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Evangelism Encounter on the Gaza Road
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Villa
Rica 3/9/03
Acts 8:25 through Acts 8:40 25So,
when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they
started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many
villages of the Samaritans. 26But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip
saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to
Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) 27So he got up and went; and there was
an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the
Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to
Jerusalem to worship, 28and he was returning and sitting in his chariot,
and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29Then the Spirit said to Philip,
“Go up and join this chariot.” 30Philip ran up and heard him reading
Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he
invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32Now the passage of
Scripture which he was reading was this:
“HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO
SLAUGHTER;
AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS
SHEARER IS SILENT,
SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS
MOUTH.
33 “IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT
WAS TAKEN AWAY;
WHO WILL RELATE HIS
GENERATION?
FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM
THE EARTH.”
34The eunuch answered Philip and
said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or
of someone else?” 35Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from
this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. 36As they went along the road
they came to some water; and the eunuch said*, “Look! Water! What
prevents me from being baptized?” 37And 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.” 38And he ordered the chariot to stop;
and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch,
and he baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of
the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but
went on his way rejoicing. 40But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as
he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until
he came to Caesarea.
In the passage we read this morning we get a first hand look at the
evangelization of a person. Philip was one of the early disciples that
God mightily used to bring others to the Lord. We also learn in the
passage that God was the director and initiator of this evangelistic
encounter on the Gaza Road.
I.
Angelic Direction
A.
Notice that the angel simply told Philip to go to a certain place. He
didn't tell Philip what to do when he got there, only go. Philip had
already been preaching Christ to the Samaritans so we know he was
desirous of having opportunities to evangelize. Philip no doubt assumed
that this would be an evangelistic opportunity.
All Christian should desire to have evangelistic opportunities. This is
what the disciples scattered abroad because of the persecution at
Jerusalem were doing. God used the persecution of Christians to spread
the gospel beyond Jerusalem. Had there been no persecution we might ask
the question, would there even have been an outreach beyond Jerusalem?
This
demonstrates how God turns bad circumstances to his own purpose. God
causes good to come from evil circumstances for his elect. We should
apply this truth today in light of the terrorism being directed toward
Christians and Jews. God will bring something good out of the present
distress that we are experiencing.
In this instance God brought many souls to Christ in Samaria and now an
Ethiopian is brought to faith in Christ through the witness and teaching
of Philip. God obviously directed this encounter.
We might ask, how did the angel speak to Philip? Was it a visible
manifestation of an angelic being who vocally spoke to him? Or did the
angel speak to him in a vision or a dream? We aren't told. But Philip
was sensitive to the Lord. He was open to the leading of the Spirit of
God. God was using him because he was willing to be used and obedient
whenever he sensed God's leading.
Every Christian should be open to the leading of the Lord. We read in
Rom. 8:14 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these
are sons of God.
The Lord leads his children and especially those who are seeking to do
what Christ in his parting words before his ascension back to heaven
commanded his disciples to do, namely, to go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the Son and the
holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…
(Matt 28:19, 20)
You and I are given opportunities to do what Philip did as he obeyed the
angel and went to the Gaza road and there met this Ethiopian man sitting
in his chariot reading the words of Isaiah the prophet. At that very
moment the Spirit of God spoke to Philip and told him to go and join the
chariot.
II. The
Ethiopian Was Obviously A Seeker
A. The
scripture tells us that this man had been to Jerusalem to worship. This
would be equalivant to someone attending church. When a person attends a
worship service they can be considered a seeker after God. God always
sees a seeking heart. The Word of God tells us in Isaiah 55:6
Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near and
in Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search
for Me with all your heart.
The Lord saw this man's seeking heart and sent someone to
lead him to the Savior. Indeed I would add that it was the Lord who gave
him a seeking heart. As the hymn writer George W. Chadwick wrote:
"I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew he moved my soul to seek
him, seeking me; it was not I that found, O Savior true, no, I was found
of thee.
Thou didst reach forth thy hand and mine enfold; I walked and
sank not on the storm-vexed sea -- 'twas not so much that I on thee took
hold, as thou, dear Lord on me.
The Ethiopian seeking the Lord reminds me of an incident
in the life of Hudson Taylor. He came to the city of Hang chow. The next
day, with a bag of books over his shoulder, he started on an
evangelistic tour of the city. Great crowds followed him about. At
night, weary, he sat down to rest at a teahouse in the suburbs of Hang
chow on the way to his boat on the river. As he sat at the table he saw
peering at him through the gathering gloom an elderly Chinese. The man
was evidently seeking someone.
"Are you a foreigner?"
"Yes, I am an Englishman."
"Are there books in that bag on the table?"
"Yes, there are."
"Are you a teacher of a foreign religion?"
"Yes, of the Jesus religion!"
