"This story is a clear example of God's providence bringing people together. Here is an earnest seeker and a messenger of the gospel. God brings them together. God planned this meeting. God called Philip away from Samaria at just the right time to intersect this chariot. God timed the arrival of Philip to correspond to the Treasurer's reading of this specific passage in Isaiah."

In the late nineteenth century John Wanamaker opened a department store in Philadelphia. Within a few years the business had become one of the most successful in the country. But operating his store wasn't Wanamaker's only responsibility. He was also named Postmaster General of the United States, and he served as superintendent for what was then the largest Sunday school in the world. When someone asked him how he could hold all those positions at once, he explained, "Early in life I read, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.' The Sunday school is my business - all the rest are the things."

A visible evidence of Wanamaker's desire to keep the Lord's work first in his life was a specially constructed soundproof room in his store. Every day he spent 30 minutes praying and meditating on God's Word there. He had his priorities straight! He knew what was important and God rewarded his efforts with success.

People who seek God's kingdom first are rare in this world. Someone said recently, "Most middle-class Americans tend to worship their work, work at their play and play at their worship."

Keeping our priorities straight is a major issue of life. George Sweeting put it this way: "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

Jesus said in Matthew 13:44, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field."

Many of you understand what motivated this man to sell all he had to buy that field. You, too, came across the treasure hidden in the field when you first heard the gospel of the kingdom. You also experienced great joy over your discovery to the extent that it was worth all the effort you could muster to obtain it.

I want us to to look at the story of another man who found the treasure of the gospel of the kingdom. He did so because he was seeking it diligently. It was important to him - even more important than his job as a queen's treasurer. His story is told in Acts 8:26-39. Please turn there in your Bibles.

This passage tells the story of The Ethiopian Treasurer or The Ethiopian Eunuch as he is sometimes called. The account is an excellent illustration of the benefits of someone who earnestly seeks God in his life.

Acts 8 describes a great harvest of souls in the land of Samaria, touched off by the preaching and miracles of Philip. When word got to Jerusalem that the Samaritans had received the word of God and were obedient to the faith, the church there sent them two Apostles, Peter and John. The purpose was so that these Apostles could lay hands on the new believers and impart the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit that were a part of the first century church until the completion of the writing of the New Testament.(1) Such miraculous gifts are not available to believers today, mainly because there are no living Apostles to lay hands on them. Many of the so-called "miracles" done by men and women today are far inferior to those we read about in the Bible. I've spoken to you on that subject before so we won't go into it any further at this point. I'll simply say in passing that if anyone thinks that the ability of certain individuals to do miracles is still present with us today, I have several friends suffering with MS. If you know someone who can heal them, I'll pay their expenses to travel to where they are and put them up in the best hotel we can find. Of course if they can't heal them and their power is bogus, they can pay the expenses!

So, with the church in Samaria, now endowed with the spiritual gifts and under inspired leadership, God calls Philip to a new field of labor. That's where we pick up the story.

(Read v. 26-27)

Ethiopia in that day was a kingdom in Africa to the north of the land we call Ethiopia today. The man spoken of here was an official of the Queen who ruled that country.

The text says he was a eunuch. That seems strange to our ears. Why mention a man's sexuality? In that day such a statement carried some political significance because those who worked high up in government and were in frequent contact with a king or queen were often intentionally emasculated, especially if they worked in the vicinity of a king's harem. This man was the Secretary of the Treasury of Ethiopia, so he had probably undergone the procedure. His position would carry with it much prestige and probably a good salary. He was, as it says in verse 27, "in charge of all the Queen's treasure..."

The queen of the country was Candace and you would think that must have been her name, but all Ethiopian queens were called "Candace" in that day in much the same way as the leaders of Egypt were called "Pharaoh."

This man, this Ethiopian treasurer, had come to Jerusalem to worship. Either he was a Jew living in a foreign country or a convert to the Jewish faith.

