We'll open our Bibles to the ninth chapter of
the book of Acts, to the passage recounting the
conversion of Saul, which we have had suggested
to us this morning already in the dramatic reading.
Acts 9. went to the high priest and asked for
letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus,
so that if he found any belonging to the way,
both men and women, he might bring them bound
to Jerusalem. And it came about that as he journeyed,
he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light
from heaven flashed around him. And he fell to
the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul,
Saul! Why are you persecuting me?' And he said,
Who art thou, Lord?' And he said, I am Jesus,
whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter
the city, and it shall be told you what you must
do.' The men who traveled with him stood speechless,
hearing the voice, but seeing no one. And Saul
got up from the ground, and though his eyes were
open, he could see nothing. And leading him by
the hand, they brought him into Damascus, and
he was there. Three days without sight, and neither
ate nor drank. Now there was a certain disciple
of Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said
to him in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Behold,
here am I, Lord. And the Lord said to him, Arise,
and go to the street called Strait, and inquire
at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named
Saul. For behold, he is praying. And he has seen
in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay
his hands on him, so that he might regain his
sight. But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard
from many about this man, how much harm he did
to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority
from the chief priest to bind all who call upon
thy name. But the Lord said to him, Go, for he
is a chosen instrument of mine. to bear my name
before the Gentiles, and kings, and the sons
of Israel. For I will show him how much he must
suffer for my name's sake." And Ananias departed
and entered the house, and after laying his hands
on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who
appeared to you on the road by which you were
coming, has sent me so that you may regain your
sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately,
there fell from his eyes something like scales.
He regained his sight, and he arose and was baptized.
He took food and was strengthened. For several
days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus.
Immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the
synagogues, saying, He is the Son of God. All
those hearing him continued to be amazed and
were saying, Is this not he who in Jerusalem
destroyed those who called on this name? And
we would come here to the direct intervention
of God in the lives of two persons. Our text
begins in verse 26 of Acts chapter 8. But an
angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Arise
and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem
to Gaza. This is a desert road. And he arose
and went, and behold, 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.
There were actually two gazes at that point in
time. One of them had been destroyed about 125
years before this and was in ruins in the desert.
Not too far from there, however, was a new city
of Gaza. Because of the comment regarding the
desert road, it is thought that it's probably
the older Gaza that is in mind when he receives
the instruction from the angel. For there were
two roads that went down that direction from
Jerusalem. It is clear that Philip knew exactly
where the angel meant. As he got there, he saw
this man who was a very high official of the
Ethiopian government. Candace is not the name
of the particular queen, but was the name of
the dynasty at that time, or of the office. It
may have been the title of the office, something
like Pharaoh in Egypt. He had come to Jerusalem
to worship, indicating that he may have been
a proselyte or a God -fearer. There was technically
a difference. Both were Gentiles. who were moved
toward Judaism. A proselyte, however, fully accepted
the teachings of Judaism and, as an outward manifestation
of that, allowed himself to be immersed or baptized
into Judaism and to be circumcised. One who was
a God -fearer, however, did neither of those
and yet followed after the traditions of the
Jews. It is most likely that he was, in fact,
a proselyte to Judaism. It says he was returning
and sitting in his chariot and was reading the
prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip,
Go up and join this chariot. And when Philip
had run up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet
and said, Do you understand what you are reading?
And he said, Well, how could I unless someone
guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and
sit with him. Now the passage of scripture, which
he was reading, was this, He was led as a sheep
to slaughter, and as a lamb before his shear
is silent, so he does not open his mouth. In
humiliation his judgment was taken away. Who
shall relate his generation? For his life is
removed from the earth. And the eunuch answered
Philip and said, Please tell me, of whom does
the prophet say this? of himself or of someone
else. And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning
from this scripture, he preached Jesus to him.
And as they went along the road, they came to
some water. And the eunuch said, Look, water,
what prevents 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. And he ordered
the chariot to stop, and they both went down
into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch,
and he baptized him. And when they came up out
of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched
Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more,
but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found
himself at Azotus, and as he passed through,
he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities
until he came to Caesarea. Our text actually
records the interaction of three persons, not
just two. The three persons are the Holy Spirit,
the eunuch, and Philip. Let's talk about each
of these persons this morning, and as we study
them, I think we'll uncover some important lessons
for us to learn, some of which we need to put
into practice in our lives. Let's talk first
about the Holy Spirit, the first person in our
text. We learn from the text that the Holy Spirit
works for the glory of God. Now, before we look
into our text in detail, I'd like for us to turn
back to the Gospel of John, to the sixteenth
chapter, so that I can make three introductory
statements regarding the Holy Spirit. I'd like
to read eight verses beginning in verse 7. concerning
sin because they do not believe in me, and concerning
righteousness because I go to the Father and
you no longer behold me, and concerning judgment
because the ruler of this world has been judged.
