Alright, please take your copy of God's Word and turn to Acts chapter 8.
! After a week off with a commissioning service, it's good to be back into our verse-by-verse exposition of Acts chapter 8.
Our text for this morning is verse 26 through verse 40.
Before I read this on our behalf, let me remind you that this is God's Word,
that it was written for His glory and our good,
that we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
Now, as I read the text this morning, I'm going to stop and just make a couple of notes.
For our benefit of understanding the text, I don't need to go back and do it at a later time.
I am going to try to keep my comments brief.
I think that's maybe a laughable statement on my part at this point.
But I am going to try, at very least, because we do have some other matters to get to in our service today.
But let me ask that we just quiet our hearts and our minds for a moment
as we hear what God would say to us from His Word, beginning in verse 26.
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.
Now, this is the road that would have run from Jerusalem to Egypt.
And there were two roads in this day that did so.
One ran along the coast and the other through the desert.
That's why Luke includes that insertion.
This is a desert place.
And that was to say that this was the least traveled path.
An unlikely place to encounter another traveler.
Verse 27.
And he, being Philip, rose and went.
And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians,
who was in charge of all her treasure.
Now, in this day, Ethiopia was a larger kingdom than the modern-day country of Ethiopia.
And it expanded just south of Egypt.
So you think the journey from Israel to Egypt, Ethiopia being just south of this.
The queen that this Ethiopian eunuch is a servant of, they call here Candace.
This is not a proper name, but more like a title, like Caesar or Pharaoh.
And he held a very powerful position.
He was like the secretary of the treasury.
And he had come to Jerusalem to worship.
Last part of verse 27.
Verse 28.
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.
It was customary in this day to read aloud.
He was reading Isaiah the prophet and asked,
Do you understand what you are reading?
And I picture this caravan traveling down the road and Philip running up to it,
hearing him as he's running to it,
and calling out to him,
Do you understand what you're reading?
And the caravan comes to a screeching halt.
Verse 31.
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 the scripture that he was reading was this.
Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb before its shearer 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 this is from Isaiah 53, verse 7 and 8.
Verse 34.
And the eunuch said to Philip,
About whom, I ask you, does the 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.
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 they came up out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away,
and the eunuch saw him no more,
and 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.
Now, just as an interesting aside,
there's some debate about whether
Philip is Philip the Apostle,
or Philip the Deacon,
chosen amongst the men in chapter 6.
I will argue that he is Philip the Deacon,
because in Acts chapter 21,
Paul visits his house in Caesarea.
And there he's called Philip the Evangelist,
not Philip the Apostle.
So either he travels from Azotus to Caesarea,
where his home already was,
preaching the gospel as he goes,
or he arrives there and decides
it's a good place to settle.
And that's where he stays and establishes a home.
He's married.
He has four daughters,
Acts 21 tells us.
Now, as we look at this text this morning,
the structure for our study
will be as follows.
Number one, and I'll repeat these for you.
Number one, the means of God's saving grace.
Number two, the recipient of God's saving grace.
And number three, the signs of God's saving grace.
Or if you prefer, the evidences of God's saving grace.
This morning, we have the privilege
of observing the ethnic diversity
of God's saving grace.
Now, we timed out doing baptisms
to this text this morning.
I could not have possibly timed out
the preaching of this text
for some of the things that are happening
in our country today.
We have to look at the ethnic diversity
of God's saving grace.
He reaches across all ethnic barriers.
God has always had a gracious purpose
for all mankind.
All mankind having rejected God's righteous rule,
all deserving of damnation,
all deserving of His wrath.
He has always had a gracious purpose.
Beloved, we should rejoice in that this morning.
As I look across the room,
I don't know if there are many
or any ethnic Jews here this morning.
I think we're all from a latitude
a little higher than where Israel is located.
Most of us.
We're all beneficiaries of God
having a gracious purpose for all mankind.
For extending His mercy
beyond the borders of ethnic Israel.
He has never intended to only have a saving relationship
with ethnic Israel.
The presentation of this reality begins
with the Abrahamic covenant
in Genesis chapter 12,
verses 1 through 3.
The promise I've been talking about
with the children in the Big Picture Story Bible,
the promise that's going to be fulfilled in Christ,
starts with that promise
that God makes to Abraham
who becomes Abraham.
He says in Genesis 12, verse 1,
The Lord said to Abraham,
Go from your country and your kindred
and your father's house
to the land I will show you.
