We must ask God to break our hearts so that those of us who are already saved will go after those who are dying.

Teaching Notes:

The Sovereignty of God and Evangelism

Acts 8:26-40

    On April 15, 1912 one of the greatest sea disasters of all time took place – the largest steamship in history up to that point, The Titanic sunk.  Of its 2,200 passengers, more than 1,500 died.  Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that many of those people didn’t have to die. There was room for 500 more in the lifeboats, but many were only half full. Hundreds of people were in the cold water with life preservers. Most of them did not die from drowning; they froze to death. The people in the lifeboats heard the cries of those dying people, but they chose not to go back for fear of capsizing. Of the hundreds who were in the water, only six people were rescued. Those who were already saved didn’t go after those who were dying.  We must ask God to break our hearts so that those of us who are already saved will go after those who are dying.
    The Institute for American Church Growth surveyed over 14,000 believers as to who or what was responsible for them coming to Christ? The possibilities included a Special need (1%), Walk in (2%), Pastor (5%), Visitation (1%), Sunday school (4%), Evangelistic crusade (.5%), Church program (2%), or Friend or relative (85%)! Now that should get our attention! That which God uses primarily to bring others to Christ are the friends or relatives of the lost person. God wants to use you in personal evangelism. The Scriptures are clear – all of us are responsible to God to do our part in spreading the gospel of Jesus and obeying the Great Commission. 
    However, it is also true that in order for our evangelistic efforts to be effective, God must sovereignly work.  As we saw last week, no one will ever come to Christ, unless the Father draws him. God does not draw all men, because every one He draws comes to Jesus, is kept to the end, and is raised up on the last day. Sometimes we feel a great tension between these 2 truths:  The Sovereignty of God in Salvation and Our Responsibility To Evangelize the Lost. If we lean too heavily on the sovereignty of God in salvation and forget about our responsibility to evangelize, we might be tempted to grow lazy in evangelism, for after all, God has already decided who He is going to save, and I can’t either increase or decrease that number by my efforts. But if we lean too heavily on our responsibility to evangelize the lost and forget about God’s sovereignty in salvation, we make the mistake of thinking someone’s salvation is up to my ability to present just the right arguments and persuasions, so that if they end up in hell, I must bear that burden for all eternity.
    Today we are going to examine how God used Philip to bring 1 person to Christ. Luke tells Philip’s story in 2 episodes – his evangelistic ministry in Samaria (8:5-25) and his evangelistic ministry on a lonely desert road (8:26-40).  These 2 episodes are in stark contrast to each other.

    However, there are also some striking similarities:

• Philip preached the same message to both:  Jesus
• The hearers responded the same way in both:  believed and were baptized
• The converts experienced the same effect in both:  joy

    As we study this story, we will be tempted to see Philip as the hero of this story – after all, he was the one who led this sinner to Christ. However, I believe the True Hero of the Story is the invisible God who is working all things after the counsel of His will, and Philip is just the tool He decides to use! 

1.  The Sovereignty Of God: 

A.  God Chose Philip To Preach to the Eunuch: How do we know?

An Angel of the Lord Directed Philip:  8:26.  Where did this angel come from? Obviously God sent him to Philip with a specific word. Hebrews 1:14 says that angels are “ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation.” Psalm 103:20 says “Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word!”  So angels are sent by God and they obey His word. Now, why did God send this angel to Philip? Weren’t there any other believers who were closer to the eunuch that could have carried out this mission? Philip was about 50 miles away from where he was sent. There were many apostles and believers in Jerusalem that were much closer. This was going to be a 2 day’s walk for Philip. So, why Philip? Our text doesn’t tell us. God, for His own good reasons, decided that Philip was the man for this job. 
    “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza”. There is some uncertainty as to whether the word “south” should be translated “at noon.”  It is a Greek compound word made up of the Greek word for “day” and the Greek word for “middle.” Thus – midday or noon. It is only found 1 other time in the NT, and in Acts 22:6 it is translated “noontime.” Philip would have known that it was south simply by the description of the road. Further, God needs to time this thing just right so that Philip arrives at this desert road just as the eunuch is passing through. So, it makes sense that he tells him when he is to embark on this journey. He would probably need to go, get his things packed up, let the believers in Samaria know that he would be leaving, and say good-bye. 

The Spirit of the Lord spoke to Philip:  8:29.  The angel got him moving in the right direction, and when he got within sight of this royal retinue, the Holy Spirit spoke and told him to go up and engage this official in dialogue.  God spoke to Philip twice. He was very specific in his instructions to him. Both times God’s message came to Philip in a supernatural way – an angel spoke, and then the Spirit spoke.  When Philip came to Samaria, it appeared he came without any supernatural direction. He was simply fleeing from the persecution in Jerusalem. This teaches us that sometimes we may do God’s will from natural reasons, and at other times we may be directed supernaturally by God. We need to be open and available at all times.