I have many more things to say to you, but you
cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit
of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth,
for he will not speak on his own initiative But
whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will
disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify
me, for he shall take of mine, and shall disclose
it to you." There are three important statements
I want to make concerning the Holy Spirit as
we look in a few moments in Acts chapter 8. The
first is that the Holy Spirit is a person. The
Holy Spirit is not an influence or a thing. He
is not referred to as it in the New Testament,
although that would be proper according to the
Greek word for spirit, for that word is neuter.
That is, it has no gender connected with it.
However, when the Holy Spirit is spoken about
in terms of a personal pronoun, It is always
a masculine pronoun that is used. You say, what
does that mean? It means that although the word
spirit is neuter, the Holy Spirit is a person,
not an it. He is not an influence in the world.
He is not a thing that exists apart from God.
But he is a person of the Godhead. We often say
the third person of the Godhead in the order
as we usually speak of them, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. Statement number two,
the Holy Spirit was sent into the world in a
special, particular sense in this age. He has
always been here. But there is a special sense
in which he was sent into the world after the
ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came into
the world on the day of Pentecost as we have
studied earlier in the book of Acts. He came
to act as the periclete, the helper or comforter
for the people of God. And he came to act as
the convictor of the world. And then the third
statement regarding the Holy Spirit. His aim
is to glorify Jesus Christ. Jesus said, He will
glorify me. He will take of mine and show it
to you. The Holy Spirit's purpose is not to manifest
Himself to glorify Himself, but to manifest His
power in the world to glorify the Lord Jesus
Christ. Of course, the Book of Acts records the
fulfillment of Jesus' words, his promise that
the Holy Spirit would come. Thus, the Acts of
the Apostles, as we normally call this book,
might properly be called the Acts of the Holy
Spirit. Now in Acts 8, we see the work of the
Holy Spirit evidenced. Please observe, first
of all, that he is faithful in the purpose of
his work. I have already suggested to you some
of the reasons why he came into the world. I
would point out to you that in the text that
we have read we see the Spirit of God, first
of all, showing the things of Christ to this
Ethiopian eunuch. That was why he came. He is
fulfilling the purpose of his work in showing
the things of Christ to this man. Then Jesus
said, He will guide you who are my disciples.
And again we see that in Philip's case where
the Spirit of God guides Philip down to that
particular spot so he is in the right place at
the right time to meet the eunuch. And then we
see him in a third work bringing conviction to
the heart of this sinner, the Ethiopian eunuch,
so that he would seek something more. And so
we see the work of the Holy Spirit evidenced
in our text. We see that he is faithful in the
purpose for which he was sent into the world.
He is here showing the things of Christ, guiding
his servant, and convicting the sinner. Secondly,
we see that he is sovereign in the design of
his work. Have you ever asked yourself why this
man? He was not alone, undoubtedly, on that road,
for a man of such high stature in the government
would be accompanied by a retinue of soldiers
and perhaps even other officials. Why this man?
The only answer to that is that it is according
to the elective purposes of God that this man
should be reached. where we see the Apostle Paul
give a doctrinal explanation of what is illustrated
in the book of Acts. In 2 Thessalonians 2, verse
13, the Apostle Paul writes these words, Notice
what he says, because God has chosen you from
the beginning for salvation. And so we bump into
once again that doctrine that we've talked about
before, the elective purposes of God. It is God's
choice of those who are to be saved. Now we know
that there is another part to this whole truth
of salvation, and that is man's response. man's
responsibility to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But here the apostle is emphasizing the one,
talking about God having chosen them from the
beginning for salvation. But notice how God would
fulfill that choice. He says it is through sanctification
by the Spirit and faith in the truth. How is
it that God is going to accomplish, bring that
one that he has chosen from the beginning to
the point of salvation? Two aspects to that.
It is through the sanctification of the Holy
Spirit, that is through the setting apart ministry
of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by faith in the
truth. on the part of the individual. So once
again we come back to that balance of the individual's
responsibility to believe. What we observe in
Acts chapter 8 is a beautiful illustration of
this truth. Why this man? I ask. It is because
from the beginning God had chosen this man to
salvation. And now we see the Holy Spirit doing
his part. And in the text later we'll see the
individual doing his part so that the man is
saved. All of us need to realize this. If the
Holy Spirit did not initiate the work of salvation
in our lives, none of us would be saved. For
none of us would respond to the truth of God,
except the Holy Spirit would awaken our heart
to its authenticity. and veracity. The sinner
is dead in trespasses and sins, which means that
he is unresponsive and, indeed, incapable of
response because of sin until the Holy Spirit
initiates a work in his life. So what we see
in Acts chapter 8 is that the Holy Spirit is
sovereign in the design of his work. Jesus said,
the wind blows where it wills. So is the Spirit.
