It's good to have those of you
who are visiting with us today. We invite you to come back at
every opportunity. As has already been mentioned,
our pastor is away today. He and his family are on vacation. Ministers of the gospel need
to be refreshed just like everybody else does. And we need to pray
that Lord would give them a good time together and that he would
be refreshed in spirit. Remember that our evening service
this evening at six o'clock and that we will have no eat no Wednesday
evening service this week. It's a blessing for us to have
Brother Lance Heller with us today. Brother Heller is going
to be bringing the message this morning and tonight. He's a faithful
minister of the gospel in New Guinea. And we're privileged
to have him with us. Every message he's ever brought
has been a blessing. And I know that you'll be blessed
today by the messages. And we're thankful that he can
be here and his wife Robin. and pray that you'll pray for
him as he brings the word and that God will bless the word.
Brother Lance, you go. If you'd turn with me to Acts
chapter eight, And while you're doing that,
let me just remind you of some words that the Lord Jesus spoke
in John chapter 12, where he said to his disciples, now my
soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour. But for this purpose, I came
to this hour. And I couldn't help but think
as Ken was reading that psalm this morning, you know, the Lord
knew he was coming to that place of that suffering on the cross. And this is why his soul was
troubled. And only he can know the depth of the horror and agony
that faced him. But you know, in that psalm,
what does he say? He says, my lines have fallen
to me in pleasant places. I have a good inheritance. And
you know, that's what he says here. He says, Father, glorify
your name. Then a voice came from heaven
saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
And the people who were there heard it, and some said it thundered,
and others said an angel spoke to him. And Jesus answered and
said, this voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. And he said three things. Now listen, he said, now is the
judgment of this world. Now is the ruler of this world
cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from
the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. This he said, signifying
by what death he would die. And the people who were there
answered and said, we have heard from the law that the Christ
remains forever, and how can you say the Son of Man must be
lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Well, This morning, I want us to consider
another man who asked this question. These who were there asked him
this question in unbelief. Who is this man? But this morning,
I'd like us to consider this well-known story, this man from
Ethiopian. He too asked the same question. Who is this man? Let's begin there. in verse 26
of Acts chapter 8. And as we read through this story,
I want to bring to your attention those words of Christ that I
just read in John 12, where he said, now is the judgment of
this world. Now the ruler of this world is
cast out. And I, if I am lifted up, will
draw all to myself. Here is this man. Well, here's
a man that the Lord is about to draw to himself. And I want
us to keep this in mind. We can't look at all the examples
of the wonderful work of Christ in drawing all his people to
himself, but here scripture gives us one example. Let's look at
it. Let's consider it. And we know
that in the heart of every believer this will resonate because we
too have experienced these things. And if you haven't, may the Lord
in his grace draw you to himself. Let's begin there. Let me just
read through the passage and then we'll come back and work
through it by God's grace. Now, in verse 26, now an angel
of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, arise and go toward the
south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.
This is desert. So he arose and went, and behold,
a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Kandase,
the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury
and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting
in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the
spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake this chariot. So
Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and
said, do you understand what you are reading? And he said,
how can I unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come
up and sit with him. The place in the scripture which
he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter, and as a lamb before its shears is silent, so he opened
not his mouth. In his humiliation, his justice
was taken away. And who will declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth." So the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this?
Of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth,
and beginning at this scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as
they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch
said, see, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized? Then Philip said, if you believe
with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So he commanded the chariot
to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch
went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now, when they
came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught Philip
away so that the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way
rejoicing. Now, this man of Ethiopia, we see
reads in the scriptures of a man whom God describes as his righteous
servant who would justify many for he would bear their iniquities. And he asked this great question. He says, of whom, of whom does
the prophet say this? Of himself or of some other man? Who is this man? Well, it's not
too much to say that this is the most important question a
man could ever ask. Do you know this man? See, this
is the question he's asking. Who is this man? Do you know
this man? This is a question that each
of us should ask ourselves. Who is this man? So let's just work through this.
And beginning in verse 26, we read, now an angel of the Lord
spoke to Philip saying, arise and go toward the south along
the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is desert. So he arose and went. Now, look,
the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip and said, arise and go.
