It does. I was sitting there
thinking, Mike, if I go before you, that's my song. That's my song. Turn back to
Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8. We have the preacher, the message,
and the sinner. This Ethiopian, it says that
he went on his way rejoicing. And you know what? He's still
rejoicing. He's still rejoicing. Let's look at this chapter. If
God is going to save a sinner, he's going to save a man. or
a woman, he's going to send them his preacher. They're going to
hear the gospel from his man. God uses means, and he uses men
as a means in preaching the gospel. I've heard it said, and I say
this myself, I'd much rather hear a sinner who's experienced
what he's talking about preach the gospel to me than an angel.
I'd rather have a sinner preach the gospel to me than Gabriel. Gabriel would know the historic
facts of it, but that sinner knows by experience the grace
and the mercy of God. And God sent this Ethiopian a
preacher. If God's going to do that, He's
going to send the preacher, and then He's going to give him His
message. The preacher's message is going to come from the Lord.
I want to show you something I was reading yesterday over
in 2 Samuel. I thought about preaching from
this coming Wednesday. I don't know. Over in 2 Samuel,
chapter 18. Absalom has been killed. I'm
not going to go through this whole story. It'd take too long. But
Absalom has been killed. He's been put to death. There
was a battle there. You know, Absalom had risen up
against his father David. And it says over here in verse
14, And he bowed the heart of the men of Judah, even as the
heart of one man, so that they sent this word. Let me see if
I've got this right. No, I don't have that verse right
or chapter right. Oh, here it is. In chapter 18,
I had the wrong chapter. In verse 14, Then said Joab,
I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his
hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he
was yet alive in the midst of the oak. And ten young men that
bear Joab's armor compassed about and smote Absalom and slew him. Now look up in verse 19. Then said Ahimaz, the son of
Zadok, Let me now run and bear the king titans, how that the
Lord hath avenged him of his enemies. Let me go and tell this.
Let me be the one to run and tell it. And Joab said unto him,
Thou shalt not bear titans this day, but thou shalt bear titans
another day. This day is not your day. This
is not your day. But this day thou shalt bear
no titans. Because the king's son is dead.
Then said Joab, now Joab's captain of the army, to Cushiah, go tell
the king what thou hast seen. He gives the commission and the
message to Cushiah. And Cushiah bowed himself unto
Joab. Notice here how humbly he bowed
to Joab. Ahimah ran up to Joab. He said,
let me run and tell the king. Let me go, let me tell him what's
going on. Let me tell him what's happened.
And Joab said, no, you don't have anything to say. I haven't
given you anything to say. But he did to Cushi. Cushi just
humbly bowed before Joab, and he ran, it says. Then said Ahimaz,
the son of Zadok, yet again to Joab, but howsoever, let me,
I pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, wherefore wilt
thou run, my son, seeing thou hast Thou hast no tidings ready. You don't have the message. That's
why you say, you don't have the message. I haven't given you
the message. I haven't sent you. I haven't
commissioned you. But house or wherever, so what? So what? Said he. Let me run anyway. Let me go. Just turn me loose. This is a
man with no understanding. I just thought this was so beautiful.
And he said to him, well, run. Knock yourself out. That's basically
what he's saying. Just knock yourself out. Go run.
Break a leg. Just get out of here. Run. Then a high man ran
by the way of the plane, and he overran Cushaw. You know why he overran Cushaw?
He said, well, he was faster. Cushaw had a burden. Cushaw had
a burden. And he was in really no big hurry
to get there to the king, because he knew this was going to break
the king's heart. Oh, and Hymaz, he outran him. He didn't have a message. He
had nothing to say. He was just going to tell him,
we won the battle. That was it. You know what he
was going to do? Hey, Hymaz, he's hit me last
night. He's going to generalize the
whole message. He's going to generalize this
whole, but we won the battle. King, we won the battle. That's
it. Cushiah is going to give me particulars. He's going to
say, your son is dead. Your son's dead. Now that's a
burden. Spurgeon said, if a man does
not find the Word of the Lord to be a burden here, he'll find
it to be one there. Often, often the Scripture says,
the prophets say, the burden of the Word of the Lord. This
is, I mean, it's a privilege, but there is a real burden in
preaching the Gospel. It's life unto life and it's
death unto death. Anyway, here he outran him. And David sat between the two
gates. And the watchman went up to the roof over the gate
and to the wall and lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold,
a man running alone. And the watchman cried and told
the king. And the king said, you know,
I hope we don't run alone. I hope I'm not running alone
up here this morning. A high man is running alone.
