This sermon is a continuation of the study through the book of Acts, focusing on chapter 8. It explores the three main sections of Acts and how they represent different phases of the early church. The sermon highlights the role of the Holy Spirit in the church's expansion and the fulfillment of God's plan despite opposition. The passage specifically focuses on the ministry of Philip and the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. It emphasizes the importance of genuine belief and preaching the gospel according to Scripture. Water baptism is discussed as a response to salvation, and the sermon concludes with the example of Philip continuing to preach the gospel in various cities.

So we are continuing in our study through the book of Acts and as was said before there's spare Bibles if you want to borrow one in the foyer and outlines if that's helpful. As I've been saying over the last few weeks this chapter 8 which is where we're at if you want to turn there verses 26 to 40. Verses 26 to 40. This chapter marks the second main section of the Book of Acts which lasts until chapter 12 and then from chapter 13 onwards we have the third main sections And each of these divisions represent a different phase of the early church as it first becomes established with the Gospel coming to Jerusalem primarily, to the Jews. In this second section, we have the transition period where the church is scattered because of persecution and the Gospel is brought to Judea and Samaria.

And finally in the third section the Gospel is taken to the ends of the earth as the church expands. And this is all in direct fulfillment of Acts chapter 1 verse 8 where Jesus said, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, chapters 1 to 8, Judea and Samaria, chapters 9 to 12, and to the end of the earth, chapters 13, I'm not going to say to 28 because it's still happening, isn't it? So always, as we see, God's plan is being carried out perfectly and despite opposition, as we've seen, the church is thriving and God is even using the opposition and the enemies of Christ to help fulfill the Commanders of Christ. And so as we come to this last part of chapter eight this morning, the focus is still upon the ministry of Philip in the region of Samaria. We saw Philip's very effective ministry beginning in Samaria last week, including the conversion or not of Simon the sorcerer.

It was hard for us to know how genuine Simon was in his repentance, but that was okay, because the main point of last week's passage was for us to heed the sober warning to never use the things of God and the ministry of the Word of God as a means for selfish gain at the expense of others. And as we come to our passage today, this is quite a vibrant portion of Scripture with some supernatural and even miraculous interventions in the life of Philip. We also get to see a wonderful example of salvation, the first of three individuals that are focused on in the next three chapters. And the chapter ends with Philip the evangelist experiencing a method of travel that would make even the private jet-owning prosperity preachers jealous. After this chapter, we don't actually see Philip again until much later in Acts chapter 21 where by then he's married with four daughters.

So as we study our text today there's a lot here to encourage us as we see the Lord working through his people to bring about salvation through the preaching of the gospel. The title of this morning's message then is When Christ is Made Known. We'll just read verses 26 to 40 and then we'll pray and look at it together. Verse 26, Acts chapter 8. 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.

This is desert. So he arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia a eunuch of great authority and the 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 read in 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 its 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 eunuch 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. Father we thank you for your word, it is your word and we pray Lord You know our needs and I pray that your spirit would speak through your word to our hearts that we would listen in all humility and reverence and respond in obedience. May we learn more of you, may we know Christ more as he's revealed through the Word in Jesus' name, Amen. So let's go back to verse 26 And we'll read from there.

We saw earlier on in this chapter that Philip's ministry was marked by signs and wonders. As the Holy Spirit was working powerfully in his life, and here in verse 26 we hear him receiving a direct instruction from an angel of the Lord to travel in a certain direction. If you remember a couple of sermons back, we talked about how Philip was originally a deacon, but then went on to fulfill the office of an evangelist, a unique and authoritative role in the early church. Unlike today, at this time in church history, where the canon of Scripture is complete. It was not then, so God's authority within the church was established and maintained through men who were called as apostles, prophets and evangelists, with signs of wonders confirming their authority.

God spoke through these men and worked in them in a very unique way. This was the foundation of the church referred to by Paul in Ephesians 2-20 with Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone and as I said in one of the recent messages you don't build foundations upon foundations. Also it would not be a good interpretation or application of this verse to say, if you are spiritual like Philip, you can hear angels talking to you also, and they all show you what God wants you to do. That would kind of be missing the point of what is happening here. So purely from a geographical perspective we know Philip was previously in the region of Samaria but we're going to have a little map I'll put up on the screen now.

