For our scripture reading, let's
turn to Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8. Begin reading with verse 26 of
Acts 8. And the angel of the Lord spake
unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south, and to the
way that goeth down from Jerusalem, and to Geza, which is desert. And he arose, and went, and behold
a man of Ethiopia, A eunuch of great authority under Candace,
queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure
and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning and
sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the
spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot.
And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet
Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except
some man should guide me? And he desired, Philip, that
he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture
which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter, and like a lamb done before his shearer, so opened
he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away. And who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
this? Of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus. And they went on their way and
came to 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 him 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 they
would 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. We'll end our reading there.
Let's go to our Lord in prayer. Our God and Father in heaven,
we thank you for this thy word. Lord, we thank you for this place
that you've given us to gather together. Lord, thankful that
you've brought us here this morning. Lord, I pray that you've brought
us here to hear a word from thee. Lord, that you've brought us
here to worship thee. Lord, we pray that you would forgive us,
Lord, for the many things we take for granted. Lord, we pray you'd bless us
here this morning with your presence. Lord, that you'd be pleased to
dwell among your people. And Lord, we pray for each one. Lord, we pray for those of our
number who are in a time of difficulty. Lord, you know the needs of your
people. You know your people. You've brought them into the
valley, and Lord, we pray that your hand would be upon them. And Lord, in all things, the
Lord calls us to look to and rest in thee and thee alone. Lord, for these young ones you've
given us, the Lord calls us to be faithful to teach them from
thy word. Lord, hedge them about, protect
them, keep them. And we pray in your time, you'd
be merciful, merciful to them, merciful to their souls. And again, we thank you for your
many blessings, pray that you would be with us, be with those
who travel, Lord. And in all places where that
people have gathered together. Lord, men stand to proclaim the
truth of thy word, Lord, that you would bless. Bless the preaching
and hearing of thy word. These things we ask in Christ's
name, amen. I want us to look this morning
at this account of the Ethiopian eunuch. In particular, And I
know this is a common passage of scripture. I know I enjoy
reading this passage. But I want us to, this morning
in particular, this eunuch, he asks three questions. Three questions. And I want us
to take a look at those with what time we have here this morning. Three questions that he asks
Philip. And I would consider these to
be important questions. Good, good questions. You know,
that's not always the case. We don't always ask the best
questions. I can think of a number of times,
something's come out of my mouth and I just want to just shove
it back in, right? Asking a foolish, foolish question. Turn with me to Titus, hold your
place there in Acts 8, but turn to Titus 3 verse 9. Titus chapter
3 verse 9. I believe this is a warning.
At best, at worst, it's good instruction. Titus 3, verse 9,
we're told to avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions
and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable. They're vain. And we see this throughout the
scripture. In Matthew 12, our Lord was with
his disciples on the Sabbath day. And apparently they were
walking through a field of corn on the Sabbath, and they were
hungry. So they reached over and grabbed
a ear of corn and shucked it, and they ate it. on the Sabbath
day. And the Pharisees, we read that
when they saw it, isn't that kind of typical for a Pharisee,
always watching for something, one little mistake. And they
commented on this, how it's not lawful for them to do this, striving,
striving about the law. In Luke chapter 12, our Lord was speaking to a group
of people and a man asked him, a man runs up to him and he says,
he said, me and my brother have an inheritance. Would you tell him how this should
be divided? And the Lord said this. He said,
who made me a judge? and divider over you. Surely there was somebody else
they could have, you would have thought they would have just
been able to settle that between themselves. Our Lord said, that's
not what I came here to do. Foolish and unlearned questions. Turn to Mark chapter seven. The book of Mark. Mark chapter 7. Look at verse 1 of Mark 7. Here we read, then came the Pharisees
together. Verse 1 of Mark 7, then came
together unto them Pharisees and certain of the scribes which
came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his
disciples eat bread with defiled, that's to say, unwashed hands,
they found fault. Now again, if you're looking
for a Pharisee, this is one place they'd stand
out. They find fault. They find fault
with even the most trivial of things. In this case, it was
the Lord's disciples eating with unwashed hands. I'll tell you right now, if you
want to find fault with me, that would be what they call low-hanging
fruit. Not washing hands before we eat. Verse three, for the
Pharisees and all the Jews, except they washed their hands often,
they eat not. Why? Was it because of hygiene?
