It’s easy to turn inward and become focused on ourselves. It’s only natural. After all, we’re programmed that way. All our lives we grow up thinking that we are the most important person we know. We spend our time trying to please ourselves. Slowly, as we mature, we learn that others are important too, especially when we meet that person we are going to marry. Other events continue to shape that understanding. And when we come to Christ, we should begin to focus on others in a big way.
Yet even Christians can fall into the trap of becoming refocused on themselves. You see, at the core of human nature there is a tendency toward selfishness. It’s a part of what we call the old nature. It’s habitual, and habit patterns are hard to break. Sometimes it takes powerful forces or events to blast us out of these comfortable patterns. But unless they are changed, we will quit growing.
The early church found itself in such a situation. They had seen a great move of God in their lives. It had begun at Pentecost, and the church in Jerusalem had become dynamic. But the message needed to get out of Jerusalem. Jesus intended for it to be preached to everyone, so God did one of those things that He does when we get complacent — He shook them up. Persecution arose against the church and they were scattered. Only the apostles and a core group stayed in Jerusalem, and those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. God took the salt and poured it out of the saltshaker, where it could do its job. The early church had not lost its desire to share the good news, but it needed a push to get it out where the people were. That is where the church needs to be.
The desire to share Jesus should be natural for Christians. If you love Jesus, you want to share Him with others. The desire is there. But even when God thrusts us out into the marketplace, sometimes the opportunities pass us by. In the hustle and bustle of human affairs, our encounters with people are brief and fleeting. We hurl past one another like speeding chariots on an old Roman road. How do we catch those chariots of opportunity? How do we keep those witnessing opportunities from passing us by?
The story of Philip’s witness to the Ethiopian eunuch is a story of a divine appointment — of a seized opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. It’s the story of how one man caught the chariot of opportunity, and led another man to Christ.
The first thing necessary is a searching sinner. In order to lead someone to Christ, you have to have someone who needs to be led. There must be a sinner who has been prepared by the Holy Spirit. That is essential. Among all the other elements necessary in the witnessing encounter, two are fundamental. You must have a sinner; and you must have a soul-winner. Whatever the method or program, all have one thing in common — a lost person encountered by a saved person, a sinner encountered by a soul-winner. The searching sinner in our text is the Ethiopian eunuch. It says about him in verse 27, that he was an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians.
Several things stand out about him. The first of which is that he was respectable. He was a court official of the queen. You might say that he was a member of her cabinet. In the East, eunuchs often attained positions of great authority and power. Our Scripture text indicates that he was in charge of the treasury of Ethiopia. His title could have been Secretary of the Treasury. This was no menial job. We see some indication of his status and prestige in verse 28. It says there that he was sitting in his chariot. Few people could afford the luxury of having their own chariot in those days. This was the luxury Lexus or Mercedes of the day. It was his status symbol. Here was a man of great influence and wealth. Here was a man of great authority and power. Here was a man of status and prestige. Here was a very respectable citizen indeed. But he was lost.
It’s possible to be the most respected citizen in the community, to be a person of prestige and power, influence and wealth, and be lost and on your way to hell. The Bible says in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." A person’s status, position, prestige, influence, wealth, education and authority do not make that person saved. Only a personal relationship with Jesus transfers one from the roll of the lost to the roll of the saved.
We also need to see about this man that he was religious. The Scripture says in verses 27 and 28 that this man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. He was on his way back from worshipping God in Jerusalem. Here we have what was known as a Gentile God-fearer. This was a person who believed in the true God, but who had not become a full proselyte of the Jewish religion. Somewhere along the line, he had become convinced that the God of Israel was the true God and now he had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. No doubt, he desired to come there and learn the truth about God. I’m sure his heart was eager with anticipation as he set out for Jerusalem. There he can visit the holy Temple, make his offerings, converse with the Rabbis, walk in the court of the Gentiles, talk to the Priests and Levites. The scholars of the law could explain the fine points of faith to him. Perhaps his position as a court official would provide an entree to the great Sanhedrin council. Perhaps he could even get an interview with the High Priest. So he set out on his journey. It was a journey of perhaps 1200 miles. He journeyed long up the Nile and then across the desert sands of Sinai, and finally, through the hill country of Judea. Then there it was — the Holy City. The great walled city appeared before his eager eyes. And there in the midst was the Temple of God, bathed in golden splendor, like a fiery beacon on Mt. Moriah. At last, he had arrived.
