He has translated us from the
kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear Son. What is the
method of grace? That's what George Whitfield
called it, God's method of grace. What is the method of grace whereby
a carnal man is renewed and instead of being set on things of this
earth, That renewed mind is set on things above. How does that
take place? A carnal mind is renewed and
set not on things of the earth but on the things of God, where
Christ reigns with the Father. How is a heart of evil, and that's
the way the scripture describes our hearts, deceitful, wicked
and deceitful above all things. Well how is that heart of evil
deceit and malice removed out of its place and a new heart. God said I'll take the old stony
heart out of you and give you a new heart. That heart of evil
and malice is removed and in its place God gives a heart of
grace and love and peace. How does that happen? How does it take place? Without
that, there's no salvation. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Old things have passed away.
All things are become new. How does it happen? How does
a lifestyle and an attitude dominated by self, self-centered, dominated
by self-righteousness, How is that lifestyle so changed
that that person walks with Christ? A walk of faith, a walk of love,
and a walk of hope of eternal glory. The Lord in this scripture
that Brother Bob read a moment ago, in this scripture, that is revealed. The Lord in this
scripture crosses the path of a heathen man. He wasn't a Jew,
he was an Ethiopian. He wasn't a preacher, he was
a businessman. He wasn't a social worker, he
was in charge of the Queen's treasury. He was a politician,
businessman. He was a financier. And God crossed
the path of this man in a state of nature, in a state of ignorance,
in a state of materialism, and changed him and sent him on his
way rejoicing in a state of grace. That happened right here while
you were reading. Well let's find out some things
that we know about this man. First of all, in this experience,
I know that he was saving or brought to Christ. I know that. I know this man was saved. I
might, you might listen to me talk about my experience and
tell you how God was pleased to reveal Christ to my heart.
But you still might entertain some questions about whether
or not I really know God. Or you may come up here and give
your experience, and we listen to it. And when you sit down,
we hope that you're saved, but we don't know it. I know this
man was saved. Almighty God put this in the
Word of God as a pattern, as an example of how this man was
brought to salvation. I know this man was saved. I'm
as certain of that as I can be. That Luke wrote here in the Book
of Acts about this man, this human being. The second thing
I know about him is this. I'm certain he was saved, but
it wouldn't be in God's Word. God wouldn't give us a pattern
of a man who went to hell and have us have a false hope. The
second thing I know is this, he was saved that very day. Philip preached to him, I don't
know how long they were together, possibly for hours and hours,
I don't have the finest idea how long they talked. I do know this, that here in
the account, as Philip preached Christ to him, there's no word
of baptism written, but that's the first thing he asked of him,
what must keep me from being baptized. So sometime in that
conversation they talked about this matter of baptism. So I
don't know how long the talk, but I know that he was saved
that very day. No wounding did, no duties to
perform, no evidence to present, no vote was taken, no deed met. He and Philip spent this time
together and Philip went his way and this man went his way
rejoicing in Christ. That's what it said. Like the
thief on the cross. That man was saved that day.
That moment, that day when he encountered the Blessed Redeemer
and Christ opened his heart. That day. That day. The sheep was found and brought
home that day. The third thing I know is this,
that he confessed Christ in baptism that very day he heard the gospel,
was saved, and went on home. He baptized that day. Philip,
the Savior of the Lord. special servant of the Lord.
God led him to this Ethiopian businessman, and Philip preached
Christ to him. The man was saved, and Philip,
the servant of God, led him into the waters of baptism and baptized
him that very afternoon in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. He didn't give him any books
to read. He didn't give him a church constitution to sign. He didn't
give him any bylaws or creeds. There was no restitution, orders
given to him. That day, out there in that desert,
he was baptized, confessing Christ. And it's a pattern. So you and
I, let's look at this and see what we can learn from it. In
verse 27 and 28. verse 27 and 28, and he rose,
this Philip arose and went where God told him to go. And behold,
a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch, a great, important man, a businessman,
on the tendency, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all
her treasure, he come to Jerusalem to worship. Evidently this man
was concerned about spiritual matters. And then he had some
interest in knowing the true God. That's why he came to Jerusalem. He took this long journey to
Jerusalem to attend the feast, to hear these Jews talk about
God. He had gone to Jerusalem, it
says, to worship. He didn't know Christ, he didn't
know the way of life, he didn't know the way of salvation, but
he knew there was a God. And he wanted to find out about
God. And he went to Jerusalem to attend the feast, to hear
these Jews talk about God. He went there to worship because,
like Cornelius, or a little of them, there was no synagogue
in this town of Philippi. A group of women met down by
the river to pray, and evidently to talk about the things of God.
