Let's take our Bibles today and
open them to Acts chapter 8. We begin reading in verse 26, Acts chapter 8. The angel of the Lord spake unto
Philip, saying, Arise, go toward the south unto the way that goeth
down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose
and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch of great
authority under 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
Esaias or Isaiah the prophet. Then the spirit said unto Philip,
go near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither
to him and heard him read the prophet Esaias and said, understandest
thou what thou readest? And he said, how can I except
some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he
would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which
he read was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and like a lamb done before his shearers, so he opened it, not
his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away. And who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the
earth. And the eunuch answered Philip,
and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of
himself, or of some other man? And Philip opened his mouth,
and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water.
And the eunuch said, see, here's water. What doth hinder me to
be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the
chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water,
both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. But when they
were come up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught
away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more. And he, that
is the eunuch, went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found
at Azotus, and passing through, he preached in all the cities
till he came to Caesarea. I want to speak to us this morning
from this passage of scripture with this in our minds. this
question, when should a person be baptized? When should a person
be baptized? Now the question is not why should
a person be baptized. If that was a question, I would
say a few things differently. The question is not what is pictured
by baptism, if that was a question than I would say something different.
But the thought I want us to have in our mind as we look at
this passage of scripture is simply this, when, when should
a person be baptized? Now, there are three things I
want to bring to us from this passage. First, before this man,
and we'll learn some things as to when a person should be baptized
as we look at this account, this man, this eunuch who Philip baptized. First, before this man was baptized,
he heard the gospel. Now that's very simple, very
simple, but yet it's very important. Before this man was baptized,
he heard the gospel. God sent him a preacher. Philip was in the midst of a
great revival, you might say, in Samaria. And yet God told
him, sent his angel and told Philip to go and to find this
man in the desert. Now this tells us, first of all,
that infants are not to be baptized. Infants are not to be baptized. Baptism is for those who first
of all hear the gospel. You may be here today and you
may believe that you were sprinkled and that was baptism as an infant. Well, you should have never been
sprinkled and sprinkling is not baptism. Now, I'm familiar that
there have been times and places where men did actually immerse
infants, put them underwater. But that was still wrong. No
one is to be baptized who has not, first of all, heard the
gospel. A person must, first of all,
hear the gospel. In Romans chapter 10, the apostle
Paul asks this question, how And the answer is given to us.
How? It's impossible. How shall a
person hear without a preacher? How shall a person hear without
a preacher? God sent his preacher to this
man. Just as we read in the gospel,
in those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of
Judea. Just as we read the Lord Jesus
Christ came preaching the gospel, so Philip came preaching the
gospel to this man who was in a chariot crossing the desert. God is chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save those who believe. That's what the Apostle
Paul tells us. And that's one reason in our
day we have seen preaching in so many places take a back seat
in places where you would expect in a church building where there
would be preaching. But people would rather have
a discussion group or something of that nature. But God has not
chosen those means, but He has chosen to use. You say, well
couldn't God? It's not a matter. It's never
a matter of what God could or could not do. The matter is what
has He chosen to do. And the Bible very clearly tells
us that He is chosen by the foolishness of preaching, not foolish preaching. There's a lot of that that goes
on. Not foolish preaching, but the world calls what we're doing
here today, I'm standing here preaching and you listening,
this is what the world calls foolishness. But yet the scriptures
tell us this is what God has chosen to use in saving His people. And so here's one of God's elect. He didn't know it. But God did. God chose this man from before
the foundation of the world. And he's crossing the desert.
And you may be sure somewhere from the cradle to the grave,
God is going to cross the path of every one of his chosen people. He's going to cross their paths
with the gospel. If you're one of his chosen people,
God is going to confront you With the gospel, He's going to
do it. And He's going to bring you to
submit and to receive the gospel willingly. That's just so. Now, notice two things about
this man. The question is, when is a person
to be baptized? And I said, first of all, before
this man was baptized, he heard the gospel. There are two things
that are told us about this man. First of all, he was a religious
man. This man, he was a religious
man. You say, how do you know that?
