WEBVTT 00:00:00.119 --> 00:00:02.088 in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. 00:00:02.088 --> 00:00:03.987 We're in chapter eight. 00:00:03.987 --> 00:00:15.521 If you have a Bible, you wanna turn there and follow along this morning you can do that, and if you didn't get an outline for the sermon, our ushers would be happy to hand you one now if you want one. 00:00:15.521 --> 00:00:34.048 The book of Acts, as we've said, unfolds the story of how the early church grew through conversions to Christ. 00:00:34.048 --> 00:00:39.710 The people who heard the gospel of Jesus believed it and were transformed. 00:00:39.710 --> 00:00:47.133 We've been following the story of Philip in Acts 8, who fled Jerusalem during the persecution that began there. 00:00:47.133 --> 00:00:54.595 He went into Samaria, proclaimed Jesus, preached the gospel and many people came to faith in Jesus. 00:00:54.595 --> 00:01:01.779 And when that happened the gospel had crossed a huge racial and cultural barrier. 00:01:01.779 --> 00:01:13.914 But God kept pressing the ministry of the gospel further through Philip by arranging a meeting with an Ethiopian eunuch that we began to talk about last time. 00:01:13.914 --> 00:01:22.409 Philip's encounter with that eunuch speaks volumes about the gospel that we need to understand. 00:01:22.409 --> 00:01:28.703 So I want to look at it one more time in Acts, chapter 8, beginning in verse 25. 00:01:28.703 --> 00:01:39.069 So when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. 00:01:39.069 --> 00:01:46.472 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying go up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza. 00:01:46.472 --> 00:01:48.566 This is the desert road. 00:01:48.566 --> 00:02:06.781 So he got up and went and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure, and he had come into Jerusalem to worship and he was returning and sitting in his chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 00:02:06.781 --> 00:02:10.930 Then the spirit said to Philip go up and join this chariot. 00:02:10.930 --> 00:02:17.289 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said do you understand what you're reading? 00:02:17.289 --> 00:02:21.366 And he said well, how could I, unless someone guides me? 00:02:21.366 --> 00:02:24.294 And then he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 00:02:24.294 --> 00:02:29.847 Now the passage of scripture which he was reading was this it's from Isaiah 53. 00:02:29.847 --> 00:02:39.503 He was led as a sheep to slaughter and as a lamb before its shearers is silent, so he does not open his mouth In humiliation. 00:02:39.503 --> 00:02:41.109 His judgment was taken away. 00:02:41.109 --> 00:02:47.068 Who will relate his generation, for his life is removed from the earth? 00:02:47.068 --> 00:02:52.731 And the eunuch answered Philip and said Please tell me of whom does the prophet say this? 00:02:52.731 --> 00:02:54.484 Of himself or someone else? 00:02:54.484 --> 00:02:58.652 Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning from this scripture. 00:02:58.652 --> 00:03:00.985 He preached Jesus to him. 00:03:00.985 --> 00:03:08.951 And as they went along the road they came upon some water and the eunuch said look water, what prevents me from being baptized? 00:03:08.951 --> 00:03:11.942 And Philip said if you believe with all your heart, you may. 00:03:11.942 --> 00:03:16.231 And he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 00:03:16.231 --> 00:03:26.062 And he ordered the chariot to stop and they both went down into the water, philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him, philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. 00:03:26.102 --> 00:03:37.895 When the Apostle Paul introduces the gospel in his letter to the Romans, he begins by focusing on the gospel's power for salvation, romans 1.16,. 00:03:37.895 --> 00:03:41.401 For I am not ashamed of the gospel. 00:03:41.401 --> 00:03:49.080 Paul says it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, the Jew first, also to the Greek. 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:55.462 Today we're going to take another look at Acts, chapter 8, but this time I want to focus on the power of the gospel. 00:03:55.462 --> 00:04:05.133 We see here in three different ways First, the power of the gospel's reach, the power of the gospel's message and third, the power of the gospel's hope. 00:04:05.133 --> 00:04:08.088 Let's begin with the power of the gospel's reach. 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:14.252 Philip's ministry to the Samaritans crossed many barriers for the gospel. 00:04:14.252 --> 00:04:24.761 You see, christianity, as you know, began in Jerusalem, when the Jewish believers in Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and they formed the first church. 00:04:24.761 --> 00:04:35.326 Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and they formed the first church, but now God is sending the gospel into every tribe, tongue, language and culture on the earth, beginning in Jerusalem. 00:04:35.326 --> 00:04:52.958 The first step was in Jerusalem, at Pentecost, if you remember there, when Jews from all over the world were gathered there, from 17 different nations, heard the gospel in their own language and believed in Jesus and were saved and then received the Holy Spirit. 00:04:52.958 --> 00:04:59.560 The next step in God's mission, as we follow the book of Acts, came as a result of Philip's ministry to Samaria. 00:04:59.560 --> 00:05:17.767 The Samaritans, who were of a different race, a different religion, a different culture, also believed in Jesus, were baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, confirming that Jesus and the gospel would not be confined to a particular race, ethnic group, culture or nation. 00:05:18.939 --> 00:05:24.689 Very important to understand that, because we tend to think Christianity is a Western religion. 00:05:24.689 --> 00:05:33.151 In fact, that's one unique fact about Christianity it is inclusive of all races and cultures. 