And God sent Paul to preach to them. And God opened Lydia's
heart to hear the message of Paul. Prior to that time, she
didn't know Christ, wasn't a saved person. But she was thinking
of God, and thinking of a hope of eternal life, and interested
in spiritual matters. And then notice the next thing
about this man, verse 28. He was returning from Jerusalem,
and sitting in his chariot, he read Isaiah the prophet. He was reading the Word of God. He wasn't reading the Word of
God as a matter of form. I told somebody a while ago,
I received an e-mail from a young man, I forget where he was from,
but he wanted me to tell him how to read the Bible, whether
to read it all and start with the first and read it through,
or to read it all in a year, or whether to read it this way
or that way. There's no form in reading the
Bible. Reading the Bible is to seek
a person in the way of God. And this man wasn't reading it
as about a form, a duty, to be seen of men. There wasn't anybody
there to see him. He was sitting there trying to find the truth
about God. That's the way to read the Bible.
Whether you read one verse, two verse, a dozen verses, one chapter,
two or three chapters, read it with a purpose. To find Christ. to find the truth, to have God
speak to you personally concerning himself and your need and salvation. That's what he was doing. He
was carrying on a serious search of the scriptures. Because a
little while later he said, the prophet's talking about a man.
The prophet's talking about a man. Is he talking about himself or
some other man? That's what I want to know. He
didn't know that the prophet was talking about a man. And
he wanted to know who that man is. We know who that man is. But he didn't know who that man
was. But he wanted to know who that man was. And that, I say,
is the way to read the Bible. Find out who that man is. What
that man did. Why that man did it. And where
that man is now. And where all those Old Testament
prophets had sent out that man. And what the New Testament apostles
had to say about that man, and what they had to say about that
man and our relationship with that man both now and forever.
That's the way to read God's word. If you're reading it for
the history, or for the poetry, or to be seeing men, or to feel
religious, you're wasting your time. But
if you're reading it seeking Christ. If any man wills to know
God's will, he'll know it. God will teach it to him. Well,
I'll tell you another thing about this man. He's concerned about
spiritual matters. He traveled this long distance
to attend these services in Jerusalem, and he hadn't learned anything
because he still didn't know who Christ was. So you can go
to church and not find out who he is. That's right. Religious, first of all, I still
don't know who he is. I don't know anything about this
man. He wasn't aware that God was
working in his heart. He didn't know he was one of
God's elect. He didn't know what God was doing in him and for
him. He was not aware that he was
one of God's sheep. He wasn't one of them. He was
one of God's sheep. I know he is. And you know he
is, but you didn't know it. He didn't know it. And ultimately
it was people who saved him that come to Christ. Come not because
they wanted God's amen. Not because they wanted God's
sheep. They come because they want to come. They come because they're willing
to come. He made them willing, but they're willing to come.
They come without any knowledge or any assurance. or even expectation
that they got you. They come because they have a
need. They come because they're hungry to know the truth. They
come because they want to know God. They come because they're
willing. It's after they come, it's after
they believe that they find out that God was in this all the
time. That before they call him, he called them. or they win the
cause. And before they sought this man,
before he sought the Lord, the Lord sought him. You can be sure
of that. He wasn't motivated to take that trip to Jerusalem
out of his own heart. God motivated him. That's right. It's after we believe that we
found out we were chosen, it's after we believe we found out
that we were called, it's after we believe that we found out
he gave us that faith, it's after we were willing to come to Christ
that we know he made me willing. That's right. And I give all
the glory. Now, that's right. Hold that scripture and turn
to John 1. I want you to look at this here in John 1, verse 43. The day
following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee, John 1, verse 43,
and he found Philip. He found Philip and said, follow
me. Philip was at Bethsaida, the
city of Andrew and Peter, and Philip found Nathanael and said,
we've found him. Then it said, I found him of
whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of
Nazareth. I found him. That's kind of backwards,
isn't it? But that's what Philip said.
I found him. Christ found Philip first. That's
right. And this man here, he didn't
know what was going on in his heart and in his life and what
God was doing. All right, verse 13. Then the
Spirit said to Philip, go near and join yourself to this chariot.
The Lord sent a preacher to him. Philip was a preacher of the
gospel. He wasn't an apostle, he was a preacher of the gospel.