What is it? Traditions of the elders. holding
to the traditions of the elders. And when they would come from
the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other
things there be which they received to hold on to, washing of cups,
washing of pots, brazing vessels, tables. And listen to their questions. The Pharisees and scribes asked
him, Think about that. I was thinking about that on
the way here this morning. If I had the opportunity, if
we had the opportunity to ask the Lord Jesus Christ a question,
what would it be? What would it be? I was thinking of some questions.
I'd probably ask foolish questions too, to be honest. But listen
to some of these questions asked In God's Word, how can a man
be just with God? Think about that. How can a sinful
man be just with Almighty God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? How about this one? What must
I do to be saved? Wouldn't you just have loved
these men to say that, ask that question, what must I do to be
saved? If a man live or if a man die,
if a man dies, shall he live again? Lord, would you be merciful to
me? A lot of good questions in God's
word, isn't there? But look at verse 5. Here's their
question. This is just, can you imagine,
this must have been really important for them to know the answer to
this. Why walk not the disciples according to the tradition of
the elders, but eat? with unwashed hands. That's the best they had. You know, that doesn't even seem
like a question to me that's worthy, worthy of an answer. And yet our Lord replies to them
and he says, well, hath Isaiah the prophesied of you hypocrites? As it's written, The people honor
me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. You lay aside the commandments
of God and you hold the traditions of men. You want to talk about
things like washing pots and washing cups. I pray he'd deliver us from asking
such things and getting caught up in such things, foolish and
unlearned questions. And that word foolish, I look
these up, foolish, it means, we never use this around the
house, it means stupid. It's a stupid question. Needless,
a needless question, an absurd question. Unlearned, it means
without instruction. without discipline. It means
uneducated, ignorant. It means rude, foolish, and unlearned
questions that have nothing, absolutely nothing to do with
the edification of the church. Questions about traditions. Well, we do it this way. And
we do it this way. What do those questions do? Scripture
says this, they cause strife. They cause, they create trouble
and create strife and division. And we certainly find enough
ways to do that on our own, don't we? We'll turn back to Acts chapter
8. Again, verse 26, the angel of the Lord spake to
Philip. and said, arise and go toward
the south, the way that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza,
which is desert. And he arose. He obeyed God's
voice. God sends forth his messengers,
and they obey his voice. Maybe Philip had some other things
he wanted to do. Maybe Philip had some other places
he needed to be. But when the Lord said go, he
goes. He follows his command. And he
arose and he went and behold a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of
great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. And
he had charge of all her treasure. And he had come to Jerusalem
to worship. And now he's returning. And here
he is sitting in his chariot. I wonder how many chariots were
there that day. And yet the Lord sends his messenger
to this man, to this eunuch. He's pleased to send him to this
one man that we read of here. Verse 29, the Spirit said to
Philip, go near, join thyself to the chariot, and Philip ran
thither. And he heard him. He's listening. He heard him
reading the prophet Isaiah, and he said, do you understand what
you're reading? This eunuch was coming back from
Jerusalem. You know, maybe he'd done like
other men do. I hear of men going to the so-called
holy lands. Maybe that's what he'd done.
Maybe he'd made a little pilgrimage, and he was coming back. He'd been there to worship, and
now he's returning. And it would appear that he knew
nothing more when he returned from Jerusalem than maybe he
did when he went there to begin with. And Philip asked him, do you
understand? Do you understand what you're
reading? And this is where we see the first question this eunuch
asks. He says, how can I? How can I understand these things
except some man should guide me? Except some man should teach
me? In John chapter 6 verse 45, it's
written in the prophets. What's written in the prophets?
They shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me." We need
to be taught. We must be taught. Isaiah wrote
this back in Isaiah 54, 13. He said the same thing. All thy
children shall be taught of the Lord. This eunuch is drawn to
Christ. He's drawn to that scripture.
