A Earnest Seeker Meets Faithful Preacher

I'd like for you to take your
Bibles and open them, please, to the book of Acts, the eighth
chapter, and we'll be reading several verses, beginning with
verse 26. I'm speaking today on this subject, and I think
it is a vital subject and one that will be of interest to all
who are listening to the broadcast. I'm speaking on the subject,
An Earnest Seeker and a Faithful Preacher. earnest seeker and
a faithful preacher. Now Philip had been down in Samaria
preaching the gospel and the Holy Spirit came to him and told
him to go down into the desert in a place called Gaza between
Jerusalem and Ethiopia and Philip arose and went. In the meantime
an Ethiopian eunuch who was in charge of the treasury for the
country of Ethiopia had been to Jerusalem to worship. And
the scripture says in verse 28 of Acts chapter 8 that he was
returning from Jerusalem where he had been to worship, sitting
in his chariot, reading Isaiah the prophet. And the Spirit of
God said to Philip, go join yourself to that chariot. Philip ran to
him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and the place where he
was reading was Isaiah 53. He was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. And Philip asked
him, Do you understand what you are reading? In verse 31, the
eunuch said, How can I understand except some man should guide
me. And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with
him in the chariot. And Philip began at the same
scripture and preached unto him the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
the Ethiopian asked him, Here is water. They came to a certain
body of water. He said, Here is water. What
doth hinder me from being baptized? And Philip said, If you believe
with all your heart, you may. And he answered him and said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now I don't know
how this Ethiopian eunuch came to be a seeker of the Lord. I
do not know how this Ethiopian eunuch secured a copy of the
writings of Isaiah the prophet. But I do know three things about
him, the first of which is this, he had become a proselyte to
the faith of Israel. And secondly, he had made a long,
perilous, and difficult journey from Ethiopia all the way to
Jerusalem to worship God. And I do know this, he was returning
home from Jerusalem, sitting in his chariot with a hungry
mind, with a sincere interest in the things of God, because
he was reading the word of God. He was a proselyte to the faith
of Israel, He had been to Jerusalem to worship God, and he was returning
home, reading the word of God. Now, two things impressed me,
and I want you to think about these two things. First of all,
this man was walking in the light that God had given him. Now,
it was just candlelight, it wasn't the full sun of revelation. It
wasn't the full revelation of Christ in his beauty, in his
glory, in his substitution. It was just a candlelight of
types and shadows and feasts and special days and so forth.
But he was walking in the light God had given him. He was willing
to walk in the light that God had given him. Now my friends,
you and I complain sometimes because of our inability and
our insufficiency and our weaknesses and our ignorance and we groan
about these things. Is this right when we're not
walking in the light that God has given us? This man went hundreds
and hundreds of miles over desert, mountains, a perilous journey
all the way to Jerusalem from Ethiopia, walking in the light
God had given him, seeking more understanding, seeking more light. He was walking in the light God
gave him. And isn't it hypocrisy? When you and I complain about
our inability and our ignorance and our insufficiency and our
lack of knowledge of the Word of God when we're not walking
in the light that God has given us, are you availing yourself
of all of the light that God Almighty has been pleased to
send your way? I'll tell you another thing about
this man. I noticed this. Not only was he walking in the
light that God had given him, but he was reading the Word of
God. He was reading God's word. Now don't tell me that a person
is a sincere seeker of Christ and has a sincere interest in
the things of God if he is not reading God's word. I just do
not believe that a man is a sincere seeker of Christ and has a sincere
interest in the things of God if he is not reading the word
of God. I think it's mocking God to talk
about an interest in God and not search the scriptures. Here
was a man I know was an earnest seeker of the Lord. I do know
this about this man. He was a sincere, earnest seeker
of righteousness and of a relationship with God and of an interest in
the kingdom of God because he was walking in the light God
had given him. And he was reading the word of
God. Now notice the next thing. God
sent him a faithful preacher. You have here an earnest seeker,
walking in the light of God's revelation, seeking a knowledge
of Christ, seeking a knowledge of God. And you have a faithful
preacher God Almighty sent his way. Now I want to make a few
comments right here that I think are applicable especially to
this day. We're living in a sad day. The
pulpit used to be the center of worship. The pulpit used to
be the center of the church. It was the glory of the church.
