The Ethiopian Eunuch - The Believing Believer

If you would take your Bible and turn back to Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8, we're going to cover quite a bit of scripture tonight. We're going to be in verses 25 to 40. Now tonight we will be in our fourth message in chapter 8 and at this point in time in the chapter we're going to see there are quite a few changes and we will continue to see the progression of the gospel from Jerusalem. But we have seen that because of this third outbreak of persecution against the church I have called it great and successful.

It was successful in that the religious leaders were able to do what they've always wanted to do and it was great in that it scattered so many out of the church at Jerusalem. But the apostles were scattered from Jerusalem and from the church according to chapter 8 verse 1. And those that were scattered they went about preaching the Word according to verse 4. And Philip went down to the city in Samaria. We see that in verse 5. We have seen that a great revival broke out in Samaria. We could say that they experienced a great spiritual awakening.

Philip performed many great miracles among them and many Samaritans savingly believed in Jesus through Philip's gospel preaching and as a result there was much joy in the city. We see that in verse 8. And as the apostles and leaders of the church, Peter and John came down from Jerusalem from the church there in Jerusalem to see this work firsthand. And because the believing Samaritans had not yet received the Holy Spirit they laid their hands on them and they received the Spirit. We see that in verse 17. So we have seen that there was this wonderful great spiritual awakening in Samaria.

Jesus had told the apostles and by extension Philip but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Of course we know that the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2. He goes on to say, "And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria until the ends of the earth." And we could say that Samaria looked like a great place for Philip to stay and do ministry. I mean think about it. I mean this would have been a wonderful place for Philip to just stay and do ministry. Now there's a lesson I want to offer here. True awakenings. True spiritual awakenings. We can say it like this, true revival.

Now the word revival gets abused so much. True spiritual awakenings and true spiritual revival come out of, they come from the preaching of the word and the preaching of the gospel. All the awakenings we see take place in the book of Acts. They came out of, they came from the preaching of the word and the preaching of the gospel. And so many "revivals" and awakenings that go on today seem to come out of music and emotionalism and not out of preaching and teaching. And if you go into church history you can see true and legitimate times of spiritual awakening and revival.

And the true spiritual renewals and revivals came out of preaching and teaching. Now out of this great awakening in Samaria we have seen two things in the last two messages. First we learned of the unbelieving believer. In the middle of this genuine move of God we had Simon the magician. He was a professing believer but he proved himself to be an unbelieving believer because he revealed who he really was. Second we learned of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on and in Samaria. We learned of the meaning and significance of Peter and John dispensing the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands.

We learned how these events relate to us, how they fit into Acts chapter 1 all the way to chapter 10. And we saw and learned so much last week. And that was a very important message last week I think it answered some questions for you, gave you some understanding. And if you missed last week you may need to grab that because it can help you understand some fallacies. Sadly some fallacies that we see today. Griefious mistakes that some churches make. But tonight we will see that things change quite a lot. I said that earlier. First of all Peter and John left Samaria and go back to Jerusalem.

But verse 25 tells us that along the way they preached the gospel in many Samaritan villages. And notice what we see here just with that one little verse. "This great awakening in Samaria through Philip had impacted and changed them. Whereas before they may have been skeptical about the Samaritans coming to saving faith in Jesus. After they saw the work of God in Samaria they went back home preaching the gospel in other Samaritan villages." You see that? And then second Philip left Samaria. And this can seem to defy what I call common sense. To me this can even defy what I call spiritual common sense.

By taking the gospel to the Samaritans, Philip was fulfilling Jesus' words in Acts 1.8. I've referenced that several times. He was seeing demonic spirits being cast out. He was seeing lame and sick people be healed. Many were believing by faith in Jesus. They had even received the Holy Spirit which signified that this was a true work of God. The apostles and the church at Jerusalem were even in on the work. We learned of that great unity last week. So common sense, spiritual common sense, tells us that Philip should have stayed right there in Samaria, formed a church. But he didn't do that. Now notice what we have here in the verses.

First, God moved Philip out of Samaria. Second, God took the gospel beyond the Samaritans to a Gentile. Third, we have a contrast here between the unbelieving believer Simon and the believing believer the Ethiopian eunuch. You see, there's a contrast there between Simon the unbelieving believer and the Ethiopian eunuch who was a believing believer. Now the title of the message tonight is the Ethiopian eunuch, the believing believer. The believing believer. Now at the conclusion, I will make a little bit of a shift. I will move from the eunuch being the main character to Philip being the main character. But let's read our verses quite a bit.

