The Conversion of a Sinner

the faithful man of God had been
stoned because of his message of grace, his gospel that he
preached. And it says in chapter 8, verse
1, Saul, Saul of Tarsus, was consenting unto his death. And
at that time there was a great persecution against the church
which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad. throughout the regions of Judea
and Samaria except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen
to his burial and made great lamentation over him, as for
Saul of Tarsus he made havoc of the church. He entered into
every house, and hailing men and women committed them to prison. Now note this. Therefore they that were scattered
abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Was it not the providence of
the Lord that caused these believers to go to other places to preach
the word? Here they were in Jerusalem,
fellowshipping together, worshipping together, going from house to
house. And Saul of Tarsus came in and these leaders of religion,
rebels against the gospel, killed Stephen. That gave them incentive. They began to kill other Christians
and throw them into prison. And because of this, the believers
left Jerusalem and they went to other places. And wherever
they went, they preached the gospel. That's the reason our
forefathers came to these shores and preached the gospel. Because
of persecution, they were driven from Ireland, England, Europe. They came to America. I'm glad
they did. I'm glad they came here and preached the gospel
of Christ. And here we have, in the beginning of this chapter,
this is what Philip was doing down in Samaria. Look at verse
5. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria. He left Jerusalem because of
the persecution. And he went down in Samaria and
there he preached Christ to them. Persecution was brought upon
the church at Jerusalem. I hope we don't get at ease in
Zion and comfortable here so that God has to send trouble
and trial to get us to leave the nest. I hope he doesn't have
to put some thorns in the nest to get us to move, to have a
vision and a burden and a concern for people in other places who
haven't heard the gospel. Let's don't get too comfortable
and at ease. And God will send these things.
The wrath of man will praise the Lord. The Lord isâ€”it was
Satan who brought Job's trials, but God permitted it. And nothing
happens in the life of a child of God or a true church or the
life of a true minister of which God is not the first cause. It
may be the deepest, darkest trial. It may be the deepest, darkest
sorrow or sickness. It may be persecution. It may
drive us from the nest where we're so comfortable and at ease
and resting. But God's design and God's providence
is to take us to another place to preach his word, to preach
Christ. Philip would not have been down in Samaria if he had
not been for the persecution. That's so. And he went down to
Samaria, and look at verse 5, it says, and he preached Christ
to them. Now I want you to hear me for
a moment. This is the message of the church. This is the old,
old story that's always new. This is the business of the church
to preach Christ. This is our message. This is
a message that saves sinners. And the only message, let us
keep to the gospel of Christ. There are many, sad to say, churches
and organizations and religious groups who have lost faith in
the gospel. They're using every means and
method at their disposal to get people to come to church, to
join the organizations, to make some kind of commitment to God.
The gospel is still the power of God unto salvation. The gospel
is the only saving message. It's the only message that will
whittle the sinner down. It's the only message that will
give the sinner hope. It's the only message that will
give us a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I
must needs go home by the way of the cross. There's no other
way but this. I'll never get sight of the gates
of light if the way of the cross I miss. We must preach the gospel. Now listen to me. Let the church
be glad. And I wouldn't mind going on
record with this. Let the church be glad when anything is done
that will help temperance, that will help morality, that
will aid the cause of freedom, that will encourage education,
but the one business of God's Church is to preach the gospel.
Don't ever forget it. There are a lot of preachers
in our area that can get excited over temperance drives, educational
drives, drives of anti-communism, all of the societies The legalizing
of morality, the shutting down of stores on Sunday, blue laws.
Why don't you join with them in these enterprises, pastor?
Why don't they join with me in preaching the gospel? Our one business is to preach
the gospel. I've not lost faith in it. I
do not believe you can legalize morality any more than you can
educate men into the kingdom of God. Men are regenerated and
born into the kingdom of God, and only the gospel is the power
that makes men new creatures. I've never lost my confidence
in it. If God visits our community with the gospel, our community
will be a better place in which to live. If God visits your home
with the gospel of Christ, your home will be a better place in
which to live. You can see all the counselors and educators
and templates, workers in this world and they will only clean
up the outside of the cup and leave the inside full of extortion
and excess. My God doesn't start cleansing,
the cleansing process on the outside, he begins it in here.
