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We have a wonderful Savior, a 
wonderful Lord, and that's the accent here with reference to 
the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. So read or look with 
me at 826. Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, 
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 
Candace, 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 shearer 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 eunuchs saw him no more, and he 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." Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you for the written word of the living and true God. 
And we pray now for the ministry of the Holy Spirit who gave us 
this word. We pray that you would guide 
our thoughts and minds and hearts now as we consider the conversion 
of this man. And may we with him rejoice over 
salvation that is free. salvation that is given by God 
Most High through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Again, forgive 
us for all sin and everything that darkens our understanding 
and our minds, and give us grace to receive with thankful hearts 
your word. And we pray through Jesus Christ 
the Lord. Amen. Well, as I've indicated, this 
is a very significant passage of scripture. It's not just a 
record of what happened, but it's a fulfillment of what was 
promised in Isaiah 56. Now, as I said in Deuteronomy 
23, eunuchs were forbidden for entering into the assembly of 
the Lord. But as we saw there in Isaiah 56, God, through the 
prophet, is telling that there is a day when they will be brought 
nigh. And we know that day is identified in the Bible as the 
new covenant of our Lord Jesus Christ. So when Christ comes, 
he brings salvation, not simply to the house of Israel, which 
is a small thing, but he comes to be a light unto the Gentiles 
as well. And those who were formerly excluded 
from the assembly of the Lord have been brought nigh now through 
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's what's happening here 
in Acts 8. So yes, appreciate the fact that a sinner comes 
to saving faith. Appreciate the fact that he's 
a Gentile. Appreciate the fact as well that 
he is a eunuch and at one time was forbidden from entering into 
the assembly of the Lord. But appreciate the fact that 
the God of the eunuch is the God in heaven right now. and 
that He is intreatable, and that He is merciful, and that He is 
kind and gracious. And we have many a promise in 
Scripture that if we come to Him through His Son, the Lord 
Jesus Christ, He will not cast us out. He will not reject us. 
He will not resist us. In other words, Christ came not 
to make salvation possible, but to affect it, to bring it to 
pass. He is an able Savior. He is a 
competent Savior. He is a gracious Savior. And 
if you are not a believer in Christ this morning, please listen, 
please pay attention, and please, by grace, look unto Him in faith, 
and you will have everlasting life. So I wanna look first at 
the contact with the eunuch in verses 26 to 30. Second, the 
communication with the eunuch in verses 31 to 35. And then 
thirdly, the conversion of the eunuch in verses 36 to 40. I'll 
leave it to you parents to describe or define these terms at lunch 
with your little ones, but I suspect that you all know or at least 
are somewhat informed as to what is happening in the passage. 
But notice in terms of the contact, the angel directs Philip according 
to 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. So after a time in Samaria, 
Philip had been teaching, he had been preaching, he's called 
an evangelist later in chapter 21. An evangelist is simply somebody 
who has the message of Jesus and tells others about it. So 
he goes into Samaria, and this is accordance with the book of 
Acts. Jesus says to his church in Acts 1.8, that you will be 
my witnesses first in Jerusalem, and then Judea, Samaria, and 
then to the uttermost parts of the earth. That's how the book 
of Acts transpires. We see the ministry in Jerusalem 
in Acts 2, and shortly thereafter, we see the ministry in Judea 
and Samaria, and then we see with the call of the Apostle 
Paul that uttermost parts of the earth hear the gospel of 
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So Philip goes to minister in 
Samaria, but then the angel directs him specifically to go to Gaza. 
Now I think that's significant because it demonstrates to us 
the mind of God. This wasn't haphazard, this wasn't 
random, this wasn't an afterthought, this wasn't just a lucky event. 
It's not the case that God is not about saving sinners. God 
is about saving sinners. The whole Bible tells us that. 
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life. There's a brand of theology out 
there that tries to tell people that there's going to be some 
saved, but it's a very little sum. It's just a few. It's just 
a handful. But that doesn't jive with scripture. 
We get to the last book of the Bible, in the book of Revelation. 
We see every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation. Not 
every single person, but a great multitude that no man can number. The fact that the angel directs 
Philip on this particular path or course shows divine initiative. It's God who comes after sinners. 