And then I will explain to you really the breakdown or the outline of the message. We will not read all of these verses when we go back through the message. Only a few that are on the more important side to me. So Acts chapter 8 starting in verse 25. "Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem." This is Peter and John preaching the gospel to many Samaritans, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. "Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Rise and go toward the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.'" This is a desert place.

"And he rose and went, and there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go over and join this chariot.' So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?' And he said, 'How can I unless someone guides me?' And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Now the passage of scripture that he was reading was this, 'Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shear is silent. So he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.' And the eunuch said to Philip, 'About whom, I ask you, does this prophet say this about himself or about someone else?' Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. You could say that he told him all of the gospel.

And as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, 'See, here is water. What prevents me from being baptized?' And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch. And he baptized him. And when he came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and he, that would be the eunuch, went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself in Azotus, and as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. Now, let me explain how I will break down these verses.

I want us to see first, the Lord moved Philip from Caesarea. Second, the Lord presented Philip with a new mission field. Then we see third, the Ethiopian was seeking. The Ethiopian was the seeker, a seeker after God. Fourth, the presentation of the gospel by Philip. And then last, the response of the Ethiopian. So number one, I want us to see the Lord moved Philip from Caesarea. We see this in verse 26 to 28. The Lord moved Philip from Caesarea. Now, we have seen that Philip was clearly being used of God in Caesarea for a great, great gospel work. Again, just like Jesus said in Acts 1.8. But here we see that God had other plans for Philip.

In verse 26, we see that an angel of the Lord called Philip saying, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert place. And verse 27 tells us that Philip arose and he went. And there are three things here that we need to understand. These are rather short. First, we see a work of the Holy Spirit to move and to direct Philip. And what we need to see here must not be overlooked. It was not Philip's idea to move. It was not Philip's idea to change his gospel ministry, but God. So God supernaturally moved Philip through a message from an angel. Second, we see the obedience of Philip.

Here we see that Philip did not question the angel or the instructions from God. He simply obeyed what God called him to do. And then third, we see that at times it seems that God's will does not make sense. Let me repeat that. We see right here that at times it seems like God's will doesn't make sense. Now what I'm getting at here is this. It made no sense, no common sense, no spiritual common sense for Philip to leave Samaria. I've already mentioned that several times. He was having great gospel success with the Samaritans. He was fulfilling Jesus' prophecy concerning his will for the gospel and the church, just like we see in Acts 1a.

Philip really could have stayed, organized the church in this city, and that church could have been a hub of gospel work and gospel ministry throughout Samaria. But notice God had other plans. And look at how this does not make sense. He left the city for a road in the desert. He left a great crowd of believers for one man. He left the Samaritans for an Ethiopian. He left what was obscure gospel work that became popular gospel work in Samaria to even more obscure work. And notice this detail. Scholars tell us that Gaza was one of the five main cities of the Philistines and that Gaza had been destroyed very early in the first century.

But a new Gaza had been rebuilt but by the coast. But a road still ran from Jerusalem to Egypt through the old ruined Gaza. And although there were two roads from Jerusalem to Gaza, Luke tells us that God called Philip to the desert road. Scholars and historians tell us this was the obscure road that one that was rarely used going through old Gaza. So here we see that God moved Philip and his evangelistic ministry from Samaria to this obscure desert road, this road that went through the ruins of old Gaza. And the lesson here is this. God's will does not always make sense to us. God does not always call us to stay where there is success.

God sometimes calls us to smaller, seemingly less significant work, even seeming less significant people. You see that? God does not always do what makes sense to us. Sometimes we leave success and sometimes we go to somewhere and some people who seem less significant. And for us as a church, we have to be willing to obey God's call to do his work even if he calls us to a seemingly insignificant place and an insignificant people. So the Lord moved Philip. Number two, the Lord presented Philip with a new mission field. The Lord presented Philip with a new mission field. Again, verses 26 to 7, 28.

Now here we have seen that Philip's new mission field was one man and we do not even know his name. You notice that? He is only called the Ethiopian eunuch. But who was this man? Who was this new mission field? Actually, even though we do not know his name, we know quite a lot about the man because Luke tells us two things. First, he was an important man. Now Ethiopia was a great, great distance from Jerusalem in this day. And in that day, Ethiopia was a large kingdom located to the south of Egypt. And scholars tell us that to the Romans, Ethiopia was seen as being at the very outer edge of the unknown. I guess I thought about it like this.

