Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter
8. Oh, Chris, I enjoyed that so
much. I was so blessed. Oh, I was so blessed. Thank you,
brother. Oh, I've never heard Chris when
I wasn't greatly blessed, greatly blessed. Telling him this morning
that I remember the message. We've got the Mooses in Louisville,
great gulf fix. Talking about being in his hands,
the same hand that holds the water, measures the water in
the hollow of his hands. It's the same hand he's with.
Measures of water in the hollow of his hands. That's the hand
we have. Holding the water in one, nothing
in the other. Wonderful, wonderful. Brother,
I've titled my message this evening, A Preacher, a Sinner, and Salvation. A Preacher, a Sinner, and Salvation. You've got a preacher, and you've
had a preacher. If I can find a sinner, there
will be some salvation around here. But look, let's restart
reading together here at verse 26. And the angel of the Lord...
I'm going to turn one of these microphones off. It's just real
loud for me. It just sparkles in the back
of my ear. Will that be alright? But it said here, And the angel
of the Lord, verse 26, spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and
go toward the south, under 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 treasure,
and had come to Jerusalem for to worship. and was returning
and sitting in his chariot, 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 heard him read the prophet
Isaiah, and said unto him, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he
said, How can I except some man should guide me? And he desired
Philip that he would come up and sit with him. 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, and who shall declare his generation, for his
life is taken from the earth? And the eunuch answered Philip,
and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of
himself, or of some other man. Then Philip opened his mouth,
and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. Now God sent Philip, down here
to Samaria to be a preacher. You all have to start a meeting
down here. Sit down there and start preaching.
And you know the Samaritans, Samaritans was a people that
their religion started way back In the Old Testament, when there
was a fellow that didn't want people to go up to Jerusalem,
and he hired him a priest, and he hired him a prophet, and he
made him an image, and got him an ephod, and said, y'all stay
here. And they were half-breeds. And you know, our Lord Jesus
Christ says, you being a Jew, you know you have nothing to
do with Samaritans. But God sent Philip down here
to Samaria. It says there in verse 5, Then
Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached unto
them. But here God opens the door to these Samaritans, these
half-breeds. But I know this much about God.
He deals with some in grace. He deals with some in judgment. While He was dealing with these
people in Samaria in grace, He was also dealing in judgment
with Simon the sorcerer who bewitched many. Believed. And then he turned right around
and he seen the Holy Ghost being given with the laying on of hands.
And he says, here's some money. Give me this gift. And Peter
says, your money perish with you. So God raises some up in
grace. Saves them by His grace. And
yet at the same time, He raises some up just to destroy. And
that's what He does. Wherever the Gospel is being
preached, that's what He told Pharaoh. He said, Pharaoh, I
raised you up for one reason. You only exist for one reason.
You're only on the throne for one reason. You're only drawing
breath for one reason. When you said, Who is the Lord?
I'm going to show you. Drowned Him. Raised Him up for
one purpose to drown Him. And then there's the other side
of it. He raised up some people just to show grace to. Just to
reveal His Son in. And oh beloved, and there's no
doubt here, I feel a passage to you all. And let's look at
this Ethiopian eunuch and his salvation. And I want you to
understand this. It's the Lord Jesus Christ going
after one sheep. Just one. You think God don't
go to great extremes to get one of His own? He's going to get
His people. And he's going to get them one
at a time, but he's going to get them. And he sent this preacher
down here. Now, I told you about a preacher.
Well, let's look at the preacher. Philip's the preacher. We know
that. Philip's up here and he's having
a great revival. He'd been in Samaria. The Lord
was using him. A great revival was going on. Let's look back
up there in verse 5, just a minute. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. He didn't go
down there knocking on doors, asking people to let Jesus into
their heart. Would you please accept Jesus?
We'd sure like you to come to our services up there. We're
having a revival meeting. We've got an altar, and we've
got some good singers, and I mean we've got a quartet that I mean
can ring the bells! Come on down! No, he went down
there and preached Christ unto them, and the people with one
accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and
seeing the miracles which he did. For the unclean spirits,
crying with a loud voice, came out of many that were possessed
of them, and many taken with pauses that were lame were healed.
