I had two experiences today that just further turned me off with
this present day religion. Fundamentalism and decisionism. It's just so phony. So phony. I'm not going to call any names,
but let me tell two stories. As a preacher, was a preacher. Preacher for a number of years.
He was a young man who was, as we say, converted. Made a profession
of faith in a church years ago. Brought up in the church and
felt called to preach, whatever that means. I got a letter from
a young man in Montana this week who told me he felt called to
preach. He felt like God was calling
him into the ministry, wanted some advice about it. He has
a degree from a university in business, but he wanted to talk
about going into the ministry and going to seminary and college
and study to preach. But back on the man I was talking
about earlier, he went to preacher school married. God gave he and his
wife some children. And he pastored a church and
he and his wife sacrificed and saved and lived
on practically nothing to preach the gospel. He pastored a church
a number of years. A number of years. I knew him
real well. Preached for him several times. And then he was called to another
church, and he went to that church and began pastoring, and his
children began to get a little bigger. And again, preached what
we call sovereign grace, five points of Calvinism. And then one day he decided that
he didn't want to be married to his wife any longer. He wanted
to be married to somebody else. So he just left her. left his
wife, left his children quit the ministry and all these things justified
himself in what he was doing and then I found out today that and of
course the judge makes these fellas send their wife a hundred
dollars a month or something like that support the children
I found out this week that He's not even supporting his children
now. He won't send any money. Why? Doing without. The children
are doing without. And I'm just here to tell you
that that's not salvation. That's not God. Now, that's just
not salvation. The man that does those things
does not know God. Now, that's just it. He's already
backslidden. No, he never has slid forward
yet. That's just... paganism. Our Lord said, he that
will not provide for his own household is denied the faith
and is worse than an infidel. Isn't that what he said? Infidel.
But there was a time he was in religion, strong in religion,
and strong in what we call preaching the gospel, pastoring, teaching
Sunday school, and all these things. But Christ was never there. John
said, if they had been of us, they no doubt would have continued
with us. There's nobody here perfect.
There's nobody here immune from failure. But I tell you, God's
people don't continue in sin. They come back. They bounce back.
They rebound. They confess their sins. They get right with God. They
continue in the faith. They do that. They don't quit.
And then this morning, I preached here. I got in the car, I was
one of the last ones to leave, lock up, put the cat out and
turn out the lights, you know, after y'all leaving. Darcy and
I got in the car and pulled out of the parking lot about ten
minutes or a quarter to twelve. And I saw two of our illustrious
citizens, businessmen in their shorts and their t-shirts jogging,
you know. And uh, glabbing all, you know,
coming down the sidewalk as I pulled out to to the red light. Here came these, old as I am
nearly, jogging down the street. And I looked at one of them.
And I've had a lot of dealings with him. He was a deacon in
a Baptist church here. And not just what you call your
ordinary deacon, but he's one of these mouth deacons. Real
religious. Real religious. I went in this
place of business. I had, I did, I know him well.
I've done a lot of business dealing with this man, but he, he, uh,
he told me one day, he said, I've been saved. I've been saved. He said, we had a revival meeting,
evangelist thing, and I've been saved. I said, well, I'm, I'm
awful glad of that. I went over to his desk and sat
down and talked to him. He said, I, I've been in religion for
years, but I've been saved this time. Been saved. And he said,
I'm going to preach. I said, well, that's a big undertaking,
but I'll help you if you'll let me. But he said, I can do all
right, you know. I said, well, I'll bring you
some outlines. I'll bring you some books. And
if this thing's real, you know. Well, he started preaching. And he went out here in the county
somewhere and pastored a church. You know, you don't have to know
God to pastor a church. You know that, don't you? So
he went out in the county and started pastoring a church. And
first thing you know, he's quit the ministry, and quit the church,
and quit everything else, and divorced his wife, and out jogging
on Sunday nights. Well, there's something wrong
with all that, isn't there? Isn't there something wrong with this?
Are you all, am I next? Are you next? You know, are we
going... Is this all we're singing about here, aren't we, and reading?
Is this phony? The world thinks so, because they're seeing so
much of this other stuff. But I'm here to tell you that
this thing of a knowledge of Christ and salvation is real.
It's real. Paul says it's a committal. It's
a surrender. It's a relationship with Christ.