He's just out there running. And the watchman cried and told
the king. And the king said, if he be alone, there is tidings
in his mouth. And he came apace and drew near.
And the watchman saw another man running. And the watchman
called unto the porter and said, behold, another man running alone.
And the king said, he also bringeth tidings. And the watchman said,
methinketh, the running of the first is like the running of
Ahimaz, the son of Zadok. And the king said, he's a good
man. And he comes with good tidings.
And the high mass called, and he said unto the king, All is
well. You know, I've learned one thing
about the gospel. You know what makes the gospel
such good news? It's that bad news that we have. It's that
bad news that we hear. And then when you hear the gospel,
oh, what good news that is. But this man had nothing but
good news. He's going to generalize this whole thing. And he fell
down to the earth upon his face before the king and said, Blessed
be the Lord thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted
up their hand against my lord, the king. And the king said,
Is the young man Absalom safe? That's what he wanted. The king
wanted this message. What about Absalom? What about
my son? My son. What about my son? Is
he safe? Now, listen. And Ahabaz answered, When Joab
sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great
multitude, but I don't But I knew not what it was. He did not have
the nerve or the backbone to tell the truth to the king. He
said, well, I don't know. There was a great tumult, so
I really don't know the whole story. I really don't know what all
has happened. I really don't know. But I just know this. We
won. Well, I just know we won. And the king said, turn aside.
Just get over here out of the way. And stand here. And he turned aside and stood
still. And behold, Cushi came, and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord
the king, for the Lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that
rose up against thee. And the king said unto Cushi,
Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies
of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do
thee hurt, be that young man is dead. He told him the truth. He did not fear This other one,
I think he probably feared the wrath of the king. He didn't
know what David's response would be. And so he just generalized
it. Cushi told him the truth. He
said, your son is dead. And that's what will happen when
God sends his preacher. God sends his preacher. He'll
tell the truth. It won't matter if it hurts or
what. He'll tell the truth. Now it
says here, the angel of the Lord told Philip to go down to the
desert, that is, Gaza. Now that seems like an unlikely
place to go preach the gospel, doesn't it? He was in Samaria.
There was a lot of people there. And there was a lot going on. People were saved. The church
had been established. And God said to his preacher, you go
to the desert. Why? I thought, you know, you
may ask why. He didn't ask why. He just went. Well, I'll tell
you why. Because sinners are there. There is a sinner in the
desert. There is a particular sinner
in the desert. And the Lord is going to go get
him. The Lord is going to go get him. I thought last night,
God sent a man from Alabama to Ashland 50 some years ago. Why? Because there was some sheep
here. There was some sheep here. And
He sent that man all the way from Alabama. It's not the servant's place
to question the command of God. Just go. Just go. It's amazing what happens when
we do just go and do as he said. Now, Philip was obedient to his
commandment and he went. He did not know what was going
to happen. He wasn't given all this information.
He went. He didn't know what was going
to take place. He trusted God. Philip trusted God for the outcome.
He trusted God. God is wise. He's not going to
send us on a silly errand. He sent him to the desert, and
he had a purpose in it. And Philip believed that he had
a purpose in it, and he went. He went. And I want you to notice,
all the way through this story here, the providence of God. The providence of God Almighty. How He brings the sinner and
the message and his messenger together at his appointed time.
This was no accidental meeting. This meeting was not by chance.
God brought all this together just like he has in every one
of us who believe the gospel. He brought every one of us under
the sound of the gospel at his appointed time. There's a time
the scripture says to be born. And when that time comes, that
sheep will hear the gospel. That sinner will hear the gospel.
And that's what's happening here. Now it says here, a man of Ethiopia,
a eunuch of great authority, came to Jerusalem to worship.
There had been an interest somewhere down the road. This eunuch had
become interested in the God of Israel. He did not know the
God of Israel yet, but an interest was created. God had created
this. And so he came up there to worship.
