Philip and the Eunuch — Acts 8

0:00 Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Turn with me to the book of Acts chapter eight. Book of Acts chapter eight. We are going to pray here just before I do pray though.

0:24 Missus Hilton wanted me to mention that, the Glover's are also sick with a bad case of the flu, so they're, shut in and there's some other complications, I guess, with missus Glover. So we'll just commit them in prayer as well. Let's pray. Dear lord, we're we're grateful to be here. We hurt when those of the body are not here and so we do pray and pray that you'd reach out to the glovers during this time.

0:52 We thank you that they're part of our body. We do hurt as they're they're not with us but lord, we we know that you're in control. We pray that you'd help them, give them strength to recover from this bad case of the flu and just give them wisdom on how to care for each other and also for us how how we can care for them. We just lift them up to you. We also think of Tiffany and Luke and the whole Markovich family with this time of trial through surgery and many different things lord but we see your hand at work in it and so we just pray a quick recovery for Tiffany and we just praise you for this new life that has come into the world with baby CC.

1:34 We just commit them to you. We pray now lord as we open up your word that you would work amongst us that you convict our hearts about who Jesus is, about how we can live and follow him. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

1:52 Let's go ahead and read together. Acts chapter eight and our text this morning is verses 26 through 40 but I am going to back up and start in 25. So, when they had testified and preached the word of the lord, they returned to Jerusalem preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. 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.

2:26 So, he arose and went and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, 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 his chariot. So, Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, do you understand what you are reading? And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.

3:09 The place in the scripture which he read was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer is silent. So, he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, his justice was taken away and who will declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth. So, the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture, preached Jesus to him.

3:51 Now, as they went down the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, see, here's 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 Azodus and passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

4:39 It's pondering whether to read all the way through that because it is definitely a long section but I believe that as you read the word of god and even as we're going through the Bible in ninety days, just reading it, just hearing it, the lord does a supernatural thing in us as we hear it and listen to the very words, word for word, the spirit of god is at work in us and so that's why I chose to even take up the time this morning. So, we've been going through the book of Acts and I hope today that we would see these three themes or points of power in this section here. And it comes through the answer to a couple questions. The first is, why was the early Christian movement an expansion of the church so successful? Now, I do have to clarify that I do believe that it would be successful because Christ said that nothing would get in the way and that he would build his church but what are the some of the things, what did the early Christians and disciples of Christ do that were successful?

5:47 What it made it so successful and in this passage, I'd like to see and and throughout Acts, I think we can see that one of the things that they were committed to and that we see they do is that they preach Christ. That's the power of the messages and and there's something about preaching who Christ is, what he did to come and save us, and there's great power in that. There's a quotation in first Corinthians that the apostle Paul says, verses one or verses twenty three and twenty four of chapter one, he says, but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of god, and wisdom of god and so when you and I are walking in this life as his disciples, we can have tremendous power when we talk to others and witness to others because of the power that we have in preaching who Christ is and what he has come to do for us. It says that Christ is the power of god and even if you read in the rest of that chapter and I think in the rest of first Corinthians, it talks about how the the wisdom and who Christ is, it's greater than any of the wisdom that the world can offer.

7:16 Says that the the Jews sought for a sign and the Greeks sought wisdom but in contrast, we have Christ and what he has come to do for us. So, I hope we can see this morning and throughout our study in Acts about how they continued to preach Jesus Christ. The next thing is the answer to the question, who's the gospel for? Who can be saved? And and who was the gospel preached to?

8:30 Whoever you are, rich or poor, slave, or free, Christ came to save you. Romans one sixteen, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes. It's that simple. All you have to do is believe on the lord Jesus Christ to be saved and he says, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, as we've gone through Acts, you see a little bit of hints of this even in Acts chapter eight.