And when in here, when something magnificent and mighty and majestic
and something almighty by the power of God is performed You'll
have a different man and a different woman. I like that story Spurgeon
told about the businessman who always left his little village
and went into London to make his bank deposits and do his
buying and so forth. He lived in a small town outside
London. Saturday, and he'd take care of his weekly financial
business, and he had a little boy. Never taken his son with
him, only son. He decided one Saturday he'd
take him with him. He'd been going into town for
years, into London. He asked the little boy if he'd
like to go with him one Saturday morning. The little boy said,
I certainly would. So they got the buggy hitched up. This was
a long time ago. They got in the buggy and the horse, and
they drove to London. And they went around a few places.
And then the father said to the lad, he said, now I've got some
business to take care of where you can't go. And he said, tell
you what I'm going to do. And he went over to a place with
a park, a storefront, an alcove sort of thing. He had a box there.
And he said, now you sit here, son. I'm going to take care of
some business. I'll be gone 45 minutes, an hour, but don't you
leave. You sit right here and watch the birds and watch the
people and the cars and you wait for Daddy right there, right
here in this place. Now, son, don't leave. I'll be
back." And so he went on and took care of his business and
strangely, he went over and got his buggy and his horse. His
mind was active and he didn't even think about that boy and
he got in the buggy and went home. And he arrived at home. towards sundown, the sun was
still up, but just a little bit. He walked in the house, his wife
says, where's our son? He said, I forgot him, I've left
him in town. He got back in that buggy and
drove like Jehu, getting back to London. He made all the curves
fast as he could, he pulled up there where he left that boy,
and there sitting on that box, in that storefront, alcove place,
was that little fella still sitting there. And his daddy came up
and fell on his knees and wept and hugged him. He said, son,
thank God you're safe. He said, well, you told me to
wait on you right here. And I'm waiting. And Spurgeon
closed that illustration with these comments. He said, when
my Lord went back to Glovey, to sit as my representative at
the right hand of the Father, he left me at the cross. And
he said, you stay there and I'll come for you. Don't you leave. Don't you leave. Whatever the
temptation, whatever the call, however beautiful it looks, don't
leave the cross. I'll be back. And we need to
learn that. I'm afraid in most cases, in
most places, The attractions of this world and the glamour
of religion and the uniforms of religion and all of the dogmas
and all of the synods and all of the attractions of this world
have taken men away from the cross. And let me tell you something,
the heart's deceitful and desperately wicked. And don't you ever say,
I'll never leave it. You say, by God's grace, I'll
never leave it. By God's grace. The old story is never old. It's
always new. The old gospel of Christ. Philip
went down there in Samaria and preached Christ to them. He preached
Christ to them. I don't care if you're 17 or
75, that's the only message. It doesn't matter if you're just
starting in the ministry or if you're winding up your ministry,
it's still the only message. It doesn't matter if you're a
wealthy businessman or a poor man, it's still the message.
It doesn't matter if you're a senator or if you're nothing but a ditch
digger, it's the only message. Christ. Alright, Philip was successful. It says in verse 6, the people
with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. Unclean spirits,
crying with loud voices, came out of many that were possessed
with them, and many taken with palsies, and that were lame,
were healed. God gave him credentials. God gave him proof of his He
represented Christ. He was an ambassador of God.
He gave him signs and wonders that the people might hear him
and believe. And there was great joy in that city. But wait a
minute. It says down here in verse 26,
and the apostles even came down. It says that the apostles came
down from Jerusalem, down here in verse 14, to see what was
going on in Samaria. But I must move on. But the Holy
Spirit came to Philip in verse 26 and said, Philip, arise and
go towards the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem
to Gaza, which is desert. Philip was successful in Samaria.
