Philip - An Example of Evangelism

Introduction

[pray]

God, you are our Mighty Strength and our Great Deliverer. We come to You worshipping and praising Your Holy Name. Father, there are times in each of our lives that we are not completely sold out and committed to living in Your Way. We ask that You would forgive us for these times and draw us closer to You. We ask that you would open our eyes to opportunities that we might share Jesus with those around us.

God I ask that you would bless our study here today and our time in Your Word. God I ask that you would give me clarity of mind and precision of speech as I speak out Your message. May I be a blessing Your people who are gathered here today.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen

We’ll be studying in Acts 8 this morning.

I. The Persecution and the Diaspora - Acts 8:1-3

As a result of persecution the early church was scattered out from Jerusalem. Reviewing Acts 7, we can see the persecution of the deacon named Stephen. Last week we talked about Saul (who later became Paul), who was a persecutor of Christians for the Sanhedrin Council in Jerusalem. Saul was a passive participant in the stoning of Stephen before he took on an active role as the persecution of Jesus’ church.

Acts 8:1–3 NASB95

1 Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.

It is important to note that God did not cause the persecution against His saints. But He allowed it and used it for His purposes. The Diaspora, or the dispersal of early Christians, served to establish a firm foundation for the church of Jesus Christ, which lasts even until today. This persecution-fueled dispersal set up a missionary movement and allowed for the church to spread around the civilized world.

Today we’re going to focus on one man that God used as a result of this dispersal.

II. Philip was God’s Man for Samaria - Acts 8:4-8

Philip had been chosen as a deacon in the church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:5), but he resettled in Samaria after the persecution began in Jerusalem.

Acts 8:4 NASB95

4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.

There’s that word scattered - διασπείρω diaspeirō. It’s an image of taking a sack of seed and scattering it into the wind so that the seeds may be blown about and land wherever they are carried.

God used this process of scattering in nature to take up the seeds of plants and spread them around in order to propagate life. A dandelion bloom is a perfect example of this. Easily caught up by the wind, the seeds of a dandelion can travel for miles before they land on fertile soil to bring new life.

God used a similar process to spread his disciples throughout the settled world. Persecution put the disciples to traveling and they carried with them the life giving Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Philip is one of those who was scattered about by the persecution of the saints in Jerusalem.

Acts 8:5–8 NASB95

5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. 6 The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. 7 For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 So there was much rejoicing in that city.

Philip landed in Samaria and his primary purpose was to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ.

Ministry in Samaria

The people in Samaria were of a mixed heritage. They were part Jew and part Gentile. Samaria had formerly been part of Israel until it was invaded and conquered by Assyria in 732 BC. Mixed marriages and influence by external pagan cultures had estranged this group of people from Israel.

The purely Jewish people of Israel hated the Samaritan people and treated them poorly. This caused the people of Samaria to hate the Jews of Israel. They developed their own temple and their own priesthood and opposed mixing with the Jews of Southern Israel.

God still loved the people of Samaria even if Israel did not. A great deal of racism and prejudice created a divide between Samaria and Israel. But God used the dispersal of His people to bring the Gospel message of Jesus Christ into Samaria.

Philip began ministry in Samaria because that’s where he was. Philip became a missionary of sorts. He was doing God’s work in a land that was foreign to him. Circumstances put him in Samaria, but it is important to understand that Philip was going to proclaim Christ no matter where he lived. There was persecution and rejection in Samaria as well. The persecution did not stop him from proclaiming Christ.

III. Philip Meets the Ethiopian Eunuch - Acts 8:26-40

Acts 8:26–40 NASB95

26 But 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.) 27 So 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, 28 and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” 30 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now 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.” 34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. 36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 37 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.” 38 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. 39 When 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. 40 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.

Here we have Philip going around Samaria teaching from the scriptures and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Suddenly an angel speaks to Philip sending him to a specific location.