Who sent the angel? The Lord sent the angel. The
Lord tells him to get up and go to the place which is a desert. Why? Why? Philip was in Samaria,
and he was having a great ministry. Large numbers of people were
hearing the gospel and believing. Look back, just look back in
the same chapter, verses five. Actually, let's begin there in
four. It says, therefore, this is after the persecution in Jerusalem. It says, therefore, those who
were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip
went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.
And the multitudes, with one accord, heeded the things spoken
by Paul, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean
spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed,
and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was
great joy in that city." And so here is Philip. He's in the
midst of this fruitful work. of the gospel, preaching the
good news of Christ. And people are hearing, and people,
a great many believed. And here the spirit comes and
he says, get up and go to a deserted place. A deserted place where
no man is. Surely the Lord has made a mistake. Isn't that the natural reaction,
you know? Here is Philip, well look, surely
this can't be. The Lord can't be leading me
in this way. Because look at the people, look
at the fruit of this ministry that the Lord has given here.
He's drawing people to himself. But no, no, Philip, Philip was
a man, we're told, a man full of the spirit and of wisdom.
And the Lord says to him through the angel, get up and go. And
Philip gets up and goes. Well, why would the Lord send
Philip to a deserted place? Because soon there would be a
man who would be traveling through this desert, a man for whom Christ
died, and a man who the Lord is about to draw to himself. Look in verse 27, and behold,
and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under
Kandase, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge over all her treasury
and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And the
word of the Lord gives us an unusual amount of detail about
this man. He's from Ethiopia, a land far
from Israel. a land of idols and spirit worship,
spiritually a place of desolation. But this man has undertaken a
remarkable journey, a remarkable journey. This journey from Addis
Ababa, which is the capital of Ethiopia, to Jerusalem is a journey
of over 2,500 miles. And this is occurring in a horse-drawn
chariot. Now think of that. This is the
distance from Los Angeles to Orlando. And he's left Addis
Ababa, and he's traveling to, has traveled to Jerusalem to
worship, and he's returning. One way this would have taken
at least five to six months. This is a journey which would
have covered, in all likelihood, a year or more. in a horse-drawn
carriage. Much of this journey would have
been over very harsh terrain, through dangerous territory of
vandals and tribal kingdoms. Think of the cost. Just think
of the cost. Even in today's terms, the cost
of this would have been staggering. It would have had a retinue of
servants. and soldiers on horseback to
go with him, the horses and the carriages, all the food and accommodation
during this entire period of time. This was a momentous journey
which this man has undertaken. Well, what would compel a person
to do this? What would compel a man to undertake
such a journey? Well, why had he gone to Jerusalem?
were told he'd gone to Jerusalem to worship. Now the Ethiopian
knew that the gods of his land were false gods, but the God
of Israel was the one true God. This is why he'd gone to Israel
to worship. Why else would he go to Jerusalem
to worship? How had the man, this man, this
Ethiopian, how had he come to know this? Well, we're not told,
but I think we can surmise. Think of this, where in the history
is there a prominent mention of an Ethiopian? Well, think
back to Moses. Moses had married an Ethiopian
woman. And you remember that this is
the excuse, because that's all it had to be, that Miriam and
Aaron used to rebel against Moses. You remember there in Numbers
12, we read, then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because
of the Ethiopian woman he had married, for he had married an
Ethiopian woman. And they said, well, has God
spoken only through Moses? Hasn't he spoken through us also?
Now, I have no idea how those two are related, but a person
in sin is never rational, are they? Here are Miriam and Aaron
in sin, and they somehow connected to Moses being married to an
Ethiopian. But here we know that Moses had
married an Ethiopian woman, and as you no doubt know, in these
tribal cultures, People say, well, you marry into a tribe,
but you marry the whole tribe at the same time. And the reason
for that is when you marry, there's large extended families, many,
many kinship relationships. So Moses married this Ethiopian
woman, but this would have brought him into a relationship with
all of her extended family, not just father and mother, brothers
and sisters. but uncles and aunts and cousins
and nephews and nieces and all of these very large extended
families. And so the relatives of this
Ethiopian woman would have been as a result of this contact with
Moses brought into the hearing of the truth of the word of God
through Moses. Now, Somehow over these many centuries,
since that period of time, the knowledge of the God of Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob had been retained among some group of
these Ethiopians. And here is this man. This man,
what is he in possession of? What's he reading? he's reading
the holy scriptures. Think of that, think of that.
