The Lord Jesus Christ has gone
to extraordinary lengths, extraordinary lengths, to gather his beloved
people to himself. Whatever our life is, Whatever
we discover in this world as far as our ways and our paths,
our God, our Savior Jesus Christ, if we are his people, has been
active at every stage of that life in order to bring us to
himself. Everything that happens to us
is geared is designed, is intended to bring us into that experience
of grace. Will we ever know the full extent
of the things that Christ has done for us? If we think about
our own lives, we are but scratching the surface. For every event
in providence is brought together according to his purpose. But
even before all of that, will we ever understand the extent
and the nature of the sacrifices that Jesus Christ has made for
us? He left his eternal majesty in
glory. He veiled that divine glory that
was eternally and essentially his. He set aside even his mediatorial
glory and was made a little lower than the angels. The Lord Jesus
Christ gave up so much even in coming to this world, even before
he took his first step, took his first word, began that life
that was lived in humiliation and under the abuse of so many,
he had already given up so much that it is beyond our comprehension
to understand what it cost our Savior. He willingly, voluntarily
undertook to become a servant of servants. He humbled himself. He endured the contradiction
of men. He suffered in body and in soul. He gave all. He spent all. He endured all. for those that
he loved. Never was a groom like this groom. Never was a husband like this
husband. Never was a beloved like this
beloved. Philippians two and verse six
says, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself. That is, he humbled himself again. He re-humbled himself. and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He humbled himself when he came,
and he humbled himself in this world, even to the point of laying
down his life. What is it the hymn writer says?
"'Tis mystery all, the immortal dies. Who can explain his strange
design? In vain the firstborn seraph
tries to plumb the depths of love divine. This is our Jesus. This is our Christ. This is the
one who has given so much, who has sacrificed so much. I say again, the Lord Jesus Christ
has gone to extraordinary lengths to gather his people to himself,
to bring that beloved people to himself. Shall we ever know
the meekness and the gentleness of Christ to suffer so much,
to endure so much, to sacrifice so much for me? John 13 verse 1 says, having
loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the
end. He loved them unto the end. Having loved from everlasting,
loved his people, loved his children, loved his church from everlasting,
loved his bride from eternity, from before time ever began,
from even before that covenant of grace was established, that
covenant of peace was forged between the eternal Godhead. There resided a love, a love
and a passion, a desire after communion with sinners like me
and like you. And the Lord Jesus Christ having
loved in election, having loved in His foreknowledge, His own,
having loved His own. Not all men, not all men are
so loved of God. Not all men were so loved of
the Lord Jesus Christ. those that had been committed
to him, those that had been given into his hand, those that had
been there in God's covenant purpose, in the Father's covenant
purpose of love, granted to him, called his own, having loved
his own that were in the world, lost, wandering, hidden, Hidden. Why? Hidden under a stone? No. Hidden camouflaged. Hidden camouflaged. Because we
were exactly the same as everyone else. Not hidden away so that you couldn't
see that precious gem glittering underneath some tawdry, dirty
covering. but themselves dirty and themselves
covered in sin. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
to those who were children of wrath,
even as others. And he loved us to the end. He loved us to the end. He loved us to the end of his
life. To that point at which he said,
it is finished and gave up the ghost. Everything that he endured,
everything that he suffered was done for the love that he had
for his people. He loves us to the end of our
life. Every day, every day in this
world, we will experience the love of the Lord Jesus Christ
to us. Shame on us when we go through
a whole day and never notice the love of Christ to us. And
never think of the love of Christ to us. Never think what he is
doing for us even now. He loves us to the end of our
life. He loves us to the end of the
world. to the end of the world, to when this time is no more,
to when these elements are wrapped up, to when this world, this
hard, physical, stony world is taken with all of its chemical
elements and wrapped up and shown to be what it really is, nothing
more than the place where God's work of salvation for the salvation
and deliverance of a spiritual people is being worked out. Soon all the things that we've
built up around about us will be no more. Soon all the hopes
and aspirations of men and women will be seen for the dust that
they are and even that will disappear. And that great reality, the reality
