One Needful Thing

Q: What does the Bible say about spiritual deadness?

The Bible teaches that all humanity is spiritually dead due to sin and can only be made alive through faith in Christ. In the sermon, it is emphasized that all men are born spiritually dead in sin, as seen in Romans 6:23, which states, 'For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.' This spiritual deadness renders individuals incapable of saving themselves or approaching God on their own. Only through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit can the spiritually dead be awakened to seek Christ for salvation.

Q: Why is seeking the Lord important for Christians?

Seeking the Lord is vital for Christians as it reflects a desire for a relationship with Him and an acknowledgment of our need for His grace. The sermon outlines that seeking the Lord is crucial because it demonstrates a profound awareness of one's spiritual need. The Ethiopian eunuch exemplified this by traveling to Jerusalem to worship, believing that God would meet him there. When he did not find the Savior, he continued to read the Scriptures. His pursuit of God illustrates how individuals should respond to their spiritual condition—by actively seeking the Lord. Matthew 7:7 encourages us, 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' This commitment to seek God can lead to salvation as He promises to reveal Himself to those who genuinely seek Him.

Q: How do we know Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation?

The Bible clearly states that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, as He is the unique Son of God who saves us from our sins. Throughout the sermon, it is affirmed that Jesus Christ is the sole means of salvation. John 14:6 is often referenced, where Jesus states, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.' This exclusivity reflects God's plan for redemption through His Son, who reconciles sinners to Himself. The Ethiopian eunuch's confession, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,' highlights the necessity of faith in Christ for salvation. Salvation is a divine gift not earned by works, reaffirming that only through Jesus can we attain eternal life.

Q: Why is baptism important in the Christian faith?

Baptism is an important act of obedience for Christians that signifies their identification with Christ and their faith in Him. In the sermon, baptism is emphasized as a crucial ordinance of Jesus Christ, symbolizing a believer's identification with Him. The Ethiopian eunuch's eagerness to be baptized after professing his faith in Christ encapsulates its significance. Baptism serves as an outward sign of an inward change, representing the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It publicly declares a believer's commitment to Jesus and His teachings, as affirmed in Matthew 28:19-20, where believers are commanded to make disciples and baptize them. Thus, baptism is not just a ritual; it is a vital expression of faith and obedience to God.

Q: How can I understand the Scriptures better?

Understanding the Scriptures requires the enlightening work of the Holy Spirit and a humble, prayerful approach to reading the Word. The sermon highlights that true understanding of the Scriptures is granted by the Holy Spirit, who reveals Christ throughout the whole of Scripture. As noted in 1 Corinthians 2:14, the natural man does not comprehend the things of God because they are spiritually discerned. Developing a deep understanding of the Bible involves prayerfully seeking the Lord’s guidance and recognizing that the Word of God ultimately points to Christ. Furthermore, engaging with fellow believers in study and discussion can enhance our understanding and application of biblical truths in our lives.