Angels are simply messengers who serve God. They cannot proclaim the Gospel message. It is up to God’s saints to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This angel spoke to Philip and Philip obeyed.

Q: How many of us would recognize the voice of an angel of the Lord?

Philip encountered this Ethiopian court official, a God-fearing believer who had been to Jerusalem to worship. This man believed in the God of Israel enough to travel over 200 miles to Jerusalem and worship. But he could never become a full Jewish proselyte because of his status as a eunuch. In the Jewish faith, the most that he could hope to be would be a God-fearer (a proselyte of the gate). But he was still drawn to understand God better.

But this wasn’t enough for the Ethiopian. He was still struggling to understand spiritual things. He was reading the scroll of Isaiah as he rode along the road in his carriage. This scroll had likely come to him at a great personal cost. But he didn’t understand what he was reading.

The Holy Spirit urged Philip to approach the chariot and engage the Ethiopian in a conversation. The text says that the Spirit prompted Philip to “go up and join this chariot.” The word join here means that the Spirit wanted Philip to establish a relationship with the Ethiopian. He wanted Philip to engage him in conversation.

Have you ever had that happen? Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit prompt you into a conversation with a complete stranger?

Many times we live our lives immune and dull to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it is the proliferation of media and external stimulation. Perhaps it is unconfessed sin in our lives. Sometimes it is that we are so focused on our own problems and troubles in life that we fail to take notice of what is going on around us. But for whatever reason we stumble through our lives immune to what is going on around us.

Acts 8:30 NASB95

30 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

Reading this at face value seems remarkable… He ran up to him. Listened to him reading and asked him if he understood it.

There’s a principle here that I think we can take away from this encounter that Philip had with the Ethiopian.

Philip’s example of evangelism is not remarkable. It is how evangelism works.

The Spirit began drawing the Ethiopian long before Philip came along. By the time Philip entered the situation, God had already prepared the Ethiopian for an experience with truth. The text says that the Ethiopian had come to Jerusalem to worship (v 27). He had travelled more than 200 miles, about 4 or 5 days traveling dawn to dusk by horse and carriage. Apparently he had taken time away from his service in the court of Queen Candace.

Coming to Jerusalem had to have been a significant investment for the Ethiopian. In addition he had obtained a scroll of Isaiah while he was in Jerusalem. That had to have cost him a small fortune for the time. Scrolls were not very common outside of the temple. But understanding God’s word had been something that was very important to the Ethiopian.

But he had a problem. He was having a hard time understanding what he was reading.

God directed Philip to a person who was ready to hear what he had to say.

Philip arrived at precisely the right time to help the Ethiopian man through a difficult passage of scripture that, once understood, would impact his life for eternity.

Philip asked the Ethiopian man a seemingly pretentious question. “Do you understand what you are reading?” But he apparently was right on point. The man responded “How could I [understand it] unless someone guides me.”

Philip then had the opportunity to explain the text and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Opportunities for Evengelism

You and I may or may not experience the direction of angels, but certainly the Spirit can perk our attention to opportunities for evangelism. But we have to be prepared for those opportunities in our lives.

This requires three things of us:

Walk in the Spirit - develop an ongoing relationship with the living God.

Pray for God’s direction - communicate with God as you go through your day.

Pay attention - keep an eye out for the work of God around you.

Get out of your comfort zone - be ready to engage in spiritual conversations with the people you encounter daily.

God will provide opportunities for you to engage others with the Gospel. But it is up to you to take advantage of those opportunities.

Isaiah 53 - The Suffering Servant

The passage that the Ethiopian was reading was Isaiah 53, a prophetic passage pointing to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. He was stuck on vv 7-8 as he was trying to understand how Jesus death could be applied to others.

Understanding Scripture

People struggle with understanding scripture.

1 Corinthians 2:14 NASB95

14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

The natural man of 1 Corinthians 2 is one who is unsaved.

This was the situation with the Ethiopian. He knew about the God of Israel. He believed in Him. He even worshiped God. But he did not KNOW God.

