Acts 8:35-37 And He Baptized Him 9/19/99
Intro: One Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph 4:5, Matt 3:11)
An Ethiopian eunuch, a proselyte (Acts 8:26-40)
#1. Then Philip preached unto him Jesus (Acts 8:35)
· The Lamb of God (Isa 53:6-8)
· So shall He sprinkle (Isa 52:13-15)
#2. What doth hinder me to be baptized? (Acts 8:36)
· The covenant sign (Ezek 36:25-27)
· Entire households I Cor 1:14-17)
#3. If thou believest with all thine heart (Acts 8:37)
· A public declaration
· A commitment
Acts 8:35-37 And He Baptized Him 9/19/99
Please
open your Bibles to Ephesians 4:4. There
we read:
Eph 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
· One Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph 4:5)
One baptism ? That is strange !
For example, John the Bapist mentioned three kinds of baptisms just in one verse:
Mt 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
We find in the Bible at least four different kinds of baptisms.
1. There was the O.T. Baptism of John, which was a baptism that was symbolizing repentance.
2. There is the Baptism with the Holy Ghost, which is still greatly misunderstood by many.
3. There is the Baptism with fire, which was the baptism that the Lord Jesus endured on the cross.
4. And then there is the N.T. Baptism with water, which has been the subject of much superstition.
How could God say in Eph 4:5, There is One Lord, one faith, one baptism ?
Well,,,, We can harmonize all that when we understand that the English words to Baptize and Baptism, which were translated from the Greek words Baptizo and Baptismos and Baptisma, actually mean to Wash and Washing.
Washing from what ? Which washing is so significant in God’s eyes that He says:
Eph 4:5, There is One Lord, one faith, one baptism ?
Of course,,,, It is the washing of our sins ! That kind of washing is so important in God’s plan that He sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ into the world to die on a cross, in our place, all the while washing our sins with His Blood. That was the Baptism by fire, the fire of Hell. That was on Friday, April 3, in the year AD 33.
But at that time we were not born yet. At some time after we came into this world, God the Holy Spirit applies this washing of our sins to our souls. It occurs at a time when Christ makes Himself known to us, through the hearing of the Gospel. That is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Our souls are then washed clean from all sins, and the Spirit of God comes to dwell in our soul.
According to the Bible, this is God’s method of salvation: God the Father chose those sinners who were to be saved, God the Son washed them from their sins in His Blood, and God the Holy Spirit applied that washing to their souls through the hearing of the Gospel, the Good News that Christ died for them. Therefore, God has done 100% of the entire transaction.
The washing with water on our skin, called Water Baptism, is only a shadow, an outward sign pointing to that which hopefully has been done already by God on the inside.
We can see God’s plan as it enfolds for the Ethiopian eunuch. Please turn with me to Acts 8:26.
· An Ethiopian eunuch, a proselyte (Acts 8:26-40)
Ac 8:26 ¶ 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.
Ac 8:27 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,
Ac 8:28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.
Ac 8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
Ac 8:30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
Ac 8:31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
Ac 8:32 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:
Ac 8:33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
Ac 8:34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
Ac 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
Ac 8:36 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?
Ac 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Ac 8:38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into (to) the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
Ac 8:39 And when they were come up out of (from) the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
Ac 8:40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.
Here was an Ethiopian eunuch of great authority, who became a proselyte.
Do you all know what a proselyte is ? A proselyte is someone who became converted to Judaism.
This Ethiopian eunuch had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he is reading Isa 53.
What a unique opportunity to tell Him the Gospel of salvation ! The entire chapter of Isa 53 speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ crucified for our sins. What an opportunity !
Of course,,,,Nothing happens by chance. This entire scenario has been orchestrated by God the Holy Spirit. Philip the Evangelist is obedient to the command of the Holy Spirit, and begins to teach the Etiopian eunuch the way of Salvation.
#1. Then Philip preached unto him Jesus (Acts 8:35)
Now we come to verse 35,
Ac 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
Philip preached to him the Gospel of Jesus, the Good News that the Messiah has come already.
Why is it called the Good News ?
Well,,,,Let’s follow Philip as he explains this passage to the Etiopian eunuch.
· How Christ is the Lamb of God (Isa 53:6-8)
Please turn with me to Isa 53:6.
Isa 53:6 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.
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Verse 6 begins with “All we”. In the Hebrew this is one word, and it is exactly the same word, letter for letter the same as the ending of the verse: “us all”. It is the same group of people !
“All we” have sinned, just like all the reprobate who are not in view here in this verse. We are not better or more worthy than anyone else on this planet earth. That is why God says:
Ro 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Ro 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.
God is not obligated to rescue anyone. God would have been perfectly just in leaving us going astray in our own sins. And that is indeed what God does many, many times.
God says in Rom 1:28, God gave them over to a reprobate mind.
It is a miracle if God would save even one sinner. But even if God would decide to save only one sinner, He would have to send the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth to die for that one sinner, because all his sins have to be atoned for, have to be paid for. That is the only way a Righteous God can accept this one saved person into His holy heaven: All his sins have to be washed away by the Lord Jesus Christ enduring the wrath of God on the cross for this one man’s sins.
But God delights in mercy. Therefore God saved not just one man, but God saved a great multitude which no man could number. That is what God says in the second half of verse 6:
And the LORD hath laid on him (on Christ) the iniquity of us all. All that He came to save !
And now we come to Isa 53:7 that was quoted in Acts 8:
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
The Lord Jesus Christ was oppressed and aflicted for our sins. God says in verse 10:
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him.