The Chinese then told Taylor that he for many years; he had been an
earnest seeker after truth but could find no religion that could take
the burden of guilt from his soul. A few nights before, he had a vision:
a man in white had told him to go to Hang chow, that he would find a
foreigner sitting in an inn, with a bag of books on the table before
him. He had visited an inn but had found no such person. Finally,
hearing of this inn in the suburbs, he had as a last hope come here. He
asked Taylor to tell him the truth, whereupon he preached the gospel and
gave him a New Testament. Two days later Taylor visited his house and
found he had destroyed all his idols and was rejoicing in Jesus Christ.
Taylor left the man adoring God not only for his power to save, but also
for his marvelous and miraculous ways of leading souls to the messenger
and the message of the gospel.
The passage we have read in Acts 8 is the account of that very same
thing happening in the life of the Ethiopian Eunuch. For those who
complain that poor benighted souls who live in darkness and have no
light are therefore unjustly doomed to a Godless eternity for not
having heard or believed the gospel should know that men are able to
seek the Lord and find him. God will send someone to lead them to Christ
if they truly seek for the truth. Those who pretend to seek, who go to
church for some reason other than seeking the Lord and his salvation
mercy are simply hypocrites in their church going. But a person seeking
like this Ethiopian who went to Jerusalem to worship and who began to
try to understand the Word of God, will find what he seeks after. Seek
and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened, ask and you shall
receive.
B.
30Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do
you understand what you are reading?” 31And he said, “Well, how could I,
unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with
him.
Philip did not force himself on the Ethiopian. He was courteous and
respectful. He was friendly and solicitous. He opened the conversation
in such a way that the man didn't feel insulted or patronized. He comes
across as trying to be helpful. And the Ethiopian man responds by
inviting Philip to guide him in his study. After all, most people come
to the Bible with no spiritual understanding. This man admitted that he
was in that case. Once again we see that the Ethiopian was teachable. He
was like the Chinese man that found Hudson Taylor. He had no light. He
felt guilt because of his sin and he wanted God to relieve him of his
guilt.
How providential that he was reading the passage he was from Isaiah
53:6-7…
“HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER;
AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT,
SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.
33 “IN
HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY;
WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION?
FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH.”
Then the Ethiopian asks Philip this question: “Please tell me, of
whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” 35Then
Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached
Jesus to him.
What a great text to use to preach Jesus Christ and his redemptive work!
Philip didn't have to pick the passage; the man had already turned to
the scripture that Philip could preach from. What a perfect setup for
Philip to evangelize the man.
Do you not see how God had prepared this Ethiopian for this very moment,
how he led him to be reading a passage that lent itself perfectly for
Philip to expound and explain the gospel of salvation to him?
C. What a
glorious event this was! The man was open to the gospel. He hears the
gospel message, probably for the first time. His heart was hungry. His
soul was thirsty. He listens to this Spirit anointed man of God and he
is drawn to believe in Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. Listen to
his words after Philip preached Jesus Christ to him that day long ago on
the road from Jerusalem to Gaza.
36As
they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said*,
“Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 37And 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.” 38And he ordered the
chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well
as the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39When they came up out of the
water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no
longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.
The condition specified by Philip has not changed. The man
had heard and understood the message of salvation. The chariot was
moving along and they came to some water. Incidentally, I am sure it
wasn't a lot of water out there on a desert road, but it was enough to
sprinkle or pour some on the man's head. So he asks Philip if there were
any reason why he couldn't be baptized. Philip's answer is short and
sweet, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The man's
answer was also short and sweet, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God.” With that profession of faith they got out of the
chariot and went to the water and Philip baptized him. As soon as that
was done the Spirit of God snatched Philip away and the encounter was
over, but the Ethiopian man, now a baptized believer, went on his way
rejoicing.
Both Philip and the Ethiopian are long since gone from this world, but
their souls are still alive at this very moment. They have gone to their
long home in heaven. The encounter that took place that day long ago is
history. God brought together a seeker and a preacher. The implications
of that meeting had eternal significance.
There may be someone here today that is a seeker. What happened to
the Ethiopian can happen to you. Could you make a profession of faith
like the Ethiopian eunuch made? Have you heard the gospel and believed
in your heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died in your place
on Calvary's tree making atonement for your sins? Have you openly
confessed him and sought baptism as the Ethiopian man did? I invite you
to do that. We are here to hear your profession of faith and baptize
you. Or you may have been baptized as a child but have never made your
profession of faith and been admitted to the Lord's Table. What prevents
you from doing what the Ethiopian did? Come to Christ today! Do not
delay! Today is the day of salvation. Do not harden your heart. Come to
Jesus Christ and be saved today!
Hymn #565
“All for Jesus“
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The paper and sermon manuscripts from
Pastor
Todd W. Allen
are made freely available for review and
distribution. We only request that proper
web page attribution be provided if
distributed for any reason. Please be
gracious to forgive typos and errors of
expression. These notes are faithful
approximations of what has been preached.
May God be glorified in the preaching of
His Word. |