Revive Us Again | Week 7 | Acts 8

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church iconCovenant Reformed Baptist Church

2 views

December 10, 2023 Covenant Reformed Baptist Church Tullahoma, TN Pastor Jeff Rice

0 comments

Revive Us Again | Week 8 | Acts 9

Revive Us Again | Week 8 | Acts 9

00:04
If you will, at this time, take your copy of the scriptures and turn with me to the, well, y 'all are already there.
00:10
Acts, if you haven't closed your Bible. Acts chapter eight, we will consider verses 25 through 36.
00:21
Acts chapter eight, 25 through 36. This is the seventh message in this series.
00:32
Let me pray. Oh God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
00:42
Lord, I ask, nay, I beg you, Lord, to use me this day to speak forth your word in truth and in clarity.
00:57
God, I pray that you will use my study that through this past week, Lord, that I've been laboring in your word to present to your people this message to where they can understand it and to where I could be faithful with the text.
01:14
Lord, please, in the name of Jesus Christ and the spirit that you have in me, use me this day to speak to your people.
01:25
And God, I pray that they will feast on your word and that through it, you will grant to them a greater holiness, a greater conforming to the image of your beloved
01:38
Son. Amen. So our overarching theme as we're going through this book, the book of Acts, focusing on gospel presentations is revive us again.
01:53
Right, if you just look around at the church these days, right, there's something missing.
01:58
We talked about this last week, but imagine being stranded on an island somewhere or growing up in a place where there was no churches and all you had was a
02:08
Bible and you read the Bible and you're so excited that you're finally gonna go to church and you walk into the church after reading the
02:14
Bible over and over and over and you're like, what is this? Something's missing, right?
02:23
You're reading about the adventures of Peter, of Paul, of Philip, like we're going through the day and you're seeing the things that are taking place and then you go to a church and none of that is happening.
02:38
And there seems to be this disconnect and that disconnect has to do with revival.
02:43
It's because the people who say they worship God are not walking in God's commands. They're not doing what
02:50
God has told them to do. And so we're going through this because we wanna know what revival looks like.
02:55
We wanna know when it comes, we wanna be able to recognize it, right? We're having this study because we want to know.
03:04
We wanna know. You know, if I'm walking down the street, if I'm at the store and I see
03:09
Pastor Cal, right? And I'm across the aisle, like when I see him, I know that's
03:14
Pastor Cal. Well, how do I know that? Because I know Pastor Cal. I know what he looks like and you see what
03:19
I'm saying? Like we hang out, we fellowship. I know his personality. He's gonna be standoffish a little bit.
03:25
Looking at a guitar or something, right? I know Pastor Cal. So when I see him, I know him.
03:30
I know I can walk up to him and say something. The same thing with most of everyone in here, right? When I wanna be able to see revival and recognize it, right?
03:39
We had what I believe to be a false revival take place last year, the Asbury revival.
03:45
And nothing that was taking place there, we actually see in scripture, right? It stayed in that building.
03:52
It did not leave the building. And true revival is gonna begin here in the pulpit.
03:58
It's gonna go to your house and it's gonna reach out to your neighbors. And if that's not taking place, ladies and gentlemen, that's not revival.
04:05
It's not revival. So I wanna be able to recognize it. I'm gonna give you a quote from J .I.
04:11
Packer. Quote, revival is the visitation of God which brings
04:19
Christians to life who have been asleep and restores a deep sense of God's near presence and holiness.
04:32
Hence springs a vivid sense of sin and a profound exercise of heart and repentance, praise and love with an evangelistic outflow.
04:47
End quote. This is saying that revival is a visitation from God.
04:54
And I would like to add, without repentance of sin, praise to God and love for our neighbors, there is no revival.
05:04
There's no revival. Unless the church repents of her sins, praises
05:11
God and loves their neighbor. There is no revival. All you're gonna have is this fixed little religion that we're so comfortable with.
05:24
You know, every once in a while, it's like the coat side of a pillow, right? You're laying there on your bed. It's a comfortable pillow, but I gotta flip it.
05:32
I like the coatness, right? Every once in a while, there'll be something in the church that's kind of like flipping the pillow over and receiving the coat, but it's not revival.
05:40
It's not what we see in scripture. And listen, ladies and gentlemen, I'm passionate about this.
