Turn back in our Bibles to Matthew
26. Matthew 26, verse 39, And he went a little farther,
and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou will." No one who knows anything about
God or about God's Word can possibly
deny that all of the events surrounding the death of our Lord Jesus Christ,
all of them His birth, his years upon the earth, his rejection
by the people, his betrayal, his denial, his suffering in
Pilate's hall, the abuse which he suffered in the soldiers'
hall, His crucifixion, His burial, His resurrection, no one who
knows anything about God at all, or has any confidence in the
sovereignty and power of God, can deny that all of these events
were purposed, they were planned, and they were foretold or prophesied
by the Father. If you'll turn to the book of
Zechariah, Zechariah chapter 11, verse 12, now here hundreds
of years before Judas was ever born, hundreds of years before
Judas was ever called to be a disciple, before it ever entered his heart
to sell his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, the very price of
the betrayal, what he would do with the money, and what the
priest in the temple would do with the money was all prophesied.
It says in Zechariah 11, verse 12, I said unto them, If ye think
good, give me my price, if not, forbear. So they weighed for
my price thirty pieces of silver. And then, you know, he took the
money back and cast it on the floor in the temple and said,
I've betrayed innocent blood. And the priest said, what is
that to us? And Judas went out and hanged himself, and they
took the 30 pieces of silver and used it to buy the potter's
field, a place for burial for those who were too poor to be
buried anywhere else. And the Lord said unto me, cast
it unto the potter. a goodly price that I was prized
at of them. I took the thirty pieces of silver
and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." The death
on the cross, the Scripture says Christ was the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. It says in Isaiah that He would
be wounded for our transgressions, that He would suffer for our
iniquities, and with His stripes we would be healed. Book of Psalms,
chapter 22, gives the very words that Christ would utter from
the cross, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Another prophet
in the Old Testament tells about the plucking of the beard, about
the piercing of his hands and his feet. His resurrection was
foretold. He said, Destroy this temple,
and in three days I'll raise it up. and he spoke concerning
his body. He said again, As Jonah was at
the belly of the whale or the fish for three days, so shall
the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth. And then if you'll
turn to Acts chapter 4, verse 27 and 28, the Scripture tells
us that everything that Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles
and the people of Israel did to Christ was ordained and determined
before by the Heavenly Father to be done. Verse 27, Acts 4,
Of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod, Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people
of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. The spitting, the
nails, The crucifixion, the death, Jesus Christ was the appointed
Savior. He said, for this hour came I
unto this hour, for this hour came I unto the world. I give
my life for the sheep. All of that was ordained, all
of that was determined, all of it was planned, all of it was
purposed, and all of it was prophesied in full detail hundreds of years
before He ever came into the world. That's so. Only a fool
would deny it. And to deny it is to deny God.
It is to deny the foreknowledge of God. It is to deny the omniscience
of God. It is to deny the power of God.
It is to deny the covenant of God. It is to deny that salvation
is in the hands of God. Yet, yet, I have read to you
from Matthew 26, real agony. and real conflict and real suffering
and real surrender. You cannot deny that all that
Christ suffered was prophesied and planned and foreordained. Yet, when you go to the Garden
of Gethsemane and see the Son of God on His face before the
Father, is human bodies suffering under the weight of our guilt
and our sin and anticipation of the death of the cross and
bearing our hail and being separated from the Heavenly Father, you
cannot deny that in that garden there's some real agony going
on. There's some real conflict and
there's some real suffering. This is no farce. This is no
fixed performance. This is real conflict, and no
one knew of the cross any more than Christ. No one knew of the
certainty of it, the surety of it, more than Christ. And yet
in this garden is a real conflict and a real surrender and submission
to the will of God, as He prayed, If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done."
Now then, no matter how strongly we believe in the purpose of
God, and I do, He worketh all things after the counsel of His
own will. The Scripture says, I am the
Lord. None can stay my hand, or say
unto me, What doest thou? He says, I declare the end from
the beginning, and I declare ancient things, I declare those
things from ancient times as if they had already come to pass. I am the Lord. And Christ said,
all that my Father giveth me shall come to me. And Christ
said, this is the Father's will which hath sent me. that of all
which he hath given me I'll lose nothing, nothing, but raise it
up at the last day. My sheep hear my voice, I know
them, they follow me, I give them eternal life, and no man
can pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of my Father's
hand. I am persuaded neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature can separate me
from the love of God which is in Christ the Lord. Now that's
all so, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believe Salvation
is on purpose. God saves men on purpose. There are no accidents with God.