of the spirit, the reality of the soul, the spiritual reality
of the things that are invisible now will be seen to be the most
meaningful and the most important and the most significant. The Lord Jesus Christ loves us
to the end of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ loved us
to the end of eternity. Where does eternity end? Show
me the end of eternity and I'll show you Christ's love. Our Savior has come into this
world because of love in order to save his people from their
sin. He loved them unto the end. He
went to extraordinary lengths to save his people. And it did
not end with his death, his resurrection, or his ascension. Because even
now, every event in the history of the world is being directed
to the gathering in of his people. no matter what the politicians
do, no matter what the kings and the rulers do, no matter
what the business entrepreneurs do, it doesn't matter what's
going on around about us, it is all being controlled by our
God. And He has designed it that out
of all this cataclysm of events that bombard
us constantly day by day, whether it's at the national or international
level, or whether it's the traumas that occur within our own hearts
and within our own minds and within our own families and within
our own town. Everything, not one thing, is
outside of the control of our God and it is all being driven
to this end of Christ gathering his people to himself. Extraordinary lengths. We've
said it before, nations rise and fall for the salvation of
one person. You can't grasp that, I can't
grasp that. God gives nations, gives nations
up simply to bring his people to himself. Men think too highly
of themselves. And even now, our Savior is interceding
in heaven for us constantly. He visits us. in our lives with
frequent and regular visitations of grace and comfort and help. He never has us out of his view. He sees us constantly and holds
us dearly constantly. And he ministers to us. You know
what a minister is? A servant. He serves his beloved. Christ ministers to us through
his Spirit and he tells us that he is preparing a place for us. Our Lord hasn't stopped his extraordinary
activities to gather his dearly beloved to himself and nor has
anything been left to chance. We speak of predestination and
we believe predestination, oh, it is the ground. It is the ground
of our hope and our comfort. People who say you don't need
to preach predestination, that's like saying here's an ice cream
without the ice cream. What are you going to give to
people? What will give them any comfort? What will give them
any hope? Their own will? their own abilities,
their own strength? Is that what's going to comfort
them in the midst of the trials of this world? No. Predestination tells us that
God is in control and he is bringing all things together according
to his purpose. It is the all-encompassing doctrine
of his plan and purpose of salvation. Christ has not only saved us,
but he keeps us. Not only before we are saved,
but afterwards. Not only afterwards, but before. All our lives are being preserved
by our Savior. And Sam has said, goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. I know there
were many days when I had no thoughts of God, no desire after
His mercy, no consideration of His goodness, never thanked Him
once, never once. Would have despised even the
thought that I wasn't in control of my own life's experience and
yet, His mercy, His goodness has followed me. The Lord's sheep,
for all the days of their lives, are cared for and nurtured and
protected. And there has never been a moment
in your life or mine, dearly beloved, brothers and sisters
in the Lord, when the child of God has not had the Lord Jesus
Christ micromanaging every detail and every aspect of our existence. He has gone to extraordinary
lengths to gather his people to himself. And I think perhaps
that of all the object lessons that might be given for that,
This narrative that we have here in Acts chapter eight and verse
26 to the end of the passage tells us something about the
way in which the Lord gathers his people. This is the story
of the Ethiopian eunuch and how Philip was sent to preach the
gospel to him. And it's a wonderful story. It
is the history of this man's life given to us in just a few
verses. He comes in and he goes out and
we are given a glimpse of his life. We're told a little bit
about his past and we're told nothing about his future. And
yet we are told that the Lord went to extraordinary lengths
to gather that man to himself. It's a beautiful story. I hope
the story of the Ethiopian eunuch is one of our favorites because
if it's not, it's because we haven't read it closely enough. Let us just take a couple of
points from this narrative and open them up for our thoughts
this morning. Here was a man who was an Ethiopian. He was an African. He was a black
man up from Ethiopia in the heart of Africa. But here is a man
and he is seeking spiritual meaning in his life. He's looking for
answers in his life. He's a man of status. He's a
man of wealth. He's a man of fame and reputation,
and yet he is a seeker after truth. He's a man of some privilege.