I'll ask David to you nicely. What we can safely assume also is if you think from last week in verse 25, remember it said they returned to Jerusalem. And the assumption is it's Peter and John. But it would make sense that Philip also returned with Peter and John, because now as the angel of the Lord speaks to him, he says, travels south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. You can see that marked in red there.

So it only really makes sense if Philip's starting point is Jerusalem. So there's every reason to think that he went back to Jerusalem and now he's being asked to go down on this road which was an alternative unused route. There were two routes. It was a very remote route which is why Luke makes a point of saying that he's being directed to a place where it is desert. And so it was also that the phrasing to the south can also mean noon, and it was not the time you would normally recommend someone to go travel on a desert road.

So at this point, Philip was moving from the region of Samaria down into the region of Judea. Thanks David. And So the Lord gives him these directions and we see his immediate and obedient response in verse 27. So he arose and went. There are always good responses to read.

No, why Lord? What do you mean? Hang on, I need more information. He arose and went and behold the man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the Queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all our treasury and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. So now we're introduced to this Ethiopian eunuch and it becomes obvious to us in the next verse this was a specific reason that the Lord spoke to Philip telling him to go to this place.

In verse 28 continuing 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. That's pretty specific instruction isn't it? The first instruction given by an angel of the Lord and this instruction given by the Spirit. So what can we learn about this man that Philip has been sent to from what we read here?

Firstly we see he was a resident of and had traveled from Ethiopia, potentially in a slightly different area to where it is today, but still in that general region. He traveled to Jerusalem by chariot, and that was quite a journey. Some estimate up to five months each way. This was a long trip. We also see this man was a eunuch.

In these times a eunuch was the name given to men who often served kings and queens and usually they were placed in charge of the king's harem as they posed no threat to the women because they had been physically made into eunuchs. But having said this, the term eunuch was also used to refer to men who had dedicated their lives in service and had vowed never to be married so they could serve without destruction and with full commitment. We don't know what the case was here, but it doesn't really matter in this instance. We also see this was a man of great authority under Queen Candace, the Queen of the Ethiopians. Now the name Candace, when you read this at first, you might think, oh, it's Candace the Queen.

But Candace was a hereditary name passed down, a little bit like Caesar or Pharaoh. If you only ever heard Caesar the first time, you might think it's Mr. Caesar or Mr. Pharaoh, but no, it's the name of the office and referred to the queen mothers who ruled in Ethiopia. So this unit was very high up in the Ethiopian kingdom or queendom, you could say.

He had great authority, and we see why in the next part of the verse where it says he had charge of all her treasury. No wonder he had great authority. This is kind of like having the job of being in charge of all of the crown jewels. But more than that, being in charge of all of the money and the treasure that belonged to the Queen. And this information is important to keep in the back of our minds when we get further down the passage because it helps to shed some light on a common misunderstanding about this passage.

Lastly what was interesting to note about this Ethiopian eunuch is the reason for his journey. He'd come to Jerusalem to worship and it says he was returning. Now we know from this passage this man was not a believer at this point, so why was he coming to Jerusalem? What kind of worship was he taking part in? It appears he was a Jewish proselyte, though not officially as eunuchs were not permitted to be proselytes.

That's in Deuteronomy. So he would have been referred to as a God-fearer, one who had attached themselves to Judaism, similar to Cornelius who we'll see in chapter 10. So the Ethiopian eunuch was interested in Judaism to the point he'd made this huge journey to Jerusalem and had purchased a copy of the scroll of Isaiah which would have cost him a lot of money. He did not have the luxury of sitting in his chariot and going to blueletterbible.com and scrolling to Isaiah. This was probably quite a weighty scroll, hand copied.

And looking again from 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. Now this is quite neat when we look at what is actually happening here. The eunuch is happily bouncing along in his chariot, no doubt under shade, reading the book of Isaiah, and then the Spirit tells Philip, go near and overtake this chariot. And that's exactly what Philip does. But we have to remember Philip was not driving a Mustang, he was on foot in the desert.

Have you ever tried running on sand? It's not the easiest thing to do. Verse 30, So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, do you understand what you are reading? So the Ethiopian eunuch is in a chariot, no doubt a fast moving chariot, over desert road and here comes Philip on foot, not even wearing Nikes, and he overtakes the chariot. And here's him reading enough to recognise he was reading Isaiah.

It's quite amazing. So Ethiopian eunuch sitting there reading. I don't see this any other way. He looks alongside and here's Philip. He's like, who's this crazy guy overtaking the chariot?

