Messenger To The Outsiders
Thank you, and, once again, good morning to students and teachers of the word of God. Our lesson this week is called, “Messenger to the Outsiders.” And this deals with the evangelistic work of Philip, who has gone out to the road that leads down to Gaza, to witness to one lone, single sinner. He leads this sinner to Christ, and this sinner turns out to be a very valuable prospect, because this sinner goes down to Africa, and evidently has something to do with the starting of the Ethiopic Church, the Coptic Church–which, until the Communist revolution against Haile Salassie several years ago, made the country of Ethiopia open to all missionaries anytime, day or night.
Haile Salassie was a born-again believer who professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When he was attacked by the Fascist Romans in Rome–Mussolini, who had a concordat with the heathen religious leaders–Halle Salassie went to the United Nations and appealed for help and got none. During the time he was king, missionaries could get into Ethiopia any time, day or night. Some of the priests and nuns in Ethiopia came to Haile Salassie one time–some of the Coptic group–and they said, “You’ve got to stop them, your majesty. They’re down there, and they’re teaching people the Bible, and baptizing converts.”
And Haile Salassie said, “Go thou and do likewise.”
So this Ethiopian convert turns out to be a gem–a rare jewel. And it is no wonder that the Lord calls Philip away from a great revival which he’s having–and he is having a great revival–down to this way that goes down to Gaza and desert, to deal with one man about his soul.
In this portion of Scripture we have a remarkable outline that speaks of finding, faith, fact, and feeling. In the chapter, in chapter 8 of the book of Acts, verse 26 to verse 31, we have the finding. Philip finding his prospect, the unsaved man. Then we have the fact–verses 32-36. The fact that Christ died for sinners and was the blood atonement in their place. Then we have the faith, mentioned in 37 and 38, and finally we have the feeling in verse 39 and verse 40.
Now this is always the case. And this passage of Scripture is one of the most remarkable passages of Scriptures to edify and elucidate the doctrinal truths of salvation.
First of all, the Lord must find the sinner. “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” So, if I’m talking to a man who fancies his sacraments and his commandments and his Golden Rule and his other little play things will get him to heaven, he’s fooling himself. Somebody has to find you. In the Bible, you’re lost. The fact that you may have a $100,000 home and income of $50,000 a year is immaterial. We have the down and outs, and we have the up and outs. The Lord needs to find you.
Next, you need to be faced with the facts. The facts are that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was buried, and rose again the third day, according to the Scripture. The facts are, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. The facts are, Christ died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. And the facts given to the Ethiopian eunuch by Philip are, that Jesus Christ was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we’re healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
The fact is, Jesus Christ died for sinners, and was buried, and rose from the dead.
Now, what you think about that fact, again, is immaterial. If some of you don’t believe that, it’s your funeral, not mine. If some of you don’t accept that, it’s a free country. You have as much right to believe what you want to believe as anybody else. Help yourself. You’re free, white, and twenty-one. If you want to reject the facts, go on and do it. See where it gets you.
That’s a fact.
Next, we have faith. In verse 37 of our passage Philip said, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” Quite naturally, this verse has been knocked out of 90 percent of the so-called new bibles–which are no more bibles than feather-dusters. The new bibles subtract from the word of God in 152 salient places, add to the word of God in about 50 other places, deny the virgin birth of Christ in Luke 2:33, deny the ascension in Luke 24, verses 51-52, deny the blood atonement in Colossians 1:14, and deny salvation by believing in Acts chapter 8, verse 37.
If you are one of the unfortunate people to be deceived into buying a so-called “new” bible, you will find verse 37 has been removed from your bible!
Or else, in case of the compromises, you will find it in italics or in brackets, with a note that perhaps it shouldn’t be there. You say, “What’s the authority for doing this?”
Oh, “Mary had a little lamb.” “Puss in boots.” The usual.
All right, we have faith exercised in verses 37 and 38, and finally, feeling, in verse 39 and verse 40.