05:45
I want revival. I want God to work in me and I want God to use me to reach my neighborhood and the surrounding counties.
05:53
When we planted this church, I told Pastor Kyle, I said, listen, man, I do not wanna start here and reach the people in Nashville.
06:00
Do you know that I can go stand up on the sidewalks of Nashville on a
06:07
Saturday and preach to hundreds of people in the open air? Hundreds of people and have 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s of conversations with people.
06:15
Over and over, I've done this for year after year after year, I can do that. I have no problem with that.
06:21
But ladies and gentlemen, if I'd reach someone there and miss my neighbors here in Tallahoma, what good am
06:27
I? I wanna stomp my foot so hard here, so hard here that it starts up a ripple effect that reaches
06:36
Nashville. I don't wanna reach Nashville and miss Tallahoma. I don't wanna reach
06:41
Nashville and miss Manchester or Winchester and all the other Chesters, right? I wanna start here and reach the world, but that does not happen unless Christians are serious about their faith.
06:54
It's not gonna happen. We can talk all we want, we can run our mouth all we want, but until we put our feet to action, it's not going to happen.
07:03
People are not gonna get saved because they have not heard. And if you know me, you know that I'm very passionate about this.
07:13
God's visitation brings about repentance of sin, praise to God and love for our neighbor.
07:20
Read that again. God's visitation brings about repentance of sin, praise to God and love for our neighbors.
07:31
Revival is what happens when Christians take their faith seriously, which is why that imaginary person that I'm talking about, that found a
07:45
Bible and read it, come found a church and said, what is this? That's why it was not happening because Christians had not been taking their faith serious.
07:56
The only difference between the modern day Christian and Jonah is the grace of God that sent
08:03
Jonah a big fish. How many of y 'all know that we need a big fish, right?
08:10
How many of you know we need a big fish? We need God to send something to us, to swallow us up and to show us how small and puny we are and we are to obey him.
08:21
We are to obey him. And I would be in that fish right with you.
08:31
Our theme for this Lord's day is listening to the voice of God. And we're gonna be talking about Philip and we're gonna see how
08:39
Philip listened to the voice of God. In order for anyone to be saved from their sins, they must hear the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
08:51
They must hear this. Romans 10, how will they hear?
08:57
There is no preacher. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. We're saved by grace through faith.
09:04
They need faith. In order to have faith, they must hear. In order for them to hear, someone must go. I don't know any other way to lay that out.
09:16
That means you and I as Christians must listen to the word of God and go.
09:27
What happens if we don't go? That's a fair question, right?
09:33
That's a fair question. What happens if we don't go? Here's the answer. If we do not go, we will have a nation that rejects
09:44
God by suppressing the truth of God in unrighteousness. We will have the celebration of homosexual union, unrighteousness, and wickedness, and it will be paraded in our streets.
09:53
They will know the righteous requirements of God because the law of God is written on their stony hearts while they practice greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, violence will be done by children as well as their parents.
10:15
Oh, wait, that's already happening. It's already happening.
10:23
It's already happening because Christians did not go. I've been saying this, we are living in the unfruitfulness of Christians in the past.
10:36
Once this whole premillennial dispensational concept came about around 200 years ago, instead of going out and preaching the gospel,
10:45
Christians decided why polish brass on a sinking ship? Jesus is coming tomorrow, right?
10:53
Right, there's 88 reasons that he's coming in this year, 89 in the next year, so on and so forth.
11:00
If he's coming back, why should we go? He's coming back. He's gonna rescue us.
11:05
Why should we go? That kind of attitude has led us to where we are today where our nation has rejected
11:16
God because no one told them he existed. That's happening right now.
11:31
And if you think it's bad now, just wait, just wait.
11:38
Just wait if we don't go. If we do not go, the next generation of Christians are going to look at us and ask, why did you not go?
11:53
That's a fair question for us to ask past Christians. Why did you not go? Why were you not obedient to the command to go?
12:06
And if we do not go, we deserve that question to be asked to us by our kids, grandkids, and so on, if the
12:14
Lord tarries. In our outline today, we're going to see the call and response.
12:22
The call and response of Philip and the call and response of the Ethiopian eunuch.
12:29
And as we transition, if you are a Christian, God has called you to be obedient to the command to evangelize.
12:41
You say, Jeff, we're reformed. What do you mean obedient? Don't approach me with that nonsense.