But his journey was to end in disappointment. What he found in the Holy City was hypocrisy, materialism, intolerance, exclusivity and sectarianism. What he found there was not a living faith, but a dead Judaism. And so the Scripture says that he was returning, sitting in his chariot, reading the Scriptures, trying to make sense of his faith. This is a sad picture, of religious humanity without Christ. The tragedy of our day is that so many people attend religious services, yet go home with empty hearts. There are thousands in our country today who have joined a religious organization but are not saved. You see, you can be religious and lost too.
But finally, we need to see about this man that he was receptive. Notice in verse 28 that he was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. God had prepared this man to hear. Here we have a searching sinner whose heart is empty, whose life is unfulfilled, but who is receptive to the truth. He is typical of many today. Often people we encounter today are inwardly looking for something that’s real. They know their life is unfulfilled, but don’t know how to find fulfillment. They’re open, receptive and ready for someone to share the truth with them. They are like this Ethiopian — they are searching. Here was a man who was responsible but lost, religious but lost, receptive but lost. He is like many of your friends, your co-workers, your neighbors, even your family.
What a searching sinner needs is a sensitive soul-winner. And so, we see the soul-winner, Philip. Philip was one of the first deacons in the early Church, but he knew the highest calling of any Christian was to be a soul-winner. So Philip began to preach the Gospel. We see him down in the city of Samaria, proclaiming Christ to the multitudes gathered there and a revival broke out. People were being touched by the power of God. Multitudes were being saved, and the Scripture says that there was great rejoicing in that city.
But we need to notice about Philip that he was open to be led by God. In the midst of that great revival in Samaria, he was in tune with the leading of the Lord. He was listening and open to what God would say to him. In verse 26 it says, Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." Because he was open, God was able to speak to him, and Philip heard the word of the Lord.
But Philip was also obedient. God spoke to him and told him to leave that great revival meeting and go down to a virtually uninhabited dusty desert road. Philip could have said, "Wait a minute, Lord, things are going well here. Revival has broken out, the Spirit is moving, people are rejoicing. I’m having the time of my life. I can’t go just yet." But Philip didn’t say that. Philip obeyed. If we would be sensitive soul-winners, we must be both open and obedient to the word of the Lord and to the leading of the Spirit. If we would keep the chariots of opportunity from passing us by, we must be in tune with the Spirit’s leadership and responsive to it. Philip was, and so he journeyed down this desert road toward Gaza.
Philip was not only open to the leading of God and obedient to the word of God, he was quite observant as well. It was on this road to Gaza that he spied a chariot with an Ethiopian eunuch sitting in it, reading the Scripture. Our passage says in verse 29, that the Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." The Spirit directed Philip to the chariot and Philip saw in that chariot an opportunity to share Jesus Christ. In verse 30 it says, Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. Philip was observant enough to note an opportunity to share Christ from the Scripture. So he asked a leading question in order to get the conversation started. We see the result of this in verse 31. After Philip asked the Ethiopian if he understood what he was reading, the Ethiopian said, "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Because Philip was open, obedient and observant, he had caught this chariot and now had an opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
If we would be sensitive soul winners, we must also be open, obedient and observant. We must be open to the leading of the Lord, obedient to go and share our faith, and observant enough to seize all opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. We cannot afford to pass by or let ourselves be passed by the chariots of opportunity. We must catch those chariots. We must seize every opportunity to share our faith in Christ. And those opportunities only come when we place ourselves in contact with people.