God sent Philip to him to join himself to that chariot. You
know, I know, and let's read verse 30, and Philip ran further
to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and said, Do you
understand what you read? I know God's sovereign in all
things. I know that God is able to call
a man out of idolatry by his own voice, as he called Abraham. He called Abraham out of idolatry. 75 years old, get thee out of our
Father's house, good land I'll show thee. God is able to fill
a man with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, as he did
John the Baptist. God is able to preach the gospel
to the shepherds by the angels. The angels came down here and
said to the shepherds, a most beautiful gospel way unto you
is born this day. in the city of David, a Savior,
Christ the Lord. Those men heard the gospel and
an angel preached it to them. That's right. God is able to
take a man into the desert and teach him the gospel as he did
the Apostle Paul. Paul said, I didn't learn the
gospel from Peter, Paul, James, and John. God taught it to me. But that's not the way God generally
reveals the gospel to a sinner. Don't wait for an angel to come
and preach the gospel to you. And don't wait to hear a voice
from heaven. This man didn't. This man was reading a book he
didn't understand. He was reading about a gospel
that he didn't understand. He was reading about a man and
what that man would perform that he didn't understand. And God
sent a man to him. Listen to these scriptures. Turn
to Ephesians 1. It talks in Ephesians 1 about
the grace of the Father in choosing us and the love of the Son in
redeeming us. Then in verse 13 of Ephesians
1, in whom you trusted after you heard the word of truth. When did you trust Christ after
you heard the word of truth? The gospel of your salvation.
And whom also, after you believed, you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. Look at chapter 4 of Ephesians,
in verse 9, speaking of our Lord Jesus. Now he that ascended,
now that he ascended, what is it? But he also descended first
into the lower parts of the earth. And he that descended is the
same also that ascended far above all heavens, that he might fulfill
all things. And he gave some, this is Christ,
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and
teachers. For what purpose? for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the teaching of the body of Christ, till we all come in the
unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a mature
man, a preacher. God has chosen, it pleased God,
for the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. We
used to support a missionary back in 1968 in Spain. Brother David Estrada, and he
had a preacher school much like Walter and Ken Wymer had in Africa. And I went over there to preach
in 1968. And I was preaching in a town
called Carcajete, Spain. And there was a pretty good sized
Baptist church there where I spoke and Brother Griswold spoke and
Brother David Estrada translated for us. And there was an organist
playing the organ on my left, the pulpit. He could play that
organ like Martha plays it so beautifully. Such a blessing
to me. Right out there in this pagan, the church couldn't put
a sign out on the street. They had to kind of meet, of
course not secretly, because it was a Catholic dominated area,
just dominated. And I asked Brother Schrader
after the service about this organist. He said, here's an
interesting statement. He was an organist at the Catholic
Church. And the Catholic Church in Spain,
and like Mexico, is very dominant and controls people. And he was
at the Catholic Church practicing the organ one afternoon. And
the priest came in. And the priest had a stack of
books in his arms. And the orator stopped praying
and said, Father, what do you have there in your arms? What
kind of books are those? He said, they're Protestant Bibles. He said, these Protestant missionaries
are distributing Bibles to the homes of some of our people.
I've been going around collecting them, not letting the people
have the Bible. He said, the audience said, Father
I've never seen a Protestant Bible. I've never read one. Could
I buy one? Now this is a true story. And
the priest walked over there and threw him a Bible. And he
cut it. And took it home Saturday evening.
And God spoke to his eyes. Showed him he needed something
he didn't have. You know about that ear? Something
I'm not hearing. Something he didn't have. And he looked at
this missionary. And found the Lord. Because the
Lord... See the mystery of God's providence. God moves in mysterious
ways. He'll find his sheep. He'll give
them the Word. And he'll save them, but he won't
save them the part in the Word. And that man received Christ. And paid the
organ for us in our meeting. It's such a marvelous thing that
the Lord called it his own. Let's read on here. He said,
you understand what you're reading? Do you understand what you're
reading? And he said, how can I except some man guide me? And
he desired that Philip would come up and sit with him. And
the place where he was reading was Isaiah 53. Verse 32, verses reading Isaiah
53, he was led as a sheep to the slough. We're going to look
at that in a minute. And like a lamb done before his shearers,
so opened he not his mouth. His humiliation, his judgment
was taken away. Who shall declare his generation?
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 some other man. And Philip then opened his mouth
and began right there. Let's turn over to Isaiah 53
for a moment. Philip didn't turn somewhere
else. God had him read in this passage. The whole Bible is about Christ,
the picture of Christ on every page. But here's what he's reading,
Isaiah 53. We see in verse 1 and 2, who
has believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? You're reading the same way I'm reading right now.