12:50
We're called to live in the obedience of faith and everything we do, we do by faith. I have been crucified with Christ.
12:57
It's no longer I who live, it is Christ that lives in me and the life I live. I live by faith.
13:04
And the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Everything we do is to be done in faith.
13:10
Washing dishes, faith. Changing diapers, faith. Fixing attire, he's going to help me out, faith.
13:18
Everything is to be done in faith. When you go out and you evangelize, you do so in the obedience of faith.
13:25
Not in your own power. Listen, if you think you're going to come out there and join me and you're going to be in your own power, brothers or sister, please stay home.
13:33
Don't need it. I need someone relying on the Holy Spirit. I need weak and pitiful men and women that have no strength.
13:41
Their only strength is in the Lord who is saying, no matter what, no matter what happens, no matter how terrified or how scared
13:48
I am, I'm going not because I want to, but because I want to live in faith. If you are a
13:58
Christian, God has called you to be obedient to the command to evangelize.
14:05
So the question is, how are you going to respond?
14:12
Quick story. There was this conference taking place at a church that I was going to. This was back when
14:17
I was still young in my faith, reading the Bible, trying to figure everything out. And the subject of Isaiah chapter six, verse eight came up where Isaiah says, here am
14:29
I, send me, right? So Isaiah has this vision, whatever you want to call it, the seed in his inner eye or whatever.
14:37
He's in the temple or maybe he's not in the temple. We're not sure it could have been. He could have been in the temple or it could have been a vision of the temple.
14:43
The text really doesn't lay it out. And wherever you want to deal with that interpretation, I'm fine with it. It doesn't make a big deal to me.
14:48
But anyways, Isaiah is in the temple. He sees the Lord. He sees Yahweh on the throne.
14:56
On the throne. It says that there was seraphims that were above him, these six winged angels, right?
15:02
It says with two wings, they covered their face. And with two wings, they covered their feet. And with two wings, they were flying.
15:08
And that they were looking at one another, reminding each other how holy, holy, holy this God is.
15:14
And it says that the earth, I mean, that the earth is full of his glory and that the temple was filled with smoke and it's filled with his glory.
15:21
And the smoke here is speaking about his judgment. And it says that one of the angels takes some tongs from the altar and he grabs a piece of coal and it comes down and it touches his lips.
15:32
And it tells him that his sin has been taken away and his guilt is atoned for.
15:39
And then he hears a voice that's not of the angels. And it says, who shall
15:46
I send and who will go for me? And Isaiah said, here am I, here am
15:51
I, send me. And I remember, I think, when they were talking about that,
15:56
I said, oh, I wish that God would send me. And you wouldn't believe the man who stood up and rebuked me that day.
16:08
I said, you don't know what you're asking. You don't understand what you're asking for.
16:13
You do not want God to send you. I said, here am I, send me.
16:22
Ladies and gentlemen, God would love nothing more from your mouth than to hear, here am
16:29
I, send me. No rebuke, here am I, send me.
16:35
Point number one, the call and response. For some reason, this didn't come on, okay. So we're starting all over.
16:42
We call and response. Now, just to give some background on Philip.
16:51
Philip was one of the seven men chosen along with Stephen to make sure that the
16:56
Hellenistic widows were treated the same as the Hebrew widows, right? The Hebrew widows were receiving a greater portion of food than the
17:05
Hellenistic widows. And so they appointed seven men. Philip was one of the men.
17:10
We saw last week how Stephen was one of the men and Stephen was stoned to death, all right?
17:16
So now we're on to Philip. Stephen's dead, now we're on to Philip. He starts by serving in ministry that doesn't seem to be appealing.
17:28
He's serving in a ministry that you and I today would probably say, well, that doesn't sound appealing, right, like cleaning toilets and stuff like that.
17:36
He's serving in a way that you and I would not think that this is appealing to most.
17:43
And then he is used by God in a mighty way. And to that, I wanna say, do not despise small beginnings.
17:51
Serve where you can serve. We are called to serve one another and to love one another.
17:57
Right, we are called to do this service. We see here, Philip is waiting tables basically, making sure that equal portions is given.
18:08
He's faithful in that. And this story right here tells us the magnificent work that God has done with Philip, something so incredible that you and I will probably never experience.
18:23
So let's begin Acts chapter five. We're gonna, Acts chapter eight, excuse me. We're gonna read verses 25 through 29 to begin with.
