A Saving Faith
A SAVING FAITH ACTS 8:26-40
If you will take your Bibles and turn again to the eighth chapter of Acts as we continue in the ministry of Philip. Philip, as been noted, was one of the seven men selected to wait on tables in the growing church. He was second of the least of these men behind Stephen who we talked about last week. This morning we saw Philip preaching the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ. And many in Samaria responded in faith. In fact, a revival broke out in their midst. So Peter and John were sent to verify the working of God in this place.
But all who responded in faith were real. For example, Simon the magician was only interested in salvation for the miracles that he saw performed by Philip and Peter and John. He was exposed for his false faith. In fact, there are many in the church who are not real Christians, but are difficult for us to tell because they have all the externals that would verify them as real. But God knows those who truly belong to him and in the end separate the chaff from the wheat.
Yet, I want you to notice the obedience of Philip in preaching the good news. He was a man full of the Spirit and of wisdom. In other words, he yielded himself completely to the Spirit of God as we will see in this passage this evening. Tonight, we are going to examine a faith that is real. In fact, in the next three chapters God is going to show his heart for the people of the world.
Warren Wiersbe said in his commentary, “As you trace the expansion of the Gospel during this transition period (Acts 2–10), you see how the Holy Spirit reaches out to the whole world. In Acts 8, the Ethiopian who was converted was a descendant of Ham (Gen. 10:6, where “Cush” refers to Ethiopia). In Acts 9, Saul of Tarsus will be saved, a Jew and therefore a descendant of Shem (Gen. 10:21ff). In Acts 10, the Gentiles find Christ, and they are the descendants of Japheth (Gen. 10:2–5). The whole world was peopled by Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Gen. 10:1); and God wants the whole world—all of their descendants—to hear the message of the Gospel (Matt. 28:18–20; Mark 16:15).”
Folks, what that says to me is that we are to be a fountain from which the gospel is to flow rather than a reservoir keeping all the blessings for ourselves. This was the tragedy of the nation of Israel. Instead of being a channel in which the blessings of God can flow to others, they became a silo storing these blessings only for themselves. We are to be fishers of men rather than keepers of the aquarium.
So in this passage, we see God’s sovereignty at work in bringing a soul into the Kingdom of God. Unlike Simon of Samaria whose belief was false, this Ethiopian eunuch belief was real. I see three factors leading to this man’s salvation. They are a preparation of the Spirit, exposition of the Scriptures, and the reception of the sinner.
PREPARATION OF THE SPIRIT – 26-28
In this passage, I see the hand of God all over this conversion. In fact, I would go so far as to say that God’s hand is over all genuine conversions. As I look back on my decision to follow Christ, I thought it was all of me making the choice to follow Christ. But after salvation, I see the hand of God in my conversion in my upbringing, my Sunday school teachers, and a pastured who preached the Word of God unashamedly. God put all those things together to bring me to salvation.
Well, God is doing the same thing here in the conversion of this Ethiopian eunuch. In verse 26, Philip gets a message from an angel to go south to a desert place on the way to Gaza. Remember that Philip is in the middle of a revival in Samaria when God ask him to leave this post and go to a different post. It would be hard for many to leave a place where God was blessing with many salvations to a place where God was going to give an audience to one. But I remind you that God is not impressed with crowds. He is just as likely to work in a nation as he is in an individual.
So Philip is told to go south. This word “south” can also be translated midday (noon). Maybe Philip was to catch up with this man at a certain time of day. Either way God was working in this event. So God was orchestrating these events for Philip to be at the right place at the right time to have his divine appointment. As one commentator said this command given to Philip was unusual because no one would have been traveling in the heat of the day.
In the next verse, Philip obeys. He was a man completed surrendered to the Spirit of God. His call was like that of Abraham who was called in a pagan land under the influence of a pagan culture, yet he obeyed God and left everything behind to follow God into an unknown place. Folks, it is not strange for God to make strange requests as is seen in the Bible. For example, Noah to build an ark when it never rained, the children of Israel to place blood on the lentils and doorposts of their house so the death angel would Passover them, Naaman to dip seven times in the Jordan River to cure his leprosy.
So Philip obeys this request. Folks, we need to learn to be willing to obey because we never know whether or not God will use us to bring others into the Kingdom. Maybe you’re struggling about this mission trip to Guatemala or helping someone else to go. Be obedient if the Spirit of God is leading you to be a part of help support this mission effort.
Through the obedience of Philip he meets his divine appointment set up by God. It was an Ethiopian eunuch, who had been to Jerusalem to worship. So how did he come to know about Judaism? Well, we are not certain but however he heard he came to become a God-fearer. Also, he was a high ranking official to the queen of Ethiopia. Luke said he was in charge of all her treasure. In today’s language, he would have been the Minister of Finance or the Secretary of the Treasury.
In Ethiopia, the king was thought to be the child of the sun and therefore too sacred to exercise the actual functions of governing. So the queen mother exercised rule, who was called Candace. Candace was more of title like Caesar.