Because the scriptures tell us that. If you look again with
me in verse 27, at the very end of that verse, it tells us that
he had come to Jerusalem for the worship. Now, that wasn't
an easy journey. It wasn't like he just got in
his car and drove a block or two and went to worship. No, he made preparation and crossed
the desert and went to Jerusalem for the worship. Does that qualify a person to
be baptized? The fact that a person is religious? Of course not. Of course not. If it did, then baptism would
be for everyone, because every man has a religion. You may be
here this morning, and you may think in your mind that you don't,
but you do. Every person has a religion of
some sort. And it may be as worthless as
it may be, but yet it's your religion. And it's what you're
trusting in and what you're going to go out to face God Almighty
trusting in one day, your religion. But it isn't religion that qualifies
a person for baptism. This man, he was religious. He had gone to Jerusalem and
he'd gone there empty and he was returning empty. Because in those ceremonies and
all of that ritualism that he had no doubt experienced and
gone through, there was nothing there of Christ. The second thing
we see about this man, not only was he a religious man, that
didn't qualify him for baptism. He was an important man. He was a very important man. See what the Scripture says about
him. Verse 27. He was a eunuch of
great authority under Candacy. Now, Candacy, I understand, was
a term like Pharaoh. Pharaoh was a term which was
used for the various kings, one after the other, that ruled in
Egypt. Candace was a term for the queens. The reason that queens
reigned is because the kings, they believed, were sons of the
sun. They believed that it would be
below men to reign. So Candace, the queen, would
be the reigning monarch in this place, Ethiopia. And here's a
man, who was of great authority. He was like the Secretary of
the Treasury, maybe in our government, something like that. He was a
very important man. Does that, is that enough? Is
it enough that a person is important in this world that he's who's
who? He's listed in the who's who
of the various directories. Is that enough to qualify a person
to be baptized? This man was an exception. This man was an exception. You
say, why do you say that? Because of the fact that he was
a great man in this world and yet he was one that God had chosen. He was an exception. Let me show
you that in 1 Corinthians. You know the scripture, but let's
read it. 1 Corinthians chapter one. 1 Corinthians chapter one. And
Paul is here in this place declaring that that the world by wisdom, that
is by all the Greek philosophers that had come and gone already
by this time, the world was still in darkness, did not know God
and would never know God if that's all the world had. The philosophies
of Socrates and Plato and Aristotle and people like that. Men who
are still studied, I might say. But if that's all a man has,
he'll never come to know God. In verse 25, the apostle said,
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness
of God is stronger than men. The foolishness of God is wiser
than men. Men think they're so smart. They
think they've got everything figured out. And they don't need
the Bible anymore. And they don't believe in creation
anymore. A man just somehow came out of
the slime and has evolved to where we are today. And you listen
to them, they will tell you that man is moving up the ladder and
he's getting better with each generation, with education. When we know the very opposite
is true. That man was created in the image
of God. He was at the top of the ladder,
if you want to use that terminology. And when he disobeyed God, he
fell. And he fell into sin. He fell
to the very bottom, to the very dregs of humanity. Sin. And yet man thinks that
he's wiser than God. I don't need God. I don't need
to listen to God's Word. Not at all. Well, that's sad. But look here in verse 27, Paul
said, or verse 26, rather, for you see your calling, brethren.
Now he's writing to a church. It might be a church just like
here at Lincolnwood Baptist Church. A larger congregation at Corinth,
no doubt. But he would be saying to them,
you see your calling, you look around. You see your calling. Not many wise, we don't have
any ex-presidents or presidents here. We don't have any senators
or congressmen or CEOs or people like that. You say you're calling,
brethren. Now that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. If people trust and boast in
their their wisdom and their strength and their riches, not
many like that are called. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. and base things of the world,
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to naught things that are. Now here's the
point, that no flesh should glory in his presence. God is going
to stain the pride of every man he saves, every woman he saves. I read this morning about Nebuchadnezzar,
reading in Daniel, Oh, he was a big man, and he knew it. He was a big man. And he was
walking in his palace one day and thinking about Babylon and
his nation that he ruled over and what all he had accomplished,
what all he had done. And God sent him out into the
field to eat grass like an ox for seven times and the dew to
fall on him so that his hair grew like feathers and his nails
like claws. And at the end of the day, at
the end of that time, his understanding returned to him. And then he
confessed, God, his kingdom is forever. He rules over all. Yes, God is going to get the