To the Romans, it was the backside of the back 40. But it is interesting. History and scholars tell us that in that day, the power in Ethiopia was not in the hands of an emperor or a king, but in a queen. Specifically, the queen mothers who were known by the title Candace. John MacArthur points out that Candace was not a name but a title, much like Caesar in Rome, much like Pharaoh in Egypt. Caesar Augustus, for example, his first name was Caesar. That was his title. So Candace was a title. So notice what Luke tells us about this man. He was of the court of the queen of the Ethiopians. And notice he was in charge of Oliver treasure.

MacArthur puts this in our terms. It helped me. He says by saying, he says that he was actually the minister of finance. He was actually the secretary of the treasury for the nation. And on top of that, on top of his position, he was personally wealthy. Scholars tell us that the journey so many miles like this and through such dangerous territory like this reveals that he had great wealth because only the wealthy could travel like this in this day. So this nameless man was very wealthy personally, and he was a minister of finance for an entire nation for the queen of Ethiopia. But second, he was a religious man.

Here we see two things that tell us he was religious. First, he traveled to Jerusalem to worship. It's right there in the verses. Second, he possessed a copy of the Old Testament book, Isaiah. Did you notice that? But it seems that he traveled to Jerusalem as one of two things. Either he was a proselyte to Judaism, or he was a God-fearer. Now a God-fearer was really like one step below a proselyte. Pretty soon we will get to Cornelius in chapter 10. He was a God-fearer. But since he was a eunuch, at best he could only be a God-fearer and not a proselyte. That is because Deuteronomy 23.1 forbade a eunuch from becoming a full Jewish proselyte.

Being a eunuch, he was only permitted to become a God-fearer by Jewish law. So we see that he had traveled to Jerusalem to worship in verse 27. As a God-fearer. And on top of that, Luke shows us that he was reading from the Old Testament book of Isaiah when God brought Philip to his chariot. But what we must see right here is this. He was not converted to Christ. He was not a Christian. He had not come savingly to faith in Christ. He was a Gentile, obviously, who worshiped God as a God-fearing Gentile according to the law. That would be the Old Testament law. But he had not come into a saving relationship with Christ.

I like how John MacArthur describes him. He says that the eunuch is a classic example of one who lived up to the light that he had. That's true. This eunuch here is a classic example of one who lived up to the light that he had. So here we see that the Lord presented a new mission field of Philip. An Ethiopian eunuch, a man of great personal wealth, great importance in his position before the queen and his country. A God-fearing man, but a man who had not come into a saving relationship with Christ as God's promised Messiah. Now there's a lesson or two here for us right here.

Man can only be saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus as God's promised Messiah. Let me restate that. Man can only be saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus as God's promised Messiah. Man can never be made right with God outside of a knowledge of Jesus as man's only hope for being made right with God. Jesus says in John 14, 16, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." So the point here is this. No one can come into a right relationship with God outside of a saving relationship with Christ. So that means that a person can be a good Jew or a proselyte or a good God-fearer.

Follow the teaching of the Old Testament in every way, but if that does not lead them to faith in Christ Jesus as their Savior and as a fulfillment of all that is seen in the Old Testament, well, they are not right with God. And look, church, being obedient to partial life will not save. Only belief in Jesus as the light of the world will save. Again, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." So the Lord presented Philip with a new mission field. Then number three, I want us to see the Ethiopian and his seeking. The Ethiopian and his seeking. Now I want to go back to the verses.

I want to read the second part of verse 27 and verse 28. The second part of verse 27. I'll start at the beginning. And he rose and he went. This is Philip. And there was an Ethiopian in eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians who was in charge of her treasure. He came to Jerusalem to worship. We've already discussed that. Traveled thousands of miles, took great risks. And as he was returning seated in his chariot and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Now I've touched on this, but notice what we see in this man, which tells us he was a spiritual seeker. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship.

Now in this day and time, where was the right place to worship? Jerusalem. Of course, we're in a time of transition. We know that. Soon, 70 AD, the temple will be destroyed. We understand we're in a time of transition, but he was going to the right place of worship according to the light that he had. Also, he was reading an Old Testament prophet Isaiah. Question, was he reading the right information? Yes. This was the Bible of their day. This would have been the Bible that Philip had. You got to remember, the New Testament had not yet been written. So he was going to the right place to worship. He was reading the right information.