So here is a God-fearer, who came to worship in Jerusalem to find something for his empty soul. He makes this long hard journey from his homeland to search for the one true God. But the state of Judaism at the time would have left him empty as a well. Why? Well we are not certain that he was an eunuch physically but based on the text he might have very well been. In fact, in Judaism eunuchs were denied accessed to the temple and therefore unable to participate in the full worship of God. Also, they were not allowed to even be a full proselyte.
So would think that a man who traveled so far and feared God that he would have found him in Jerusalem among the people who claim to belong to God. Yet, God had different plans for this man’s salvation. The eunuch returns home, but somehow gains access to a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. And there he is sitting in his chariot reading the Scriptures when Philip arrives on the seen to give him good news.
Have you ever had one of those divine appointments where God put you at the right place at the right time to minister or share the gospel with someone? I know that there have been times when I have visited in a home or hospital and the person I have gone to see was hoping God would send someone to minister to them.
So the first factor in genuine salvation is the preparation of the Holy Spirit. Next,
EXPOSITION OF THE SCRIPTURES – 29-35
So Philip led by the Spirit was instructed to catch up to the chariot in front of him. So Philip obeys and hears the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. In ancient times, most people that could read, read aloud. So he is overheard by Stephen reading the Scriptures. This was a great book for the eunuch to be reading from because they are given future promises from God and an “everlasting name which will not be cut off” (Is. 56:3-8). So the eunuch had been reading when Philip heard him from Is. 53:7-8. So he asked him if he understood what he was reading. The man said how could I unless someone guides me.
So Philip starts with where the man is to preach Christ to him. Folks, the Bible says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Philip tells the eunuch that this passage was about Jesus, unlike Jews who were confused about this passage thinking it was the prophet or the nation of Israel.
An effective presentation of the gospel is based on the Word of God. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. There is no substitute for presenting the gospel with the word. Yet, there are many who water the Word down in order to get more converts.
In the late 1800s, Charles Berry, an English preacher, became the pastor of the great Plymouth Church in Brooklyn. One day Berry described how earlier he had come to Jesus Christ. There had been a time in Berry's early ministry when he preached a very thin gospel--really no gospel at all. As did the Corinthians, he looked upon Jesus as merely a noble teacher but not as a divine redeemer. Late one night during his first pastorate, as he sat in his cozy study, there came a knock. He opened the door and found a typical Lancashire girl with a shawl over her head and clogs on her feet.
"Are you a minister?" she asked. Getting an affirmative answer, she went on breathlessly. "You must come with me quickly. I want you to get my mother in." Thinking it was a case of some drunken mother out in the streets, Berry said, "You must go and get a policeman." "No," said the girl, "My mother is dying, and you must come and get her into heaven."
Berry got dressed and followed her for a mile and a half through lonely streets in the night. He knelt at the woman's side, and he began telling her how good and kind Jesus was and how he'd come to show us how to live. Then the desperate woman cut him off. "Mister," she cried, "that's no use for the likes of me. I'm a sinner. I've lived my life. Can't you tell me of someone who can have mercy upon me and save my poor soul?"
"I stood there in the presence of a dying woman," said Berry, "and I realized I had nothing to tell her. In the midst of sin and death, I had no message. In order to bring something to that dying woman, I leaped back to my mother's knee, to my cradle faith, and I told her the story of the Cross and of a Christ who is able to save to the uttermost." The tears began to run down the woman's cheeks. "Now you're getting it," she said. "Now you're helping me." Berry concluded the story by saying, "I got her in, and blessed be God, I got in myself."
So when we present the gospel present the truth of God’s Word to the individual so that they might have a real hope rather than a false hope. Never underestimate the power of God’s Word. Salvation can come just through the power of the Word.
I read of a Muslim priest who was asked to do a series of character studies on great people from the Koran: Abraham, Joseph, David, and the prophet Jesus. When he came to prepare his talk on Jesus, he wanted more background information, so he borrowed a Bible and began to read the gospels. As he realized that Jesus was more than a prophet, his Muslim friends were appalled and excommunicated him. He continued to read and on his own trusted Christ as Savior. He went to a local Christian and asked if he could be baptized. He now works with Operation Mobilization doing evangelism among his own people (OM India Newsletter, Summer, 1997).
Yet, I want to remind you that God does not work in a vacuum. He normally works through people presenting the gospel. So Philip began where the man was in the passage and no doubt shared other Scripture with the man to bring about his conversion. God may initiate the process of salvation in the heart of the individual and use the means of Scripture to bring salvation but he always does it with obedient people willing to share the good news.
William Carey, a poor English shoemaker, was born in 1761. After his conversion at age 18, he began preaching in some small Baptist chapels, supporting himself by his trade. Reading Captain Cook’s Voyages sparked his interest in foreign missions. As he continued to study the Bible, he became convinced that the central responsibility of the church should be foreign missions.
That thesis probably does not sound very radical to you, but in Carey’s day, it was revolutionary. The prevailing hyper-Calvinist view of his time was that the Great Commission had been given only to the apostles. It had been fulfilled in previous times. The heathen had rejected the gospel, and so they would have to await their fate on Judgment Day.
