Acts chapter 8 and again I want
to take an overview of the whole chapter but like last week just
focus on one or two things. There are different reactions
to different things in every aspect of life. I think you'll
agree that people react to things differently, subjectively. That
means according to what they think. So, Lydia might like one
thing and Ariane might like something different. You don't have to
always like the same things. You don't always have to see
things the same way. We have different views about
politics. We have different views about
music. Somebody's absolute bliss in music might be heavy rock.
For me, it happens to be a Mahler symphony. There are different
things. People have different views. It isn't that that is
good music and that is bad music. It's what you personally like.
And art. I can look at some pictures and
I think, well, what on earth were they thinking of when they
did that? And then other ones, I think, are absolutely glorious
in their beautiful encapturing of thoughts and ideas. See, personal
preference applies in all sorts of situations. And the things
that make the difference are what you are by nature, your
character, your genetics, you know, the things that make you
up in the first place, and the environment in which you've been
brought up. People talk about your nature,
which is what you've got from your parents, your genes that
you've got from your parents, the things that make you what
you are. And your nurture, which is, you know what you do to plants
to look after them? You nurture them, you take care of them.
And so, some people are brought up in such and such an environment,
and others in a different environment. And the two things make a big
difference to the way people view things. They often, well
they have done in the past, done experiments with twins, who,
nature-wise, are identical. And they put them in different
environments to see how much nurture affects the way they
think and they are, and what it makes them. But reaction to
the Gospel, the truth of the Scriptures, is not like that.
You see, we tend to think it's nurture and nature that make
us either believe or disbelieve the Gospel. And so, we tend to
be like this instinctively. So you look round a room full
of people that you're preaching to, and I'm not talking about
you people that I'm preaching to this morning, particularly,
but let's say a room full of people that I might be preaching
to. And you're inclined to think, oh, he looks like he'd be liable
to receive what I'm saying, you know, warmly. And him, oh, look
at the look on her face over there. No, I don't think she
would believe this at all. And we do that kind of assessment,
but it's not like that. With the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, it isn't determined by nurture or nature, not what we
are or the type of people we are, but by the Spirit of God.
And that's the point this morning. The parable of the sower illustrates
this. Jesus said, the ground is different
types of ground. The wayside, the stony ground,
the thorny, thistly ground, and the good ground. And who makes
the difference? Who makes the difference? It's
God that makes the difference. The different types of ground
are illustrating different types of people, different types of
response to the Gospel. But it's God that makes the difference.
And in Acts chapter 8, we have three types of reaction to the
Gospel, to the Gospel that was preached by the Apostles. And
this, if we look at it and learn lessons from it, it sets our
expectation as we preach the Gospel, as we witness the Gospel
in this area. And it helps to direct our prayers.
One of them is very illustrative. The first one is Saul. before
he became Paul the Apostle. We'll look at him in a moment.
Very, very graphic illustration of the point of this. So then,
first of all, reactions to the preaching of the Gospel. So what
was being preached? You know, the apostles had gone
out and around and they'd preached the gospel. They were fulfilling
the commission that they'd been given by Christ. They'd gone
and they'd preached. And you know, we're not going
to go back through it all, but they'd gone on the day of Pentecost
and preached to that crowd and 3,000 believed. They preached
at the temple gate when Peter and John raised up that man at
the temple gate who went walking and leaping and praising God.
And 5,000 believed. So we've already got 8,000 plus
a steady trickle, we're told, every single day. They preached
the gospel in the council when they were brought to be tried.
Why are you preaching this? And they preached the gospel.
They used it as a platform from which to preach the gospel. Look
at Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. and verse 33. And with great power gave the
apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace
was upon them all. They preached the gospel. Look
at chapter 5 and verse 42, the last verse of chapter 5. After
all of the opposition that they'd experienced daily in the temple
and in every house They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
Christ. They preached this message of
Christ. We saw last week Stephen, one of the deacons that was set
aside by the early church. preaching with great power. And
the theologians, the religious leaders, they couldn't say a
word against him because of the power with which he spoke. And
what did he preach? He preached Jesus and the resurrection. He preached the Lord Jesus Christ,
how he'd fulfilled everything that the Scriptures said of him.
And then look in chapter 8, our chapter this morning, verses
4 and 5. This is after the death, after
the martyrdom, after the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr,
Verse 4, therefore they were scattered because they were scared
stiff and they didn't say another word. No. Therefore they were
scattered abroad and went everywhere preaching the word. They went
preaching the gospel. And Philip went down to the city
of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. That's what he did.
