The Saving Power of Scripture

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2016 · 19 June 2016

We are in Acts 8 comparing a faith that does not save and a faith that saves. Last week, we looked at a faith that does not save, as illustrated by Simon the magician. This week, we look at a faith that does save, as illustrated by the Ethiopian eunuch. In both cases, Philip is the key instrument of God in this narrative.

Philip the deacon, not Philip the apostle, is a non-Israeli Jew from the Greek world who was part of the church in Jerusalem. He was brought to Christ along with many thousands of others in the early church. And he was one of those noble men who were chosen to provide service and leadership to the church. He was a powerful and Spirit-filled man, a gifted preacher and the Lord performed many miracles through him, how amazing!

We will see his encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8: 25. But before we look into that, I would like to describe what is happening to the church. The Holy Spirit is pushing over major barriers. The church began in Jerusalem with those Jews that were gathered there. There was an initial barrier against the Greek-speaking Jews, the non-Israeli Jews. But that barrier was quickly overrun because many of them were actually there on the Day of Pentecost; and there were 3,000 who believed.

And then there was the next big barrier, which was Samaria. That barrier meant nothing as Philip and the Christians scattered out of Jerusalem by the persecution of Paul, and began to spill over into Judea and across the border to the north into Samaria; and everywhere they went they were preaching the good news, the Word. So as a result of the persecution, the barriers to preaching the gospel in Samaria collapsed.

So the next thing to be reached is the uttermost part of the earth. So starting in Acts 8: 25, we have the first Gentile conversion. This is an individual from Ethiopia, a foreigner, an alien. The Jewish people had such disdain for the Samaritans that they did not want to deal with them at all. But at least Samaritans had a distant traditional and racial link. However the Ethiopians, representing the Gentiles, had no connection at all.

In Acts 8, we see Philip as the instrument of God confronting, first of all, Simon in Samaria, and demonstrating what a false faith looks like. And now we find Philip confronting an Ethiopian eunuch and showing us what a true faith really is. Acts 8: 25, “Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.”

Remember that the Holy Spirit had not come yet, even though many people had believed under the preaching of Philip, until Peter and John arrived. So the Jews would know that the same Holy Spirit fell upon the Samaritans that had fallen upon them on the Day of Pentecost. And there was repetition of the same phenomena and the presence of the same apostles who had been there at Pentecost to make sure everybody knew the Jews and Samaritans had to be together in the one church.

With the arrival now of the Holy Spirit, things really begin to happen. Philip is about to encounter an Ethiopian eunuch and this is the first time the church expands into the uttermost part of the earth. Israel, as a nation, had always been called to be God’s missionary people. But they vacillated between a Jonah attitude of isolation and animosity toward the nations around them. But the one thing they wouldn’t do was to evangelize the nations, which was what they had been called to do.

So the goal of God to reach the world through Israel hits a stalemate, and God through the church, creates a fresh channel with new people, while setting Israel aside; and they are still set aside even to this very hour. And they are not taking the gospel to the world until you get to the time of the tribulation when God saves 12,000 out of each of the 12 tribes of Israel. Then you have 144,000 Jewish missionaries bringing the gospel to the world, finally fulfilling what they were originally called to do.

But it now begins to unfold on a desert road initially with one person. The kingdom of God advances one at a time. First there is the preparation in this encounter, and then there is the presentation, and then there is the personal response, and that is a simple universal sequence of any gospel encounter. As we look at those three portions, we are going to see the components of a faith that saves.

Look first at the preparation in Acts 8:26-29, “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. 27 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 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”

Now that shows us that this is a well-designed and prepared encounter by the Holy Spirit. So the preparation for true salvation begins with the sovereign work of the Spirit. Salvation is God’s work, not man’s work. It is initiated by God. It is a reflection of His will; because no man seeks after God. The natural man is dead in trespasses and sin, ignorant, helpless and disinterested.

But by the purpose and the power of God, the light of the gospel begins to shine into the darkness and it shatters that natural blindness, and it shatters that second blindness, that is satanic blindness, the blindness that the god of this world imposes on sinners. Remember Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, when He said, “You must be born of the Spirit.” In other words, you must be born from above.

God is the one who chooses, God is the one who calls and God is the one who spiritually activates the human heart. We don’t help God in making a decision about this. Dead men in sin are unable to do anything. In John 6:44, Jesus said, “No man comes to Me unless the Father draws him.” 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “The preaching of the cross is to those that perish, foolishness.” The total incapacity of the unsaved to see, to understand, to receive and to believe, has to be overcome by the Holy Spirit.

And we know this is happening because an angel of the Lord speaks to Philip and tells him to go directly to this individual who is a court official of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, for the sake of the gospel. Here, we have an illustration. And it is graphically laid out for us; whereas most of the time in our lives, we have no idea that that is going on. This is all prepared by the Holy Spirit using an angelic messenger.