There is nothing that God does not know. There is nothing that
God cannot do. There is no power that can restrain
Him. There is no force that can stop
Him. When the Spirit of the living
God sets out to conquer the castle of man's soul, the walls come
tumbling down as they fell at Jericho. And when men talk about God can
and He will if you let Him, they're not talking about the God of
the Bible. God can and God will if He wills it. He worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will. He doeth according
to His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of this earth. He is God. He is God. And yet You cannot rule out personal
responsibility. You cannot rule out personal
conflict and personal surrender. Turn to Romans 8.28. Here we
have the word purpose, but here we have also human conflict and
human responsibility. In Romans 8.28 the Scripture
says, and we know, and we know, this is something we know, that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are called according to his purpose. But don't lean
too heavy on that called according to his purpose, and desert that
statement which says to them who love God. They are called
according to his purpose, but they answer. They are called
according to his purpose, but they love God. They're not called
against their wills. Turn to Psalms chapter 110 and
listen to this. They're not called against their
wills. They are made willing. They are
called according to His purpose, but they love God. They sincerely
and willingly and intelligently love God. And it says in Psalm
110, verse 3, Thy people, they are thy people. It pleased God
to make you His people. That's what the prophet said.
I will call them my people who were not my people. And the Gentiles
shall run after thee. But thy people shall be willing. They're not going to be unwilling.
They're not going to be saved even if they don't want to be
saved. They're going to seek the Lord. They're going to run
after God. They're going to cry unto God.
They're going to call upon God. They're going to be willing.
In the day of thy power, turn, if you will, to 1 Peter chapter
1. It says here in 1 Peter chapter
1, verse 5, 1 Peter 1 verse 5, we are kept been talking about our inheritance,
verse 4, that inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled
and that fadeth not away, that inheritance which is reserved
by God in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God. Not by your own holiness, not
by your own zeal, not by your own morality, not by your own
righteousness, but you are kept in the will of God, in the kingdom
of God, in the grace of God, by the power of God, wait a minute,
through faith. God's not going to keep anybody
in his kingdom who doesn't have faith. God's not going to keep
anybody in his family who doesn't have faith. God's not going to
keep anybody in his grace who doesn't have faith. God's not
going to take anybody to heaven who does not have faith. We're
kept by the power of God through faith, not apart from faith,
not in spite of the absence of faith, not even if we don't have
faith, but through faith. So just like in the death of
our Lord Jesus Christ, all things were ordered, all things were
purposed, all things were planned, all things were prearranged by
God the Father in his everlasting counsels of wisdom, But brother,
when those things were brought to pass, there was human conflict,
and there was human agony, and there was human surrender, and
there was human responsibility. Turn to the book of Genesis.
And only a man, a man can only be classified as ignorant who
does not see this in the story of Noah. Listen to it in Genesis
chapter 6. And God says, verse 17 of Genesis
chapter 6, Behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon
this earth. God says, I'm going to destroy
all flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and
everything that is in the earth shall die, everything. Now this
is 120 years, wasn't it, before the flood? How long did Noah
work on that art? Over a hundred years, wasn't
it? God came to Noah, and he said, Noah, I'm going to send
a flood. I'm going to destroy everything that lives. But, verse
18, but with you, Noah, will I establish my covenant. And
Noah, you're going to come into the art. You're going to believe
me, Noah, and you're going to build an art. And when you get
through with that art, you watch it. and your sons, your three
sons and your wife, and their wives are going to come into
that earth, and you're going to be saved. And brother, that's
the way it turned out. That's exactly the way it turned
out. There wasn't anybody left out of that, there wasn't anybody
added to that. Though Noah preached and Noah
witnessed and Noah built for 120 years, that's the way It was done. That's the way it
was purposed, and that's the way it was planned. But when
Noah finished that ark, chapter 7, verse 1, God said, Noah, come
into the ark. There's a clear command, and
there's a clear invitation. Noah, come into the ark. God
didn't pick him up against his will. God didn't drive him. God didn't force him. He said,
Noah come into the earth, and Noah did, and so did his wife,
and so did his three sons, and so did their wives. There was
human responsibility and human surrender. Now then, I want to
take the life of a man whom I know to be a child of God, and I want
to show you. You see, I've read the last chapter
of this man's life. He had to live it day by day.