He's reading about the Lamb of God. And listen, He's not coming
blindly or ignorantly. The Spirit of God has drawn Him
to this. And God sends one of His messengers. He's going to be taught. He's
going to be taught by a man. But listen, we must be, we'll
be taught by a man, but we must be taught of God. Almighty God
must reveal these things, taught by the Spirit of God, through
the Word of God, by the preaching of a man of God. In Romans 10
we read this, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved. But how shall they call on Him
of whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher. And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Sent of God. As it's written,
how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace and bring glad tidings of good things. They've not obeyed,
not everyone's obeyed the gospel, have they? Isaiah said, Lord,
who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. We must be taught. Taught our
need of Christ. Our need of him. Taught the sufficiency
of Christ. The sufficiency of his sacrifice. David wrote this in the Psalms.
Teach me. King David said that. Teach me. Teach me what? Teach me thy way. Cause me to know thy way. Well, back to Acts chapter 8.
Look at verse 32. The place of the scripture which
he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter, and like a lamb done before his shearer, so opened
he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away, and who shall declare his generation? His life
was taken from the earth, and the eunuch answered Philip, And
he said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet of this? Is he talking about himself or
is he talking about some other man? It's the second question. Second question, of whom speaketh
the prophet this? Of himself or some other man? I think that's a really good
question. Who's this about? Who's this
word about? Who's this prophet writing about? And I love how Philip answers
this question. He doesn't say, well, I think.
What's he say? Philip opened his mouth and he
began at the same scripture and he preached Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. We have but one subject. The Lord Jesus Christ. One person. Who is it? The Lord Jesus Christ. One thing is needful. What is
that one thing needful? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 53, turn there with
me, this is where he was reading from. Isaiah 53. Look at just a few of these verses
of scripture here in Isaiah 53. Look at verse four. Who's this talking about? Surely
he hath borne our griefs, carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem
him stricken. smitten of God and afflicted.
Who's he talking about? The Lord Jesus Christ. He who bore our sins carried
our sorrows. That's what God's word says.
The Lord Jesus Christ, he who had no sin, We can't even enter into that,
can we? No sin, without sin. Had no sin, knew no sin, did
no sin, free of sin. Yet, he was made sin. The Lord Jesus Christ was made
sin. He was made our substitute. What's a substitute? That's someone
who fills in for the place for another. You had a substitute
this morning, didn't you? A substitute. He was our substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ was made
sin. He bore our sin. He was the substitute
for His people. He was smitten. He was stricken
of God. He was afflicted. All those things
that we deserved. Sin must be punished. Sin can't go unpunished. God
can't wink at sin. No. And as the sinner's substitute
and representative, the Lord Jesus Christ, he bore our sins. He stood in our place. Again,
that which Every one of us deserved He born. And He made full satisfaction
for the sins of His people. He's reconciled us to God. How? How did He do that? By His obedience, by His death. He was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Isaiah 53 verse 5, look at it. It says, he was wounded for our
transgressions. For whose? Ours. He was bruised
for whose iniquities? Our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon him and with his stripes, that which
he bore, that which he endured. By his stripes, we, his people,
are healed. This sin, this sin that was punished,
where did it come from? What's the source of it? Well,
it's my sin. It's Adam's sin back there when
he fell. It's the sins of his people.
He bore the sins of his people in his body on the tree. Look
at verse 6 of Isaiah 53. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to our
own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Of whom speaketh the prophet? Is he talking about himself or
is he talking about some other man? He speaks of me. He speaks of
my sin. All we like sheep have gone astray.