It was God who came after Adam and Eve in the garden. It was 
God who separated Abram out of Ur, the Chaldeans, so that in 
Him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. It was God 
the Father who sent the Son, so that the Son could come to 
seek and to save that which was lost. Everything in the Bible 
is calculated to demonstrate to you that God saves sinners, 
that this is His task, this is His prerogative, this is His 
business. Certainly He created the world, 
certainly He upholds the world, but He's also the Redeemer of 
His people out of the world. So again, look to this blessed 
Christ. He is most gracious, most merciful, 
most kind. Now notice we see the introduction 
of this Ethiopian in verses 27 and 28. His identity. Verse 27, He arose and went, 
and behold, a man of Ethiopia. Again, that there is an African 
being included in the covenant promises of God, tie up for us 
some biblical prophecy. But as I said earlier, the emphasis 
in the passage is not on his Ethiopian-ness, it's on the fact 
that he's a eunuch. He had been forbidden from the 
assembly of the Lord. The fact that he's reading the 
prophet Isaiah in chapter 53 doesn't seem difficult to understand 
that he also read chapter 56. He knew the prohibition against 
going into the assembly of the Lord. He also knew there was 
a time coming when he could go into the assembly of the Lord. 
So he's reading the prophet Isaiah in some way about himself. He's 
curious. He's interested. This is something 
that he wants to know about. And I think that's good. There 
is a brand of sinner out there that cares not about anything 
connected to God and Christ. That's a dangerous spot to be. 
This man at least had an interest. This man put himself under the 
means of the word. This man had questions. This 
man admitted that he didn't know everything. This man wanted answers 
from God's holy word. And that is a good sign. That 
is a blessed indicator of where he's at. And then notice it tells 
us something about his religion. It says, he rose, went, and behold, 
a man of Ethiopia, verse 27, a eunuch of great authority under 
Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury 
and had come to Jerusalem to worship. There is this class 
of people that worship in Jerusalem. They were Gentiles. They were 
outsiders. They were not Jews that had the 
covenant promises of God in the Old Testament, but they were 
interested in the God of the Old Testament. They were interested 
in Yahweh of Israel. Cornelius in chapter 10 was a 
Gentile. He was a God-fearer. He's described 
that way. So these people could come to 
the temple, but they could go so far and thus no further. They 
were prohibited from entering in to the assembly of the Lord. 
So this man had a religious curiosity. This man had a desire to learn. 
This man had a desire to understand. And in God's good providence, 
look what happens. God sends him an evangelist. 
God sends him a Philip. God sends him a man who's able 
to explain to him the word of the living and true God. So notice, 
the spirit commands Philip. So verse 28, it says, and sitting 
in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the 
spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake this chariot. not 
to rob him, not to take all that money that he was over as Eunice's 
guy that was over the treasury, but overtake the chariot so you 
can explain the gospel, so that this man can come to a saving 
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, you have to appreciate 
the initiative of God. You have to appreciate the non-haphazardness 
of this. It's not luck. It's not just 
the way things sort of fell out. But God is directing the specific 
salvation of this particular individual man. A man that was, 
no doubt, very, you know, had a lot of renown and notoriety 
in his home country. But in the grand scheme of things, 
he's not that important. And yet, for God, he sends Philip 
to this man. And that brings us to the communication 
with the eunuch in verses 31 to 35. Notice the evangelist's 
question. Verse 30, it says, Philip ran 
to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, 
do you understand what you are reading? It's a good question, 
brethren. As evangelists or as persons 
that want to tell people the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
we can't assume that everybody already knows it. We can't assume 
that in what appears to be a post, and I'll put in quotes, Christian 
nation, that everybody has an inkling as to what the gospel 
of Jesus Christ our Lord is. In fact, the opposite end, the 
enemies of Christ, are doing everything in their power to 
try to exclude and remove that message from the public square. 
So we can't just automatically assume, oh, you were born in 
Canada, you were born in America, you must have went to Sunday 
school. You must have some familiarity with the Bible. You must know 
something about the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not sure those are 
good musts. I'm not sure that we're not dealing 
with heathen. Everywhere, or every bit as lost 
as this Ethiopian unit. Every bit as lost as this man 
who had no idea that Isaiah the prophet in chapter 53 is talking 
about Jesus Christ. Again, we assume that because 
we know it in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your next 
door neighbor might not know that the servant of the Lord 
in Isaiah 53 is Jesus Christ who came to live, to die, and 
to be raised again the third day. And so Philip's question 
is most appropriate. Do you understand what you're 
reading? Do you get what it is that God is putting down essentially? 