And I'll tell you what. He went away just as empty as
he came. You know the good thing that
really came out of that? We know it's conversion. But he got a
hold of the Word of God. God providentially put His Word
into that man's hands, into that eunuch's hands. And on his way
back home, he was reading the Scriptures. Now, he wasn't just
reading the Scriptures. But he was reading Isaiah 53. And that was not by chance. God
directed and controlled and guided this man and he didn't even know
it. He didn't realize it at the time that God's hand was on him. Little did he know that God was
at work. You didn't know that the first
time, did you? That interest you had in the Gospel when it
began when it began in your heart, you didn't realize that God was
already at work, that God was already doing something in you.
You didn't realize it. And neither did he. I know this. Every day, God controls all events
in bringing His sheep under the sound of the gospel. What went
by in our lives is past. Every event was to bring us right
back here under the gospel. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, He said, Go near and join yourself
to this chariot. Mercy is going to overtake this
eunuch. Mercy is on the heels of this
eunuch. He doesn't realize it yet, but
mercy is after him. If there's anything that's going
to be after me, I want it to be the mercy of God. Mercy shall
follow him all the days of his life. That's what David said
in Psalm 23. So he goes and he joins himself
to this chariot. And Philip ran to him and he
heard him reading. He was reading out loud. I don't know why he
was reading out loud. Well, I know why, but he was reading out loud. And he was reading the prophet
Isaiah. And Philip asked him, and I think he asked him in a
very polite way, do you understand what you're reading? Well, what
a question! You've got Bibles in your laps. We heard the Bible class this
morning. Do you understand what you're reading? Do you understand
the work of God? You know, one of the very evidences
that a man is born of God or a woman is born of God is that
God gives them an understanding of the Gospel. They're not confused. They understand the Gospel. They
understand who Jesus Christ is. There was a time I didn't understand
that. I understand now. And this unit is going to understand
also. It was a wise question. He didn't jump up there on that
chariot and say, do you want to go to heaven? He didn't do
that. He didn't get him to repeat something
after him. He said, do you understand the
message? You're reading Isaiah 53. Do
you understand this message? Do you understand this message
of grace? If you do, God gave it to you. And what a meek and humble answer. Here's another evidence that
God is at work. A spirit of humility. There will
be a spirit of humility when God is at work. This man was
of great authority. He could have said, who are you?
He could have just pushed him off, pushed him to the side,
but he said, how can I except some man, except God send some
man, we know that. Except God send a man, how can
I except some man should guide me? He recognized his ignorance. Unless God teaches us, we'll
not know. All thy children shall be taught of God. That's what
it says in the Gospels. This man, as every believing
sinner is, is a work of God. He is a work of God, even though
he doesn't realize he is. God is going to make him understand
and believe the Gospel. Him believing the Gospel is of
God. Faith is a gift of God. Philip
doesn't make him a believer. I cannot make men and women believers. No one can do that. God is the
one who creates the believer. You mentioned it this morning.
We are headed by a new creation. Philip doesn't talk men into
a profession. God makes a believer out of him. God made the believer
out of this Ethiopian eunuch. God must He must do a work in
us as well as for us if we are to be saved. If we are to be
saved, if we are to enjoy His presence, God must do that work
of grace in us as well as for us. He must do it. Scripture says, with the heart
man believes unto righteousness. From the heart, that new heart.
So he humbly desired Philip to come up and sit with him. and
tell him the message. Tell me who this man is speaking
about. And the place where he was reading
was Isaiah 53. The providence of God, when we
look back over our lives, you have to admit, the providence
of God is absolutely remarkable. How he brings everything together. How he makes everything work
together for our good. This man was reading He was reading
the gospel. Isaiah 53 is called by many the
gospel of Isaiah. He was reading the gospel of
substitution and satisfaction. That's what this man was reading.
He was not reading the law. He was not reading about the
ceremonies and how they should be conducted. He was reading
the gospel of substitution. That's what he was reading. Have
God save sinners. That's what he was reading. And
the eunuch asked Philip, who spake the prophet? Of himself
or some other man? I can see he's already got light.
I can see this man's already been given light because of what
he said. He said, whom? Who is he talking
about? He didn't say what is he talking
about? You know, most people read the Bible and say, what's
he saying? What's he talking about? But
this man, I could tell he was already given light. Because
when he looked at Philip, he said, who? Who is he talking
about? Who is he speaking of? When God
is involved in saving a sinner, he's going to reveal who saves
sinners. That's what he's going to reveal,
who saves sinners. Then Philip opened his mouth,
and he began at the same scripture And he preached unto him Jesus. He preached unto him a real living
person. And he began with Isaiah 53,
and he preached Jesus. And I have no doubt that he went
back there in verse 1, and he spoke of the arm of the Lord.
