From darkness to light

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHUCH

SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2020 pm

ACTS 8 VERSES 26 - 40

I want us to follow the steps of this man brought from darkness into the light of the gospel.  We see the love of God for the souls of men and women.  God took Philip away from a mighty work in Samaria.  He had preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.  Philip saw many people saved, healed, delivered from demon possessions.  Then all of a sudden the word of God comes to him and tells him to go down to a desert road to a certain man sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah.  This man was returning home from Jerusalem to Gaza.  God took Philip away from his work to win one soul for his kingdom.  Remember Jesus did something similar when he stopped at the well in Samaria.  He came that way for one precious soul.  That is how much the Lord loves a soul.  Tonight he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to faith in him.  Think of this man, a eunuch, Ethiopian.

The hunger in his soul.  He was a man of position - verse 27,  He was a man of distinction, he was a responsible man of great authority.  He was a respected man.  He represented the Queen Candace's government.  He was a diplomat.  He had everything to do with the queen's money.  He was a reliable man.  He was also a religious man.  He had been down in Jerusalem to worship.  The unfortunate state of this man was he was not saved.  If anything had happened to that man he would have been lost and lost for all eternity.  He had a hunger.  He had been climbing the social ladder, in well to do circles but forgotten about his soul.  It is very easy to set the Lord aside, to forget about our soul.  There is an everlasting soul in man which will live into the realms of eternity.  He was reading the word of God and it bothered him.  Maybe night after night somehow you cannot get away from the word of God.  Maybe that little text of scripture you have heard preached on it time after time.    Never been to the cross, knew nothing of his sins forgiven.  "The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life."  There is this spiritual death.  We have been cut off from God.  There is the physical death you and I will experience when the breath of our bodies stops.  This verse is talking of eternal death, separated for all eternity.  You and I must die one day, we must go through the valley of the shadow of death.    We must depart from this scene of time but after this face the judgment of Christ.   The Ethiopian eunuch was reading the portion of scripture "as a sheep to the slaughter and a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth."  He asked Philip "who is this man, the author or is it someone else?"  Philip lifted the scriptures from there and preached unto him Jesus.

The humility this man bore.  He was a man humble enough to know he needed help - verse 31.  There is nothing I can do to warrant my place in heaven.  Jesus has done it all.  Humble to recognise he needs help but also humble to ask for help.  Maybe you realise your need.  This is the starting point.  You are not saved by the grace of God, know nothing of your sins forgiven.  You realise that and are humble enough to come and seek help.  It is not of this preacher or this church.  We can do nothing for you but point you to Christ.  "He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities."  Jesus bore our sins on Calvary .  The day he gave up his ghost to atone for the sins of the world.  He cried with a loud voice "it is finished".  The way of salvation is available to you.  Nothing needs to added to it.  He was a man of humility.  Philip may have recognised him by his clothes but it didn't matter.  He was guilty as the criminal who hung beside Jesus on Calvary.  He was lost in his sin.  Here is a man just as lost as Bartimaeus on the Jericho road sitting begging.  I am sure Philip got into the chariot in fear and trepidation.  As he opened up the scriptures he began to tell this man what Jesus had done for him.  Jesus had taken his sin, bore it on the cross of Calvary, died in his place that he might come to Christ and be saved.  He died in his place that he might come to Christ and be saved for all eternity.  That is what Jesus has done for you tonight.  He came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost.  You need a Saviour as this man did.

The honesty he shows.  Philip showed this man the Savour's great love - "greater love hath no man that a man lay down his life for his friends."  Jesus laid down his life for everyone.  You are included.  He prayed "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."  Philip took this man to John 3 verse 16.  We can see this man's honest confession - verse 37.  "Do you believe?"  He answered "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."  This man acknowledged what had just happened in that carriage.  He was saved by God's grace.  This man was saved in the chariot where he sat.  If you acknowledge you have sinned, have come short of God's glory, that you need the Saviour who is Jesus, if you invite him into your heart you will be saved.  Romans 10 verse 9.  This man believed with all his heart.  You cannot get saved half heartedly.  This man was honest in what he had done, taking his stand for the Lord.  Just like the woman who pressed through the crowd and touched Jesus' hem.  Jesus stopped and asked "who touched me?"  She had to make a stand and admit "it was me".  Would you trust the Lord, acknowledge him as Saviour?

The haste to follow Christ.  He did not want to stop - "what doth hinder me to be baptised?"  He would take his stand for Christ, would be a follower of Jesus Christ.  Believer's baptism is going down into the water, being totally immersed.  It shows new life in Christ.  It is an outward sign of an inward action.  Bartimaeus received instant sight and he followed Christ immediately.  On the day of Pentcost people took Christ's name.  They wanted to follow the apostles doctrine.  They were baptised and "continued stedfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship."  They were doing that from the moment they were saved.  Remember the young demonic who was saved.  He was transformed and wanted to follow the Lord wherever he went.  No the Lord said, go to your own village and tell them what the Lord has done for you.

The hope that he now possessed - verse 39.  Philip was taken from the eunuch's side.  He didn't want him to be a crutch for this man.  This man had a hope that went beyond Philip.  Do you have a hope that goes beyond man or church or your good works?  Do not put your faith in man, come to God himself.  Paul said to the Corinthians "when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God ... and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." (1 Corinthians 2 verses 1, 4 and 5)  Are you trusting in the Lord tonight?  Have you taken him as your Saviour?  Look to him, the one who died on the middle cross.  Have you gazed upon his pain and the work completed just for you?  Have you realised that Jesus took your sin on his body, died to put away your sin?  All you have to do is come and trust him as your Saviour.  "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ."