Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

In a court room, you will find a number of different things.

There is usually a crowd of people, a judge, a jury, lawyers, plaintiffs, and defendants.

They are all there to settle a matter or a case.

This morning, I want to turn this room into a court room.

Before us this morning are two defendants, both facing the same charge, judged by the same law, and provided the same opportunity for acquittal.

Before I introduce you to the defendants, allow me to read to you the law by which they will be judged and the means by which they can be acquitted.

The law in which they will be judged is the law of God.

This law is perfect.

The One who created the law is Himself perfect, without spot or blemish.

Therefore, the only way a person can successfully be acquitted when being tried according to this perfect law is if they themselves are perfect.

As you probably already determined in your head, this is absolutely impossible.

And right you are.

This judge, God, has already stated His charge against all of humanity by saying,

“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom.

3:23)“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

(Rom.

6:23)

As you may have heard in the second verse that was read, God said that the wages of sin is death.

This is physical death and spiritual death.

The spiritual death is separation from God for all eternity in a place the Bible refers to as Hell.

It is a place where all the guilty will spend eternity and a place of unimaginable torment.

However, directly following the sentence of physical and eternal death, that is pronounced by God, is a means of acquittal, the gift of God.

The gift of God is Jesus Christ.

He lived a perfect, sinless life, died on the cross for the sins of the world, was buried, then according to the Bible, He arose from the grave three days later.

He conquered sin and death.

This is referred to as the good news or the Gospel, and that it is.

When you take into consideration the bad news, that because of sin, all stand guilty before the Great Judge, God Almighty, the fact that Jesus died to be your substitute and mine, is in fact good news.

All those who place their trust in what Christ did for them on the cross will receive His sinless perfection, also referred to as His righteousness.

The righteousness of Jesus Christ is transferred to the person who trusts in Him and only in Him for the salvation of their souls and the forgiveness of their sins.

So even though everyone is guilty of sin and blemished by sin, by agreeing with God that you have sinned against Him and His perfect law, and trusting in Christ to remove your sins and be clothed with His righteousness, you can be forgiven and be acquitted from the punishment that you rightly deserve and will face.

Now that I read to you the law by which these two men will be judged, God’s perfect law, and the means of acquittal, trusting in Jesus Christ alone, let me introduce you to the two men.

The two individuals I bring before you this morning we will find in Acts 8.

The first individual is found in verses 5-24, his name is Simon.

The second man is found in verses 25-40, we don’t know his name but we do know that he is an Ethiopian eunuch, or an official of Queen Candace of Ethiopia.

Now that I’ve introduced them to you, let’s look at each of their “case.”

Let’s begin by reading Acts 8:5-6, 9-13 (READ)

I.

The Message Preached

As this account unfolds, we are told by Luke, the author of the book of Acts, that Saul of Tarsus was persecuting the church, literally making havoc on the church, specifically here, the church in Jerusalem, and as a result, Christians were scattering.

As they scattered, they took the Gospel of Jesus Christ and preached it wherever they fled to.

A man by the name of Philip is one of the individuals who fled Jerusalem during this time.

If you’ll look at verse 5, it tells us that he was in Samaria and that he was preaching Christ unto them.

If you continue to look with me at verse 6, I want you to notice that the people of Samaria listened to what Philip was preaching.

The content of Philip’s message was precisely what I told you in the introduction.

Now, I don’t want to belabor the point but we need to really pay close attention to what the message was.

It says here that Philip preached Christ.

That is, he preached about how Jesus Christ was born of a virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, then He was nailed to a cross for a crime He did not commit, He died, was buried, but then three days later arose from the grave.

Now, this is a message that has drawn the attention of millions of people throughout the years.

It has drawn the attention of scoffers, skeptics, those who are searching, and those who are saved.

And by the way, you fall into one of those categories this morning - you’re either a scoffer, a skeptic, a searcher, or you are saved.

You see, the gospel of Christ, although it occurred many years ago, is a timeless truth that deserves to be heard.

The fact that man is a sinner and will be held accountable one day for that sin should stop them in their steps.

Oh, but the sad reality is that many waltz around just frolicking in their sin, and don’t even think twice about their sin against God.

That we will stand before a holy, righteous Judge one day, should cause us to quiver in our shoes.

The people of Samaria on this day, “gave heed” or, in other words, they listened to what Philip had to say.

I hope that you are listening just as they did, because as we dive deeper into this case, we’re going to see that the verdict will one day be read by the judge and at that point, it will be too late to be acquitted.

Prior to Philip coming to Samaria, verses 9-11 tell us that the people were under the false teaching and seduction of Simon.

But, when Philip came, he began to preach the one true message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So, the people of Samaria heard that message preached, but look now at verses 12-13.

(READ)

Simon

I want you to notice that not only did the people of Samaria listen, but so did Simon.

Simon was an interesting man.

From what we know, he was involved in some sort of magic or witchcraft.

He apparently impressed the people of Samaria with his magical arts.

People looked at what Simon could do and attributed it to being empowered by God.

Although he was impressive in his own way, he was not a believer.

This tells us that there are people who can fool others into thinking that what they do is a result of God’s blessing and empowerment, but as we will see, this is not true of Simon.

Now, jump on down to verse 25 as we look at the second individual this morning.

I want you to pay close attention to verses 28-35 (READ vv.

25-35)

This Ethiopian eunuch that we just read about was returning to Gaza after coming to Jerusalem to worship.

Now let’s think about this a minute.

We just read that people were scattering from Jerusalem because Saul was persecuting the Christians.

So, what was he worshipping?

Well, he was either a Jewish man or just a religious man.

Regardless of what he was, this tells us that you can be worshipping God in your own way and still be lost.

Coming to church will not save you.

Reading a Bible will not save you.

Singing hymns will not save you.

Tithing will not save you.

It doesn’t matter what your bank account looks like it, it doesn’t matter what your resume looks like, it matters what your heart looks like.

This eunuch was reading from the book of Isaiah when Philip approached his chariot.

Look at verses 30-33, the man was reading from Isaiah 53, but did not understand what he was reading.

So, just like Philip did in Samaria, he preached Christ to this eunuch.

If you will, turn with me to the book of Isaiah, chapter 53.

(READ ALL)

Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you paid close attention to what was just read.

This account is describing an event that would occur over 700 years after this was written.

What Isaiah wrote about, under the direction of God, was about the scourging, persecution, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is what the Ethiopian eunuch was reading about and was so perplexed about.

When Philip asked him “do you understand what you’re reading?” in verse 30, he replied, “How can I, except some man should guide me.

And he invited Philip to come sit with him and explain it to him.”

Why did he need Philip to explain things to him?

I’ll tell you why. 1 Corinthians 2:14 tells us,

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Then in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, we read,

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Let me tell you what this means.

If you are here this morning and you have never placed your trust in Christ, you cannot understand the things of God and you cannot come to God on your own terms and in your own time.

This is not because you have a low IQ, but for you to be saved from your sins is a spiritual act and requires spiritual means.