I ask you to open your Bibles
with me to Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8. I want to begin reading in verse
26 of Acts chapter 8 end of the chapter. Here we read, The angel of the
Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south
unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which
is desert. And he arose and went, and behold,
a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority, under Candace,
queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasures
and had come to Jerusalem to worship. He was returning and
sitting in his chariot, and he read Isaiah the prophet. Then
the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to
this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him,
and he heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest
thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I accept
some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he
would come up and sit with him. And the place of the scripture
which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter. And like a lamb done before his
shear, 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 the eunuch answered Philip,
and he said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophetess,
of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they came into a certain water And the eunuch said, See, here
is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the
chariot to stand still. And they went down both into
the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they were come up out
of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that
the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way rejoicing. Mike, we've been debating the
last few days what the title of this message is. I think that's
it right there. A reason. A reason to rejoice. He went
on his way rejoicing. But Philip, was found at Azotus,
and passing through he preached in all the cities till he came
to Caesarea." A few things I pray the Lord would
let us see here this morning from this passage of Scripture.
The first one being this, that God sends His messengers. You see that? We just read that
there in verse 29. The Spirit said to Philip, go
near, go near. Paul said to the Romans, he said,
how shall they preach except they be sinned? The Spirit said to Philip, go
near and join thyself to this cherry. Our Lord said this, what man
of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one, if he lose one
of them, does he not leave the ninety and nine and go into the
wilderness and go after that which was lost until he finds
it? And when he finds it, he lays it up on his shoulder,
he picks it up, he lays it up on his shoulder rejoicing. Rejoice. And when he comes home, he calls
all of his neighbors together and says, rejoice, rejoice with
me. Here's this lost sheep. It's
found. God sends forth his messengers. Think about that Philippian jailer.
That man working inside the prison. He lived in the prison. Him and
his family lived in that prison. How's the gospel ever going to
get inside of a prison? With men, that would seem impossible,
wouldn't it? With God, all things are possible.
The thief on the cross. How's the message of God's grace
ever going to get to a thief hanging on the cross? He's in
his last minutes of life. How about Zacchaeus? How about that woman at the well? Wherever God's sheep are found,
he's not gonna lose one of them. He's gonna send forth his messengers
to preach his word, and they're gonna hear that word. They're
gonna hear his word. Well, when we know this, His
sheep hear His voice, don't they? He said, My sheep hear My voice. Look at verse 30. Philip ran
thither. Ran thither to Him. You see that
word? Philip ran. There's a sense of
urgency here, isn't there? Philip ran. Why wouldn't there be a sense
of urgency? These are matters of life and death, aren't they?
Philip ran thither to him, and he heard him read the prophet
Isaiah. And he said unto him, Do you
understand what you're reading? Now, salvation. Salvation is a hard work. God
must speak to the heart. We must hear. We must hear God's
word. How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard? We must. We must hear the word
and the eunuch. Look at verse 31. He said, how
can I? How can I accept some man? Should guide me. Some man should
teach me. Now we live in a time when information
is just, it's right at our fingertips, isn't it? We don't ask questions anymore.
We just go Google it. We just, you know, we just get
our phone and look up the answer. And that makes things nice because
that way nobody has to know we don't know anything, right? But,
you know, somebody might think ill of us if we ask them. if
we asked a question. I can remember in school, I never
wanted to ask a question. But I tell our kids in Sunday
school, I tell them this. If you don't understand something,
ask. Ask. Ask your pastor. Ask God to reveal the truth to
you. Seek the truth among God's people.
Seek Him in His Word. Ask. Turn to just a few scriptures
with me. Turn to Exodus, Exodus chapter
12. Now back here in Exodus, Moses
had called all the people together. And he was telling them, he was
teaching them about the Passover. And he said, you take a lamb,
you take a lamb and you kill him. And you take the hyssop
and you dip it in that blood, and you put it on the door post,
you put it on the lintel, on the side post. And he said, the
Lord's going to pass through the land. He's going to pass
through the land, and He's going to smite the Egyptians. But,
when He sees the blood, when He sees that blood, He's going
to pass over. He's going to pass over you.
