Philip was a deacon in the early
church, and said to him, Arise, and go toward the south, and
to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is
desert. And he went, he arose and went,
and behold, a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch of great authority,
unto Candacy, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her
treasure, and had come to Jerusalem. for to worship was returning,
and sitting in his chariot read Isaiah the prophet. Now how this
important Ethiopian, this man was not a Jew, he was an Ethiopian,
and how this important Ethiopian came to be a Jewish proselyte,
I don't have the faintest idea. I just know that he was. I know
that this man from Ethiopia had gone to Jerusalem to worship. He had gone to Jerusalem on a
particular feast day to worship God. Evidently, some way he had
come in contact with the Scriptures, for on the way home he was reading
the Word of God. As he walked in the light that
God gave him, the Lord was pleased to give him more light. He had a copy of the Scriptures,
and he had gone to Jerusalem to worship And on the way home
he was reading the word of God and God was pleased to send him
a messenger to reveal unto him his word. How many of us really
make use of the light that God has given to us? Someone said
one time, faith can only take one step at a time. And as we are faithful to walk
in the light that God gives us, it will please the Lord to give
us more life. But this man had been to Jerusalem,
and he was on his way home, and he was reading God's Word. Now
that's good news in itself. Our ignorance can be traced to
the fact that the Word of God today is thoroughly neglected. Turn with me to the book of 1
Peter, chapter 2. Listen to what Peter says here.
1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 2. He says, as newborn babes desire
the sincere milk of the word, a new baby is born, it must have
milk, it must have milk or it'll die, and as that baby craves
and thirsts and hungers for milk, even so we are to desire the
milk of the word. that we may grow, that we may
grow in grace, that we may grow in faith, that we may grow in
the knowledge of Christ, that we may grow in the gifts of the
Spirit. How? By the word of God. Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way by taking heed to the word of God. Now turn
to 2 Timothy. In 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse
16, 2 Timothy 3.16, Paul is writing and he says, All Scripture All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God. That is, all Scripture
is God-breathed. Now men wrote the Scripture,
they recorded it, but God inspired it. All Scripture is God-breathed
and is profitable. For what? For doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man
of God, that is, the believer, the child of God, may be perfect
may be mature, may be full grown, fully furnished unto all good
works. Now turn to 2 Peter 1. Now here
is a scripture that I want you to look at with me very carefully.
This man was on his way home from Jerusalem. He had been to
worship, been to the feast day, was interested in God, in eternal
life, he was interested in spiritual things, and on his way home he
was reading God's Word, reading the Word of God. Now then, in
2 Peter 1, verse 16, the Apostle Peter says, We have not followed
cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. I hear people say, I wish I had
lived on this earth during the days of Christ. I would like
to have been an eyewitness to the glory of Christ, to the majesty
of Christ. Peter, the particular incident
to which he refers here is when he and James and John were on
the mountain, and Christ was transfigured before them, and
they saw him in his glory. You remember he appeared there
with Moses and Elijah, then they saw none save Jesus only. He
said we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. When you like to
have seen that, I'll confess to you, I would have, I certainly
would have. For he received from God the Father honor and glory,
when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory,
which said, This is my beloved Son. Peter said, I heard that
voice. I saw his glory. And I heard
that voice say, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Wouldn't that have been something
to have been there? Read on. And this voice which
came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy
Mount. But now I want you to watch this
next verse. And brethren, if this doesn't encourage you to
study your Bible, to read the Word of God, if this doesn't
encourage you to look into this book and make it a more vital
part of your life, I don't know how in the world I could persuade
you. Now here's what Peter said. He
said, I'm not following cunningly devised fables. I'm not just
passing on to you some tradition that I received from my father.
I saw his glory. I was with him on that mountain
when the father himself said, this is my son in whom I'm well
pleased. I saw his glory. But we have also a more sure
word of prophecy, more sure than an eyewitness account, more sure
than having been there and with human eyes saw this transfiguration
and with human ears heard this voice from heaven. This is a
more sure word of prophecy. whereunto ye do well, that ye
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, unto
the day dawn, and the day star rise in your heart, knowing this
first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of God, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Peter says here that the inspired
infallible, verbally inspired, inerrant word of the living God
is a more sure word of prophecy, a stronger, firmer foundation
than if you had seen His glory with your natural eyes. and heard
it with your natural ears." That's exactly what he's saying here.
