I would like to turn, if I may please, into the Acts of the Apostles, and I would like to read a verse or two in chapter eight, the story that we mostly refer to as the story of the Ethiopian eunuch. Chapter eight of the Acts of the Apostle. I think it's always good, do not you, to remind ourselves of the words of the Lord Jesus. Remember way there in the twenty-eighth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, he gives the commission for the church, and he says, Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and know I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. I remember when, first conversely, the elders in my own fellowships thought, very definitely, to instruct the young men and the young women in the importance of those words. We were reminded that if we wanted to know how important they were, we could always see how very quickly those that listened to them obeyed them. You will remember that the Lord said, next disciples, next Christians, your margin said, of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and teaching them to observe, and how quickly they did. I was told when I went to school, the same as you were, I was told, that all nations were originated from the three sons of Noah, and Shem and Japheth. And the father of the colored nations, Shem the father of the Jewish nations, Japheth the father of the Gentile nations. And you will remember that when we come to Acts eight, we see the conversion of the son of Ham. When we come to chapter nine, we see the conversion of the son of Shea. When we come to chapter ten, we see the conversion of the son of Jacob. And the story of the Ezekiel in Ezekiel, the eighth chapter. Ten, the story indeed of Saul of Tarsus, the ninth chapter. Jesus, the story of Paulineus, the tenth chapter. And how important it is for us to remember, make disciples of all nations. How each one of them not only came to know Christ the Savior, but before the chapters are over, they're baptized, and before the chapters are over, there is the beginning of the teaching of all things whatsoever the Lord has come. For we're going to look, if we may please, at the first of this as it were, this great portion, this eighth chapter of Acts. I will read, if I may, in verse twenty-seven. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candacee, queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, read as Ares 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 Isaiah and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I that some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. And the place of the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. And like a lamb done before his shearers, 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? And the unicorn, Sir Philip, said, I pray thee, of whom speak of the prophet this, of himself or some other man? 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 sultan water. And the eunuch said, See, here is water. Would that hinder me to be baptized? 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. and he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. When they were come up out of the water, the spirit of God caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Esotus, and passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea. Now may the Lord just add his blessing to the reading of his own precious word. Would you join me, please, in prayer before we consider the message? Shall we all pray? O God and Father, we rejoice that thou hast given to us thy word. We praise thee that thou hast not left us without a sure knowledge of thy purpose for us. We ask that this morning as once again we look at a story that's so familiar, that the Spirit of God may so take the things of Christ and reveal them to us, that each one of us may realize that our God has something to say to us. All we pray it may not be that he's speaking to someone else, but God grant that we may be conscious that he's speaking to us, and wilt thou give to us not only listening ears, and not only receptive hearts, but wilt thou please give to each one of us obedient wills that we may be the doers of the Word of God for Jesus' sake. Amen. It is a remarkable fact, but fact indeed, that the Bible confesses again and again of great joy. I think all of us will acknowledge that the opening chapters of the Bible are very much occupied with the journeys of men, of Abraham's journey, of Jacob's journey, of Joseph's journey. I think it will grant me that the journey of Moses is one of the most important of all journeys that were told in the Bible. And when later we come to the journeys of such women as the Queen of Sheba, and remember that the Lord Jesus himself took that journey up and used it for our day and generation, and for a day and generation that's yet to come, I think we will acknowledge that the Bible consists of the stories of journey. What can I say of the greatest of all journeys? The journey of the Christ of God from heaven to earth, and hallelujah