I want us to read this morning
this familiar story here beginning with verse 26 of the eighth chapter of the
book of Acts and I believe this morning the Lord would have me
to speak from this portion of the word and I do believe it's
a very simple message but men and women are dying in this world
because and for the want of a simple message of the gospel of God's
grace we know that there are those who are pining in their
hearts they're longing in their hearts to hear Somebody just
simply preach the gospel to them. They want to hear the gospel.
They want to hear Christ exalted and lifted up. Jesus Christ is
the children's bread and he needs to be exalted among the people
that they might feed upon him. The Lord Jesus is that alabaster
box of ointment that needs to be opened up that the fragrance,
his lovely fragrance, would fill the house. The Lord Jesus must
be preached. We must preach Christ, and that's
what we hope to do here today. Let's begin reading with verse
26. And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise,
and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from
Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went,
and behold, a man of Ethiopia, and 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, was returning,
and sitting in his chariot, he read Isaiah the prophet. Then
the Spirit said unto Philip, that is the Spirit of the Lord,
Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran
thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and
said, 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 dumb before his shears, 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, 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. And as they went on their way,
they came into a certain water. And the eunuch said, see, here
is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest
with all thine heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the
chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water,
both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they
were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught
away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went
on his way rejoicing. but Philip was found at a Zotus
passing through. He preached in all the cities
till he came to Caesarea. I want to speak to you this morning
on this portion of the Word of God, believing with conviction
that God has something that he would say to some poor soul here
today. Now beloved, there are some things
that lost dead spiritually impotent sinners can and must do for themselves. Now you cannot save yourself,
you cannot redeem yourself, you cannot put away your sin, you
cannot justify yourself, you cannot give yourself eternal
life. You're spiritually dead and salvation
is the gift of God. Romans 6 and 23 says, for the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Only the Lord Jesus Christ can save. Only Christ is able to
deliver a poor soul from sin and death. Only the Lord Jesus
Christ can do helpless and poor sinners good. But there are some
things that you can do. There are some things you can
do, and what you can do, you must do, you ought to do. Was this Ethiopian eunuch, was
he dead in sin? Yes, he was dead in sin. Was
he lost? Yes, he was lost. Was he in a
state where that he was unable, where he was impotent spiritually?
Absolutely, indeed he was. You know, the impotency of the
sinner has to do not with his legs or his feet, not to do with
his hands, it has to do with his inward in his heart, his spiritual
inability. He is spiritually unable to come
to Christ. He has not the ability to come
to the Lord Jesus. Jesus said in John 5 and 40,
He said you will not come to me that you might have life.
The sinner is spiritually unable to come. He's not able to arise
of himself and to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. But here's
this Ethiopian eunuch, he was in a state of spiritual death,
he was dead in sin, and yet this sinner did not neglect his soul.
He did not neglect his soul. Now, you have an ever-dying soul. You're going to live somewhere
for all eternity. Somewhere, because God has breathed
the breath of life in you, you have a living soul, and you are
a soul, and you're going to live on and on and on throughout eternity,
and you must not neglect your own soul. You must do that which
God instructs you in his word to do, lest you perish forever
and die in your sin and be lost for all eternity. He did what
he was inclined by divine grace to do. Indeed, he did all that
he knew to do. He walked in the light God gave
him. And I hold this eunuch up before you this morning as an
example of what you must do if you care for your eternity-bound
soul, your never-dying soul. That is, if you would escape
the wrath of God, you must follow the example of this Ethiopian
eunuch. Well, what did he do? Well, number
one, he bought himself a Bible and he began to read it. and
you can do that. This Ethiopian eunuch was in
this chariot and he was reading a copy of Isaiah. He'd gotten
a hold of a copy of the scriptures and he was reading the prophet
Isaiah. Now if you'd find the pearl of
great price you must search for him in the field where he is
hidden and the Word of God or the Bible is that field. John 5 and 39 says, search the
scripture for in them You think you have eternal life and they
are they which testify of me. So beloved, you need to get you
a Bible. You need to find you a copy of
the Word of God and you begin to read that and study the Word
of God and ask. that the Holy Spirit would direct
your mind and your heart into the understanding of the Scripture. Because the Scriptures, Jesus
said, there they which testify of me. They speak of me. They tell men's souls about me. Me now number two the eunuch