Now, notice how these tremendous truths always follow a proper order. Finding, fact, faith, feeling. Let’s be explicit. The fact is, if you receive Jesus Christ, you’re saved. That’s a fact. There are people in Pensacola who are saved and don’t know it. There are people in Pensacola who aren’t saved, and think they are. These days you hear so much about faith, you’d think it was Biblical. Faith without fact is hallucination. Faith without documented evidence is fabricated imagination. Faith without facts is heathen speculation.
A couple of years back, up in Alabama, a trucker had the unfortunate tragedy in his life of running over a ten-year-old boy and gravely wounding him. And the boy was dying. The boy’s father was a Holiness preacher who believed in faith. And he insisted, instead of calling for an ambulance or an emergency unit, to pray for the boy, being sure God would heal him. And the boy died.
The trucker went to the judge, and the judge issued a subpoena against the boy’s father. The trucker had tried to get help, and the father wouldn’t let him get help. The father was in a way responsible for the death of that son of his–a kind of a second-degree murder. That father had faith, but it wasn’t placed in the facts.
Now, it’s a fact that Jesus Christ died for your sin, was buried, and rose from the dead. Your faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Therefore, faith that is not rooted and grounded in the word of God is speculation. It is pagan imagination. It’s delusion.
You hear these days on the radio and television this constant business about “release your faith, release your faith, release your faith.” Nobody anywhere in the Bible ever “releases” faith. That expression occurs nowhere in the word of God, from cover to cover. In sixty-six books, there isn’t one case where anybody is ever said to release their faith. You say, “Where’d they get it from?” That’s a psychic terminology. That terminology comes from spiritualists and spiritism. It has nothing to do with the New Testament.
Somebody says, “Have faith! Have faith!” Well, “Faith is this.” And, “Faith is that.” Faith that is not rooted and grounded in the word of God is pagan imagination. When a man says, “I’ve got faith to believe I can do greater works than Christ did,” he’s not a faithful, Spirit-filled, fruitful Christian. He’s a deceived fool. You say, “Doesn’t the word of God say?” Well, if you don’t know, why do you ask? You see how people are?
When the Lord promised those things to the twelve apostles in John 13, 14, 15, and 16, He let you know those apostolic signs and miracles were for Israel, because they sought for a sign (1Corinthians 1), and that’s why they’re called “apostolic” (2Corinthians 12).
Now, some of you people don’t care enough about what God said to look up what I just read. That is, in your blind superstition and pagan imagination, you don’t give a flip what God says! What you want is what you want when you want it! And, in trying to talk yourself into doing it, you’re trying to convince yourself you have faith.
Let me tell you something. Any faith that makes a liar out of God is ineffectual. There are men who are going up and down this country who are encouraging people to deny 1Corinthians 1:22 and 1Corinthians 14:22 and 2Corinthians 12:12 and Mark 16:17. You’re not dealing with people who are faithful. They’re deceived. And the word of God says, “Let no man deceive himself, and let no man deceive you.” And again, “Be not deceived.”
Now, your salvation depends upon the fact that Jesus Christ died for you. Your assurance of salvation depends upon your faith in that fact. Your feeling depends upon how you live for the Lord after you’re saved. Let’s get it clear. Feeling is not the root of salvation. Feeling is the fruit of salvation. Some religions in America have the facts. They say, “Repent, confess, believe, and be bup-tized.” But they don’t exercise any faith in what God said.
When you talk to these people, these deluded souls, about the eternal security of the believer, “He that hath the Son hath everlasting life,” “They hath everlasting life,” “They shall never perish,” “Nothing shall separate them,” “They are predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son,” they look at you like a tree full of owls. Do you know why? They have access to the facts, but they never exercised faith in the facts. You can always tell these people, these people who exercise no faith in the facts, and don’t believe God, because when you talk to them about obeying the gospel, they always think obeying the gospel refers to something that you do with your body, instead of something you believe with your heart.