Watch this, and there was great joy. In that city. Down in verse 12, look what it
says. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning
the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized,
both men and women. So there was something going
on down here. I mean, beloved, God was blessing this preacher.
And then God came to him in a revival and everything. I mean, people
being converted, people being saved, people being baptized,
people rejoicing in the Lord, people being healed of miracles
going on. And then all of a sudden, the
angel of the Lord said, Arise, go toward the south. In verse
26, go down toward Jerusalem. And desert! Go into the desert! Go from wherever things happen
and go to the desert? This is desert. This right here
is dry. It's dry right here. At least
there's some brown grass, but that's desert. Nothing. Go down
to the desert. When you think about desert,
you think of desolation. You think of nothing. You think
of emptiness. You think of great expanse where
there's absolutely nothing, but heat and death. It's desolation. But that's why I want you to
go. Leave the work here. Just leave it alone. Go down
the desert. What could possibly be going
on down in the desert? What could possibly be going
on down? Well, let me tell you something. Philip didn't ask
the question. Philip never pondered. Philip
never backed up. He never said, Lord, ain't you
got somebody else to go? There are some other fellows
around here. It's just in my way. Just send them down there. I mean, these guys want to make
me to death. They want to preach all the time to hinder me. Send
them down there. They want to preach. Let them
go to the desert. No, that's not what he said.
He obeyed. He didn't know why God said go
to the desert. He didn't care why God said go
to the desert. And look what it says there in
the beginning of verse 27. And he arose and he went. He arose and he went. And when
he went, look what happens. And behold, a man of Ethiopia. That's what's
down in the desert. One of God's elects down there
in the desert. Just one of them. Go down there in the desert.
And oh, beloved, what could the worth of a soul be to our covenant
God? Oh, the worth of a soul for whom
Christ died, that God would send a preacher, cause Him to leave
where lots of things are going on, to go after that one of His
blessed sheep. I'll never forget this as long
as I live. We was down in Chiapas. We went
up there to that Parked the truck and went way up there in that
village. One man was there. Henry may have sat down with
that one man. He was sitting there and Henry
was sitting in a little wooden folding chair and he preached
to that one man. That one man. And I remember
what he preached. Because I was sitting there listening,
but he had one man to preach to. And when he first came out
here, you know what he told me, Norm? That fellow that asked
him to come out here, he said, how many would it take to get
you to come out here? He said, well, me and you, if you're there and
I'm there, what else would we need? And that's what this business
is about. We're in the business of doing
what God says, going where He says, preaching what He says
to preach. There are no questions about
it. And oh, you see, God saves individuals. He came to Annie,
it was Annie that kept walk with God. And for 300 years he walked
with God. It was Noah who found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. It was Abraham that God called
out of the ur of the Chaldees. It was that woman at the well
that Christ went to by Himself. And with being weird with His
journey, said, if you knew the gift of God. And it was Saul
of Tarsus on the Damascus road. One man that Christ put into
the house. God saves individuals. And when there was 3,000 saved
on the day of Pentecost, every single one of them was saved
individually. They all heard the gospel for
themselves. And you got to hear the gospel
for yourself. Oh beloved, now let's look at
the sinner. Oh there's the preacher. Vernal said about him so far,
and look, and here's this Ethiopian, the sinner. Behold, a man of
Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority, under Candace the queen of the
Ethiopians, who had the charge of all of her treasure, and had
come to Jerusalem for the worship. And oh, what kind of man is this
man? He's a powerful man. He's a powerful man. He's a big,
big shot in the government. I mean, he's a man of great authority. When you got the charge of the
money, you in power. When you got charge of the purse,
you got power. And this fellow here, he was
a man of great authority. He was a man of power. He was
a man of wealth. He was a man of influence. He
was a man who people deferred to when he was at home. When
he got back to Ethiopia, they deferred to this fellow. They
had to cuddle up to him if they wanted anything from the queen.
They had to get close to him. This fellow's powerful. And oh,
beloved, But oh, God don't have no trouble humbling the powerful.
You know, and I'll tell you what, this is what's so sad about it.