He said, I was there, and I saw his glory, and I heard that voice. But he said, we have a more sure
word of prophecy, whereunto you do well if you take heed. And that is the God-breathed,
God-inspired, God-preserved, God-ordained word that we have
right here in this Bible. I'll be perfectly honest with
you. I had rather live in 1974 with the completed word of the
living God in my hand than to have lived in the days that Christ
walked this earth without the fully inspired, completed word
of the living God. We have a more sure word of prophecy. I'd lot rather open the book
and read what God says than have a man come to me and say what
he saw. I'm telling you the truth. That's
what Peter says here. It's a more sure word of prophecy. This man read. He was reading
the scriptures on his way home from Jerusalem, reading the scriptures.
He read with hunger. He read with desire. Now, brethren,
I fear that sometimes we read the Bible as a duty. Well, I ought to read some of
God's Word today. It's my duty as a Christian to
read God's Word. You're not going to get much
out of it that way. I'm afraid sometimes we read
the Word of God perhaps to prove our tradition. We get up in the
pulpit, And also we go home and we read the word of God to prove
election, or to prove free will, or to prove eternal security,
or to prove baptism by immersion, or to prove the perseverance
of the saints, or to prove the irresistible call of the Holy
Spirit. Don't read God's word to prove anything. Read God's
word to learn. We read God's Word to prove our
tradition, or prove our doctrine, or perhaps to argue, or perhaps
to answer some strange question or old wise fable. God's not
going to bless that. I get so unhappy sometimes when
I pick up the telephone, somebody finds out I'm a radio preacher
or pastor of a church, and they call me. And they don't call
and say, Preacher, I'm a sinner. and I'm lost and I need a Savior,
would you tell me how to be saved?" I haven't had very many of those
calls, a few but not many. They don't call and say, Brother
Mahan, read the word of God to me about the incarnation of Christ,
how he came down here to this world and took on himself the
likeness of sinful flesh and went to the cross and died and
was buried and rose again and is coming again. Explain to me
how that he bears away our sin and bears away our guilt and
bears away our condemnation. No, that's not what they say.
Doris will answer the phone, she'll call me the phone, and
the lady or man on the phone will say, Brother man, yes, this
is the radio preacher, yes, I've got a Bible question I want you
to answer for me. Okay, what is it? Well, it can't
get his wire. Brother man, is it in the Bible
you robbed Peter to pay Paul? Brother man, is that really in
the Bible every turban will sit on its own bottom? I'm telling
you the truth. It would make your heart sick.
Where is this found in the Bible? Where is that found in the Bible?
Is this true? Is that true? Is something else
true? But practically 98% of the time it's some foolish, silly,
old tradition, old wives' tale that wouldn't amount to a hill
of beans if it were so or if it weren't so. But this man,
this hungry-hearted man, this convicted man, this sinner, seeking
sinners, seeking God, seeking mercy, was sitting there reading
his Bible with a hungry heart, with an ignorant heart, but with
a hungry heart. And brother, he was reading in
the right place. You turn to Isaiah 53. Now the
writer Luke, Luke wrote the book of Acts. The writer of the book
of Luke records Isaiah 53, verses 7 and 8. That's what he was reading.
But I'm sure he was not only reading verses 7 and 8, he was
reading the whole 53rd chapter of Isaiah, this man was. The
whole 53rd chapter. In Isaiah 53, this is what he
was reading. He was reading the essentials.
He was reading about sin. He was reading about salvation.
He was reading about substitution. He was reading Isaiah 53, and
Isaiah wrote, "...who hath believed our report, and to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed, he shall grow up before him as a
tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground." He hath no
form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there's no
beauty that we should desire him. He's despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we
hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised, and we
esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. And we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgression,
he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we're healed. Oh, we like sheath
have gone astray, we've turned every one to his own way, and
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." And Philip
stood there and listened to him read. And then Philip, God's
servant, said to him, Do you understand what you're reading? Now my friend, don't be offended
when I ask you, do you understand what you're reading? Don't be
offended. Don't be offended. I know that in your home you're
an important person. Intelligent. I know that on your
job, some of you men are very important men. You've got great
and grave responsibilities. You're intelligent, you're educated,
you're important, but don't be offended when I ask you if you
understand what you read. This man wasn't offended. This
man was an intelligent man. He was the servant of the Queen. The Queen. This man was an important
man. He had charge of all her treasure. Now you think the Queen of Ethiopia,
you think how rich she must have been, how wealthy she must have
been. This man had charge of her treasure. He was the treasurer of the nation
of Ethiopia. He was an important man. And
this man was an influential man, for it says in Acts 8, he was
a man of great authority. And yet the deacon here, Philip,
the servant of God, didn't hesitate to ask this man. Important, intelligent,
influential. He didn't hesitate to ask him,
very pointedly. You understand what you're reading?