This man from Ethiopia, he's reading the holy scriptures.
Something of immeasurable value has been retained
there among some people there in Ethiopia. Now, we're told
too that this man of Ethiopia was a man of great authority. Great power and great wealth.
Now, at this period of time, the Ethiopian people were a noble
people, an accomplished people, a people of culture. It's tragic
and it's pathetic to see where they've come today. But at this
point in time, they were an accomplished people, a people of great stature. And here's this man, he's in
charge of the treasury of the Queen of Ethiopia. He was the
equivalent of what would we say? He's the equivalent of the treasury
secretary or the finance minister for the country. And we know
the power and the esteem and the influence a position like
that carries. This was this man. He was a highly educated man
too. Because what was he doing? He was reading the scriptures
in the Hebrew language. So he was a man, if I could say
it, he was a man of letters also, wasn't he? This was no mean person. This was a man of great stature
himself. And he'd come to worship in Jerusalem. Now this man possessed all the
things that men pursue. Think of that today for you and
I. I mean, aren't all of these things
that this man possessed all the things that we pursue? Wealth
and esteem and stature, education. Well, this man had all these
and more, but it's clear that they gave him no peace, no satisfaction,
Why else would he get up and undertake this momentous journey
to Jerusalem? He had no peace and no satisfaction. And we know that to be true.
The things of this world will never give satisfaction, never
give the only satisfaction that we need, and that's found in
Christ. And he has no satisfaction, and
he's undertaken this momentous journey. And it seems that this
man knew, in spite of his knowledge of the world, word that he had
in spite of him coming up to worship in Jerusalem, that he
knew that he was poor, that he was without any righteousness
of his own in the eyes of the almighty God. And he was searching
for peace with God. Now, why had this man undertaken
such a journey? And why was he searching? because God was seeking him.
God was drawing him. Look at verse 28. And sitting
in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the
spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake this chariot. So
Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and
said, do you understand what you are reading? And he said,
how can I unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come
up. and sit with him. Now, when God
purposes to seek and to save those who are lost, he sends
a minister of the gospel. The spirit of the Lord said to
Philip, go near, go near. And you don't need to turn there. In Romans 10, we have these wonderful
verses where we read, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord
will be saved. What a message. That's the gospel,
isn't it? But then we read, listen, then
we read, how then shall they call on him whom they have not
believed? And how shall they believe him
of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach unless
they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring
glad tidings of good things, But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then, faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. The prophet Isaiah asks, Lord,
who has believed our report? And the answer is, in Christ's
words, all that he draws to himself. They'll believe, the Lord sends
a messenger of the gospel to go near. This is always the way
that God works to draw his people to himself. He sends a messenger
of the gospel, this man draws near. Here's this Ethiopian,
where is he? He's in the desert. Well, to
the desert, then the Lord will send a messenger of the gospel,
even if he is the only single individual in this deserted place,
the Lord will send a messenger of the gospel. And this man will
hear, he will believe, he will call upon the name of the Lord,
and he will be saved, because Christ said what? And I, if I
am lifted up, will draw all to myself, everyone for whom he
died, he will. The spirit said to Philip, arise
and go. And Philip gets up and goes.
And the spirit said to Philip, go near. And what did Philip
do? Philip ran to the man of Ethiopia. Would it be that this was true
of every gospel minister? Wouldn't it be wonderful if this
was true of me? That the Lord says, go, and I
go. And the Lord says, go near, and I get up and run to do his
bidding. ran to the man of Ethiopia. And
here he is, what is he doing? He's reading in the prophet Isaiah. Now, listen, the Spirit's about
to do a work, isn't he? Well, when you go to do a work,
what do you do? Do you go just with your hands
to do a work? Let me just give you an illustration
from New Guinea where we work. The people go up the valley that
we live in. Their gardens are up at the head
of the valley a couple of hours away. And they clear the rainforest
down the trees, then cut up all this, dig up the stumps, pull
them out, dig up the ground, clear all the brush, burn it
off, dig those gardens, all of these things that happen before
they go and they plant the food that they grow. When they grow
up, in preaching on this, I ask them, well, when you go to do
a work, when you go out the valley, do you go without anything? Do
you go with just your hands? Well, of course not. You go with
the tools to accomplish that work that you purpose to do.