But Carey, who was a Calvinist, dared to ask whether Jesus’ command to make disciples of all the nations was not obligatory on all Christians. An older minister accused him of being “a miserable enthusiast” (Mary Drewery, William Carey [Zondervan], p. 31). When he shared his ideas at a minister’s gathering, one pastor retorted, “Young man, sit down. When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine” (cited by Ruth Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya [Zondervan], p. 115). When Carey actually proposed going himself to India as a missionary, his father exclaimed, “Is William mad?” (Drewery, p. 44).
But William Carey went to India, where he labored for 40 years. He supervised and edited translations of the Bible into at least 36 languages. He published grammars and dictionaries, labored to abolish widow-burning and infanticide, and studied botany to promote agricultural improvements. In a sermon that he preached before he left England, Carey uttered his now-famous words, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” He is often called the father of modern missions.
So saving faith comes the preparation of the Spirit, the exposition of the Scriptures and finally,
THE RECEPTION OF THE SINNER – 36-40
We have seen the sovereign work of God in preparing the situation through the work of the Spirit and we have seen the sovereign work of God in giving the means for salvation. Now we see the sovereign work of God who has prepared a heart to respond to the gospel. Evidently through the presentation of the gospel and what is required of an individual, the eunuch is ready to receive this glorious gospel of Christ.
In verse 36, the eunuch sees some water and desires to be baptized. So somewhere in the conversation with Philip, he exercised faith in Jesus Christ. He was convinced by the Spirit of his sin, the judgment to come, and the righteousness required to obtain salvation. He was hungry for God in making an almost 1000 mile journey and now he understood the gospel and enthusiastically responds with faith.
He confesses his faith publicly through baptism. The biblical manner of professing faith in Christ is through baptism. Baptism is the outward means of expressing the reality of your inward faith in Christ. That has been the practice of Christians for 20 centuries. I would exhort any of you who have trusted Christ as Savior and Lord and yet have not been baptized since that time that you need to obey the Lord in baptism. Baptism should never be viewed as a convenient option for those who prefer it. It is the biblical pattern for declaring your faith before the world. To neglect baptism is to bring into question the reality of your faith, for who is truly saved that is so ashamed of Jesus Christ that he refuses to be baptized? Be assured that baptism has no power to save you. If you go into the waters of baptism as an unbeliever, you will come out as an unbeliever. Baptism is for believers, those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ.
It is a testimony that our old lives of sin have been buried with Christ, put to death at the cross as our Lord died there on our behalf. Now we are no longer the same. We are new creatures in Christ. Expect us to act different. Expect from us different attitudes. Expect us to treat people in a new manner. Everything has changed! (II Cor. 5:17)
We can infer, then, that God graciously imparted new life and obedient faith to this man when he heard Philip present the gospel. Apparently, inferring this was not enough for some early scribe who was copying the manuscript of Acts. So he inserted verse 37, where the eunuch confesses, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” The verse is not in any of the early or best manuscripts, and the style, according to Greek scholars, is not Luke’s style of writing. But even though the verse is not original to Acts, the eunuch must have given some such confession of his faith in Christ, or Philip would not have baptized him. The difference between this man’s genuine faith and Simon’s false faith (8:13) was that the eunuch’s faith came from God, whereas Simon’s faith came from himself.
Though Philip left for more proclamation of the gospel, the eunuch continued in his rejoicing as one who had been born again. Luke tells us that he went on his way rejoicing! And he should! When you know that God has saved you from the penalty and guilt of your sins, that He has redeemed you, that He has made you a new creature, that He has adopted you into His family, you ought to be rejoicing! Continual and consistent joy in the Lord characterizes those who have been born of God.
One of the quickest ways to spot a Christian in a crowd is by seeing his joy in the Lord. This does not mean that he has a silly grin on his face all the time, but that the very countenance of his life demonstrates that deep within his being the Spirit of God dwells in him. God Himself, who is the fountain of all joy, inhabits this person. He cannot help but be joyful. Oceans of joy billow within him, for Christ, his all in all, dwells in him.
A true faith rests in Christ alone. A true faith delights in open confession through baptism. A true faith continues to rejoice in the Lord, not for a few days or weeks, but through year after year after year.
Let me close with this, listen, will you? You say, ‑ Well, you know, I wish I could do something really effective for the Lord. I know Philip and I can't do stuff like that can I? Listen to me, friend, you may only reach one person but you don't know what that one person's going to do. Did you ever think of the person that lead Billy Sunday and D. L. Moody and Billy Graham and other people like that to Jesus Christ? You say, ‑ Well, I've only got five little girls in my class and four of them have a little curl in the middle of their forehead and etcetera, et cetera and I don't see, I don't know if I'm getting through et cetera. Give yourself to those because you don't know what God's going to do in their lives. Reach whoever God places in your path. Don't ever evaluate the importance of anything, let God evaluate that. Don't minimize it, magnify it.