Given his job back in Ethiopia, he was a significant character. But as a man who used that privilege,
in order to seek peace with God. The point I'm making is this. People look for answers. They
look for meaning in life. They look for some reason, some
rhyme behind the circumstances and the events which happen to
them, which seem so random. And yet the Lord's people are
directed. The Lord's people are hedged
in. The Lord's people, those that
God foreknew, those that are predestinated, those who are
the beneficiaries of the elective purpose of God, they may be anywhere
in the world. They may be north, in Macedonia or Philippi or in
the reaches of the furthest part of the Roman Empire at that time,
or they may be south, deep in the heart of Africa. The Lord
has his people around the world and wherever they are, he is
directing circumstances and events to pick up a thread here and
a thread there. and weave them all together in
order to bring his people to himself. We can't begin to conceive
of the magnitude of the work that is going on to bring a sinner
to grace. But here is a picture, a man
who had been elevated to a certain level of prominence in his own
country. And yet a man who struggled in
his own heart to understand what is this all about and to sought
to find answers in Jerusalem. So he got on his chariot and
he traveled to Jerusalem. He thought, maybe the God of
the Jews will have something to say to me. Maybe the God of
the Jews will have an answer for me. And he went. And when he was there, he bought
a Bible. He bought an Old Testament. And
as he headed back, still a stranger to grace, having been up to worship
at Jerusalem, having laid hold upon the very holy scriptures
of God, he yet was a stranger to the things of God, and his
answers were not forthcoming. His questions remained outstanding. But you see, something had happened
in this man. He knew he wasn't at peace. He
knew there was more to life than this. He knew that there was
something missing. God had already stirred up in
his heart a desire after something else. He had tasted, undoubtedly,
the attractions of this world. He had followed his pursuits,
no doubt, with all of the energy that a man of his status could
employ, but he had something missing in the depths of his
soul that could not be satisfied. And that's who we're looking
for. men and women who have a desire after the things of God. We long
to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to such a hungry
soul, to one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness,
who knows not where to turn. But by the grace of God, that
great work of salvation has been begun in their life as God providentially
brings them to that place of seeking answers. and brings them
to hear the gospel. An Ethiopian, a black man, a
Gentile, a man of another faith, and yet God was calling him,
drawing him, creating in him a longing, a searching after
true spiritual communion with his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 10 verse 20 says,
Isaias is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought
me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. And this was the work that was
beginning in the time of the apostles when the Lord Jesus
Christ commissioning these men to take the gospel out into all
the world. were being shown that no longer
was this revelation restricted almost entirely to the Jews. But the boundaries had been taken
down, the walls of partition had been removed, and that word
of grace was going out to the Gentile peoples. And here was
an Ethiopian, a man brought from God, I'm sure very few of the
messages of God's grace had ever permeated down as far as Ethiopia
at that time, and yet God brought the man to him. The first dawn of spiritual life
may be weak and it may be confused and it may be misdirected, And
yet the Lord Jesus Christ was overruling events to put that
man on a desert road in a barren place at a particular time. Some of you have been in barren
places in your life. Some of you have been on desert
roads. We long for our families, don't
we, to experience the good things in life. We want them to be happy. We want them to be satisfied
and fulfilled. How many of us pray that they'll
get put onto a barren road? How many of us pray that they'll
find themselves in a desert place? But maybe that's what it'll take.
We don't want those things to afflict them. And yet we see
that the Lord Jesus Christ does whatever he needs to do to bring
his people to himself. So much for the Ethiopian eunuch.
Let's think a moment about Philip. Philip is We think the deacon
rather than the apostle. The apostles, we're told, stayed
in Jerusalem at this time, but the deacons were spread abroad
with the persecution that was going on against the church.
And Philip gets a message. He gets a message from the Lord. The angel of the Lord speaks
to him. And he tells them that he is
to go away from that place where he was laboring. He was laboring
in a place where the gospel was being readily received, where
there was much rejoicing because of the entrance of spiritual
life into the hearts of men and women. But we notice the design
here of the Lord again. Because Philip was taken from
that place of blessing to a place of barrenness. He was taken from
a place where the gospel was being received gladly. People
would say, don't leave now. This is just beginning. The gospel is taking hold in
this town. The gospel is taking effect. But the angel of the Lord says
to Philip, Philip, I've got another task for you. Don't you worry
about this work. This work will take care of itself.
This work is in my hands. I'm looking after this people. I've got something else for you.