Notice when Isaiah says, “Lord, who hath believed our report?” (Romans 10:16), we’re told, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Obeying the gospel is never Acts 2:38, because the gospel Paul preached is not in Acts chapter 2. Therefore, if you’re substituting Acts 2:38 for obeying the gospel, you’re denying God and making a liar out of God in exercising faith in a superstitious fabrication of private interpretation that has nothing to do with the truth at all. You were told in Romans chapter 16 that the gospel is made manifest and is made known unto all nations for the obedience of faith (Romans 16:26).
And, where a man refuses to exercise faith in the gospel, he hasn’t obeyed it, no matter how many times he goes through Acts 2:38, trying to kid himself into thinking he’s a Jewish proselyte on the day of Pentecost. You were told in Acts chapter 1, verse 5, the gospel is for obedience to the faith among all nations. To obey the gospel is to exercise faith in it.
Somebody says, “Well, faith without works is dead.” Oh, come on, now! Come on, now! You poor people have been deceived so long, some of you, by some of these elders, you don’t know where you’re at! You quoted that verse out of James 2, and you don’t even know who James is written to! If you have a Living Bible, James 1:1 is not even written to the people it’s written to!
Now, listen! If you trust Jesus Christ, you’re safe. That’s a fact. If you believe what God said, that’s faith–you can be sure. That’s certainty. And, if you live for the Lord, you’ll be satisfied, and have the right feeling.
Have you got it?
Fact. Faith. Feeling.
Safety. Certainty. Satisfaction.
You’re not safe because of your faith. It could be misplaced. You’re not safe because of your feelings or satisfaction. It may change. You’re safe if you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour.
You’re not sure because you feel good. There will be days when you don’t feel good. The order has always been fact, faith, and feeling from the foundation of the universe. And nowhere is it any clearer than in Acts chapter 8.
Let’s look at the passage. Verse 26: “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.” Imagine a call like that in the middle of a city-wide revival, where they’re getting results right and left! I mean, look at the results they’re having there in verse 12. Look at verse 8: “Great joy in that city.” Verse 6: “The people with one accord gave heed.” That fellow is having an earth-shaking revival that’s changing the face of a city. And God calls him down to do personal work with one African going down the desert. Isn’t that something?
“And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship.” So this man up to this point is a Jewish proselyte. Up to this time, this is one of the many Gentiles who came to Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles or the Passover to worship God, and recognized the Jews had the one true religion. And, as Jesus Christ said, “Salvation is of the Jews.” So he’s coming to Jerusalem, worshipping.
And he was returning, and sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet. “Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias.” So he’s reading out loud. “And said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me?”
After all, that’s what a Bible teacher is; he’s a guide. When it gets right down to it, the Holy Spirit’s going to guide and lead you into all truth. And the anointing which you have received of God teaches you all things. He’ll teach you what’s right and what’s not right. All you have to do is believe what God said as God said it where He said it.
And he comes up here and he says, “He desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.”
Now we find the facts. Here are the facts. Now, as I said before, facts are stubborn things. And a fact is a fact. You may not let people know that it’s so, but it’s still there. You may deny that you said it, but if you said it, you did, whether it’s in print or not. You may deny that you said it because nobody can catch you at it. But God will catch you at it. A fact is a fact. You can’t argue with facts.
Verse 32: “The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.”
Now, readers of the Bible are very familiar with the passage being quoted. The passage being quoted is the great chapter in the Old Testament on the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ, Isaiah chapter 53, where we read, “He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.”
The modern, corrupt bibles have tried to find a contradiction between verse 32 in Acts chapter 8 and Isaiah 53:7, for in Isaiah 53:7 the sheep is said to be a “she.” “Her shearers.” Whereas in Acts chapter 8, verse 32, it says, “He.” “His shearer.” This is typical of the combobilated mess that Christian education gets into when it tries to set itself up as a judge superior to the Authorized Version. Anybody who knows anything about sheep knows the male lamb will open his mouth at the shearing, and the female sheep won’t open hers. A female lamb will, but the lamb in Acts chapter 8 verse 32 is not a female–it’s a male.