18:39
So when he had solemnly bore witness and spoke the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem and were proclaiming the gospel to many villages of the
18:53
Samaritans. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, rise, rise up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.
19:08
This is a desert road. And he rose up and he went and behold, there was an
19:14
Ethiopian unit. A court officer of Candace, the queen of Ethiopians, who was in charge of all of her treasures.
19:28
And he had come to Jerusalem to worship. And he was returning and sitting in his chariot was reading the prophet
19:39
Isaiah. And the spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot.
19:50
So at this time, Saul, a great persecutor of the church is hot and heavy with his persecutions coming down on the church.
20:00
Philip as well was scattered because of this persecution, right?
20:06
When Stephen is stoned to death, the church panics, they began to scatter, to run, but in doing so they are exactly fulfilling the command given by Jesus.
20:17
It starts in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And it just right here tells us that they were just preaching in Samaritan.
20:26
They were preaching to the Samaritans. We see that this gospel is making its way. Now, Philip seems to be going traveling back, right?
20:35
So Philip was scattered, but was not hiding under his bed, right?
20:43
The fear of Saul is spreading, Philip is scattered, but he's not hiding under his bed.
20:50
Philip draws a crowd by signs and wonders as was just read.
20:57
He draws a crowd by signs and wonders in order to preach to them the gospel of Jesus Christ.
21:05
And when it speaks about him going back to Jerusalem, I believe it's to meet with the
21:11
Jerusalem church because we know that Peter, James, and John stayed. Philip hears from an angel of the
21:20
Lord and he is told to go to Jerusalem. He's told not to go to Jerusalem, but to go to Gaza, this desert road, right?
21:29
This road that seems to be leading to nowhere. He's told to leave from the people that he's traveling with, who he's been ministering with, who are going back to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles.
21:44
And he's told to go somewhere that he doesn't really understand, a desert road.
21:51
And on this desert road, he saw a chariot. And then this chariot was an Ethiopian eunuch and a court official of Candace, the queen of the
21:58
Ethiopians, right? This is a big thing, right? This Ethiopian, like the map that's set out today is a little bit different, but this would have been like the major portion of Africa, right?
22:10
That we see God trying to reach. He's going after the nations for God so loved the world.
22:19
Not just the people on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, but every ethnicity, red, yellow, black, or white.
22:27
Doesn't matter the melon in your skin. And he is going after the world. And right here, we see it taking place.
22:35
He's reaching the Ethiopian eunuch. This Ethiopian eunuch would not look like you or I.
22:44
We see the gospel traveling. We see it taking place.
22:55
Now don't get this twisted. This was not a small one horse chariot. This Ethiopian eunuch was in charge of the queen's treasures.
23:04
This was massive. He would have had guards watching over him, making sure that he was protected, right?
23:12
This is not something small, like you hear in the kids' stories, right? When they're talking about this. This was something grand.
23:19
This was something that would be marvelous to your eyes to witness this chariot.
23:24
And this man, this
23:32
Ethiopian eunuch, reading from the scroll of Isaiah. The queen would have been a ruler of Ethiopian.
23:40
The Ethiopian people would have never had their king ruling over him because to them, their king was a god.
23:48
And for a god to rule in that capacity, it would be work. And to the
23:53
Ethiopian people, they just wanted to worship their king. So the queen would have been the ruler.
24:00
The king would have been a god to them. And as we see, we have this
24:05
Ethiopian eunuch traveling to Jerusalem to worship. So this
24:11
Ethiopian eunuch would have either been sent, so according to the commentaries, he would have either been sent to Jerusalem by the queen, but I think the text is fairly clear.
24:21
He went there to worship. He was a god -fearer. He was a Jewish convert. That's what scholars believe, that he was a god -fearer.
24:30
He was a Jewish convert who had been traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast days.
24:35
And upon seeing this chariot, the spirit tells
24:41
Philip to go over and join this chariot. I want you to put yourself in that position.
24:47
You're traveling with your companions who you've been ministering with. You're told to go by yourself into this desert land, and all of a sudden, you see this chariot, and it was, in my opinion, was massive.
25:01
It would have guards with this Ethiopian eunuch protecting him, and all of a sudden, you hear the voice of the
25:08
Lord tell you to go and speak with him, to go over to the chariot and speak with him, to join him, it says.