We see a third truth about the work of the Holy
Spirit, and that is that He uses means to accomplish
His work. In other words, God has chosen to utilize
certain earthly instruments in accomplishing
His heavenly work. Those instruments are the
Scripture and His servants. You will notice that
this eunuch was reading the Word of God. That
Word of God is found in Isaiah chapter 53. The
Holy Spirit was using the truth of Isaiah 53
to woo that man's heart to reality. to salvation,
to Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit uses the Word
of God as an instrument to bring people to Jesus
Christ. Hebrews 4 .12 says that the Word of God
is sharper than any two -edged sword. Ephesians
6 tells us that the Word of God is the sword
of the Spirit. That is, it is the instrument
which the Holy Spirit uses to prod and to prick
the human heart, to bring it to faith. But the
Holy Spirit also chooses to use human beings,
His servants. Yes, He could speak so that we
could hear Him without any human being involved,
but that is not what He has chosen to do. Yes,
He could also use angels. Indeed, we see an angel
speaking to Philip to bring a message from God
in our text. But in delivering the gospel to
people who need to hear it, the Lord has chosen
to use human beings, people like you and me.
God's method is people. Men are always looking
for better methods, but God is looking for willing
men. That's the point. Dwight L. Moody was sitting
in a service one time and heard a man say, the
world has yet to see what God can do in and with
and through a man who is fully yielded to him.
That statement stuck in the heart of Moody. When
he left the meeting, he said to a friend of his,
by the grace of God, I will be that man. And
still today, over a hundred years later, the
world is feeling the impact of one willing person
who said, Lord, I'll be your servant. The Holy
Spirit chooses to use means to accomplish His
work. The Word of God and people like you and
me, indeed that's why we're in the world. And
that's why God has placed you where He has, in
that neighborhood. in that office, on that campus,
so that He can use you there as an instrument
to impact the lives of others. What a marvelous
thing that is that God would use us that way.
Tony was sharing with me before the service that
he was raised in a church of another denomination
with a lot of ritual and sacraments involved,
traditions, but that he dropped out as he grew
up. After he and Sue were married and their children
came along, there was created in their life a
concern about their kids and what they were going
to pass on to their children. God used that to
begin to awaken their hearts, and then he brought
into Tony's life a co -worker who was a Christian.
The life of the man impressed him. But even more
than that, the man began to introduce him to
the scriptures and got him involved in studying
the Bible for himself. And so it was through
that servant and the scriptures that Tony Campagna
came to faith in Jesus Christ. And that can be
repeated hundreds of times over in our congregation
this morning. Now we see a fourth thing about
the Holy Spirit's work, and that is he is diverse
in the manner of his work. On the one hand, he
used an angel to give Philip direction. On the
other, he spoke directly to Philip. In the one
case, he had Philip walk all the way from Samaria
down to this desert place near Gaza. That was
a long way, perhaps as much as 60 to 70 miles.
He walked. And when he got there, He began to
jog and to run along the chariot. Then when it
was time to leave, the Lord just took him supernaturally
and moved him to another location. You say, what
are you trying to point out? It's this, that
the Holy Spirit is diverse in the manner of His
work. He does not have one pattern for all people
at all times. You may be amazed at how the Holy
Spirit works in another person's life. Praise
God for that. But don't seek that exact experience
for yourself. For the Spirit of God may desire
to do it differently in your life. For you see,
He is creative. He is infinitely various in His
manner of working. And yet I would emphasize
always He works in consistency with the Holy
Scriptures. But in the way that he accomplishes
his work, he is creative and diverse. And so
we have a study regarding the Spirit of God.
He is here to work in the world and to glorify
the Lord. Now let's look at the servant. Let's
look at Philip. And notice about him that he
serves in God's will. By definition, a servant
is one with no rights of his own to consider.
but who is only concerned with the affairs of
his master. That's difficult for us to identify
with that fully because even employees today
have certain rights of their own. That was not
the case with a servant in New Testament times.
He had no rights. There was no union for slaves.