sought the Lord now you can do that I don't know if you will
but you could Seek the Lord this eunuch went up to the temple
at Jerusalem and He went up there to worship. And this was the
place where God had promised to meet with men. God had promised
that if you get up there to that place, I'm going to be there.
And I'll meet with you if you get there. It was a long and
costly and very dangerous journey but the man was in trouble don't
you see? The man was a sinner and he was
in need of a savior and so he made the trip from Ethiopia to
Jerusalem and you say well I don't understand a fella getting so
fanatical that he would do such a thing as that well his immortal
soul was at stake Remember, this man believed that if he died
in a state of unregeneracy that he would go to hell. This man
believed that salvation and life was in God's hands and he must
find it and get it from God or else he would die lost and perish. for all eternity. And so God
had promised to meet with men and he promised to meet with
sinners like you and me. And so when the saints of God
assemble together, that's the best place for you to be. Is
to be right there where God says where two or three are gathered
together, I'm right there in the midst. I'm right there. Now
if God said I'm going to be someplace, I'd want to be there, wouldn't
you? I'd wanna be there, that's where I'd wanna be. And if you're
here this morning and you're lost, you're in a good place.
I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of 1
Corinthians, hold your finger here and ask. 1 Corinthians chapter
14, and there's something here very interesting in this chapter. Now, most of you remember that
back when the church was in its infancy, that they had different
and various sundry gifts in the church. And one of those gifts
was the speaking in other tongues. And in verse 21 of 1 Corinthians
14, it says, and the Lord has written, with men of other tongues
and other lips will I speak unto this people, and yet for all
that will they not hear me say of the Lord. Wherefore, tongues
are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe
not. But prophesying serveth not for them that believe not,
but for them which believe. If therefore the whole church,
now get the picture here, be come together into one place,
and all speak with tongues, there come in those that are unlearned,
or unbelievers, will they not say that you're mad? they'll
say well this bunch is mad here they are carrying on speaking
in other tongues but if all prophesy that is if all teach and if all
speak of those things that are to come in the spirit of the
Lord and there come in one that believeth not or one unlearned
He is convinced of all, he's brought under conviction is what
it means, and he's judged of all, he sees in all of those
that are gathered something that's not in him, and he's convicted,
and he's brought to the place where that he feels that he's
in the presence of God, and thus, in verse 25, are the secrets
of his heart made manifest, and so falling down on his face,
he'll worship God, and he'll report, he'll report what? That
God is in you of a truth, that God is in you. He'll go out of
that place, and he would've been an unbeliever, and he's been
one who's been unlearned in the things of God. And here he comes
into the house of God, where God's meeting with these people,
and the people of God are worshiping, and they're testifying, and they're
preaching the word, and this man comes under conviction and
he falls down on his face and he goes out when he leaves the
place and says right over there, God's in them people. God is
in those people. And I'll tell you this, the best
thing you can do is get where God is. And if God's in his people,
then you ought to be in the assembly of the saints. Come and meet
with God's people. Just maybe God will speak to
your soul. Maybe you'll hear that voice
of authority that summons the dead, that raises men and women
out of spiritual death unto spiritual life. Maybe you'll hear that
voice. and God will arrest your soul and bring you out unto everlasting
peace and joy. Now if you care for your soul
then, you seek the Lord where he is. Now though the eunuch
did not find the Savior at first when he went up to Jerusalem,
he was not deterred from his pursuit. When he left Jerusalem,
he was still seeking the Lord and he was reading Isaiah chapter
53. Now he did not seek to know the
mysteries of scripture. And you know a lot of times you
have people that want to play games. And they want to ask questions. Where did King get his wife?
They want to ask other mysterious, very mysterious questions about
the Word of God. But this man was not interested
in the mysteries of the Scripture. But he was interested in the
person of Scripture. The person of Scripture. No doubt,
as he read the prophet Isaiah, he had a cry in his heart. unto
God of whom speaketh the prophet of whom speaketh the prophet
who's the prophet talking about when he says that he was led
as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep he's led out to be
slaughtered and yet he opened not his mouth he went out to
suffer and bleed. He was numbered with the transgressors. Why, who's he talking about that
all of this happened to? Who's he speaking about? Now
brethren, there's one thing needful. There is one thing needful and
you mark it down. You mark it down. You get it
well fixed in your heart. There is one thing that is needful. Now there are many things that
are interesting. There are many things that are
pleasant. There are many things that are useful. But there's
only one thing that is needful. And that one thing needful is
Jesus Christ. You need to know who Jesus is.
You need to understand that He is the person of Scripture. And