Now, men by nature, Do not understand this book. Turn to 1 Corinthians
2. I want to show you that. And
then, by nature, I don't and you don't either. Now, I've been
preaching a while. I started preaching when I was
in the Navy. I was 18 years old, back in 1944. And I preached
a while there, and then I went to school. I pastored a church
in Chattanooga, and then I've been preaching up here since
1950, 51, 25 years, and I've done a lot of
preaching. I've preached, somebody figured
out, around 12,000 sermons, which requires a certain amount of
reading, a certain amount of study. But every time I get in
there in this study and start reading this book, I have to
pray. I have to plead with God, please
reveal thy word to me. I'm as dumb and ignorant as if
I was just now starting. I have to pull down the commentaries,
I have to pull down other writers, I have to compare, I have to
read this and read that and look into this, pick up the Amplified
version, pick up the American Standard version, pick up the
British version, read it, read this, and pray. God, don't let
me be wrong now. Don't let me be wrong. Show me
what you're saying here. Show me what this line means.
And he says here in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, the natural man
does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness
to him. Neither can he know them, they
are spiritually discerned. The man who thinks that he can
look into this God-breathed, divinely inspired Word of the
living God of the universe and understand it like you understand
a catalog or a funny book, he's a fool. That's exactly what he is. And
I want to warn every one of the members of this church. Our visitors,
I hope you'll be warned too. We have several visitors. But
let me say to you very earnestly and sincerely, don't be a know-it-all
where this Bible is concerned. Don't make a fool out of yourself
by arguing the Word of God. If a man thinks he knows, he
doesn't know anything like he ought to. Now there's something we can
speak dogmatically and with some sense of authority, but brethren,
I tell you, this is God's Word. And we're nothing in the world
but a bunch of foolish, fickle, sinful, carnal, natural people
with finite minds trying to understand the infinite, trying to comprehend
the infinite, eternal God whom the heavens can't contain. We're
trying to contain in these little peanut minds of ours. how we need to cry out to God.
Oh, God teach me. Let me show you. Turn to John
3. Here was a man of Israel called Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. And Christ talked to him about
the primary things of the kingdom of God, the new birth, the spirit-regenerating
work. And this man didn't understand
it, and Christ said in John 3.10, Are you a master? A master of
Israel, and you know not these things? A master of Israel. Are you a master of Israel? I'm
not. Here was a master of Israel who
didn't know these things. Turn to John 16. Look at this
verse here. John 16, verse 13 and 14. We need some help, don't we?
We need some help. Philip said to this man, Do you
understand what you read? Do you understand it? Brethren,
there is no understanding it apart from someone's help. In John 16, 13, this is the someone. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of
truth, is come, he'll guide you into all truth. For he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear That shall he speak,
and he shall show you things to come, and he shall glorify
me." The Holy Ghost is going to glorify Christ. "...for he
shall receive of mine, and show it to you." So don't be offended.
When I read the Word of God to you, and ask you, do you understand
it, don't be offended. Don't be offended. Here was a
man in the 8th chapter of Acts to whom Philip spoke, An intelligent
man, an important man, an influential man, a powerful man, a man of
great authority. And yet, he didn't understand. And so he said to Philip, he
said, how can I except some man guide me? Guide me. Turn to Ephesians 4. Now then,
God Almighty has put in the church a man to guide you. It's a very
responsible position. It's a very serious position.
God has put men in the church to guide you. God's Holy Spirit
is our teacher. But God's Holy Spirit uses the
voice of faithful preachers and elders and deacons to guide you.