9:06 If you take a look at Acts chapter eight earlier when Philip is preaching and in verse five, it says, that Philip went down to the city of Samaria. Now, remember that Samaria actually is North of Jerusalem but when they say in the scriptures often, they went down, it means they're they're going down elevation wise and so Philip, he went down to Samaria and you might remember too, our theme in Acts one eight that the lord would send his disciples out to preach in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and then to the uttermost uttermost parts of the earth and so you hear here you have Philip, he went over to Samaria and he started preaching to the Samaritans. Now, remember that the Samaritans, you might a word to describe them is half blood. So, they're a mix of ethnic people when the Jews came back to the land in in times past after their exile. They came back to the land of Israel and they ended up intermarrying with the different people groups around them still and so they're not fully by blood Jewish people and yet Philip is still called by god and he went up there to preach Christ to them and so we see god reaching out not just to the Jewish people but to these these other types of people, other ethnicities, other types of people.

10:39 You also see in in in Acts and in verse or excuse me in chapter seven that when we actually see Philip first appear onto the scene in the book of Acts in in verse five it says and they excuse me, in verse one, it says that there's arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists. So, what is this? Well, the Hellenist, they were Jewish people. They spoke Greek. So, you can see here as this whole story development develops in the expansion of the church about how Christ is adding all these different people groups to his body, the church.

11:27 You have you have different ethnic people. You have different cultural people. These are Jewish people. They spoke Greek. Maybe they didn't know Hebrew but even in there, you have Philip serving them and and ministering to them and they were part of the church even though they were a blended culture and maybe even blended ethnically and via language as well but the underlying goal would be that Christ is making a body and he's unifying us through Jesus Christ through that one message.

13:00 To be witnesses for Christ and so that's a key for us today that when we are a witness for Christ that we are have the Holy Spirit in inside of us and when we're submitting to the Holy Spirit and in his work in our life, we can be an effective witness. It says that we will be witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the end of the earth. So, the key there is to realize that we have power through the Holy Spirit. It's through him that we can preach the gospel, that we can be effective witnesses through Christ wherever we go. In Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

13:47 Now, let's do a little bit of review before we get into the actual passage. Couple weeks ago, we heard from Ray and he talked about Philip and how we had already mentioned that he went up into Samaria and I think he, yep, he put the map up there. So, you can see that dark arrow there kind of traces Philip's minister as he he goes down into Samaria and meets different people. He also preaches to a crowd and many people believe and they respond positively to the gospel. He also mentioned about the early persecution that the the Christians experienced and we even heard about from our brother Jeff Takis last week about the persecution that the church experienced.

14:39 Today, we're going to talk about what I call an open door. So, it's a little bit different than what Philip had previously experienced in Samaria. I kind of have had a little bit of a tumultuous time there with Simon, I believe. And that was kind of a interesting dialogue there but we're going to see just an absolutely completely open door for Philip to share with this man the eunuch and and then we're going to see him go through some of the other cities and so there he is. The lord calls him the an angel appears him as we see in verse 26 that an angel of the lord appears to Philip and he says, go along the road south down to Gaza.

15:26 This is desert. Now, look at different commentaries and different helps. I found out that it's quite a journey in ancient times or it certainly can be for the majority of people. It might have took taken several days to go from Jerusalem all the way to Gaza. But if you had different technology at your disposal like the eunuch had, you might be able to do it a little bit faster.

15:54 Now, trying to put myself in that situation, maybe wasn't really high tailing it that fast to go from Jerusalem all the way back to Ethiopia because he was stopping or he ended up stopping but he's also as he's going, you know, he's reading the scroll of Isaiah. So, just try and put yourself in that situation. Now, think of it from Philip's perspective. How would a Philip receive this? Like, so, maybe put yourself in that situation.

17:22 I don't know. I think the best place to find a foreign dignitary to talk to probably go all the way to DC. But that still takes some time. Takes some effort whether you're going to take a flight there, take a drive there. It takes your time and would you do that just to talk to one person or would you do that not knowing who you're going to talk to when you get there.

17:46 And so, I appreciate what it says in verse 27. It says, that Philip arose and went. I appreciate that Philip was obedient. It reminds me that in in Acts chapter six, when he was chosen, it says that he was full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom and you can see Philip submitting to the spirit of god. He doesn't know what's going to happen.

