Sound Doctrine

Jeff Johnson: What baptism is all about, it's about being buried. When you come up out of the water, it's kind of a resurrection. When you go down, it's your burial. Now, some people say, "Hold me down a long time. I got a lot of sins." So you go down, but you come up. And it's newness of life. It's kind of like you're identifying with his death. You're dying to self. It's an outward show of that.

Guest (Male): Let's say you just discovered the cure for heart disease and had a close friend who was dying of that very thing. I'm sure it wouldn't take very long for you to share this good news. The Lord has given us the greatest news of all, to share his plan of salvation. But why are we so reluctant to share it with our friends and family who need to hear it?

Today on Sound Doctrine, Pastor Jeff Johnson finishes our study of Acts chapter 8. Philip had a mission mentality and allowed the Lord to use him as he saw fit. Let's see how the Lord uses him to share Christ with an Ethiopian eunuch.

Jeff Johnson: Here's the third step that Philip was given. He was given the first one: "I want you to go to Gaza." And he went. And he was pleasing to the Lord. And then at Gaza, he said, "Join yourself to this chariot." What for? The third step was a witness to this guy. He needs the Lord. So God's reaching out through Philip, reaching out through you and through me to our friends, to our relatives, to our loved ones. If we will listen, if we will go, and if we will be obedient and just tell them. Give them Jesus. Give them what the Lord has done in your life and what he's done for them on the cross because that's what he's talking about here.

God's word is so powerful. The scriptures—it says over in John's Gospel in chapter 5, verse 39: "Search the scriptures," Jesus says, "for in them you think you have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me." Get in the word. You'll see that there is eternal life in my word. In the volume of the book, Psalm 40, it is written of me, the Lord says. And then over in Luke 24, in verse 27, he expounded to them in the scriptures the things concerning himself. Jesus said, "Let me show you through all the scriptures, the Old Testament prophets, all those things concerning the Messiah and how he would suffer and how he would die."

What was the portion of the scripture that he read about? Well, it's the portion of scripture that speaks of the suffering Messiah, the lamb of God. What's that? Well, that's the substitutionary death of our Lord for our lives, for our sins. John said, "Behold the lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world." He would go to that cross for our sins. He would die personally for me, for you. And if we would identify with that, if we would receive what he did for us, we would forever be changed.

He's sitting there sharing this with this guy. It's about Jesus. Notice he didn't push his denomination, his church. Philip didn't push about water baptism. He didn't say, "You gotta be water baptized, you gotta do this, you gotta do that," his philosophy. He just said, "I want to tell you about Jesus who came, who became the lamb of God to take away our sins." I just want to tell you about him. Why? Because it's very important.

Remember with Adam? Remember when they were busted and they had their little nice designer swimming suits on with fig leaves? God busted them and they realized that they were naked. Actually, it was before they had the swimsuits and he told them, "You're naked." And then they made the swimsuits and he said, "Nah, that's not gonna get it, fig leaves. But I'll give you something." What did he give them? Skins. He killed animals. Blood sacrifice in the very beginning. It's very important that we see this because without the shedding of blood, there is no taking away of sins. So it was all speaking about what Christ would once and for all do in the future.

Do you remember the story about Abraham and his son Isaac? And he came up to kill him. And what was happening? God stopped his hand. Why? Because there was a ram caught in the bush and they slit the throat of the lamb and put the ram up there, speaking of that God would provide himself a sacrifice eventually. And then when Jesus was hanging on that cross, what was going on in the temple? Anybody know? There was sacrifice going on. They were slaughtering the lambs at the same time. Blood sacrifice, substitutionary death that he would take for us to save us.

And then he would, of course, rise again from the dead to justify us. And now he sits at God's right hand. He's praying for us. But one of these days soon, he's coming back for us. That's the exciting part. So notice he opened his mouth, he preached Jesus. Verse 36: "And as he went on their way, they came to a certain water and the eunuch said, 'See, hey, there's water there. What does it hinder me to be baptized?'" Evidently, he went on, not only teaching him about Jesus and this guy's getting excited, he's already receiving the Lord.

Sometimes you're witnessing to somebody and they're going, "Uh-huh, uh-huh, okay, okay, okay," and they've already received the Lord. They received the message and they're waiting for you to shut up so that they can pray with them. "Okay, enough! All right! I get it! Yes, I want to! I know I'm a sinner. I know I need forgiveness. Yeah, let's get it right!" And you pray with them and wow, that's when it takes place. So everything's—he's excited. He starts talking about, "And then after you receive the Lord, you follow the Lord in water baptism." And he goes, "Hey, hey, there's water right there. Can I go down and get water baptized?"

Faith comes by hearing and then what of the word of God? It's God's word that ministers to us. Speaking about this baptism—this is not just a little chariot and a few camels. This is a caravan. There's a lot of people with him. He was a very powerful man from Ethiopia. He had an entourage that was huge and all these people. He says, "I want to get out right now. I'm gonna make a profession of faith." Because what is baptism? An outward show of an inward work that God has done. It's something that the Lord is saying. He says, "You need to follow me in water baptism." It's not necessary for salvation. We know that because the thief on the cross was never baptized. So it's not some outward work that we do so we can say, "I'm saved." That's nothing to do with that.