I want you to go down into a desert place near Gaza. I want you to
stand there and watch as the traffic passes on that road. all the events combining according
to the Lord's purpose. The time that the angel spoke
to Philip, the time that it took him to get to that desert place,
the time that the man left in his chariot in Jerusalem after
the ceremony and after the feast, the length of time it took him
to get down there, whether he had a couple of stops in the
road before, Everything, everything perfectly designed, perfectly
in place to mesh and merge together that these two men in the middle
of a desert should meet at a precise time and in a perfect coming
together. If that's not an example of predestination,
I don't know what is. He was brought by the Lord from
a place of blessing in order to do a work on behalf of the
Lord in preaching the gospel. Did you ever wonder why the angel
of the Lord was sent to Philip to go to the desert? rather than
the angel of the Lord going himself to the desert road and just cutting
Philip out altogether. Why take Philip away from preaching
the gospel elsewhere? The angel of the Lord spoke to
Philip. The angel of the Lord could have spoken to the Ethiopian
eunuch, but that's not the way it happens. Because God has seen
fit to employ men, weak, inconsequential, insignificant
men in order to preach his word, to set forth the gospel of God's
grace. God could speak immediately,
there's a word, he could speak immediately, and that means without
using any means. He could speak immediately to
his sheep. in this world and convert them
all and gather them all in. But he has chosen not to do so,
rather to employ weak vessels in order to carry that message. All of the glory is his, but
what a privilege we have to be able to labour together with
him and minister to one another. in the Lord's flock for the greater
glory of his name. Philip was taken, the place,
the time, the events all combined. No accident, no random chance
here, and nor is there in the lives of any of the Lord's people.
His ways are perfect. And nor did Philip know initially
why he was being taken to this place. He acted with obedience
to the prompting of the Lord, as the angel of the Lord spoke
to him. Obedient to God's direction. And he came alongside the chariot. He came alongside the chariot.
He was told to come alongside the chariot. I'm not sure what Philip's background
was, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't elevated to the social status
of treasurer of the palace of Candace in Ethiopia. I don't
know whether he is concerned about whether the charioteer
might give him a swish with a whip if he comes too close to his
master's chariot. I don't know what he thought
was going to happen when he was commanded to run alongside this
chariot. But you know, sometimes the Lord
takes us out of our comfort zone. Sometimes the Lord says to us,
I want you to go here. I want you to speak to this person.
Oh, I don't. I don't speak to that kind of
person. Don't you? We're obedient to
the Lord. The Lord told him to run alongside
this chariot. Go near someone that we don't
usually go near. Speak to someone that we don't
usually speak to. You see, the Lord met this Ethiopian
where he was. In his confusion, in his need,
in his desire to get some answers, he was returning home dissatisfied. And the Lord met him there on
the road. We get engaged with the gospel
in strange ways. Not one of us who are reflecting
upon this, not one of us has the same testimony. Not one of
us has the same way of coming into that proximity of the gospel
or the way in which the gospel is presented to us. It's all
different. That's the wonder of God's ways
in the lives of his people. And yet he brings the gospel
to every single one. Another aspect about Philip just
in passing here is this, that he preached from the scriptures.
That was what he had to speak about as far as this Ethiopian
was concerned. That was the source of his message. He didn't start to give a history. He didn't start to speak about
the problems of the Judaistic faith. He didn't say, you know
what, you're not going to get the answers at Jerusalem. Those
sacrifices that are made up there, that's not what it's all about.
That's the lesson I think there for every preacher, for everyone
that wants to give a testimony. Let's speak about the positive
things about Christ. Let's not speak about all the
negative things that are going on out there in the world. We
could speak all day. about that, but we can say something
positive about the Lord. And that's what he did. Our authority
is not what we say, what we think, how we argue. Our authority is
the word of God. And Philip knew as much. And what did he do? He preached
Jesus. He preached Jesus. That's what
it says. It's a beautiful little phrase
in verse 35. Philip opened his mouth and began
at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And preached
unto him Jesus. Well, there's the title of the
message. He preached unto him Jesus. He preached who he is. He preached
him, Jesus of Nazareth. He preached that Jesus of Nazareth
is one and the same as the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth. It's interesting. It says that,
The Lord Jesus Christ was taken to live by Joseph and Mary in
Nazareth. Taken to live in Nazareth, that
he might be called a Nazarene. Jesus, they all called him Jesus of
Nazareth because that was the place where he was brought up.