18:15 He doesn't know what what's going to go on exactly but he obeys and he goes along this way and the lord sends him there. Now, if you take a look at verse 27, we can see here that this eunuch large in part is very different, different kind of person in a lot of different ways than Philip. You know, Philip was a preacher. He he talked to different people. He's also a servant.

18:44 He he did very humble things and and went and he served those those widows to make sure that they were cared for. He served tables. So, he was a servant. Well, this guy, he was of great authority. So, he had a great authority in the court of Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians and I imagine he was very rich.

19:07 So, it says that he took charge of her treasury but it says that he had come to Jerusalem to worship and so, what does that mean? Well, it could be that he is a proselyte. Meaning, he has already converted to Judaism. It's possibility that this this Ethiopian man maybe, you know, in his in his study, in his way, in you know, throughout his life, he comes to understanding that he wants to follow the god of the Jews. So, he maybe he wanted to already do that and he had come to Jerusalem to worship.

19:49 It makes sense to me. He could also just be someone that's seeking and he's studying other religions and other things but it says that he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And in verse 30, it says, or excuse me, in verse 29 again, we we get the the impression still that Philip is obeying the spirit of god and so he goes near and he overtakes the chariot and and Philip ran to meet him and so Philip again, we get it from his perspective. He's reading the prophet Isaiah. Be kind of interesting.

20:29 You you you're you don't know why you're going there but you go into this foreign land or this this desert land and you finally kind of see the reason why you're going there and he sees this guy and he's going along in his chariot. I'm sure he had servants with him but he goes there and maybe he's going out of his comfort zone to share with this guy but then, he hears him reading the prophet Isaiah. Can you imagine like what it would be like for for Philip to hear that? You know, Philip in his background maybe and I'm I'm sure he had already read the prophet Isaiah. He read that Old Testament prophet and it and you know, it kind of got his, you know, juices flowing.

21:11 He's like, oh man, he, you know, I'm interested in the prophet Isaiah and and he's interested too and and so, here's another thing that I appreciate that Philip does. Not only is he obedient and going out and not on really understanding exactly what he's going to do but when he understands that he's going to go talk to this man, he just asks simple question. He goes to him very naturally goes up to the chariot and he asks him, do you understand what you are reading? And I think that can be a tip for you and I that the most ineffective way to preach the gospel to someone is that when you're in conversation with them, the most natural it can be, the better. That it's just a conversation.

22:00 You're learning about that person. Philip was learning about this guy and what he was interested. Certainly, the guy was reading Isaiah and and we're going to see that he has questions about it and so Philip asks him about it. You could see, you could just see this kind of natural conversation that Philip started with this man and in verse 31, he says, how can I unless someone guides me? So, just very humbly, this eunuch says, I I don't understand this and I need someone to help me basically and so he asked Philip to come up with him and sit with him in the chariot and he reads this scripture in Isaiah.

23:29 He's like, who's this about? Is this about that writer? Is it is about someone else? And Philip, he sees this opportunity and he sees this and he says, this is about Christ and I'm going to explain to this guy why it's about Christ. It talks about his suffering and about how he was like a lamb before its sheer is silent.

23:57 Imagine reading this passage as the Ethiopian. You and I and and many people in this world when we see when we see injustices, we we ask ourselves, how is that person going to get justice? And so, imagine Philip, it says that at this scripture, he began to preach Jesus to him and so he's got this big scroll of Isaiah. Remember, didn't have chapters or verses but at this scripture, he he starts talking to about Christ. He says, look, this is about this this man, Jesus Christ, who is god in the flesh about he he just suffered in Jerusalem and maybe he talked to him about how he wouldn't have gotten justice about how they they killed him in the place of a robber and I like to suggest to you or ask this question, why Isaiah?

24:55 Well, you can say, yes, because god had that plan all along. He was going to it was going to be a perfect plan that he would connect with this guy, the Ethiopian, Philip Wood, and talk to him about this particular scripture but I think it goes more than that because as I try and put myself into the mind of Philip and the Ethiopian back then, they had that whole scroll. They didn't have the, you know, the one section and they were also not two thousand years later after all this study has been done, how we can see now. We can see Isaiah 53. They have the whole scroll with them.