Now notice the Ethiopian's response. He doesn't get offended. He's 
not triggered. He's not upset. Well, how dare 
you ever question my intelligence? How dare you ever suggest that 
I might not know something? There's that defensive spirit 
that obtains in our own generation that's pretty nasty and notorious 
and really doesn't bode well in terms of evangelism. We have 
to be prepared, brethren, for people that aren't gonna be this 
humble and this open and this honest. We're gonna have to be 
prepared with people that are very vicious, very unkind, and 
very godless in terms of their response to the truth as it is 
in Jesus. But for this particular man, 
he's got that humility about him. He's got that humble honesty. Notice in verse 31. How can I, 
unless someone guides me? That's, I think, the first path 
to fixing things is to perhaps admit that you don't know what 
you're doing. Right? I mean, that's a principle 
that I think is true in a whole lot of ways. You can't know you 
should eat better because you have a rare disease if you don't 
first know that you have the disease. This particular fellow 
wants to know what to do in terms of his relationship with God 
Most High. And he understands that he's 
not all-knowing. He's not all-wise. He's not infallible. He's not 
omnipotent. He doesn't have all the answers. 
That arrogant attitude, often exemplified by young people, 
I'm not here to pick on young people, is as well exemplified 
in old people. It's exemplified in all the sons 
of Adam. Oh, you can't tell me, you're 
not the boss of me, I know best. That's not what this man does. 
This man is humble, this man is honest, and he says very clearly, 
how can I unless someone guides me? And then notice he has this 
desire to know. He doesn't just say, well, I 
don't know, just, you know, be on your way. I'm going to just 
leave now. No, that's not what he does. 
Verse 31, he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. It's 
a good sign of a soul that wants to know the power of God's salvation. The fact that you're in church 
today is a good sign. The fact that hopefully you're 
paying attention is a good sign. The fact that God and His mercy 
and providence brought us all together here this morning is 
a good sign. Now notice as well, he happens 
to be reading, and I say happen with quotes, he happens to be 
reading a perfect text. A perfect text. I'm sure you've 
noticed as, you know, not a professional evangelist or, you know, a biblically 
recognized and qualified evangelist and identified by the church, 
but you all like to speak to people about Jesus. How many 
times have you asked somebody, you know, about their soul and 
they've said, what must I do to be saved? Probably not many, 
but you find that in the Bible, right? And in this instance, 
how many times have you happened upon a sinner that happened to 
be reading Isaiah 53? Wow, that was fortunate. That 
was lucky. No, again, God is not haphazard. This is not luck. He's reading 
a perfect text. Notice in the section, verse 
32, 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 shearer 
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." John Gill says this prophet, 
Isaiah, is a very evangelical one, and very delightful and 
profitable to read. Many things are prophesied by 
him concerning the Messiah, and particularly in the chapters 
in which the eunuch was reading. If he had a copy of the prophet 
Isaiah, he certainly had Isaiah 13. He had Isaiah 19. So he would have read there about 
the fall of Babylon. He would have read there about, 
you know, God's judgment against the enemy invaders of Judah. He would have read all that stuff. 
But again, he happens to be reading Isaiah 53. Now notice the question 
that the eunuch has here. Basically, who's the prophet 
talking about? He's saying, I want to meet this 
one. I want to know this one. I want to be familiar with this 
one. I want to be, you know, somewhat introduced to this particular 
one. Again, as Christians brought 
up in the church, we've never doubted, we've never suspected 
that Isaiah 53 was about anybody other than Jesus. But brethren, 
that was not in this context the common notion or the prevailing 
option. In fact, there were Israelites 
that thought that the servant of Yahweh in Isaiah 53 was Israel 
herself, was the nation, the corporate entity. The fact that 
this man's asking, was he talking about himself? Was Isaiah being 
autobiographical in 53? Or is he talking about some other 
man? He's got a legitimate question about a legitimate text, and 
a text that's calculated in such a way that Philip is able to 
preach Jesus from that text. So after the question in verse 
34, so the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom 
does the prophet say this? Of himself or of some other man? 
Notice the evangelist's answer. Verse 35, then Philip opened 
his mouth and beginning at this scripture preached Jesus to him. F.F. Bruce says, at a time when 
not one line of any New Testament document had been written, what 
scripture could any evangelist have used more fittingly as a 
starting point for presenting the story of Jesus to one who 
did not know him? Again, it's a perfect text. The eunuch wants to know who 
the text is about. I want to meet this man. I want 
to know this man. I want to be introduced to this 
man. And so that's what Philip does beginning from this text. 
He preaches Jesus to him. Now when you read the prophet 
Isaiah, there are what we call servant songs of the Lord. There's 
one in chapter 42, there's one in chapter 49, there's one in 
chapter 50, and then there's one in 52-53. And 53 of the four 
is probably the most familiar, the most, dare I say, popular. But these servant songs are Old 
Testament prophecies concerning the servant of the Lord. We call 
him also Messiah. We call him the New Testament 
equivalent of Messiah, Christ. We know him by the name Jesus. 