He had no will of his own. His master said, do
this, and that's what he did. That was his only
concern. And that is the place in which Philip
is serving the Lord as a servant. He is a servant
who is also spirit -filled according to chapter
6 verse 5. For along with Stephen he was a man
full of the Holy Spirit. A spirit -filled servant
of the Lord is known by his actions. I want you
to notice three actions on the part of Philip
that evidence the fact that he was Spirit -filled.
In the first place, he hears the voice of the
Lord. In verse 26, through an angel of the Lord
sent to him, and then in verse 29, the Spirit
of God speaking directly to Philip. The point
is that he literally heard the voice of the Lord.
Not today. That is not the customary way that
God speaks to us. Indeed, the way that God speaks
to us is through His Word and through that quiet,
still voice in the inner man, that compulsion
within that we recognize to be the voice of God.
And again, that inner voice is always consistent
with the written revelation of God's Word. hears
the voice of the Lord. Now to hear, one must
listen. And to listen, one must be an active
listener. Are you an active listener? Are you
a good listener to the voice of God through His
Word in your life? Do you listen daily to the
Spirit's voice? I notice secondly that Because
he is a Spirit -filled servant of the Lord, Philip
obeys the commands of the Lord. Verses 26 and
27, it says, he arose and went as the Lord commanded
him to do. Verses 29 and 30, it says, go up and
join this chariot. Philip ran up to the chariot
and joined himself to it. A spirit -filled servant
of the Lord obeys the commands of the Lord. Obedience
to be obedience must be characterized as immediate
response and total response. Obedience that is
delayed or which is only partial is not real
obedience, is it? Obedience is immediately doing
all that has been commanded. I think sometimes
we get that confused. And we say to the Lord,
just a minute. Now, of course, your children
never say that to you, do they? Let me finish
this. That response is not obedience. That's
delay. or when the job is only half done. That's
not obedience. Take the garbage out of them,
put it in the garbage can. So you walk into the
garage and trip over the bag of garbage that
was left right at the door. That's not obedience.
It wasn't in the garbage can. Obedience to be
obedience must be immediate and total. Dear people,
we need to learn that. We too easily excuse ourselves
from the Lord until a later time. Or we say to
Him, I have done this much, isn't that sufficient?
And the answer is no, not if God has said to
do this much. He obeyed the commands of the Lord.
Thirdly, I see that He speaks the word of the
Lord. Jesus Christ is the key to understanding
Scripture. This man did not know of Jesus Christ.
He asked Philip, please tell me, who's the prophet
talking about? Himself or someone else? And Philip
opened his mouth, and beginning from this scripture,
he preached Jesus to him. This spirit filled
servant of the Lord spoke the word of the Lord
to this man. He opened his understanding to see
that the Word of God points to Jesus Christ.
Everything either leads to Him or flows from
Him. He had no personal agendas. He was not interested
in sharing his opinions. He avoided sidetracks
and detours. He got right to the point, and the
point was the Word of the Lord. The authority
that he had came from the one whom he served,
Jesus Christ. So he opened his mouth, and beginning
from the scripture of Isaiah 53, he preached
Jesus to that man. It doesn't say that was the
only text used, but I think all of us realize
that there is no passage in the Old Testament
that more clearly speaks of Jesus than Isaiah
53. Until the time of Jesus, even the Jewish
people recognized that Isaiah 53 spoke of the
Messiah. But of course, it is such a clear depiction
of his sufferings as the servant of the Lord
that since his time in the last 2 ,000 years,
that passage has been reinterpreted by them,
usually to refer to the Jewish nation itself
as suffering. And of course, it has suffered
tremendously. But we know clearly that the New
Testament indicates Isaiah 53 to be an explicit
portrayal of the sufferings of Jesus Christ for
our sins. And it was that truth that Philip communicated
to that Ethiopian proselyte, the servant. He
serves according to the will of God. Let me ask
a question. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would
you rate your servant work? Not really where
you would like to be. All of us would like to
be a 10. But really, where are you? Are you listening
to his voice? Indeed, can you hear it, or is
it drowned out by the din of the noise in your
life? Are you obeying everything you know to
do? Are you conscious of any area of disobedience
in your life that has not been dealt with? Are
you speaking the Lord's Word, or do you frankly
have your own concerns? your own agenda to care
for. Are you sidetracked? Are you on a detour,
on a secondary issue, and forgetting the Word
of the Lord? There are so many good things that
we can get involved in that we have to constantly
examine ourselves to be sure that we're doing
the most important thing. That's serving God's
will. Finally, I'd like for us to look at the
seeker, this Ethiopian eunuch. Notice that he
searches for God's truth. Not all seekers, not
all are seekers in the world. Indeed, I think
we would have to say that only a few actually
are seekers, only those who are prompted by the
Holy Spirit to be seekers. God says that there
is none who naturally seeks after him. Romans
3, 10, and 11. None, N -O -N -E. But this seeker
was wooed by the Holy Spirit to the truth. This
official from Ethiopia was obviously a seeker,
and there are five facts I want you to notice
about him very quickly. First of all, he had
a background that was advantageous. Tony said
this morning his testimony was not raised in
a Christian home, although it was a good home.
Those raised in a Christian home have an advantage.
We see a man here who had the advantage of knowing
the Old Testament scriptures. He was a man who
was acquainted with Judaism, its rituals, its
sacrifice. But notice that that religion did
not satisfy him. Religion itself never satisfies.
Only reality in Jesus Christ satisfies the heart.
And yet he had the advantage of that background,
that religious acquaintance with the Old Testament,
and God used that. I would have you notice secondly
that he had a heart that was searching. He was
looking for something more. In verse 31 he said,
how can I understand this unless someone guides
me? He was seeking to understand it. He wanted
a guide. Of course, the Holy Spirit knew that,
and that's why Philip was there. Third, he had
a mind that was open. I would have to say that
not everyone who searches has an open mind. Not
all searching hearts are complemented that way.
Some are closed, actually, to the truth. though
they are searching for something. 2 Corinthians
4 tells us that if our gospel is veiled, it is
veiled to those who are perishing, in whom the
God of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds
of the unbelieving. There are those today who
are searching whose hearts are not yet open to
the truth, but that was not the case with this
man. Fourth, he had a faith that was eager. There
was nothing that was hesitant about this man.
He was eagerly willing to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That is indicated by his desire
for baptism. They saw water and he said, hey,
what prevents me from being baptized? Notice
that Philip's response was, if you believe with
all your heart, you may. He answered, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Have you
noticed here the place the baptism place does
not bring salvation? The important thing is the
faith. That is what saves the soul. But don't
undervalue the importance of baptism either,
because it is the commanded profession. of our
faith. We are commanded by Jesus Christ to follow
him in the waters of baptism once we have believed,
and in that way to evidence that we have died
with him, that we are raised with him as new
creatures, that we are one now with him. I would
rather think that this man evidences a humility
here, don't you? As I said before, he surely
must have had those who were with him. He was
willing to get out of his chariot, which was
at least a two -seater, it would seem, and probably
a rather fancy chariot. I don't know if it was
a corvette or not, but it was a nice one. He
got out of it, went down into the water, he and
Philip, and was baptized. It reminds me somewhat
of Naaman. that Syrian official in the Old Testament
in the time of Elisha, who was willing to humble
himself finally to go into the muddy waters of
the Jordan River in view of all of his troops.
And he came out a whole man, no longer diseased
with leprosy because of his faith. He said, well,
did the water save him from his leprosy? No,
it was his faith. is humbling himself before
God. Does water and baptism save? No, it does
not save, but it evidences humility of heart
and willingness to obey Jesus Christ. He had
a faith that was eager and finally had a joy
that was genuine. Verse 39, it says that he went
on his way rejoicing. Tradition says that this
man became an evangelist. in the area of Africa
where he was from. Indeed, there are some Christian
groups, at least one that I know of, that claims
to originate from the ministry of this Ethiopian
eunuch. He went on his way rejoicing, and you'll
find that that is a theme, a sub -theme, I should
say, in the book of Acts. The rejoicing of heart
that comes to one who has been truly saved. And
so we have the seeker. Conclusion this morning,
I'd like to speak first to the servant of God
here. Just to recap, are you serving in God's
will? Are you being used by the Lord? Is your
life impacting the lives of others because you
are filled with the Holy Spirit and you are obeying
the Lord as fully as you know how at this point
in your life? Thank God He does not demand perfection
of us before He uses us. Thank God He does not
demand that we have a theological degree before
we can be used by Him. But He's looking for the
willing, obedient heart. And then there may be
a seeker here this morning, one who is searching
after the truth. I would say to you in closing,
will you act upon the truth that you found? It
is wonderful to be a seeker, but it is not enough.
You must also be a finder. The Lord says, Seek,
and ye shall find. Seek the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him while he is near. How
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?
as the writer of Hebrews. And finally, you will
find Him if you search for Him with all your
heart and all your soul. I'm reminded of a dear
lady that one of our EE teams visited some time
ago. In her seventh decade of life, she had been
in church for most of those 70 plus years. And
when she heard the gospel from this EE team,
in its simplicity, in such a manner as she understood
that Christ had died for her sins, she opened
her heart and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ.
She said, after all of these years, I've never
heard it before. Maybe you're like that lady.
Would you trust the Savior today? Let's pray.