There was provision in the Law for those who were not Jewish to enter into the covenant relationship. Either this man had taken advantage of that or he had been born to Jewish parents in a foreign country and was now returning to Jerusalem to worship. In either case he had come a long way by chariot. He may have been on the road in this bumpy chariot for weeks or even months.

Apparently he was a man who wanted very much to be right with his Maker. Verse 27 says, "he had come to Jerusalem to worship." Contrast that with people today who won't even get out of bed to ride 10 or 15 minutes in an air-conditioned car to be right with their Maker!

Now with his worship completed, he starts on the long trip home.

(Read v. 28)

Several commentaries on this passage suggest that he may have bought one of the few, rare, expensive, handwritten scroll copies of Isaiah while he was in Jerusalem. At any rate, it was a great scroll to be reading on a day like this one. Verse 30 tells us he was reading aloud as was the custom of people living in his time.

(Read v. 29-30)

Some believe those words "the Spirit said to Philip" indicate that God speaks directly to people living today, giving them detailed instructions about His will. I don't think that is the case at all. Philip was a prophet. He had the miraculous gift of prophecy through the laying on of Apostles' hands.(2) God spoke through prophets in both testaments. He did not speak to the average man who wasn't a prophet in the Old Testament and I find no indication that He spoke directly to the average man who wasn't a prophet in the New Testament. God has never spoken directly to all believers - not even during the first century when the miraculous gifts were in abundance. We know that because Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 14:16 of those who were "ungifted." God's speaking directly to man is a relatively rare occurrence. The reason it seems more common in the Bible is that we have history compressed in the pages.

God doesn't speak directly to people today. I know that because we have no living apostles or prophets. According to Ephesians 2:20, these important offices were foundational.(3) Once the foundation is laid there is no need to keep laying it. Today when we want to know what God wants us to do we read the writings of the apostles and prophets in the Bible. If you are interested in studying this issue further, I'd be glad to share my notes with you. It's beyond the scope of this message for me to go beyond what I have already said.

There is another point I want to make here. This story is a clear example of God's providence bringing people together. Here is an earnest seeker and a messenger of the gospel. God brings them together. God planned this meeting. God called Philip away from Samaria at just the right time to intersect this chariot. God timed the arrival of Philip to correspond to the Treasurer's reading of this specific passage in Isaiah. That brings me to my first point:

I. God's Providence Benefits Those Who Seek Him.

That principle is all over the Scriptures. Listen to a few statements of it...

2 Chronicles 15:2 -- "the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you."

Jeremiah 29:13-14 -- "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."

Matt 7:7-8 -- "ask and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened."

Here in our text is a man who is asking, seeking, and knocking. God responds by bringing him into contact with someone who can teach him the gospel. Without God's intervention this meeting at this particular point in the Treasurer's life would be quite unlikely.

This principle of providence still holds true today. It is no accident that you heard the gospel when you did or that you are hearing God's Word right now. God arranges it for those who earnestly seek Him.

Often I am asked about the perceived inequality between someone born in a so-called "developed country" who has ample opportunity to hear the gospel and someone born in a country where Christianity is unknown or perhaps even illegal. How can God be fair in expecting the less advantaged ones to come to Christ with so little opportunity?

My answer to such questions is simple. If a person truly wants God and actively seeks Him, God will make it possible for that person to find Him, whether he lives in the Bible Belt of America, among native Americans in Arizona, or among head hunters in South America.

Why doesn't it happen more often? Probably because so very few really seek God. Oh, to be sure, many are religious. But few seek God. Few are true to what they already know. (That's not my conclusion. Read Romans 1 and you will find that is God's conclusion. That's true even among those who call themselves Christians and attend churches across our land. Relatively few really seek God. Much of what we see in this country is religion of convenience. It is feel-good religion that takes very little seeking.

But don't listen to me on the subject. Listen to Jesus:

Matt 7:13-14- "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it."