Now look again at the verses, but look at verses 32 to 33. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this. This is some specific verses from Isaiah 53. "Like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shear is silent, so he opens not his mouth." Some of you already know what this is talking about. In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation, for his life is taken away from the earth. Notice he was reading Isaiah's prophecy about Jesus and the cross. Now a question, was he reading in the right place within the Old Testament scriptures? Yes. Now what's my point?

What am I getting at? Although this man was outside of a saving relationship with Christ, although he had not savingly believed in Jesus, as so many of the Samaritans had, although he was dead in his trespasses and sins, according to Ephesians 2, he was seeking God and he was seeking truth. You might say, "Pastor, how can a dead man seek truth? How can a dead man seek God?" Let me explain. Jeremiah 29.13 says, "You will seek me and find me.

When you seek me with all your heart, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jesus said in John 7.17, "If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking on my own authority." Simply what we have here is this. The eunuch was living according to the light that he had, and he was seeking God according to the light that he had. But notice the other side of this. The only way the eunuch was able to seek God according to the light that he had was because God was first seeking him. Who put the copy of the prophet Isaiah into his hands?

You might say, "Well, his mother gave it to him for Christmas." We don't know where he got it, but whoever put it there, God put it there. Who led him to convert to Judaism? We know there was a large population of Jews in Egypt, in Alexandria. But who led him to convert to Judaism? Somehow, some way, he came into contact with Judaism. Who led him to worship in Jerusalem? What am I trying to show you? God put a copy of Isaiah in his hands. God put some way, some person, some means to convert him to Judaism. God led him to understand that he needed to go to Jerusalem to worship. So the point I want to make here is this.

The Ethiopian eunuch was seeking God only because God was seeking him first. And listen to how Warren Wiersby compares the spiritual seeking of the eunuch to other people today. I'm quoting him. "The Ethiopian represents many people today who are religious, read the scriptures, and seek the truth, yet they do not have saving faith in Christ Jesus. They are sincere, but they are lost. They need someone to show them the way." Well, that's what Philip was there for. There's a lot we can learn here. First of all, we see the tension between God's sovereignty and salvation and man's responsibility. Let me say that again.

We see the tension between God's sovereignty and salvation and man's responsibility. Both are clearly taught in scripture. And we get into trouble when we grab a hold to one at the expense of the other. If you hold on to God's sovereignty in salvation at the expense of responsibility, you prostitute it. You ruin it. You destroy it. If you hold on to man's responsibility at the expense of God's sovereignty, you ruin it. You totally destroy it. Jesus says in John 14.6, "I am the way. I am the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me." He also says in John 3.16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." So which is it? Both, yes, all of the above. When you get to a passage of scripture that clearly articulates God's sovereignty and salvation, declare it and stop. When you get to a scripture that declares man's responsibility and salvation, declare it and stop. But which comes first? The only way a dead lost sinner can seek God is if God enables them to do so. Who put the copy of Isaiah in his hands? Who converted him to Judaism? Who did all that?

Well, you might say, "Pastor, he had a neighbor who was a Jew." God did that. And look, we know this to be fact. The only way a dead lost sinner can seek God is if God enables them. We know this to be fact because in John 6.44, Jesus says, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them." The only way a seeker seeks Christ, the only way a seeker seeks God seeks truth is if God draws them. So the eunuch was seeking God. Now let me pause. Let me say one more thing here before I move on.

When you have somebody in your life, when you have somebody in your family, when someone's in our church and they're lost but they're seeking truth, they're listening to truth, they're desiring to do better, they're desiring to be a Christian, that is because God is enabling them to do that. God is drawing them and it should get our attention and show us that God's at work. Next, number four, the presentation of the gospel by Philip. The presentation of the gospel by Philip, verse 29 to 35. Let's look at those verses.

And the spirit told Philip, "Go over and join this chariot." So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, "Do you understand what you're reading?" And he said, "How can I unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of scripture that he was reading was this. "Like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shear is silent. So he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation, justice was denied him." Who can describe this generation for his life is taken away from the earth.

"In the eunuch," said Philip, "about whom I ask does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with this scripture, told him the good news about Jesus. Now here we see that the Holy Spirit of God told Philip to go over to the chariot and to this man. And as Philip heard the eunuch reading the prophet Isaiah, he asked, "Do you understand what you're reading?" This is what we would call a Holy Spirit of God encounter. Now just like before when Philip was performing what we would call apostolic miracles, here we have what I call an apostolic work of the spirit. This was unique now.