25:19
One thing to notice, Philip listened. He listened to the angel, and he listened to the spirit.
25:27
I want you to imagine how fearful he might have been. Listening is what brings about true revival.
25:39
Listening is what brings about true revival. Now, I have kids.
25:47
You have kids. If they're not old enough to disobey, it's coming, right?
25:53
You know that your kids heard you, but they were not listening. You ever in that spot?
26:00
I heard what you said, Dad. Yeah, but you didn't listen. There's a difference, right, parents?
26:06
Right, there's a difference. They hear you, but they weren't listening. They heard you say, clean your room, but if they cleaned their room, they would have listened.
26:19
I want you to understand there's a difference between hearing and listening. Philip listened. He was told to do something, and he did it.
26:28
He listened. If we will not go, when the
26:36
Bible tells us to go, trust me when I say you will not go if you hear the voice of an angel or the spirit.
26:47
Say that again. If we will not go, when the Bible tells us to go, and it does, trust me when
26:55
I say you will not go if you were to hear the voice of an angel or the spirit.
27:03
When the Bible speaks, God speaks. In your hearing today, we had two men read from the scriptures, and I'm up here today reading from the scriptures, and let me tell you something.
27:22
I'm sorry it's this crackling voice that you have to hear it from, but when I read this text, you're hearing
27:31
God. You're not hearing me. When God, when the
27:38
Bible speaks, God speaks. He speaks, and we have a sure word from Jesus himself that tells us, his disciples, his church, to go.
27:52
It tells us to go, and you hear it, but are you listening?
27:59
You hear it, are you listening? If the church was listening, we would not have a nation that denies the existence of God.
28:10
We would not, because the gospel saves. The gospel is God's power for salvation.
28:17
If the church was being obedient and going, our nation would look totally different.
28:23
Philip listens, Philip approaches him, and he's reading the scroll of Isaiah.
28:29
Ladies and gentlemen, he's not like this. The scroll of Isaiah would have been huge.
28:38
This would have been something that I would have to have help carrying. This is big.
28:45
He might have had servants helping him hold this scroll so he could read. We gotta stop having these
28:53
Sunday school kids' images in our head when we read these scriptures. Something great is taking place here.
29:03
He's reading the scroll of Isaiah, Isaiah 53 to be exact, and the
29:09
Ethiopian unit gives us a lesson if we have ears to hear. We're supposed to learn a lesson from the
29:17
Ethiopian unit if we have ears to hear, and it's about understanding. Look with me at verse 30 and 31.
29:24
It says, and Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, do you understand what you are reading?
29:34
And he said, well, how could I unless someone guides me? And he invited
29:41
Philip to come up and sit with him. Here's the lesson.
29:48
No one can understand unless there is someone to guide him.
29:57
Boom, mic drop. There's no such thing as a man by himself under a tree with a
30:02
Bible thinking he knows it all, right? We're not doing Christianity by ourselves, right?
30:09
We're standing on the shoulders of giants who are weak and pitiful men and women, just like we are.
30:16
We're standing on their shoulders. We lean on their understanding. It's important to know what the church has always confessed.
30:25
Right, amen? He says, well, how could
30:33
I unless someone guides me? This is why we have teachers and elders.
30:41
That's why 1 Timothy 3, Paul tells us that an overseer, an elder must not be a new convert.
30:51
They need to been there, done that. They need to have their study. They need to know what they're saying. In order to teach the
30:58
Bible, you need to know what the Bible teaches, right? There has to be time. Jesus walked with his disciples for three and a half years.
31:07
Paul studied under Christ for three and a half years. A new convert, we wouldn't invite any new convert to participate in any kind of ministry unless they were disciples for three and a half years.
31:21
It takes time. You need to know what the
31:26
Bible teaches before you open your mouth and say, thus says the Lord. In order for someone to stand up before the people of God, to teach the people of God, excuse me, let me read that again.
31:43
In order for someone to stand before the people of God, to teach the people of God, that man must have been taught rightly to do so.
31:51
James chapter three, verse one talks about a teacher is going to be under a stricter judgment.
31:56
It goes on to talk about the tongue. It says the tongue can set things ablaze. It's a small muscle, but from it can come a fire, right?
32:05
How many false cults have come because of some charismatic guy with a good speaking tongue?
32:11
How many cults do we have in our day? How many false religions because of someone who can talk, who's very eloquent when he talks and he screams a little, right?