And I will make of you a great nation.
And I will bless you and make your name great
so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you
and him who dishonors you I will curse.
And in you,
all the families of the earth
shall be blessed.
We're the wonderful recipients
of that promise
made to Abraham on that day.
And how did God intend to bless
all the families of the earth
in Abraham?
With the saving grace,
grace that comes through a descendant of Abraham,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let me remind you
or catch you up
if you haven't been with us,
a bit of a summary of Acts to this point.
If you want to flip,
you can look at chapter 1.
Jesus ascends.
This is after he spent 40 days
with the apostles.
He ascends and he leaves a command
for them to stay in Jerusalem
and wait for the Spirit.
Stay until the Spirit of God comes.
Chapter 2, this happens.
Ten days later,
on the day of Pentecost,
they receive the Spirit.
They preach in various known languages.
And as the people are amazed by it
and confused by it,
they say,
what does this mean?
And in the rest of chapter 2,
Peter preaches.
Many are saved.
Thousands come to faith in Jesus Christ.
And we get a bit of a taste
of the fellowship of the church
at the end of chapter 2.
The way in which they loved each other
and the way in which they had favor
with the people in Jerusalem.
In chapter 3,
God orchestrates yet another stage
for Peter to preach the Gospel on
through the healing of a lame beggar.
Peter and John going up to the temple
just to pray,
heal a lame beggar,
and a crowd gathers.
And once again,
the Gospel is preached.
Many respond in faith.
But as a result of this,
chapters 4 and 5,
Peter and John are arrested
and persecution begins in Jerusalem
of the Christian faith.
They're charged not to speak anymore
in the name of Christ.
Chapter 5, we see the arrest of the apostles.
This time they're now beaten,
charged again,
and released.
Chapter 6,
the unity of the church
is not functioning so well any longer.
And there's some complaints arising.
And so some deacons are selected
to help serve food.
And one of those deacons,
a man named Stephen,
is boldly proclaiming the Gospel.
And he's debating in the synagogues.
And he is arrested.
He has a very brief trial
in which he gives a rather rousing speech.
I encourage you to read in chapter 7
if you're not familiar with this.
And then he's martyred.
He's taken outside the city
and he's stoned to death.
And this is Stephen's speech.
Stephen's martyrdom
becomes this moment
where the Gospel goes
out of the walls of Jerusalem
and to the nations.
It begins at this point
in the church's history.
The persecution ramps up
in chapter 8.
And as a result,
the church there in Jerusalem
is scattered.
And the Gospel goes forth.
I've said to you that Stephen's martyrdom
is the hinge that the gates swing on.
And now the Gospel has expanded outward.
Acts 1.8.
Jesus says this to the disciples.
You will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you
and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem
and in all Judea
and Samaria
and to the end of the earth.
You will find it interesting
that to this time
and in this world,
to the Romans,
Ethiopia was the end of the earth.
They had not yet traveled
beyond that place.
And I'm not suggesting
that the Ethiopian eunuch
coming to faith in Christ
is the fulfillment of Acts 1.8.
But in their thinking,
boy, has the Gospel gone out.
So let's look first
at the means of God's saving grace.
How is it that God works
His purpose in the world?
How is it that God brings about
the salvation of His people?
Now hear me,
this is a work of God.
It's wholly a work of God.
But He uses means.
And we can see all of those means
at play in this text.
So the first mean
that God uses
is that third part of the Trinity
we call the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit.
We can see God's divine orchestration
in saving the Ethiopian eunuch.
What a divine encounter this is
that Philip has.
And it's given to him
by instruction.
An angel of the Lord
says to Philip,
rise and go toward the south
to the road that goes down
from Jerusalem to Gaza.
Beloved, if you were given
this command,
you would say,
why in the world
would I go do such a thing?
There's no reason for me
to go to this place.
It's a desert place.
No one will be there.
Verse 29,
the Spirit says to Philip
as the Ethiopian eunuch
is going by,
go over and join this chariot.
We even see the spirits
working in the eunuch's baptism.
Going along.
Presumably being discipled by Philip.
Having responded in faith to Christ.
He's now teaching him
how it is that he should be obedient
to that faith.
Now that you've believed in Christ,
you should be baptized.
And just then they roll past
a body of water.
The eunuch says,
what's stopping me
from being baptized
even now?