So Isaiah, about 700 years prior to the coming of Jesus, was writing 
about Jesus. Under the inspiration and power 
of the Holy Spirit, he is portraying facets of the Savior's life and 
the Savior's ministry. And in Isaiah 53, the emphasis 
is upon the Savior's life, to be sure, but it's also upon His 
death. By His stripes, we are healed. So when Philip takes this text 
and starts preaching Jesus to him, if we consider Isaiah 53, 
it deals with the humiliation of the servant, in verses 1 to 
3. It deals with the suffering of 
the servant, in verses 4 to 6. Then it goes on to the death 
of the servant in verses 7 to 9, and then finally the triumph 
of the servant in verses 10 to 12. Again, best possible text 
that Philip could have been given to preach Jesus to this eunuch 
with. Now when you read through Isaiah 
53, you'll see the emphasis. If you ask the question, why 
does the servant die? Why does he do what he does? 
Why is it that this one sent from God goes through this kind 
of suffering? That's the famous passage where 
in chapter 53 at verse 3, he's what? He's a man of sorrows and 
he's acquainted with grief. talks about his wounds, his stripes. By his stripes we are healed. 
What does that mean? It means that his back would 
be opened with a Roman whip. And when it speaks of his death, 
again, we might ask the question, why did he go through this? Why 
does he do that? Why does he live in obedience 
to the law? Why does he die as a common criminal, though he's 
not? Why does he do that? Well, at the end of Isaiah 53, 
it tells us why he does that. He doesn't do it because of his 
sins. He does it because of our sins. And this is what the prophet 
says in verses 11 and 12. He shall see the labor of his 
soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous 
servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. In other words, he does what 
he does, not because of his sin, but he does what he does because 
of our sin. It says, therefore, I will divide 
him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil 
with the strong. Because he poured out his soul 
unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he 
bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. So perhaps now you can understand 
why the Ethiopian eunuch who wasn't brought up in a Christian 
Sunday school, who hadn't been taught from his youth that the 
servant of the Lord, there's Jesus, is asking the question, is the 
prophet writing about himself or is he writing about some other 
man? So Philip preaches Jesus to this man and basically says 
he wasn't writing about himself, he was writing about Jesus, this 
one who comes to bring forgiveness. This one who comes to bring righteousness. This one who comes to bring the 
salvation of God. See, it wasn't a political movement 
that brought the Lord into this world. That's what the Jews in 
the first century, by and large, were looking for. They wanted 
to take him by force and make him a king because he fed them 
food. Well, in that context, he says, all that the Father 
gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will 
certainly not cast out. He goes on to tell them, no one 
can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I 
will raise him up at the last day. He continues drilling down 
in these themes of God's absolute sovereignty, such that the people 
that were following, because they wanted the bread, finally 
said, we don't want to follow you anymore. These are hard sayings. 
We just want bread. We just want a king to subjugate 
the Romans. We just want prestige. We just 
want geopolitical power. That's all we're after. We're 
not gonna follow you. See, they missed the boat. They missed 
the whole scheme. You will call his name Jesus, 
for it is he who will save his people from their sins. And when 
you look at the book of Acts, that's conspicuous. Go back to 
chapter two. Acts chapter two, Peter preaches 
on the day of Pentecost. And notice what he says in verse 
38. People there are cut to the heart because they know they're 
guilty of the crime of murder. They murdered the Lord of glory 
whom God had sent to save them. And so they cry out, men and 
brethren, what shall we do? Verse 38, Peter said to them, 
repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus 
Christ, notice, for the remission of sins. Look at chapter three 
and verse 19. Chapter three and verse 19, repent 
therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. Notice over in chapter 3 at verse 
26, to you first, God, having raised up his servant Jesus, 
sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from your 
iniquities. See, it was always about sin. 
It was always about rebellion. It was always about transgression. 
If you ask the question, why did Jesus come into this world? 
It was to save his people from their Paul says that in 1 Timothy 
1. This is a faithful saying. It's 
worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world, 
sinners, to save. That's the overarching concern 
in the book of Acts. Notice in Acts 4.12, nor is there 
salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven 
given among men by which we must be, what? Saved. We're lost because 
we're sinners. We're liable to the judgment 
of God because we're sinners and there's salvation to be had 
in Jesus. Turn over to Acts chapter 10. 