People who ain't got nothing think they're as powerful and
as wealthy as this fellow here. Huh? If they ain't rejoicing
and they ain't glorying in what they've got, they're glorying
in their poverty. But look what happens here. And oh, you think
about the great men that God's humbled. There's old Naaman.
I've always said, you all remember General Schwarzkopf, don't you?
Oh, what a man. Well, Nehemen was the General
Schwarzkopf of his day. He rolled up there to that prophet's
house. He had a bunch of gold. He had a bunch of beautiful clothes.
And he said, I'm going to sit right here and that prophet's
going to come out here. You see, he was a great man and a great
general, but, always a but, he was a leper. He was a leper. He happened to be a leper. He
was a leper who happened to be a great man. And that's the way
this fellow is. He's a sinner who happens to
be a great man. But, oh, may him come up there
and, I ain't fixing to take my uniform off. If you don't, you're
not going to get God to do anything for you. They stripped that uniform
off. And he went down that water,
not one time, not two times, not three times, not four times,
not five times, not six times, but seven. And the reason he
went seven, because that's what God said it's going to take.
And that, beloved, God can humble a man. How about Hezekiah? How
about Saul of Tarsus? Oh, he humbles the mighty. And
oh, beloved, and here look what it says about him. He's a powerful
fellow. And he had come to Jerusalem,
and what did he come to Jerusalem for? To worship. To worship. And what did he find when he
went up there? He found a dead, empty, lifeless religion. That's what he found. You know,
that's what that woman told the Lord Jesus Christ. She says,
you know, you say, Jerusalem is where men ought to worship.
And that's what people believe. They come three times a year
to Jerusalem for the worship. And those people now go by the
boatloads and trainloads and busloads to the Holy Land, and
they think they're going over there and going to worship, and
try to find where Jesus was buried, and all that big of a roll, and
be baptized in Jordan, and that don't mean did they? That's no
more the Holy Land over there than Rescue California's the
Holy Land. Is it? No, they went over there
to worship. That's where it says, if you're
going to worship God, you've got to go to Jerusalem. If you're
going to worship God, you've got to go up there where the
tabernacle is. If you're going to worship God, you've got to go up there
where the priest are. You've got to go up there where they've
got some food. You've got to go up there where they've got sacrifices.
You've got to go where everybody else is going. They've got something
going on up there. Them fellas drive the beautifullest
roads you've ever seen. Oh, they can pray like you've
never heard anybody pray. Oh, listen, I tell you they can
tell you everything that Moses said for you to do and if that
ain't enough, he can just add a little more. What did he find when he got
there? Twice dead religion. Men dead in their sins and dead
in their religion. Pharisees and scribes. He found
the super religious. Have you ever been around anybody
super religious? I used to be super religious.
I'll tell you the truth, look with me over in Matthew just
a minute. I was super religious. I wouldn't let my wife wear pants. My daughter never put on a pair
of slacks until she was a freshman in high school. Didn't own a television, didn't
smoke, didn't chew, and I didn't run with anybody to do. Oh, I was religious, man. Them
folks hate to see me come to church to preach because they
know that I had my shotgun loaded and I was after everything that
moved. You know, if you had on too much makeup, I was after
you. If them earrings was too long,
I was after you. If your skirt was too short,
you was in trouble. I'll tell you some of the things
I used to say. Oh, it's awful. You know, it's embarrassing,
but yet God saved me from this. This is what God saved me from.
I wasn't converted in that, believe me. I was not a saved man when
I was preaching that. I wasn't an Armenian who had
just happened to learn grace. I wasn't saved back there in
that kind of rigmarole and then grew in grace. No, no, there
was a time in my life, God said, every minute that's done. And
you're going to count it done. And you're going to count it
in rubbish. That there is nothing but shame
and disgrace and dishonor against God Himself. And God brought me to the place
where I owned that. And I said, I'm ashamed of ever
lying on you. I'm ashamed of ever dishonoring
you. I'm ashamed of every legalism thought I had. I'm ashamed of
every message I ever preached that gave any glory or honor
to man. I'm ashamed that I ever tried to tell people how they
should live. Instead of pointing them to Christ. Ashamed of it. And oh my, look
what it said here now. These folks are super religious.