The quote from Isaiah 53 is on down further. And he shall go
up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground.
He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there
is no beauty we should desire him. That's Christ, became a
man, a human man, born of woman. And he's a man of sorrows, he's
despised and rejected of men, he's a man of sorrows acquainted
with grief. And we hear as it were our faces
from him, he's despised and we esteem him not. The man of sorrows
and trials acquainted with grief. I substitute him. And then here's
his death, here's the substitute man. And Philip is preaching
Christ to him like I preach to you, like these elders preach.
Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. We do
esteem him stricken, smitten with die, and afflicted. He nailed
to a cross, Philip said. Crucified. But it was God who
sent him there. These people came there, but
God Almighty decreed it. From all eternity. He's all slain
from the foundation of the world. And he was wounded. He was wounded
for our transgressions. He was boozed for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our feasts was upon Christ. With his stripes
we are healed, that's how we are saved, that's how we are
healed, that's how we are forgiven. That's how God puts our sin away.
Christ born and his body on the tree. The law is satisfied, justice
is satisfied. Now we like sheep have gone astray,
you, me, everybody else. We've turned everyone to his
own way. That the Lord laid on Christ our iniquity, the iniquity
of all of his people was laid on Christ. Now here's where he
was, they quoted a while ago. He was oppressed, he was afflicted,
he opened not his mouth. The human man, the despised man,
the crucified man, and now the willing man, the suffering man,
who opened not his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, as a sheep before her shears is done. He opened
not his mouth. He's taken from prison, from
judgment. Who should declare his generation? He was called
out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people
was he stricken. Oh, I'm just here giving him
the good news. You know that man said, of whom
does the preacher speak? Of himself or some other man?
He better be speaking of some other man. Paul said we don't
preach ourselves. We preach Christ. We don't preach
ourselves. And I guarantee you Philip didn't
go into his pedigree, his background, his scholarship, his knowledge,
his understanding. He began here to preach Christ.
Because the transgression of my people. And he made his grave
with the wicked, with the rich, and his death. Though he had
done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. God put him to grave. God made his soul an offering
for sin. But he shall see, he shall see, he shall put on his
days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands.
He is the satisfied Saviour, the victorious Saviour. He shall
see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. What is the
travail of his soul? Well, that word travail is birth
pains. Christ gave birth to children,
his sheep, his people. The travail of his soul is the
agony. suffering and travail, he went
through to bring forth his people into the kingdom of God. He sees
them. He says, I do my shit. I call them by name. I see them.
He is satisfied. And by his knowledge, by the
knowledge of him, by his knowledge of us, shall my righteous servant
justify many. How do you justify them? By their
iniquities. He is the supreme Savior. Therefore, God says, I divide
him a portion with the great, he shall divide the spoil of
the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, numbered
with the transgressors, by the sin of many, made intercession
for the transgressors, and God gave them an owner of every name." That man was reading the scriptures,
seeking the Lord. The eunuch Saul, what do you
see here now? He didn't say a plan of salvation. He didn't say a
proposition. He said a person. Philip preached to him a person,
a redeemer, Christ. Does he speak of himself or some
other man? My dear friend, my dear Ethiopian
friend, he's speaking of a person, Christ. I Lord and I Savior,
Christ I substitute. And as they went on their way,
talking about this person, the Lord Jesus Christ, they came
to a certain water, the eunuch saw a body of water out there.
And he said, now I want you to notice something. There was no
pressure on the part of Philip exerted on this man to make any
kind of commitment to be baptized. Philip just preached Christ to
him. And that's all he preached. He didn't invite him to do anything.
He didn't command him to do anything. He didn't put pressure on him
to do anything. It was not Philip who responded
to his message. It was the eunuch who responded
to the message. There was no invitation given
at Pentecost. Read it again. Read Peter's message.
He didn't, when he got through his message, say, how many of
you will accept Jesus? How many of you come down now
and say to me, I accept Jesus? He told them, he said, save yourselves
from this untoward, perverse generation. And when he preached
that message, they were pricked in their hearts and they cried,
we did it! What shall we do? That's when
Peter said, repent and be baptized. This, the thief on the cross,
nobody invited him. He invited himself. That's right. The Lord Jesus did to him, so
will you accept me? This man asked Christ to remember
him. Isn't that true? The publican
in the temple. He knew he was coming to the
front. Nobody asked him to. He stood back in the back. He
cried, Christ, hear me! I'm lost. Be merciful to me,
O sinner. Wouldn't that be wonderful? I
was preaching one time in a place several years ago, and I finished
my message and a man back there said, I've heard it all. That's
me you're talking about down there. Oh boy. You couldn't have stopped him
either. Some of you might have been there at that conference.