Acts chapter 10, Peter preaches to the household of Cornelius, 
again, a Gentile who's come to taste that the Lord is good. 
He's come to Israel's God through the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. 
And Peter crowns his sermon with the primary purpose for which 
the son of man came. Verse 43. to him, all the prophets 
witness that through his name, whoever believes in him will 
receive remission of sins. Notice in chapter 13, Paul has 
been converted. In chapter 9, he becomes the 
apostle to the Gentiles. But when he goes to various cities 
in the Roman Empire, he goes first to the synagogues. Because 
in the synagogues, he gets to preach to the Jews, but he also 
gets to preach to the God-fearing Gentiles who come in because 
they're interested. So he's in a synagogue in Pisidian 
Antioch in Acts chapter 13. Notice how he brings his sermon 
to a conclusion in verse 36. For David, after he had served 
his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried 
with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up saw 
no corruption. Therefore, let it be known to 
you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness 
of sins. And by him, everyone who believes 
is justified from all things from which you could not be justified 
by the law of Moses. Hopefully you see the significance 
of the Ethiopian eunuch. He didn't just have two strikes 
against him. He was an Ethiopian and he was 
a eunuch. The biggest strike was that he 
was a sinner. That was his issue. That was 
his problem. That was the insurmountable obstacle 
betwixt him and God. It was the sin thing. Just like for everybody in here, 
it was the sin thing. Just like it was even for Jonathan. Young men are sinful men. Children are sinful children. 
The only remedy is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And 
that's why Philip from Isaiah 53 preaches Jesus to him. We could go on in the book of 
Acts to see this accent on the place of the forgiveness of sins, 
but hopefully you get the point. This man had three strikes against 
him, and God, in his mercy, sent Philip to him. God, in his mercy, 
placed the prophet Isaiah in his lap. God, in his mercy, evoked 
from that man the question, who's he talking about? I want to meet 
this man. I want to know this man. I want 
to be introduced to this man. So Philip does that. Now notice 
what happens. Notice what takes place. And that brings us finally to 
the conversion of the eunuch in verses 36 to 40. 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? Brethren, I think built in is 
an assumption that Philip not only preached Jesus from Isaiah 
53, but he also preached the necessity of faith in Jesus. It's not just that Isaiah wrote 
about Jesus, but you, Ethiopian eunuch, you need to look to Jesus. 
You need to believe in Jesus. You need to stop trusting in 
yourself. You need to stop trusting in 
your merit. You need to stop trusting in your religiosity. 
Sure, you're interested with Israel's God. But interest with 
Israel's God will land you in hell, just like not interest 
in Israel's God. You need, by grace, eunuch, to 
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, there's something that we as God's people do. It's 
called baptism. Baptism doesn't save you. It 
doesn't sort of seal the deal. It doesn't make you all the way 
saved, but it's an outward sign of what God has done in terms 
of changing your heart. The Apostle Paul will speak of 
it in Romans chapter six, and he uses the imagery of baptism 
to show them their place in God through the gospel or in Christ 
through the gospel of Jesus. You died and were buried and 
were raised up again. Therefore, no longer present 
your members as instruments of unrighteousness. You've been 
conquered, you've been saved, you've been blessed. So when 
our young brother goes into the water today, there's nothing 
magical about it. It's not that it actually washes 
away his sin. That comes as a result of faith 
in Christ. It's the blood of Jesus Christ, 
his son, that cleanses us from all sin. So the baptism is an 
external sign, an external witness, an external testimony or demonstration 
of what God has done to the man inwardly. And so we have to assume 
that the Ethiopian eunuch had heard that. I mean, I don't think 
it's intuitive. It's not the law of nature that 
teaches you you need to be baptized. It's a sacrament of the new covenant. 
It comes by revelation. Christ is the covenant head. 
Christ defines and describes who it is that gets baptized. 
So the man must have asked, or rather, Philip must have offered 
him that information. You believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ. After you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you get 
baptized, you find a church, and you get taught. because that's 
what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 28, go make disciples of all 
the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit, and then teach them to observe all things 
that I have commanded you. It's a beautiful arrangement. 