He went and preached Christ. Despite the opposition, they
preached Christ and the resurrection. Preached Christ unto them. Now
what did that entail? What did it entail? I bet if
you asked lots and lots of people, ministers of religion, up and
down this country, do you preach Christ? They'll all say, oh yes,
of course we preach Christ. Oh yes, certainly, that's our
objective is to preach Christ. What do they mean? I would suggest
they mean something like this. They preach that there was a
good man, whose name was Jesus, who lived and taught us how to
live to please God, the things we ought to do, the kind of people
we ought to be. And he gave us a good example
and he taught in parables what we ought to do to live to please
God. And then he was most cruelly
and unjustly crucified but never mind because his influence lives
on today. We don't believe in a literal
resurrection but his influence lives on. So in that sense he
was raised from the dead because his influence lives on and we
try to follow in his footsteps. I tell you, if that is all the
preaching of the Gospel amounts to, and it does in so many places,
it does amount to that in so many places, if that's all it
amounts to, the life of Jesus Christ, the existence of Jesus
Christ is of no more value to me than the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Some of you younger ones won't
know who that was, but he was a great leader in India 60-70
years ago. And he gave a very good example
of how to turn the other cheek and not be violent and so on
and so forth. But he did nothing to save anybody
from their sins. He did nothing to make anybody
right with God. Absolutely nothing. And the Jesus
that is preached in most places is as useless in terms of salvation
as Mahatma Gandhi is useless in terms of salvation. It doesn't
save from sins. It's just an example which gets
us nowhere. If that was all they said, why
did it result in such violent persecution? If that was the
Apostle's message of preaching Christ, why did it result in
such violent persecution? Look at Galatians chapter 5 and
verse 11. Galatians chapter 5 and verse
11. Paul says this. This man we're
going to look at in a moment, Saul of Tarsus became Paul the
Apostle. And he said this, and I brethren,
if I yet preach circumcision, in other words, a religion of
works, is what he means by that, why do I yet suffer persecution? He was being persecuted. If he
preached that message, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then
is the offense of the cross ceased. If all he was preaching was a
works religion, there was no offence of the cross. What is
the offence of the cross? What does he mean by the offence
of the cross? This is the offence of the cross.
That to be right with God, it is on the basis of the doing,
the living, and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ as the
substitute for sinners. And the offence in it is this.
Men and women say, I don't need that. I'm good enough as I am. We're pretty decent people. We're respectable people. We
don't need this. We'll be accepted by God as we
are. And the offense of the cross
is this, oh no you won't. the justice of God demands that
you will go down to hell for your sins and there's only one
there's only one who can save you and that's the Lord Jesus
Christ through his death on the cross for you are not redeemed
with corruptible things like silver and gold but with the
precious blood of Christ shed on the cross that perfect spotless
Lamb of God who stood in the place of his people who bore
his people's sins That's the offense of the cross. And that's
the message that they preached. And it offended. The offense
of the cross offended those people. And that's why they opposed them.
And that's why the council dragged them before them. And accused
them, and threatened them, and beat them, and stoned them to
death. That's why they did, because they hated that message, that
you are not right with God on the basis of who you are, what
your reputation is, what you've done, what you might do. You
are right with God, if you're right at all, on the basis of
Jesus Christ, the offense of the cross. And they preached,
these apostles, they preached sovereign grace. They preached
this, It is not of Him who wills. It is not of Him who runs. Oh,
that's not fair. It's of God who shows mercy.
That's what the Scriptures teach. It's of God who shows mercy.
Particular. Who did He die for? Did He die
for everybody? No, He didn't. He didn't. He
didn't. You may hate that. It's the offense of the cross.
He died for His people. For you shall call His name Jesus.
For He shall save His people from their sins. in bringing
many sons to glory he did these things and it was an effectual
redemption in other words because it was particular for the people
that the father gave to the son before the beginning of time
He chose a people in Christ from before the beginning of time.
That's what this book teaches throughout from cover to cover.
Because of that, he accomplished it for those people absolutely.
And it was effectual. It works. It did the job. It achieved its purpose. He accomplished
it. And he cried on the cross, it
is finished, because he'd done everything that was necessary.
And so they showed, these apostles preaching, they showed what it
says in Acts 13, 39. You don't need to turn to it.