And once he's baptized,
the Spirit,
this is verse 39,
the Spirit of the Lord
carries Philip away.
We don't know exactly
what that means,
but it would seem
that he snatched him.
He's gone.
And he reappears
in another place.
So the Spirit of God
is used by God
as part of the Trinity
to bring about
the salvation
of his people.
Beloved,
all of us
who have responded
in faith to Christ
have experienced
this same miracle.
Maybe not in the same way.
I've never traveled
a desert road
in a chariot
and had a man
meet me,
baptize me,
and then disappear.
But all the same,
it's just as miraculous.
We should rejoice
in the great way
that God orchestrated
our salvation.
The second meaning
of God's saving grace
is a servant.
With the Spirit,
we have a servant.
God employs
the obedience
of his servants
in the salvation
of his people.
God employs
the obedience
of his servants
in the salvation
of his people.
If you have been
around CFC much,
you have heard me say
that God does not
need you.
Don't belittle God
by thinking
that you're so important
that he needs you
to bring about
the salvation
of his people.
But because he loves you,
he uses you
in that process.
He wants you
to experience
his goodness
in his saving work.
And so he uses you
to accomplish
that very thing.
So he uses a servant.
In this case,
it's Philip.
And Philip is obedient.
Verse 27 says,
And he rose
and went.
Luke doesn't record
any hesitation
on his part.
He's commanded to go.
And he goes.
In verse 30,
I love,
as he's told to go
join the chariot,
Philip runs to him.
That's where I get
this picture in my mind
that he had to catch up
to what was happening.
But Philip runs to him.
Here's what's happening.
He's reading from the Scripture
and he engages him immediately.
Do you understand
what you are reading?
Philip likely is a very humble man,
not a man of great education,
not a man of great training.
And here's this man,
the secretary of the treasurer
for Ethiopia.
Picture that he's likely
in a large caravan
with soldiers protecting him.
He's traveled a great distance.
And Philip,
emboldened by the Spirit,
runs up and yells out,
Do you understand
what you are reading?
And then he's used by God
to explain the Scripture to him
to present the good news
of Jesus Christ.
Beloved,
in the same way
we're to be used by God,
we're to be obedient.
Let me point out to you
that Philip begins
by asking a simple,
pointed question.
He just asks a question.
Let me say,
for those of you
who have such a discomfort
in sharing the Gospel,
I wish that wasn't true.
I wish that it worked
in your heart
in such a way
that it had to bubble out.
You had to speak about it.
You just were looking
for every possible opportunity
to share the good news
of Jesus Christ.
But I know that sometimes
it's uncomfortable.
I know that sometimes
we have to push in
to those conversations.
Let me just encourage you
to ask pointed questions.
Ask people what they believe
and press at them
to defend what they believe.
A week ago today,
Sunday afternoon,
we did an Independence Day thing
with Sam's family
and she has a cousin
and her husband
that are spiritual.
They often seem confused
about what they believe.
And I got into a question
with her cousin Bonnie
and she used the term
I'm Catholic.
Catholic-ish
is what she was saying.
I'm Catholic.
And I just said,
that is a fascinating term.
I want to know
what you mean by that.
And so she told me
and she launched into it
and I just continued
to ask her questions.
I just kept saying,
but do you believe?
But what about?
And I quoted the scripture to her
and I just continued.
And praise the Lord
at the end of that.
I do actually think
that she's in the faith.
I think she properly believes
that her justification
is found in Christ alone.
But in the midst of that,
her husband sat with us
and he listened to everything
that we had to say.
At the end of this,
he thanked me
for the conversation that we had.
I've got all kinds of plans
for things to give them
and literature
to pile up on them.
But it was just simple,
pointed questions.
Just ask questions.
You see Philip do that here.
And then in verse 40,
after he's snatched away
from this place,
he finds himself in Azotus,
he continues to preach the gospel.
He goes to all the towns
the way Luke records it,
which I love that phrasing
until he came to Caesarea.
So we have the Spirit,
we have a servant,
and we have the Scripture.
And we have the Scripture.
And recall that the eunuch
is returning from Jerusalem.
He's traveled this great distance
to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.
He's returning.
He's reading the prophet Isaiah.
He's reading it out loud,
which was customary to do so.
And he reads from Isaiah 53.
It's verse 7 and 8.
Like a sheep who was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb before its shears,
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 what does Philip do?
Verse 35.