It's a union with the Son of God. And I want to talk about
this tonight. There's so much confusion about
this matter of salvation and the way of salvation and the
way God saves sinners and how God brings men not into a profession,
not into a decision, not into religious affiliation, but how
God brings men into union with Christ. A union with Christ,
a saving relationship with Christ. And I want us to look at a work
of grace that God has been pleased to record in His Word for everybody
to read. Now, this is found in Acts 26.
Will you turn over to Acts 26? I beg your pardon, Acts 8. Acts 8, verse 26. Acts chapter
8. Now I want you to listen. I'm
going to make this message as clear as I can. I'm going to
talk to the boys and girls, to the teenagers, to everybody here
about an experience that you can believe. An experience that
a man can believe. Now there's one thing I know
before we read this scripture. This man was saved. This man This wasn't an idle
profession. This man was savingly brought
to faith in Christ. I have no reason to doubt it.
I have no reason to doubt this man had a saving interest in
Christ. God recorded it in His Word.
No reason to doubt. Secondly, now what's this? This
man was saved that day. That day. There was no waiting
period. There was no mourning period.
He was saved that day. I know we read a lot about awakened
sinners and seeking sinners and hungry sinners, and that's fine.
But this man was saved that day. He met Christ, Bob, that day. I know that. He met Christ that
day. And there were no duties to perform.
There were no duties. There was no proof to present
and no evidence. to bring forth to a board of
deacons or a board of elders. He didn't appear before any board.
He was saved that day. That day. There was no waiting
period. There was no board to satisfy.
There wasn't a vote taken by church. He was saved that day and went
on his way rejoicing. We know that when this man was
saved. We know this man was saved that day. That very day. And
thirdly, we know this. This man had no religious background. Maybe that was better. He had
no religion. In fact, he turned, actually,
at that scripture you read, there's not a person here tonight, not
one, saved and unsaved, that doesn't know that's talking about
Christ. There's not one of them. He didn't know that. He said,
who's he talking about? That's how unlettered and untaught
in theology this man was. Of whom does the prophet speak? This man who was saved that day,
this man who had no religious upbringing or training, was an
Ethiopian. He was not a Jew. He was a businessman. He was not involved in theology.
He was not reared under the law, and we assume, Cecil, he was
not reared in the synagogue. He was an Ethiopian eunuch. And
yet, this day, this man heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, just
like you're going to hear tonight. It's like you've already heard
it in song and in scripture. This man heard the gospel of
Jesus Christ, heard it with these ears and heard it with this heart.
He heard it that day, and he believed it. He believed it so
much that Philip, one of God's servants under divine leadership,
baptized him that day. Philip, who knew Christ, who
knew God, who knew the Word, didn't hesitate to take that
man right into the lake and baptize him that very day. No waiting
period, no restitution. Well, I'll baptize you, but you
go home first and straighten everything out. No restitution,
no doctrine to memorize, no bylaws or constitution to sign, no books
to read, no setting his house in order, no church to join.
But that man that day received, believed, and trusted the Lord
Jesus. And according to this book, he
was S-A-V-E-D that day. Do you believe that? I do. Let's
read the story. Acts 8, 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, a eunuch of great authority, under Candacy,
queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasure,
had come to Jerusalem for her worship. Now, the first thing,
let's just stop as we go along here. The first thing I noticed
about this man was that he was concerned about spiritual matters. He didn't walk up to him cold
on the street. This man was concerned about
spiritual matters. He had some awareness and concern
about God. I know that because he had been
to Jerusalem. This was a long journey, all
the way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem. But this man, having an interest
in spiritual matters and some knowledge of God and some concern
about his relationship with God, had gone to Jerusalem, where
the Jews had met for a feast, and he had gone there to worship.
He'd gone there to worship, he'd gone there to listen, he'd gone
there to hear men talk about God. Evidently, the fear of God
was in his heart. All right, the next thing. He
was returning. He'd gone to Jerusalem to worship,
he'd gone to Jerusalem to inquire about God. He'd gone to Jerusalem
to listen to those men, the scribes and Pharisees and lawyers and
whoever talk about God. He'd gone to observe the feast.
He'd gone to where the people of God were supposed to congregate.
And here he was going home from this feast, from this time of
worship. He was on his way home, and he
was sitting in his chariot, verse 28, reading the word of God. He was reading Isaiah the prophet.
