sound of the gospel? What a blessing. What
a blessing. And I wonder how many times that
eunuch looked back on that day when the Lord was pleased to
be, show him mercy. God sends forth his messengers
to his sheep. He declares his gospel to them. Philip says, Philip ran to him.
There's a sense of urgency there. He ran. He ran to him. He said,
do you understand what you're reading? How can I? How can I
accept some man should God? gave him a willing and a teachable
spirit. And then Philip opened his mouth and he began at the
same scripture. He preached to him one subject. He preached unto him the Lord
Jesus Christ. He was reading in Isaiah 53. He who bore our griefs and carried
our sorrows. He who had no sin, knew no sin,
did no sin, yet he was made sin. He was made sin as our substitute. He was smitten, stricken of God,
and afflicted. Why? Why was he smitten? Why was he stricken? Because
of the sins of his people. Sin must be punished. And as our substitute and representative,
He bore our sin. He stood in our place. He did what we could not do.
He made full satisfaction. He reconciled us to God by the
obedience of His death. He suffered and died in the place
of His people. Turn over to Isaiah 53. Look at just a few verses here. Look at verse 5 of Isaiah 53. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed. because of sin, because of my
sin. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned every one
of us to our own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity
of his heart. Look at verse 11. He shall see
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquity. Our message, our message is one
message. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn
back to Acts 8 chapter 5. Look at verse 5 of Acts chapter 8.
Philip, you see that when he was in Samaria,
same message. Look there, it says, Then Philip
went down to the city of Samaria and he preached Christ to them. It didn't matter where Philip
was, did it? It didn't matter who was standing in front of
Philip. It was the same message, Christ and Christ alone. Robert
Hawker was born in 1753. We read these articles and often
think, That could have been yesterday. Abby and I were talking about
that the other day. Henry had written something in
like 1955 and you thought, well, that was just written yesterday.
Well, Hawker was born in 1753 and he died in 1827, but he said
this, he said, Oh, that modern preachers, that modern preachers
would do the same. Forget about building buildings.
Forget about the events of the day. Forget about social issues
and all these things. And just preach. Just preach. Just preach it. Well, what led
up to this question? A seeking sinner. God's messenger. God sends a messenger to preach
Christ from the Scripture. God gives this eunuch a willing
heart, a teachable spirit. God in grace gives him faith
to believe. And this eunuch says, what doth hinder me? What doth
hinder me to be baptized? What would hinder me from identifying
with my Lord and Savior in His death, burial, and resurrection? What would hinder me from publicly
confessing? This is not just what I believe,
this is who I believe. The Lord Jesus Christ. My second point. What hinders
a man from confessing Christ? What are those natural objections
that are thrown out? Is it my unworthiness? Could
it be my unworthiness that would keep me from confessing Christ?
Remember the Canaanite woman over in Matthew 15, 22? She said
this. She came to the master and she
said, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David." Have mercy
on me. And our Lord replied, He said, I'm not sin, but to
the lost sheep of Israel. She said, Lord, help me. Help
me. Our Lord again replied, He said,
it's not meat for me to give the children's bread and take
the children's bread and just cast it to the dogs. And if you read on in verse 27
of Matthew 15, she said, well, that's true. That's true. Can't we say that? That's true. I'm not one. I'm not one. But
she said, yet the dogs, and that's what I am. I'm a dog. Yet the
dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Lord
Jesus Christ spoke to her and He said this, He said, Great
is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt. What does
that mean? Maybe it's the corruption of
my heart. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this dead? Maybe
it's a fear of falling away. I'd confess Him, but I know my
heart. I know the weakness, and I would soon fall away. Over
in the book of Jude, now unto Him that is able to keep you,
and to prevent you from falling, for the presence of His glory
will exceed you. The only wise God, our Savior,
be glory, majesty, dominion, power, both now and ever. I fear falling. keeps His sheep. What does hinder
me? Maybe the reproach of this world,
the opposition of family and friends, those that are near
to us. In Philippians 3 verse 8, Paul
said in his letter there, he said, Yea, doubtless, I count
all things but loss for the excellency and the knowledge of Christ for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things." What was his reaction to that?