But it is, according to Mark 16:16, a fuller part of our salvation that as we follow the Lord and are obedient to the Lord in water baptism, we enter into a new segment in our lives. What baptism is all about, it's about being buried. Because in Romans 6, it says follow the Lord in his burial and in his resurrection. When you come up out of the water, it's kind of a resurrection. When you go down, it's your burial. Now, some people say, "Hold me down a long time. I got a lot of sins." But I gotta let you up to have air. So you go down, but you come up. And it's newness of life. It's kind of like you're identifying with his death. You're dying to self. It's an outward show of that and you're sharing it with your friends and family.

So he says, "I want to be a witness. Slow this train down, get me down in that water." Now, notice verse 37: "Philip said, 'If you believe with all of your heart—here's the prerequisite—do you believe with all of your heart that thou mayest be baptized?' And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.'" And he believed in his heart and he confessed with his mouth and he said, "All right, you can be water baptized." He didn't want a Simon situation. Philip saw Simon and he dealt with Simon. You remember last week we talked about this head knowledge that he had and he went ahead and got baptized, but he wasn't saved. Sad, but it happens all the time.

But he wanted to see this guy really get saved and get baptized. And he says, "I believe with all of my heart," and he bore witness with that. Many years ago, we were coming from Bludan in Syria, which is up in the mountain areas, and we were coming down to Damascus in a taxicab with this guy driving us. So as we were in the backseat, we started to witness to him. And we're sharing Christ with him and he was talking about how he went to Jerusalem many times and nothing was there for him and he never got anything out of it. Just like the Ethiopian.

So we're sharing with him Christ and finally, we said, "Would you like to receive Jesus into your heart?" And he goes, "Yeah!" So we pulled the car over and we pray with him and he receives Christ. And then we start talking about, "Now, here's the things you need to do as you're growing in the Lord." We talked about baptism. He found a little stream and he says, "Hey, there's a stream! How about if I go over there and get baptized?" And we go, "Well, okay!" And so it was exactly like we're talking about here. And we brought him there in Syria and by Damascus, we brought him down the water and baptized him. It was incredible.

Notice verse 38: "And he commanded the chariot to stand still. They went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him." So total immersion. We believe in total immersion. "Baptism," the word, means to be dunked, totally immersed, to be put into. So when you receive Christ, there's three baptisms, right? When you receive Christ, you're baptized into the body of Christ. You become a part of God's family. You're put into the family. You belong to a world family that's all over the world. When you find a Christian in the airport and you go, "You're a Christian? Yeah! You're a Christian? Yeah, man!" And you get off with it. You just love each other immediately and you're talking about all kinds of things. It's the family. You're put into that family. And it's an awesome family.

Now, when you're baptized in water, you're put into the water and then you come up in this newness of life. And it's a beautiful experience. And then when you're baptized in the Holy Spirit—see, three baptisms—when you're put into the spirit of God and God's power is put into you, it's just an immersion of God's power in your life. So I love that. Total immersion, buried in baptism. Philip didn't sprinkle him. In Texas, I heard they had a drought and they had a bunch of people to baptize. They went down to the stream, there's hardly any water in it. They rolled them in! In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit—you're done.

I thought that was interesting. But it's not important whether—we believe in full immersion, the Bible teaches full immersion. But sprinkle, rolled, or immersed, what does it mean? What is the difference? Well, it's all about the heart, isn't it? Do you believe with all your heart that Jesus is the Lord? And you want to follow the Lord in this baptism, then you need to go for it. And I remember there in Israel in our area of baptism, where we were baptizing, it was two years ago and there was a bunch of Russians there at the Gideon Spring. And we're having this beautiful baptism, we began to worship the Lord and the spirit just comes down and we're just, man, it's just awesome.

And one at a time are going in, getting baptized. It's a beautiful waterfall right behind. And these Russians were just glued to us. They just couldn't take their eyes off us. And especially this one woman, she was just on the edge. And I saw God working with her as I was baptizing people. And finally, when we got done, I said, "Come here." And I called her over and she came. And we said, "Would you like to be water baptized? Have you believed in all your heart that Jesus is the Lord?" And I communicated with her and she goes, "Yes, I have, and yes, I want to be baptized." And she was longing—I just saw it on her face. And so we took her and baptized her. So it's such a witness and it's such a blessing.

Finally, verse 39: "And when they were come up out of the water—notice—the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip." This word "caught away" is interesting. A miracle took place. He was just there one minute, gone the next. This word in the Greek is "snatched away." Now, does that remind you of a scripture in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and in verse 17 where all of a sudden they're going to be millions snatched away, caught up? One of these days the Lord's just going to take us all in the rapture and there's going to be millions taken and many left behind.

But this is what this word is saying: taken out. Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way—notice—rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through, he preached in all the cities going north till he came to Caesarea. Philip was led by the spirit to leave the situation. The eunuch rejoiced, not because Philip was gone, but he was rejoicing because he was right with the Lord and he had just been water baptized. This is another result of being water baptized—you're going to experience the joy of the Lord. Why? Because you're obeying his commandments. He says, "Go and be baptized." It's a commandment of the Lord. Do it! And when you do it, you're going to just be rejoicing.