Where did this happen? On the road to Gaza, a city of the Philistines given by Joshua to Judah. In 96 BC it was totally destroyed and a new city was built a few miles away, but the road to Egypt still ran through an old fortress in ruins. So it really was a desert road that was much traveled. So the Spirit commands Philip to go on that road and he is obedient. Verse 27, “He got up and went.”

And there was, providentially, the Ethiopian court official of Candace, the Queen who was in charge of all her treasure, as he had come to Jerusalem to worship. God already had chosen this individual man. God had written his name in the Book of Life, from before the foundation of the world, so that the conversion of this eunuch was in the plan of God from eternity past, as is true of everyone who is saved.

But how are they going to know unless there is a preacher? Somebody has to go and preach because Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” So there has to be, secondly, the submissive will of a servant. The Lord has chosen to do His work through human instruments. It was Peter on the Day of Pentecost, in Acts 2, who preached the gospel and 3,000 people were saved. Again, the gospel is preached in Acts 4 and 5,000 are saved. And then the gospel continues to be preached by Stephen.

Philip got up and went even though it didn’t appear sensible or logical. And he ran into the Ethiopian court official as he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. And if you want to know how eager Philip was to do what he had been called to do, check out verse 30, “So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

And then there is a third element, which is the searching of the sinner. Now we come to the individual. There is not going to be any real salvation take place unless the sinner is searching for that. We cannot give the gospel to people who are not interested in it or think it is foolishness. Notice in verse 27, this Ethiopian eunuch is reading Isaiah.

This man had been castrated to serve in a harem. But this man is not just another eunuch among many, he is the Chief Financial Officer of Ethiopia – trusted, respected and honored. God clearly forbids castration in Deuteronomy 23:1 because it is maiming the image of God and it was also paganism. Now he has come to Jerusalem to worship more than a thousand miles. He has been searching. Somewhere he has heard about the God of Israel and surely some Jews must have migrated into that area.

In true salvation there has to be a genuine hunger for the truth. Remember in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Psalm 119:2, “Blessed are they that seek Him with the whole heart.” Or Jeremiah 29:13, “And you shall seek Me and find Me when you shall search for Me with all your heart.” At this point, for those who are searching, it is time for the Word of God.

And he is not just reading anywhere in the prophet Isaiah, he happens to be reading Isaiah 53:32. This is the most important chapter in Isaiah, and it is the presentation of the gospel. He is reading the very best passage you could be reading. So Philip said in verse 30, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Verse 31, “And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”

Verse 32-34, “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. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” 34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”

Verse 35, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.” Simon wanted to have power, this man just desperately wanted the truth. John 16:13 says, “The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth.” The passage he was reading describes the substitutionary atonement of Christ as He was led as the sacrificial Lamb of God to slaughter, silent, humiliated, his life removed from the earth. It is a prophecy of the death of the Messiah.

Philip is truly an evangelist because here in a divinely orchestrated encounter explained to him Jesus, starting at Isaiah 53. When our Lord in John 15:27 was talking to the disciples Jesus says, “When the Spirit comes, He will testify to you about Me.” Philip was filled with the Holy Spirit in explaining that. This is just like what Jesus did on the Emmaus road to the two disciples where He took them back to the Old Testament and explained all the things concerning Himself.

Philip even taught him baptism. Look at verse 36, “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?” There had to be a pool of water in that area of the desert. Why is that significant? Because baptism signifies union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. This demonstrates that the issue was salvation.

How important is baptism? God allowed for this providential encounter in a place where there is no water except there in that place. That ought to give us a clue. God providentially orders the process of salvation, and He makes sure there is water. The eunuch has faith and obedience. Nothing is hindering him. “Is there anything that prevents me?” Go to verse 38, “And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.”

This is the first official baptism of somebody from the “uttermost part of the earth”. Now a comment about verse 37. That verse does not appear in any of the ancient manuscripts, so it was added later. Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” He answered, “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” This is the proof of a genuine faith.

Verse 39, “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.” Wow, what is that? That’s a miracle, you can read about a similar thing with Elijah and you can read about it with Ezekiel. Philip disappeared. Well, what about follow-up for the eunuch? Where there is faith, there is obedience and there is joy.

So Philip gets snatched away – he is a time traveler! Verse 40, “But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.” Azotus is a New Testament title for the town of Ashdod which was the Philistine city where they took the ark a long time ago. Ashdod is about 20 miles north of Gaza where this happened.

Irenaeus, the early Church Father says the eunuch became a missionary. And there are some sections of Africa in which historically, groups of Christians claim this eunuch as the founder of their church. That’s tradition maybe. But, perhaps, the tradition grew because of a real influence from this man’s life. What about you, are you influenced by this? My hope is that several of you become like Philip. Let us pray.