And you're going to observe this. You're going to observe this
as an ordinance. And look at verse 26. He said, it shall come
to pass, in time, your children are going to say to you, your
children are going to ask you, what mean ye by this service? There's the question. There's
the question. What mean ye by this service? I've noticed something about
young children, especially really young children. They don't care
to ask questions, do they? We must discourage that over
time, but they ask lots and lots and lots of questions. They say,
they're going to say, what mean you by this service? And then
look, look where the answer's found. It's not found on the
Internet. It's not found in a self-help
book. It's found right here in God's
Word. That's where the answers are.
It's the Lord's Passover. Who passed over the children
of Israel and Egypt when He smote the Egyptians? They were judged. Not judged sin. There was crime
in every Egyptian home. But listen, when He smote the
Egyptians delivered our houses. He delivered us. Ask and listen. This eunuch says, how can I?
How can I except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip
that he would come up and sit with him. Over in James 1, 5, we read this,
if any of you lack wisdom, Let him ask of God. Give it to all
men liberally, and upbraideth none. Ask, ask, and it shall
be given. Back to our text. Verse 32. This gospel, this gospel, it's
found in one place. It's found in God's Word. We
read the place of the Scripture. See that in verse 32, the place
of the Scripture. The Gospel is found in God's
Word. It's found in the Scriptures. Think of all the events. Think
of all the events that took place in God's providence to bring
this eunuch to this particular place. Right where he needed
to be. Right where he had to be. A seeking
sinner. Here we have a seeking sinner.
Here we have the Word of God. You know, of all the books that
that eunuch had, he just happened to have the book of Isaiah. And he's reading there in Isaiah
53, and God sends him a message. God sends a man to preach the
Word to him, to preach the Gospel to him. I pray the same would
be true this morning. as we've gathered here together,
as we've opened God's Word, that God would be pleased to speak
to our hearts, that He would be pleased to open the Scriptures
to us this morning. Look beginning with verse 32.
And the place of the Scripture which He read was this, He was
led as a sheep to the slaughter, And like a lamb done before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation his
judgment was taken away. Who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered
Philip, and he said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
this, of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth,
and he began at the same scripture, and he preached unto him Jesus. He preached unto him the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now the first thing we read of
here, the first thing we see is a lamb. The first thing we
read of is a lamb. What does God's word, what do
the scriptures say about a lamb? Back in Genesis 4, verse 4, we
read that Abel brought of the firstlings of the flock and of
the fat thereof, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and unto
his offspring. He brought a lamb. He brought
a lamb. That lamb was to be without splot,
that lamb was to be without blemish. And just a few chapters later,
Isaac asked Abraham, he said, behold, behold the fire and the
wood. Where's the lamb? Where's the
lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham replied, he said, God,
God will provide himself a lamb. God will provide that lamb. The
Lord Jesus Christ, he is the lamb of God. He, that God provided,
he is God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God.
That lamb was offered unto God. God's the, God's the, we can
get this mixed up. God's the offended party here.
That lamb was offered unto God. That blood was offered unto God.
And the Lord will provide, the Lord will, he'll see to it. He'll
see to it. He'll redeem His people. He'll
honor His law. He'll satisfy His judgment. He'll
fulfill the covenant, every promise, and He'll glorify His Son. Nothing,
nothing will be left undone. The Lord, the Lord will provide. When we sing that on the cross,
the Lord Jesus Christ, He cried out, it's finished. It's finished. Salvation, the salvation of his
people accomplished. John said this, behold the Lamb
of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Back to our
text, look at verse 32. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter and like a lamb done before his shearers. Here we
see our Savior's willingness to suffer, his absolute willingness
to suffer, though he was all powerful. You know, we read in
the Sunday school class there this morning where he spoke to
those people and he declared his sovereignty and salvation
and they took him up. They took him up to cast him
over the brow of that hill. His time was not yet done. But look at Look at John 18. He walked through the midst of them. Again, His hour had not yet come.