This Ethiopian was one of the "few". His searching after God can be seen in the distance he came to worship, his reading the book of Isaiah, and his willingness to consider what Philip was about to teach him.

Are you a seeker after God? Would you characterize yourself that way? Do you search the Scriptures very often to get God's mind? Or are you here only because someone made you come?

(Read v. 30-31)

It may interest you to learn that this verse is used by the Roman Catholic hierarchy to justify their idea that only the so-called "clergy" can properly understand and interpret the Bible. ("Well, how could I unless someone guide me?") Catholic doctrine teaches that the common man cannot and should not try to understand the Scripture. After all, didn't the Eunuch need a trained ecclesiastic to help him? (So the argument goes.)

Certainly the Eunuch needed help. We all do sometimes. That doesn't mean, though, that once we begin to understand the Bible we can't go on from there by ourselves. Besides, the Bible itself teaches that the common man can understand it.

Acts 17:11 -- "Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so."

Here we have those being taught checking up on those who were teaching! My point is this:

II. God's Scripture Can Be Understood by Those Who Seek Him.

Note again that the issue is one who really seeks. You cannot expect to understand the Bible sufficiently if you only open it occasionally. You have to get in there and get after it! ("If you seek Me, you will find me.")

(Read v. 32-33)

This is a quote from Isaiah 53:7-8. It comes from the Septuagint version, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It is a familiar picture of the crucifixion to us, but remember, the Eunuch didn't have the New Testament to help him understand.

(Read v. 34-35)

Those of you who will have opportunity to teach others the gospel need to take note of Philip's approach. He found out where the treasurer was and taught him from there. ("Beginning from this scripture he preached Jesus to him...")

My third point for you from this passage is this:

III. God's People Must Present Him well to those Who Seek Him.

Don't start talking to a person about repentance and baptism when they haven't come to the point of belief. Don't start quoting a bunch of Bible verses before a person believes that the Bible is the Word of God, either.

It is very informative to note that Paul, when speaking to a group of skeptics and unbelievers in Athens in Acts 17 never quoted a single verse of Scripture! No, I'm not suggesting we never quote Scripture. I'm saying that we need to recognize where people are in their understanding and start there.

Notice another thing about Philip's presentation of the gospel. "He preached Jesus to Him."

Don't preach yourself. Don't preach your preacher. Don't preach the church. Your aim isn't to convert them to you or any other person or group of people. Jesus is the center of our teaching. He gets the attention. Far to many people who are presented the gospel become converted to their teacher, or a certain system or a certain church. To be sure, the church is important, but they need to be converted to Christ first!

(Read v. 36)

Preaching Jesus will include instruction on what is necessary for becoming a Christian. Obviously, Philip taught the Eunuch the necessity of being baptized.

Though the subject of baptism is controversial in many circles, it needs to be taught and obeyed just as it is presented in the New Testament. The irony is that many preaching Jesus today don't teach the necessity of baptism.

Jesus Himself said in Mark 16:16 4- "We who believes and is baptized shall be saved."

Every conversion described in Acts involved immediate baptism in water. Here is a chart that summarizes that point.

Conversion Chart

Those who teach today that baptism in water is unessential in Christian conversion have a problem with this!

Another thing we can note from this passage is that the baptism required for salvation in the NT is water baptism. Look again at the Treasurer's words: "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?" There are those who teach that the baptism involved in salvation is Holy Spirit baptism. That's not what Philip taught this man. "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"

(Read v. 37)

Verse 37 has a footnote in some Bibles that reads something like, "Many manuscripts do not contain this verse." "What that means is that this is one of the few places in our modern New Testament where there is a significant variation between the manuscripts from which our Bible text is taken. This verse is not in the oldest of the manuscripts and so it is in question. Scholars believe that it may have been a footnote that was added later that somehow made its way into the text by copying. We could get involved in a deeper discussion of it if we had time, but we don't. If you need more information on it and the manuscripts of the New Testament, I would be glad to point you to some sources. Suffice it to say now that whether the verse is included or not makes no difference whatsoever in any major or minor doctrine that I know of, since the same idea of belief before baptism is taught in other places where there is no question about the text.