He opens his mouth.
He doesn't launch into
a philosophical debate with him.
He begins with this Scripture,
and he tells him the good news
about Jesus.
Beloved,
our preaching of the Gospel,
the means that God uses,
right,
is the good news of Jesus Christ
found in the Scripture.
That doesn't mean you have to quote it exactly,
although I would encourage you to do so.
But you need to speak the Bible to people,
the Word of God to people.
Ephesians 6.17,
Paul encourages us to take up
the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God.
This is the tool
that the Spirit of God wields
to bring people to faith
in Jesus Christ.
The way in which God displays
His gracious,
saving work
is using the Scripture.
Recall, beloved,
when Paul says in Romans 1.16,
for I am not ashamed of the Gospel.
Why?
For the same reason,
we should not be ashamed of the Gospel.
Speak the truth of God
to God's people from the Scripture,
for it is the power of God
for salvation
to everyone who believes.
The Jew first,
and also the Greek,
and the Ethiopian,
and those of us
from high latitudes
of this planet.
It's the Gospel message
that God uses to save people.
So we see these means of God
saving grace.
The Spirit,
a servant,
and the Scripture.
Secondly,
let's take a closer look
at the recipient
of God's saving grace.
Let's take a closer look
at the eunuch.
There's some distinguishing things
about him.
First,
that he's African.
A wonderful thing.
The first,
to our knowledge,
the first African convert.
I would love to know,
and there may be some sources
out there
that I have not had time
to look at,
but what happened
as a result
of this man
taking the Gospel
back to Ethiopia.
The Gospel shatters
all divides,
real or imagined.
It tears down
dividing walls
of ethnicity,
culture,
gender,
and skin color.
Praise God for that.
He was an African.
He was a seeker.
Right?
Remember,
first,
he's reading the Scripture.
He's got a copy
of the Scripture.
He's obtained.
He's reading the Scripture.
Secondly,
he's traveled
this great distance.
It's more than
a thousand miles
that he's journeyed.
It'd be a week plus
at least
for this man
to have traveled
to Jerusalem
for the worship of God.
He's seeking God.
Third,
he's a eunuch.
Do we all know
what a eunuch is?
I really don't want
to tell you
what a eunuch is.
I'm going to tell you.
A eunuch is a man
whose male genitalia
are removed
either due to an accident,
something happens
and needs to be removed,
or intentionally
in order to serve
in the role
of a eunuch.
This was most often done
so that these men
could serve
in close relation
to a queen
because he was no threat
to the throne.
He wasn't going to
bed the queen.
So here we see
this eunuch
serves the queen
in that very way
that we see
is called Candace.
So it's an interesting thing
about this man
that's given to us.
On first reading,
it seems more significant
to me that he's Ethiopian.
That detail sticks out to me
and jumps out at me,
but Luke really goes after
the fact that he's a eunuch.
I mean,
I feel like I could have done
without the detail altogether,
that it's not really
that important to me.
So why does Luke
repeatedly simply
call him a eunuch?
He could have called him
the Ethiopian
or Candace's treasurer
or many other
defining factors
about this man.
But he simply
calls him
the eunuch.
Notice verse 27,
verse 34,
verse 36,
verse 38,
and verse 39.
He repeats that phrase.
But I would encourage you
when you're studying
the Bible,
which I hope you do
on your own,
and you see things
like that,
to pause and question it.
Why?
Why does Luke
use that title
for this man
and use it so many times?
He wants the reader
to notice this man
is a eunuch.
We've got it, right?
We've seen it.
He's a eunuch.
This man from Ethiopia
serving this high position,
he's a seeker,
he's traveled all the way
to Jerusalem,
he's a student
of the Bible,
and he would have known
and he would have experienced
being in Jerusalem.
He would have been denied
access to temple worship.
Deuteronomy 23,
1.
You ready for some
more uncomfortable language?
No one whose testicles
are crushed
or whose male organ
is cut off
shall enter the assembly
of the Lord.
Not only is he not
ethnically Jewish,
he's an Ethiopian,
but he's an outcast
from temple worship
by God's own design.
Deuteronomy 23, 1.
So Luke's telling us
he's a eunuch,
he's a eunuch, right?
And if we're familiar
with this reality,
Deuteronomy 23, 1,
it's significant
that he's reading
in the book of Isaiah.
In fact,
he might have been reading
in the book of Isaiah,
right?