That's not possible. And another reason I believe this to be the case is soon we're going to find out with the baptism, he commands the chariot to stop. He doesn't command it to stop here. It would have got the Ethiopian eunuch's attention, I think. Now we'll pause here to highlight the truth that we see in these verses, over and over again, in the Scriptures, in church history, in our own lives.

A very encouraging truth. It's the first point on the outlines if you're following. Salvation occurs in a person's life only because the Lord orchestrates all of the means and circumstances that result in exposure to and acceptance of the good news of the Gospel. Salvation occurs in a person's life only because the Lord orchestrates all of the means and circumstances that result in exposure to and acceptance of the good news of the Gospel. God had his hand upon the Ethiopian eunuch since when?

Since before the world was created. Ephesians 1 from verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy and without blame before him in love, have him predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the blood. The salvation of this man was God's idea long before Philip met him in the chariot. And we see so clearly here and in a very vivid way what actually happens with every single salvation that ever takes place.

God is working behind the scenes, weaving the circumstances together, putting people exactly where He wants them to be, when He wants them to be there, at the appointed time, then a sinner's life is forever transformed. That's what happened to you, that's what happened to me, and it's something we should all be so thankful for. It's easy to forget sometimes that our salvation was initiated by God. Even in our conversation, when did you become a Christian? We know what we mean by that, but it's good to reflect about the fact that it was God's idea before it was ours.

We are saved because he set his love upon us from before the foundation of the world. And also part of the means that he used in our salvation was other people who prayed for us, other people we may never know about, and people who spoke to us and brought us good news of the gospel. What a blessing to hear Jason's testimony earlier. Just an example of this very thing. All that to say There is no random here.

This is all God's plan being worked out, just as he always intended to. The Ethiopian eunuch didn't just narrowly miss not being saved, because it all happened to fall into place at the right time. The fact that Philip was where he was, the fact that the eunuch was where he was, that he was reading that exact portion of Isaiah at that exact time, nothing was coincidence. God incidents you could call it. And this should give us much confidence and encouragement as we share the gospel with others.

Now you and I do not need to wait until we hear an angel telling us to go to this person or to go to that person. Because Jesus Christ who is greater than all the angels has already told us to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel. So that covers everybody. And he's also told us that he is with us as we do that until the end of the age. So God is the one who initiates, God is the one who saves, we're just the tool or the pieces on the chessboard who God uses to bring the gospel in love to helpless sinners.

It's one of the most exciting things about evangelism, to know that you are never cold calling. Never. And you feel like it sometimes, don't you? You feel like you're trying to sell some dodgy product that's seen on TV only. But if you make yourself available for the Lord to lead you where he wants you to be, you can trust he will lead you where he wants you to be to speak to who he wants you to speak to.

And I don't think that means it has to always result in salvation, and if it doesn't you must have heard wrong or done wrong because the proclamation of the gospel itself regardless of the response glorifies God. Now many times when speaking to someone who seems really responsive to the gospel I ask have you been thinking about this kind of thing recently? And time and time and time again they'll say, actually I have. Which helps immediately for both parties to realize this is actually bigger than us. God is working here.

Children, here's the first point for you this morning on your sheets. Excuse me. God has called us to share the good news of Jesus with everyone, because that is the way people find out how to be forgiven and saved from their sins. You hear that kids? God has called us.

Even children can do this, to share the good news of Jesus with everyone. So Philip runs up, overtakes the chariot, he asked the Ethiopian eunuch if he understands what he's reading in verse 31 and he said, how can I unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. I'm sure Philip appreciated that as he was trying to keep up with the chariot. You want to hop in?

I may be wrong I just I just see this like one of those kind of Harrison Ford moves where he's running, he flips over and he's in the chair. Right, can you help me please? Verse 32, the place in the script 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 would declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth." It was customary, especially among the Jews, to read aloud.

This is why he would have been reading aloud. And this text of course is from the book of Isaiah verses 7 and 8 of chapter 53, the classic messianic text that foretells the suffering of Christ, which also tells us that right before these verses he would have been reading the verses that speak of Christ being stricken, smitten, afflicted by God, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and that by his stripes we would be healed. And then he gets to verse seven. What a perfect passage to be reading right at this point. So many Jews have come to Christ from reading this chapter, as it's part of their collection of the Old Testament scriptures, it has been the whole time for them.