from earth to heaven. But this morning, with your permission and I trust with the help of God, I want us to consider another journey. The journey that a man took. And oh, what a journey it was. He never thought it was going to turn out like this, but it did turn out like this. It turned out to be a journey from darkness to light. For him it turned out to be a journey from sorrow to joy, from religion to Christ. It seems to me that it's one of the most important journeys that you and I can ever consider. And I want to talk about that journey, if I may. The journey of this Ethiopian eunuch. The journey of a man who found himself in the darkness of a continent that knew not Christ. found at the end of his journey that he'd entered into the light of heaven. The journey of a man who found himself so overwhelmed with sorrow. For he went up to Jerusalem to wash it. And sir, you will not forget, will you? You will not forget that when he got there, he wasn't even permitted into the outer court of the house of God. The book of Leviticus had barred him forever. and the eunuch of entering in even to the outer court of the house of God. He who traveled those hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles, arrived in Jerusalem and wasn't even permitted to do what he desired to do, or how filled with sorrow. Yet, hallelujah, we read that he went away rejoicing. So his journey, though it started with sorrow, finished with joy, story of a man whose journey started with religion, going up to Washington and finding it so empty and finished saying, I believe that he's the son of God entering into the blessing of Christ. Now I won't say four things, if I may, about this story. I think they're very important. I trust that they may be for each one of us as it were on our journey to glory I'm going to suggest that first of all this is the story of a great man who needed Jesus we are living in days is it not a fact we're living in days when men and women imagine if only they're great they'll have no need but this is the story of a great man who needed Jesus but oh hallelujah It's the story of a good man who reached Jesus. I'm glad. And perhaps one does not need to be great to be good. I say I'm glad one doesn't need to be great to speak of Jesus either. For it's the story not only of a great man who needed Jesus, but it's the story of a good man who reached Jesus. And then as we read the story, something seems to happen, that that great man becomes conscious that he's a guilty man. The wonder is that he listens to the blessed preaching of the Christ on every cross. We find it's the story not now of a great man who needed Jesus, or a good man who preached Jesus, But it's the story of a guilty man who trusted Jesus. And oh, bless God. The story comes to its close. And he comes to the close, surely with the story of a glad man who followed Jesus. Who followed Jesus. Firstly, then... It's the story of a great man who needed Jesus. I don't believe that any one of us could just casually read the portion that we've read without coming to acknowledge this man, that here was a man, an Ethiopian, who was of truth a great man. No, he had great. I know not how much wealth he had. I know he had charge of all the treasure of Queen Candacy, the Queen of the of this, that not only did he have charge of all the treasure of this queen, but in his own right he was a man of wealth. It would have cost him a great amount of money to have taken the journey he did take, over a thousand miles, bringing with him servants to care for him, to watch over him, to care for his horses and his chariots. Or he was a journey that was an extremely expensive journey. It was a journey that would have taken him, I have little doubt, within the realm of some freemen to have made and made me long. So here was a man who had immense wealth. And yet, despite his wealth, here was a man that had a deep need, a tremendous longing in his heart. It's been my joy in this and some thirty other countries to have preached the gospel. Sometimes amongst folk who know dire poverty must have thought to share that poverty with them. Sometimes in lands where everyone seems to be the very mark of that land. But if I've learned this, I've learned this in the school of experience that a man may have all wealth of disease, and yet that wealth will never bring to him the satisfaction they might not. as we found again and again in the homes of men and women who have so much of this world's goods, and they sent an English to Ford, we still have them. But will you not admit this? It is that it is once, frequently, amongst those that have most of this world's goods, that marriage is greater, that divorce and all the things that are associated with it are seen. Is it not apparent that you could have the wealth of the world? Phil had a need. And he was a man who had wealth. But he had a need. He was a man that had honor. He was a man of position. The man that had charge of all the treasure, all the wealth of Queen Candace. A man