But look at John 18. Beginning with verse 3 of John 18. Judas, verse 3, then having received
a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees,
come thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus, therefore,
knowing all things that should come upon him, he went forth
and he said unto them, Whom seek ye? And they answered him, Jesus
of Nazareth. And Jesus said unto them, I'm
he, I'm he. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with him. And soon then, as he had said
unto them, I am he. They went backward and fell to
the ground. He's all powerful, all powerful. And then asked he them again,
whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And Jesus answered. He said, I told you, I am he. If therefore you seek me. I'm
the one you're after, then you let these you let my people go
their way. He was willing, he was willing
to suffer. The Lord Jesus Christ, we read,
must needs have suffered. He had to suffer. And he did
so, he did so willingly. He willingly suffered for his
people. In Luke 9, we read, it came to
pass when the time was come that he should be, that he should
be lifted up, that he steadfastly set his face toward Jerusalem. In the Old Testament, it said
he set his face like a flint. He must need suffering. He willingly
suffered in the place of his people. And then back here in
our text, we read that he so opened he not his mouth. You
know, I thought about this. You know, when a person gets
caught doing something, when they're guilty of something, They usually come up with a laundry
list of reasons of why they did it. Why they did it. Or they blame someone else. But
when a man is truly guilty, when he is truly guilty, there's no
justification. There's nothing. There's nothing
to be said. Our Lord He was guilty. He was guilty. There was no reason
to be offered up. So opened he not his mouth. But man's truly guilty. He has
nothing. He has nothing to say. My guilt, my sin, my shame, and
the guilt and sin and shame of all his people of all time were
laid on him. guilty. So open he not his mouth. Let's read on here. Acts chapter
8, verse 33. In his humiliation, imagine the humiliation of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Almighty God in human flesh. He became a man. He became a
man. He made himself of no reputation,
took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of man. He was arrested. He was bound. He was scourged. He was condemned
to die. He was mistreated by those soldiers.
In Isaiah we read, he said, I gave my back to the smiters, my cheeks
to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from
shame and spit. He was mocked, he was spat upon.
They placed that crown of thorns upon his head. Hung on the cross
between two common thieves. And all that humiliation, but
the humiliation of being made sin, the humiliation
of dying on the cross. He cried out, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Turn back to 2 Corinthians 5.
We looked at this this morning. The passage of Scripture we look
at often. Look at 2 Corinthians 5.21. For
He, Almighty God made Him, made the Lord Jesus Christ to be sin
for us, His people. The Lord Jesus Christ knew no
sin, but He was made sin by God the Father that we might be made
the very righteousness of God in Him. Now back to our text
in Acts chapter 8. Verse 33, in his humiliation,
his judgment was taken away. Who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. His life was taken in
a most cruel way by the will of the Father. And the eunuch
answered Philip, and he said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh
the prophet this? Is he talking about himself or
is he talking about some other man? Philip opened his mouth
and he began with the same scripture. And he preached unto him the
Lord Jesus Christ. Philip. Philip, by the Spirit
of God, was able to do what we try to do every time we stand
in this place. Preach Christ. Preach Christ and Christ alone. To preach Christ from the scriptures.
Not to entertain men. You know, I flipped through the
channels. We attended a funeral not too
long ago, and nothing of the Scriptures. It's just making
people laugh. I remember Henry used to say,
just entertaining sinners on the road to hell. Not entertainment. It's not about
social issues. It's not to stand up here and
talk about social issues. It's not to speak in man's wisdom.
It's not to talk about what the popular thing is for the day.
It's to preach Christ. Christ and Christ alone. Paul
said to the Galatians, though we are an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we preach. Let him be incursed. My friends, it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them which believe. Philip preached the gospel. He
talked about that lamb, that lamb that was slain, that lamb
that had to be slain, that blood that was applied, that God sees
that blood and He passes on. Look at verse 36, and they went on their way. You see that? They went on their
way, and they came to a certain water, and the eunuch said, see,
here's water. Now, we don't know what Philip
declared, but he must have said something about baptism, didn't
he? God sent his messenger. He's
got a seeking sinner. He's got a message from the Scriptures.
declaring Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who suffered and died
in the place of His people. Here we see Him say, here's water.