It was the center of fellowship. It was the center of worship.
It was the center of revival. It was the very heart of the
church, because there God disciplined His church, and there God spoke
to His people, and there the message was brought from the
throne and given to the people. Today the pulpit is a worn out
old piece of furniture. No longer does the pulpit vibrate
with the glory of God. No longer do the people come
and sit and wait to hear from God from the pulpit. This is
a day of organized religion. This is a day of Sunday school.
This is a day of retreat. This is a day of ball teams,
this is a day of church supper, this is a day of gospel singing,
this is a day of choirs and testimonies, this is a day of everything but
old time, Holy Spirit, God anointed, gospel preaching. It's a thing
of the past. How long has it been since you've
heard from the pulpit a message that glorified God, a message
that lifted up the Lord Jesus Christ? A message that you felt
came directly from God to your heart, not to your head, but
to your heart, that God had spoken to you. Preachers today have
become counselors. Preachers today have become ministers
of education. Preachers today have become ministers
of music and youth directors and promoters and after-dinner
speakers, everything in the world. But preachers and prophets of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. The study has been deserted,
the door to the prayer closet has been closed, and this has
brought upon our churches the wrath and judgment of Almighty
God. There is very little real preaching,
heart preaching, Holy Spirit anointed preaching, gospel preaching,
preaching that pricks men in the heart like Peter did at Pentecost,
preaching like John the Baptist who came crying, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. Even our Lord was a preacher.
The scripture says that Christ began to preach. And one time
he said to his disciples in Mark chapter 1 verse 38, I believe
it is, let's go to these other towns, for there I must preach. That's what I came to do, to
preach the gospel to the poor. And then in Mark 15, 16, before
he ascended back to heaven, he said to his disciples, go into
all the world, and do what? promote religion, entertain people. No, sir, go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. Paul said to young
Timothy, Timothy, preach the word. Be instant, in season and
out of season, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering, but preach
the word. In 1 Corinthians 1.21, the scripture
says, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. to save them that
believe. And even the Apostle Paul, who
was a student of the Scriptures, having had that tremendous experience
on the road to Damascus, when God himself spoke to him and
cried, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he lifted his eyes
to heaven into the face of that brilliant light and said, Who
art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Saul said, Lord, what will you
have me do? He said, you go to a certain place and wait, and
it will be told you what to do. And God sent him a preacher,
a preacher. God sent this man a preacher.
And Charles Spurgeon said, in that great day of the coming
of our Lord, in that great day of judgment, in that great day
when the sheep shall be separated from the goats, in that great
day when some will hear him say, depart from me, I never knew
you. And others will hear him say, Come ye, blessed of my Father,
enter into the joys prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. In that great day, when the world is called in glory,
it will be found that the preachers of the gospel, with all their
imperfections, have been the great instruments in the hands
of the Holy Spirit in bringing God's people to eternal life.
Preaching. How little we hear today. how
hungry we are for it. Oh, that God Almighty would raise
up some soul-refreshing, church-reviving, heart-lifting, experimental preaching
of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the hands and in the power
of the Spirit of God. Listen to Paul in Romans chapter
10, verse 13. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sinned? You know the scripture says,
Of his own will beget he us through the word of truth. The scripture
says that we are born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of the incorruptible seed, the word of God. But how does this
word come to us? It comes to us through the preaching
of the gospel. Here was an earnest seeker. Here
was a sincere seeker, a man who had an interest in the things
of God, who was seeking to know God. And Almighty God sent him
a preacher, and that preacher preached unto him Jesus Christ
and him crucified. Now I want to point out about
three or four things. If you take your Bible and turn
with me to Acts, the eighth chapter, and look at it with me, I want
to point out several things that I believe are of interest from
this particular story. Here's an earnest seeker, a man
walking in the light God gave him, a man diligently searching
the scriptures. Here's a man to whom God sent
a faithful preacher. Now what took place between this
seeker and this faithful preacher? What took place between this
man who had a sincere desire to know God and this faithful
preacher who came to him? Well, there was a question presented
first. The preacher asked the first
question. He said to the Ethiopian eunuch,
do you understand what you read? What was he reading? He was reading
Isaiah 53. Who hath believed our report?
To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He shall grow up before
him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He is despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.