32:22
I'm glad I got this stutter because I scream but I can't talk that well. We are going to, as men who hold this
32:31
Bible, we need to understand that when we present this, we're going to be judged if we do not build on the foundations of the apostles and prophets according to first Corinthians chapter three.
32:41
The foundation has been laid. When we're building, it better not be hay, stubble and straw.
32:47
It better be precious goads and metal. It better be what the Bible says.
32:52
If it doesn't say it or teach it, you better not say it or teach it. Philip, who
33:03
I'm sure was trained well in the scriptures, is invited by the
33:08
Ethiopian unit to come and sit with him. We see this in verses 32 and 35, what takes place.
33:16
Now the passage of scripture, which he was reading was this. Remember I said it was Isaiah 53.
33:22
He's reading verses seven and eight. It says, as a sheep is led to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shears is silent, so he does not open his mouth.
33:37
In humiliation, his judgment has been taken away. Who will recount his generation for his life is removed from the earth?
33:50
And the unit answered Philip and said, I ask you earnestly, of whom does this prophet say this?
34:02
Of himself or someone else? Then Philip opened his mouth and he beginning from the scriptures, he proclaimed the good news about Jesus Christ.
34:17
Again, he's reading from Isaiah 53. And Isaiah 53 is about the suffering servant.
34:24
So much of Isaiah deals with the servant of the Lord. And you know what?
34:31
I don't play golf, but you're talking about a chapter to tee off from when it comes to the gospel, right?
34:38
Right? Oh Lord, please put me in a position where I'll walk into a coffee shop and see someone reading
34:44
Isaiah 53 and want to know who is it talking about? Like, give me that tee up time, right?
34:50
I don't even play golf. I don't care if it's a right -handed club or a left -handed club, I'm going for it, right?
34:58
How precious of that moment, Isaiah 53. Before I want to dive into that,
35:03
I want you to turn with me to Isaiah chapter 43. We've read this a few,
35:11
I don't know, it's one of my favorite passages. A few weeks ago,
35:17
I want to look at it again. I think it's relevant to us today. Isaiah 43, beginning in verse, let's go,
35:34
I'm not even on there, okay, here we go. Okay, beginning in verse, let's go verse eight.
35:42
Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, and the deaf, even though they have ears.
35:52
All the nations have gathered together so that the peoples may be assembled.
35:59
Who among them can declare this and make us hear the former things?
36:08
Let them present their witness that they may be justified, or let them hear and say it is true.
36:18
Verse 10, listen. You, this is Yahweh speaking, are my witnesses, declares
36:26
Yahweh, and my servant, whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.
36:38
He is who? He is the servant. This is telling us that God is sending a servant, and we need to understand that he is the servant whom he's sending.
36:51
Before me, there was no God form, and there will be none after me.
36:57
Even I, I am Yahweh, and there is no savior besides me.
37:05
As the New Testament church, who is our savior? Jesus Christ. And that's the servant upon whom
37:14
Yahweh sent. So much of Isaiah deals with this messianic servant.
37:25
The Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip, whom does this prophet say this?
37:32
Of himself or someone else? Now, from what I can tell in my study, there were some, there might be some today, but I know there was some who believed that this is speaking about Isaiah the prophet, which you should understand why he asked such a question.
37:50
This is something that they could have been teaching at this time. But most
37:57
Jewish commentators today actually believe that Isaiah 53 is speaking about the hardship of Israel, the hardship that Israel has been under in its history, all the enslavements that it's been under.
38:11
The problem with both of those interpretations is that Isaiah 53 is speaking about imputation.
38:18
It's speaking about an imputed righteousness, that someone is receiving something that he doesn't deserve so that others who deserve what he is receiving can be set free and made righteous.
38:34
So the question is, is which one is it speaking about? And as I read in Isaiah 53,
38:41
I'm going to read from verses four through 10. I want you to ask yourself as I'm reading it, is this talking about Isaiah?
38:48
Is this talking about Israel? Or is this talking about Jesus? So look at verse four.
38:54
I want you to understand the imputation. Someone is receiving something he doesn't deserve so that others who deserve what he is receiving may go free.
39:03
Verse four, surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried.
39:15
Yet we ourselves esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.
39:22
But he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.
39:27
The chastisement of peace fell upon him. And by his wounds we are healed.