Yes, it does. Look at Ephesians 4, verse 10,
talking about Christ. Ephesians 4, 10. He that descended
is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that
he might fill all things, fulfill all things. And he gave some
apostles, and he gave some prophets, and some evangelists, and some
pastors and teachers. What for? For the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ. God put these men in the church
that you might hear the word and understand it, that they
might teach you and show you and guide you, God's Holy Spirit
being the teacher, the minister being the voice, till, verse
13, we all come in the unity of the peace. And until we all
come to a knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, under
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So the
Holy Spirit is the teacher, the minister or the elder or the
deacon is the voice, and the Word of God is the instrument. The Word of God is the instrument. Now I want us to look at this
passage that this man was reading again, Isaiah 53. Will you turn
back there a moment? And very briefly, I want to point
out two or three things. Number one, what is here, what
is there here to be understood? What is there here to be? This
man was reading. Here was a sinner. Here was a
lost man. Here was an important man, an
intelligent man, but he was seeking the Lord, and he was reading
God's Word, and he didn't understand it. And the servant of God came
to him and said, Do you understand what you're reading? And how
can I except some man guide me? Alright, Philip guided him, and
this is what he showed him. What is there here to be understood?
Isaiah 53. Let's look at it. First of all,
the first thing to be understood is our guilt and our sin. That's the first thing. Only
on the basis of guilt can a man approach God. Only on the basis
of guilt can a man approach God Almighty for mercy. Mercy is
for the guilty. Grace is for the guilty. Look
at this now, Isaiah 53 verse 6, or verse 5. He was wounded
for our transgressions, our iniquities. Our transgression, our iniquities. Verse 11. By His knowledge, the last line,
my servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Verse 12, the last part of verse
12, he was numbered with the transgressors. He bared the sin
of many, made intercession for the transgressors. That's the
first thing that Philip pointed out to him, was his sin. His
sin. We're talking here about our
transgressions, our iniquities, our griefs, and our sorrows.
And the second thing I'm sure that the Apostle pointed out
to him, not perhaps in this order, but at least verse 10, the second
thing is God's grace and God's mercy. Verse 10, Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. This death of Christ, this sacrifice
of Christ, this substitutionary work of Christ is not man's doing,
it's God's doing. For God so loved the world, He
gave His only begotten Son. It was God who sent Him. It pleased
the Lord to bruise Him. It was God who crucified Him.
It pleased the Lord to reveal Him. It was God who sent the
Holy Spirit to open our eyes to see Christ as our substitute. And I'm sure Philip showed him
not only our guilt and our sin and God's grace and God's mercy,
but he showed him who Christ is. He said, who is this? This
substitute for my sin, this sacrifice that God sent, this Redeemer
that God's mercy has given to me, who is he? Now look at verse
2. He shows us the incarnate Savior. Jesus Christ, who is very God
of very God, came down here to this earth. He shall grow up
before him as a tender plant. You know what that suggests?
We go out and plow the ground, we plant a seed, and the ground
crusts over. It rains on it, the sun shines
on it, and then one morning you walk out there, and there, just
bursting through the broken ground, is a little green, tender plant. And it grows a little higher,
and it gets about an inch or two taller, and it's so tender,
and you go out and cultivate around it, but you don't dare
step on it, or you don't dare hit it with a hoe, because it's
so tender. Oh, some of these days it'll
be a strong stalk of corn, but right now it's just a tender
plant. And there was one time on this
earth when God's whole program of salvation, God's whole plan
of redemption, God's whole purpose in redeeming spiritual Israel,
God's whole program of redemption from the election of eternity
to the fulfillment of glory in the future universe was lying
on the lap of a little teenage Jewish maiden as a frail, tender
plant, nursing her breast and so close to death. There's the
hope of Israel. There's the salvation of the
Lord. There's the whole kingdom of God. There's the whole incarnation
of the Godhead bodily. There is God's redemption lying
on the lap in swaddling clothes of a little Jewish maiden. A
tender plant. That's what he's talking about.
Read on. As a root out of dry ground. What's that talking about?
A dead nation. A nation with no power, a nation
with no freedom, a nation with no liberty, a nation with no
refreshing, he's born of Israel, a despised nation. A despised
nation. I've seen little plants' roots
growing in the ground that's so dry and parched, it looks,
well that's dead, that'll never live. But a little rain falls
on it, and after a few weeks you see a shoot come out of it,
and it was life in that root. When he's talking here about
the Jewish nation, this Bible was written in two languages
dead years ago, Hebrew and Greek. The Lord Jesus Christ came from
David's house and lineage that was all but gone, out of a Jewish
nation that was under the power of the Roman Empire that had
no seat of government of its own, a root out of dry ground.