I don't have any idea where he got this scripture. And I don't
know how he was reading Hebrew. I just know he was reading. He
was reading Isaiah the prophet. You see, this is the thing that,
first thing I noticed about this man is that he had an interest
in knowing God. He had put forth some effort
to know God. He'd gone to Jerusalem. He'd
gone where the people of God congregated. He'd gone where
men who were supposed to know God were preaching or teaching.
But that wasn't all. When he left that place, he took
the Word of God with him, and he was reading it. You know,
the Master said this, if any man will to know the will of
God or the Word of God, he'll know it. Do you read the Word? You say you're interested in
Christ, you're interested in the Gospel, you're interested
in knowing God, do you search the Scriptures? Our Lord said,
search the Scriptures. They are they which testify of
me, and this man, This man was concerned. He was sitting there,
though he didn't understand it, he was still reading the Word
of God. And I'll tell you this, this
man was not aware of what God was doing in him and for him.
Now, I've heard people say, well, if I'm one of the elect, I'm
going to be safe. I'm not one of the elect. I'm not going to
be safe. This man wasn't aware of that at all. Now, I do know
this, he was one of the elect. He was a sheep of Christ. You
know, the Lord said to Jeremiah, before I formed thee in the belly,
before you came out of your mother's womb, I sanctified you and set
you apart. The apostle Paul, after he came
to know Christ, said, God separated me from my mother's womb. But
neither Jeremiah nor Paul knew that before they met Christ.
And this man here, this man had a concern for God, had an interest
in God, had a concern to know God, he took that long trip to
Jerusalem. He took part in the sacrifices
or ceremonies or whatever. He listened to the people talk.
Now he was going home, and he was sitting there reading his
Bible, reading the Word of God. He didn't know that God had chosen
him from the foundation of the world. He didn't know that he
was a sheep of Christ. He was trying to find the Lord.
Let me show you something interesting. Hold Acts 8 and turn to John
chapter 1. Now you turn to John chapter
1 and just keep your hand there in Acts chapter 8. Let me show
you something. Most everyone who is saved discovers after
they are saved that it was the Lord who found them and not them
who found the Lord. Did you know that? Most everyone
who is saved discovers after they're saved that it was the
Lord who chose them, instead of them choosing the Lord. That's
right. In John chapter 1, verse 43. Now listen to this. Now listen
carefully. You hear what I'm hearing here.
John 1, 43. The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip and said unto him, follow
me. Who found whom? Jesus found Philip. Is that right?
That's what it says. All right, let's read on. Now,
Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. And
Philip found at Nathanael and said unto him, We have found
the Lord. Who found whom? Philip said he
found Christ. Christ said he found Philip.
I think they're both right. I believe they're both right.
I believe the Lord found Philip. And I believe Philip found the
Lord. And I know this man sitting here that I'm reading about in
the Word of God, a man like you or me, didn't know Christ, didn't
know salvation, didn't know the Redeemer, had no peace, rest,
or joy, forgiveness of sin, no hope of eternal life, but was
concerned, troubled, wanted to know God, had an interest in
God, went all the way to Jerusalem. He didn't find anything there.
Just like today, you won't find much in present-day religion.
And he's on his way home, but he was studying the Word, reading
the Word of God, reading the Word of God, reading the... In
other words, this is what I'm saying. And God was working in
his heart. But this man made use of the
means at his disposal. How refreshing to find a person
who really, truly is seeking the Lord. I guarantee you this,
my Lord said this, you'll seek me and you'll find me when you
search for me with all your heart. If you're really truly interested
in knowing God, you'll know Him. If you're really truly interested
in finding Christ, you'll find Him. Let me show you just a four
or five point outline briefly about those who seek the Lord.
If you'll hold the Bible in Acts 8 and turn to 1 Chronicles chapter
16. 1 Chronicles 16. This is the first thing about
people whom God saved. I'm not talking about folks who
get religion, I'm talking about folks whom God saved. Those who
seek the Lord. This man's a seeker. The first
thing is this, those who seek the Lord do not stop seeking
Him until they find Him. They seek Him continually. They
seek Him continually. In 1 Chronicles 16, 10, and 11,
listen, Glory ye in His holy name, Let the heart of them rejoice
that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and His strength.