He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all." And he goes on talking about
an offering for sin, and being numbered with the transgressors,
and making intercession for the transgressors, and justifying
many by his death. Do you understand what you're
reading? That's what Philip asked him.
That's what the faithful preacher asked the earnest seeker. Do
you understand what you're reading? Do you understand what Isaiah
is saying about you and about me? Do you understand that? All
we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. Do you understand what that means? When he talks about
our griefs and our sorrows and our transgressions and our iniquities,
do you understand what that means? Now, there's no need for me to
talk to you about an offering for sin. if you do not understand
that you are a sinner. There's no need for me to talk
to you about justifying many if you do not see your need for
justification and your guilt before God Almighty. There's
no need for me to talk to you about identification with transgressors
if you're not a transgressor. There's no need for me to talk
to you about intercession if you have no need for a mediator. This is where we start. We start
where the center is. Do you understand what Isaiah
is saying about you and me? That the Lord God looked down
from heaven to see if there were any that did do good, any that
did understand. And he found that altogether
become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. I'm not talking about the drunkard.
I'm not talking about the harlot. I'm not talking about the profane
swearer only. I'm not talking about the criminal
in prison. I'm talking to you. I'm talking
to myself. I'm talking to preachers, and
deacons, and elders, and Sunday school teachers, and church members,
and people in the pew, and in the world, in the pulpit, and
all over the world. There's none that do it good,
no, not one. All have All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. And sin is not just an act, it's
an attitude. Sin is not just my manners, but
my motive. Sin is not just something I do
outwardly, it's something that's within. Sin is not just a word,
but it's a thought. Not just a deed, but it's an
imagination. Sin has to do with my being,
with myself, with my soul. All have sinned. All have sinned. Do you understand that? Do you
understand what you're reading? Everyone who came to Christ in
the New Testament came to Christ as a sinner. He said, the well
don't need a physician, it's those that are sick. I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Christ died for
sinners. And the only way that a person
is going to come to God for mercy is to feel his need of mercy.
The only way a man's going to come to God for grace is when
he's convinced of his guilt. Do you understand that? And then
secondly, do you understand? Philip's talking to this sincere
seeker. Here's this faithful preacher
talking to a sincere earnest seeker. He says, do you understand
what you read? Do you understand what Isaiah's
saying about you and about me and about all of Adam's seed
and about all of mankind, about all flesh? All flesh is grass. And the goodliness of man is
as the flower of the field. The flower withereth, and the
grass fadeth, and it dieth. Do you understand, secondly,
that salvation is an act and a gift of divine mercy? Look at verse 10 in Isaiah 53. It says, It pleased the Lord
to bruise him. Verse 10 says, Thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin. The Word of God says the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. There's no way for
a man to find anything unless he goes where it is. You see
what I'm saying? There's no way for you to find
anything that you're interested in unless you go where it is.
And if you're interested in salvation, if you're interested in eternal
life, if you're interested in a right relationship with God,
you've got to go where it can be found. Where is that? That's
to Christ. That's where it is. Just listen,
if you will, to 1 John 5, verse 11. This is eternal life. This
is eternal life. God has given us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son of God hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Listen
to the word of God. Salvation is of the Lord. The
salvation of the righteous is of God and of him only. The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. I will have mercy, God said,
upon whom I will have mercy. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. This thing of salvation, eternal
life, is not something I do for God. It's not something I do
for myself. It's something God does for me.
It's something God does. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. The pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Peter was trying to
walk on the water. Christ had bid him come to him,
and Peter was trying to walk on the water, and he became conscious
of the waves, and conscious of the wind, and conscious of his
danger, and he began to sink, and then he cried these words,
Lord, save me, or I perish. And that's it. That's where every
sinner must be brought by the Holy Spirit, who truly finds
mercy. It's, Lord, you save me, or I
perish. Isn't that what the publican
said in the temple? Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Isn't that what the thief on the cross said? Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Isn't that what the
leper said, who came and fell on his knees and worshiped Christ?