They take their axes to down the trees, they take the bush
knives to clear the brush, the machetes, they take the spade
to dig the ground, all of these things, the digging tools to
plan, all of these things they take to do that work that they've
purposed to do. Well, when the Holy Spirit goes
to do a work, what does he do? Figuratively speaking, does he
go just with his hands? No, he goes with, when the Spirit
comes, he comes in power, to bring forth hate in the heart
of the elect, and he comes with the tools that God has purposed
to use for that purpose. The Spirit uses what is powerful
and what is effectual and what is effective in accomplishing
this work. What does he use? He uses the
Word of God, doesn't he? Why? We just heard this last
week, didn't we? For the Word of God is living,
and it's powerful, and it's sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart. You know, this is a living word.
This is my hope. Every time I preach the word,
this isn't my word. This is God's word. And it's
a living word. And I don't know hearts. You
sit here. I know you. But I don't know
what's in the heart of you younger people, of you older people,
of you mothers and fathers. But God does, doesn't he? And
his word is a living word. And it pierces and divides and
knows the thoughts and intents of our heart. And it speaks to
us. When he purposes, he speaks to
us, doesn't he? And what a wonder. What a wonder. So here, what is this man of
Ethiopia reading? Well, he's reading the word of
God. He's reading Isaiah. Well, of course he is. Of course
he is. The spirit is about to work.
And he's going to work through the word of God. And Philip says,
do you understand what you're reading? Does he understand? No, no. This is the great tragedy
of natural man like we know from our own experience, from the
word of God, that the heart of natural man is darkened. He's
ignorant. He cannot understand. He's darkened
by his sin. and he's blind and can't see.
He's deaf and he can't hear, spiritually speaking. The words
are there, they come to him, but naturally speaking, he hears
them with these ears, but he doesn't hear them. The Ethiopian can do many things. He can do many things. He can,
searching even to the ends of the earth, to find the truth. He's come
all the way up to Jerusalem. But he knows, listen, he knows
that unless there's someone to guide him, he'll never know and
he'll never understand. Here's his response. Do you understand
what you're reading? How can I? How can I unless someone
guides me? And that's true of you and I.
How can we? How can we? for this man to see and believe,
for this man to hear and understand the spirit of God must come and
illuminate his heart, illuminate his mind and pour life into him
and give him understanding. And this and only this will give
him a knowledge of the hope of his calling. Well, The spirit sends a messenger
of the gospel to the Ethiopian, and he causes the Ethiopian to
receive this messenger. He says he asked Philip to come
up and sit with him. Now we read over that, so often
we read over that just as we go by. But I'll tell you, as
a minister of the gospel, particularly on the mission field, this is
remarkable. This is remarkable. As I go out and preach, seeking
to reach the lost, often going to a village location every week
for year after year preaching the gospel of life, the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, I see those who receive and those who
don't. Sometimes people can hear here for years, that they don't
receive. But as I go, it's interesting.
Now often the Lord saves in unique ways, like the Apostle Paul,
a man on his way, hating everything having to do with Christ. And
God, in his power, intervenes in a dramatic way, and the Lord
does do that. But typically, that's unique. In some ways,
typically the Lord works. And as you go, and as you preach
the gospel, you see those who receive, they're receiving the
word, they're hearing. And as you preach, their eyes
are alert. They're thinking about what you're
teaching. As you come back the following week, they're there,
they're gathering together, hearing. But then there's others who you
preach, and it's like those dry bones. And there would be no
hope if it weren't for the truth of the gospel, that the Lord
raises the dead to life. You feel like you're preaching
to dead people, and you are, and you are, until the Lord works,
until the Lord opens that heart to receive, and then people begin
to receive. But here is this man, and the
Lord, the Spirit, has prepared him. And here he is, he's riding
this Ethiopian, this wealthy man, riding upon his chariot,
surrounded by his retinue of servants and guards. He's in
the desert. Think of this now. He's in the
desert, and here comes Philip, running up to him. Out of nowhere,
on foot, Alone and no doubt entirely unimpressive, probably dirty
and dusty, hot. And what does the secretary of
the treasury do? He says, come up and sit with
me. You know how startling. This
must have been to this company that was with him, don't you
think? To his servants? What is he doing? Maybe it isn't so startling.