Matthew 23, 5. Look what he said. This is the kind of folk they
found there. He said, for all their works, They do for to be
seen of many. That's pretty super. That's pretty
religious. They make broad their phylacteries,
enlarge the borders of their garment. I mean, boy, it's not
enough just to wear regular clothes. They've got to make them just
a little flashier. Stand out just a little more.
And then look what it said on down here in verse 13 about them. Look what our Lord said about
them. But woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut
up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you don't go in yourselves,
and you won't let them go in that want to go in. You won't
do it. You shut them out. And down in
verse 23, this is it right here. This is super religion at its
best. Woe unto your scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrite. You pay tithe of your mint, your
anise, you go out in your garden, and you go through your herb
garden, and you take a tenth of all everything there, and
you carry it up there to the church, and you carry it up there,
let everybody see what you're doing. You really went to great,
great length to do this, and have omitted the weightier matters
of the law. Judgment, mercy, faith! These ought you to have done,
not to leave the other undone. Now this is where they're at.
You blind guides. You strain in a gnat. Strain in a gnat. And a camel
comes along and something so obvious, and you swallow it.
Swallow it. And oh my, there was more concern
for the jots and the tittles than they were for the glory
of God. And then there was the political. That's what he found
when he got up there. The Sadducees happened to be
the ones in power at this time, and they happened to be the high
priest. And the Sadducees, now why in the world they believed,
I just have no idea. But they didn't believe in spirits,
they didn't believe in angels, they didn't believe in the resurrection.
But they were the high priest. That's what they were. And all
religion and politics, that's a deadly combination. But that's
what was going on when they got up there. But in that last day,
that great day of the feast, the scripture says that Jesus
stood and cried, if any man's thirsty. Cried with a loud voice
and said, if any man's thirsty, let him come unto me and drink.
And then he'd get back over in our text. Let me hurry up here.
And they found him there, and what was he doing? He had went
to Jerusalem. He is going home now. He went up there, came up
there empty and left empty. Came up there seeking God and
left not knowing God. Come up there to worship, never
worshiped a moment. And then look what he was doing.
He was returning and sitting in his chair, it read Isaiah
the prophet. He didn't find God in Jerusalem, but he found the
book of God. And you know, they had a scroll. The scriptures
didn't come in books, they came in scrolls. And when a person
read them, they'd read them out loud. And he's sitting there
with this in his hand. And the scriptures were very expensive.
Very expensive. And here he had this roll, and
there's the roll of Isaiah. And he's sitting there and he's
reading from the book of Isaiah. And then the Spirit of God said
to Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot. Now he was still
a pretty good ways off because it said Philip ran there. Had
to run to catch up to him. And when he got there, he heard
him reading. I told you he was reading out loud. He was sitting
there reading out loud. And he understood what he was
reading. He could hear him read from Isaiah
53. He's standing there reading.
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before shears was
done. He opened not his mouth, and in his judgment his humiliation
was taken away. Who shall declare his generation?
And he's standing there reading that. And he walked up to him,
got eased up beside his chair there, and he says, Do you understand
what you're reading? Do you understand what you're
reading? Oh, that's a good question. Do
you understand what you're reading? Oh, my. But look what happens
now. He said, oh, do you understand
what you read? Oh, look what he said. Oh, somebody asked me this. Oh, and he said, how can I? How can I? Except some man should
guide me. How am I going to understand
this? I'm a natural man. I'm reading it. But I don't know
what I'm reading. I don't understand what I'm reading.
How can I understand? Except some man should guide
me. And then look what he done. Philip never done anything till
this man asked him. And he said, Philip... He desired
Philip that he would come up and sit with him. Philip never
buttoned on him and said, Do you know Jesus yet? Have you
accepted Jesus yet? Tell you a story. True story. Some of y'all may have heard
of B.B. Caldwell. Years ago. He was sitting on a park bench
in South Carolina, wherever Bob Jones University is. Where's
that at? Greenville, South Carolina. He was sitting on a park bench
in Greenville, South Carolina. Bob Jones University is down
there. And they send these preachers out, you know, Witness and win
souls and practice, you know, gotta go out and they send them
out by fours. And they go out to practice.