Remember what we've learned. These were unique. I call it apostolic times. And God worked in a unique way through the apostles and through those who were very closely associated with them. So what we have here is an apostolic work, just like when he was in Samaria. But notice what this tells us. A sovereign God organized and arranged all these events. The stars did not align to bring all these events together. It was not a coincidence that Philip was there when the eunuch was reading Isaiah so he could explain all these things. No, simply a sovereign God prepared Philip, and that God prepared the Ethiopian eunuch.

And look church, God does the same thing today. God prepares people just for you to share the gospel. You get a new UPS guy and you begin to witness to him and you think, "Wait a minute, it's like he's ready for me to share the gospel." That's because he's ready for you to share the gospel because God put in there. God prepares families and people for our church. God brings people in our church and it's almost like they were made for us, we were made for them. That's because God did all that.

And we should have our Holy Spirit antennas up, looking for opportunities to witness, looking for opportunities to share, looking for opportunities to connect with Christians who are looking for a Bible church. Because there are all kinds of people in circumstances out there that if we're in tune with the work of the Spirit, we're walking in the Spirit looking for God to use us, it'll almost be like God arranged those circumstances just for you. Well, he does. But let's get back to Philip's gospel presentation. But notice, this was not Philip's gospel presentation but God's. And here the eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53.

This comes out of verses 1-12. And these verses are often referred to as God's prophecy concerning God's suffering, servant. Of course, we know who that is. Now, at this point, I want to show you what Philip did. We see in verse 35. And I want to show you what he did with a little bit of help from Warren Wearsby. Let me explain. First, notice that Philip shared the gospel from Isaiah 53. Verse 35 says that he started with those verses and went from there. And what this tells us is this. Philip had no doubt whatsoever about the messianic meaning of Isaiah 53. You see that? He started with those verses in Isaiah 53 about the gospel.

Philip had no doubt whatsoever that Isaiah 53 was about Jesus. Second, notice what Isaiah 53 tells us about Jesus and the Messiah. Verses 1-2 of Isaiah 53 described the birth of Jesus. Verse 3 out of Isaiah 53 is all about the life and ministry of Jesus. Verses 4-9, they're all about the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross. Verses 9, verses 10-12 are all about the victorious resurrection of Jesus. And the point here is this. Although we do not know all that Philip shared with the eunuch, because verse 35 does not say. It is clear that he shared all of the gospel fully, clearly, starting with Isaiah 53. You see?

So in verses 29-35, we see the clear and full presentation of the gospel. Philip took Isaiah 53, the verses that the eunuch had before him, and he presented all of the gospel, the good news of Jesus. Listen to verse 35 in the Amplified. "Then Philip spoke, and beginning with this scripture, he preached Jesus to him, explaining that he is the promised Messiah and the source of salvation." Now I've got to ask you a question. Can you share the gospel with a stranger? A complete stranger. You might say, "Pastor, I can share my testimony." That's okay, but that's not enough. Can you share the gospel? And you know, we've got it pretty easy today.

You can get a good gospel track, and you can memorize those verses, and you can digest that and regurgitate that and share it. There's nothing wrong with that. When I was the youth minister, I used to train teenagers to share the gospel with just the Bible. Jared was one of those teenagers. When Jared was in my youth department at First Baptist Church, Ellesville, I would train teenagers with just a New Testament, and we would go on the streets in different circumstances, and they would share the gospel with just the Bible. Can you share the gospel with a stranger? Can you share the gospel with a seeker? What I mean by that is this.

If you have someone in your life who is honestly seeking, can God use you to share the gospel with them according to where their need is, according to what they know? Can you take them where they are and take them to the gospel? You see, Philip could do that. He took him right there in Isaiah 53 and to the gospel. You might say, "Pastor, you're intimidating me." Study the scripture, understand the gospel, study the word, pray, and ask God to give you this ability.

And if you pray and study the scripture and study the gospel, and you go out into the community asking God to use you, you will find yourself in circumstances where you start to witness, and all of a sudden what you've been studying and how you've been praying, it's like they were made just for you on that day, because that circumstance was. But before I move on, I want to share something that Warren Wiersby says here. This is good. He says, and I'm quoting, "The idea of substitutionary sacrifice is one that is found from the beginning of the Bible to the end." Let me say that again, because this is important.