It speaks of Christ as the sacrificial sheep who was being led to the slaughter. It speaks of his silence before his accusers because he was standing in our place, not defending himself because he was representing us. It speaks of his humiliation as the son of God, being exposed to open shame and a criminal's death, but doing so to appease the wrath and justice of the Father. And though it looks like it was all falling apart and going wrong, it was the very act that secured our redemption. And it also speaks of those who will speak of him when he has left this earth.

And the eunuch obviously couldn't make sense of this. 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? Indicating that he was obviously a little bit slanted by the Jewish interpretation, which would have disregarded Christ as it does to this day. So if you speak to a Jew and say, Isaiah 53, surely read that, it will solve everything. They're gonna tell you they understand it a different way.

Verse 35, then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture preached Jesus to him. Isn't that beautiful? He opened his mouth and preached Jesus. That's what this unit needed more than anything else. For someone to open the Scriptures and preach Jesus to him.

That was the burning question on the Ethiopian's mind and heart. Who is this man in the text? He was captivated by it. And what is neat to observe here is that Philip would have of course preached Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch entirely from Old Testament scripture. We don't know what other portions of text the eunuch had in his possession if any or what Philip would have had but he would have no doubt had scripture memorized.

And it's actually a good practice for all of us to be able to preach Christ and share the gospel from the Old Testament as well as from the New, because that's where the gospel begins isn't it? The fall, sin enters the world through Adam. There may also be times you get to share the Gospel, you may have already, with a Jewish person. And that's a perfect time to preach Christ to them from their scriptures alone. Scriptures they already understand and esteem, just as Philip is doing here with the Ethiopian.

We're also reminded here of a very important principle that whenever the gospel is proclaimed, it must be according to what scripture teaches, not our own ideas or opinions. It must be the biblical Gospel. The Christ we preach must be the Christ according to the Scripture. We're to proclaim truth and it's the truth of God's Word that keeps us grounded and on track as we share Christ with others. There are all sorts of things out there, messages called the Gospel, that are not the Gospel at all.

But as we preach the true Gospel, God works through his Spirit to soften and open hearts and grant understanding according to his will. So a second point that we can make from this, verses 31 to 35 is this. Preaching the gospel according to the Scriptures is the means by which God helps unbelievers understand who Christ is, why he came, what he did, and how they should respond. Preaching the gospel according to the Scriptures is the means by which God helps unbelievers understand who Christ is, why he came, what he did and how they should respond. It's the very proclaiming of God's word that God uses to bring about faith.

And in Romans chapter 10, Paul speaks about this in the direct context of proclaiming Christ to an unbeliever in Israel. Romans 10, 14, how then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent as it is written?

How beautiful on are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says, Lord who has believed our report? Quotes Isaiah even. So then faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. The gospel is given to proclaim because God through it will bring about faith. Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 15 about the importance of the gospel being according with what God's Word teaches.

1 Corinthians 15 1 to 4. Moreover brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved if you hold fast to that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. That he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. That doesn't mean that those four verses are the gospel, that you just read those verses.

What it's telling you is the gospel, those truths of Christ dying, you must tell others about Christ's death according to what Scripture says about Christ's death. You must tell others about Christ's burial and resurrection according to what Scripture says about Christ's burial and resurrection. It's good for us to be able to open up our Bibles and share the gospel and if possible a bonus to bring in Old Testament truth to give the full picture and context. If this is something you would like to work on more, get some help with, just let me know. There's people who can help you with that.

There's resources we can point you to, to help you be more effective in proclaiming Christ from the Scriptures. Okay children, point number two. Whatever we tell others about Jesus and the Christian life must always be based upon what we read in the Bible or it won't be true. You see children there's lots of people who say they are Christians, there's lots of people who talk about Jesus and God but it's not the God that we worship from the Bible. It's only true when it's true with what the Bible teaches.

Let's see the Ethiopian's response from verse 36. 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? 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. So it's likely that within Philip's presentation of Christ in the gospel, he talked about baptism as a response to the gospel. And as soon as the Ethiopian eunuch sees some water, which wouldn't have been a common occurrence because they're in the desert, he jumps at the chance to get baptized.