It's a few pages on. in your Bibles. Acts 13, 39.
Through this man, Jesus, this is what they preach. Through
this man, Jesus is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
The forgiveness of sins. acceptance with God on the grounds
of sins forgiven and by Him all that believe are justified from
all things from which He could not be justified by the Law of
Moses. The Law of Moses, keeping the
Law of Moses, the rights of circumcision, all of those things, the temple
sacrifices could never justify you, could never make you right
with God but through the Lord Jesus Christ. He has accomplished
the redemption the salvation of his people. They preached
substitutionary atonement. Christ for his people. They preached
the kingdom. What did Jesus do? He went about
everywhere preaching the kingdom. The kingdom. Think of it. A kingdom
has citizens. It has a certain number of citizens. They're within that kingdom.
Christ preached the kingdom. He said, God said, in the Old
Testament, in the book of Isaiah, chapter 40, He said to his prophets,
to his preachers, Comfort ye. Comfort ye." Who's to be comforted?
My people, says your God. Comfort my people, says your
God. That's the message of God. Comfort
His people, those whom He gave to Christ from before the beginning
of the time. So who are they? We don't know, but He does. The
Father knows them. And what does He say? Preach
the Gospel to all men. Put out the call of the Gospel.
Proclaim the Gospel and those whom He has saved He will bring
to believe. It's effectual. His people are
saved to the uttermost. Because they're one flesh with
Him. You'll have heard me say that often in recent weeks. One
flesh with the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore everything He did,
we did if we're His, in Him. And we're counted the same. And
that was what they preached. Now, there are three reactions
to that Gospel. There are three reactions to
that preaching in this chapter. The first reaction I want you
to see is the reaction of Saul. Saul of Tarsus, before he became,
you have to turn over to the next chapter, chapter 9, as no
doubt we'll do next week, to see him become the Apostle Paul. He's Saul of Tarsus. Look at
chapter 7 and verse 58. This is where we first read of
him. They've dragged Stephen as a result of his testimony
and what he said they've dragged him outside to the place of shame
and they've done what their law told them to do which was to
cast stones at him for blasphemy they took him outside verse 58
and cast him out of the city and stoned him and the witnesses
laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul
that's where we first hear of him They laid down their clothes. He was there overseeing the situation. And they laid down their clothes
at the feet of a young man whose name was Saul. And then in verse
1 of chapter 8, And Saul was consenting unto his death. And
there was great persecution. And verse 3, As for Saul, he
made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and hailing
men and women, committing them to prison. Arrested them. He
arrested men and women and committed them to prison. This was Saul.
He was delighted. It says, Saul was consenting
unto the death of Stephen. That sort of sounds as if Saul
was like, well, oh, go on then if you must. No. The meaning
of the word there is he was delighted at the death of Stephen. This
is what we need to do to get this movement stamped out once
and for all. Who was this Saul then? Who was
he? This is where we first read of
him. Look across at Acts 22 and we read him telling some people
who he was. Acts 22 and verse 3. Of course, by the time we get
to Acts 22, he's Paul the Apostle. And this is what he says, verse
3 of chapter 22. I am verily a man which am a
Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this
city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect
manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God as
ye all are this day." He's speaking to people there who are like
he was when we first see him in chapter 8. He was a Jew, born
in Tarsus in Cilicia, brought up in Jerusalem at the feet of
Gamaliel. Gamaliel, you have to go back,
I think it's to chapter 5, where we saw Gamaliel saying look to
the other members of the council don't make a fuss if this thing's
of God you can't stop it if it isn't of God it'll just peter
out of its own accord don't make a fuss that was Gamaliel he was
a student of Gamaliel and look again at his testimony in Philippians
chapter 3 this is Paul's testimony Philippians chapter 3 and verses
4 to 6 Again, he's now the Apostle Paul
when he writes Philippians and he's telling us what was his
view of life before at the time when we first meet him in chapter
8. And he says in verse 4, Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any mother man think he hath whereof he might
trust in the flesh, I more circumcised the eighth day of the stock of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as
touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church." You see, this is what he was proud of. Concerning
zeal, persecuting the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless in the eyes of other men, is what he
meant. But what things were gained to me, these I counted loss for
Christ. This was Saul. He was an intellectual. He'd studied at the best university. His mind was absolutely straight
in the things of the law of God. He was a respectable person.