25:38 So, what other passages may have Philip gone to? Maybe he he would he have gone to the Torah. I don't know but I like to suggest So, he had the scroll of Isaiah with him. I like to suggest maybe some other passages that Philip went to. In the book of Isaiah.

26:00 So, maybe this is the reason why why he used the book of Isaiah. Go to go to Isaiah and go to chapter one. Isaiah chapter one I'm not sure but I think maybe you could you could use this as a theme verse if not the theme verse for the book of Isaiah but verse one or excuse me, chapter one verse 18, he says, come now, let us reason together, says the lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be white as wool.

26:47 So, Philip might have been talking to this man and he's like, listen, there's this other scripture and it talks about how we have sinned and though sin stains and it it makes mark in our lives, we can be cleansed from it and that's why Christ had to come and so Philip is talking to this guy and he's reasoning with this guy and talking to him and he's preaching Jesus to him from the Old Testament. So, could see just another example in Isaiah of what Christ came to do that though our sins are like scarlet, we can be white as snow. Another suggestion is in Isaiah chapter nine. Isaiah chapter nine and in verse six, for unto us, a child is born, unto us, a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And so, if you're the Ethiopian reading all these different you know, there's so many times in the scroll in the book of Isaiah that Isaiah is flip flopping from talking about the nation of Israel to talking about this other person and right here, again, a child is going to be born and a son is going to be given and so imagine maybe Philip went to this section and he's like, look, that child born, he was just born in in Bethlehem in a manger and he lived a perfect and holy life so that you could be saved.

28:27 How about another one? In Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11 and in verse one and two, it says, there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of its roots, of his roots. The spirit of the lord shall rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding.

28:56 I appreciated that because in Luke, when we study Luke, it says that Christ grew in in knowledge and in wisdom and stature and in favor with god and men. It says that a spirit of wisdom and understanding would come upon Christ. So, I like to think maybe Philip or maybe some of the early disciples talked about these Old Testament scriptures and and they might have referenced the gospel of Luke and about how Christ was raised up and then it says that he was had favor with god and men. That he went and that he was baptized by John the Baptist but also in verse 10 of that same chapter and here's where we add a little bit more to kind of the mind of the Ethiopian like, okay, again, what is this Ethiopian thinking before he believes and comes to Christ as he reads Isaiah. In my opinion, it's one of the best books that he could read as a seeking Jew or a a seeking proselyte who has already an understanding of the Old Testament but in verse 10, it says, in that day, there should be a root of Jesse who shall stand as a banner to the people.

30:15 For the Gentiles shall seek him. The Gentiles, someone that's not ethnically Jewish and so, maybe, you know, you can see in the mind of the Ethiopian. Oh, well, there's me. I'm a Gentile. I'm not of Jewish descent.

30:30 Where do I fit in to this whole picture? Let's keep going along and in verse, excuse me, in back in Isaiah chapter 42. I'd mention that this morning, Isaiah 42 So, it starts out and it talks again about this chosen one, the servant, the elect one in whom my soul delights and so Philip might have said, look, he was baptized and we heard a voice from heaven and says, this is my son. In him, I am well pleased and what does it say about him? It says, he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles and later on, it says that he would be a light to the Gentiles and so you can see, you know, as this Ethiopian man is just reading the scroll of Isaiah, he's starting to understand and and with the help of Philip, where he fits into the picture and I don't know, did Philip say all of what happened to him?

31:39 Did he tell him about how the angel of the lord came to him and and use that whole that whole experience to tell him, I don't know but I'd like to think that he used Isaiah to preach Christ to him and tell him, look, it's not the the Christ, the Messiah isn't just coming for the Jews but he's coming for you too. You can be saved to the uttermost parts of the earth and certainly we can see that the influence that this guy may have had. I don't know of all any of the explicit things that happen with this Ethiopian man but we know that he go home goes home rejoicing. The book of Isaiah, Isaiah means Yahweh is salvation. So, what what a better way to preach Christ than the book of Isaiah.