God blessed his ministry. God honored his ministry. Revival
and blessings fell upon that city. The great joy spread throughout
all the city. God spoke to Philip and told
him to leave. Now you can't always account
for the providence of Almighty God. Our thoughts are not his
thoughts. If it had been up to you and
up to me, Philip would have stayed there and finished his ministry
there. He would have stayed and preached to those Samaritans.
He was the talk of the city. God was blessing. Even the apostles
came down to counsel him. And here he was in this great
revival, he had the ear of the city, and suddenly God came and
said, leave Philip. And he didn't call him to a larger
church. This always amazes me about the ministry. We talk about
we're preaching for the glory of God, we're witnessing for
the glory of God, but it seems like the glory of God always
leads a man to a bigger church. The will of God always leads
a person to a more comfortable situation. We know that's not
the will of God for us because that's a step down. We know that's
not the will of God for us because that will deprive us. We know
this is not the will of God for us because that's not what we
want. Philip, I've got a ministry for you to one man. That's right, Bob, one man. That's
what it is. You leave. Lord, I've got some
crowds. This whole city's turned upside
down, and I came down here and started preaching Christ, and
this whole city's on its ear. Just go down in the desert, Philip,
and one sheep of Christ down there. Oh, the mystery of God's providence. You know, I wish we had smaller
thoughts of ourselves and greater thoughts of God's glory. In that
way, we could sweep some floors for God's glory, couldn't we? Our thoughts are too magnificent
concerning ourselves. There are too many tasks that
are unworthy of our attention. If we had smaller thoughts of
ourselves and greater concern for God's glory, there's a good
possibility God just might use us, but he's not going to with
the attitude most of us have. Who here can enthusiastically
minister to one little boy? Not many. Who here could enthusiastically
leave a place of honor and position and power and go to the desert
and talk to one man about Christ? Not many. Well, the Lord led
his servant to a sinner, and the sinner to his servant, and
through the witness of his servant he led that sinner to Christ.
And who knows? This man was from Africa. And
later on, some of the strong, Ronnie, the strongest churches
in the world were in Africa. I don't know where that eunuch
went or what God did or how God used him, but I know that God's
Spirit moved in Africa. And these mighty churches sprang
up there. And this is one of the first
converts I read about from that area, the eunuch. were five things,
and I'll make them brief. First of all, and I think this
is applicable to every one of us, first of all, Philip met
a seeking sinner. They're hard to find. They're
hard to find. Philip met a seeking sinner.
It says in verse 27 of Acts 8, and Philip arose and went. God
told him to go and he went. This is the way a man of faith
behaves. God tells him and he obeys. And
behold, a man of Ethiopia, eunuch of great authority under Candacy,
queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure,
and had come to Jerusalem to worship. Now, I don't know a
whole lot about this man, but I'll tell you what I do know.
I know, first of all, that he was a man from Ethiopia, a pagan
nation. He was a man from a heathen nation.