That's me you're talking about. The harlot who came into the
feast and washed his feet, who invited her? Actually, if that
had been the way, she wouldn't have been there. She invaded
that place. And my Lord, that's the only
person in the building he saved. She invaded the place. And that's
what I'm saying. Philip preached Christ to this
man. And this man said, what doth hinder me from confessing
Christ and being baptized? And Philip put one fence around
baptism. We used to talk about hints in
the ordinances, hints in the table, hints in the truth. One thing, here it is. And Philip
said two things, if you believe, if you believe with all your
heart, if you believe the things I've
been preaching to you, you believe God's Word, you believe God's
Son, you believe God's promise, you believe God's truth, And
he believed it in here. There's nothing God hates more
than pretense. Hypocrisy, our Lord Jesus Christ
was kind to everybody, but he wasn't kind to Pharisees. Pretenders. Hypocrites. Pretense. He called
them a generation of snakes. That's exactly what he called
them. But that's the reason Pharisee,
he didn't say you believe, he said you believe with all your
heart. And that man replied, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And Philip commanded
the chariot to stand still. And they went, both of them,
down into the water. That chisel is a burial. It's
identification with Christ in his death and burial, and in
his resurrection, the walking newness of life, and his resurrection,
and our resurrection, the walking newness of life. Both Philip
and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out
of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away. The
eunuch saw him no more. No more. He didn't, well, he needed a
preacher, and I'm sure he found someone to teach him, but he
wasn't depending on Philip, he was depending on Christ. Philip
didn't have to camp on his doorstep and keep him safe. This man went
on his way with Johnson. He went on his way with Johnson
and he found in his rejoicing two things. Let me close with
this. Let me give you this. I'll close.
He found some pleasant things and he found some unpleasant
things in the future, in the future
days. But he found some pleasant things,
the joy of forgiveness, the comfort of the Word. Now that he knew
Christ, he saw him all through the way. He read the Word, he
saw him all through the way. The fellowship of other believers,
I guarantee you he looked up some people that made this gospel.
Because when you come to believe it, you look up somebody to worship
with and fellowship with. He found the preciousness of
Christ and the hope of eternal glory. He had a new hope. But
I tell you, he found some unpleasant things to his amazement. He had a new heart, but he still
had an old nature to conflict with. That's right. Secondly,
he found that his religious friends down there didn't understand.
They didn't understand his new faith. He tried to tell them,
but they're not going to understand it. They're not going to believe
you. And they're going to turn on you. And I imagine that surprised
him. I imagine it surprised him when
he found out they didn't. He was rejoicing, but they didn't.
And that'll surprise you. I had some folks tell one of
my friends one time, we liked you better before you got saved.
You were like us. But since you found the Lord,
you make us uncomfortable. And you do, you make religious
people uncomfortable talking about Christ. The third thing
he found was this, his trials increased. Somebody found that
out? As long as you were in the kingdom
of darkness, things went pretty well. But when you came to know
Christ and God started dealing with you in his grace, trials
increased. The grace increases, the trials
increase. For he led us, he chastened us.
David wrote a whole psalm on that matter about the people
of the world go unchastised, they go unhampered or hindered. They go their own way to hell
in success and popularity and great acclaim, while God's people
suffer. But God is working with his people
to bring them to be like Christ. So you'll find your whole nature
still there. You've got the crucified David.
But religious friends don't understand, and they give you a hard time.
Trials increase, and spiritual growth is slow. Don't go like that. It's slow. Slow growth. You read, study
it. The growth is slow. You don't
have any magic keys and formulas to find the will of God. You
seek the will of God, pray for the will of God, ask for revelation,
ask for life, ask for grace, and ask for growth, and you're
still asking when you're 75 years old that God will help you grow
in grace. You know that? of the unpleasant things. And
yet, I hate to call them unpleasant, but they're unpleasant to the
face. They're not unpleasant to the heart. Paul said, I glory
in tribulation, though the tribulation will give patience. I glory in
my infirmities, knowing that they come from God. I glory in
these things, but I'm telling you this, they still hurt. Right? They still make you squirm. They're
difficult, they're difficult. but his grace is sufficient.