Running

Brady Bassett

Acts • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

Acts 8:26–40

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When the Spirit says go, we go. Will we be like Philip and run where the Lord calls us?

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If you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it. We will be in Acts 8:26-40 this evening and I want to know what you guys think I mean when I say the phrase, “divine appointment”? What do I mean by that? A divine appointment is a moment that is sovereignly brought forth by God, an event that is clearly set up by Him for an intended purpose. Sometimes you might not be aware of them but there are moments in our lives that God will use to get us to an exact moment where we will hear His message and see His glory. These divine appointments are usually brought together by a million tiny, sometimes unnoticable, acts of providence. There are things that God will do, maybe even years before, that will lead a particuler person or people to these divine appointments and we are going to see this in what we are going to read tonight. Before we get to that though, can any of you think of any moments in your life that may have been a divine appointment? When it comes to divine appointments, there are usually some particularities that are attached to the moment that make you stop and think. They are the things that seem almost too ironic or strange that make us stop and say, “This must be a God thing.” Today we are going to be reading about a man named Philip and he is someone that showed up along with Stephen in Acts 6, gets a lot of screen time in Acts 8, and then he doesn’t show up again until 20 years later around the time of Acts 21 but despite the brief appearance of him, he plays a huge role in the expansion of God’s kingdom outside the walls of Jerusalem. Let’s go ahead and read and then I’ll give you some background as to what is going on. Acts 8:26-40

Acts 8:26–40 ESV

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

The “Strangeness” of the Situation

Background of Acts 8

So, what happens in the first 25 verses of chapter 8 that we should be aware of? You’ll remember last week we talked about Stephen and how he was the first martyr of the Christian faith and on that very day, a great persecution breaks out agains the church in Jerusalem and we read in verse 1 that believers throughout Jerusalem are scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. The only ones that seem to stay in Jerusalem are the apostles. However, those that are scattered do not leave quietly. Acts 8:5 says, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word” and Philip is one of those that goes out preaching and we read that he has tremendous success in the city of Samaria. Philip doesn’t just have a great preaching ministry in Samaria, he has a healing ministry as well. Acts 8:7-8 says, “For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.” Philip’s ministry grows to such a degree that Peter and John are sent to go make sense of it and they witness firsthand just how much God is doing in Samaria. While they are there, they lay their hands on the Samaritan believers and the Holy Spirit comes down with power on them, really to signify that the divide between Jews and Samaritans has been erased through the oneness that comes through the family of Christ and to show a Pentecost-like moment to the Jewish Apostles and Samaritans. For Philip, the business is booming. He is living every ministers dream of pastoring a church that is just exploding numerically and spiritually but verse 26 is where we see what might be viewed at as a complete turnaround for Philip.

Peculiarities of Acts 8

We read in verse 26 that an angel of the Lord tells Philip, “Rise and go toward thes outh to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” Philip, who has this thriving ministry going on is told, “get up and leave it.” He is in the middle of this massive revival and he is told to leave it as it and go on to this next place which a lot of ministers would struggle to leave a place like that. Not only does he leave this place of revival, he is told to go to basically the middle of nowhere and Luke emphasizes that the place and road that Philip is traveling on is a desert place. Philip goes from bustling metropolis to next to nothing, desert. What a downgrade right? Not only does Philip go to the middle of nowhere, he is actually on the road that is less likely to be traveled from Jerusalem to Gaza. There were apparently 2 ways to get from Jerusalem to Gaza and the path of the desert was the less popular of the 2 paths. There are some commentators and translations that even say that Philip was told to travel on this road at noon, the hottest point of the day, at the time where there would practically be no one on the road. But Philip doesn’t complain, he rises up and goes and as he is walking on this road, he sees an Ethiopian eunuch that came to Jerusalem to worship and was now returning bath to Ethiopia. To be honest, I think Philip was surprised to be walking on this road and actually see someone. Not only does Philip actually find someone, he finds someone that was considered an outsider to the Jewish society. This man was a eunuch and this meant that he wasn’t even allowed to go inside the temple. He was someone that the Jews looked down upon and he may have gone to Jerusalem hoping to find answers to his deep religious questions only to be met with rejection. This Eunuch was someone that seemed to touch on several elements of society: He seemed to have some Jewish background to him but he wasn’t necessarily completely Jewish. He was someone that had lost a lot but also had a lot of power so he really is someone that the Gospel can reach all types of people and is not just for one particular set of people. Another spectacular element of this story is that when Philip gets to the chariot, he sees that the man is already doing his own Bible study from Isaiah 53 and he is reading the exact passage that points to Christ’s atonement and sacrificial death on the cross. Not only is he reading the Old Testament, the eunuch asks Philip, this guy he has never met, to get in the chariot and explain what it is that the Scriptures are saying. If you are on an abandoned road and you are a rich person and you see this guy sprinting at you from the desert, you probably aren’t thinking that he is interested in studying with you but that’s what happens! God has set up this situation absolutely perfectly!