Secondly, I know he was a man of great authority. I know the
gospel is to the poor, the poor in spirit. But I have the same
message. I don't care if you're on welfare
or if you are supplying most of the welfare. It's the same
message. God save sinners. This man was a man of great responsibility. This man was a man of great authority. He had charge of the whole treasure
of the Queen of Ethiopia. A man of great power, great responsibility,
great authority. A trusted man. A trusted man. But he needed the Savior. He
needed the Lord. But most encouraging about this
man, he was seeking the Lord. Now he did not know Christ, he
had not come to a knowledge of Christ, he did not know the gospel,
he had not come to a knowledge of God's grace and God's mercy
in Christ, but he was making use of the means of grace. This is the thing that I would
encourage every one of you, make use of the means of grace. This
man had made a long perilous journey all the way to Jerusalem. He heard something about the
living God. He heard something about the
true God. He heard something about the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. He heard something about death,
and judgment, and hell, and eternal glory. He heard something about
these things, and he didn't go in an airplane, an air-conditioned
car. He went with a caravan in a chariot
hundreds of miles to Jerusalem to worship. In verse 28, he was
returning, sitting in his chariot, reading Isaiah the prophet. This
ought to make us ashamed of ourselves. We talk about, well, I'd like
to know the gospel, I'd like to know the truth of God's word,
I'd like to know Christ, and yet we don't use the means God
gives us. It troubles me, it troubles me
to hear people talk about wanting to know God, desiring a right
relationship with God, concerned about their welfare, their souls,
concerned about their children, concerned about their families,
and yet they never use the means that God has given them, the
place of worship, the house of worship, the preaching of the
gospel, the Word of God. Spurgeon once said this, listen
to it, be true to the truth as it comes to you. If God gives
you only candlelight, Make good use of it. Make good use of it. Those who are willing to see
God by the candle light will soon be illuminated by the sun
of revelation. Many groan over their inability
to understand God's word who have not even studied God's word. This man was reading the scripture.
Here was a seeking center, here was a concern center. I'll tell
you this, I don't care if I lived in Pikeville or Parkersburg or
whether I lived in Charleston or Chillicothe or whether I lived
in Summit or whether I lived in some small town in eastern
Kentucky, I'd find me somebody preaching the gospel and I'd
sit on his doorstep till God revealed to me the gospel. Yes,
sir, I would. And that's what this man did.
He found out about God. And he went to where God was
moving. He went to where God was speaking. He went to where
God was revealing himself. He went to Jerusalem. And he
got him some copies of the Scripture, the Old Testament. And my friend,
he was reading it. He was reading it. This is where
Christ is found. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And I want to say this to myself
and to you too. And I'm going to say it to myself
as harshly as I can, and to you as plainly as I can, affectionately
and lovingly. We better get these Bibles open
and start reading them. I mean reading them. This book,
Christ said, will judge you. We're not responsible for what
Baptists believe, we're responsible for what God says. We're not
responsible for what our forefathers preached, we're responsible for
what God says. And we better find out what he
says. I had and you had too. This is where Christ is found,
this is where hope in life is to be found, this is where you
find a reason for the hope that's in you. God said so. Alright, secondly, Philip met
a seeking sinner. A seeking sinner, how delightful
to meet a seeking sinner. A sinner who makes use of the
means God has put in his hands, the light, even the candlelight
or moonlight that God has given. Walk in the light God gives you
and he'll give you some more. Secondly, Philip presented a
strong question. Look at verse 30. Philip ran
thither to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and
he said, here's a good question, do you understand what you're
reading? Isn't it remarkable that this
man was reading, at this time, the best text, the best text
that Philip could have selected? to preach the gospel to him,
Isaiah 53. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. By his stripes we're healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray. We turned everyone to his own
way and God had laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was reading
a portion of scripture from which without the slightest digression
that Philip could preach unto him Christ the Lamb of God. That's
the Holy Spirit's Word. The Holy Spirit never leads the
minister without leading the sinner. Now you check that through
the word. He led Christ to go through Samaria,
but there was a woman who came to the well. He led Philip into
the desert, and here was a eunuch. He led our Lord into the house
of Simon, here was a harlot. He led Christ through Jericho,
here was Zacchaeus. I'm telling you, make use of
the means. He led Christ down the street and there sat blind
Bartimaeus. Do you understand? Philip said, you're reading,
you're reading that. Do you understand it? Do you
understand man's fall into sin and condemnation? Oh, we like
sheep have gone astray. Do you understand the depths
of human guilt? Do you understand the depths
of human depravity? Do you understand the depths
of human corruption? Do you understand the attributes
of God? He's holy, He's merciful, He's
love, He's righteous, He's truth, He's gracious. Do you understand
that? You understand how God can be
just and justify the ungodly, do you? Turn over to the book
of Daniel for a moment. I want to show you something
beautiful here. Daniel, the sixth chapter. Let me tell you a story. There was a king by the name
of Darius. And he had three presidents over
his kingdom. One of them was named Daniel.