He speaks of the Savior. He who bore our sin. He that
made his soul an offering for sin. Who's he speaking of? He speaks of God. Look at Isaiah
53 verse 11. He shall see the travail of his
soul. Who's going to see that? Almighty
God's going to see it. He's going to pour out his wrath
on his son. Sin's going to be punished. He
shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Almighty God is satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Who saw it? Almighty God saw
it. God did. And he was satisfied,
satisfied with the sacrifice of his son. Sin put away. the sins of his people put away. Philip began at the same scripture
and he preached Christ to him. Philip preached just one message. And it appears that it was the
same message regardless of the audience. He didn't switch it
up because he was preaching to somebody else. Look, if you still
have Acts 8, look back at verse 5. Acts chapter 8, verse 5. Philip went down to the city
of Samaria. And what did he do? He preached
Christ. Preached Christ to them. Well,
this eunuch, he is seeking Christ. He's a seeking sinner. And God
sends a messenger. He sends Philip. And this eunuch
has a desire to be taught. That's a miracle in itself. How often, how often men have
an opportunity to hear the gospel, but they cover their ears. They
have no desire to hear it. But this eunuch, he desires to
be taught. How can I except some man should
guide me? That was his first question.
Second, of whom speaketh the prophet? Is he talking about himself?
Or is he talking about some other man? What was the answer that
Philip preached Christ to him? And this eunuch, he believed. He believed what Philip preached
to him. How do I know that? Look at the
third question he asked. Look at verse 36 of Acts chapter
8. As they went on their way, they
came unto a certain water, and the eunuch said, See, here's
water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? That's his third
question. What doth hinder me to be baptized? What does hinder a man or a woman
or a young person from confessing Christ? Is it unworthiness? Is it unworthiness? You know,
we read recently about that Canaanite woman. Remember her? That one that the Lord said,
it's not meat to take the children's bread and give it to dogs. Remember
her? She didn't argue, did she? She
didn't say, I'm not a dog. No. She said, even the dogs eat
those crumbs that fall from the master's table. Her unworthiness didn't stop
her from coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, did it? No, I'd say it's
just the opposite. It was her unworthiness that
caused her to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. She knew she was
unworthy. I need Him. I must have Him. What hinders me? What hinders
you? Is it your sin? Is it a corrupt
heart? Listen to the Apostle Paul. He
said, O wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
my Lord. Is it our sin that would keep
us from coming to Him? God told David this. He said,
the Lord hath put away thy sin. If he's put away my sin, that
shouldn't stop me, should it? Is it fear of falling away? I'd confess him, but I fear I
would fall away. I know my heart. I know I would
fall away. In Jude, the book of Jude, we
read this in verses 24 and 25, now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless in the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our
Savior, be glory and majesty and dominion and power both now
and ever. Amen. Will I fall away? Not if I'm His. Not if I'm His. Listen, the believer is kept. How? By what I do, by what I
think. How's a believer kept? Kept by
the power of God. Maybe it's opposition. Maybe
it's opposition of family and maybe friends that keep a man
from confessing Christ. Paul said this, he said, I count
all things, all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord whom I have suffered the loss of all
things." And Paul put them in his place.
He said, I count them but done. That I might win Christ and be
found in him. I ask you, is it your former
life your former conversation, your way of life that would hinder
you. Maybe you sit there and you think,
you just don't know how sinful I am. You just don't know how
wicked I am. You just don't know what I've
done. David's prayer in Psalm 25, he
said this, he said, Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. According
to thy mercy, remember thou me, not for anything I've done, but
for thy goodness sake. Remember me for Christ's sake,
O Lord. Maybe you ask this. Is his grace enough? Is his grace
enough? Again, I'd have you consider
Paul. Paul, who persecuted the church,
he went around, he'd come into assembly like this and start
gathering people and cast them into jail. It was Paul that when
Stephen was being stoned, He was the fellow over there holding
people's coats for them. The Lord told Paul in 2 Corinthians
12 verse 9, my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. What doth hinder me? And the eunuch, when he asked that question,
Philip answers it. He answers it with another question.
Look at verse 37. Philip said, here's the answer. If thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest." Do you believe? Do you believe? What was that eunuch's answer?
Huh? I believe that Jesus Christ is
a 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, and the eunuch saw him no more. But he, that eunuch,
he went on his way rejoicing, rejoicing. That should be no
surprise. There's rejoicing in heaven over
one sinner that repented. Three questions. Three questions. I pray the Lord would bless His
word. Bless it to our hearts. All right.