Well, they went through this park and they come up on this
old man sitting on this bench and they go practice on him. You know, it takes four to get
a fellow saved. If one man is raising enough, you try it. You're
better at it than I am. So they had a backup plan. Here
they are. And old B.B. Caldwell sitting
there. Good preacher. Good preacher. And they said to him, sir, are
you saved? Old Caldwell said to him, if
I'm not, what could you do about it? What can you do about it? If
you're not saved tonight, what can I do about it? I can't give
you a new heart. I can't change your will. I can't
put your sin away. I can't talk you into anything.
But God can, and that's what this fellow said, how can I except
some man guide me? And oh beloved, how valuable,
how valuable is the Word of God. How valuable is a preacher, the
sin of God. It's incalculable for God to
cross your path with a preacher. I bless God for the day that
He crossed my path with a preacher, preaching the gospel of the grace
of God. I bless the day that some preacher told me, your righteousness
is as a filthy rag. I bless the day that a preacher
told me, you've got to either believe grace or free will. You
can't ride two horses at the same time. You can't ride a mule
at the same time. Can you? You can't do it. And all I said was, I know it's
the gospel soaked in our tears. It ain't got nothing to do with
it. It's just the gospel if you never shed a tear. And oh, beloved,
that's what he said here. Oh, the value of a preacher's
sin of God is incalculable. That's why God is so serious
when we do go. And oh, this is what's happening
here is grace going before grace. Oh, I love grace going before
grace. Grace came to me before grace
came to me. God goes ahead. He goes to prepare. He has the soul piled up. He's got this fellow ready to
listen. He got him ready. Oh my! It's
grace going before grace. Oh, God prepared this man's heart.
He's ready and willing to listen. He said, come here and sit with
me. Tell me what's going on here.
And then they began. They was reading Isaiah 53. The
place of the scripture in verse 32 was, he was led as a sheep
to the slaughters, and like a lamb done before his shears, he opened
out his mouth, and his life was taken from the earth. And listen
to the question this man asked in verse 34. Listen to this question. And the eunuch answered Philip
and said, I pray thee, of whom is speaketh this prophet? This
prophet is talking about somebody. This prophet is speaking of somebody. And then what does he say? He
said, is he talking about himself? Is this preacher, this prophet,
speaking of himself? Is he preaching himself as he
wrote these things about himself? Is he the lamb? Is he the one
who is going to be taken away in his humiliation? No. Oh, listen to this. of himself
or some other man. Three things. Who is he talking
about? Is he talking about himself or is he talking about some other
man? Oh my. He knew this much about it. It
was about a man. Because it said he was led as
a sheep. He was led as a lamb. And he
knew it was about a man. He knew it was about a lamb that
was going to be led to slaughter. He knew that in his humiliation,
he'd be taken away to judgment. Well now, what in the world is
Philip going to say? Look in verse 35. Then Philip opened
his mouth, and began at the same scripture, the same scripture,
and preached unto him Jesus. And what he told us, fellas,
what he told us Ethiopian eunuch was that this scripture here
is just the fulfillment of something that's already taken place. And I know, I know without a
shadow of a doubt that he started in Isaiah 53 and he described
the Lord Jesus Christ And how He came into this world. And
that He was the Lamb of God. He told him just exactly what
John said. And I mean, beloved, He says
this is the fulfillment of all the Scriptures. This is the fulfillment
of what Christ, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He preached the Lord
Jesus Christ unto Him. Now listen to this. Listen what
preaching is. Preaching is the relation between
the Scriptures and Christ. That's what it is. What is the
relation between the Scriptures and Christ? Not in how to live. Not in what to do. Not in how
to dress. Not a historical discourse. Not
a thing on theology. But this, beloved, is the relation
of the Scriptures between Christ and His Word. It's the Word of
God and the Lamb of God. The written Word and the living
Word. You'll never know the written Word apart from the living Word.
And you won't know the living Word without the written Word.