Now this shows us two remarkable things about Christian education. When the modern Christian educator talks about the so-called Septuagint, this mythological pre-Christian bible written before the time of Christ, we know they’re full of apples. The quotations in the Old and New Testaments don’t have to match, and in the dirty work of the people who lie a hundred years after the death of Christ who wrote an Old Testament to match the New Testament quotations was done to make you think the Apostles were quoting from a Greek Old Testament. They certainly weren’t. They were quoting a Hebrew Old Testament.
You say, “Why didn’t they quote it accurately and verbatim?” Very simple. Any author is allowed the privilege of freely quoting his own work. The laws of jurisprudence in the United States teach that, since the author had known what he intended when he wrote the passage that he wrote, that he himself had the liberty of making a free quotation of his own work. God wrote this Book, so he can jolly well quote it any way He likes–as long as it doesn’t contradict. And here it does not contradict.
The passage, then, is a reference to the blood atonement of Jesus Christ, and this is the first time this is mentioned in the New Testament publicly as a doctrine for salvation. In Acts chapter 2, Simon Peter says nothing about Jesus Christ dying for sinners. In Acts chapter 3, Simon Peter says nothing about our sins being blotted out at Calvary. In Acts chapter 5 and Acts chapter 6 and Acts chapter 7, you don’t read one word about the gospel of the grace of God, of Christ dying as a blood atonement for sinners. And, the first time that shows up in your Bible as such is in Acts chapter 8.
You say, “It’s mentioned in Matthew.” Matthew wasn’t written until after the events in Acts chapter 8 took place.
You say, “It’s mentioned in Mark.” Mark wasn’t written until the events in Acts chapter 8 took place.
You say, “It’s in John.” John wasn’t written until after the events in Acts chapter 8 took place.
You say, “It’s in Luke.” Luke wasn’t written until after the events in Acts chapter 8 took place.
I’ll say it again and finally. The first time–are you listening–I mean, some of you shut it off back there; you know, you got too many facts there for you to handle these days. Folks these days are very leery about facts. They like to kind of scurry around quietly, you know, where you can’t get caught. Are you listening? The first time in the New Testament that blood atonement and blood redemption is preached to a sinner as a means of salvation is Acts chapter 8, verses 32-38.
So, the first man who’s saved like sinners in Pensacola are saved was an Ethiopian eunuch. Now, isn’t that something? Did you ever stop to think about this? The dying thief wasn’t saved exactly like you people are saved, because the dying thief died before Christ rose from the dead. You didn’t. Did you ever think about this? You weren’t saved exactly as Paul was saved. Paul was knocked flat off a horse and blinded when he was saved; you weren’t. Did you ever think about this? There isn’t anybody reading these words who was ever saved according to Acts 2:38–not a man, woman, or child within the sound of my voice. Everybody in Acts chapter 2 was a Jew or Jewish proselyte, and you’re not. They lived in a communist holding of property in a local church, which you don’t. They met on a Jewish feast day, which you don’t even meet on.
Isn’t it amazing how people get their Bibles screwed up? I’m not talking to a man, woman, or child in this writing who was saved like anybody in Acts chapter 4, 5, and 6 was saved. The first man–don’t turn it off; be broadminded; that’s what some of you folks preach, isn’t it? Yes, that’s what you preach; you just don’t practice it!–the first man in that Bible who is saved by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, apart from water baptism or laying on of hands, is an African. Acts chapter 8, verse 37.
And that’s why verse 37 has been removed from your bibles! Because it is the first clear case of salvation by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus before the man has been baptized! And this Ethiopian eunuch is told, “You can’t get baptized until you believe with all your heart.”
And that’s why Paul said, “If thou shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and confession is made unto salvation.” Nobody in the New Testament was ever saved when they were baptized–nobody. The Apostles were all saved before Pentecost, and none of them baptized according to Acts 2:38. There isn’t any case in the Bible where Peter, James or John or Matthew, Mark or Luke were ever baptized according to Acts 2:38. Everybody in Acts 2:38 who got baptized had to get baptized on a Jewish feast day for Israel in order for that nation to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And, thereafter, every single one of them is saved before he touches a pond anywhere.