This man Abraham, whom I know to be a child of God, he had
to live his life day by day. He didn't know what the next
day was going to present. I do. I read, I got his whole
story here. And I can see what God's going
to do with Abraham, and what God's going to lead Abraham to
do, and how God's going to bless Abraham. Everything is going
to happen. But Abraham didn't have this road map. All he had
was the Word of God. And God purposed some things
for Abraham. He purposed that he would leave
his father's home. He purposed that he would have
a son called Isaac. He purposed that he would not
withhold that son from God, but would willingly sacrifice him.
But God didn't make him do that. That he would die at a certain
age, that he would have all of these people, he would be the
father of the faithful. All of that was in the purpose
and plan of God. And yet Abraham lived it day
by day. He lived it in its conflict.
He lived it in its uncertainty. He lived it in its agony. He
lived it in its personal responsibility. He lived it in its personal submission
and surrender, as God just told him to do these things. And he
didn't give him a picture of what was going to happen the
next day. And that's the way God deals with you and me. God
has an eternal purpose, but I can't sit down and fold my arms and
say, well, God has a purpose now, let Him work His purpose.
God Almighty commands me to do certain things, and sometimes
I have a conflict over them. And there's a battle that goes
on, and there's that personal responsibility that enters into
it, though I know confidently in my heart that His will is
going to be done. and his glory is going to be
accomplished. Now turn to Genesis 12, and let's come to the first
conflict that Abraham had. In Genesis 12, verse 1, here
was Abraham living down, and if I'm correct in this, Abraham
was living in a country of idolaters. Abraham was living among a people
who were idolaters. And God said to Abraham, chapter
12, verse 1, God came. He didn't give Abraham a road
map. He didn't tell Abraham what he was going to run into. He
just said, Get out of your country, and from your kindry, and from
your father's house unto a land I'll show you, and I'll make
you a great nation, and I'll bless you, and I'll make your
name great. and thou shalt be a blessing.
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse
thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed."
Abraham, you believe my word, and you get out of this place.
You leave right now. Look at verse 4. So Abraham departed
as the Lord had spoken to him, and that's all the information
he had. He just had the word of God. And so Abraham departed. First of all, Abraham had a surrender
concerning himself. He had a surrender concerning
himself. I imagine there was a conflict
there. He was born there. He was raised there. His mother
and father were there. All of his family was there.
His friend was there. His work was there. His positions
were there. Everything was there. That's
where he had been all his life. But God came to him and said,
get out. And Abraham believed God. Now what is faith? Let me
try to define faith tonight. There are three words, and this
will help you if you listen real closely now. There are three
words used in the Scripture to express faith. I hear these people
on the radio and television and other places say, keep the faith.
Everything will be all right if you have faith. Just have
faith. But what is faith? Everybody
has a different definition of faith. But here are three words
in the Bible that define faith. First of all, believe. And secondly, trust. And thirdly,
receive. Now those are three words that
express faith. But they express faith in a different
manner and to a different degree. First of all, the Scripture says,
Believe. He that believeth on the Son hath life. Turn to 1
John, chapter 5. Listen to this. 1 John, chapter
5. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. And then in 1 John 5, verse 11,
it says, This is the record, this is the record, that God
hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that
hath the Son of God hath life, he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things are written that
you, unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that
you may know you have eternal life. And these things are written
that you may believe on the name of the Son of God." Now, the
word believe seems to have reference to Christ as He's revealed in
the Scriptures. That part of faith, belief, is
to believe what God says about Jesus Christ, to believe what
God says about my Savior, to believe what God says about my
representative. to believe what God says about
His Son. That's what the first part of
faith is, to believe what God has said. I believe that Jesus
Christ is very God of very God, because the Scripture says, In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God, and all things were made by Him. The Scripture
says, Thy throne, O God, is forever. The Scripture says, Feed the
church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. The Scripture
says, Thou shalt call his name Immanuel, which is God with us. So Jesus Christ is very God of
very God. He was man. He was made of a
woman. He was made under the law. He
was clothed in human flesh. He was bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh. How do you know that, preacher?
I believe the Word of God. I believe. That's part of faith.