The idea of substitutionary sacrifice, Isaiah 53 is all about that, folks, is one that is found from the beginning of the Bible to the end. He goes on to say, "God killed animals so that he might clothe Adam and Eve." Substitutionary sacrifice, Genesis 3.21. He provided a ram to die in the place of Isaac. Substitutionary sacrifice, Genesis 22.13. Anybody know what those are pictures of? At Passover, innocent lambs died for the people of Israel. Exodus 12.1-51. Substitutionary sacrifice. Do you know what that's a picture of? In the entire Jewish religious system was based on the shedding of blood, Leviticus 17.1-16, especially Leviticus 7.11.

Anybody know what that's a picture of? Substitutionary sacrifice. Christ Jesus is the fulfillment of both the Old Testament types and the prophecies. So from beginning to end, the Bible is full of substitutionary sacrifice. It's all about Jesus. Now, what do we need to learn here? I've said this before, the Gospel is not just a New Testament story. The Gospel is a Bible story and it is found all throughout the Old Testament in types, shadows, pictures, and promises. And the Gospel is clearly explained in the New Testament. There are types and shadows and promises in the Old, but it's fully revealed in the New.

So the presentation of the Gospel by Philip. Number five, this is the last major point. The response of the Ethiopian. The response of the Ethiopian. I want us to read those verses. Put your eyes on the verses in your copy of God's Word. Verse 36 to 39. Now, I'm going to read from the Legacy Standard Bible, very similar to the New American. "And as they went along the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, 'Look, water, what prevents me from being baptized?'" Verse 37.

"And 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.' And he ordered the chariot to stop and they both went down into the water. Philip as well as the eunuch and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch no longer saw him, but he," that's the eunuch, "went on his way rejoicing." Now, notice we see that the Ethiopian responded three ways, in three ways to the Gospel presented by Philip. First, he expressed saving faith. First, he expressed saving faith. Look back at verse 37.

"But 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.'" But before we continue, some of you have noticed something already. Some modern translations omit verse 37. The English Standard does. But the New American, the Legacy Standard, and the King James includes the verse. Now, why is that the case? What's going on here? Why do some omit this? This is because language scholars tell us that the oldest and most reliable Greek manuscripts, they do not have verse 37. Now, this kind of a situation can be very, very difficult for some.

But what do we do when we come across this? What do we do? First of all, we do not panic. What we have here in verse 37, although it's debated, it does not refer to any doctrine. The debate that it's caused right here does not affect any key doctrine of the faith. Second of all, we trust trusted language scholars to explain these things. In our day, we have the best, the oldest, the most reliable Greek manuscripts, and very, very accurate modern translations. We have the best translations in all of church history and the great scholars to help us here. But in the case of verse 37, we don't have a debate that affects a central doctrine.

So the debate over the inclusion or exclusion of verse 37 is really of no great consequence. But for me, it's best to include the verse. It's best to include it. Obviously, the Ethiopian must have expressed a confession like we see here. That is because the biblical prescription seen all throughout Acts and the rest of the New Testament tells us this. First, a person makes a legitimate confession of faith. Second, after their profession of faith, they're baptized. That's the biblical prescription. So what we see here is this. The eunuch obviously made a legitimate confession of faith, one that Philip saw as legitimate.

Second, he has to be baptized. Again, what we see here follows the biblical prescription is seen all throughout the rest of the book and beyond. First, a person makes a profession of faith in Christ. Second, after their profession, they're baptized. But notice one detail. Verse 38 tells us that the Ethiopian was baptized. And this word here in the original, it means to dip. It means to immerse. So we see that the Ethiopian was dipped or immersed in his baptism. And more evidence is in verse 38 and 39. It says they went down into the water and came up out of the water.

But if you do some study here, you do some reading, you're going to see there's a debate. Those who are baptism in their doctrine and belief say this speaks to immersion. But those who hold to a different form of baptism, maybe like the Presbyterians, and the old different denominations of old who held to infant baptism, they say otherwise. But it is interesting to note that John Calvin, who did practice infant baptism, said of this verse and of this baptism, hence, we see that whatever was the manner of baptism with the ancients, for they plunged the body into the water. But then third, he rejoiced.