We require the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of scripture to us. This is what was happening while Philip explained the Isaiah passage to the Ethiopian.

It is not enough for a sinner to seek and desire salvation. He must understand the work of salvation and open his heart to accept the truth that he hears.

Matthew 13:23 NASB95

23 “And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

Substitutionary Sacrifice

Acts 8:32–34 NASB95

32 Now 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.” 34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?”

This idea of substitutionary sacrifice is a new concept to many people. But it is not a new idea. It goes back to the very beginning of the Bible.

God killed animals in the garden of Eden so that he could clothe Adam and Eve.

Genesis 3:21 NASB95

21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

Abraham was provided a ram which was killed instead of Isaac.

Genesis 22:13 NASB95

13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

At the first Passover in Egypt, lams were killed so that the people of Israel might be spared (Exodus 12).

Eventually the entire religious system of Israel was based on the sacrifice of animals so that the sins of the people could be forgiven.

Leviticus 17:11 NASB95

11 ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’

But what the Ethiopian could not comprehend was that the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 was replacing the lamb of the sacrifice. this was a prophetic foretelling of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross.

In Revelation 5 we see Christ portrayed as a Lamb...

Revelation 5:12–13 NASB95

12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” 13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

John makes another reference to the Lamb of God in his Gospel account...

John 1:29 NASB95

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

This Gospel message of Jesus Christ becoming a sacrifice for our sins is exactly the message that Philip explained to the Ethiopian, who believed what he heard and was saved and baptized immediately after.

Romans 10:17 NASB95

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

No Prerequisites

One thing we have to understand is there are no prerequisites for salvation.

I had a local church leader reach out to us a few days ago. She had a girl that she was trying to minister to who had an abortion. The girl was not a Christian but was feeling guilty about what she had done. She did not feel worthy for salvation because of her guilt.

I want to be clear here that abortion can heap shame and condemnation on the parents who choose to end the life of an unborn baby. Many times both mother and father can experience depression and anxiety for years after the abortion. We never want to encourage the practice of abortion.

But even when something as bad as abortion happens, one can never clean up their act enough to come before God worthy of salvation.

What many unbelievers do not know is that salvation comes first and forgiveness follows repentance.

If you are suffering from something in your past… something that you think is unforgivable… something that has been haunting you and making you depressed and anxious… let me tell you that you can experience freedom here today.

What is this Gospel?

You might be new to church, you may be looking around thinking to yourself, “What is this Gospel?” or “Is that for me?”

It is simply this: Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who came to die for our sins and release us from the bondage of sin that we might have a personal relationship with God.

If you have been looking for that personal relationship with God, you may have it freely by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

If you hear this message and accept it, and choose to believe it, and declare that Jesus is your Lord, then YOU WILL BE SAVED. The Gospel is that simple.

You can have forgiveness simply by accepting Christ as your Lord and repenting of your sins. Repentance simply means that you confess your sins and turn away from them...

Conclusion

Today you have the opportunity to make that choice for Jesus and make the same confession of faith that Peter made with Jesus.

This decision for Christ may be the most important decision of your life.

Who do you say Christ is? What will you do with this information that you have learned today?

The truth is that you do not have to be perfect to come to Jesus. None of us was perfect and we are still not perfect. We are in the process.

Jesus wants you to come to him as you are, shattered and ready for a new life with him.

I stand here as a representative of Jesus Christ, the living Son of God, and I invite you to make a decision that will change your life forever ... if you allow it.

Is Jesus calling you today?

If so, then open your heart to Him and simply say these words:

Jesus, I believe in you.

Jesus, please forgive my sins.

Jesus, will you save me?

Jesus, I am committed to you and I am in your care.

I call you my Lord and Savior.

Amen

If you just repeated that simple sentence after me, then congratulations. Now you are part of the great and glorious church of Jesus that he is building. I call you brother, sister, friend.