He opened not His mouth in defence. He could not say: You have the wrong man, because the Lord Jesus was laden with our sins. He stood guilty before the Judgment throne of God.
We are the sheep that have gone astray, and He became the Lamb that was brought to the slaughter. Can you see His humiliation ? He had to become like one of us, in order to be our Savior. Now look at Isa 53:8.
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
He was taken from judgment, or in the words of Acts 8: His judgment was taken away. He is no longer under judgment. Now the sentence has been carried out and the penalty has been paid. What did Christ have to pay ? The second Death. The Wrath of God. The equivalent of an eternity in Hell for every sin that He came to atone for.
For whom did Christ do that ? For His generation, says verse 8. Who are those ?
For My people was He stricken, says verse 8. It is the same group of people.
Christ atonement was not for everyone in the whole world, but only “for My people”
Rom 9:6, For they are not all Israel which are of Israel.
But now the
penalty has been paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Christ is risen !
He came up out of the depth of death, out of the depth of Hell, as a conqueror and as the Author of eternal life. Who can believe that death would be the cause of life ?
But this was done by the wonderful counsel of God, that Hell should be a ladder, whereby Christ should ascend into Heaven. And with Him, everyone of His people !
When Philip preached to the Ethiopian eunuch from Isa 53, without a doubt he also touched on the last verse of Isa 52
· So shall He sprinkle many nations (Isa 52:13-15)
Let’s pick up the context at verse 13
Isa 52:13 ¶ Behold, my servant (Christ) shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
Isa 52:14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
Isa 52:15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
Verse 14 speaks about Christ’s appearance being disfigured by physical torture and spiritual suffering. Verse 15 says: So, in this manner, in this way shall He wash many nations. The word “sprinkle” is the same word that is found in the Mosaic law for the sprinkling of oil, or or water, or
blood in a purifying or cleansing ceremony. His disfigurement was not a punishment for His own sins, but it was the way in which He would Himself bring cleansing to the nations.
Undoubtedly, that is how Philip introduced the subject of Water Baptism to the Ethiopian eunuch.
Look at the response of the Ethiopian eunuch:
#2. What doth hinder me to be baptized? (Acts 8:36)
Ac 8:36 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?
Was the Etiopian eunuch at this time already saved ? The following verse says: Yes he was! Therefore he had already received the washing of his sins by the Holy Spirit, the Baptism with the Holy Ghost. Why then would he still seek to be baptized with water ?
It is because Christ went to the cross and performed the perfect sacrifice, shedding His blood. Therefore, the O.T. signs that included the shedding of blood had to be done away, or had to be replaced, because they were all shadows of the future Atonement of Christ. But now that Christ had come, circumcision had to be abandoned. That was a big change !
· That was the covenant sign ! (Ezek 36:25-27)
God gave Abraham the sign of the covenant, in Gen 17, which was circumcision. But outward circumcision was only a sign, or a shadow of the circumcision of the heart, the cutting away of sins from the soul that God the Holy Spirit had to perform.
Was God going to abandon the sign of His covenant in the N.T. time ? Of course not !
Water Baptism is an outward act of washing with water, but it is only a sign, or a shadow of the washing away of our sins from our souls by God the Holy Spirit, very similar to the Biblical language for circumcision.
Water Baptism now has become the covenant sign after the cross, like circumcision was the covenant sign before the cross.
Please turn with me to Ezek 36:25 where we see the Biblical language of Baptism by the Holy Spirit
Eze 36:25 ¶ Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
This sprinkling of clean water in verse 25 is not Water Baptism, but it is the same as “the washing of water by the word” that Christ does for His Bride, the Church. The outward sign of this Baptism by the Holy Spirit is Water Baptism. But Water Baptism does not guarantee the inward washing of the soul. God does that in His time and when He sees fit.
God indicates that this outward sign is to be applied to entire households, just like the sign of circumcision had been applied to all the males in the household.
· To entire households I Cor 1:14-17)
For example, when the Apostle Paul castigates the Church at Corinth for their internal contentions, he says:
1Co 1:14 ¶ I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
1Co 1:15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
1Co 1:16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
1Co 1:17 ¶ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
To preach the Gospel is more important than Water Baptism, because through the preaching of the Gospel souls are saved through “the washing of water by the word”.
The external washing with water takes a second place. It is only a shadow of the real thing.
But when someone becomes saved he will have the desire that the outward sign of the covenant be placed on him, in obedience to God’s Word.
In Acts 8:37, the Ethiopian eunuch desired this outward sign.
Ac 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest (it is lawful). And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
#3. If thou believest with all thine heart (Acts 8:37)
The eunuch made here a confession of his faith before he was baptized. Is this a general rule that we only baptize those who can make a confession of their faith ?
Well,,,,For adults this is true, or else we would make a mockery of the outward sign of the covenant.
But when one of the parents of a household have become a believer, then the children of that household should also be baptized, because that household has become a Gospel home. Just like the sign of circumcision was applied to the children of a believing household as well.
· It is a public declaration that we belong to Christ
It is also a demonstration that “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God”.
When people come to a Church where the Truth is heard, then God works through the spoken word in the hearts of people. Then they desire to join that Congregation as a family.
As a Congregation we rejoice in welcoming such a family in our midst, because our desire is to serve the Lord together.
· At the same time it is a commitment to be of service to one another, and to have fellowship with one another. Why do we need fellowship ? To encourage one another and to share our love for the Lord with one another. Remember the words of Col 3:16.
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
God saved us, and the Church is the place where we act this out. This is a wonderful place to be. And throughout the week we continue to meditate on this Church setting.