Here in verse 39, we see that the Ethiopian went away rejoicing. So here we see the response of the Ethiopian to Philip's gospel preaching and presentation. He confessed saving belief in Christ. He asked to be baptized. Philip baptized him as a sign of his conversion to Christ. And get this, although it does not say that Philip instructed him about baptism, it seems that he did because the unique ask. Now, what do we need to learn and apply here? First of all, the biblical prescription, the biblical order is clear from the book of Acts on.

A person confesses Christ, conversion to Christ, then they are baptized as a sign and a symbol of their conversion to Christ. But a question or two. What is the confession of faith and true saving faith without baptism? Let me repeat that because this needs to be pondered over. What is a confession of faith and true saving faith without baptism? First of all, one can be saved and not be baptized. Let me repeat that. One can be saved and not be baptized, but one who has not been scripturally baptized after conversion is living in ignorance at best or in disobedience at worst. Let me say that again.

One can be saved and not be baptized, but one who has not been scripturally baptized after conversion, at best they're living in ignorance or at the worst they're living in disobedience. Look, baptism is the biblical profession of faith in Christ. And according to what we see in scripture, it is the doorway. It is the gateway in the church membership. Another question. What is a baptism before a legitimate conversion to Christ? Let me repeat it. What is a baptism before a legitimate conversion to Christ? Sometimes people will say, pastor, I was baptized and became a member of the church at nine, but I came to saving faith at 19.

Well, any baptism before being converted to Christ is not legitimate because baptism is a sign of being converted to Christ. Baptism is a sign of being converted to Christ. It's kind of a simple illustration, but it fits. I have on a wedding ring. If I put that wedding ring on before I'm married, what does it mean? Nothing. The wedding ring is a symbol that I have been married. It is a symbol that there was a service. It is a symbol of the fact that there was a service before God and family and friends where we were officially married. If I took my ring off and gave it to somebody else, it would have no meaning.

But on my finger, it has great meaning. Well, baptism is similar in that we come to faith in Christ where baptized after it is a symbol of our conversion to Christ. And our statement of faith teaches wonderfully on baptism. And as a matter of fact, in my study this week, I ran across some great information in William McDonald's commentary on these verses. He gives a long detailed explanation on believer's baptism and is so good. I basically copied it and made copies and it would be good for you to grab one, put it in your Bible, study it is scripture verse after scripture verse.

And when you get to the end, you'll see he lays out New Testament Christian baptism thoroughly, clearly, and wonderfully. Now, I want to close. Be pretty short here by looking at verses 39 to 40. Let's look at those real quick. I said that the eunuch is the main character, but we're fixing to shift a little here to Philip. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. I have no idea what that looked like. Supernatural. Remember, this was apostolic work. The Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away in the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus.

And as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. Here we see that after these events, God snatched Philip away supernaturally, but the Ethiopian went on his way back home. But notice the rest of the story with Philip. Now, I really grabbed this from Jim Boyce. This is kind of in my words, but it was great. I grabbed it. Philip went on his way rejoicing too. And he had a great career after this. That grabbed me. He had a great gospel career after this. He went up the coast to the north. He preached in many cities, Azotus for one.

Eventually, he arrived in Caesarea where he settled down and he had a family. Acts 21, 8 says that Luke and Paul stayed with Philip when they arrived in Caesarea from Macedonia on the way to Jerusalem. And by this time, Philip had four unmarried daughters and they were prophetesses. We have to figure out what that means. Now, what is my point here? Why am I closing out this way? Philip, who was one of those Hellenistic Jewish believers there in the church at Jerusalem, who became one of the first deacons or at least one of those first prototype deacons, he was one of the leading laymen in the church at Jerusalem.

And he went from waiting on tables and serving in physical matters in the church to embarking on this great evangelistic journey. All because the great persecution thrusts him out on the gospel road. He took the gospel to Samaria. They had a great outpouring of the spirit. They had a great awakening. Then he moved on and he evangelized the Ethiopian eunuch who obviously took the gospel all the way to Ethiopia. And he went on to be used by God all the way to Caesarea. And we see him coming back around later on with Paul. Now, what am I trying to show you? He did have a great gospel career. Now, let me close by asking you a question.

Can we be like Philip? Sure. What I mean is this, God had a unique plan for Philip, a unique plan for Peter. And being led of the spirit, filled with the spirit, and living the gospel life that God has for us, God can use us just like he used Philip in a greater way maybe than you could expect. So title the message tonight again. It's really all about the eunuch, the Ethiopian eunuch, the believing believer. Let me pray and we'll look at some prayer needs.