He quotes from Isaiah 53,
it's this last
of four songs
of the suffering servant.
Those of us who are in Christ
are very aware
of who these are talking about.
He's not.
Is he talking about,
is the prophet
talking about himself?
Prophets were hated.
Is he talking about himself
or is he talking about
someone else?
And so,
he was likely familiar
just a couple of chapters later
and I want you to turn there
with me to Isaiah 56.
So try to place yourself
in his shoes,
at least in his feelings.
He's not ethically Jewish.
He's an Ethiopian.
He's a eunuch.
He's been forbidden
from temple worship.
And he picks up
a copy of Isaiah
and he reads
chapter 56,
beginning in verse 3.
Let not the foreigner
who has joined himself
to the Lord say,
The Lord will surely
separate me
from His people.
And let not the eunuch say,
Behold,
I am a dry tree.
For thus says the Lord,
To the eunuchs
who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things
that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
I will give in my house
and within my walls
a monument and a name
better than sons
and daughters.
I will give them
an everlasting name
that shall not
be cut off.
And so he finds
in Isaiah 56
this beautiful promise
and as he backs up
and he's reading
Isaiah 53
and trying to understand
how these things
come to pass,
he reads a song
of the suffering servant.
And so we ask the question,
Who is the suffering servant?
Is it the prophet
or is it someone else?
And Philip says to him,
It is Jesus,
the Christ.
Isn't that incredible?
Wonderful to know
the broader context
of the Scripture itself.
This recipient of God's
saving grace.
And for those of us
who are in Christ,
we just should be astounded
by this.
We should just have
our hearts warmed
by the great deal of love
that God pours out
for people of all kinds.
The outcasts.
He brings them in.
Many of us
have felt that
and rejoice in the fact
that we've been brought in.
If anyone in this room
is not in Christ,
an Ethiopian eunuch
was saved by God.
You are not beyond
His mercy.
So the means of God's
saving grace.
Secondly,
the recipient of God's
saving grace.
And third,
and lastly,
the signs of God's
saving grace
or the evidences
of God's saving grace.
And there's three
found in our text.
Number one,
there is a response
to the gospel,
to the good news
preached.
There's a response.
response.
And we see that.
We get a hint of that
in the fact
that the eunuch
wants to be baptized.
Philip has gone on
to explain to him
what ought to now happen
because he's placed faith
in Jesus Christ.
Now,
just quickly,
group participation.
How many of your translations
have a verse 37?
And you noticed
when I read it
that I jumped over.
Anybody?
Man, we have great translations.
Good for you.
Oh, we got one.
Sometimes it'll be
in a parenthesis
with an explanation,
a little parenthetical
or bracketed.
Verse 37
will likely say
something like this.
And Philip said,
this is a response
to verse 36,
See, here is 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 then verse 38.
And he commands
the chariot
to stop.
Now,
the reason that it's not in,
notice those little numbers
as you're reading
down through there,
that it's not in many
of your translations
but it is in some
or it is in there
with some brackets
and an explanation,
is because the earliest
and the most reliable
transcripts
do not include
verse 37.
Some later
copy of copy.
And translators
are very faithful
to the scripture.
They're very careful
about what they do
and don't include.
And I would argue
that it should be omitted
because those earliest
and most reliable
transcripts
do not have
that verse in there.
But,
all the same,
he must have made
some profession
of faith.
Baptism
is not salvific.
It's a symbol.
It's a picture.
We're meant to see it
as that.
Something to rejoice in.
It's a beautiful thing
to do
but it's not salvific.
Simply being
dunked underwater
or sprinkled
or anything,
any nature of baptism
is not salvific.
Romans 10,
9 and 10.
Paul says,
if you confess
with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart
that God raised him
from the dead,
you will be saved.
For with the heart
one believes
and is justified
and with the mouth
one confesses
and is saved.
So,
a proper
sign of God's
saving grace
is a response.
A response
proclaiming
that Jesus
is the Christ,
believing in
his person
and
his work.
A second sign
of God's
saving grace
is obedience
to the gospel.
Response
to the gospel.
Obedience
to the gospel.
So,
what does he do?
He sees water.
Again,
I would argue
by the Spirit's
great orchestration,
he sees water
and he commands
the chariot to stop
and they both
went down
into the water.
Philip and the eunuch
and he baptized him
and then he came up
out of the water.