if I have Christ, I have all that God requires of me, and
I have all that I need, and all that God can give if I have His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ dwelling in my heart by faith. If I have
Christ, I have what God demands. I have what will be necessary
to get me into the gates. I have what's necessary to get
me through the judgment. I have what's necessary to give
me right standing with God and acceptance before a thrice holy
God if I have Christ. There's one thing I press it
upon you, one thing needful. Do you know Christ? Do you know
Him? Do you know the person of Scripture?
Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? Now if I'm without Christ, I'm
without God. And if I'm without God and without
Christ, I'm without hope and I'm without life. You know the
Bible says that Christ who is our life, He is our life and
then in Colossians 1 it says that Christ is our hope. He is
our hope, and if we be without him, it wouldn't make any difference
what else we had. If we're without him, we got
no life, and we got no hope, and we're not going anywhere
except off into a devil's hell when we die and leave this world. Well, of whom speaketh the prophet?
Who does he speak? That's the cry of the eunuch's
heart. I wanna know who he's talking
about. I gotta know who the prophet's talking about. in Isaiah chapter
53, and it's talking about the sinless, the suffering, the silent
substitute. That's what it's talking about.
It's talking about Christ. And so this man wanted to know. Well, number three, while he
was seeking the Lord, With all of his heart, God sent him a
gospel preacher. How shall they preach except
they be sent? God sent a preacher to this man. Now, we read here that an angel
of the Lord spake unto Philip in verse 26, saying unto him,
Arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down
from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went,
and there he met this Ethiopian eunuch, And he began to, he came
up and got in the chariot and began to preach to this Ethiopian. How can they preach except to
be sent? Philip, here by the arrangement
of divine providence, came to this poor eunuch and he had a
message for him. And when this eunuch heard the
gospel, when, when Philip opened his mouth and preached Jesus
to him. Verse 35, Philip opened his mouth,
began at the same scripture this old eunuch was reading, and he
preached unto him Jesus. Preached unto him Jesus. I'll
tell you, listen, beloved, the greatest privilege in this life
is to hear somebody in the power under the anointing of the Holy
Ghost to preach Jesus. And if you've never heard Jesus
preached under the power of the Spirit of God, then my friend,
I feel sorry for your soul. I feel sorry for you. I know
that it means that God's gonna leave you in your sin and you're
gonna die lost. You need to hear about Jesus. You need to hear him preached.
And Philip, he began at the same scripture and preached unto him
Jesus. Well, when he heard the gospel,
what did he do? Well, he believed. That's what
he did. He believed the gospel. He believed it. Now, beloved,
Isaiah said, who hath believed our report? And to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed? Well, we know that many times
a gospel is preached and men don't believe it. But this eunuch
I sent him up here as an example before you. He believed the gospel. And later on, when he wanted
to be baptized, Philip said, well, you can be baptized in
verse 37, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And
he answered, and here was his testimony before he was baptized. Here was his testimony. Here's
the testimony of all the children of God. Here's the testimony
of everybody that's in the family of God. He says, I believe. that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. That's what I believe. I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And beloved, that's the
difference between being lost and being saved. That's the difference
between being damned and between having eternal life, is I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, and then after he believed,
he was baptized. He went on his way then, after
he was baptized, rejoicing. Well, let's talk a little bit
about this. He walked in the light that God gave him. He did
what he knew to do, and he could do, and what he had to do, he
did. And God gave him more light.
God saved him by his grace. And here's God's word to you
and I, in Ephesians 5 and 14. Awake thou that sleepest, You
say, well, now, can a man wake up on his own? Well, the Bible
says, hear ye death. The Bible says that you that
are dumb, he says, you hear. You hear, and your fellow says,
well, I've got trouble, I'm not able to hear. Well, God speaks
and he says, you wake up. You that are asleep and you that
are deaf, he says, you hear. And you that are blind, he said,
you see. Now, beloved, listen to me. It
takes the power of God to make a deaf man hear and a blind man
see and to make somebody who is spiritually asleep to wake
up. It takes the power of God to
do that. And I here speak to you this morning and say, awake
thou the sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give
thee life. Be wonderful and glorious to
see somebody see some deaf person here, here this morning, to see
some blind person see, and to see somebody that is asleep,
in spiritual sleep, to see them woke up, God bring them out of
their death and their sin. Now, beloved, I want to talk
a little bit in the last part of our message this morning on
what Philip asked this eunuch in verse 30, in the last part
of the verse. I wanna give you about five things
here that are very interesting to me, and I hope they will be
to you as we finish our message this morning. In verse 30, and
Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah,