Seek His face continually, continually, continually. That's how they
seek the Lord, continually. Like Paul said, Oh, that I may
know Him. Paul knew Christ, wanted to know
Him better. Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. They
never stopped seeking the Lord. They seek Him continually. All
right, Jeremiah 29. They not only seek Him continually,
but they seek Him with a genuine, sincere heart. Now, I'll tell
you, I've said this so often here, I know you're tired of
hearing me say it, but if a person's going to play a game, some sort
of game, play some game besides a religious game. This thing,
let the potsherds of the earth strive with the potsherds of
the earth. Let not a man strive with his maker. Let's not play
at religion. This thing demands a sincerity
of heart. When we sing, when we pray, when
we seek the Lord, it demands a sincerity of heart. Look at
Jeremiah 29, 13. You shall seek me and find me
when you search for me with all your heart. And I'll be found
of you, said the Lord, and I'll turn away your captivity. If
you seek me and find me, if you search for me, you'll find me
when you search for me, with a sincere heart. Are you serious?
All right, thirdly, those who seek the Lord, turn to Isaiah
51. This is the scripture we read
a while ago in the study. In Isaiah 51, they seek the Lord,
remembering who they are and what they are. Like David said,
Lord, who am I? And he said again, when I consider
the heavens, what is man? We don't seek God as those who
deserve him, we seek God as those who need him. We don't seek the
mercy of God as those who merit it, we seek the mercy of God
as those who need mercy. Isaiah 51-1, Hearken to me, ye
that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. Look unto
the rock which you hewn, and to the hole of the pit which
you dig. Remember what you were. Remember
where I found you. And then, fourthly, Psalm 145,
those who seek the Lord. Watch this, Psalm 145, verse
18. They seek the Lord in truth.
In truth, Psalm 145, 18. The Lord is known to all that
call upon Him, to those that call upon Him in truth. I know folks say, well, it doesn't
matter how you come to Christ, just come. Well, now, wait a
minute. Now, hold on. I know that's, I know kind of
what folks are saying to say, but it doesn't matter how. You've
got to come to God by Christ. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come to Him by Christ. Isn't that right? He's able to
save to the uttermost them that come to God by Christ. And a
man who's seeking the Lord and endeavoring to come to the Lord
must seek the Lord in Christ and come to the Lord through
Christ and by Christ and for the sake of Christ. Now, that's
right. In truth. In truth. And then Psalm 27. Let's go back here. Here's another.
Those that seek the Lord, those who are sincere in this matter
and want to be saved. Psalm 24, 27 forward. Psalm 27
forward. One thing. In other words, they seek the
Lord with a single purpose. With a single purpose. They seek
Him continually, they seek Him sincerely, they seek Him remembering
what they are and what they deserve and who they are, they seek Him
in truth, in Christ, and they seek Him with a single purpose.
Not to get off drugs, not to get off alcohol, They don't seek
the Lord in order to get their wife to stay with them and their
children to admire them, and they don't seek the Lord in order
to have a successful business. They seek, look at this, one
thing, Psalm 27, but one thing that I desire to the Lord. That
will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to
inquire in His temple. That's my desire. David said,
I'll be satisfied when I awake with his likeness, to win Christ
and be found in him, to be conformed to his image. That's that single
purpose. All right. Now watch Isaiah 55. Here's another one. Now listen
to this. And I think all these apply to this man, this Ethiopian
eunuch. They seek him while he may be
found. My friend, let me warn you, and
this is something preachers deal with all the time. There's so many people who just
dally and piddle and play about this matter of God and the relationship
with God and Christ, that suddenly they're stricken with some kind
of disease, and they get in the hospital. And it's in for the
preacher, and they want to be saved. And I tell you this, I'm just
telling you, and I've said this often, I've made people mad,
I've run people off from here saying, a man's going to die
like he lived. Now, I promise you that. I promise
you. You see, Mr. Spurgeon said this
one time, there's one dying thief in this whole Bible. Just one.
That's all. Everybody talks about the dying
thief. Turn to the Lord in the eleventh hour. There's one dying
thief. Just one. There's just one that
no one should despair. God's able to save a man in the
eleventh hour. That's not the question. That's
clearly revealed right there. There's one dying thief that
no one may despair. A man was saved in the eleventh
hour of his life on a cross, dying, who couldn't walk or work
or wash or witness or wait. But also remember this, there's
only one that no one may presume. If you come into Christ, you
better come today. Boast not thyself of tomorrow.