39:35
And all of us, like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned away, has turned to his own ways.
39:43
But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.
39:50
Is that Isaiah? Is that Israel? Or is that Jesus? Now this is what he was reading, verse seven.
39:58
He was oppressed and afflicted, and yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, like a sheep that was silent before the shears.
40:10
Right here it talks about, in verse five, it talks about us being the sheep running, him being the sheep going quietly, taking what's given.
40:22
So he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away and asked for his generation who considered that he was cut off from the land of the living.
40:40
I want you to understand something. This is prophesied like four or 500 years before Christ. From the land of the living, that for his transgression, that for the transgression of my people, stricken was due to him.
41:00
So he gave, so his grave was assigned to the wicked man, and yet with a rich man in his death, before he had done, because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth.
41:19
Verse 10, but Yahweh was pleased to crush him and to put him to grief.
41:28
Isaiah 53 is about someone taking the punishment of others in their place.
41:36
And the plain gospel message is that Jesus lived and he died for his people.
41:46
That Jesus lived and Jesus died for his, that's for his people, that's the message of Christianity.
41:53
There is no other message. That's the message. When you talk about something to tee off from, and it's the imputation, how the gospel, what
42:04
Jesus done is a substitute for us. So the proper interpretation that I believe
42:10
Philip said to him was this, the chosen servant that was sent by God, who is
42:17
God, took the punishment of God upon himself as a substitute in our place.
42:23
That's the proper interpretation of Isaiah chapter 53. Let me read that again.
42:30
The chosen servant that was sent by God, who is God, took the punishment of God upon himself as a substitute in our place.
42:42
I mean, that's what the text says. It says beginning from the scriptures. What scriptures? Isaiah 53, and he proclaimed the good news about Jesus.
42:53
Philip's interpretation of Isaiah 53 is that it's speaking about Jesus. Point number two, the call and response of the
43:00
Ethiopian eunuch. The call of the Ethiopian eunuch was given through Philip in the exposition of Isaiah 53.
43:10
Philip, through the direction of the angel and the voice of the Holy Spirit, proclaims to this
43:15
Ethiopian eunuch the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ lived a life that we could not live.
43:21
He kept God's law perfectly. You and I could not do that, right? You and I are liars, we're thieves, we're adulterers.
43:29
We look, with our eyes, we look with lust. We follow the imagination of our mind.
43:35
Whatever it is that we can think of, our flesh follows after. We're evil, every one of us, especially me.
43:45
I cannot please God. I need someone to please God for me. Guess what?
43:52
Jesus lived a life I could not live. And this imputation that Isaiah 53 is talking about is him taking upon himself the punishment that I deserve for following the imagination of my mind, for breaking
44:08
God's law, for sinning. I'm sure
44:20
Philip told him that Jesus is God's champion, that there is salvation in no one else.
44:27
And I am just as sure that he told him the response to this message was repentance and faith.
44:35
Right? That's what the Bible's been teaching. You broke God's law.
44:41
God has paid our fine by sending his son to live the life we couldn't live, to take upon himself the death that we deserve.
44:47
Now repent, turn from your wicked ways, and put your faith in Jesus Christ. I am 100 % sure that that's the message that was preached that day.
44:59
And one of the reasons it's believed that the
45:06
Ethiopian eunuch was a God -fearer, we saw him traveling to Jerusalem to worship. And as he's coming back, he's reading
45:14
Isaiah. He's done been worshiping, right?
45:21
On his way home, he's studying. Oh, this is great.
45:29
This is the perfect guy to witness to. Again, give me something like that to tee off on.
45:36
However, God had already reached out to this Ethiopian eunuch. Notice, he's reading
45:44
Isaiah 53. And I'm not saying, I don't know if he's read Isaiah before, but in three more chapters,
45:52
Isaiah, God is gonna be speaking to him personally. So look with me in chapter 56.
45:59
This is beautiful. Isaiah 56, look at verse three. Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to Yahweh say,
46:08
Yahweh will surely separate me from his people. Nor let the eunuch say, behold,
46:16
I am a dry tree, meaning no fruit, no children.
46:23
For thus says Yahweh to the eunuchs, who is keeping my
46:29
Sabbaths. We see him traveling to Jerusalem. Who is keeping my Sabbaths and chooses to please me and hold fast to my covenant.
46:40
To them, I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than the names of the sons and daughters.