and he said, do you understand what you're reading? Do you understand
what you're reading? Beloved, it is good to read the
Bible and to read it regularly. To learn the facts of Bible history
is good. To memorize as much of the Bible
as you can and to study the blessed doctrines of the Bible But it's
quite possible for us to do all of those things and yet really
not gain any spiritual benefit from the Word of God. The Word
of God will be a benefit to our souls only to the degree that
we understand what the Scriptures are saying. only to the degree
that we understand the Word of God will it benefit our souls. Now you can mark it down. You
say, well, I know as much about the Bible as my neighbor knows
about it. Well, you may know as much about the Bible as your
neighbor does, but does either one of you understand it to the
degree where that it is of spiritual benefit to you? Do you understand
the Word of God? Now such understanding in the
Scripture can only be gained by the gracious instruction of
the Holy Spirit. Because the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he receive them because they are spiritually
discerned. The Holy Spirit must give us
understanding of the Scriptures in order that we'll be able to
grasp the meaning of the Word of God. Now notice, if you will,
these five things. When does a man understand the
scriptures? When can it be said that I understand
the word of God? Understandest thou what thou
readest? When can it be said that a sinner
understands the Word of God? A man has understanding of the
Scriptures to the degree that he sees Christ in everything
and sees everything in Christ. Now did you get that? Let me
give it to you one more time. A man has understanding of the
scriptures to the degree that he sees Christ in everything
and sees everything in Christ. Now that's Not as complicated
as it might sound to you. But beloved, when we're able
to see Christ in everything, that means that we read the Word
of God and we study it. And somebody says, I looked at
that text but I didn't see Jesus in it. Just all you need to do
is look a little longer. You need to look a little longer.
And if you'll just keep looking and looking and looking, you'll
see eventually Christ in every verse in the Bible. Christ is
in everything. He's all God's purpose and plan
for all eternity for the souls of men is Jesus Christ. And we must see everything in
Christ. You know, the sinner comes to Christ and he brings
nothing with him. He brings nothing in his hand.
The old song says, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy
cross I cling. I cling to the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. I believe on him that hung. He
is the one that provides all that God demands of me. And I
see everything in Him. I see it all in Him. Some people
have a hard time with that. They never come to rest. They
never have any rest because they cannot see everything in Christ. They must have something else. They must have something else
to lean on. They must lean on their baptism.
They must lean on their church membership. They must lean on
their grandpa or their grandma's religion. They cannot stand alone
and trust Christ and Him only. We must see everything in Him.
And until you come to the place where you see everything that
pertains to eternal life in Jesus Christ, you don't understand
the Bible. You don't understand it. It's
all in Him. And I know that that puts a multitude
of religionists out of business, and I know that that brings down
the wrath of men and women in this world upon those who make
such statements but I'm telling you in all sobriety this morning
without any hesitation that everything that God has for sinners is in
the person of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and we can only
be accepted as we are in Him as we're in Him Now then, that's
so very important to see. Philip gave the unique understanding
in the scriptures when he preached unto him Jesus. When he preached
to him Jesus, he gave him understanding of the scriptures. Now that's
what's involved in this. He preached Christ, he preached
nothing but Christ, and that gave the unique spiritual understanding. Now beloved, I know that The
true believer, the believer that has been taught of God to Christ,
and he sees in Christ everything, that believer is wiser than many
of his teachers. That believer is beyond his years
in maturity. when it comes to all the religious
people that are in the world. In the Word of God, Christ alone
is preeminent. The Bible is a book about the
person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the whole
counsel of God, 1 Corinthians 2 and 2. Paul said, for I determined. I determined. Paul was an apostle
and he was a preacher. He was one who was thoroughly
educated in the scriptures. He said, I determined. not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's my message and that's
what I'm going to talk about and if you're interested in hearing
that message then you listen and I'll preach Him to you. And
so we understand the scripture to the degree that we see everything
in Christ. Number two, I have understanding
in the scripture to the degree that my understanding creates
in me a humble, a submissive, obedient faith in Christ. Have you bowed your knee in humility Have you submitted yourself to
the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Have you bowed your knees? Somebody
said, well, I take Him as Savior, if you'll offer Him that way,
but I don't know that I want to be submissive to Him. I don't
know that I want to be obedient to Him. Well, beloved, there
is no such thing as a man having Christ as Savior and not having
Him as Lord. If He's gonna be your Savior,
He's gonna be your Lord, and He will rule over you. You say,