Here's water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? Phelps replied, he said, if you
believe. If you believe. He doesn't say if you understand
every last thing that's been said. If you understand every
word written in God's Word. He said, do you believe? He said,
if you believe with all your heart. That word believe, it
means to commit. It means I trust Him and I commit
everything to Him, to His care, to trust. 1 Peter 5 says, casting
all your care upon Him. for you." He said, if you believe with
all your heart, thou mayest. And the eunuch, the eunuch, he
answered and he said, I believe, and listen, this is evidence
of what was preached to him. He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. And in verse 38, the eunuch publicly
confesses. He identifies with the Lord in
his death, burial and resurrection. It's a public confession. Our
Lord said this, whoever shall confess me before men, him will
I confess before my father, which is in heaven. And that eunuch, he commanded
the chariot to stand still. And they went down both into
the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. Now again, baptism is a picture
of Christ's death, his burial and resurrection, and what we're
saying is, I'm dead. I'm dead to that old life of
sin. It's buried. My sin, my shame, my guilt, it's
put away. He put it away. And then we're
raised up out of that water to walk as new creatures. Romans
6 verse 4 says, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism
into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in the newness
of life. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. He's all my hope. He's all my
salvation. And then look at verse 39. Here we read, when they were
come up out of the water, when they were come up out of the
water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the
eunuch saw him no more. And he, the eunuch, went on his
way rejoicing. His rejoicing was not in Philip. Philip was caught away. As far
as we know, we never saw him anymore. But he went on his way
rejoicing. What reason? What was his reason
for rejoicing? You know, back in Acts, back
in verse 27, we read here a little bit about this eunuch. He was a eunuch of great authority.
He was a man of great authority. His job, he worked for the queen.
He had a pretty important job. And he had charge of all of her
treasure, all of her money. He was a man of, we would consider
him a man of power, a man of influence, a man of wealth. In
earthly terms, we'd say this eunuch had it, we'd say he had
it all. Wealth, power, influence. But without the gospel, without
Christ, He had nothing. If a man does not have Christ,
if a man does not have the gospel, if a man does not have salvation,
no matter how much he has in this world, he has nothing. Here in this, in verse 39, we
read, he went on his way rejoicing. And he had good reason, didn't
he? God sent him a messenger. God revealed Christ to him through
the preaching of the gospel. He revealed the Savior to him.
He revealed the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave him faith to believe.
He gave him a new heart. He had to confess Christ. He could
do nothing. He must confess Christ. True
happiness, true rest, true joy, true hope, true salvation can
only be found only be found in him. Turn with me to another
passage of scripture. Turn to Jeremiah. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 9. Look beginning with verse 23
of Jeremiah 9. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glory Let him that gloryeth glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth
me. That I am the Lord which exercise
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For
in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Not wisdom, not might,
not riches, Christ and Christ alone. The Lord Jesus Christ
who is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Now, last week, I preached this
same message out in San Diego. And after the service, some of
the men were talking and one of the men said, what a wonderful
thing. What a wonderful thing when a
man or a woman or a young person hears the gospel. And God's pleased
to reveal that gospel to the heart. Those like this eunuch
of old that can go on their way rejoicing, rejoicing in Christ. But what about those, what about
those who've yet What about those who've yet to hear it? What about
those whom God has yet to reveal his word to? And I've got to
tell you, I thought about that question. I thought about that
all week. I thought about that all week. I thought about that eunuch.
I don't know how many times he had heard. I don't know how many
times he had read. through Isaiah 53, searching
and seeking and wondering, who's this about? We don't know how much time it
passed before, I don't know how much time Philip spent up there
in that chariot speaking the word to us. But I do know at some point,
God revealed the truth to us. As I've been thinking about this,
I come across an outline from Brother Henry that I think, just
a few minutes, I think is worth sharing. The title of the message
was this, what must I do? What must I do to be saved? It had five points. The first
one is this, take your place as a sinner. Take your place
as a sinner. Remember that Canaanite woman? Had some words back and forth
and she finally said, even the dogs eat the crumbs from their
master's table. I'm a dog. I'm a dog. She took her place as a sinner. Job said this, he said, God looks
upon men and if any shall say, I have sinned, and perverted
that which was right, and it profited me nothing." He'll deliver
his soul from going down to the pit. Take your place as a sinner. Second, do what this eunuch was
doing. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Time and time again, we read
throughout the Scriptures, those that seek, Those that seek find Him. Seek
Him in His Word. Seek Him in the preaching of
the Word. Seek Him around those that know Him. And seek Him continually. Third, ask God to save you. Ask God to save you. Only He
can. Only God can save a sinner. Remember what that leper said?