So,
there's obedience
to the gospel
and we see that
on Philip's part
as well.
Matthew 28,
18 through 20.
And Jesus came
and said to them,
people know this
as the Great Commission,
all authority
on heaven and earth
is given to me.
Go therefore
and make disciples
of all nations.
Here's Philip,
part of that process,
the Spirit of God
using him,
baptizing them
in the name
of the Father
and the Son
and the Holy Spirit.
Teachings to observe
all that I've commanded you
and behold,
I'm with you always
to the end of the age.
Philip is obedient
to the gospel.
This man professes
faith in Christ,
Philip says,
you need to get baptized.
The man says,
there's water
and they do it.
There's obedience
on the eunuch's part.
Matthew 3,
13 through 15.
Jesus,
the very beginning
of his ministry,
comes from Galilee
to the Jordan
to John.
The John we know
is John the Baptist.
There was not
a Baptist denomination
in that day.
Some will call him
John the Baptizer.
I appreciate that.
He comes to Jordan
to John
to be baptized by him.
Jesus, right?
Righteous, perfect.
He comes to John
to be baptized by him.
This was a baptism
of repentance, right?
It was meant to be
a picture of that.
14, Matthew 3.
John would have
prevented him saying,
I need to be baptized
by you.
And do you come to me?
But Jesus answered him.
So this is Jesus
in the Jewish faith,
a follower of God,
has not sinned.
He's not become
regenerate at this point.
Right?
But Jesus says,
let it be so now,
for thus it is fitting
for us to fulfill
all righteousness.
And the text says,
then John consented.
Right?
Jesus, our Lord,
set for us an example
in believer's baptism.
Right?
Professing faith
in Jesus Christ
and then being baptized
as a picture
of what has happened.
Right?
That we've been
laid to death,
our old self,
and that we've risen
to have life in Him.
So there's obedience
on Philip's part,
on the eunuch's part.
And then they were
obedient to the method.
They were obedient
to the method.
Now hear this.
They would have had
water with them.
They were traveling
the desert road.
And they could have
maintained their momentum
and Philip could have
sprinkled the eunuch.
Right?
That could have happened.
Right?
Lean your head back here.
Splash a little water
on your head.
But they stopped.
They saw water
and they stopped.
And the text says
that they went down
into the water
and then they came
up out
of the water.
water.
The Greek word
to baptize,
baptizo,
means to plunge
or immerse.
Some Greek scholars
who aren't Baptists,
I want to add.
Greek scholars,
not Baptists,
of different traditions
that don't do this
this way,
have rendered the word
to dunk repeatedly
or drown.
My addition
to that argument,
and I'm not upset
about it,
it doesn't matter,
I'm just telling you
why we go through
all the trouble
of filling this
giant cattle trough
with so much water
and cleaning up
afterwards.
It's meant to be
a picture of what's
happened.
We've been buried
with Christ
in his death
and we've been
raised to walk
in newness of life.
It pictures that
more clearly.
Tongue in cheek,
I've joked with you
that when we begin
to lay people
on the ground
when they die
and splash dirt
on their face,
and that's our method,
maybe we'll go
with that route.
But until then,
the picture is
so much clearer
and that's what people
are professing
when they're baptized.
I have placed
believing faith
in Jesus Christ.
I've been buried
with him in his death,
I've been raised
with him,
I've been set free
from sin and guilt
and all that accompanies it.
I've been reconciled
to God
in Christ.
So we see
response to the gospel,
obedience to the gospel,
and finally we see
rejoicing in the gospel.
The last part
of verse 39,
Philip's taken away
and the eunuch
saw him
no more,
which is just such
an interesting factual thing
that Luke records.
He's not astounded,
he just doesn't see him anymore,
and he went on his way
rejoicing.
He goes on his way
rejoicing.
Beloved,
those who place
believing faith in Christ
will rejoice
for that renewal
in their lives.
Baptism
was an outer symbol
of an inner reality,
and you can already see
in the life of this man
who's reading from Isaiah,
and he's troubled
by the text,
he gets an answer to it,
he responds in faith,
he's baptized,
and now he rejoices.
Romans 6, 3 and 4.
Paul says,
Do you not know
that all of us
who have been baptized
into Christ Jesus
were baptized
into his death?
We were buried,
therefore,
with him by baptism
into death
in order that,
just as Christ
was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might walk
in newness of life.
Let's pray together.