well, you say, with all those in the day when our Lord was
rejected, we'll not have this man rule over us. Well, a fool
has said in his heart, no God for me. A fool said in his heart,
no God for me. Well, beloved, it brings us to
the place, if we understand the scriptures, to where it's created
in us, this submission. and this humble, obedient faith
in Jesus Christ. This eunuch showed his understanding
in the word by his willing surrender to believer's baptism. And baptism,
believer's baptism, not adult baptism, not baby baptism. Believer's
baptism is the ordinance of Jesus Christ. And this man showed he
was surrendered to Christ by submitting himself to believer's
baptism. He said, I wanna identify myself
with this Jesus. I wanna identify myself with
him. I'll go down into the waters of baptism and all the world
will know and people will be reading about it through the
generations to come. As we read about it this morning,
here's this man in obedience. to God. He went down into the
waters of baptism. He said, I'll be baptized. I
want to identify myself with the Christ who died for me. And
I want to identify myself with what it was that saved me from
my sin. It was his death, it was his
burial, and his resurrection that saved me. And I'll picture
that in my baptism and tell the world I stand with this Jesus. I take this Jesus and I stand
with Him. He's my salvation and when I
come to die, I'll believe, I'll believe that Christ will see
me over the river of death and see me over into that glorious
land where believers will reign forever and ever with their Lord
Jesus Christ. So then, beloved, we have understanding
in the word of God to the degree that it makes us willing to submit
ourself to the ordinance of Christ, believers' baptism. Have you
been baptized? You say, well, I think I'm saved,
preacher. If you are, then you ought to say, I'm gonna be identified
with Christ. I wanna be baptized. What doth
hinder me to be baptized? What is it that's standing in
the way, preacher? And this Philip, He said, well,
if you believe with all your heart, you may. You may. I'll baptize you if you believe
with all your heart. If you believe to the point where
you'll bow your knee to His Word, His truth, and where you'll follow
Him and obey Him, then I'll baptize you. Now then, the next thing
is we have understanding in the Word of God to the degree that
our understanding causes us to rejoice in Christ, rejoicing
Christ. Now here in the book of Acts
chapter 8 notice verse 5, Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and he preached Christ unto them. And in verse 8, and there was
great joy in that city. Great joy in that city. So Christ
has been preached in Samaria Great deliverances have come
to men's souls, in verse seven, and then there was great joy
in that city. Now, this Ethiopian eunuch is
baptized, and the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord caught
away Philip, so that the eunuch saw him no more, and he, the
Ethiopian eunuch, went on his way, what? Rejoicing. Went on his way rejoicing. Now
then, a man has understanding of the scripture to the degree
that that brings him to rejoice in it. This man's burden was
lifted. Old Charles Spurgeon said, the
faith of the scripture leads joy by the hand and chases away
despair. Chases it away. Look at the word
of God. Turn with me to the book of Philippians
chapter three and look at verse three. Philippians three, verse
three. I'm telling you, if we haven't
come to rejoice in Christ, it's because we don't know him. If
we haven't come to really rejoice in Christ, it's because we've
got a bunch of stuff mixed up with him. And we've got a whole
lot of stuff that we're looking at and depending on besides him,
if we haven't rejoiced in him. Look at verse three of Philippians
three. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit. And Paul says, rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. So you see, beloved, it's in
this order. We worship God in the spirit,
we rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence in the
flesh. We give up on ourself, and we're
trusting wholly in Jesus Christ. We're trusting Him. We're dependent
on Him. We have no confidence in who
we are and what we are. Our confidence is in who He is
and what He is. I want you to turn with me to
the book of Luke, and I want you to look at this in chapter
10. Turn to Luke 10 and look here, if you will, Now what our Lord said to the
disciples, in verse 17 of Luke 10, the 70 returned again with
joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy
name. And he said unto them, I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven. You fellows are up pretty
high here. Devils are subject to you. And
you're pretty high, but he said, I saw Satan fall from heaven.
And so be careful, you that think you stand, take heed lest you
fall. He said in verse 19, behold, I give unto you power to tread
on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy,
nothing shall by any means hurt you, notwithstanding. Look at
verse 20. Notwithstanding, in this rejoice
not. Don't rejoice in your spiritual
victories and your spiritual power. He said don't rejoice
that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather, look at
it, rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Rejoice
because your names are written in heaven. Beloved, it is legitimate. Hallelujah. It is legitimate. It's all right. Praise his name.
It is legitimate for a man to rejoice in Christ Jesus. It's legitimate. And rejoice
because your name is written down in the book of God in heaven.
And all God's elect, their names were penned before the foundation
of the world in God's book. And their book, their name is
in the Lamb's book of life. It's there. And Jesus said, rejoice