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Isn't that what Brian
Bartimaeus said sitting by the wayside when Christ came by,
Lord, that I might see? Divine grace is just that, it's
divine grace. Divine mercy is just that, it's
divine mercy. It's God's gift to men through
Jesus Christ. Listen to this old time song,
it's one of my favorites. I'll go to Jesus, though my sin,
like mountains round me rose. I know his courts I'll enter
in, whatever may oppose. For prostrate I'll lie before
his throne, and there my sins confess. I'll tell him I'm a
wretch undone without his sovereign grace. Perhaps he will hear my
plea, perhaps he will hear my prayer, but if I perish, I will
pray, and I'll perish only there. I can but perish if I go, I am
resolved to try, for if I stay away, I know, I must forever
die. Do you understand what you read?
This earnest seeker, sitting there in his chariot, reading
Isaiah 53, this faithful preacher got up beside him and sat down
under the leadership and direction of the Holy Spirit. And if God's
Spirit is not in this, we're all wasting our time. If my voice
is the only voice you hear today, it will be of no eternal value
to you or to me or to anybody else. We must hear him speak
who speaks through his word, the Holy Spirit. He must anoint
the word. He must anoint the preaching.
He must anoint your ears and your eyes that you might hear
him and see Christ. And here this faithful preacher
sat down beside this earnest seeker, and the first thing he
asked him was, do you understand what you read? Do you understand
your condition? Do you understand your need?
Do you understand your guilt? Do you understand your transgressions?
Do you understand your iniquity? Do you understand that in the
sight of a holy God you are a sinner and you deserve his wrath and
his judgment? Do you understand that in your
flesh dwelleth no good thing? Do you understand that? And then
do you understand this, that salvation is not something you
do for God, it's something that God does for you. It's an eternal
work. It's a gracious work. It's a
divine work. It's a heart work. It's not just
walking an hour with my feet. It's coming to Christ in my heart.
Christ said, these people worship me with their lips, but their
hearts are far from me. This thing of salvation is not
just being alphabetically recorded in a church roll book. It's having
the living God come within your heart and live. If any man be
in Christ, he's a new creature. Do you understand that? All right,
now notice the question that the seeker asked the preacher.
He said in verse 34, Acts 8, of whom does the prophet speak? Of himself or some other man. Who is this tender plant, this
infant of days, born of a virgin, lying in a manger, wrapped in
swaddling clothes, surrounded by shepherds, shepherds and common
people? Who is this tender plant? Who
is this root out of a dry ground? born to a lost nation, a nation
whose glory had faded, a nation like the parched, broken desert
sands, glory gone, all hope gone, the little Jewish nation of Israel,
all faded under the heel of the Roman Empire. Who is this root
out of dry ground? Who is this despised, rejected
man, this man upon whom everybody who was anybody turned thumbs
down? Who is this man? Who is this
man of sorrows acquainted with grief? Who is this silent sufferer
who's led as a lamb before her shearer's dumb, led before the
slaughterer, open not his mouth? Who is this man on calvary, this
mutilated, beaten mass of flesh that doesn't even look like a
human being? Who is this man? Who is this one whom they take
down from the cross and put in a buried tomb? Who is this man?
who arose from the grave and ascended to the right hand of
the Father, where he sits waiting till his enemies become his footstool.
Who is this man? Well, first of all, he's the
arm of the Lord. To whom is the arm? And that's
the power of God. Jesus Christ is the power of
God. He is the person of God. He is
the very image of God. He is the brightness of God's
glory. He said, I and my Father are
one. God was in Christ. Secondly, he's our representative.
Yes, he was sinless, no deceit in his mouth. He was tempted
in all points as we are, yet without sin. He is our representative. He walked this earth in human
flesh as our representative. Then he is our substitute. He
was wounded for our transgression, not for his, he had none. He
was bruised for our iniquities, not his, he had none. He was
chastised when our peace was upon him, and by his stripes
we're healed. He is our mediator. He makes
intercession for us, and he's the successful Savior. Look down
there, if you will, at verse 10, 11, and 12. It says, The
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. And he ever liveth to make intercession
for us. If he bore our sins, we don't
bear them. If he died our death, we die
not. If he redeemed our souls, we
are redeemed. And then this seeker said, well,
what does hinder me from being baptized, confessing Christ,
claiming Christ, embracing Christ? Nothing, if you believe. For
he that believeth on the Son hath life. He that believeth
not hath not life. Now these messages are available
on cassette tape if you'd like to have them write to me. Until
next week at the same time, I bid you a very pleasant good day.

A Earnest Seeker Meets Faithful Preacher

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A Earnest Seeker Meets Faithful Preacher

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