Sermon notes from Sunday 15 June 2014
Acts 8 verses 26 – 40
The Ethiopian eunich is a great
example of every father and grandfather taking leadership and
responsibility. We don’t know much about
him but just that he held a very responsible office as chief of the Treasury
under Queen Candace of Ethiopia. Here we
are meeting a man with a tremendous love for the things of God. He travelled from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to
worship the God of heaven. There were 3
times when people would travel to worship in Jerusalem and one of these was the
feast of Pentecost. As he is down on
this particular occasion something happens to him. As he returns to Ethiopia something touched
his heart and he wants to find out more.
Out on the desert road he is reading the word of God. Something has made him turn to Isaiah. God deals with us in various situations as he
was dealing with this man. Maybe it was
through what he had experienced in Jerusalem.
Maybe you have felt God touching your heart over the past weeks. God manufactures the situation for
himself. You have felt the stirring of
God in your heart. Somehow God has
spoken to you. Maybe already God is
dealing with you today. As you lifted
your head today you knew God was with you and dealing with you. “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord
to thee.” Would you step out today in
obedience to do what God asks? God
brings this man to the place of salvation.
As he makes his way in verse 36 “they came unto a certain water.” Once he saw the river whatever it was touched
his heart again – “see here is water what doth hinder me to be baptised?” He said this to the evangelist that had first
pointed him to Christ. He was simply
asking ‘is there anything you can point me to that I shouldn’t be baptised.” Philip replied “if you believe on the Lord as
Saviour there is nothing.” Today let us
think of the conditions of baptism. Not
thinking here of infant baptism but believers baptism. What brought this man to this position in his
life?
There is a genuine conversion. Not
saying if you are not baptised you are not saved. All I would do is point you to Luke 23 for
the proof of that. There we find Calvary
just outside Jerusalem where 2 thieves hung on crosses and the Lord also hung in
their midst. They were placed on the
cross which was raised from the earth.
As the scripture unfolds on that particular day these men were cursing
the Lord, swearing at him to his face, both were as bad as each other. As the day wore on the Lord began to deal
with the hearts of these 2 men. One man
realised he was going out into eternity and something in his heart made him
realise that the person on the middle cross was very special. And on that
middle cross he bought your sin and my sin.
He came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. We have to take him into our hearts and lives
as Saviour. The thief was listening to
the other man. “We are here because of
our own sin but this man has done nothing amiss.” He asked the Lord “remember me when thou
comest into thy kingdom” and Jesus replied “today thou shalt be with me in
paradise.” He didn’t get down from the
cross to be baptised but he was still saved.
Baptism is not necessary for salvation, it is for obedience to God. Ephesians 2 “for by grace are ye saved through
faith.” It is not a ritual
ceremony. You are saved by faith today,
only one way by placing trust in Christ.
Genuine conversion. It also
involves an unveiling of the scripture.
“Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Here was this man in Acts 8 sitting in his
chariot. He had heard something in
Jerusalem that made him open the word of God at Isaiah the prophet. It was the account of the lamb being led to
the slaughter. When he was reviled he
reviled not again. He loved you with an
everlasting love. There has to be an
unveiling of scripture. There also has
to be an understanding of scripture. For
the scriptures to be unveiled there has to be preaching of the word of
God. Remember when Jesus told the
parable of the sower and likened it to the preaching of the word of God? There was a hard ground – why was it
hard? The seed was only lying there and
the birds of the air would come down and peck it up. That is like those who hear the word of God
and don’t understand it. You have to
understand the scripture. We all have
sinned and cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You have got to understand how you have
sinned. It came directly from Adam and
Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. It has
been passed down from generation to generation.
How can you be saved? Jesus took
your place and my place and died on the cross.
There has to be an unfailing faith too.
The scripture might be unveiled to you, you might have a good
understanding of it but you haven’t taken the third step. Acts 8 verse 37 “if thou believest with all
thine heart thou mayest.” He was referring
to experience he had minutes before when he placed his unfailing faith in the
one who came into the world. He saw the
one dying on the cross of Calvary, who had done no offence that we might go
free. The eunich asked “is this the one
the scripture is speaking of or someone else?”
With his unfailing faith he trusted Christ as Saviour and Lord. Does that match up to your experience
today? When you heard the word of God
did you believe in the word of God? Did
you trust the Lord as Saviour? Is that a
genuine experience for you?
A gracious concern. It is
only then by God’s grace that he leads, directs, guides us. Every motivation after conversion is from
God. Here is a man who realises baptism
is the next step. He knows he has had
his sins forgiven and is on his way to heaven.
Now he wants to do something for the Lord. This man is a leader in his country. Imagine the people with him listening to him
asking the Lord, trusting the Lord as Saviour, see him stopping the chariot and
going down into the water to be baptised.
He is taking his stand for the Lord.
That is what baptism is. This man
was coming from Jerusalem, from the Pentecost feast. The day when the Holy Spirit came. He probably saw Peter opening up the word of
God and begin to preach. He preached
about the Lord coming into this world, how his works were approved by God. In his death the Jewish people chose Barrabas
over Jesus. Then as Peter preached there
was no doubt he saw something. The Holy
Spirit came down and began to move amongst the people. The people cried out “if this be the case
what shall we do?” 3000 people that day
repented and trusted the Lord. They were
also baptised. What a scene that eunuch
saw that day. He realised when those
people believed the next step was baptism.
No doubt as he returned that day he realised the importance of knowledge
in Christ but also the desire to be baptised.
Nothing stood in his way to be baptised.
The Lord left 2 commandments – one was the Lord’s table for every
believer “this do in remembrance of me”
and also baptism. Remember it is
for us he died and one day he will come again.
The eunuch realised this was a symbol of what he had just done. An outward profession of an inward
change. He was not getting baptised to
be saved. He is going through the waters
because he is saved. Have we put paid to
the old life or do they still haunt us?
The glorious character of baptism.
Believer’s baptism is what scripture teaches. The outward sign of an inward work of divine
grace in the heart of man. It is showing
the change of heart and direction. We
are really glorifying the God of heaven.
Baptism is an act of worship. The
Philippian jailer in Acts 16 was baptised along with his whole family. Many take this to reinforce infant baptism as
they state there must have been infants in the house today. Remember Lydia who met the Lord at the
riverside in Acts 16. Both her and the
Philippian jailer could have gone down to be baptised at the river. John 3 verse 23 “John also was baptising
because there was much water there.”
Emphasising total immersion.
Baptism means to be totally immersed.
Romans 6 Paul dying in Christ in baptism rising again to new life as
come out of the waters. Baptism is for
believers.
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