who was respected. A man who would have been trusted. A man whose word was his bond. I dare say, sir, I dare say, Madam, that the more we think this through, the more we have to acknowledge that here was a man who bore many of the marks of being a Christian. I hear people tell me, oh, as long as you do the best you can. Because as long as you're honest in business, As long indeed as you are careful with your friends and your neighbors, as long as in your own society, you live for that which is good, then you'll be all right. Well, here was a man that did all men. The queen trusted him with her wealth. The nation honored him and accepted him as the chancellor of its shepherd. yet there was a deep longing need in his heart. And friend, I dare say this, I dare say that you and I are those that need to understand that there's no one can satisfy us but Jesus Christ. Here was a man not only of wealth, a man not only of honor, but here was a man of education. He's got that too. I wonder how many of you here could have done it. I wonder how many of you here could have done it. He spoke first of all, the Hittitean tongue. When he went up to Jerusalem, and he arrived in the city of Jerusalem, and eventually he comes away from Jerusalem, and he comes in contact with a man, Philip, the deacon, who speaks to him, and don't not speak to him in Hebrew, but speaks to him in Aramaic, and he understood it. Then he opened the Bible, and the Bible was written in Hebrew, and he could read it, whatever it is. As a matter of fact, he spoke not just not just in a pure Aramaic way, but he spoke in the colloquial Aramaic. And he understood. He was a man of education. And in this land of yours where you almost bow in the goddess of Antiochians, let's remember this, that you may have the education to set your man to the moon. But you need something more than that to get beyond it and get glory. He had his wealth. He had his honor. He had his education. But all he had is needs. Eighty months ago, I found myself away in Australia. I was speaking at a school in Tattling. And I had a breath. Excuse me, Bobby. I was sitting in a headmaster's office, drinking a cup of tea with it, and still having the kind of talk. When he turned the competition, strange thing that they did, he turned the competition. He said, you know, the sport I'm not a religious man. I don't have a culture. But I was very much struck by what you said to the children's men. Since you and I had my teachers' training during those hungry years of the service, when life in your land, and I am sure, like here in America, There was poverty, when depression, as it were, weighed and eased in our land. He said, as a young student in college, I was absolutely sure that all the world needed was a little more education. All the world needed was a little more opportunity. All the world needed was a little more training in commerce and in jobs, and all that problems would be ironed. He said, I have felt that for many long years, but these last few years I have seen how absolutely ridiculous it's all turned out to be. Or said he, I pleased not the man who was the headmaster of a school outside of Smithton, Charles Anthony. He said, you know, I look around the world today, and it is in the lands where they have the greatest education, in the lands where they have the greatest opportunity. in the lands where they have the greatest wealth. They have the greatest wealth. It's not that. I'd like to take you sometimes to some of the little places I live in. I'd like to slip you away to Singapore, to take you to the islands of the Fiji. I'd like to take you around to the back sides to wave under in Australia and introduce you to some of those Aboriginal Men that have no education and have no wealth. Do you know something? They don't have any young boys. They don't have any students like us. Do you know something more? They don't care. They don't have any homes and homes on them. The marriage is great enough. Is it not apparent to me in my own land that knows so much affluence? I can't speak at all. If I wouldn't speak, I am but a guest in your country. In my own land, where we have everything almost that it's necessary for a man to have, where he's sick and he can go to any doctor, and it won't cost him a penny, slip into a hospital, and it won't cost him anything, man. The most major of surgery. We're institutions at the grasp of everyone. Where anyone can go to university if they've got the great effort. Yeah, Christopher, cool down there. Amen. Whether all homes break up in divorce than at any time in the history of our land, you all say no more. I just don't know enough about your country. The charging of that ship can be great and young ladies as much as ever thought. Here was a man that had everything, but he didn't have it. But if it's the story of a great man who needed Jesus, it's the story of a good man who preached Jesus. I'm glad of that. Will you remember something about this man? Do you know we're living in peculiar