Ain't that right? If you ever hear the written
Word, you'll hear the living Word. If you ever hear the living
Word, you'll believe the written Word. Oh, and it was about the
record that God gave of His Son. And He said, I'm going to tell
you the record that God gave of His Son. And no doubt He told
about our Lord's birth. He grew up before Him as a tender
plant, as a root out of a dry ground. There was no beauty about
Him that we should desire Him. No comeliness, no beauty. And
when we looked at Him, we said, He's stricken, smitten with God
and afflicted. And every one of us turned away
our faces. I don't want Him. I don't want to look at Him.
I don't want to desire Him. There's nothing about Him that
I think is beautiful enough to even consider. But, He was wounded. Wounded. What for? For our transgressions. bruised. What for? For our iniquities. He was chastised, beaten. What
for? For our strifes. For our peace. And by His strife we're healed.
And all in His sins that did please the Lord did bruise Him.
And He was led as a lamb to the slaughter as a sheep. Before
His shears was done, He didn't even open His mouth. When our
Lord Jesus Christ was in the garden praying, Judas came over
there, and this shows you that this idea of Christ, you know,
with a halo over his head and light shining around about him,
he had to be pointed out many, many times as to who he was.
If he came in this service tonight, and we was all a bunch of Jews,
and he'd come in here and sit down, we wouldn't recognize him,
we wouldn't know him to be just another fellow in the service.
That's why Judas had to go over there and say, now the one that
I kissed, that's the one you need to take. Over 500 men went
after him. They had some sticks, they had
some staves, a bunch of roughnecks. They got over there and they
said, Judas kissed him and said, Our Lord Jesus said, who are
you looking for? Jesus and ashes. I am He. All
500 of them fell backwards. He laid down His life. No man
took it from Him. He had the power to lay it down.
He had the power to take it up again. And they fell backwards. And they asked Him again. He
said, I am He. He said this, bless His holy
name, oh bless His name. He said, if you want me, take
me, but leave these alone. Don't you, you ain't bother,
you can't have me and them at the same time. No, no, these
can't go. I've got to tread the winepress
of the fierceness of the wrath of God by myself. I've got to
face the judgment of God by myself. I've got to face the hatred and
enmity of man by myself. I've got to face the wholeness
and righteousness of God by myself. I've got to face the wrath of
God by myself. I've got to bear this sin by
myself. And oh, beloved, And he began to preach Christ unto
him, and he went through that, and then he says, and it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. And then he began, I know he
told what his death accomplished. He says, you know that when he
died, All the sins of all His elect for all time and eternity
was on Him. And He by Himself, by the sacrifice
of Himself, put away sin by that sacrifice. And He entered into
that holy place and He came back out with eternal redemption.
And that's why He said, when He got down there, He said, for
the transgression of My people. Was he stricken? A fellow got
on to me one day and he said to me, he said, you're always
talking about my people, my people, God's people. I said, that's
what God calls them. Don't so call his name Jesus
for he shall say what? His people. He was stricken for
the transgression of my people. They which were not our people
are now the people of God. He got mad about that sin. It
just makes you seem special. That's why the Lord Jesus says,
they hate you. Why? Because I chose you out
of the world. The minute you say you're one of God's elect,
they get mad. That's the reason they get mad
at you. You say, I was chosen out of
the world. Well, you mean you're special? No. But the one who
called me is. And oh, beloved, He faced the
sin, the judgment, and death and conquered every one of them.
Oh, now look what happens now. Oh, I'd like to take a little
more time on that, but I won't. But oh, our blessed Redeemer,
He went through Isaiah 53. He went and told them what happened
in Jerusalem. He went and told how He was He
wasn't told how He was nailed to that cross. He wasn't told
all the seven cries that was made there on the cross. He told
about how He was buried. He told about how He was resurrected,
and He appeared for 40 days, and by many infallible proofs
made His disciples know that He was risen from the dead. And
only His disciples saw it. But oh, look what happens now.
Verse 36. And as they went on their way,
they came to a certain water. Water in the desert. Water in
the desert. Well, there was water following
Israel all the way through the desert. It was a rock. Everywhere they went, the rock
went. How does a rock follow you? If it's Christ, He follows
you. I've never seen a rock move by
its own power. But that rock, wherever they
went, that rock went right with them. Now I think that what the
scripture says, that rock that followed them was Christ. And
they went on here and said, here they came to a certain water.