They called him Jesus of Nazareth. But a Nazarene was one who was
set apart. A Nazarene was one who was commissioned
by God. And even in the very name that
the world knew him by, the testimony of God's saving purpose in Jesus
Christ was there if it had been understood. Jesus of Nazareth. He preached to him, Jesus. The
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord God. Jesus, who will
save his people from their sin. Christ, the chosen of God, the
Messiah. And here Philip sets before this
Ethiopian eunuch perhaps something that he had never heard before. Oh, he was interested in what
was going on at Jerusalem. He was sufficiently interested
to make that journey all the way from Ethiopia. He was looking
for answers. He hoped that he might grasp
something. But as he read these scriptures, he struggled to comprehend
until the gospel was brought to him in the clarity of preaching
Jesus, just preaching Jesus. Philip, of course, was a man
who was good at preaching Jesus. He had been called to preach
Jesus because he had found Jesus for himself. He knew who Jesus
was. There are lots and lots of preachers
in the world today, lots and lots of evangelists, but there's
only one kind of person who can preach Jesus, and that is someone
who knows Jesus. Jesus was the focus of Philip's
ministry. In chapter eight, verse five,
we discover that that had been his pattern Throughout his ministry,
we're told that he went down to the city of Sumeria and preached
Christ unto them. He preached Jesus Christ. He
preached what he had done. He preached that he had been
led as a lamb to the slaughter. He preached the sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He preached the shed blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He preached the atoning power
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He set before this man,
this holy one, this son of God, this one who came from glory,
who lived a life perfectly, who was sinless and spotless, and
yet who was taken and abused, maltreated, and ultimately crucified
there between two thieves, and yet one whose blood avails for
sinners in the court of God and in the presence of the Almighty. He preached Jesus. He simply
set Jesus as the way of salvation. Jesus as the way, the truth and
the life. Jesus as the deliverer from sin. Jesus as the savior of his people. He preached unto him, Jesus. And that's what we want. That's
what we want. I preached in a little church
once and they had a piece of paper sellotaped to the Lectern. When I came up and came round
and stood and opened my Bible, there's this piece of paper stuck
to the lectern. Sir, we would see Jesus. Beautiful, isn't it? He preached Christ. He preached
Christ as the author and the finisher of faith. and he preached
conversion. He preached that it is God who
changes a man's life, that it's not of works lest any man should
boast, that it's not of the will of man, it is not of him that
runneth or him that willeth, but salvation is of the Lord. We've got a eunuch from Ethiopia. We've got Philip the preacher.
We've got the Lord Jesus Christ preached. And we have a revelation. We have a revelation. Because
here is a man who sees what the truth is. This Ethiopian eunuch
there in the chariot discovered Christ for himself personally. He had visited Jerusalem and
gone away, perhaps overawed by the sights and the scene and
the people and the smells and all the things, but he hadn't
found Christ. He found the Bible and he read
it, but he hadn't found Christ. And people can go to churches,
big churches, huge churches. People can become engaged in
all their senses with the things that are done in the name of
religion. But they never find Christ. People can read their
Bibles and never find Christ until Christ finds them. Until Christ sends a preacher. Until Christ sends a revelation
and Christ converts them. Men remain in their ignorance
and their sin, and then comes a time of revelation, an opening
of the heart, a time of love. The Holy Spirit applying the
preaching of Jesus to the heart and mind of the individual. to give understanding that they
can see where they never saw before, hear what they'd never
heard before. Eyes opened to see Christ, ears
open to hear the truth of God and to be converted. God met
the eunuch in a desert place. Christ entered his heart and
God the Holy Spirit abode in his soul. Ezekiel chapter 16
verse 8 says, Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee,
behold, thy time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt
over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. The Ethiopian became the Lord's.
When the time of love came, he'd always been the Lord's. He'd
been chosen in eternity. Christ had died for him at the
cross. He was one of those whom the
Lord saw as he hung upon there, as he hung there upon the cross,
and he was satisfied. Seeing the travail of the soul,
seeing this Ethiopian, you know, Christ delighted in him. But there came a time when the
Ethiopian was brought to know, to know, to hear, to see, to
understand, to experience a revelation that he had never seen before.
