Acts 8:26-40

Alright, please take your copy of God's Word and turn to Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

! After a week off with a commissioning service, it's good to be back into our verse-by-verse exposition of Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

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.

Isaiah 53:7

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,

Acts 21 · chapter mention

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,

Genesis 12:1–3

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,

Genesis 12:1

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,

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?

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,

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.