And more than that, it is going to be another result of it. And I always tell people right before I bring them down into the water is: get ready for your ministry. Because both Jesus' and Paul's ministry started after their water baptism. So there's something very powerful about water baptism, about making this whole symbolic gesture of dying to self, coming up in newness of life. And your ministry, the doors open and God begins to call you and you begin to serve him like never before. But I know this, that Philip had a ministry of joy. Look at chapter 8, verse 8: "And there was what? Great joy in that city." And that's what takes place, just the joy of the Lord.

And the Ethiopian was saved, he was joyful. Philip did what he was called to do. This man received Christ and now he's got a relationship with Jesus. Tradition says that he went home to Ethiopia and a revival broke out in Ethiopia and God used him mightily. Well, we don't know for sure, we know what tradition says. And isn't this fulfillment of Acts 1:8? He says, "You will be my witnesses where? In Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and where? Uttermost parts of the world." Isn't Ethiopia uttermost parts?

And God's just sending. Now you can see it. God's sending the disciples out. People are getting saved and going back home to those that they love. This is of the Lord because in Mark's Gospel chapter 5, verse 19, Jesus says to that demonic man who got healed, he says, "Listen, you can't hang out with me because I want you to go home to your friends, I want you to tell them how the great things the Lord has done for you and has had compassion on you. I want you to go home to your family and tell them how much God loves you and what he did for you. Give them your testimony. Tell them what Jesus has done for you and they're going to wake up. They're going to behold God's mighty hand. They're going to see it in your life because there is a change, a transformation that takes place."

When my younger daughter Tara, she was five when she received the Lord, but up until that point, her name was Holy Terror. I broke I don't know how many spoons on her. You say, "Oh, Pastor! You beat your kids?" No, I spanked them and then I loved them afterwards, but I did not spare the rod. Driving sin out of a kid is fun! It does, it works! It makes them just, "Okay, that's done. I just paid for it. Let's get on with life." You don't let it linger, you don't let it stay. You are obedient to the word and eventually, she came to know the Lord at five. I saw a change in her life. Jesus came into her heart. She was changed, transformed. She was not the same little girl.

Two very different conversions in this chapter. One was superficial. Remember Simon? Not a heart change. It was head knowledge. It wasn't a faith unto salvation. Very scary, very dangerous. You don't want to be there. You don't want to be religious. The other one is the Ethiopian, this conversion: a desperate, perplexed man who reached out. I love what 2 Corinthians 13:5 says: "Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" In other words, know this: Do you know that Jesus Christ is in you? That he lives in you? That you are one of his? Your body is now the temple of the Holy Spirit.

There is of course that scripture in Romans 8:9 that I always use for those that are religious, especially those with Catholics that know about and they have an intellectual knowledge of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but there's no relationship. They've missed it by 18 inches. God deals with the heart, not the head. And a heart change is what he's into. He takes our hard hearts and makes them his soft heart of love, so there's a transformation. You'll know them by their what? Their fruits. That if I'll prove that I'm a Christian by how I live my life, that Christ lives in here.

But he says this—this is Romans 8:9: "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." If you don't have God's spirit dwelling in you and you can't answer the question when I say, "Is God's spirit in you?" If you can't say, "Yes, he is and Christ is the center of my life and he's there," then you are not God's child. You're the other guy's. That's scary. What are you doing not making sure? You need to make sure! That's why he challenged them to make sure.

Guest (Male): An important thought from Pastor Jeff Johnson as we bring today's study in Acts chapter 8 to a close here on Sound Doctrine. Pastor Jeff will be back in a moment with the closing thought. Remember, you can access these programs anytime day or night at sounddoctrineradio.org or oneplace.com. Take Sound Doctrine with you wherever you go through the Sound Doctrine Radio app. Download it right now at sounddoctrineradio.org.

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Jeff Johnson: And finally, we see here that as Jesus said to Peter, "One of these days when you get converted, you're going to be able to strengthen your brethren, you're going to be used of God." And we see Peter mightily used of the Lord. God, he wants to encourage us. He wants to use every single one of us as he did with Philip. That regular old guy. He wasn't an apostle, just a disciple. So Philip went on into Azotus, which is modern-day Ashdod there on the Mediterranean in southern Israel. And he ended up in Caesarea going north, setting up churches.

Oh, Caesarea, such a beautiful place. We camp out there, we stay around there, we actually have a time of worship there in the Roman amphitheater and it's such a beautiful place. I understand why Philip settled there. It's just a view of the Mediterranean, it's just a beautiful spot. But 20 years later, you find Philip there and he has a ministry there in Caesarea with his family. And his daughters—four, count them, four virgin daughters who prophesied, who ministered there with Philip. The family was a ministering family, strong in the Lord.

Where's the virgins today? Where's the parents who raised their children with a godly fear and morals and integrity to keep protected from this world and to be virgins for their husbands? And to be thinking and going after the things of God and not the things of the world and being careful about dating, even Christian dating? We need to start raising our children young with these thoughts.