days. We're living in peculiar days. I used to think that I was associated with the folk who believed in the priesthood of every belief. I used to believe that I moved in other people where there was an opportunity for gifts to be developed. Where any young man, any young woman, had any gift towards God, there were elders in the fellowship who would care for them, who would teach them, and train them. And you know, brethren, sisters, the more I read my Bible, the more I realize that this is still God's plan. He has changed for nothing. But as I look at the word of God and I see some of the things that sometimes happen, I wonder. I hear folk talk about deacons, you know, and elders and deacons, and I wonder sometimes wherever they get it. They talk about deacons as though he's just right upon tables. Do you know the two finest preachers and the acts of the apostles? They were both deacons. You won't find a good creature in the world than FEMA. You've got to read it. You've got to search for all the standards you've had. And I'll tell you something more. You have a job to tell me whenever he's waiting on things, whenever he's waiting on things. This man, Philip. No, no, no, no, no, no, please. This is not Philip. This is not Philip. The apostle. This is Philip. Did he? He went down into Samaria and preached in a revival cave. Where do we get this business that a deacon is a person who never has anything to say to God? Never you forget the word deacon is simply servant of the church, and you can serve God in the ministry of the world as well as serve God in waiting on tables. Oh, you brethren, listen, let me say something. Let me say something very near my heart. You will accept this from me, I know, because it's said, really it's said in the spirit of love. But brethren, it's more important for you to take part in worship than to use your hymn book. Now I don't think there's need for me to say anymore, sir. Don't think there's need for me to say anymore. Oh, let's realize that God has something for each one of us. that you and I are bound to me to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. And here he is, this man, this man. So, and did you look at the church, the greatest preacher almost of his death? The scripture says this of him. He was man full of the Holy Ghost. Isn't that great? No, no, there's no idea that here's a man not quite as spiritual as another, so he'll be a patron and not an elf. A man full of the Holy Ghost. The scripture says this. He was a man full of wisdom. A man who went down to Samaria and preached Christ unto them. Isn't that lovely? He preached Christ unto them. Oh, brethren, let's preach Christ. Let's tell men and women of the saints. And there down into Samaria he went, and he spoke surely not a creed, not a catechism, not a religion, not a ritualism. And he preached Christ. He spoke of his sinless life and manhood. He spoke of his sacrificial, atoning death. He spoke of his glorious resurrection. He preached Christ unto the people. Oh, what a good man. He preached Jesus. I'm glad I've got someone to offer to men and men. I'm glad I haven't come here to your land to preach to you a creed. I believe in creed. I haven't come to preach a catechism. I haven't come to your land to preach just a religion. Although please, I believe in religion with all my heart. I hope you are never insulted by having someone stand up here and say, I don't preach religion. Do you know what the Bible says religion is? The Bible says it's the visiting of the wilderness and the keeping yourself unstucked from the world. And if we don't preach that, that's how we did it. If we don't preach that we ought to visit the fatherless and the widow and help those in need, and if we don't preach separation, keeping ourselves unspotted from the world is about time we did. Oh, I preach religion. But listen, I don't preach religion saved. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I haven't come to preach that religion saved. I come that I might share with you something of the wonders of the Savior. A great man may need Jesus, but a good man will preach Jesus. And it's the story of a guilty man who trusted Jesus. How wonderful it was. This poor, disappointed man who returned from Jerusalem, not being committed even to enter the outer court of the temple. there he sits in his chariot and he's reading in the prophecy of Isaiah. And if you please, sir, he's reading in the fifty-third chapter. And if you please, sir, a servant of God was so in touch with God that the Spirit was saying, run and join myself for the chariot. And if you please, sir, he ran and joined himself for the chariot. There it is. I think that's how it is. Do you know that when the Lord tells us to do something, he expects us to do it at once. Now wait, he doesn't only expect us to do it at once because he expects our obedience, but he expects us to do it at once because he expects us to do it at once because he knows that's the best time for us to do it. That's the easiest time