Thou knowest not what a day will bring forth. And I'll tell you
this, I'll tell you this. Most every shelter that's ever
been built in a storm has been disassembled in the
sunshine. If a man builds a shelter for
a storm, when the storm's over, he moves out. That's right. But now, if he moves in, in the
sunshine, he'll be there when it rains. Does that make sense,
what I'm saying? Now, I'm telling you the truth.
I'm telling you the truth. And so it says here in Isaiah
55, listen to this, verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Now, in connection with that,
I want to read two scriptures. I want to read Ecclesiastes 12
first. Ecclesiastes 12. I want you to
turn over there. And I'll tell you, you hear this
evening who know Christ and are relatively young. The Lord just
bowed down every night and thanked God. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God He revealed Christ
to them. But won't you listen to this? Please ask these twelve.
Remember now, right now, thy Creator in the days of thy youth,
while the evil days, the days of old age, forgetfulness, that's
what I'm serious now, old age, the days when your faculties
are not as sharp or as keen, days when you're hardened, hardened
in sin, hardened, gospel-hardened, While the evil days come not,
nor the years draw nigh, when you shall say, when you're sixty,
seventy, eighty, eighty-five or ninety, and say, I just don't
have any interest in these things. I just don't have any pleasure
in these things. While the sun or the light of
the moon or the stars be not darkened, that's the mind and
the understanding, the clouds return after the rain. There's
coming a time when your understanding and your alertness and your faculty,
learning new things. You see, we're creatures of habit.
And the longer we live in this state of indecision, or this
state of tradition, or this state of custom, or this state of self-righteousness,
or whatever it is, you get hurt, you get sick, like a granite
rock. And there's no moving. Because
the days come when you, no, I just, I'm just not interested. I've
known young people out of a household, come to know Christ, and their
parents, see, evidently these young people know something,
they've heard something, there's a difference, but they're just
too dull. They're dull, they're not interested.
They've made their profession, they've joined their church,
they've given their dollar, they've lived in this religion all their
lives, and it's just like talking to a wall to talk to them about
Christ. You know what's happened? This
happened right here, those evil days. And it talks about these
things here. It talks about, in verse 3, in
the days when the keepers of the house shall tremble, that's
the arms, and the strong men shall bow themselves, that's
the legs, and the grinders cease, that's the teeth, and they that
look out of the windows be dim and darkened, that's the eyes,
and the doors shall be shut in the street, that's the lips,
when the sound of the grinding is low and rise up at the voice
of the bird, can't sleep at night, All the daughters of music brought
low, can't sing any more. Afraid of that which is high,
terror, fears in the way. Almond tree shall flourish as
the hair turns white. An almond tree in full bloom
is white as snow. Grasshopper will be a burden.
Desire shall fail. What's happening? Man's going
to his long home. And the problem is, I'm telling
you the truth now, you young people listening, the problem
is, he's already started that journey a long time ago. He's
just living out his days now. His habits are set. His so-called
righteousness is set. His religion's set. His tradition's
set. His customs set. And you'll never
know God. That's right. Remember now thy
Creator in the days of thy youth. Call on God. Seek the Lord now. Seek Him while He may be found.
That's right. And I'm so thankful. Some of
you fellas here, and we're getting up in years. Aren't you glad?
We talked tonight. We built this building. Eddie
Stevens built this building, his contract. He's 35 years old. I'm 29. And Paul, you're 34,
35. Some of the rest of you. Jeff
Thornberry was just 44. Cecil, same age as Daddy was
when we... 32 years ago. But I'm so glad
God revealed himself to us then. Aren't you, Cecil? Young. And
I'm telling you young people, you seek the Lord now. Remember
your Creator now. Get into the Word. Move everything
else aside. Because watch this, one other
scripture I want to say in Proverbs. Proverbs. Listen to this. Proverbs
chapter 1. And I could go through the whole
paragraph and name folks that aren't you glad that God revealed
Himself to you when you were able to lay hold on these things. And look at Proverbs 1, 24. Because
I have called and you refuse, I have stretched out my hand,
and no man regards it. Preach the gospel to you, but
you set it not, my counsel, my warning. And you would not, you
would none of my reproof. I'm going to laugh at your calamity.