I believe what God says. He took our place under the law. on the cross, bore our sin, died
for our salvation. That's what the Word says about
it. He who knew no sin was made sin for us. Other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid in Christ. There is none
other name unto heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. We are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver
and gold from our vain conversation received by tradition from our
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. We're not redeemed
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy. He was buried, he rose again
on the third day. The Scripture tells us that.
He died, he was buried according to the Scripture. He's at the
right hand of God as our mediator according to the Scripture. So
faith starts by believing the Word of God, by believing what
God says about Christ. That's what faith is. All right,
secondly, now turn to Ephesians, chapter 1. I said there are three
words that express faith. The second word is trust, T-R-U-S-T. In Ephesians, chapter 1, verse
13. Now, a lot of people can say,
or do say, that they believe that, but they're not saved.
They give mental assent and mental agreement to all these facts.
Yeah, I believe the Bible's God's Word. I believe there's a heaven.
I believe there's a hell. I believe Jesus Christ was born
of the Virgin. I believe He lived on this earth
and died on the cross. History tells us that. We even
date our calendar by His death on the cross so many years before
Christ and so many years in the year of our Lord. I believe that,
but I'm not saying you haven't trusted Him. It says in Ephesians
1 13, in whom you trusted after you heard the word of truth. In whom you trusted after you
heard. A man hears the word of God,
he hears that record, what God says about himself, what God
says about the sinner, what God says about his son, what God
says about salvation. He hears that, he believes that,
and he trusts Christ. to trust Christ as reference
to our confidence in Christ, that He can do all that He says. We renounce all hope and help
from any other souls, and we put our faith and confidence
in Christ alone, that He can do all that He says, and we trust
Him. I stand back And I look at a
bridge across a creek. Here's a creek here. And there's
a bridge across that creek. And I look at the bridge, and
I believe that bridge will hold me. I believe that that bridge
will bear my weight. I believe that that bridge will
take me across. But I'm not going to get across
until I trust myself on what I believe. Until my faith produces
obedience. Until my faith produces some
conduct in accord with the faith, and I step on that bridge and
put both feet on it all my way, now I'm trusting the bridge. And now I'm really believing
what I say, because you cannot separate faith and conduct. A
man says, I believe there's a heaven, and I believe there's a hell,
and I believe Christ is the only way that we can be saved from
hell and be taken to glory. I don't believe he believes it
until he trusts Christ. And then when he trusts him and
he says, I'm committing my soul to Christ, I believe he believes
it then. Now the third word, turn to John
chapter one. Here's the third word that expresses
faith. And that is the word receive.
Now I believe what God says in his word. I believe. I don't
doubt the verbally inspired word of God. I believe everything
He says about Christ and salvation, heaven and hell, eternal life,
the cross, the blood of Christ. I believe it. And I trust Christ. I rest on Him. I believe He's
able to do all that He says. I believe that salvation's only
in Christ. I trust Him and Him alone. Now
then, it says in John 1 12, as many as received Him. Now that's the third part of
faith. I receive him, to as many as receive him. And that word
receive is submit to him and surrender to him. As many as
submit to him, as receive him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God. To submit to Christ, to receive
Christ, is not to receive a part of Christ. Somebody said, I'll
take Christ to save me from hell, but He's not going to be my Lord.
No, He's not going to be your Savior either, because He's Lord
and Savior. You can't take part of Christ.
You can't take some of the benefits of Christ. You've got to receive
Christ as He is in all His offices. I receive Him as prophet to reveal
God to me. I heard a man on television this
evening, brought a good illustration. He said he and a doctor were
sitting out under the stars one night. They were looking at the
beautiful heavens. And the doctor turned to him
and said, wouldn't it be great if somebody'd come down from
up there and tell us what it's all about? And this preacher
turned to the doctor and said, he's already come. He came down
here and told us what it was all about. He said, he that has
seen me has seen the Father. The words that I speak are not
my words, but they're the words of him that sent me. The works
that I do are not my works, but they're the works of him that
sent me. He did come! He did come! And then the doctor
said, well, wouldn't it be wonderful if somebody who died and went
over on the other side would come back and tell us what it's
all about. And the preacher said, he's already
done that. He died on a cross, was buried,
and rose again, and was seed of ten, and then of a hundred
and twenty, and then of five hundred as he ascended back to
the Father. So we receive Christ as our prophet
to tell us what it's all about. And we receive Christ as our
priest to offer an effectual sacrifice on the mercy seat of
glory to put away all our sins. And we receive Christ as our
King. Christ is not going to be King,
He is King. Somebody said, well, one of these
days on this earth, during the millennium, Christ is going to
be King. That's what you think. Christ already is King. He never
has been anything but King. He was King on that cross. He
had the keys of hell and the keys of death and the keys of
the kingdom. For He said to that thief, Today
shalt thou be with me in paradise. I'm God. I'm the King, Christ
is Lord, and to bow to His Lordship, to bow to Christ's Lordship,
is to be saved. So we believe what God has said,
and we trust it with our souls, and then we commit ourselves
to Him as we receive Christ as our prophet, as our priest, and
as our King. Now turn to the book of II Timothy. And see, that's not exactly what
Paul is saying over here in 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 1, verse 12. I want you to look at this very
carefully. 2 Timothy 1, 12. Paul is giving his own testimony
here, and he says, he says, "...for the witch cause I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed."