As is the case here. Acts 8:35: “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” He knew about John the Baptist’s baptism. He knew if a man believed what a Jew should believe about the Messiah, he ought to follow the Lord in baptism.
And Philip says to him, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Notice that goes far beyond Jewish profession. That is not the belief that He is the Messiah, or the Christ, or the Son of man, preaching the kingdom of heaven. But, the Son of God.
“And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water.” Showing clearly that water baptism is immersion. “Both Philip and the eunuch: and he baptized him.”
Now here comes the feeling: “And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.”
Now, there is the divine order that has never been changed and never been improved upon. Fact–faith–feeling. Some people have all kinds of feelings–but no facts. The new bibles are written for people who feel all kinds of things and judge people by their emotional experiences, and judge people by their spiritual experiences–and have access to no facts at all.
There are people who have faith–but no facts. There are people who have faith, and no feeling. And the world is filled with scientists who have access to the facts, but no faith, and no feeling.
Fact–Christ died for your sin according to the Scriptures and was buried and rose again the third day from the dead. Faith–if thou shalt believe that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Feeling–“These things I speak unto you that your joy may be full. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. You rejoice with joy unspeakable, full of glory, receiving the end of your salvation, even the salvation of your souls.”
Now, have you got it?
Every Christian ought to be safe. He ought to be sure. He ought to be satisfied.
Some of you Christians I’m talking to are safe, and you’re sure–but you’re not satisfied. That’s because you’re not doing something for the Lord. You’re not obeying the Lord.
Some of you Christians are safe, but you’re not sure. You’re not sure because you haven’t yet taken God at His word and believed him.
Let’s get it straight. You can’t be safe without receiving Jesus Christ. You can’t be sure without believing what God said. And you can’t be satisfied if you’re living a disobedient life against and contrary to the revealed word of God Almighty. And, if your idea of obedience to the word of God is couped up in some new version that gets you out of doing what it told you to in the one that you understand, it’s no wonder some of you Christian are deader than a bluefish left on the beach last month.
The reason why you have these cold, dead churches that never have an “Amen” and never have a “Hallelujah” in them is because the Christians in them are deader than a hammer! And the reason you’re deader than a hammer is because you have disobeyed God. And don’t kid me. I don’t care if the people in my church don’t know what it is; the Lord knows what it is. And when you’re making promotional and motivational efforts in line with the world, while you’re cutting corners and lying and misrepresenting or putting the authority of the word of God aside, or exalting your work or your ministry above that Book, or attacking that Book in public or in private, and yet not daring to do it, you know, universally or out in the open–you’re going to kill your services!
There are many churches in Pensacola where the breath of death breathes over that congregation like a funeral home. And their services are like a morgue. And even the ones who counterfeit the spirituality and counterfeit the feeling cannot get rid of the terrible fact that God the Holy Spirit has written “Ichabod” across the work. If you trust Jesus Christ, you’re safe. That’s a fact. If you believe what God said about your salvation, you can be sure. That’s faith. And if you live for God, you’re going to have the right feeling. And that’s satisfaction.
I trust today’s lesson has been a blessing to you, and you’ll these things to your congregation and students, and make these applications clear and personal and telling, that they might affect their lives and mark them forever, with these great divine truths of New Testament salvation by grace through faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ dying on Calvary’s cross.
Pray for us in our work now; we’ll be going out next weekend to preach in St. Petersburg. Well, this weekend I’ll be in St. Petersburg. And in May we’ll be down with Scotty Drake in Tampa. Pray for our church building; we’ve started a work now. The foundation has been laid, and the men are working, and the building is going up. It’s only a small building, seating about four hundred or so. But we trust that we can expand later on, as the congregation grows. Be with us if you can on opening day in a few months. And pray for our young men and women who are preparing themselves for a lifetime of service to God. Until next week, may the Lord bless you, and good day.