They probably thought he was crazy anyway. What are we doing
so far from home? In this desert place, having
gone up to Jerusalem to worship the gods of Israel, don't we
have gods of our own? They probably thought he was
a nut anyway. But how startling that must have
been, but here the Lord had prepared all things for this man to hear,
hear of Christ. In verse 32, we read, the place
in the scripture which he read was this, he was led as a sheep
to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shears is silent,
so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, his justice
was taken away, and who will declare his generation? For his
life was taken from the earth. Now, as we just read, we know
that all the word of God is profitable. all the word, but it's a very
specific message that the Holy Spirit uses in the salvation
of his people. This message is the message of
Christ. Might we never, never forget
that. It's the message of Christ and
him crucified, the message of Christ upon the cross paying
the penalty for the sins of his people. This is the message of
Christ and him crucified. And it's the message that Paul
glories so much in. And why is that? Because the
word of God tells us it's this message which is the power of
God unto salvation for everyone who believes. This is the message
that God uses to save. It's his power. And so where
does the spirit direct the attention of this Ethiopian as he reads
in the word of God? He directs him to the 53rd chapter
of the prophet Isaiah. And we know what that chapter
is about, don't we? You know, I'll never tire of
hearing this chapter preached and read, and I'll tell you why.
Because when I was, you know, I think you all know that I was
raised as a missionary child. I had, I think, probably one
of the greatest privilege any child could have, and that's
to have Christian parents. What a blessing. And so my parents
taught me and my three sisters. We had family devotions every
single day. And my dad would teach us when
we were from as young as I can remember, every day that we were
at home, He would teach maybe 10 minutes. We'd also do memory
verses, whole chapters. We'd memorize whole chapters.
And at one point, I knew Romans 1 through chapter 8 from memory,
because that's what we did. And I'd hear this teaching. I had such rich blessing was
mine. You know, I didn't hear a thing.
You know, I'd have devotions every day. And I mean, that's
what we're supposed to do. And you know, I wasn't rebellious.
But the only concern I had was getting ready to know that next
verse, you know, because then I'd get, you know, scolded if
I hadn't learned the next verse. And so, you know, I'd be concerned
just before if I'd forgotten to hurry up and, you know, learn
enough of the next verse so I could recite it in devotions. And that's how it was. And then
when I was about 11 or 12, one night I was in bed. And it was early. We used hurricane
lanterns. And my mother had the last lamp
on. And she was in the bathroom getting
ready for bed. And I got concerned, really concerned. I began to think of my sin. You
know, and you think, 11, 12 year old, what does he think? Well, you know, honestly, I can't
really remember all the specifics, but I knew that I was concerned
for my sin. I knew that before God, and maybe
the verses came to me that in Romans 5, there is none righteous,
no, not one. There's none who understand.
There are none who seek after God. They are all gone out of
their way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none who does good,
no, not one. You know, and somehow I knew
that that was true of me. That in God's eyes, there is
none who does good, no, not one. And I was concerned, and I was
worried, and I was weeping. And I, you know, I, why was that? Because this was the night, this
was the day that the Spirit was going to call me and draw me
to Christ. You know, I called my mom, and
she turned the light off and came out of the bathroom. And
I said, what do I need to do to be saved? And she said, wait here. Let me get your father. And he
came in and brought a torch, and he read through this chapter. He showed Christ to me in this
chapter and that's why I'll never forget it. And I saw that here
he spoke of this one who made atonement for the sin of his
people, that yes, he is a savior who saves his
people from their sin and Here is this man. Think of this. Think of this now. The Lord brought
this man up out of Ethiopia on this monumental journey. He sent
his angel to Philip. He sent Philip down into the
desert. The spirit of the Lord told Philip to go near. He opened
the heart of this Ethiopian to receive Philip. Come up and enter
the chariot. And the Lord put it into the
heart of this man to be reading Isaiah 53, which speaks of the
death of our Lord Jesus Christ, of him being lifted up in this
substitutionary death upon the cross. You know, how can we not
see that salvation is entirely of the Lord? In 34, it says,
so the eunuch answered Philip and says, I ask you, of whom
does the prophet say this? of himself or of some other man?