One day, when your fear comes, I'm going to mock you. I'm going
to mock when your fear comes. When your fear cometh as desolation
and destruction comes as a whirlwind, are you still alive here? And
distress and anguish comes upon you, you're old, you're frail,
you're confused, you're sick, you're dying. Then shall you
call on me. Well, praise the Lord, he called
on God. But I'll not answer. Yeah, praise the Lord, he called
on God, but where's God? Do him no good to call on God,
God doesn't hear him. God said, I called him when he
was thirty-five years old. And when he was forty, I called
him. And he wouldn't listen. I warned
him. I preached to him. He wouldn't hear me. Now, when
his destruction and distress and anguish comes on him, he
starts hollering, Hey, Jesus! Sweet Jesus! Help me, Jesus! I will not hear him. He will
seek me, but he's not going to find me. Verse twenty-nine, they hated
knowledge. They hated the gospel. They hated the gospel. They would
not choose the fear of the Lord. They would not of my counsel.
They despised my reproof. Therefore, they'll eat the fruit
of their own way. They'll die like they live. They'll
be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple
shall slay them. The prosperity of fools shall
destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me
shall dwell safely. He shall be quiet from the fear
of evil. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled. Let's go
back to our text, lest I weary you. But what I'm simply saying
this, in this Acts 8 here, I see a man who's interested in God,
a businessman, an Ethiopian, a man without a religious background,
a man concerned, and he's reading the Word, he's interested. And you know what happened? Verse
29, God sent him a preacher. Then the Spirit said unto Philip,
Go near, and join yourself to this chariot. And Philip ran
thither to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah,"
and this is Acts 8.30, and said, Do you understand what you're
reading? Now, my friends, I know that God is sovereign in all
His ways, and He'll save whom He will, when He will, and where
He will. But I'm equally sure that the
gospel is the power of God unto salvation. I'm equally sure that
if anybody here is saved, comes to know God, you're going to
come to know God through the hearing of the gospel, through
the preaching of the gospel. I believe that. God sent him
a preacher. And he said, verse 31, how can
I except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip to
come up and sit with him and talk with him about Christ. shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved, but I shall call
on him in whom they haven't believed, and I shall believe in him of
whom they haven't heard, and I shall hear without a preacher."
Now, let me digress just a moment. I want to show you several scriptures.
First of all, turn to 1 Corinthians 1. Now, this is important, 1
Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 21 and
23. This is the importance of preaching
the gospel, and hearing the gospel, and doing just what you're doing
right now, listening to the Word. 1 Corinthians 1, 21. Now, the
Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but
we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling block unto
the Greeks' foolishness, but unto them which are called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. Now, go back to verse 21. For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Believe what? Believe
what's preached. All right, Ephesians 1, 13. I
want you to look at this, Ephesians 1, 13. Now, listen to this. It tells in Ephesians 1 about
the work of the Father, the Son, In choosing us, redeeming us,
verse 13, in whom you trusted, in whom you also trusted, when?
After you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
That's when you trusted, after you heard. All right, Ephesians
4, verse 11. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come into
the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
He gave preachers for that task. All right. James 1.18. Don't you look at this. James
1.18. James 1.18. Of his own will begat he us,
born of the will of God, not of the will of the flesh, the
will of man, but of God, through or with the word of truth. We
are born of corruptible seed. I was over in Spain preaching.
Many of you have heard this story, but some of you haven't. I was
over in Spain in 1968 preaching with David Estrada and Farrell
Griswold, and we went to a little protestant church in a back street
and it was a pretty good sized building it was almost as big
as this building here and I preached that night to the place almost
full preached in English but David Estrada translated upon
it and they had an organist who played for the service they had
an organist in the building the organist was superb he was just
a superb organist this man could play so beautifully David Estrada
was sitting on a platform. I said, where'd you get that
fella to play the organ? He's so good. He said, well,
so that man was the organist at the Catholic Church here in,
here in, we say we were in Valencia, Valencia, Spain. He was the organist
here in the Catholic Church in Valencia. And he said one day
he was over at the church practicing the organ. That's a big pipe
organ in that big Catholic cathedral. He's playing the organ. And the
door opened and the priest came in. And the priest was coming
down the aisle of that Catholic cathedral with a stack of books
in his hand. And this organist, when he got down beside the organ
there, said to him, said, What have you got, Father? He said,
Protestant Bibles. He said, There's a missionary
here in town giving Bibles out to some of our people. And I've
gone around and collected them. taken away from him. And this
organist said, I think the providence of God is so beautiful. The organist
said to him, I've never read a Protestant Bible. But it's
not that much different, you know. He'd never read a Bible.