B.  God Prepared the Eunuch To Receive Christ:  How do we know? Out of the hundreds of thousands of people on the earth who needed to be saved, God directed Philip to this one man. God had been preparing this man’s heart for some time. Why? Evidently, the Lord was orchestrating the evangelization of Ethiopia. We can’t know for sure, but Irenaeus wrote in the second century that this Ethiopian became a missionary among his people (Against Heresies iii.12.8).

The Eunuch Had Come To Jerusalem To Worship:  8:27.  The old NASB inserts the word “behold” (and behold, there was an Ethiopian eunuch…).    Philip was a bit surprised and amazed that when he arrived, he saw this retinue driving past. Philip would probably have seen a black man from the coast of Africa in his chariot, surrounded by a retinue of servants. Most people did not have a chariot. They either walked or rode donkeys or camels. This man was wealthy – he was in charge of all the treasury of the Ethiopians! Sort of a Secretary of the Treasury. “Candace” is not the queen’s proper name. It was a title, sort of like the Pharoah was the king over Egypt, so Candace was the queen of Ethiopia. Her husband, the king, was considered “the child of the sun”, and was far above the mundane matters of running a secular kingdom. Those responsibilities fell to the Candace. So, this eunuch may have been the 3rd most powerful person in all of Ethiopia! 
    Apparently, the eunuch was a Jewish proselyte. God had been stirring his heart to such a degree, that he was willing to make this arduous and dangerous trip of anywhere between 200 and 500 miles, probably a 2 to 3 week journey just to get to Jerusalem! No doubt he had come to believe that the God of the Jews was the true and living God and had high expectations of seeing God’s people, worship in God’s temple, and participate in the sacred festivals and sacrifices. 

The Eunuch Was Returning Home Reading the Scripture:  8:28. He came hopeful and expectant, but left disillusioned and still confused. Just the fact that he had a copy of Isaiah is amazing, since hand writing copies of the Prophets were difficult to come by and expensive. But since he was a wealthy man, he was able to purchase a copy. You can see his spiritual hunger. He’s reading the Scriptures out loud as he travels along in his chariot. Evidently, he hadn’t found what he was looking for in the Jewish ceremonies and festivals, and was hungrily searching the Scriptures for Truth. Rom.3:11 says that “there is none who seeks for God”; none except those men God is drawing to Christ!

The Eunuch Invited Philip to Explain the Scriptures:  8:30-31.  This man was humble enough to learn from someone else, even though he was a royal official and Philip a commoner. He is so hungry for truth, that he invites Philip to come up into the chariot and explain the Scriptures to him.  And notice what Scripture is this eunuch just happening to be reading? Isaiah 53 – unarguably the most evangelistically clear and Christ-centered passage in the OT! Talk about a divine setup – God has done everything to prepare this man’s heart, got him reading a passage about Jesus Christ, the slain lamb, the substitute for our sin, and then he brings to him an evangelist to explain the way of salvation. When the evangelist arrives, the eunuch asks Philip, who is Isaiah talking about – himself or somebody else? It’s not difficult to trace God’s sovereign hand in this man’s conversion!  Wouldn’t you like God to do the same for you? It might be like one of us going to Starbucks and when we sit down to enjoy our drink, we notice the guy next to us reading a Bible. We ask him, “so what are you reading?” Oh, this is a Bible. My grandfather gave it to me. I don’t know what’s happening to me. Lately I have been feeling so bad about all the bad things I’ve done. I’ve hurt so many people, lied, stolen, and cheated on my wife. Now my life’s a mess. I thought I would get out this old Bible and see if it has anything to say to me. I just want to be clean before God. Do you know anything about what’s in here? Could you help me find some passages that will answer my heart’s questions?” Now, if that happened to one of us, we’d probably pass out on the spot, but that is what God is doing for this eunuch! Oh, God had set His love upon this man and determined to save his soul. 

C.  God Brought the Eunuch to Faith: How do we know? 

The Eunuch Asked Philip To Baptize Him:  8:36. We saw last week from John 6:44, that no one can come to Christ (believing savingly) unless the Father draws him. Well, God had been drawing this guy big time. After Philip explained the Scriptures, he says “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” Now at this point, he believes. No doubt part of Philip’s explanation of the Scriptures included what a man must do to be saved. He has to believe and trust in Christ alone for his salvation. If he does that, he demonstrates his faith outwardly by water baptism.