You know who he is, Daniel, the man of God. There were two others.
Daniel was the first president. There were 120 princes, senators
or something, under those three presidents. Daniel was number
one. The whole 120 princes and the
other two presidents were jealous of Daniel. And they took advantage
of the king's vanity and pride. Daniel was a man of God, a man
of prayer. And they came to the king one day. You read Daniel
6, and we'll read you something else from it in a minute. Just
hold it there. They came to King Darius one day, and they said,
O king that liveth forever, we want to honor you. He said, all
right. They said, I'll tell you what
we want to do. We want you to sign into effect a law. By the
law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be altered, cannot
be changed. Once the King signed the law
of the Medes and the Persians, it altereth not. Now, O King,
we want you to sign this into law for 30 days, that no man,
woman, can ask anything of any God except you. Cannot pray to any God except
you. Cannot recognize or worship any
God but you for 30 days. Boy, that pleased him. My, my,
he was lifted up with pride like old Herod. Boy, he got out his
whatever they signed it with and he signed it. the law of
the Medes and the Persians, which altereth not, no man can pray
to any god except Darius for thirty days." Well, they went
down to Daniel's house because they knew they had him. And old
Daniel, you'll read it there in verse 10, now when Daniel
knew that the writing was signed, he went to his house. He heard
the windows being opened in the chamber towards Jerusalem. He
kneeled upon his knees three times a day and he prayed and
gave thanks unto his God as he did a fourth time. It didn't
change Daniel. Well, these fellows, they ran
to the king. Boy, they found him praying.
Verse 11, they ran to the king and they said, O king, is it
not true That the law of the Medes and the Persians alter
it not. He said that's true. They said, okay, verse 13, Daniel
is praying. Verse 14 says, Then the king,
when he heard these words, was displeased with himself. He loved
Daniel. He loved him. And he set his
heart on Daniel to deliver him. And he walked the floor to the
going down of the sun to try to find a way around that law.
Can you imagine the predicament? I call it Darius's Dilemma. What a predicament. He'd played
the fool. He'd signed that thing in the law. And here it was.
He knew what they'd done. They had his friend Daniel, whom
he loved. But he had signed it in the law. And he walked the
floor. How can I spare Daniel and not
violate this law? If he violated this law, he was
out. His kingship was gone. His kingdom,
his throne was gone. That was all there was. He had
to enforce that law. And you know what the penalty
was? Thrown into the lion's den. That's what the penalty was.
And finally, they assembled, those fellas did, and said, it's
time for you to carry out the sentence." And the king said
to Daniel, he said this, the king of Rose, verse 19, very
early in the morning, went in haste, well that's after he'd
thrown him in, but in verse 16, the king commanded and they brought
Daniel, and they cast him into the den of lions, and the king
spake and said, Daniel, your God whom you serve, he'll deliver
you. But I want to draw a parallel
here. God Almighty has written a law. Thou shalt have no other
God before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain. And then on down the line. And
God, when he gave this law, he said, do this and live. Break
this law and die. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. God has signed that into law. Now God Almighty cannot
alter his law. He cannot clear the guilty. He's
a just, righteous God. Well, our God didn't labor till
the going down of the sun to see what he could do. How can
I show, how can I deliver my friend and keep my law? How can I set free my friend
and honor my law? He already had the way purposed
and planned. He brought his son down here
into this world made of a woman, made under the law, and his son
took our place in the seat of judgment. His son took our place
in the seat of condemnation. His son took our place on the
cross of Calvary. And there God's holy law was
satisfied, and there God's holy law and the obedience of his
son was honored, and there God's holy justice was satisfied as
his son paid the debt. His son went into the lion's
den in our place, and we were set free, and the law was satisfied. We were punished in the person
of Christ. We died in the person of Christ. You see that? That's the gospel.