glory. And that's His whole purpose
in creation. That's His purpose of creating
you for His glory. That's His purpose in saving
sinners for His glory. You say, well, I thought it was
just to keep people out of hell. No. That is part of it, but the
ultimate cause of God sending His Son into this world to be
the sacrifice to save sinners is for His glory, that He might
be glorified. That one day, God's people, that
we would show to all of those who are not God's people, I mean
all of the world, the grace of God, the wisdom of God, the love
of God in saving sinners like us, that all the praise and all
the glory would belong unto Him. You know, Paul said here, you
see your calling brethren, not how that not many, but he didn't
say not any, did he? He didn't say not any. Here was
a man who was an exception, this eunuch. He was a great man under
Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians. There had been prophecies in
the Old Testament about Ethiopia opening her arms to receive the
gospel. And secular history tells us
this man did go back to his country and began to spread the gospel
there. But the first thing, when should
a person be baptized? Well, before this man was baptized,
he heard the gospel. That should be requisite number
one. Number two, before this man was
baptized, Jesus was preached to him. Look at that in verse
35, here in Acts chapter 8. Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. You say, well, Jesus is the gospel. I understand that, I understand
that. But listen now. I want you to
notice, I want you to notice the man's question, and then
I want you to notice what Luke tells us that Philip did. The
man's question was, does the prophet speak of himself? Look,
this is in verse 34. Of whom speaketh the prophet
this? Of himself or of some other man? Now he knew that he was
speaking of a man. He didn't know which man. He
thought Isaiah might be talking about himself. Is he speaking
about himself or is he speaking about another man? He recognized
he was speaking about a man. He could not have been speaking
about one who was only God because of the sufferings that he was
reading of. But he recognized that the prophet
spoke of a man. And then Luke tells us that Philip
began at the very same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. Now to me that's noteworthy because
he didn't begin there at that scripture and preach unto him
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the way we refer to our
Savior, isn't it? That's the way Paul referred
to him over and over, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Luke didn't
say that Philip began there and preached unto him Christ. No,
he began there and preached unto him Jesus. Now, the name Jesus,
that was given to him at his birth, wasn't it? The angel told
Joseph, who was supposed to be his father, Mary, the one to whom you're
a spouse, she's going to bring forth a son, and thou shalt call
his name Jesus. Jesus is the name of him as a
man. When we say the Lord God, Jesus,
man, Christ the anointed, the Lord Jesus, but it is Jesus here
that he preached to him. The man, Christ Jesus. And we know he was reading from
Isaiah 53. We read that at the beginning
of our service. And in that chapter, The Lord
God calls him, refers to him as my righteous servant. He is Jehovah's righteous servant. Now look at the verses here with
me in Acts 8 that he was reading. We know he was probably reading
the whole chapter, but we're not given the whole chapter here.
But the first thing that we read is The place of the scripture,
verse 32, the place of the scripture which he read was this, he was
led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb done before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth. He is Jehovah's servant
who was, first of all, now listen, his willing servant. His willing servant. The picture
is as you would lead a sheep to the slaughterhouse, and the
sheep just follows along. It doesn't pull back. It doesn't
baa, make any sound. It goes willingly. And so the
Lord Jesus Christ, this man, Jesus, the God-man, God's righteous
servant, He died willingly. You remember he said, no man
taketh my life from me. Man did not have that power to
take his life from him. He laid down his life. He said,
no man taketh my life from me. This commandment, this commandment
or this charge have I received of my father. that I should both
lay down my life and take it again. And just, now think about
this, just as he laid down his life, that he willingly, there
on the cross, dismissed his spirit, so on that third day, he willingly
came out of that grave of his own will, of his own volition,
of his own power, the God-man mediator. So the first thing
that Philip confronted this eunuch with is the willingness of God's
righteous servant. Now the second thing, he is Jehovah's
righteous servant who was his suffering servant. Verse 33,
the next thing we read, in his humiliation, his judgment was
taken away. In his humiliation. Here is the
eternal son of God who came into this world and took into union
with his person that body that was prepared him. If you could change places today
with a tiny worm crawling in the ground, the difference would
not even begin to show between the eternal Son of God coming
into this world as a man. He humbled himself, the scripture
says. He humbled himself. In his humiliation,
his judgment was taken from him. When he stood before Pilate,
you remember Pilate was his human judge there and he said, I find
no fault in this man. Does that sound like judgment?