This arm of the Lord, which is the power of God unto salvation,
is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That's who this one is speaking
of. This man, you know, he'd been
to Jerusalem. He'd been up there to worship. And he had some understanding
of the blood and the sacrifices. He had to. If he wanted to go
up there and worship the God of Israel, he had to have some understanding
of the blood and the sacrifices. And Philip pointed out that this
is Christ. Those lambs, that blood, all
spoke of Him. It all spoke of Him. He's that
tender plant. He's God in human flesh. He's
God incarnate. That's who He is. He's God manifested
in the flesh. And when He came as God manifested
in the flesh, when He came, He says here, you see here, He was
despised and rejected of men. That was His treatment. That
was His reception. When He came unto His own, His
own received Him not. That's exactly the way they treated
Jesus Christ of Nazareth. You see, that's the way they
treated Him. He was a man of sorrow and grief. They were his
constant companions. They ought to be my constant
companions. That's what they ought to be. But he made them
his. He made them his. Before he could wear that crown
of glory and that crown of joy, he had to wear the crown of sorrow
and suffering and shame. This was appointed of God. If
sinners are to be saved, this is how it is. He was made nothing
of. All the leaders, the Pharisees,
the scribes, they all were ashamed of him. He said, this is the
Lord Jesus Christ that this is speaking of. He keeps pointing
him to Christ. He's preaching to him Jesus from this Scripture.
From this Scripture. But it was our griefs and our
sorrows that he bore. He was a substitute. That's what
he's telling us, this eunuch. He's getting now right to the
heart of the message. This Jesus of Nazareth. The one that was
despised, rejected. He is the substitute of God's
elect. He's the one who took their place. His sorrows and griefs belong
to them. That's who they belong to. They
belong to them. But he was wounded. It says in
Isaiah that he was wounded for our transgressions. That's why
he was wounded. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. And the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And by His stripes, we are healed. By His stripes, by His sacrifice,
and by His blood, that's how we stand before God accepted.
Well, you know this eunuch is just soaking it up. God has prepared
him, and he is soaking this up. This is how God can be a just
God, Eunie, and be a Savior. This is how God can be God and
have anything to do with you and me. This is how. Through the substitutionary sacrifice
and blood and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how God
can have anything to do with me. That's how. And no doubt he pointed to him
in verse 6, we left him like a bunch of dumb sheep. We all
went astray. He died alone under the wrath
of God. He's hanging there between, there's
two thieves and he's in the middle. He's not like those thieves.
He's dying under the wrath and curse of the law that's against
God's people. He said that's what he's dying
for. He tread the winepress of God's wrath alone. He took He
took us, those who believe God, His people, He took us and set
us out of the way and took our place. He took our wrath, our
place. He was oppressed and afflicted,
it says, yet He opened not His mouth. He was a voluntary victim. He was a voluntary substitute.
And I tell you this, He opened not His mouth because He's guilty. The law put to death a guilty
man at Calvary. It did not put to death an innocent
man. It put a guilty man to death. He put a guilty man to death.
As our substitute, he became guilty. When he was made to be
sin, he was made to be guilty. And the law of God took its wrath
out on a guilty man. That's so. That's so. It couldn't
be satisfied if it wasn't so. He who knew no sin was really
made to be sin for us. I've said this before and I've
heard it said. He was made to be what I am, sin, that I might
be made to be what he is, righteous. And that's so. That's so. That's not playing games. That's
so. That's a real, that is a real transaction. It's a real one. And like a lamb, he's brought
to the slaughter. He is brought to this, he wasn't
just executed and like someone would just shoot him. You know,
you've seen execution where they just shoot him and they just,
he was slaughtered. This one was slaughtered. He
was slaughtered as the sacrificial lamb would be slaughtered. He
was sacrificed for our sins. His blood is the atonement for
our sins. And like a sheep before her shearers
is dumb." In other words, it says this, He opened not His
mouth. Oh, the willingness. The willingness
of the Lord Jesus Christ to die and suffer for His elect. Oh,
the willingness. He opened not His mouth. This is interesting. He said,
as a sheep before her shearers is dumb. They sheared him of
his clothing. They stripped him naked. They
stripped him naked. And then he was stripped of all
dignity. They just stripped him of all
his dignity. He was stripped just as we ought
to have been stripped. Really. Really. He was stripped
by God. in our place. The justice of
God, if I tell you this, if the justice of God hadn't stripped
Him, hadn't sheared Him, we would have been. We would have been. The law of God would sheared
us of all our hope and exposed us for who we really are. But
instead, He took it. It fell upon Him. It fell upon
Him. And he opened not his mouth in
protest or anger or self-defense. You know, it doesn't take much
for us to defend ourselves. If someone just says something
about us, usually it's just that fast we start to defend ourselves.