The Eunuch Believed that Jesus Christ Was the Son of God:  8:37. It is true that vs.37 is a textually uncertain passage. Most of the newer translations omit this verse. It was probably added by a scribe at some point. But although this statement may not be inspired, certainly the fact that the eunuch wants to be baptized implies that he has faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Where did this faith come from? Just a few minutes earlier he was a Jewish proselyte searching the Jewish Scriptures. Now, he has done a 180, and believes that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of sinners. What has happened? It’s what we saw last week in John 6:45. Those that God draws, He teaches. The one being drawn hears and learns from the Father. God, Himself, had been speaking to this eunuch’s heart through the lips of Philip. Isn’t it an awesome thing to have God use you as His instrument, in speaking through you to come to faith in Christ?! 

The Eunuch Went On His Way Rejoicing:  You want to know what is a very common evidence of saving faith? Joy! When the Samaritans were converted there was much rejoicing in that city (8:8).  When you believed, did you rejoice? I mean a true, inward heart rejoicing. There is little doubt that God Himself has drawn this man to saving faith in Christ:  the eunuch professes his faith in Christ, he asks to be baptized, and he rejoices.  That’s good enough for me.  God has sovereignly brought one of his wayward sheep to Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd for eternal salvation. 

2.  The Evangelism of Philip: 

A.  Philip Obeyed God Even When He Didn’t Understand: 8:26-27. I’m sure that this message from the angel would not have made sense to Philip. Philip is in the midst of a revival. Multitudes are being healed and coming to faith. Now this angel comes and tells him to leave all of that and go down to a desert road. Now, that doesn’t make any sense! Philip could have come to the conclusion that this was an evil spirit, not an angel. But in spite of the strange message from this message, he obeyed. The angel said, “Get up and go” and vs.27 “he got up and went”.  God may direct you to do things that don’t make sense to you. If you believe God is the one directing, you need to just step out in faith and obey and not worry if you can make sense of all of it. We believed God was directing us to Sonora to plant house churches. It didn’t make much sense at the time, because I was pastoring a church at the time, which was fully supporting our family. I had to figure out how to make a living while at the same time plant a church, and we didn’t know anyone in Sonora except for 1 single family. If you just look at it logically, that move didn’t make a lot of sense, but I believed God had called us to do this work in Sonora. Let’s commit to obedience when God directs us!

B.  Philip Obeyed Immediately:  8:29-30. When Philip arrived at this desert road, lo and behold a chariot is coming down to meet him with a very official looking black man sitting in it. Then the Spirit told him to go up and join the chariot. So, what does Philip do? He runs up! I love that. When God tells us to go across the street and invite our neighbor to a bible study, we run away! Actually, it was important that Philip run, not because he would miss the eunuch, but he would miss the Scripture. The eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53. If Philip took his sweet time getting to the chariot, the eunuch would have been onto Isaiah 54, and Philip would have missed a golden opportunity to explain one of the greatest OT texts about Christ in all the OT.  Oh, the importance of obeying the Lord’s voice immediately!
    Did you notice that God did not reveal the next step to Philip until he had obeyed the first?  That’s how God works. He seldom lays out the whole plan for us. He gives us the first step, and if we are obedient, he lays out the next step. Has God given you a first step, but you have not obeyed? Don’t think He will reveal anything further, until you obey what He has already revealed!

C.  Philip Preached Jesus:  8:34-35.  Philip didn’t preach the Law, or the Church, He stuck to the vital topic: Christ! Jesus + nothing = Everything.  Jesus – everything = Everything! 
    Notice that he began from this Scripture. That implies he didn’t stay in that Scripture. Oh, there is much in Isaiah 53 to preach Christ! Is. 53 details Christ’s being despised and forsaken of men, His bearing our griefs and sorrows, His being pierced and crushed for our iniquities, His scourging by which we are healed, His meekness before His tormenters, His burial in a rich man’s tomb, His resurrection and exaltation after death.  But Philip didn’t stop there. No doubt he showed how Christ was foretold in Ps. 22 and 69 and 16. He must have mentioned how Christ is the fulfillment of the Prophet, Priest and King, all the animal sacrifices, festivals, Sabbaths, Jubilee, temple and everything in it. He was foreshadowed the ark of Noah delivering God’s people from judgment, in Abraham offering up his only son Isaac, and in Jonah coming forth from the place of death after 3 days and nights. Just as we are to do today, Philip showed how the whole Bible is about Jesus. 
    Notice also that Philip preached. Have you heard the saying that is supposed to be attributed to St. Francis of Assisi?  “Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary use words.”  That statement has become very popular amongst Christians, I suspect, because it lets them off the hook. The implication is that often it is not necessary to preach the gospel – simply living a good, clean life is sufficient. And we like that, because we are scared to death of speaking to non-Christians about Christ. But it’s kind of like saying, “Feed the hungry at all times; if necessary use food.”  D. A. Carson comment that it would be like telling a news reporter to “Give the news and if necessary use words.”  The gospel is Good News. How in the world are we to “preach the gospel to all creation” without using words? It’s impossible! Now of course our lives need to validate the truth of the gospel, but simply living a godly life, in and of itself, is not preaching the gospel. Philip knew that, and he used words! 
    Notice also Philip’s boldness. Put yourself in his position. He’s just a commoner, and this guy is wealthy and obviously connected to royalty. Philip hears him reading out loud, and calls out, “Do you understand what you are reading?” That question could have gotten him in a lot of hot water. It could have offended this eunuch. He could have came back with, “Who do you think you are to come up to me, a perfect stranger, and insult my intelligence? Of course I understand what I’m reading! Now get lost!”  But since God had been preparing this eunuch, his response was one of meekness and humility. When you want to share the gospel with someone, there’s going to come a point when you are just going to have to launch out and say something. You may not know how it will be received, but you just have to say it in faith. You are going to need boldness from the Holy Spirit. 