Now of course the right thing for Philip to do is to seek to gauge the sincerity of the Ethiopian's desire to get baptized. So he says, if you believe with all your heart, you may. Now when we consider the whole counsel of God there is no reason, especially with this being a narrative, to use this text to justify some sort of easy believe-ism. The idea that the Gospel is just about telling people, just believe in Jesus with all your heart and you'll be saved. Just touch the TV screen and ask him into your heart, you'll go to heaven.

We know Philip has spent a decent amount of time proclaiming Christ from the scriptures, giving this new convert a good understanding of what it meant to be saved. This had all happened before this point. So Philip's really just saying that if this has all sunk in, If you sincerely believe this, then who am I to deny you from getting baptized? And sometimes you find when you share the Gospel, most of the time as we know, people are going, well thanks, I'll think about it. Or worse.

But every now and again, somebody will just respond and just, they're just the piece of fruit that God has prepared, they're just dangling. And we can respond to that. There's no reason to hold back. So the eunuch comes back saying I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now the concept of belief in the New Testament is not just a mental or emotional ascent.

There's a lot of people we see out there in the world of music and movies, you say, I believe in Jesus. Believing in Christ means to cling to, to trust in, to rely upon Christ. There's no substance to just saying the words, I believe. The Scripture warns us in the book of James chapter 2 verse 19, you believe there's one God, you do well, even the demons believe. Which leads me to the conclusion that if the demons were walking around on the earth today, there'd be a lot of them in churches.

Because they say, well I believe in Jesus. Yeah, but have you seen the horns and all the stuff they do? Yeah, but they said they believe. God's word recognizes there is belief and there is belief. The belief of demons is actually a greater belief than a lot of people who say they believe and they don't really believe because they acknowledge that Christ is real.

They know he is God, the Son of God, but it's not a repentant belief with faith being placed in Christ, is it? It's not a yielding to Him, it's an empty belief. Now the parable of the sower teaches us there are different types of belief that are not consistent with genuine saving faith. Someone can say, I believe, and it's maybe shown over time, it's not true belief, it's empty belief. Genuine belief will always be accompanied by a degree of humility, simply because the very act of being saved involves a yielding to and a resigning to one greater than yourself and it doesn't happen without a degree of humility.

Not that you have to become humble before you get saved but for a person to to truly repent and acknowledge Christ It's a big change. It's a change of ownership in the deepest level. Genuine humble belief will also be accompanied by faith, which is a result of the Holy Spirit's work in a sinner's heart to make it possible for them to respond with repentance. Now some of you have already realized this verse 37 is not in some of the more reliable manuscripts which is why if you have an ESV you've been going back and forth wondering whether your Bible is wrong and you need to take it back or why verse 37 is not in there. You may have also been thinking my Bible is better than Chris's, that's not true.

Mine's not better than yours either but they're kind of equal. Now there's no reason though to believe the eunuch wouldn't have been saying something similar and some of these verses that are added are put there to indicate what has become obvious it's just they should say this isn't directly said. The Ethiopian eunuch's profession is consistent with what Paul speaks about in Romans chapter 10 from verse 9 where he says, If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And again, whole counsel of God that is talking about a repentant belief that is not an empty belief. It goes on to say, for with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

For the scripture says whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So it's always very important to remember that we are justified through faith in Christ alone. But the faith that saves you will be a repentant faith, but it is not your repentance that saves you. It is faith in Christ alone that will bear fruit.

So we mustn't miss the dynamic here back in our chapter 8 that this really means something here. For this Ethiopian eunuch to pronounce publicly that he believes Jesus Christ is the Son of God was no small profession, it was a costly profession. And if you think about it, he's just come from worshiping in Jerusalem with those who despised and who crucified Christ. You think he didn't hear about Christ in a negative manner and those who are proclaiming? But the Word of God and the Spirit of God get to him.

He acknowledges Christ as his Lord and Savior. This is a genuine profession of faith from a repentant heart that's been transformed and is bearing the fruit already of that transformation. What a contrast here between this eunuch and Simon the sorcerer in last week's text, who we're still scratching our heads about whether he's really saved or not. It's good to remember that it's never a good thing when somebody asks if such and such a person is a Christian and the response you get after a little bit of silence is, I think so, I'm pretty sure they are. I'm pretty sure they love the Lord, I don't know 100%.

You wouldn't want someone to say that about you. If someone asked about you, are they Christian? You wouldn't want there to be a pause, would you? Like, Well they say they are, not a good response. Never a good sign of genuine faith.