For I know whom I have believed." Now, what did I tell you faith
was? Three things. Three words that express faith.
Relief. You've got to believe the Word
of God. No man can be saved who doubts God's Word. Nobody can
be saved who says, well, I think a lot of that book is myth. I
think a lot of it's fairy tales. I think a lot of it is just Jewish
history made up. You can't be saved and believe
that. No siree. Paul said, I believe. I know
whom I have believed. I believe the record that God
hath given concerning his Son. I believe it, and I read on.
And I'm persuaded that he is able. I trust him. I don't have any doubt about
his ability. I don't have any doubt about
his sufficiency. I don't have any doubt about
his power. I am persuaded he is able. You couldn't say that about the
church, could you? Because you're not persuaded that any church
has the power to keep you out of hell, are you? You don't believe that about
any preacher either. You're not persuaded any preacher is able
to raise your body out of the grave. One preacher out in Texas
died not long ago, and before he died, he told them, said,
don't bury me now, I'm coming back from the dead. Well, he
hung around until the state made him bury him. He began to stink
like Lazarus, you know. And they had to bury him because
he couldn't have the power over death. Who does? Christ does.
I am persuaded he's able. You don't believe that any preacher
or any priest has the power to get you out of purgatory, do
you? Huh? Do you believe that? Do you believe that anybody's
able to reach up there and erase the sins that are on the books
of God recorded against you? Can you do it? Can I do it? Can
the church do it? Do you believe that the waters
of baptism can wash away your filthy sins? Do you believe that?
No, you don't. You're not persuaded of that,
are you? Huh? You're not really persuaded of that, are you? No,
I'm not, preacher. But Paul said, I know whom I
have believed, and I'm persuaded. He's able, Christ is able, to
bring my body out of the grave because he brought his out. And
he said, because I live, ye shall live. Christ is able to put my
sins away. Christ is able to erase every
black mark against me. Christ is able to present me
to the Father holy and without blame. Christ is able to go into
the presence of God and plead for me. He's been there. He is
there. I am persuaded of it. I trust
it. I can't trust the preacher, and
I can't trust the church, and I can't trust the deacons, and
I can't trust the baptismal waters, and I can't trust myself. I put
no confidence in the flesh, but I can trust the Lord. He shall
not fail. He shall not fail. Oh, my. Well, read on. Paul said,
I believe the record. I believe it. I believe he's
able. I believe he's able. I'm persuaded,
I'm confident that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him." There's the third part of faith. He believed the
record, he trusted the Lord, and he committed himself to Christ. He received Him. Now then, I've
got something to say to you. Now, my brethren, and I want
to be as honest as I can, I want you to turn to Romans chapter
I don't have much confidence in this mass evangelism that's
going on today. I don't have much confidence
in this Hollywood evangelism and these high-pressure invitations
that are getting folks down to the front. Some preacher holds
a meeting, and he has all the people there, and he says, Now
if you're about to save, raise your hand. And about half the
congregation raises their hand. He says, Now put them down. If
you're about to not save, And you want me to pray for you,
raise your hand." So they all raise their hand. They don't
want to be identified with people that don't want folks to pray
for them, you know. They don't want to be identified with rebels
that don't even want prayer, so they raise their hand. He
says, now keep them up. Now everybody's got your hand
up. You mean business. You really mean business. About
that time the choir starts singing softly, just as I am. creating
an atmosphere for the Holy Spirit, you know, to work. If the Holy
Spirit doesn't have an atmosphere, he won't work. And you've got
to have an organ playing softly while you pray, or God won't
hear you. Did you know that? Yeah, when you pray, you've got
to have an organ playing something softly, you know, so people feel
religious. So they feel the presence of
religion. And then the organ plays and
the choir sings. He says, now come on, come on,
if you mean business, come on down here. So here they come
down to the front, and he got them all down there now, and
he says, now you repeat after me. Lord, be merciful me a sinner
and save me for Jesus' sake. Amen. You're saved! Amen! Hallelujah!