He had no form of comeliness. He was not born in a palace,
he was born in a manger. He was not born of a king, he
was born of a peasant. He was not born surrounded by
political powers of all nations. He was born surrounded by cattle
and sheep and shepherds. And when we see him, there's
no beauty that we should desire him. He's despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows. That's our incarnate Savior. And then verse 4, I'm sure that
Philip pointed out the suffering Savior. He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. We did esteem him strict and
smitten of God. And then verse 7, I'm sure Philip
pointed out to him the silent Savior. He was oppressed and
he was afflicted, yet he didn't open his mouth. Brought as a
lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shearer was his dung,
so he opened not his mouth. Several reasons why Christ never
answered these charges. Number one, they were true. Why,
you mean to tell me that you believe, preacher, that folks
that accused him of blasphemy were telling the truth, not about
him, but about those he represented, and telling the truth about us
and Christ stood in our place. When they accused him of all
these awful crimes of treason and rebellion, they were true
not of him, but of those whom he represented. God's judgment
was falling not upon Christ, but upon us whom he represented.
And he stood there, the silent Savior, though himself. Verse
9, he was the sinless Savior, no guile in his mouth. How much
terrier. Verse 10, Philip pointed out, I'm sure, the successful
Savior. It says, It pleased the Lord
to bruise him. He hath put him to grief when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. Christ not only died
in the body on that cross, but his soul suffered. He was separated
from the Father. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hands. He was a successful Savior, and
then verse 11, I'm sure Philip pointed out to him, he is a satisfied
Savior. He shall see the travail, the
birth pains of his soul, and be satisfied. and be satisfied. That's what's there to be understood.
The suffering Savior, the silent Savior, the sinless Savior, the
successful Savior, the satisfied Savior, and the sovereign Savior. Who's this man talking about?
He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, turn to Acts
8, and then I'm going to close. What is the evidence? Here's
the second and last question. What is the evidence that I understand? What is the evidence that I understand? Now, we read this tonight. God has pointed out our guilt,
which we cannot deny. God has pointed out his grace,
which is the source and fountain of all mercy. And God has pointed
out his Savior, Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. There it is, right
there. This man riding along, Philip stopped and preached to
him, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. He took the scripture and preached
to him, Jesus. Now, what is evidence that thy
do understand? First of all, two things. Look
at verse 36. And as they went on their way,
they came unto a certain water, and the eunuch said to Philip,
Here is water. What does hinder me to be baptized? Here is the first evidence that
a man understands what he reads. He will believe and he will confess
Christ. Yes, he will. And Philip said
to him, Do you believe that you are a sinner? Do you believe
Christ died for your sins? Do you believe he's the only
Savior? Do you believe he's the one who is our great High Priest,
our Advocate, our Mediator, our Intercessor? Philip didn't ask
him how he felt. Philip didn't ask him if he'd
seen any visions. Philip didn't ask him what kind
of experience he had. Philip didn't make him sign a
pledge card that he'd do different things when he got home. We just
ask him, do you believe? And this man said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is God Almighty. And brother, he was baptized.
He confessed his Lord, and that's the first evidence that a man
understands what he reads. Don't tell me that you understand
you're a sinner and willing to stay in your sin. You don't understand
what sin is. Don't tell me you understand
that you're on your way to hell. Don't tell me that. You understand
that death may come at any moment, that God may call you at any
moment, that you'll stand before a holy God to answer for your
crimes against him and your sins against him? You understand that
and you're willing to stay in that condition? I don't believe
you understand it. You say you understand that Jesus
Christ is the hope of sinners, that He's the only Savior of
sinners, that He's the only Redeemer of sinners, and you won't confess
Him? You won't publicly acknowledge Him? You don't understand it. No, you don't either. Because
as soon as this man, he said, Philip said, do you understand
what you're reading? He said, how can I except somebody
show me? And Philip showed him. And he
said, I want to confess the Lord. I want to confess the Lord. I
want everybody to know that Christ is my Lord. The second thing,
very quickly, and I close with this. If a man understands, he
will find joy and delight in Christ. Look at verse 39. And when they were come up out
of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, took
him away, and the eunuch saw him no more. He didn't have a
crutch to lean on. Philip didn't stay with him.