He was a man of authority because of his learning. He was civilized. He was zealous. He was an upright
person in his community. But he was stony, stony hard
ground in terms of the gospel. He had a rock hard, flint like
heart that was so opposed to the Gospel of Grace. And that's
why he was standing here, in the face of that preaching of
that blessed message of salvation, he was there holding the coats
of those who were throwing the stones at Stephen. He was vehement
against them. He made havoc of the church as
we read. Stony, hard ground. He was a
self-righteous religionist. Now whenever we say self-righteous,
Do you know that's got what I always remember one lecturer who fascinated
me because he used to keep using the term pejorative connotations
and for a long while I was struggling to find out what pejorative connotations
meant. It means negative, negative tones. Let's put it that way. And so
whenever I say self-righteous, we all go, oh, that's a bad thing
to be. Think about it. If you could be self-righteous,
if you could genuinely be righteous on the basis of the things you
do, there's nothing wrong with it. It's absolutely fine. If
you can satisfy the righteousness of God on the basis of what you
do, well, good for you. You go and do it. You be self-righteous
and be justified based on your own good works. That's a jolly
good thing. You go and do it. But of course, why does it have
pejorative connotations? Because it's hypocrisy. Because
none of us can ever, ever ever satisfy the righteousness of
God in our own strength, with our own self-righteousness. Our
own self-righteousness will condemn us. It's no righteousness at
all. It does nothing in the eyes of
God. It satisfies not one jot or tittle
of the law of God, our own self-righteousness. It's hypocrisy. And this was
Saul. Hypocritical. He had said, like the man in
the parable that Jesus gave in Luke 19, verse 14, we will not
have this man to reign over us. Stony, hard heart. In matters
of justification with God, when it comes to judging me and declaring
whether I am right with God or not, I will not have this man
Jesus. I will not have this Christ reign
over me. Absolutely not. And as a Jew,
as a religionist, as a self-righteous religionist, he stumbled at the
stumbling block. For Christ is that stumbling
block. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. To the Greeks, foolishness. To the Jews, a stumbling block. A stumbling block is what you
trip over. You don't see the step when you go out of the door.
You trip over it. A stumbling block. They tripped over Him.
He was that rock of offense. Christ was that rock of offense.
That rock of offense to self-righteous religion. He was the stone, as
Peter says, the stone that the builders rejected. Quoting one
of the Psalms, I think it is. He is the chief cornerstone.
of the living temple of God, made up of living stones, made
up of people whom he has saved from all eternity. Christ is
that chief cornerstone, that foundation stone. He is that
stone which the builders, who are the builders? The Jewish
religious leaders who thought they were building the kingdom
of God. And those builders rejected the very foundation stone. The
very one who alone could build the building. The very one on
whom alone the building could be founded, could be built, could
have all its strength, they rejected him. The stone which the builders
rejected, that's Jesus. He's the Lord Jesus Christ and
they rejected him. And how hard was Saul's opposition. You see him here, how hard. See,
his nurture and his nature, the way he'd been brought up, the
way he'd been taught, what he was as a man by nature, did nothing
for him in terms of seeing the truth of the Gospel. His opposition
was hard. He was like Jesus had said to
the disciples only weeks earlier. He'd said in John 16 verse 2,
The day will come when they will throw you in prison and do all
sorts to you. In fact, they will even think
that if they kill you, they're doing God's service. Here's Saul. He's just presided over the death
of Stephen. And he thinks he's doing it because
he's doing the service of God. That's what Jesus said would
happen. They'll kill you and they'll think they're doing God's
service. But how changed was Saul's heart. We don't know how
many days later. It's over in chapter 9. I don't
know. Maybe there's a hint somewhere.
I haven't seen it yet. But his heart was changed by the grace
of God. Not a lot later. He was dead
at this stage, wasn't he? Think about it. He was dead at
this stage, and then just not many weeks later, not many days
later, we don't know, he was absolutely a child of God in
his hands, bathed in the grace and mercy of God. You see, what
he was by nature, all of the teaching he'd got, none of that
could incline his heart to the truth of gracious salvation.
He just hated it. It was the offense of the cross.
Only God's regenerating spirit could give him eternal life.
