Up on Two Wheels

Up on Two Wheels  2020 09 13

Acts 8:26 – 38

Last weekend was the final drag race at the Sechelt airport for 2020. Many were there from all over with their souped-up cars, hoping to win the various prizes. There was at least one car there with over a thousand horsepower. Several others had nitrous-oxide boosters to give them a short horsepower boost. Often you will see cars with this kind of horsepower up on two wheels as they leap off the starting line. Yet their power is very limited and often very short-lived. So how could it be that a young first century man was up on two wheels with a power that eclipses all others and lasts endlessly?

Acts 8:26 – 38

While people were out at the race track last Saturday being amazed by all the power and noise, a much greater power was watching over them, keeping them safe and making sure that the planet they were racing around on was still following its prescribed course around the sun and still working the way it was always intended. That is the power that put Philip up on two wheels, as he travelled the dusty road near the modern day Gaza strip.

I He was Sent

1. Notice carefully our text. So often we want to be given a clear reason with an expected outcome before we do anything. But the angel of the Lord told Philip to go take the road down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

   1. Perhaps a little perspective will help us understand how incredible the command seemed. When the angel came to him, Philip was having astonishing success preaching the gospel in Samaria. If you look back up to verse 5, Philip preached Christ in Samaria, and everyone believed! It was incredible!

   2. But right when people were responding by the hundreds and maybe even the thousands to the gospel, God sent him down to a dusty desert road in Gaza.

II No Further Instructions

1. Notice that no further instructions are recorded. The angel of the Lord told Philip to go out to a desert, literally, a deserted place with a road through it.

   1. He had been preaching the gospel to crowds with an amazing response. Then God sent him out into… the middle of nowhere!

III He Met a Royal Entourage

1. 1. 1. Imagine. Philip was not a rich man, and he had just travelled from Samaria to Jerusalem and down the road to Gaza on foot. He was an Apostle, not likely to have more than the clothes on his back. His walk up to Jerusalem (uphill from Samaria, then down from Jerusalem would have been about a forty hour walk. Imagine what he would have looked like after that, walking along those dusty roads in the Mediterranean heat!

         1. But then, as he began to travel the Gaza road, he met a royal entourage. This was not simply a man in charge of a harem as eunuchs are most commonly understood to be. The term also referred to any confidential officer or counsellor of state, which is what it means in this instance.

         2. The man was a high ranking official of the queen of Ethiopia, trusted with all her wealth, which in those days was very great.

            1. Ethiopia was once a very great empire, before multiple invasions from Europe and then from communists within reduced it to what it is, today.

         3. This man was a Jew or a Jewish proselyte, who had been to Jerusalem for the Passover. It was customary for any Jews living in foreign lands with the means to travel to Jerusalem for the great feasts.

         4. It was common for Jews to be raised to posts of great honour in foreign courts, just as Joseph in Egypt or Daniel in Babylon. Ethiopia had a special connection to Israel, as their royal family traces its line back to Solomon.

      2. This man of great authority was sitting in his chariot, reading the book of Isaiah aloud.

IV The Spirit Spoke

1. 1. 1. Philip found himself near a royal entourage, likely covered in dust and sweat. Probably the last thing on his mind was joining them. But then the Holy Spirit spoke to him and told him to go near the official and join him.

         1. Philip, we are told, did not hesitate. He ran to him and asked him if he understood what he was reading.

         2. Now, imagine the boldness of his action! Philip was in no condition to hobnob with the rich and famous! Yet at the command of the Spirit, he didn’t hesitate. He ran.

            1. This is the way we ought to obey God. When the Holy Spirit speaks in our hearts, it’s no time to question Him! “Quench not the Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19

            2. Yet how often does a thought come into our minds, where we know it is the Holy Spirit speaking to us, but we don’t like what we’re being told, so we ignore Him. That’s called “quenching the Spirit.”

V Up on Two Wheels

1. As we began, this morning, I talked about the drag races at the airport and how some of those cars had enough horsepower to lift the front end off the ground when they accelerated. But no amount of horsepower in the world would have put Philip up on the two wheels of the eunuch’s chariot. It was just crazy to even think such an important man would have a dusty beggar in his chariot with him.

   1. But God’s power infinitely greater than horsepower. God had arranged this meeting, and when Philip dared to ask him if he understood what he was reading, the royal officer invited him up to sit with him in his chariot to explain it.

   2. God had spoken to Philip, but He was also very much working in power in the heart of the official. There is no other explanation for Philip being invited into the royal chariot. There is very likely no other explanation for the bodyguards travelling with the eunuch not driving Philip away!

VI Philip Preached the Gospel

1. Here we have a proper example of how to preach the gospel. Philip preached the gospel with power, the very power of God working through him.

   1. He did not tell the man that Jesus loved him and if he just prayed a prayer he would have a great life and go to heaven when he died.

   2. He began in the book of Isaiah, right where the man had been reading. It was hard language, the prophecy of the death of the Messiah.

   3. Philip didn’t shy away, but starting with that scripture, preached Jesus Christ.

2. The gospel is not that Jesus loves you and if you pray a special prayer and ask Him into your heart, you will go to heaven. No.

   1. The gospel is “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” 1 Corinthians 15:3,4

   2. “according to the scriptures.” Those scriptures were the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah to take away our sins by suffering and dying in our places, His sinless blood being shed to take away our sins, and of His resurrection from the dead on the third day.

   3. The prophecies in the book of Isaiah is a very important part of those scriptures. Taking shortcuts in preaching Christ to the lost will shortcut the work of the Holy Spirit in saving the lost! Far too many people are in churches or often, not even in churches, who have been coerced into being led in some so-called “sinner’s prayer,” pronounced saved, and then abandoned when they never show their face in church.

      1. Far too many people are in churches who have been led in some so-called “sinner’s prayer,” who are still just as lost as they were.

3. Philip, one of the twelve Apostles, took no shortcuts in preaching the gospel. He started in the prophecy of the suffering Saviour in Isaiah and “preached unto him Jesus.”

   1. He didn’t preach a nice guy who lives in heaven and just loves everybody there. He preached the divine Son of God who became the perfect Son of Man and died in our place to take away our sin.

   2. Without Christ, we would all be hopeless. The Bible says that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 That means we haven’t met God’s standards. The Bible tells us that “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23 That means we have all earned death. Another way of putting that is that we all have rejected God and will spend eternity out of His presence, which is the true, biblical definition of death. There is no way for us to solve this.

      1. But the Bible continues, again in Romans 6:23, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

      2. We could not solve our problem. The Eunuch couldn’t solve his problem. But God did. The only reason anyone ends up suffering for eternity out of the presence of God is the rejection of this gift, paid for on our behalf by Jesus Christ.

VII Salvation!

1. The evidence of the work of the gospel in the heart of the Ethiopian official was clear. “What doth hinder me to be baptized?” he asked.

2. Philip answered that if he believed with all his heart, he could be baptized. Belief in the entire gospel means believing in Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Anything less is not truly believing.

   1. The answer of the Ethiopian eunuch was a clear indication of his belief. “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” This required belief that the man who had died at Calvary while he was there was risen from the dead, not just a man, but also God the Son, the Saviour of all who put their faith in Him.

Conclusion

1. Philip obeyed God and went on a mission without even knowing the goal. The result was an amazing example of the power of God working through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Philip obeyed the Spirit as He spoke to him, rather than arguing or trying to understand all the details, and another soul was saved! How will you obey God’s call on your life?