32:33 I'll add a little bit more on. You go back into Luke. So, Acts is a part of is one part of two, the book of Luke, the gospel of Luke. How would preaching Isaiah be a good thing to do? Why would this pop up in there?

32:51 Well, just in my counting, I think there might be more but Jesus quoted Isaiah at least five times in the book of Luke, in the gospel of Luke. Simeon, early in the book of Luke quotes from Isaiah. Then, we also see that John the Baptist quotes from Isaiah and so, maybe some of these scriptures, maybe some of what he heard about when he was in Jerusalem, maybe people talked about who John the Baptist was to this Ethiopian guy and he heard about baptism and so he's hearing all about this these different things and Philip is again, he's preaching Christ to him and how how what do we see the response of the Ethiopian be? Go back to Acts chapter eight. We see the eunuch's response.

34:58 It says, then Philip said, if you believe in with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of god. Now, if you have the ESV, it may not be there. So, you ask the question, is it supposed to be in there? Well, for me, even if it's not supposed to be in there, like when they retranslated with new new discoveries of old documents and they translated it into English again with the ESV.

35:31 Even if it's not there, I still believe that this man was saved because I see his fruit. I see his response in saying, I want to be baptized. I want to show the new life that I have in Christ. I also see him in verse 39. It says that he went on his way rejoicing and so, I see this eunuch even if with if you say that verse thirty thirty seven isn't going to be there.

36:03 I still see him responding positively to the gospel because the joy that he expressed in being saved and seeing the salvation of the lord and and and hearing and talking to Philip as Philip would take this scroll of Isaiah and he would preach Christ to him and just the tremendous joy that he would experience that though he was a Gentile, he could be included in the family of god. I think I think it's a good verse though. Verse 37. It's a gospel in a nutshell. So, he says that if you believe with all you, your heart, you may and what does the Ethiopian eunuch believe?

36:50 What does he confess? He says, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of god. That he's the Messiah, that he's the savior, right there just in his name but that he's god himself, god in the flesh that came down for us to save us. So, here you have this this great opportunity that Philip has to share with this man about the lord Jesus and use the Old Testament scriptures and specifically the scroll of Isaiah to preach Christ to him. Verse 40, it says, Philip was found as a at Azotus.

37:34 So, you can see there on your map. He went back up to Azotus there along the coast in the Mediterranean Sea and passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea. So, a little bit of foreshadowing here. We're going to see a little bit later on. We're going to get into the ministry of Paul and it's going to talk about when he went to Caesarea but after this, we don't hear anything else from Philip but what a great example for us of of being effective witness for Christ.

39:13 I was like, look, look, you know, I I I know we talked before about different things in Christianity and other world religions but I want to tell you today but that it it all of it, it has to do with the person of Jesus Christ. If we don't talk personally to someone about the work of Christ, about what he did, about his character, his life, all of what he said, then I think we're lacking someone and I think that that something, someone certainly, I think that is one of the keys and one of the ways in which the early disciples and and you and I can be successful witnesses that we could be an effective witness that we would preach who Christ is and preach the name of Jesus Christ. The next thing would be that we would obey the spirit of god. That when we get that kind of inkling that we maybe we hear that audible voice. Maybe we get sort of a dream.

40:14 Maybe we wake up one morning and are reading and and a person comes to mind that we would obey that from the Holy Spirit and take that that the Holy Spirit's talking to us and wants to wants us to share with that person or wants to share with that family or or a whole group the word of god and finally, that we can have conversations with anybody. It doesn't matter who we have a conversation with. The gospel is is not just for the Jew, it's also for the Gentile. It's not just for a whole group of people but we could talk to one person personally about who Christ is. That Christ is making his body the church and he's he's bringing us into this body from all different cultures, all different languages, all different perspectives, all different opinions, and he's making a one body to be in Christ and to be unified in Christ.

42:21 Help us again, to know how to reach out to them and care for them. We just commit them to you in this time. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.