Now you think about it. There's a lot of debate in our
day as to when we're saved. Well, you know, I keep telling
you there are some who just major on one issue and I get some bulletins
and every single week I just see the one issue again and again
and again. But it's threefold. This man
Saul was justified in eternity as are all the people of God
for Christ is the lamb who was slain before the foundation of
the world and outside of time in eternity the covenant of grace
was signed sealed and finished but in time in time in which
we live at the cross of Calvary the Lord Jesus Christ we know
from what subsequently happened bore the sins of Saul Saul of
Tarsus this Vile, opposing man. He bore his sins on that cross
of Calvary. He established the justification
of Saul of Tarsus on that cross of Calvary a few weeks before
this. And Saul didn't know it. And then chapter 9. Turn to chapter
9. In time, at this point in time,
I didn't mean literally turn to chapter 9, but you'll come
to it eventually. You'll see him on that road to Damascus
when God the Holy Spirit comes and shines the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ into his heart
like a searchlight and wow, Lord, what would you have me to do
is the response. You see, in time, he was regenerated
by the Spirit of God. At this time, he was a child
of wrath, even as the others. At this time, he was dead in
his trespasses and sins. He'd been justified at the cross
of Calvary. He'd been eternally justified by the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. But it wasn't until in his experience,
by faith, he came to a knowledge of Christ, that he knew it. that
he could see it, that he could believe it, that he could rejoice
in it. You know it's like, I'll use
an illustration actually from one of those bulletins, but let's
say you've got a big mortgage and you don't know how you're
going to pay it and somebody goes to the bank and pays off
the mortgage on your behalf and you still don't know it. It's
paid. It's paid, you know. As far as the bank's concerned,
it's cleared. But in your experience, you don't know about it until
you get the letter and you go to the bank and you get the deeds,
all of those things. It's only in your experience
when you believe it. So it was with Saul of Tarsus
who became the Apostle Paul. You see, reaction. Reaction alone
based on character and nature and nurture did nothing for his
belief. It was only when God the Holy
Spirit shined in his heart. Secondly, the second reaction
I want you to see, and there are others that we could see,
I'm not going to look at the crowds of people in Samaria who turned
to Christ at the preaching of Philip. in the next few verses,
5, 6, 7, we'll skip over those for the sake of time, but I want
you to look at the reaction of Simon who in tradition is given
the surname Magus, Simon Magus in verses 9 to 11, this is where
we first see him. Look at chapter 8, verse 9. But
there was a certain man, you see there was great joy in the
city at the preaching of Philip who'd preached Christ unto them
there was great joy in the city and verse 9, but there was a
certain man called Simon which before time in the same city
used sorcery you know, spiritualism, sorcery,
magicianship people thought there was something special about him
giving out that he himself was some great one to whom they all
gave heed from the least to the greatest They were scared of
him. They respected him. They thought he had some special
power. Oh, we've got them today, haven't we? You know, just look
around the world and look at the things that people believe.
They all gave heed to him from the least to the greatest saying,
this man is the great power of God. Oh, how they fell at his
feet. He's got something special. Wow,
he does special things. And to him they had regard because
that of a long time he had bewitched them. with sorceries. This Simon
Magus, this Simon Magician, had bewitched them with sorceries.
He was credited with supernatural powers. And in verse 13, look
what it says, Then Simon himself believed also. And when he was
baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles
and signs which were done. He believed and was baptized
and continued with Philip. He gave mental assent to the
things that he'd heard. You know, it spoke to his intellect
and he thought, I can see what you're saying, I can see how
that adds up, I can see how that works, that's fine. he was greatly impressed with
the miracles that he saw because the preaching of Philip in these
days before the completion of scripture the preaching of Philip
was accompanied by signs and wonders of authentication miracles
were done and he was impressed with these things because he
was a magician he was a bit of a an amateur miracle worker who
had a reputation among and this is well not seen anything quite
like this you see he knew that his miracles that his magic was
a deception but this this was this was impressive and so he
was impressed and enticed by it and look in verses 18 and
19 you see they sent the apostles they sent Peter and John from
Jerusalem to Samaria when they heard that the Holy Spirit that
the Word of God had come to them and they came down there and
at the ministry of Peter and John the Holy Spirit fell on
those who believed and in verse 18 when Simon saw that through
the laying on of the apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given
he offered them money saying give me also this power that
on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost but
Peter said unto him thy money perish with thee because thou
hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money
thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart
is not right in the sight of God." Peter with his apostles
gift of knowledge to see into the hearts of men at this time
he could see that this conversion of Simon was completely false
it was for all the wrong reasons you see Simon sought to buy the
gift of God. That's what it said in verses
20. Thy money perish with thee because
thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with
money. He sought to buy the gift of
God. Why did he do that? Because he saw the opportunity
for personal gain. What can we learn from this?