Assuming the verse belongs, or at least that the idea it teaches belongs, we learn that belief is a necessary prerequisite to baptism. The same idea is repeated in Mark 16:16 that I quoted earlier.

That is one reason why we do not baptize infants. Infants cannot believe. They don't understand the issues of salvation. There is no example of infant baptism in the New Testament because conversion requires understanding.

Also, let me say that if you are with us this morning and you do not understand what the Bible says you must do to be a Christian and be saved, it is really very simple.

First, you must come to the point of faith in Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God. The Son, not a Son. He's special. He's the only One.

Second, your faith in Him and all the Bible says about Him must be evident enough that you are willing to confess that faith before others. There simply aren't any secret Christians. Jesus said in Matthew 10:32-33: "Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven."

Your faith in Him will also cause you to believe what He says about sin, that is, that you have broken His law and that the penalty for it is death. It will lead you to do what His Word says to do: repent, that is, turn away from what you know to be wrong.

Finally, as you see here in the case of the Ethiopian Treasurer, you will submit to being baptized (immersed) in water to have your sin taken away.

That will be the beginning of a new life in which you will do you best to live for Him.

That is how you become a Christian and remain a Christian.

(Read v. 38)

I mentioned that baptism is immersion in water. We see that here. They "went down into the water. " Philip didn't bring the water to the Treasurer. I bring that up because some groups today sprinkle or pour water on a person and call it baptism. That is not what we find in the Bible. We must do it the way the Bible says. Of course, there are other passages that teach the same thing. Romans chapter 6 makes it clear that baptism is a burial.(4) Once again, immersion is what is pictured. Actually, sprinkling and pouring as substitutes for baptism weren't added until years after the New Testament was written. Inspired men never taught these things. It really boils down to whether we're going to do things the way they were done in the Bible or do them our own way.

(Read v. 39)

Notice, please, that the rejoicing came after the baptism and not before. Why? Because salvation comes after baptism, not before. If a person can be saved before he is baptized as some claim, the New Testament examples of conversion indicate nothing of it. The Treasurer wasn't told once he confessed his faith that now he was saved and when he got home to Ethiopia he should grow for awhile and then perhaps be baptized when he wanted to get serious. He was baptized immediately just as was the case with all the conversions described in the New Testament. Why such immediacy? Because baptism was necessary for salvation.

If you are here with us this morning and you've never confessed your faith in Christ, you need to do it. If you've never made the decision to turn away from what you know to be wrong, you need to do it. If you've never been baptized in the manner that Jesus commanded, you need to do it.

For that matter, if you've never come to faith in Jesus Christ, but would like to investigate his claims, you need to do it.

Conclusion

The first missionary to the Kiowa Indians was a woman named Miss Reside. After living with the Indians long enough for them to know what it meant to be a Christian, she was given a special name. The Indian called her "Aim-de-co." The chief of the Kiowas, Bigtree, explained the significance of the name this way: "When we Kiowas see anyone on the wrong trail, we call out, 'Aim-de-co,' which means 'Turn this way.' This woman came to us from a far land and found us on the wrong path and in great danger. She stood and called to us and said, 'Turn this way,' and then she showed us what to do."

Nearly two thousand years ago a certain court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure was also on the wrong path. God arranged through providence to have Philip, another who could be called "Aim-de-co," to stand beside him and call out "turn this way." Then he showed him what to do.

Such acts of providence have been going on ever since, and today, if you are not yet a Christian, I and these people around you are calling out, "turn this way." It is our sincere hope that you will do so while there is time.

Footnotes: Use your "back" button to return to your place.

1. Acts 8:14-17
2. Acts 6:5-6
3. Ephesians 2:19-20
4. Romans 6:4

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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