You get saved by grace through faith in Jesus, you get baptized 
consequent to that, and then you get taught the scriptures, 
and hopefully you're stable, you're tethered, and you'll make 
it to heaven because of God's faithfulness. So the eunuch asks 
the question, and it's a good question. He says, what hinders 
me from being baptized? Now notice that Philip specifies 
a condition. He doesn't say, well, you know, 
anybody and everybody can get baptized. I mean, it's just for 
whoever. No, there is a condition here. And Philip highlights that. Verse 
37. Now your Bible might put this 
in the margin. Take it out of the margin and 
put it back in verse 37. There is very early testimony 
to verse 37 in the manuscript tradition. That it's been relegated 
to the margin in the newer Bibles is not bueno. Okay? Verse 37 
is given by inspiration of God, and it sets forth the truth as 
it is in Jesus. So notice in verse, if that confused 
you, fine. Don't pay. You can let that one 
go. That's an obstacle or speed bump. You just bump and then 
go. But if you kind of are in tune 
with that, please understand that it's to be in verse 37, 
not in the margin. But for everybody else, let's 
keep going here. Let's go to the next obstacle. 
Look at what he says. If you believe with all your 
heart, you may. That's Christian baptism, brethren. Why is Jonathan 
going into there today? Because he's such a great kid. 
He is a great kid. We all love him. We want the 
best for him, but it's not his performance that's gonna land 
him in heaven. It's not his obedience to the 
law that lands him into heaven. It's Christ's performance. It's 
Christ's obedience. It's Christ's merit. It's Christ's 
righteousness. Well, how do we receive that? 
Through faith. One of the biggest things that 
occurred in the history of the world was called the Protestant 
Reformation. And do you know what was the 
main emphasis? One of the main focuses of that Protestant Reformation 
was the doctrine of justification by faith alone. You're not saved by some faith 
and some works. You're not saved by any sort 
of a percentage. Well, I got 80%, you know, my 
own, I'll take a bit of Jesus. No, it's all of Jesus or it's 
nothing. And the Protestant Reformation highlighted that beautiful, blessed, 
wonderful truth. They didn't develop it. They 
didn't invent it. They didn't make it up. They 
saw it in the scripture. You're going to say, well, yeah, 
of course, Paul teaches that. Romans chapter 9, Romans 3 and 
4, Galatians, the whole book of Galatians is calculated to 
bring to naught this idea that it's faith plus words. But go 
back further. Abraham believed God and it was 
accounted unto him for righteousness. It's always been God's way. We're 
sinners. We violate the law. We're not 
perfect. And that's what God demands. 
Exact, entire, perpetual obedience to his law. We don't render that. 
But the beauty is, is that Christ did. And the way that sinners 
appropriate that, the way that sinners receive that is by grace 
through faith. That's why Philip says, if you 
believe in your heart, then you can be baptized. So then notice 
what the Ethiopian eunuch does in this place. Verse 37b, he 
answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son 
of God. Isn't that wonderful? We're sinners. Imagine if the gospel was, stop 
sinning and get better. Wow, that's not good news. I 
tried that yesterday and it didn't end too well. I try that every 
morning and I just, you know, I make it to the coffee maker 
and, you know, I'm done. Believe on him and you will be 
saved. If you haven't thought through 
the implications of the gospel, please come with me and think 
through them. You're guilty, you're vile, you're 
helpless, you deserve the wrath and fury and judgment of God. 
The Bible is clear there. Hell shouldn't surprise anybody. 
Hell shouldn't be a shock to anybody. Hell is the natural 
and inevitable result of sinners defying, rebelling, and transgressing 
against their God. Hell is justice. Heaven is grace, 
it's mercy, it's loving kindness. If you believe in your heart, 
then you may. What's he say? I believe that 
Jesus Christ is the son of God. Isn't that John's point in writing 
the gospel of John? John 20, 30, 31, many other things 
Jesus did. There's a lot of stuff that Jesus 
did, many other signs, but these are written so that you may believe 
that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that believing in 
his name, you may have everlasting life. Good news, not good advice, 
good news. Christ has come to do what we 
could never do. Obey God, die in our place, and 
be raised again the third day. The way that sinners come into 
saving contact with God is through faith in the Son of God. So the eunuch does, the eunuch 
confesses and now notice what happens. There is this response 
in verses 38 to 40. So he commanded the chariot to 
stand still and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the 
water and he baptized him. Beautiful. Simple, isn't it? Well, there's a new members class 
at our church, and it's a six-month session, and we're going to give 
you a test at the end, and if you pass that test, then you 
can be baptized. Now, if you believe with all 
your heart, you may. If you read through the book 
of Acts, you'll notice the absence of altar calls. You'll notice 
the absence of decision-making. You'll notice the absence of, 
you know, bow your heads and close your eyes, and if you want 
to be saved, just sort of raise up your hand. What do the apostles 
do? They preach the life, the death, 
and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then they tell 
sinners to believe. Those sinners who believe then 
come forward, not in some altar call, but to get baptized. to 
go into the water, to get dunked, to signify that death, burial, 
and resurrection, and then to come up out again. And that is 
precisely what happens with this Ethiopian eunuch. But that is 
not all, and you mustn't believe for a moment that I'm almost 
done. Actually, I am almost done, but notice what we see. Now, 
when they came up out of the water, verse 39, the spirit of 
the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no 
more. Why is that? Because Philip had 
other work to do. This wasn't the last sinner on 
earth. There's other sinners, Philip. You're an evangelist. 