And all look at his confession of faith. And the eunuch said,
here is water. What doeth hinder me from being baptized? And oh,
beloved, how did this confession of faith? Why did he want to
confess faith? Why did he say, and Philip said,
if you believe with all your heart, and he says you may, he
said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. What brought
him to that place where he didn't know anything about Christ, didn't
know who he was, And asking, who is he talking about? To now,
I want to confess Him. I want to own Him. I want to
be identified with Him. What took place there? Well,
look in Romans chapter 10, just a minute. I know it's hot. I know it's hot. It's hot for me too. It's just
hot here. But look what happens. Verse
13, "...whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord..."
Now watch this. Oh, that's wonderful. That's
good. You call on the Lord? Oh, I do. But here's what happens. Four
questions. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have
not believed? Can you call on somebody you
have never believed in? You're going to call on somebody
you don't know anything about, and watch what it says, and how
shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? That's
why this soul-winning outfit is so damnable. That's why it's
so horrendous. You know, they'll get folks to
accept Jesus just at the drop of a hat. And they'll drop the
hat themselves, and all they got to do is just get you to
go down. You'll say, yes, I accept Him, just to get them to leave
you alone. I heard a fellow say one time,
I got a maid saved from the first floor to the second floor. Man,
well yeah, he got her saved. God didn't get her saved. And
that's what they do. And that's what he says, but
how shall they call on Him in whom they have not heard? You've
got to hear some things. This idea, that's why we leave
people alone. Leave them alone. Come hear the
gospel. Come and sit still. Keep your
mouth shut and ears open. Just keep quiet. God will speak
to you. God will tell you what He wants
you to know. God will bring you along at His rate, at His time,
and in His way. You'll learn as He intends for
you to learn. And that's what He says, and you'll call on Him
when you've heard of Him. You've got to hear some things
about Him. Look what He says now. Not only that, but He says
this. And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And that's what God did. This
man didn't know who Christ was. He couldn't call on him. He said,
who is he? Philip preached unto him. He
said, now I'm calling on the name of the Lord. Why? Because
I heard. God sent him a preacher. And
he heard. And oh, look what happens now.
And all he said, here's water, what hinders me? What hinders
me? God sent this preacher to one
lost sheep. Here's water, what hinders me?
Let me ask you this, what hinders you? Have you ever confessed
Christ? Have you ever identified with
Christ? Have you ever identified with His church? Have you ever
identified with His gospel? Have you ever identified with
the truth as it is in Christ? Have you ever said, I'm going
to identify with this man? I'm going to throw in my lot
with him. I'm going to throw in my lot with his people. I'm
going to throw in my lot with his church. I'm going to throw
in my lot with his gospel. I'm going to throw in my lot
with them people who believe in the free and sovereign grace
of God. And we say free and sovereign so that people understand that
you ain't got nothing to do with it. God does it all. That's why
we call it free and sovereign. There's no conditions on it.
You say, well, you've got to believe. He gives you the faith. You've got to repent. He grants repentance. You've
got to hear. He gives you ears. How do you say, my sheep hear
my voice? Hearing don't make us sheep.
We hear because we are sheep. Oh, what hinders you? I ask you, what hinders you?
I seriously ask you that. In light of this preacher here,
I ask you, what hinders you? Here's water! Yes, sir. And oh, look what he says to
him now. He made no qualifications here. And I'm not going to do
it either. He didn't say if you're a convinced sinner, if you're
a serious sinner, if you're an awakened sinner, if you're a
bad enough sinner. He never put no qualifications
on this. Only thing he said, if you believe with all your
heart. And the heart's the person. You,
if you believe with all your heart, you may. And listen to this. And he said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now you know
what that means to say that? You're identifying with, first
of all, somebody that's eternal. The Son of God Himself. That God sent Him. That God provided
him. That he was equal with God. He
that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is an antichrist. There's lots of people that are
antichrists that don't confess that they can say, yeah, I believe
Jesus is the Son of God. But to know and believe that
Jesus Christ is God's Son, who was in the bosom of the Father,
who came forth from the Father, who took care of the Father,
who revealed the Father, Oh, I believe he's the son of God.