Notice next where there was a selected Scripture involved in this witnessing situation. This is not by accident, but by God’s design. If we would be effective, we must use Scripture to bring people to Christ. This Ethiopian eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53, and from that passage of Scripture Philip shared the Good News of Christ.
We need to understand that the Scripture is inspired. In short, it’s God’s book. From beginning to end, it is God’s Word. It is inspired by the Holy Spirit. That is why the Ethiopian eunuch was reading it. And that is why Philip helped him understand it.
Secondly, we need to understand that the Scripture is instructive. The Scripture reveals Christ to us. Here, the Ethiopian was reading from the Old Testament, from the book of Isaiah. Christ is the central theme of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. In Philip’s day, all they had was the Old Testament. The New Testament wasn’t written at that time. And so, here in the book of Acts when we see them reading or preaching from the Scriptures, it’s from the Old Testament. But they’re preaching Christ from the Old Testament. From Genesis through Malachi, Christ is the central theme. The Bible is instructive in that it reveals Christ. Today, it’s even easier for us because we have the New Testament which speaks directly of Christ. But it’s possible to be saved from any portion of God’s Holy Word — Old Testament or New Testament.
And then, thirdly, we need to understand that the Scripture is indispensable to bring people to Christ. When we share the Gospel with people, we need to share from the Word of God. It is the Word of God which has the authority we need to convict and convince people of their need.
Finally, this witnessing encounter ended with a supernatural salvation of this Ethiopian eunuch. Salvation is something God does by His Spirit. We can’t save anyone. We can only share the Good News with them. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict them of sin, to convince them of the need for a Savior and to convert them as well. And this is what happened to this Ethiopian eunuch.
The first thing that happened was conviction of sin. We see the Ethiopian saying in verse 36, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?" They were traveling along that dusty road, Philip was preaching Jesus from Isaiah, the Holy Spirit was moving in the Ethiopian’s heart, and now he expresses a desire to come to know Christ. God was at work, and the Ethiopian was convicted of his need.
The second thing that happened was confession. In some of the later manuscripts verse 37 says, And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Faith is a heart matter. The Ethiopian wanted to be baptized. In other words, he wanted to make a commitment to Christ. He asked if he could and Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart." The Ethiopian confessed his faith in Christ. He said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Here we have an essential ingredient in our salvation. It is believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth. Romans 10:10 says, "For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
And finally, we have a commitment. The Ethiopian followed through on his faith and confession and was baptized. Verse 38 says, And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. Here was the follow-through. Baptism is the first step of obedience for the believer. Baptism, in itself, doesn’t save. But those who are saved desire to follow the Lord in baptism. The Scripture says that we are to "repent and be baptized." Jesus Himself commanded that people who came to faith in Him be baptized. Baptism is an outward symbol of an inward work of grace. It is an act of obedience, indicating the Christian is willing to live for Jesus. In this act we see the Ethiopian eunuch’s commitment to follow the Lord.
In this passage of Scripture, we see a man brought to Christ because of the faithful witness of a sensitive soul-winner. We see an opportunity seized by an obedient Christian to share the Gospel with a respectable, yet lost man. We see God using His Word to reveal Christ and the Spirit of God working in the heart of someone searching for life. It was all made possible because a sinner came in contact with a soul-winner. God desires that we all be the kind of sensitive soul-winner that Philip was.
This kind of commitment on the part of believers to share their faith in Christ is what made the early Church so great. The early Church was effective in spreading the Gospel throughout the known world because it was made up of believers who saw themselves as soul-winners — agents of the Kingdom of God. Whenever Philip led this Ethiopian eunuch to Christ, the Scripture says, in verses 39 and 40, When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea. Philip’s work was over and the Spirit snatched him away. The Ethiopian looked around and could not find Philip. But he rejoiced that he had found the Lord. Philip found himself at Azotus. But he didn’t look back. He just kept preaching the Word. So should we, wherever we find ourselves.
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