Justice? Does it? For a person in one
of our courts to be put on trial and the judge say, well, I don't
find any guilt in this person, but lock him up anyway. That's what Pilate said. I found
no charge against this man. He's innocent, but yet he delivered
him to be crucified. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken from him. That's not justice. It's the
worst of injustices, right? For an innocent person to be
pronounced innocent, but to be punished anyway. And He is Jehovah's righteous
servant who was His dying servant. Notice it says in verse 33, His
life, His life is taken from the earth. The Son of Man came
not to be ministered unto. These are His words. He came
not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life
a ransom for many. In that passage in Isaiah that
we read, the scripture there goes on to say, by His knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many. By His knowledge, by knowing
Him, by knowing Christ, do you know Christ? Do you know Christ? Do you know
the God-man Mediator? By His knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. The death of Jehovah's righteous
servants... Now listen, here's two things
to think about. The death of Jehovah's righteous
servant was a real satisfaction to justice. It was a real satisfaction to
justice. He took the sins of his people
and bore them in his body on the tree, and God's justice poured
out its wrath upon him. We know that's what happened
there. And he satisfied God's justice. You say, well, how do we know
that? Because he came out of the grave. He was justified from
all those sins, your sins, my sins, if you know Him today.
The scripture says He gave His life a ransom for many. It doesn't
say He gave His life a ransom for all, not all men and women
without exception. If that were true, then all men
and women would be saved because the justice is satisfied. And the second thing, his death
was a ransom paid and accepted and therefore certainly redeems. Don't talk to me about a redemption
that doesn't redeem. I don't want to hear about that. The scriptures tell us and teach
us that he redeemed his people with his blood. Now if He redeemed
His people, they, we are redeemed. He didn't just make salvation
possible. He didn't just make redemption
possible and now if man will do His part, oh no, oh no. If that were the case, then man
would have reason and cause to glory in the presence of God. No, His redemption literally,
actually, perfectly redeems His people. There was a price demanded
and there was a price paid. His blood. When should a person
be baptized? Not before Jesus is preached
to him. And here's the third thing I
want to say. When should a person be baptized? Before this man was baptized,
he believed with all his heart. That's what we see in verse 37. Philip said, and now he wanted
to be baptized. Now we know that Philip spoke
to him more than what we have here, obviously, because he talked
to him about baptism. That those who believe in the
Lord Jesus should confess their faith in baptism. And so the
man desired to be baptized. And Philip said, If thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. Before this man was baptized,
he believed with his heart. In Romans chapter 10 and verse
10, Paul said, for with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. Now, I want to say something.
I want you to listen carefully. God saves His people, and He
does so in spite of preachers. He does so in spite of preachers. And I know I've been guilty of
this, and I have many good friends. I know they've done the same
thing. We've talked about believing
with the head and believing with the heart. as though it were
possible to believe with the heart and not believe with the
head. That's not possible. What we
should say, there is a historical faith or a temporary faith that
men may have opposed to a true faith. But a true faith, a saving
faith, is believing with the heart And the heart includes
the understanding, or reason, or mind, and the will, and the
affections. So the question now is, how does
a person know when he believes with the heart? A person should
not be baptized who does not believe with his heart. How does
a person know if he believes with his heart? Well I want you
to turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. I think this is the best way
to explain this. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 7. 1 Peter 2 and verse 7. Unto you therefore that believe,
he is precious. How can we know the difference
between historical faith and heart faith? Unto you therefore
that believe, he is precious. Is the Lord Jesus Christ precious
to you? He is to those who believe. He is precious. His person is
precious. The fact that he's both God and
man. Never get tired of hearing that,
reading about that. That's precious, that He's God
and man. His blood is precious. We're
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of lamb without
spot and without blemish. His blood is precious because
His blood cleanses from all sin. His righteousness is precious
because we know that He established a perfect righteousness and that
righteousness becomes ours when we believe in Him and we are
accepted in the Beloved, in Christ. His Word is precious. We love
to read His Word. We love to hear His Word proclaimed.
We love to think about His Word. His promises are precious. He's
given us exceeding great and precious promises in the Word
of God. And His Holy Spirit is precious,
and He lives in us. To you that believe, He is precious. A person, to answer my question,
when should a person be baptized? A person should be baptized who
has heard the gospel, believes that Jesus is Jehovah's righteous
servant, and upon believing in him, he is precious to you. You may be here today and you
have never confessed Christ in baptism. What are you waiting
for? If you, I know you've heard the
gospel. I know you've heard Jesus preached
unto you. Is he precious to you? Is He
precious to you? Are you waiting for lightning
to strike? Are you waiting to hear a voice,
audible voice speaking to you? If you are, you'll wait in vain.
No, if Christ is precious to you, then yes, you should. It's His command. You should
confess Him in baptism. I'll close with this. You know, baptism doesn't save.
It doesn't help save. It's not part of salvation. But
our Lord did say, whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
It's taken for granted that those who believe will, if possible,
want to be baptized. Let's sing a hymn before we're
dismissed.