Sermon Tone Analysis

How can I, unless someone guides me?

How can I, unless someone guides me?

, “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

This is a desert place.

And he rose and went.

And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.

He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”

And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter

and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,

so he opens not his mouth.

In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.”

And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water!

What prevents me from being baptized?”

And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.”

Those who are lost need to understand that Jesus’ death: burial and resurrection were necessary for their salvation.

says, “ Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes and is justified (made right), and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

This must also be coupled with the belief that this Jesus’ death burial and resurrection is the only possible way we will be in heaven when we die.

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through Me.” ()

The lost need to understand that any faith that teaches contrary to Christ is a lie: Mormonism, Buddhist, Islam, Jehovah’s Witness, and others have led many astray.

Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and the life, He is the only way!

The Spirit of the Lord now leads Philip through the territory of Judea, with a sudden detour south to Gaza, which was directed by an angel of the Lord.

It was the will of God that the encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch is clearly earmarked as the centerpiece of this section, representing another remarkable step forward for the gospel.

This Ethiopian is ‘a very strong representative of foreigner within a Jewish context.

He comes from the edge of the known world, he is of the African race, he is a castrated male, and probably a Gentile.’

He is eunuch; a eunuch is a man who has been castrated for the purpose of trusted servitude in a royal household.

A king would often castrate his servants to ensure they would not be tempted to engage in sexual activity with others in the palace (specifically, the royal harem) or to prevent their plotting an overthrow (eunuchs were incapable of setting up a dynasty of their own.)

Though he has traveled over 200 miles to worship, he understands that there is a prohibition against admitting eunuchs into the assembly of the Lord.

Look at, , “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.”

Generally in Deuteronomy this refers to Israelites gathered at Horeb/Sinai.

In this chapter it anticipates Israelites gathered in the land for worship.

It refers also to those who serve in the priesthood, who could have not physical defects.

The phrase “no one whose testicles are crushed” probably refers to men made eunuchs in the context of pagan worship.

This concept of one’s male organ being “cut off” is found in (“emasculate themselves”).

Here Paul is making the point that if the work of circumcision is so helpful in obtaining the justification, grace, and favor of God.

Then why don’t these opponents of justification by works just not completely emasculate themselves?

Paul is implying that his opponents are acting like pagans; by these actions and if the ancient Israelites did the same their men it would disqualify themselves from entry into the assembly.

However, it seems clear that this Ethiopian was certainly a devout and God-fearing men, having journeyed over 200 miles to Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel.

He was a keen student of the Jewish Scriptures and was apparently fascinated with prophecies about God’s plans for the future of his people.

Philip explained the passage from to him in Christological terms.

The eunuch is portrayed as someone on the fringes of Judaism, who is drawn into the fellowship of Jewish Christianity through Philip’s teaching about Jesus.

Perhaps the promise of , about eunuchs finding an honored place among the renewed people of God, is particularly in Luke’s mind as he records this story.

Look at , 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.”

The true people of God, who will inherit all his promises, are universally inclusive of all who hold fast to His covenant, despite their outward, apparent disqualification.

teaches us that the foreigner, approaching God’s people, need not fear God’s rejection, not if he or she has truly joined themselves to the LORD.

So, if this eunuch has been truly gripped by the gospel, he will receive an eternal place with God.

An eternal place that is better than producing physical descendants.

An eternal place so good that now the restrictions of no longer apply.

At the same time, it can be said that Philip makes contact with a representative of the peoples from ‘the ends of the earth’.

, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Ethiopia had a much better claim than Rome to be described as the end of the earth ‘A reasonable case can be made for seeing this narrative as being about the reaching of those from the parts of Africa that were at or beyond the borders of the Roman empire, as a opportunity for the gospel to reach those who were at the ends of the earth.’

So, this morning we are going to look at the fact that The Holy Spirit arranged this encounter in vv.

26-29.

That the Holy Spirit attested and enables Philip to preach Christ from the O.T. Scriptures vv.

29-35, and that the Holy Spirit affirmed and empowered Philip to continue his ministry in vv.

36-40.

Let us pray...

1.

The Holy Spirit guides and arranges this encounter (8:26–28)

It is clear that the Holy Spirit arranges this encounter between Philip and an unnamed Ethiopian court official.

In Luke progressively exposes the way God made it possible for the gospel to move out from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and thus fulfilling the promise in , moving to the ends of the earth.

The strangeness of this particular encounter is highlighted by a brief characterization of the Ethiopian, explaining his readiness to be taught by Philip from the Jewish Scriptures.

There is always a readiness to receive the truth that is preceded by the openness of our heart.

The very ministry of the Holy Spirit, which accomplishes this within our hearts, guides this process.

Faith always precedes regeneration.

Regeneration is a radical change.

And only happens when someone guides us.

Just as our physical birth results in a new individual entering the earthly realm, our spiritual birth results in a new person entering the heavenly realm.

, “Even when were dead in our trespasses, make us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

After regeneration, we begin to see and hear and seek after the divine things of God; we begin to live a life of faith and holiness.

(a)Now that Christ is formed in the hearts; (b)now that we are partakers of the divine nature, and (c)now that we have been made new creatures, as the Word teaches us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Then this clearly shows that God, not man, is the source of this transformation.

It is God’s great love and free gift, His rich grace and abundant mercy, which are cause of this rebirth.

The mighty power of God—the power that raised Christ from the dead—is displayed in the regeneration and conversion of all sinners.

So we see in this passage the beginning of the first of three significant ‘conversion’ accounts, each illustrating the kind of transformation appropriate to different individuals from different religious and cultural backgrounds.

(The Ethiopian in , Saul in 9:1–19 and Cornelius in 10:1–48).The Ethiopian is proselyte, prevented by his condition as a eunuch from entering fully into Jewish life, but ready to receive the gospel proclaimed by Philip.

26 “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza”

The word “now” brings out the contrast between this verse and the preceding verse that speaks of Peter and John on their way to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

(v.

25,) But now an angel of the Lord directed Philip further south, and this angelic direction is not an unusual act,

, “But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out.”

, “About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.”

, “And he told us how had seen the angel stand in his house and say, Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter.”

As we can see this was not an unusual occurrence among the servants of God to be directed by an angel of God.

Since Philip had been identified as a prophet (being filled with the Spirit, working signs and wonders, proclaiming the word of God), we may discern in this narrative certain parallels with the prophet Elijah.

Philip is addressed by an angel of the Lord and moved from place to place by the Spirit, and he runs down the road towards the chariot of an important person.

References to an angel and the Spirit highlight the fact that this evangelistic initiative is a mission entirely commanded by the Holy Spirit of God.

More significantly, the angelic command took Philip away from ‘ a place of successful evangelism and led him to a place which must have seemed entirely inappropriate for further Christian work’.

But whenever the Spirit of God leads you is the most appropriate place you could ever be.