D.  Philip Baptized The Eunuch:  8:37-40.  Vs.37 is a textually uncertain passage. It is omitted in most of the newer translations. The earliest manuscripts do not contain this verse. Apparently it was inserted by a sincere and well-meaning copyist who wanted to emphasize that confession of faith was essential to baptism. 
    Notice that they both went down into the water.  If you are going to sprinkle someone with water, you don’t have to go down into the water. You can carry a fistful of water up from the creek. This verse suggests immersion. Afterwards God supernaturally whisks Philip away 20 miles north to Azotus. Maybe this was a reward because this faithful evangelist was willing to walk 50 miles, so God carries him 20 miles! What does he do in Azotus? He does what he always does – preaches the gospel.
    In Scripture, usually the one who led another to Christ baptized him:  Philip baptized the eunuch, Paul baptized Lydia and her household, and the jailer and his household. I have a dream of some day some of you baptizing people you have led to Christ! Dream for yourself. Pray that God would make that a reality! 

Life Application:
    Recently I came across a little story called “The Parable Of The Fishless Fishermen’s Fellowship”:  They were surrounded by streams and lakes full of hungry fish. They met regularly to discuss the call to fish, the abundance of fish, and the thrill of catching fish. They got excited about fishing!
Someone suggested that they needed a philosophy of fishing, so they carefully defined and redefined fishing, and the purpose of fishing. They developed fishing strategies and tactics. Then they realized that they had been going at it backwards. They had approached fishing from the point of view of the fisherman, and not from the point of view of the fish. How do fish view the world? How does the fisherman appear to the fish? What do fish eat, and when? These are all good things to know. So they began research studies, and attended conferences on fishing. Some traveled to faraway places to study different kinds of fish with different habits. Some got doctorates in fishology. But no one had yet gone fishing.
So a committee was formed to send out fishermen. As prospective fishing places outnumbered fishermen, the committee needed to determine priorities. A priority list of fishing places was posted on bulletin boards in all of the fellowship halls. But still, no one was fishing. A survey was launched to find out why. Most did not answer the survey, but from those who did, it was discovered that some felt called to study fish, a few to furnish fishing equipment, and several to go around encouraging the fishermen. What with meetings, conferences, and seminars, they just simply didn’t have time to fish.
Now, Jake was a newcomer to the Fisherman’s Fellowship. After one stirring meeting of the Fellowship, he went fishing and caught a large fish. At the next meeting, he told his story and was honored for his catch. He was told that he had a special “gift of fishing.” He was then scheduled to speak at all the Fellowship chapters and tell how he did it.
With all the speaking invitations and his election to the board of directors of the Fisherman’s Fellowship, Jake no longer had time to go fishing. But soon he began to feel restless and empty. He longed to feel the tug on the line once again. So he cut the speaking, he resigned from the board, and he said to a friend, “Let’s go fishing.” They did, just the two of them, and they caught fish. The members of the Fisherman’s Fellowship were many, the fish were plentiful, but the fishers were few!
~ Anonymous
    God is working behind the scenes all over this world. We shouldn’t make our own decisions as to how we are going to minister, and then ask God to show up and bless our efforts.  No, we should pray and ask God where He is working, and then work along with Him. We need to ask God to send us to those people He is already preparing for salvation. We need to do what He tells us to do, go where He sends us, preach Jesus, and baptize those who believe. Let’s look at this passage as one that will guide us throughout 2012. Let’s become more zealous and aggressive at getting the gospel out. Let’s see how many people we can preach Jesus to in 2012.

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