Untitled Sermon (9)

I would not be doing any a favor if I were to skip over one very important fact that you may have noticed. How many of you are reading from either the King James Version or even the New King James Version. Or if you have a newer modern translation you may have noticed that verse 37 is missing from the ESV, NIV NASB puts it in brackets but it is included in KJV and NKJV. This has led some to believe that people have taken it out of the Bible, and intentionally perverted. But the reality is this that we have to be careful about how we view the bible. Many people have no idea how we got our bibles. Many people are tempted to think that our English bibles floated down from heaven with nice goatskin leather and gold guided edges, and page numbers and verse divisions and the like. But the reality is that there is a history as to how we got our bibles. And no it didn't start in 1611 with the KJV as some would say. It didn’t begin with John Wycliffe in the 14th century. No it began the moment that God spoke through the Prophets from Moses to Isaiah and the moment the NT authors put pen to parchment. You see I don’t mean to offend but we are not so concerned about what the King James says, as if it is the standard, but rather what the original authors wrote and guess what? Not a single one of them even knew what English was it didn’t exist at the time. For this text we are concerned with what Luke originally wrote.

Article 1-1 The Holy Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are the inspired,1 infallible Word of God,2 a divine revelation, the original writings of which were verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit.3 They are the supreme and final authority of faith and conduct.

We believe that we have the word of God in modern English in as much as it reflects the original autographs. The standard is Luke’s writing. And the evidence points to this verse as a later addition to the letter. The majority of manuscripts do not include it, and none of them before the 6th century. That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t there before that time but just that we don't have any manuscripts that read it before that time. When it does occur in the texts, there are lots of variants that differences in the manuscripts which would suggest an addition.

I don’t say this to bore you, or to bog you down with needless facts, but to educate and instruct you so that as we are going to discuss when we are called to go out to the world and preach the Gospel and when critics bring this up or begin to attack your bible, it is not the first time you have heard it.

If you would like to dig a little deeper I would encourage you to talk to myself or Pastor Trace and we can point you to some helpful resources.

INTRO:

After WWII came to an end in 1945. The war torn country of Germany was divided in to east and west, with the eastern part going to the Soviet Union and the western part to the United States, Great Britain and France. On August 13th 1961 the German Democratic Republic or eastern Germany began building a wall of barbed wire and concrete to keep socialist defectors from the west out. Many people who were caught trying to cross over the or through, or under the wall in to the west were shot and killed. The wall remained until November 9th 1989 when the spokesman for the communist party of Eastern Germany declared that citizens were free to come and go across the boarder. People took to the streets overnight to tear down the wall, a man even stole a tank and drove it through the wall.

Obstacle in the way.

Through out the old testament there were any number of things that could hinder a person from access to God in public worship worship and access to the temple. Some of them were things that made you temporarily and ceremonially unclean. The Mosaic law spelled out the ordinances concerning these things. For example to touch a dead body or a dead carcass made a person unclean, the discharge of bodily fluids made a person unclean, various diseases and wounds made a person unclean.

Deuteronomy 23:1 tells us that eunuchs were forbidden to enter into the temple for worship. This man was not allowed to enter into the temple for worship because he had been castrated. Besides this the closest that he could come to the temple was to enter into the outer court of the Gentiles. It is amazing this man’s faithfulness as one who feared God , but could not have full access to worship and had to do so at a distance. But to this man his faithfulness brought him to Jerusalem to just be as close to God as was humanly possible for him, while others who could draw near to God refuse.

APPLICATION: It was Israel that had the prophets and the oracles and yet they refused

SIN: The obstacle and mountain in our way is insurmountable we could never overcome or blaze a trail around this is not the border of the southern United States.

Ephesians 2:11–22 ESV

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

The 60-foot bust memorial was the vision of sculptor Gutzon Borglum and took 14 years to complete. From 1927 to 1941 men and women worked to blast and carve the faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln into the South Dakota mountain.

The Obstacle Removed.

Isaiah is the most quoted prophet in the old Testament. Quoted or alluded to atleast 57 times in the New Testament. Isaiah is often called the “evangelical prophet”. The book of Isaiah is sometimes called “5th gospel” or the gospel according to God.

He quotes from Isaiah 53:7-8

Isaiah 56:3–8 ESV

Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

This Eunic who was considered a dry tree, has now become the generation the child of the kingdom by faith in Christ who was denied justice in this life, and had no posterity so that through His death and resurrection he might secure for Him and make the nations of the world His posterity.

This tragic, unjust death, which looked as if it had resulted in all being lost, in fact resulted in everything being gained. Darrell Bock

This man who was a different race and different ethnicity, and could not worship or fully participate in the kingdom of God until now. And this is the heart of the gospel that not just the Jews but the nations of the the world would now have full access to the kingdom of God.

WHAT PREVENTS ME FROM BEING BAPTIZED? 6 times in acts

Acts 10:47 ESV

“Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

Acts 11:17 ESV

If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”

You have likely heard the saying “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words.” It is often attributed to Francis of Assisi but there is some doubt as to whether he actually said it. The phrase is rather cleaver and has an element of wisdom, but what it really does is sets up a dichotomy between our deeds and our words. It implies that “practicing the Gospel” is better than “preaching the Gospel”. Such sentiment can and has been used to justify a persons refusal to preach the gospel. In rebuttal I have heard others say “ Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use amplification.

The text in Acts is very clear that Phillip was called to find meet with the Eunuch to explain with his mouth the words of the Prophet Isaiah. In verse 35 we read very clearly that Phillip “opened his mouth” and told the Eunuch about Jesus.

Some have further rebutted the saying “preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words”, by the saying “feed the poor always and if necessary use food.” but of Phillip his philosophy was “give the Eunuch something to drink in the dry desert and if necessary use water.” Phillip gave the man living water to drink as he sat in that chariot and revealed the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

APPLICATION: We cannot think that the gospel is merely about showing christian charity, I am not saying that it is not important I am merely saying that it is never less, and is most of the time more than that. I am not trying to diminish the importance of having a good christian testimony among others, but we must speak the gospel.

Romans 10 parallels verse 30 and 31.

Romans 10:14–17 ESV

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

He climbed a mountain of sin, swam the treacherous ocean, crossed the hottest dessert region to bring us salvation.