And that's what he was reading. That's what this man was reading.
He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for... We violated
the law, and yet Christ was wounded for our transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on him by his strife. We're healed. And so when Philip
asked this fellow, do you understand what you're reading? Thirdly,
he met an open heart. I tell you, this is a blessing,
to meet an open heart. This man, here was a wealthy
man, here was a man of great responsibility and authority,
and here was a barefoot preacher. And he's reading the scripture,
and he's reading it with a confused mind. He says, who's he talking
about, himself or somebody else? And Philip said, do you understand
what you're reading? He said, how can I? How can I? The natural
man receive it, not the things of the Spirit. Neither can he
know them. They're spiritually discerned. How can I? Somebody
shows me. Would you come up here and show
me? Would you? I'd sure like to find
somebody with an open ear and an open heart who was willing
to sit down and listen to God's Word. Everybody I meet, though,
they've pretty well got it all fixed up. About everybody I meet,
I don't meet many seeking sinners with open hearts. I meet folks
that got it fixed up years ago down there in some old country
church where they made a profession of faith or had an experience
or got a feeling or made a decision and they're not concerned about
their souls or Christ or heaven or hell or anything else. But
oh, this man was, how can I? Would you come and sit with me
and would you talk to me about the gospel? And you know what
Philip did? Look at verse 35. Then Philip
opened his mouth, he found him a seeking center, he found an
open heart, and he opened his mouth and began at that same
scripture and preached to him Jesus Christ. And I want to tell
you something here, I want you to listen good for the second
time. Right here, I want you to listen real good. I wish that
I could impress upon you the grave responsibility of this
very moment. And this moment the eunuch faced
as God's sent servant crossed his path, came to this climactic
moment, and preached unto him the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you this, a man who
hears what this man heard, and what I just told you tonight,
how that Christ enables God to be just and justifier. You can
go and hear about sweet little Jesus, boy, and have very little
responsibility because sweet little Jesus, boy, doesn't save. It's the Lord Jesus who saves. You can go see a nativity scene,
and you can go hear about the babe in the manger, but when
you hear the gospel, the gospel of substitution, the gospel of
divine satisfaction, the gospel of God's grace, glory, and redemption,
when you hear that gospel and you're confronted with that Savior,
you either got to be better off or worse off. You're not going
to be the same. That's a fact. He that increaseth knowledge
increaseth That's right. A man who hears
what this man heard, he asked a point-blank question to God's
preacher, who is this substitute? And he began right there and
told him about Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, the gospel of
glory, the gospel of redemption. When you come in contact with
the Christ of God, You've got to be better off or worse off.
You can't be the same, because you've either got to receive
him or reject him. And that's right. You've got to receive him or
reject him. It's good news to those who receive him. The Word
of God says, our gospel. Now, it's not our entertainment,
our singing. Although there's some gospel
in what we're singing, but it's our gospel. that is the saver
of life unto life or death unto death. This is one of the things
that I'm trying to be honest with you. Either I'm God's servant
or not, and if I am, and if I got this message from God, I either
got it from God or I didn't, and this is either his gospel
or it's not, but what if it is? Now you just ponder on that a
little bit. And a fellow comes in and he nods and sleeps during
the message. Or a fellow comes in and sits
down and he's got his Baptist catechism or Presbyterian catechism
or his pre-millennial catechism or his all-millennial mold and
I don't fit it and he just whittles me away, you know. He's in trouble,
see. Somebody's in trouble. If I'm
not God's servant, I'm in trouble. If I am God's servant, somebody
else is in trouble if I preach the gospel. So it's heavy, isn't
it? It's a tremendous responsibility.
That's the reason I often say, why does anybody want to appear?