We learn from this that spiritual treasure is not bought with worldly
currency. That's a fact. So many think
it is, even in these days. I'm not going to get on a bandwagon
of criticising for criticising's sake, but so many think you can
buy indulgences, you can pay money to get your relatives out
of purgatory, and all sorts of other superstition. Spiritual
treasure is not bought with worldly currency. The love of money,
says Paul later to Timothy, 1 Timothy 6.10, the love of money is the
root of all evil. It's at the root of all kinds
of evil. the thorns and thistles of the parable of the sower.
They come up and they choke what appears to be spirituality. You
see, many seek to buy control in Christ's church. Many feign
a show of faith as he did. for personal gain. And we've
got to beware. These are traps that we must
beware of. Beware of the deceitfulness of riches. Beware. Yes, the Church
of Christ needs money in order to operate, but oh, we need to
be so careful with these things. We need to be so careful because
it's so prone to corruption and distortion of the truth of God.
And we also need to beware of excitement. You see, I know we
would have been there and we would have said, wow, even Simon
the sorcerer, even Simon the magician has believed and he
believed so convincingly that Philip baptized him. You see,
it must have been a pretty convincing show of faith and yet it wasn't
true. Peter says to him, your heart
is not right in the sight of God and now I think we must need
to be so careful of excitement over what turns out to be false
interest. Let's say, let's say that God
is pleased to move and many people come under the sound of the preaching
here in Nedworth and there are many who make a show, yes? Let's
be careful. You know, let's leave it to the
test of time and the test of God's Spirit to see what is the
outcome, what is the long-term outcome. Let's not jump to conclusions. Let's not make undue fuss. Remember
what Peter said. Peter and John said to that man
at the temple gate, silver and gold have I none, such as I have
give I thee. Let's just preach the gospel.
Preach the gospel and let God's Spirit do the working. Well,
thirdly, and I've got very little time left, the Ethiopian eunuch
reaction number three reaction number three we read about him
in verses 26 and 27 where the angel spoke to Philip saying
arise get up from Samaria and go toward the south unto the
way that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza which is desert and he
arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia a eunuch of great
authority under Candacy Queen of the Ethiopians who had the
charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for to
worship." He's the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He's an important
government official and he's on his way back home from Jerusalem
back down to Ethiopia. He's returning from worship.
He'd been to Jerusalem to worship. Maybe there was some legacy of
the Queen of Sheba, you know in the days of Solomon when the
Queen of the South, the Queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem because
she hadn't seen or she'd heard tell of it and she wanted to
come and see for herself. the majesty of the kingdom of
Solomon. And maybe there was some legacy
from that and there was a thing that the truth of God is in Jerusalem. And this man had gone to Jerusalem
to worship. He was clearly seeking the Lord.
He was looking for God. He wanted to be right with God.
He was asking that question, how can a man be just with God?
And the Holy Spirit arranged that on his way home, a man with
the gospel would cross his path. That's what Christ does. That's
what God does. He arranges for a man with the
gospel to cross the path of his people. He's reading Isaiah 53
and he asks that question. Who is it about? Who is it that's
as a sheep, the slaughter, a lamb, the slaughter? Who is it? And
Acts 8.35, read there, Philip opened his mouth and began at
the same scripture in Isaiah and preached unto him, Jesus.
preached unto him Jesus and this gives us as if we needed it in
the light of all the other authority that we have to only look for
Christ in all the scriptures this gives us yet more authority
to use all of the scripture to preach Christ to preach Him alone. This is what it's about. We must
find Him there. If He isn't obvious there, dig
for Him until we do find Him there. For that's the message
of the Scripture, is Christ. And Philip did that at this Scripture
and no doubt others. And he preached unto Him Jesus.
He preached the gospel of Christ to him. The core message. Determined
to know nothing else other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Oh, what a lamentable state.
of preaching there is in the churches in this land in these
days. Even in those that call themselves
pillars for the truth, Reformed Baptist congregations, men of
renown, and yet how disappointing it is when so often you fail
to hear Christ preached in those situations. Come on! Let's preach
this gospel. This is the message that God
has given. This is what the apostles preached. Preached unto him Jesus. That saving, effectual salvation
that is in Christ and him alone. He saw, this Ethiopian saw. He
believed. He heard what Philip said. He
heard what the preacher said. God sent him a preacher. How
shall he hear without a preacher? God sent him a preacher. He heard
what he said. He believed what he heard. And
having believed what he heard, he called upon the name of the
Lord. And whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. And he believed. What
did he believe? He believed that he was united
with Christ in his life and in his death. That's what he believed.