Genuine faith is a fruit of the Holy Spirit's work in a sinner's heart, bringing conviction and repentance. Without that work, we would never seek after or choose to submit our lives to Christ. John 1 12 13 as many as received him he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Ephesians 2, 4 and 5. But God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses. Dead people don't go around looking for salvation.

Made us alive together with Christ by grace, undeserved, unmerited favor you've been saved. Colossians 2 13, and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive. Together with him having forgiven you all trespasses. So there's a point we can make in regard to this here, verses 36 and 37, and that is this. The gospel is the power of God to salvation through the miracle of regeneration.

Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit in a person's heart that makes salvation possible. The Gospel is the power of God to salvation. Through the miracle of regeneration, regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit in a person's heart that makes salvation possible. What a blessing to know that salvation is not something God ever expects us to bring about in another person's life, because we cannot. He calls us to be faithful to proclaim the gospel and trust him to do his work which is why it says in Romans 1 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it's not my idea for it is the power of God to salvation.

The gospel for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Children, point number three. Whenever a person becomes a Christian it is because the Holy Spirit changes their heart from unbelieving to believing. That's what happens. The Holy Spirit changes a person's heart.

Verse 38, so he commanded the chariot to stand still. See what I was saying about earlier? No mention of that when Philip was running alongside. It wasn't still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized him.

So a few things to note here. From a first reading, and this often happens with this passage, as we see the scene in our mind's eye, we picture Philip, the Ethiopian eunuch, wandering down to the water. If you've seen it depicted in a movie it's often what it looks like and there they are in the middle of nowhere and Philip does the baptism and this causes some people to come to an incorrect conclusion from this passage that it's some sort of proof text for a private baptism with just the baptizer and the baptizee and no one else around. As if the Ethiopian unit was going along with the reins in one hand and the book of Isaiah in the other hand, bouncing along the road. Now in some rare circumstances that may happen, persecuted church, there are baptisms that we may refer to as non-ideal, though they're still valid.

As I've shared before, I was baptised in a bathtub. Move on in your minds. That's all I knew at the time. I was around all the genuine believers I knew, which was just a handful. We'd all come to faith in a very rugged way through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the scriptures and audio tapes that presented the gospel.

I didn't even know much about the church or if it was genuine. I turned the TV on a few times and saw prosperity churches and thought, that's nothing to do with what's happened to me. I don't know where I'm going to go. But the essential elements of baptism were there, that of water and being among believers. But would I recommend or encourage others to do that?

No, I wouldn't. And when We look at Scripture and see instances like this with the Ethiopian eunuch, remember this is an exception, it's not the norm and we are never to make an exception into the norm. We look at what Scripture teaches across the whole council. And of course in stating the importance of baptism We have to be very careful, we make it crystal clear it has nothing to do with salvation. We can unintentionally give that impression.

It's a separate act of obedience. It's important, it's obedience, but nothing to do with salvation. It's a response to and a symbol of salvation that's already taken place. That's why it's not usually necessary to re-baptize someone who has not been ideally but sufficiently baptized, because you don't want to sow into the idea in their lives or the lives of the church that if you don't, they may not be saved. So we have to understand it in its context.

And this also means there's hope for the dying car crash victim who repents. Or the person restricted to their hospital bed in the final moments of their life but they cry out to the Lord for salvation, or the thief on the cross. So all that to say that the ideal normal pattern in Scripture of baptism would be that of believers being baptized before the local church and family and other witnesses. There may be exceptions to the norm, to be assessed on a case by case, but this is the pattern we should follow as our default. Now something else that we need to pay attention to here in this text is that it does say in verse 38, he commanded the chariot to stand still.

And the question I would have is, who is he commanding? The horses? I don't think so. And that's where if we think back to what it said about the eunuch earlier in the passage, we can know there's no way this was even a private baptism because a man of this authority and responsibility would never have been traveling on a journey like this alone. Never.

Especially that long. He would have had a whole entourage with him, including those acting as his security no doubt, which makes his profession of faith even more potent, those who knew him best, and it was a bit more public than we often think it was. And this is a good reminder to us of the cost of following Christ. We don't see any negative responses, we don't hear of any onlookers here but to make this stand would have been significant. And I heard another pastor friend saying recently that sometimes people think too lightly of the cost of following Christ when we have our baptisms.