You're going to go meet others. You're going to teach others. 
He's going to end up and live in Caesarea. We see that in chapter 
21, verse 8. That's where he settles. But 
up until that time, he's a preacher. He's an evangelist. He's a teacher 
of the faith. He's got to go about this task. But then notice 
what happens with the eunuch. So verse 39, now when they came 
up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away 
so that the eunuchs saw him no more, and he went on his way 
rejoicing. See, there's this motif that 
has been plugged in to an interpretation of the famous catechism, the 
Heidelberg catechism. There's three sections. There's 
guilt, there's grace, and there's gratitude. Guilt basically tells 
you how miserable you are. How do I know my sin and misery? 
Well, the law of God tells me. When God tells me to love him 
and to love my neighbor as myself, I see my sin because I don't 
love God as I ought and I don't love my neighbor as I ought. 
That's guilt. That's misery. That's sin. That's 
shame. That's depravity. But the confession 
of catechism rather goes on to grace. You're a guilty, vile 
sinner. But God, in his kindness, sent 
his Son. For guess what? Guilty, vile 
sinners. Isn't that a wonderful arrangement? 
And by grace, when you believe, you're forgiven. Catechism doesn't 
stop. What issues forth? gratitude, 
thankfulness, rejoicing. This man who had three strikes 
against him, he was a eunuch, he was an Ethiopian, but most 
of all, he was a sinner, has been saved by wonderful grace. His sins are forgiven. He's got 
a righteousness now. wherein he can walk in or enter 
into the presence of God Almighty. Of course, there's joy. Of course, 
there's happiness. Of course, there's thankfulness. 
Think of this eunuch when we sing the next hymn. Shouldn't 
we sing, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch 
like me. I once was lost, but now I'm 
found, was blind, but now I see with a degree of joy, with a 
bit of happiness, perhaps a little smile, brethren, that's indicative 
of the people of God. They're happy. Yes, they have 
issues. Yes, they have challenges. Yes, 
they have trials, but they can be of good cheer because Jesus 
Christ has overcome the world. The man was saved. and saved men rejoice, saved 
men delight, saved men praise Almighty God the Lord. So Philip 
was found at Azotus passing through. He preached in all the cities 
till he came to Caesarea. That concludes our study in the 
conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. Just a couple of thoughts and 
then we close. First, the progress of the kingdom. It's great to 
focus in on and zone in on one particular man, but there's something 
bigger and better going on in the book of Acts. I've already 
mentioned it, Acts 1.8. You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, 
Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. This was 
an Ethiopian. This was a man from another place. This was a man that was outside 
the commonwealth of Israel. So what do we learn in the book 
of Acts? It's every tribe, it's every tongue, it's every people, 
it's every nation. Those who were previously excluded 
because of ethnicity, those previously excluded because of, you know, 
deformity, those previously excluded are brought nigh by the blood 
of Jesus Christ. We see a massive campaign in 
the book of Acts launched by God through 12 men to turn the 
world upside down. Their methodology was simple. 
They prayed and they preached. That's what they did. They didn't 
have a big social media campaign. They didn't give out, you know, 
free stuff at all their meetings. They'd go to cities, they'd find 
the sinners, they would tell them they're sinners and they 
need to come to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith. We see God's 
blessing upon that simple means. As well, we see the realization 
of the covenant promises of God. Isaiah 56 is answered specifically 
in Acts 8. You know, you'll hear that sometimes. 
Well, you know, there's all these things that the Bible says that 
haven't come true. Typically spoken by the scholars 
of our day who really know their Bibles, not even a little bit. 