That he was united with Christ in his life and his death. He
believed, I am a man who's got to stand before the judgment
seat of Christ, before this God of glory and give an account.
and I've seen that I was united with Christ in His life and His
death and so I can stand confidently I can look forward to that day
confident I can come boldly before the throne of grace because He's
done all for me and He believed it and was baptized. Why was
he baptized? Because baptism was the profession
of it. It was the profession of it.
It symbolizes the unification with Christ in his death and
his resurrection, going down into that water, symbolizing
I am dead with Christ. When he died, I died with him.
I am risen with Christ. When he was raised from the dead,
so was I raised from the dead in him. Nothing was stopping
him. so he was baptized. There was
water there, and so he confessed his faith in baptism. It was
evident faith. It was true faith. What made
him to differ? What made him to differ? It wasn't
his nurture, the way he'd been brought up. It wasn't his nature,
that he was basically a kind man who was susceptible to the
Gospel. The Spirit of God came, and shined light into his heart.
God makes us to differ. 1 Corinthians 4, 7. God gave
the gift of God. You know, Simon thought he could
buy the gift of God with money, but God gives the gift of God. What did Jesus say to the Samaritan
woman? Philip was preaching in Samaria when he was told to go
down and meet this Ethiopian. No doubt sometime before, two
or three years before, there was that great movement, John
chapter 4, when Jesus preached to the woman at the well and
the crowds came out and heard him and believed that he was
the Christ And he said to the woman at the well, can I have
a drink? And she said, why are you asking me for a drink? And
he said, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that says
this to you, you would have asked him and he would have given you
living water. If you knew the gift of God.
What is the gift of God? It's faith. Ephesians 2 verse
8, by grace are you saved through faith. and that not of yourselves
it faith is the gift of God what is the gift of God eternal life
is the gift of God eternal life for the wages what you earn of
sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ
Jesus our Lord who's done all to procure it not bought with
money as Simon was told by Peter, not bought with money, but given
by grace. We read once in Thessalonians
chapter 1, we read there what manner of entering in Paul said
he'd had, he and his accomplices. When they went to preach the
gospel at Thessalonica to those pagan Gentile people, he said
what manner of entering in we had. What manner of entering
in? The words that they preached
just opened doors into their hearts and that word went in.
Why? Because God opened those doors.
Like Lydia. Lydia, on the banks of that river
in Philippi, it says Paul preached the message and the Lord opened
her heart. The door was open, the light
shined in, the grace of God shined in and she saw it and believed
it. The Lord opened her heart. He says to his churches, Revelation
3, He says, don't despair, I've opened a door for you. And if
I've opened that door, no man can shut it. And if he doesn't
open it, no man can open it. So this Ethiopian then, this
Ethiopian, had his heart opened. You see? Not what he was by nature,
but what God did for him in his grace. And he went on his way
rejoicing. This Ethiopian went on his way
rejoicing. to become a lone Christian where he was in Ethiopia and
keeping it to himself I think not I think not I think he went
with that message and he preached it there in Ethiopia because
you see Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2 verse 2 the things
that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit
thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also."
And so that Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing. Yes? You know,
he wasn't a preacher of the gospel but God raised him up and I'm
sure he made him a preacher of the gospel back in Ethiopia where
he went to. A gospel preacher there and more
of Christ's people there to be called out under the sound of
that gospel. What about us? What about you?
Like Saul, as he was then, hating this doctrine of sovereign grace
of particular redemption, like Simon. I'll go along with that
to see what we can get out of it. It might do us some good
in some sort of social standing or other financial way. Or belief,
like this Ethiopian, to the saving of the soul. Who makes the difference?
It's God, by His grace. And so the hymn we're going to
sing now is this. Savior, dear Savior, hear my
humble cry. Whilst on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. do not pass me by." Anybody hearing
this, anybody hearing this, and thinking I want to be right with
God, call upon Him while He's near. Call upon Him. He'll shine
that light of the Gospel in. He never turned anybody away.
He said, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. It's number 561.