The Bible as One Story

Let’s reread Acts 8:32-35

Acts 8:32–35 ESV

Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

This moment is very similar to another moment that Luke records back in Luke 24:26-27. Jesus is walking with 2 of His followers but they don’t recognize Him. They mention the death of Jesus and express their concerns that He did not redeem the nation like they thought he would but Jesus reminds them that He was not a political savior but a personal savior. Jesus says, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Philip does the same thing. He uses the Old Testament to explain Jesus to the Eunuch. John MacArthur said, “Any gospel presentation, to be effective, must clearly and comprehensively present the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Perhaps the reason some reject Jesus is that He has not been presented well enough for them to understand who He is and what He has accomplished. To proclaim to others what Christ has done in our lives is important, but the biblical truth about Jesus Christ is the essential message the sinner must hear.” Why didn’t he use the Gospels or the letters of the Apostles to do it? It’s easy, they didn’t exist yet. He is using the Old Testament to point to Jesus as the fulfiller of what the Old Testament pointed to. This is important for us to remember. Why? Because it reminds us that we need to read the Bible as one story. Genesis to Revelation is one book that points to one common thing: Jesus Christ as God and savior and this one book has been given to us that we may know and proclaim the glory of God. I know that it can be easy to remove the Old Testament and focus solely on the New Testament but that is not the Christian faith. We need the Old and the New. It’s both/and and not either/or. We can’t unhinge the Old Testament from our faith and that is why it is so important for us to know Scripture.

The Need for Us to Know Scripture

Notice that when Philip is asked to explain what it was that the Eunuch was reading that he didn’t go, “Well that depends on what you’re reading because if you are reading this set of verses I can but if you are reading these other verses, I don’t think I’ll be able to.” He also doesn’t freeze up but he explains who Jesus is from the Old Testament. What I’m emphasizing for you guys is that you need to know the Bible. I’ve been studying the Bible for a long time and even I don’t know it as well as I would like but that doesn’t stop me from diving into these pages. If you want to reach others with the Gospel effectively, you need to know the Bible. The Bible shouldn’t be something that you occassionally reference but should be your main source in evangelism. Revival happens when the Word of God is proclaimed. John Stott wrote, “The fact is that God has given us two gifts, first the Scriptures and secondly teachers to open up, explain, expound and apply the Scriptures.” If you don’t know something or understand something in the Bible, it’s ok to ask for help. It’s ok to tap into the near unlimited resources of pastors, commentators, and books that all seek to better explain Scripture. You need to know the Bible and we as a church are committed to the task of teaching you all the Bible. I try to give you all a good balance of Old and New Testament. That’s why we have almost always done a series in the other testament after we finish one series. We did John and then we did Genesis. We did Joshua and then we did Philippians and that’s been strategic because I really believe that you need to know both ends of Scripture. All that’s to say, read your Bibles and if you need a Bible reading plan that exposes you to both Testaments, I have some that I can share with you, just let me know and I can print them out for you or send you a link.

Will We Run for Divine Appointments?

Now this all brings us back to where we started to the topic of divine appointments. Every day, you come across moments that God may be using as a divine appointment. The question is, how will you each respond to those moments? Far too many of us let these moments slip through our fingers, the question is are you going to be like Philip and are you going to run? Are you going to leave all, leave convenience and familiarity, and run for these moments? I would say you aren’t running for a moment, your running for a person. These things happen every single day and I know this because it happened to me. You may have heard me tell this story before but I love sharing it because it is a Godsend. I was depressed in college and I felt worthless. I wasn’t sleeping and my self-image was just in the toilet. I would stay at the computer lab on Liberty’s campus pretty much every night until they closed because I couldn’t stand the thought of being alone in my dorm. One night as I was walking back, around 2 or 3 am, some guy I knew on campus was walking with me and he looked me in the eyes and almost like he was speaking directly to my greatest hurt, said to me, “I really see Jesus in you.” That blew me away because I couldn’t see it. In fact, I felt so far from Jesus that I was suprised that he could see much of anything. But in that moment, he said exactly what I needed to hear. That moment changed my life. That moment made me love Jesus again because I made up my mind that if Jesus could so freely die for me, I should be willing to live for Him so don’t tell me that divine appointments don’t still happen because I am living proof that they do. Are you going to run for your opportunities to be a Philip to someone? To be a messenger that brings light out of darkness for a weary and tired traveller? I pray that you will. There are no insignificant moments and no little people in the eyes of God. If God is calling you to something or someone, He will see to it that there is a reason for it. God might be calling you to a desert road but if He is doing that, there is going to be a reason and there is going to be a person that you will come across. Charles Spurgeon said, “If the Lord should send us to the wilderness, we can depend that He will send somebody else there for us to bless. We can go, therefore, without fear.” Friends, I don’t know who exactly it is that God is sending you to but I know that if you are a Christian, He is sending you to someone. He is sending you because you are the exact person that God wants to reveal Himself through. Or if you aren’t a Christian, maybe right now you are here because God in His providence has sent you to this moment. You are here with questions, you are here grappling with identity, you are in a way in your own desert road but God has been mindful of you and He has orchestrated these events of your life to make the goodness of the Gospel known. I’ll end with this quote from Adrian Rogers, a tremendous preacher, that fits perfectly with this moment. “If God brought Philip out of Samaria down to the desert, why? He brought him there because there was somebody there that needed the gospel. I am bold enough to say that you’re not here by accident today. God put this message on my heart, because I prayed over it, and God brought you here. You know why? He loves you. He wants you to be saved. You see, God is working in your heart. Do you find a hunger in your heart? That’s the Holy Spirit of God. And I tell you, I promise you on the authority of the Word of God, if you’ll trust Jesus, He will save you today instantaneously, He will be with you continually, and He will keep you eternally, if you will trust Him today.” You are here today by a divine appointment and you are here today because God in His mercy has allowed you to be. Will you respond to the call that God has put in your life? The call to turn to Christ in faith? The call to be a Philip, to be an evangelist, to someone else. Now is the time to run at the call. Now is the time to get up and not let another moment slip through your fingers. We are here to talk and pray with you, please let us know if there is something that we as leaders can do to help you in your walk with Christ or to help you come to faith for the very first time. Let’s pray and then we will worship together.

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