And that was the time when the Lord said to him, thou art mine. Conversion always comes through
the preaching of the gospel. Men and women are quickened secretly
They are quickened by the Word of God, powerfully, they are
quickened by God the Holy Spirit, powerfully, internally, secretly. But it is the preaching of the
Gospel that draws forth an understanding of the things that Christ has
done. Conversion is by the preaching of the Word, by understanding
it, receiving it, and believing it. Coming to Christ is not a
matter of the will, though the will complies with the gospel
when it is preached. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. It is the response to the revelation
that has been given. It is a divine work of grace
in the heart of the man. because it shows the culmination
of God's workmanship in the life of his people. So the Ethiopian
encountered Philip, he heard the preaching of the gospel,
and he received a revelation of grace. And he made a response. He responded to what he heard. He believed, he was baptized,
and he followed the Lord Jesus. In Acts 8.36 we read, And as
they went on their way, they came unto 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. I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. Philip. must have spoken fully
and directly about the Lord Jesus. When he preached Jesus to him,
he must have preached him wholly and completely, because this
man is now in a position to make such a testimony that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. I believe it, he says, I believe
it, and he did. The eunuch was convinced, he
was converted, and he was conformed. He wanted to follow the Saviour,
his Saviour. He wanted to follow his Saviour. Was the Lord Jesus Christ baptised,
Philip? Philip, tell me this, this Jesus
that you speak to me about, was he baptised? Well, yes, he was
baptised. Well, then here's water. Let
me be baptised too. Let me be conformed to my Saviour,
Jesus Christ. Are the followers of Jesus baptised,
Philip? Yes, they are. He commissioned
us to go out into the world and preach the Gospel, baptising
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, then here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptised? Well, you ask yourself that question,
any of you that haven't been baptised. What hinders you? What hinders you? Are we not
called to follow our Lord? Are we not called to be obedient
to him? Believe and be baptised. Here
is water. Why wait? Why wait, says the
Ethiopian, you know. Why do I have to wait? I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. That's not a mere formula for
conversion. You don't get saved if you say
those words. You're not necessarily saved
if you do say those words. That is the outward manifestation
of an inward work of grace and there are plenty of people who
have said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and
been baptized who have never truly experienced the grace of
God in their lives. Many churches have it as a sort
of mantra or a chant that if you say these words, repeat after
me, then you're saved. And the people go out of the
church as unsaved as they were when they came in. But now, now
there's an added hurdle because they think they're saved. Salvation is obtained by a work
of grace in the heart of the individual. And after that salvation
is received, then testimony and witness is born to it. It is the utterance of a convinced
heart, a heart that fully trusts in the efficacy and the power
of the blood of Jesus Christ. and it is a heart that trusts
fully upon all his saving accomplishments to be everything that I require
in my own life. Verse 39 in our passage says,
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. I won't make too much of this,
but you can't, you can't come up out of a font. You understand
what I mean by that? You can't come up out of a font.
So this man was baptized in deep water. This was believer's baptism
by immersion. The spirit of the Lord caught
away, Philip. That was a miracle. Now you see
him, now you don't. Well, there was evidence, there
was evidence that what had transpired in the last few hours of this
introduction between the eunuch and Philip was of a divine and
of a spiritual nature. The spirit of the Lord caught
away Philip. I wonder what the effect of that was on the mind
of that Ethiopian eunuch. But more than that, more than
seeing the evidence of the hand of God in his own life like that,
in his own experience, he now had a personal relationship with
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're told that he went rejoicing. What happened to him back in
Ethiopia? I don't know. I don't know. What did the Queen say to him
when he arrived back? Where did he find fellowship
in Ethiopia? Who taught him the things of
the gospel beyond that which had been revealed to him by Philip? We just don't know. Maybe he
was the only believer in the whole country. But I tell you this, those who
are Christ's, we shall see our Ethiopian brother
in glory. We shall see him there when we
get to heaven. That blessed saint went on his
way rejoicing into an uncertain future, into complete absence
of Christian fellowship With it appears no gospel teacher
or church support network to keep him on the road. But he
had Christ. He had salvation. He knew Jesus
Christ to be the Son of God. And maybe he made that journey
back to Israel on another occasion, and maybe he met up with the
Lord's people, and maybe as the diaspora, as the movement of
the Lord's people through that time of persecution went on,
and they moved into southern Europe, and into northern Europe,
and into North Africa, and further south, He would encounter more
believers as they fled from the persecution that was taking place
in Israel. Persecution. Persecution. Whatever it takes, whatever it
takes for the Lord to move his people, to send his preachers,
to gather in his elect, he will accomplish it in the lives of
his people. This is the Christ that we have. The Lord Jesus Christ had gone
to a lot of trouble to bring this wandering sheep to himself,
and he was not about to leave him or to lose him. The Saviour
who saves is the Master who keeps his people. Hebrews 3 verse 5
says, For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. He never has, he does not know,
and he never will. Amen.