Brethren, God's Word is sure. He's faithful. He's true. He 
cannot lie, according to Titus 1. It's a divine cannot. He cannot do something. He cannot 
lie. If he promises the inclusion 
of eunuchs into the covenant promises of God, you'll see eunuchs 
in the covenant promises of God. More appropriate for most of 
us, when he promises the inclusion of Gentiles in the covenant promises 
of God, he makes good on that so that every tribe, tongue, 
people, and nation find their blessing in Jesus Christ, the 
Messiah of Israel. And then finally, with reference 
to the practice of Christian baptism, I just want to sort 
of focus in on Jonathan. Jonathan, in our confession of 
faith, I think it gives a very good description of what baptism 
is. This is helpful, not just for 
Jonathan, but if anybody else wants to sort of listen in, you 
may. It says, baptism is an ordinance or a sacrament of the New Testament, 
ordained by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized. I think 
they use that phrase in light of the Ethiopian unit. Notice 
that Philip doesn't say, well, we've got to get you back to 
Jerusalem. They've got a really nice baptistry there. They've got, 
you know, pews. They've got everything. We'll 
have coffee after. It'll be nice. We're free to do that, obviously, 
but it's to the party baptized. See, in the Lord's Supper, there's 
a corporate dimension. For as often as you, the church, 
eat this bread and drink this cup, you, the church, proclaim 
the Lord's death till he comes. But in terms of baptism, it's 
a sacrament or ordinance for the party baptized. Now notice 
it goes on to say, a sign of his fellowship with him in his 
death and resurrection. Again, that Roman six imagery, 
you're died, you've been buried, you've been raised again with 
him. And then it says of his being engrafted into him, sort 
of old fashioned speak for union with Christ. We have this blessed, 
vital, living union with our Lord Jesus. It also signifies 
remission of sins. Again, the water doesn't wash 
him from his sins, but the water signifies or represents what 
the blood of Jesus does with reference to his sins. And then 
it goes on to say this, and of his giving up unto God through 
Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life. So in other 
words, you are entering the waters of baptism and publicly identifying 
with the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's a 
blessed thing. You're also telling publicly, I've been forgiven. 
You're telling publicly, I'm in vital living union with our 
Lord Jesus. But you're also telling the public, 
which is the church that you're coming into, that I am committed 
to walking in newness of life. I'm going to live in such a way 
as to try and honor my Lord to try to be a blessed benefit to 
the life of the church. And as the church, we need to 
respond in kind, pray for him, encourage him, and love him. 
And that's what we are supposed to do with all of the people 
of God. And then as Jonathan is a younger 
man, we love to see the young people in our families being 
converted and identifying in this public way. We don't take 
that for granted. I don't think there's a formula. 
But it is true and it is wonderful that God does work in and through 
families in a lot of cases and in a lot of times. And Spurgeon, 
you all know he's kind of the patron saint of the Reformed 
Baptists or one of them. I always like to read what he 
said concerning his baptism because I think it's a good sort of model 
for us to all imbibe and to think about in terms of our own baptism. 
He speaks of it this way, he says, May 3rd, in the afternoon, 
I was privileged to follow my Lord and to be buried with him 
in baptism, blessed pool, sweet emblem of my death to all the 
world. May I henceforward live alone 
for Jesus, accept my body and soul as a poor sacrifice, Tie 
me unto Thee. In Thy strength I now devote 
myself to Thy service forever. Never may I shrink from owning 
Thy name. Witness, ye men and angels, now 
if I forsake the Lord. I vow to glory alone in Jesus 
and His cross, and to spend my life in the extension of His 
cause in whatsoever way He pleases. I desire to be sincere in this 
solemn profession, having but one object in view, and that 
to glorify God. Blessing upon thy name that thou 
hast supported me through the day. It is thy strength alone 
that could do this. Thou hast, thou wilt. Thou hast 
enabled me to profess thee. Help me now to honor thee and 
carry out my profession and live the life of Christ on earth. If you get just a glimpse of 
that today, praise God. Praise God Almighty, and pray, 
brethren, for the young people and the children in our church. 
God the Lord, in his kindness, has given them to us. God the 
Lord, through his apostle Paul, has commanded us to bring them 
up in the training and admonition of the Lord, to teach them the 
truth as it is in Jesus, and to point them the way that Philip 
pointed the eunuch to Christ, to do that with our wonderful 
gifts from God. Well, let us pray, and then our 
brother and I will change and get into the water. Our gracious 
God and Holy Father, we thank you for this account of the salvation 
of this man. And Father, we know that you 
are still in the business of saving sinners, and we praise 
you for your grace and for your mercy. And we pray that you would 
be pleased to bless the word today. May it run forth swiftly, 
may it go forth conquering and to conquer. And may you be pleased 
to continue to build the church, Lord Jesus Christ, and assure 
your people of that wonderful promise that the gates of Hades 
shall not prevail against it. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.