And watch what happens. And he said, stop this chariot
right now. They didn't say I'm going to
wait till spring till it warms up. That's what they used to
say down home. Oh, preacher, I'll wait till
it warms up a little bit in the spring. Because we used to baptize
in the creek. Nah, you ain't got much faith,
you got to wait till spring. No, no. No, no. You're talking about that. I'm
going to tell you another story, and honestly, I'm going to be
done. But she was talking about the hour's coming, and now here's
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. My father-in-law
is 75 years old. He's 85 now. He was sitting on
the second pew. We're always sitting. It's over
here, for me. It's over here. My mother-in-law,
my wife, and my father-in-law. He'd go off and on for 20 years,
he'd come to service. He's heard the best preachers.
He had preachers at his home, always come to our conferences.
And then he'd go lollygag somewhere for six months, show up for a
couple of weeks. But he was in a service one day, and he'd been
asking me some questions. And I preached there from John
5, 24. The hour is coming. And now is when the dead... The
dead! How in the world is a dead man
going to hear? But when the dead shall hear the voice of the who? Son of God. And they that hear,
live. Well, I got through, closed my
Bible up, and I started off this way. And I got about two steps.
My father-in-law jumped in. He said, Donnie, Donnie. He said,
I heard that voice today. Needless to say, the cousin,
you know, was probably this many people, maybe a little more in
the service, and everybody knew him, and that church just fell
to pieces. I went there crying and hugging,
and now he's 85 years old. He's there every time the service
is open. And you know, I used to talk
to him, and he'd say, Oh, Donnie, I know the Bible. I know what
the Bible says. I know what the Bible says. I've read the Bible.
After he got converted, we're sitting in the study, And he
said, here I am 75 years old and I'm a baby and I don't know
nothing. I'm a baby and I don't know nothing. He found out he'd
do everything until God saved him. And watch what happens now. And
he commanded that chariot stand still and they went both down
into the water. Both of them went down. And it
says they went down into the water. And they'd say they had
some cups there and they're going to pour them. Didn't say he had a font there
and he's going to throw water in his face. Tell you what, if
you get saved in spots, get sprinkled. If you get saved in streaks,
get poured. If you get saved all over, get buried. This fellow
got saved all over. They went down both into the
water. And they got in water big enough
for him to put that man under. They immersed him. And oh, beloved,
and he, Scripture says that, and he, Philip, baptized him.
Baptized him. And baptism is his confession
of his relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want this man
to be my master, my Lord. He's my Redeemer. He's my all
now. And then look what happens in
verse 39. And when they were come up out of the water, the
Spirit of the Lord said, called Philip away, said, you go on.
And the eunuchs saw him no more, never saw him again. One soaks, one waters, God gives
the increase, it doesn't make any difference. And watch what
he said. And he went on his way. What was he doing? Yeah, that's something to rejoice
about. Oh, listen, I've rejoiced all
these years. I'm the happiest fellow you'll
ever run across. You'll never run across anybody that enjoys
His salvation more than me. I couldn't tell you. I don't
know how long it's been since I've felt any guilt or condemnation
because I believe God. I'm rejoicing and I'm happy.
I'm rejoicing. I'm going to go out of my way
rejoicing. When I get done, I hope you go out of here tonight rejoicing."
That's what he went on his way rejoicing. And that's what everybody
does that gets converted. And more, listen now. He had
heard that joyful sound. He heard the gospel of his salvation
that day. Have you heard the gospel of
your salvation? And it says in verse 40, And Philip was found
at Azotus. And passing through, he preached
in all the cities. Wherever he went, he just went
preaching. He just went preaching until
he came to Caesarea. Let me tell you something, beloved.
This great man, this powerful man, this wealthy man, didn't
come to Christ as the treasurer of Ethiopian Union, of Canvas. He didn't come to Christ as a
wealthy man. He didn't come to Christ as a man of authority.
He came to Christ as a sinner. With nothing. With nothing. Amen? You come that way. In your hands, no price rang.
You come that way. You come with nothing. And he'll
take you. Take you just like you are. Just
like that. There you go.