Catholics aren't encouraged to read Bibles. He said, I've never
read a Protestant Bible. And that priest took one off
the top and just threw it to him. He didn't have any doubt
about it. See, this was his organ. He didn't
ever suspect that this fellow, one of God's electors, would
find it. And you know that fellow took that Bible home. Richard
started reading it, and God saved him. God saved him, and he got
to Protestant Baptist Church playing the organ. See, you've
got to hear the words. The man could have sat there,
he probably was confused and muddled and troubled about his
soul, about God and all that tradition and ritualism and candle
burning and confession. He just needed to hear the Word.
And God saved him. Let's look back at our text.
I'll hurry. And so he was reading, the place
where he was reading was Isaiah 53, the place Ronnie read tonight,
and he made sufficient comment on that. He was reading Isaiah
53, verse 32. The place he read was this, he
was led as a sheep to the slaughter like a lamb done before his shearers.
He opened not his mouth in his humiliation. His judgment was
taken away. Who shall declare his generation? His life was
taken from the earth. In other words, he was reading
about Christ. the mysterious incarnate son
of God, the man of sorrow, the substitute, the willing man,
the successful redeemer, the exalted man. And when Philip
sat down beside him and he pointed out Isaiah 53, he was wounded
by transgression, bruised by iniquities, he said, Of whom
is the prophet speaking here, of himself or another man? Now
look at the next verse. And Philip opened his mouth,
verse 35, and began at the same scripture and preached unto him
Jesus Christ. That's what I'm preaching to
you tonight. That's what I preached to you this morning. Salvation's
in Christ. It's in Christ. It's in Christ. Our Lord came
to this earth. You see, there's a holy God,
and there's a holy law to fulfill, and there's a holy justice to
satisfy. And God sent Christ into this
world to be the Redeemer, the ransom. Let Him go, I found a
ransom, to be our righteousness. He fulfilled everything. He was
buried and rose again. And God says, by the very fact
of His resurrection as evidence, God has accepted Him. The very
fact of His resurrection says God is pleased with His obedience
and pleased with His sacrifice and pleased with His death. and
took him to glory and sat him down at his right hand and said,
Believe on him. Trust him. Rest in him. Not in
your works and duties and deeds and feelings and experiences.
Rest in him. Believe in him. And that's what
Philip did. He told him about Christ. Well,
come back again. I'll talk to you later. Oh, no
sir. He found a man who was dead serious.
And as they went their way, verse 36, wouldn't you like to have
been in that chariot? But I tell you, he didn't tell him any more
than I told you this morning, and again tonight, and Ron read.
Ron stood here and read, and said, this is Christ, born of
a tender plant, brewed out of dry ground, a Jewish... He told
him the same thing he told you. Oh, if I could have just heard
Philip. You'd have believed in Philip, not in Christ. Or if I could just heard Spurgeon
preach, you'd have died and gone to hell trusting Spurgeon. Paul
said, I thank God I baptized none of them. There's not anybody
in the church can say, oh, Paul baptized them because they go
to hell trusting Paul. I'll tell you, God intended for
you to hear whom you're hearing. And having no confidence in the
vessel, but confidence in the vessel of God. Christ is the
message. Isn't that right, Mike? It's
Christ. You've got to trust Christ, not the preacher, not the church,
not the doctor, not the Baptist. Cherish Christ. Philip just happened
to be one God sent. Any of the rest of them could
have done the same thing. And as they went their way, they
came to a certain water, and the eunuch said, Hey, here's
water. What does it mean to me to be baptized? I want to confess
Christ. And Philip said, Well, if you
believe with all your heart, You may. He said, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He commanded the chariot to stand
still, and they went down in the water, both Philip and the
eunuch, and he baptized them. And they came up out of the water,
and the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch saw
him no more. Think about that now. He saw
him no more. But his eyes were on Christ anyway.
Now, I've got an article in the Bulletin, and I'm not going to
wear you with reading the whole thing, but what is it to confess
Christ? And I'd like for you to read
it. What is it to confess Christ? I believe it's a good article. It may be helpful to you.