We come up out the water, we clap and we sing and it's wonderful. But one of the questions he asked those wanting to get baptized in his church is, would you still do this if your baptism was gonna result in the loss of your reputation once you come up out that water, your career, your friends? If not, you may not be ready because it's it's a identification with Christ and we're pretty on safe ground here when we do that aren't we for the most part. But let's not forget for our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, that very act is the end of a lot of things, but it's also the beginning of many wonderful things. So a final point here to make is this, water baptism is not necessary for salvation but it should always follow salvation for those who have genuinely been converted.

Water baptism is not necessary for salvation but it should always follow salvation for those who have genuinely been converted. Now one last point on baptism that I won't get sidetracked with but I do have to point out. As you'll notice that Philippa and the Ethiopian eunuch went down into the water. If we did have a whole load of stranded people here this morning, I was tempted to change the title to, And They Came Up Out of the Water, because I thought it was quite relevant to this week. And in verse 39, if we read, it says, now when they came up out of the water.

And so all I want to say about this is there was a good amount of water here and this was full immersion. The word baptize means that anyway. If you think about it, if all they needed to do was sprinkle, then why not use some of the drinking water that they certainly would have been carrying on a journey like this. I'm sure there was at least one pump bottle in the chariot somewhere. They went in and came up out of the water.

Children your fourth and final point this morning is this, the Bible teaches us that after a person has been saved they should get baptized in water, make sure you fill in that word water, very important, and be recognized publicly as a follower of Jesus. Okay, so let's move on and just finish looking at this incredible thing that takes place after the baptism. Just for I do, by the way, if you are interested in getting baptized, if you haven't been, you want some more information, we have some booklets in the foyer, so feel free to take one of those, we'll come and speak to David and myself. Verse 39 again, now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away so that the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing. So as they come up out the water, Philip literally just disappears.

He just disappears. One minute he's here, the next minute he's gone. And I love that the eunuch is not thrown by this. He's not in tears like, where's Philip? He's established with Christ now.

Another good sign. You point people to Christ, they cling to Christ, they don't need you anymore. He goes on his way, rejoicing, and praise God he took the gospel to Ethiopia. So even by this eighth chapter of Acts the gospel is spread to another ethnic group and through this Ethiopian will be taken to the ends of the earth. It was actually the region that was considered to them the ends of the earth.

So it says here the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away. The word caught there is the Greek word harpatsu, where we get the word rapture from, if that interests you, used in 1 Thessalonians 4.17, a violent snatching. And then in verse 40 we read, but Philip was found. That doesn't mean he was found like he was beaten on the side of the road and they're like, oh, there he is. Where did he go?

He was found at Azotus and passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesar it. Let's have a look at the map again, because you can see now, we don't exactly know where this occurred on the road to Gaza, which was the main body of water. But wherever it was, it was quite a way to Azotos, Quite a way to get to like that. It says he disappeared somewhere on this desert road, he was found there, but there's no magic tricks here. No Simon the sorcerer, this was the Lord, literally transporting Philip to another location.

It's incredible. God wanted him there so he got him there and that should be a good reminder to us that God knows how to get us where he wants us to be. Whether it's a big fish or a Star Trek experience like this, God will do what it takes to get his people where he wants them to be. Now you and I may not experience this in our lifetime, sadly, but I love how the last thing we read about Philip here isn't that he started to do a tour to talk about his experience and write books on this incredible transportation and how you can do this too if you have enough faith. No, it just simply says after this incredible supernatural experience, He preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

How boring. No, he did the best thing he could do. No matter what happens to us, what experience or whatever, is there anything greater that you can do in response to that than preach the gospel? Of course, not preach yourself. It doesn't mean anything.

He preached the gospel till he came to Caesarea. So it's quite a colorful passage isn't it? And I hope it's been an encouragement to us how much the Lord is with us as we seek to be available in His strength to make Christ known. Amen. Let's pray and then David's gonna come and lead us in a time of communion.

Father we thank you for your word and we thank you that we can read things like this and it's not a fairy story but it's history. Thank you Lord that everything written is for our benefit to help us to know you, to trust you. And I pray Lord that it wouldn't just be that we enjoy the text, agree with the text, or give intellectual assent to the text, but that we would apply the text and that our time in the Word this morning would result maybe in even one or two more people here in the gospel because we've been encouraged that you are with us. We know there's people who you are already preparing. We pray you would lead us, help us to be available, to be led by your Spirit to bring the gospel to the lost for your glory and we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.