He said, I've suffered the loss of all things, but I count them. We've got some, I'm not going
to say which neighbor, we have a neighbor that has some cats
that run around in our yard. And we walk out there and sometimes
we find something on the bottom of our shoe that doesn't smell
very good. Right, Sam? Paul says all this, all this
other stuff, I count it, I count it but done. I count it but done. That I may win Christ. That I
may win Christ and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. the righteousness which is of God, that I may know Him
and rest in Him." Maybe it's our former life. Maybe it's our
former life or conversation. David entered into that thought
often. He prayed this. He said, Lord,
remember not. the sins of my youth. The sins
of my youth, the sins of old age. Remember what Nathan said
to David? David had sinned against the
Lord and he wrote in the psalm, against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. What did Nathan say to him? The
Lord hath put away Why can't we grasp that? Why can't we get
a hold of that? The Lord's put away our sin.
It's not by works of righteousness which we've done. It's a sin. The Lord hath put away thy sin. Maybe you might ask this question.
Is His grace sufficient? Is His grace sufficient? Considering
what a great sinner I am, considering all these things, is His grace
sufficient? The Lord told Paul, my grace
is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect,
and thy weakness. Is his grace enough? His grace
is sufficient. It's enough. I believe it was
Tom Harding said, what that word sufficient means, it's enough
to get the job done. What doth hinder me from being
baptized? Here's Philip's answer. Philip
answered him and he said this, he said, if you believe with
all your heart, if you believe with all your heart, he that
believeth on the Son hath life. Abraham, what did we read of
Abraham? Abraham believed God. And think about it, Abraham was
an idolater. There was nothing to commend
Abraham to God. God called on him to leave his
country, to leave his family, to leave his father's house.
The Lord spoke to him and he said, I am thy shield and thy
exceeding great reward. Believe in Christ. He said, believe. Believe in Christ is coming to
Christ. Our pastor tells us that all
the time. He said, come to Christ. Come to Christ. Not the steps
up here or the front row. Come to Christ. Come to Him.
Like that Canaanite woman that we talked about earlier. Think
about it. She came to him knowing that he had the power to save
her, her daughter. She came to him and she did one
thing. She cried for mercy. I'm not
worthy. I'm not worthy, but she begged
for mercy. Peter said this to our Lord.
He said, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Believing Christ is receiving
Christ. As many as received Him, to them
gave He the power, the right, privilege to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe for this moment. Believing Christ
is looking to Christ. We read over in Isaiah 45, Look
unto me, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth. For I
am God, and there is none like Him. Just like those the children
of Israel that had been bitten by those serpents. God said,
raise up a serpent of brass. Everyone looks. Those that were sick and dying,
look. Look to the Lamb. Look to Christ. Believing Christ is looking to
Christ. Believing Christ is committing to Christ. Paul said, I know
whom I believe. and am persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. My
confidence. It's not in my ways. It's not in my works. It's not
in this world. It's in Christ. And my hope and
my confidence and my rest is in Him and Him alone. He committed
it in Him. Do you believe? He said, do you
believe with all your heart? In closing, let me read a portion
of an article written by Brother Henry. He said, I read this back in
the study, that a man can be saved and not know whether he's
a pre-, post- or a-millennium, but a man cannot be saved who
does not know Christ. A man can be saved without a
love for Tulum. but a man cannot be saved without
a love for Christ. A man can be saved who refuses
the lordship of elders, but a man cannot be saved who refuses the
lordship of Christ. A man can be saved who does not
enter into the rest of your Sabbath, but a man cannot be saved who
has not ceased from his labors and entered into the rest What doth hinder me to be baptized? Philip said, if thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. And you know the eunuch's answer.
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Brother Mike, closing hymn.