He said, Lord, if You will, If you will, you can make me, you
can make me whole. You've got the power to do it.
If you will, you can make me whole. Blind Bartimaeus, there
he was out there on the highway begging. The Lord's passing by. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. And they tried to hush him up,
and he cried out the louder. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. We know what happened too, don't
we? The Lord had mercy on him. Ask
God. In the book of James we read,
you have not. The reason you don't have is because you don't
ask. Fourth, walk in the light that
God gives you. Whatever amount that might be.
Paul writing to Timothy, he said, from a child. From a child you've
known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise unto
salvation. Walk in the life that God gives
you. Turn to Mark chapter 9. I'll
not be much longer. Mark chapter 9. Look at verse 18. Go back to verse 14. Mark chapter
9. Verse 14, And when they came
to his disciples, he saw a great multitude around them and the
scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people,
when they beheld him, were greatly amazed and running to him, saluted
him. And he asked the scribes, What
question, what question you with them? And one of the multitude
answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which
hath a dumb spirit. Wheresoever he taketh him, he
teareth him, and he foameth, and he gnashes with his teeth,
and he pineth away. And I spake to thy disciples
that they should cast him out, and they could not. And he answered
them, and he said, O faithless generation, how long shall I
be with you? How long shall I suffer you?
Bring him to me. And they brought him unto him,
and when he saw him straightway, the spirit tear him and fell
on the ground and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father how long
since he's been this way. And he said of a child, he said,
oftentimes it cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy
him, but if thou canst do anything, Lord, if you can do anything,
imagine us asking, if you can do anything, have compassion
on us and help us. And Jesus said unto him, if thou
canst believe, If you can believe, all things are possible to him
that believeth." And straightway, the father of the child cried
out, and he said, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. And when Jesus saw the people
running together, He rebuked the foul spirit, saying, Thou
dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him and enter
him no more. The Spirit cried and ran him
sore and came out of him. He was as one dead in so much
that many said he's dead. But Jesus took him by the hand
and lifted him up and he arose. Fifth, look to Christ. Look to Christ. Isaiah said,
look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth. Turn
to one more scripture here. Turn to Jonah. Turn to the book
of Jonah. Jonah chapter 2. Look to Christ. Look at verse 1. Jonah prayed unto the Lord, his
God, out of the fish's belly. Now, I would have to think inside
a fish's belly, you could see nothing. He said, I cried by reason of
mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me. Out of the belly
of hell, I cried, and thou heardest my voice. Look here, for thou
hast cast me into the deep, into the midst of the sea. You know,
they go down deep into the sea and they have to have those special
submarines with those super bright lights to see anything. Jonah
hears in the belly of the fish, in the deep, and see nothing. But look, look what he can see.
For thou didst cast me in the deep, in the midst of the seas,
and the floods compassed me about all the billows, and the waves
passed over me. Then said I, I'm cast out of thy sight, yet
I will look again. But I can't see nothing. I can
still. That's probably the best time to look, isn't it? Look
to Christ. I will look again toward thy
holy temple. Look to Him. Look to Christ. Oh, that God would give us an
interest in His Word, that He would continue to send forth
men to declare His Gospel, to preach His Word, that Gospel
concerning the Lamb of God, the sacrifice, that gospel that comes
from the scriptures, and that He would grant us faith to believe.
Faith to believe and reveal our need to rest in Him, to confess
Him. And if He's pleased to do so,
if He's pleased to do so, I believe that we'll go on like that eunuch
of old, rejoicing. Rejoicing in Him who saved us
by His grace. All right.