God took Philip away from him. God took his teacher away. God
took his preacher away. But God left him his savior.
And he went on his way rejoicing. Not in Philip, in Christ. In
Christ. Not in a system of theology,
in Christ. This man found forgiveness in
Christ. He found peace in Christ. He
found salvation in Christ. And he went on his way satisfied,
rejoicing, rejoicing. It all happened here in just
a few minutes. When the great Bible scholar,
Bingo, was dying, he sent for his young assistant. And he said
to him, Charles, I'm very low in spirit. I'm very depressed. Would you say something to cheer
me up?" And the young man looked at that old gray-haired warrior
who had been his teacher all these years and his leader, and
the young man said, Dr. Bingle, I'm so young and I'm
so ignorant. What can I say to a great man
like you? And the old man said, Well, son,
you're a minister, and you should have a word for a dying man.
What would you say to any dying man? And the young man, Charles,
stood there a moment, and then he said, Well, sir, I would say
that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from
all sin. And the account goes, the old
man clapped his hands and said, That's it. That's what I needed
to hear. Go, Charles, and tell all men
That's my joy and my hope. Christ Jesus, his blood, cleanseth
us from all sin." And he slipped away. That's all I can tell you. That's all Philip told this man
here. There it is, there's the account of it right there in
God's Word, which is a more sure word of prophecy than an eye
I experience, and eyeball to eyeball, Peter says some more
sure word of prophecy right here. Here was a man ignorant, yet
important, ignorant but intelligent, ignorant but influential, and
he's reading there Isaiah 53, how that Christ is the Savior,
Christ is the substitute, Christ is the sacrifice, and he said,
I don't even know who he's talking about, and Philip said, talking
about Jesus Christ. And he showed him how that Christ
was the fulfillment of these scriptures. And this man said,
I want to be baptized. And Philip said, do you believe?
He said, I sure do. I sure do. And he baptized him. I believe. One step at a time. Are you walking in the light
God's given you? I guarantee you he will not give you any
more of you walking that line. Have you gone through the door
he opened? He won't open another one until you use that one. I
know what you want. You want the same thing I want.
You want to see the end of the road, don't you? But you can't
see that faith doesn't see the end of the road. Faith sees one
step at a time. That's all God reveals. And He's
not going to give you... I want to know! You're not going
to know until you believe. I want to know I'm saved. I want to know I'm secure. I
want to know I'm well. You're not going to know until
you look to Christ. The healing doesn't come before
the look. It comes after the look. I want peace. You're not going to have peace
until you walk in God's light, until you trust God's Son, until
you confess His Son. You're not going to have any
peace. Our Father in Heaven, give us
faith to believe, to trust, to rest in Christ. Though the road
be rocky, though the burdens be heavy, though the way be dark,
Christ is our light. Christ is our life. Christ is
our salvation. Only in Him do we hope, do we
trust, and do we believe. We find in Him our full satisfaction. Impress someone tonight with
this word. Impress them, O Lord, to confess
Christ, to publicly own Him, to walk in the light that you've
given us. This is my son, hear ye him. In his name we pray,
amen. We're going to sing a closing
hymn, and if you're here tonight and God has spoken to your heart
like he spoke to this Ethiopian eunuch And he's revealed to you
your guilt, his grace, and the only Savior. And you want to,
like the Ethiopian eunuch, publicly to make your faith known. You
want to walk down here and stand by me and say, by coming, Jesus
Christ is my Lord and my Savior. I want everybody to know it.
He's my only hope. I don't have all the answers.
I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. Forgetting those things which
are behind, I press forward toward the mark of the prize of the
high calling of Jesus Christ, my Lord. I want everybody to
know He's my Lord. He's going to have to give me
grace, He's going to have to give me strength, He's going
to have to enable me, but I want everybody to know He's my Lord.
He's my Savior. Sink or swim, I cling to Him.
If I go to hell, I'll go to hell believing on Christ. But I'm
going to do what God said. I'm going to believe the record
that he had given concerning his son. What number do you want
to sing? 252. Let's stand together while
we sing. Come every soul by sin oppressed,
there's mercy with the Lord, and He will surely give rest
by trusting in his word. Only trust him, only trust him,
only trust him now. He will save you, he will save
you, he will