You see, as I said, this is the great question, isn't it? Who
is this speaking of? Who is this man? This is the
one thing that captured the thoughts and the desires of this Ethiopian. This is the question of who does
the prophet say this? Who is this man spoken of by
prophet Isaiah? Is he truly one who can make
atonement for sin and give peace with God? Is he such a one who
can truly bear the punishment of sins for others? How could
this be? Is he the one who can bear sins
for those who can never bear their own? Is he one who can
satisfy the demands of a holy and just God, the demands that
we ourselves can never satisfy? Is he the one through whom a
sinner might be justified? Who is this man? Verse 35, then
Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture preached Jesus
to him. Philip preached Jesus. This is
the man of whom the prophet spoke, isn't it? This is the man of
whom all the prophets spoke. Beginning at this scripture,
Philip preached Jesus to this man of Ethiopia. Well, we didn't
begin with this scripture, but we'll end with this scripture,
Isaiah 53. So turn with me to Isaiah 53.
And even here. How can we describe the wealth
and the richness that's found in this chapter? So I'll just
look at a few things. Just here, this man is reading.
This Ethiopian is reading here in Isaiah 53. Let's just look
at verse five. And he reads, and we read, but
he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by his stripes
we are healed. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Who is this man? Who is this
man and who are these people that it's speaking about for
which he's borne so much? Borne their chastisement, their
sins, wounded for their transgressions. Who are these people and who
is this man? This was a great and overwhelming
concern of this Ethiopian. Is this man spoken of by the
prophet? Here I am, I'm reading, Philip,
I'm reading of this man. Is this man spoken of by the
prophet wounded for my transgressions? Was he bruised for my iniquities?
Was the chastisement for my peace upon him? Can I have peace with
God because of this man? Did the Lord lay my iniquities
upon him? Could it be that this man has
borne the punishment of my sins and that the fiery indignation
of the wrath of God has been quenched in the body and soul
of this man? Could it be? Who is this man? In verse eight, He continues,
he was taken from prison and from judgment and who will declare
his generation for he was cut off from the land of the living.
For the transgressions of my people was he stricken. For whom
was he stricken? He was stricken for the transgressions
of my people. That's what it says. He was stricken
for the transgressions of my people. Now I think this was
one of the great, troubling burdens of this man from Ethiopia. Think
of this. God was the God of who? He was
the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He was the God of
Israel. They were his people. Think of
the time now. The people of Israel were God's
people. And all the nations round about
knew this. To Israel God spoke at various times and in various
ways through the prophets. He delivered his word to them. To them had been given the promises
and the covenants and the law. And God had delivered them in
the eyes of the nations out of the bondage of Egypt. And all
nations knew that his favor rested upon the nation of Israel. Was this man stricken for the
transgressions of Israel only? You know, this was his burden. wasn't the promise of God, but
here, see, he was a man who read the word. Wasn't the promise
of God given to Abraham that he would be a blessing to all
nations, to all peoples? Didn't Isaiah speak of the Messiah
being a light to the Gentiles? You know these thoughts were
in this man's mind. Could it be that he was stricken
for me? Could it be that he was stricken
for my transgressions? Could it be that I'm one of his
people? Who is this man? Verse 10, look
there. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering
for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall
see the labor, the travail of his soul and be satisfied for
by his knowledge my righteous servant shall justify many for
he shall bear their iniquities. Yes, this man would be made an
offering for sin. Think of this. He would be made
an offering for sin. He would die, yet what? Yet the
Lord would prolong his days. And if the Lord Jehovah God prolongs
his days, well, what will be the number of his days? Without
end, will they? That yes, he will die, but he
will rise again to live in the power of an endless life. He's despised, and he's rejected
of men, smitten by God and afflicted. His soul made an offering for
sin, but in all of this, what was this accomplishing? the pleasure
of the Lord. The purposes of God, the pleasure
of the Lord would be accomplished and not only that, they would
prosper in the hand of this servant. This righteous servant of God
would justify many. Could it be, this is his concern,
Is it your concern? Could it be that he was despised
and rejected for me, smitten by God for me? His soul made
an offering for me. Could it be that he would justify
me? Who is this man? Well, who has believed our report?
That's the cry of the prophet Isaiah, isn't it? Who has believed
our report? Well, we know. We know the rest
of the story, don't we? This Ethiopian, he believed. Why? Because of what Christ said. And I, if I am lifted up, will
draw all peoples to myself. Here is this man from Ethiopia,
he came up a dead man out of desolate places, and he returned
rejoicing, rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. Amen.