He never opened his mouth ever. He didn't, not a bleep, like
a sheep, you know, they bleep. Not even a bleep. He just quietly
took it. He quietly took God's wrath.
That's what he did. But it doesn't stop here. He tells his eunuch, it does
not stop here. You know, he's reading those
verses there of him being as a lamb led to the slaughter.
But now read on, eunuch. Read on. He shall prolong his
days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Yes, he died. No doubt that eunuch, he'd been
up to Jerusalem. And the church, you know, was
over 8,000 strong at that time. So there's no way he could have
been to Jerusalem and not heard about him. And he's saying to
him, this one who is our substitute, this one who was put to death
under the wrath of God is alive. He's alive and he's Lord and
he's seated at God's right hand. And the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. I'm looking at the pleasure of
the Lord. I'm looking at it. It is pleased God to make you
His people. The pleasure of God every day.
Every day the pleasure of the Lord is prospering in the hand
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every day. And He shall see. He shall not fail. He shall see
of the birth pains of his soul and be satisfied. He is a satisfied
Lord. He wouldn't be satisfied if most
of the people that he died for went to hell. Would that satisfy
you? If you died such a death and went through such a torment
that we may sin and then lose part of the people? That's not... God's not like that. That's your
stupid human intelligence. He shall be satisfied. You know
why? Here's why he's going to be satisfied. He shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. That's why he's satisfied. He
justified the ones he died for. He was risen again. He was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. We're
justified in Him. And He bore our iniquities. In
Christ they're gone. They are all gone. They're gone. This is the only way God can
be just and justify the sinner. The Ethiopian eunuch had gone
to Jerusalem. He went through the worship service,
went through all their ceremonies, went through whatever he went
up there for to worship. He went through all that. You
know what? He was on his way back just as
lost as when he went up. until he met God, until God sent
his preacher, until he heard the gospel. God sent the gospel
to this Ethiopian eunuch. And he says in verse 12 of Isaiah
53, he shall reign supreme. His reign, our Lord's reign is
over all. It's not just over the church.
It's over all. He's going to reign supreme.
And He'll make intercession for transgressors. That let's me
in. That opened the door to let me
in. The one that the prophet is speaking of is none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ, the one from Nazareth. That's who
He is. Philip says, that's that eunuch.
That's who he's speaking of. That's who he's speaking of.
The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Son of God, and whosoever
believes on Him is baptized, shall we say. It's evident that
Philip has spoken to him of baptism because he said, Here's water.
What hinders me from being baptized? If you believe, you notice this is what Philip
says here. If you believe with all thine heart, I have said,
it seems like over the last several messages, that salvation is a
heart work. If you believe with all thy heart,
you may. You may. You may. You may be
baptized. Baptism is for those who believe
God. It's not for those who don't
believe God. It's for those who believe God. He believed the
record that God gave of His Son. And here's his answer. And this
is an answer. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. That's enough. Don't say any more. That's enough.
Say more, you'll ruin it. But he said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. Well, I tell you what, when he
spoke that, He spoke volumes, didn't he? I believe that Jesus
Christ, he said, is the Son of God. I tell you, it's interesting
when the Lord allows us scriptures like this to watch Him work in
the saving of a sinner. He sends Him a preacher. He sends
the message by the preacher. And then He creates faith and
life in that man. And you know what it says there
at the end of that? And when they were, in verse 39, and when
they were come up out of the water, The Spirit of the Lord
caught away Philip, and that eunuch saw him no more, and he
went on his way rejoicing." When he left Jerusalem, he wasn't
rejoicing. I don't think he was. He was
reading. He just went through his religious
service. But this time, he left rejoicing, and he still is. He's still rejoicing.