that your name is written into heaven, forget all this other
stuff, because it may or may not be sown, it may work and
it may not work, but rejoice, because your name is down on
the book in heaven. And so that's why this Ethiopian
eunuch rejoiced, was because his burden was lifted, and the
Lord gave him real deep-seated joy in his heart. He was rejoicing
in Christ. Now the fourth thing is I have
understanding in the scriptures to the degree that my understanding
causes me to be interested in and to seek the salvation of
other souls. I think this is so very important.
I believe that this eunuch, according to history, carried the gospel
with him back to Africa. Now once a man learns the gospel,
he's got to tell it. He's got to tell it to others.
The poet said, come and rejoice with me. I once so sick at heart
have met with one who knows my case and knows the healing art. Isn't that what you would say?
Come and rejoice with me. I once so sick at heart have
met with one who knows my case and knows the healing art. Christ
came to give us liberty by dying in our place. Now with new freedom
we are bound to share his love and grace. Bound to do it. Must
do it. And I have understanding of the
scriptures to the degree that I know that those around me are
lost. And they need Christ. They need
a deliverer. They need the gospel preached
to them. They need Christ exalted before
their very heart and life and eyes. They need Christ. And I
share Him with them. I share Him with you this morning.
I do not know how much of what I preach to you, you believe.
but I share Christ with you. I was very sick at heart, but
I met him who knew my case. and knows how to heal a poor
sinner. I met him. And I know he can heal you. I
know he can deliver you. I know he'll save you. I know
he'll never leave you nor forsake you. I know that he'll stick
with you. And when the time comes for you
to leave this life, he'll take you on to glory and on to heaven.
All right? One other thing. I have understanding
in the scriptures to the degree that I have something to tell
people Whatever their situation is, at all times, I have a message
for them. You know what's wonderful? There's
so many heartbroken people in this world. So many people that
are sick. Many, many people whose bodies
are failing them. Their health is leaving them.
They're in desperate circumstances and they need some comfort. They
need some good news. They need to hear something that
will be of some help to them, some encouragement to them. And
beloved, if we understand the word of God, we've got a message
for men and women, whatever be their situation. If a man is
sick, we can talk to him about Jesus being the resurrection
and the life. We can tell him there's hope
beyond the grave. And when this old mortal life,
when this mortal life is laid down, that there is a body that's
being prepared by our Lord that he will give to us. We know that
there is a better place where peace will reign forever and
sighs and tears, they'll never come. We know something about
what the word of God has to say about the life to come. and we
can give them some hope and some encouragement. Don't hesitate
to tell them what the Lord has taught you out of His Word. Because
if we have an understanding of the Word of God, we'll be able
to tell them. And then we meet a poor soul, and he sins sick,
and he is steeped in sin, and the chains of sin have bound
him. and Satan has taken him captive
at his own will, then we have a word for that sinner. We have
a word for that sinner. We tell him that Christ was raised
from the dead and that Jesus said, all power is mine in heaven
and on earth. And Jesus said that I will break
the shackles of those sin and I will deliver you from those
sins. I'm able to deliver and he will
deliver. We got a message. for all men. May we understand the Word of
God to the degree that we can be useful in the hands of the
Spirit to bring God's message to helpless souls in this world,
to speak to them, to tell them something as they're as her life
is ebbing out in this day. I have a message of salvation,
a message of eternal life, of comfort, peace, and joy to all
people in every circumstances of life. My message to you is
the message I have received, and that is Christ and Him crucified. May the Lord give you a true
faith in Him this morning. May the Lord save you if you're
here lost. Let's pray. Father, in the name
of Jesus, we thank you that you have spared us to this good hour.
We thank you that you've allowed us to once more to lift up the
Lord Jesus Christ, to speak of Him, and I pray that these poor
sinners here lost and without Christ undone, that they might
today believe on Him, and that someone who has believed with
all of their heart might say, I want to be baptized, I want
to follow the Lord Jesus. I want to be identified with
the one who was willing to make such a sacrifice to save my poor
soul. I want to be identified with
him. We ask it this morning in Jesus' name and for his sake,
amen.

One Needful Thing

What does the Bible say about spiritual deadness?

Why is seeking the Lord important for Christians?

How do we know Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation?

Why is baptism important in the Christian faith?

How can I understand the Scriptures better?

Sermon Transcript

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One Needful Thing

What does the Bible say about spiritual deadness?

Why is seeking the Lord important for Christians?

How do we know Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation?

Why is baptism important in the Christian faith?

How can I understand the Scriptures better?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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