You're saved! No, they're not saved either.
No, they're not saved. They've been pressured. They've
been coerced. They've been forced. They've
been embarrassed. They've been twisted. They've
been drugged, they've been button-holed, and when the excitement of the
meeting dies down, they've been lost again. Now, we can give
you two cents for that, and that's what's filling the churches with
unsaved church members. But brethren, the Bible commands
that a man make a public confession of his faith in Christ. not under
the pressure of some evangelist, not under the arm-twisting of
some preacher, not under the persuasion of some soul-winner,
but that that man, if he believes God, and if he trusts Christ,
and if he has confidence in the Son of God to be his mediator,
and redeem him, and stand for him, and save him, and fill him,
then the Bible says for us to confess him. in Romans 10, verse
9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now you say, well, I believe,
and I do trust Christ. Have you ever confessed him publicly? Have you ever owned him with
your own mouth? Have you ever been identified
with him publicly? Have you ever said before the
church and before the world, yes sir, he's my Lord and my
prophet and my priest? For, read on, with the heart
man believes, but with the mouth the man confesses. And Christ
said, if you confess me before men, I'll confess you before
the Father. If you deny me before men, I'll
deny you before the Father. Now the Bible gives us the way
to confess Christ. And you know what it is? It's
baptism. That's right. The Ethiopian eunuch
turned to the book of Acts, chapter 9. In the 9th chapter of Acts,
or 8th chapter of Acts, Philip was preaching Christ to the Ethiopian
eunuch. Here was a man who did not know
the gospel. He did not know the way of life.
And he was reading Isaiah 53. He was reading the Word of God.
And Philip came alongside of him. This man believed God's
Word. And Philip preached Christ to him. And the man said to Philip,
and Philip preached confession to him too, because here in verse
36, as they went on their way, they came to a certain water,
and the eunuch said, Here is water, I want to be baptized. Why do you reckon he wanted to
be baptized? Well, he believed the word of God. And he trusted
Christ as his Lord and Savior. And he wanted to confess him.
because he knew that that was part of faith. You can't separate
faith and conduct. You can't separate faith and
obedience. If I believe this building's
on fire, I'm going to move. I'm not going to stand here and
watch it fall around me. If I believe a thing, I'm going
to act on it. I'm going to be identified with
it. And the eunuch said, What doth hinder me to be baptized?
Now read on. And Philip said, If you believe,
with all your heart, do you believe? You may." And he said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the
chariot to stand still, and they went down, both of them, into
the water. Now you can't picture the death
of Christ with sprinkling. You can't picture the death of
Christ that way. The death of Christ was a real
death, death, burial, and resurrection. And Philip and the eunuch went
down into the water, both of them. and Philip baptized him. And when they were come up out
of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away, and the
eunuch saw him no more. But, brother, that man went on
his way rejoicing. He had believed God, he had believed
the Word, he had trusted Christ to save him, persuaded that he
was able, and he had committed himself to Christ. And he had
publicly identified himself with Christ. And he had something
to rejoice about. He wasn't a secret disciple.
He'd raised the flag of Jesus Christ clear up to the top of
the flagpole and turned a spotlight on it. And he said, I belong
to him. And we're about to know it. That's faith. That's faith. Our Father in heaven, teach us
thy word. Reveal to us Thyself. Bring us
to saving faith in Thy divine Son. We pray that Thou would
bring to pass a vital personal living union between us and Thy
Son, the Lord Jesus, that we might be seated with Him, accepted
in Him, loved in Him, redeemed in Him, and some of these days
joint heirs with Him. Move in the hearts of the people
in this hour to confess Christ not because we persuade them,
but because they believe and because they trust Christ alone,
nothing else but Christ, and that they want to in their hearts.
They're not being persuaded or pushed, but they want to in their
hearts. They want to be identified with
Christ. They want Him to be glorified. In His name we pray and for His
sake. Amen.