Everybody wants to get in somebody's pulpit and under God. I don't
know why. Everybody wants to be a Bible
teacher, and I can't figure that out. We're either speaking for
God or we're not. There's no middle ground. God's
either sent us or we're running without a message. You just,
what that fella say down at the conference, Bruce, he says there
are men who are sent by God but not by men. They're sent by men
but not by God. There are men sent neither by
God nor by man. And there's some men who are
sent by God and man. I want to hear him. I want to
hear him. But I tell you, this man right
here, who heard Philip, he heard God's name 31 times. And I hear people say, well, you
know, I've been going to church for 20 years and I'm still unmoved
and unconverted. Well, let me tell you something,
I don't believe you ever will be converted. I can't find an
example like you anywhere from Genesis to Revelation. You find
one, read it to me, of a man who dallied in indifference and
carelessness and procrastination. People in this Bible heard the
gospel, and when they heard the gospel, they were either better
off or worse off. It either lifted them to praise
God or put them on their faces in rebellion. Paul either had
a revival or a riot, but he didn't meet with indifference. And I
know what's happened in this day. We've got this little silly
easy believism that says God's out there waiting on you anytime
you want to, you can go to the door and let him in. And that's
what's caused it. And man thinks the latch is on
this side and he's got God in his hand and God in his power
and he'll do with God what he will, when he will, if he will.
That's not what Scripture says. God's gracious to even call on
you. God's gracious to even introduce
himself to you. God's gracious even to move in
your direction. Anything this side of hell is
mercy. That's right. And this old boy, I'll tell you,
he listened to Philip and they came upon a body of water. Now
here's the last thing Philip, Philip preached Christ to and
then Philip called for a committal to Christ right there. He sure
did. Why'd this man ask for baptism?
Wasn't any baptism in Isaiah 53. Can't find any baptism over
there. Philip rode along there in that
chariot. And he preached Christ to him, but evidently he had
a few other things to say, too. About believing Christ, and trusting
Christ, and receiving Christ, and confessing Christ. For Paul
said, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth, and believe in thine
heart, thou shalt be saved. You believe Christ is Lord, and
confess Christ. Our Lord said to his disciples
before he sent them into the world, Go ye and preach the gospel
to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. And this man that came to a body of water,
and Philip didn't say, now don't you think he ought to be baptized?
I wish we'd leave sinners in the hands of the Holy Spirit.
I remember one time, years ago, we had a revival, what we called
a revival. And we had a bunch of people
make professions, and I was assistant pastor, and, boy, we worked for
the next two months trying to get them all baptized, you know.
We'd call on them, stand on their doorstep, worry them to death,
send them cards, call them on the phone. But this man turned
to Philip, and he said, here's water. What does hinder me from
being baptized? And Philip said, well, I'll tell
you. If you believe in your heart, what I preach to you, Then you
may. And that man said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus
who was crucified is the Son of God. I believe Jesus of Nazareth
is the Son of God. It's quite evident to me that
this eunuch was clear in his faith and clear in his confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he wanted to confess Christ right
then. Right then. Let me warn you preachers
who are here tonight. Don't start this six-month waiting
period and stuff like that in your church, examine a man, bring
him before a board before he can be baptized. Philip was baptized,
the eunuch was baptized that day, Lydia the same night, the
Philippian jailer the same night, all his crowd. You're either in Christ or you're
not, and six months won't make a difference. That's right. Come
to know Christ. That's the way to confess Christ.
It's by following him in baptism. And he went on his way rejoicing.
And Philip was taken somewhere else. And he went on his way
rejoicing. The conversion of a sinner. Our
Father in Heaven, bless the Word tonight, We pray that it shall
have gone forth, not in the wisdom of men, nor in the power of men,
but in the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit, that the people
here tonight have heard thee speak through thy word. O Lord,
those who know Christ strengthen their faith, and those who know
not Christ reveal the Savior to their hearts. O Lord, crowd
in upon them in a mighty work of thy Spirit. Bring them to
a saving interest in the Lord Jesus. For his sake we pray. Amen.

The Conversion of a Sinner

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The Conversion of a Sinner

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