for us to do it. Now here was a man who was reading under fifty-third of Isaiah. He was in a chariot. I know not whether the chariot was trotting or whether it was walking. I only know this, that he had this man to look, to run and join himself to the chariot, and he ran. Now if he had put off doing what God told him to do for two minutes, just for two minutes, by time he'd have gone to the chariot, what would have happened? The Ethiopian unit would have been out of the fifty-third into the fifty-four. Shall I tell you something? There's not one of you have ever heard a gospel address on the fifth quarter of Isaiah. Well, I've led conversational Bible readings to the Book of Isaiah, and we've taken it step by step through the fifty-fourth. But there's not one of you ever heard a gospel address on the fifty-fourth of Isaiah. It must be the most difficult chapter almost in the whole of the prophecy from which to preach the gospel. And tell me, what's the easiest chapter in the prophecy to preach the gospel from? You can't preach the gospel from the fifty-year-old Isaiah. You can't preach it from anyway. the stupidest chapter in the Bible to preach the gospel one. God said, I know all about that. But I'll give you an easy text. Run. Oh, let's make sure we do what God tells us to do and make sure we do it at once. Because it will be for his glory and for our passion and it will be the stupidest thing in the world to do. We'll preach from the English chapters. There's a baby that's one. And he ran and he came to the fifty-third. And the man looked, and the inquiry looked the same, of whom writeeth the prophet, of whom speaketh the prophet, himself or some other man. And beginning at the same scripture, he preached unto him Jesus. Is that lovely? Jesus. What is it we say to the children? J-E-S-U. Act. Jesus exactly suits us sinners. That's what he preached to him. Jesus exactly suits us sinners. He started trustable, as when he'd say, where he'd started the way Gondor and Samaria. He started when he's spotless life and manhood. Jesus! He took him away there to that wonderful statement of the angels. They shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. He dared to remind him of an occasion when looking upon Jesus as he walked. John the Baptist said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who take up away the sin of the world. For he's going to read to one who's led to the land for the slaughter. And as the sheep before her shears is done, so he opened up his mouth. So he urged to tell him of Jesus, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. And oh, sir, madam, you will not forget it. You must forgive me for taking your apples under you again. But if you come with me back to the story of Melania's match, to an extra hand that placed his hand upon the shoulder of his real ass, let up the hill to a real ass who said, Father, the altar, the stakes, the fire that willed the lamb for a second. Abraham who said, God shall supply himself a land for the sacrifice. But you won't forget. Oh, you won't forget. Well, you'll think that you'll never understand the Old Testament that we know. God didn't do it. God didn't do it. Abraham said, God shall supply himself a land. It was a round whole way forward in this way. There's no need for me to tell you the difference between a man and a man. God supplied for Isaac. The prophecy. Something else was found to die for Isaac. But God didn't supply a land back then. But the prophets still remained. God shall supply himself alive. And right through the Old Testament, surely this is the question that's being asked, whether it be the morning sacrifice or the evening sacrifice, whether it be the Passover sacrifice, whatever sacrifice it was, this was the question. Is this the Lamb of God's appointing? Every one of them were lands of men's appointing. But one day, Oh, hallelujah. One day, looking upon Jesus as he walked, John says, he's kept his word. A thousand years of the day and a day of the thousand years, I pray, behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the Lord. and beginning at the same scripture. What scripture? He was led as a land. He preached unto him, Jesus. Oh, sir, I'm glad of this that God loves you. Madam, I'm glad of this that God couldn't love you more than he has loved you. He's loved you so much that he sent his own son. Thank God. God with us. Emmanuel. Ah, but he preached unto him, Jesus. They shall call his name Jesus, for he shall pay his people. Amethyst. Jesus exactly since our sinner was there to Calvary's cross. He went, and he took my sin and my sorrow, and made it his very own. He bore my burden to Calvary, and he suffered and died. Oh, the wonder of it all. Oh, the wonder of it all. Sir, madam, he preached unto him Jesus. And then the guiltiness suddenly realizing that he was a sinner, suddenly realizing that he needed a savior, suddenly understanding more than ever he'd understood before. He said, See, here is water, what does hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest, then he said, I believe. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Oh, please, it is the belief not of intellectualism. I get tired with that belief. As many of you know, I spend the large part of my year among undergraduates in Cambridge. When I left and left a crowd of young men to carry on my work, I came over here almost the last thing I said to them. So I gave them the charge here I left for America just that week from now. I said, listen, boys, God is not concerned with yet ever. He's concerned with the cleanliness. He's not concerned with the holiness. He's not concerned with the holiness. If you're going to be used to God, it's going to depend how clean you are. It's going to depend on holiness. Oh, God. This man suddenly realized that despite his education, despite his wealth, despite his position, despite his acknowledgement of the Jewish religion, he was a sinner before God who needed forgiveness. He said, I believe. It was not an intellectual belief. There are so many of us believe up here, you know, and we need a great sledgehammer to knock it down a few inches so it gets in our heart. He and I give it another blow so it gets down into our feet and we walk in the way of it. God wants you and I to live for Jesus. I believe it when I ask you. Do you believe? You know what it means to believe, don't you? Simply to trust one's life, then. I'm prepared to trust my life in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. But isn't that what Christ himself was always asking men to do? To change to him one day, at least there was hope for him one day a man that was blind from the disciples and master. Who did sin this man or his parents when he was born one? And Jesus spanned the ground. the dust he made on others, trapped it in the eyes of the man. So he got those beasts out of that. You know, they're trying to prove that the best thing to mend it with is the thing that it's made of. And Christ stooped down, got some dust. He meant it. I only know that when he came out of the false high low, he didn't know who it was, and he put the mud in his eyes, He couldn't see anything. And Jesus wasn't there. And then the persecution started. And everyone came at him. One day he had Jesus. And Jesus said to him, Not, I think that. You had a wonderful healing. Not a good thing. He didn't say. He didn't say, Oh, sir, have you been prepared to witness for me? Oh, sir, have you been willing to suffer for me? Listen, he had a wonderful healing. He had witness for the Lord. He's been excommunicated, excommunicated from the very house of God. He's revered for Christ. But Jesus now said, have you done anything for me? He said, Believe us now in the Son of God. And I said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe? Jesus said, Are you extreme unto me? This is the question, not of your sufferers, not of your willies, not of your willies. This is the question. Believe it or not. This man said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. A guilty man who trusted, who believed in Jesus. May I say this? I'm glad. Oh, hallelujah. You know, I'm glad of that. I'm glad knowing Jesus Christ doesn't make a man miserable. If you think I look miserable, it must be the indigestion or something. I don't know what it is. It's nothing to do with Jesus. The wonder is this, that knowing Christ brings joy. A glad man. And a scripture says he went on his way rejoicing. A glad man who followed Jesus. Willing to follow him through the waters having believed. having believed, willing to follow him, to go back to his own country and back to his own land, to say that Jesus is the Son of God. I'm going to leave you. I'm going back to heaven. Let Jesus go. based aside more than all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, though I am with you always, even to the end of the age. The Son can, he believes, and follows it. May I And you believe? You follow me. If not, oh sir, sir, why not? And why not, Lord? Tonight, if the Lord will, we're going to look at the son of Shen. And Jeff, Jacob, I'm not going to squeeze the two in if you'll give me an extra five minutes. And we'll see. Make disciples of all nations. Make your voice. Make your voice. Nothing. Because you've talked to the Lord. And if by chance there's someone here, and you're not your voice, If I can help you, I'm your servant for Christ. I'd be so happy to speak with you. So we close with prayer. Oh God and Father, we bless thee again this morning for the wonders of thy word. We're so glad that those disciples were willing to obey what you say and were willing to step out. make it as much of all nations. We praise him for this man himself, this deacon of the church, this preacher of the gospel, the wife of such that he had fine daughters who also served him, who blessed the consistency of a whole lot that Jesus Christ. And we pray that each one of us walking sexual to death. And be it, be it, go be it. Those who will talk with us for his name's sake. Amen.