46:52
I will give them an everlasting name, which will not be cut off.
47:00
And here, I wanna talk about eunuchs. I was talking to people earlier, I was like, in an integration church, how do we come about this situation, right?
47:09
So as we know, the fruit bearing seed that causes childbearing for the eunuch was cut off, which makes them a eunuch, which makes them why he can be the official for this queen, right?
47:25
You don't want no handsome stud hanging around your queen all the time, right? And able to perform unknown duties we don't talk about, right?
47:36
Right, and so whenever a king would have people like this around their queen, what did they do?
47:42
They turned them into eunuchs. He has been cut off from having any fruit to bear.
47:50
And God right here tells him that his name for serving him will not be cut off.
47:56
Ladies and gentlemen, he is speaking to the eunuchs. He's speaking to the foreigners. And right here, we see him with the gospel through Philip speaking to the eunuch personally.
48:07
He's speaking to him personally. Now, I didn't know how I was gonna explain that. I just kind of freestyled it. So I'm sorry, but it is what it is.
48:16
This Ethiopian eunuch was a seeker of Yahweh under the old covenant. And through Jesus, he is going to fulfill the promise to the eunuch of the new covenant.
48:29
Now, get back with me in Acts. We'll read the last verse and close. Verse 36,
48:40
Acts 8, verse 36. And as they went along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, look, water, what prevents me from being baptized?
48:56
Notice they're on a desert highway. And after the witness of Jesus by Philip, they come across water.
49:08
He says, what prevents me from being baptized? I believe. I tell you right now, that Ethiopian eunuch believed that Jesus was the suffering servant that lived the life he could not live, took upon himself the punishment that he deserved, was buried, rose from the grave on the third day, resurrected, ascended into heaven, and he's coming back.
49:30
And he wants to be in the new covenant. Well, how do
49:37
I know that? Baptism. Baptism is the sign of the new covenant. It's the sign that says when
49:44
Christ died, I died. And when he rose from the dead, I now live in him. It's saying that my life is in Christ.
49:52
My life is in Christ. And by way of conclusion,
50:00
Abraham was told to go and he went. He left everything he knew and he listened to the voice of God.
50:08
Imagine that, your whole family around you, you hear what you perceive to be
50:13
God telling you to pack up and leave everyone you've ever known. And it says that he left everyone he ever knew.
50:23
He followed the voice of God. The disciples were told to go. And as we've been seeing, they went.
50:33
They listened to the voice of Jesus. Philip was told to go by an angel of the
50:38
Lord. And he went and listened to the voice of the angel and the voice of the
50:44
Holy Spirit. You and I, as disciples of Jesus, we are told to go.
50:54
Are you listening to his voice? The work of the
51:00
Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And that work is done through those who are filled with the
51:11
Holy Spirit through the message of law and gospel. We use the law to show them their sin and we use the gospel to show them what
51:21
God has done for us in Christ. And ladies and gentlemen, if you are not a Christian, I pray this day you will repent for you have heard the gospel and that you will believe that you will put your faith in Jesus Christ.
51:40
I'm available to anyone who wants to talk. Pastor Cal is as well. Let's pray.
51:47
Oh God, Lord, I love you and I'm so grateful that you have called me to be a
51:57
Christian, to follow Jesus, that you had me here in this position to be a mouth.
52:06
Lord, I pray that you will raise up men and women from this congregation, that you will give them boldness to proclaim the magnificent works of God.
52:16
Lord, that you have fulfilled all the promises in Jesus Christ, that in Christ, all the promises are yes and amen.
52:25
Lord, I pray that my message today that I was understandable, Lord, and that if it was muddy in any way,
52:32
Lord, that you will clear that up for their understanding. And God, I pray that as we are about to partake in your supper,
52:39
Lord, that you will use this to grow us in a greater degree of holiness, to conform us to the image of your son.
52:45
We recognize this as a means of grace, but also God, I pray for those that are among my, the hearing here today,
52:52
Lord, that if there's anyone here today that's living in sin, Lord, that's doing what they should not be doing,
52:59
God, that you grant to them repentance and that they will confess with their mouth their sin to you, Lord, and they will be forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness so they can partake in the supper with a clean conscience.
53:13
Lord, again, I pray that you use this small church here in Tallahoma to reach our community and so on for the glory, for your own glory, in Jesus' name, amen.