00:05:33.151 --> 00:05:37.201 No one culture can claim Christianity as its own. 00:05:37.201 --> 00:05:48.096 This is actually the main point of a book written by Laman Saini, the book's titled Whose Religion is Christianity? 00:05:48.096 --> 00:05:52.050 He's a black African Christian professor at Yale. 00:05:52.050 --> 00:05:55.148 This is the point in his book. 00:05:55.148 --> 00:06:06.310 If you look at all the major religions, all their population centers in the world are still roughly where they began. 00:06:06.310 --> 00:06:11.130 96% of all Muslims live in the Middle East and Africa. 00:06:11.130 --> 00:06:14.769 88% of Buddhists live in East Asia. 00:06:14.769 --> 00:06:18.569 98% of Hindus live in South Asia. 00:06:18.569 --> 00:06:26.951 Christianity began in Jerusalem in the Middle East, and today it's the only worldwide religion. 00:06:26.951 --> 00:06:32.879 We tend to think that Christianity belongs to the Western European culture. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:50.100 But he says 27% of all Christians are in Central and South America and the Caribbean, 23% are in Africa, 15% are in Asia, 20% are in Europe and just 15% are in North America. 00:06:50.100 --> 00:06:54.007 Puts things in perspective. 00:06:54.007 --> 00:06:56.230 No other religion is like that. 00:06:57.591 --> 00:06:59.819 Richard Bachem, a theologian, wrote. 00:06:59.819 --> 00:07:05.973 Almost certainly Christianity exhibits more cultural inclusivity than any other religion. 00:07:05.973 --> 00:07:08.728 That must say something about it. 00:07:08.728 --> 00:07:17.093 In the present day, god is spreading the gospel across languages and cultural barriers that exist. 00:07:17.093 --> 00:07:21.870 The good news of Jesus can be brought to everyone. 00:07:21.870 --> 00:07:25.807 This is just fascinating stuff to me. 00:07:25.939 --> 00:07:33.293 Korea went from 0% Christians to 40% Christian in the last 100 years. 00:07:33.293 --> 00:07:44.771 Africa went from 9% to 50% Christians in the last 100 years, and things are happening in China the same way happening in China. 00:07:44.771 --> 00:07:54.165 The same way, power of the gospel is extending, and God's going to help it extend to every single language, culture, tribe and nation on the earth. 00:07:54.165 --> 00:07:58.319 One reason, by the way, it's the holy. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:06.548 No other religion has moved into a brand new continent and done anything like that. 00:08:06.548 --> 00:08:14.432 It's the job of the Holy Spirit to recreate Christianity in every single culture. 00:08:14.432 --> 00:08:20.086 One reason it spreads is because the gospel of Christianity don't belong to any culture. 00:08:20.086 --> 00:08:24.932 It is inclusive of every single culture and people. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:34.072 Lehman writes that when a native African becomes a Christian, they become a renewed African, not a remade European. 00:08:34.072 --> 00:08:41.011 Exactly, christianity both includes and challenges every culture. 00:08:41.011 --> 00:08:44.686 I could point to scriptural examples of that every culture. 00:08:44.686 --> 00:08:54.715 I could point to scriptural examples of that, but in Acts 8, the Ethiopian eunuch stands out in the text as a mark of the gospel's inclusive, powerful reach to everyone. 00:08:54.715 --> 00:09:00.884 Philip had to take the gospel past some really formidable barriers to reach him. 00:09:00.884 --> 00:09:08.187 The gospel, though, is powerful enough to reach this Ethiopian eunuch, but is Philip ready? 00:09:10.962 --> 00:09:19.107 God had to help Philip cross several barriers from his Jewish culture to talk to this Ethiopian eunuch. 00:09:19.107 --> 00:09:20.681 We've talked about that First. 00:09:20.681 --> 00:09:23.429 The man's a foreigner from Ethiopia. 00:09:23.429 --> 00:09:38.491 He's not a native-born Jew, he is someone who adopted the Jewish faith, traveled a difficult, dangerous 1,000-mile journey so he could worship God of the Jews in the temple in Jerusalem. 00:09:38.491 --> 00:09:50.620 It's a major barrier for a Jewish man in his culture to have any kind of personal relationship with a foreigner. 00:09:50.620 --> 00:09:56.230 The second barrier Philip had to cross was a socioeconomic barrier. 00:09:56.230 --> 00:10:02.267 Philip was not rich, but this Ethiopian was a man of great power and wealth. 00:10:02.267 --> 00:10:11.000 Now, crossing a class barrier, he, this Ethiopian eunuch, is a chief financial officer of the nation of Ethiopia. 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:13.386 We talked about him last time. 00:10:13.386 --> 00:10:23.159 He's very successful, he's honored, he's respected in the royal court of Queen Candace and yet he's injured because he feels spiritually empty. 00:10:23.159 --> 00:10:24.846 That's why he made the long trip. 00:10:26.520 --> 00:10:29.029 Third barrier Philip had to cross was cultural. 00:10:29.029 --> 00:10:37.672 He was a eunuch and as such was considered unclean, untouchable by Jews. 00:10:37.672 --> 00:10:41.811 A eunuch, if you remember a male who has been castrated. 00:10:41.811 --> 00:10:54.211 He was willingly castrated so that he could have the honor of serving in the royal administration, and the royal household took care of him for life because of that. 00:10:54.211 --> 00:10:59.552 Unless he was castrated, he would not be allowed near the queen whom he served. 00:10:59.552 --> 00:11:05.873 So he paid quite a price to get his wealth, power and success. 00:11:08.081 --> 00:11:13.489 Think about what all of that is telling us about God's heart and how the Holy Spirit is moving. 00:11:13.489 --> 00:11:34.147 He sends Philip, a Jewish believer in Jesus, to go talk to a total stranger, who is a foreigner, who is wealthy and powerful and a sexually altered black African, so that the black African can hear the gospel of Jesus, believe in him and be saved. 00:11:34.147 --> 00:11:45.870 Think about what that means regarding our sins of racism and other isms that stop us from meeting or talking to other people. 00:11:45.870 --> 00:11:47.335 It says a lot. 00:11:47.335 --> 00:11:58.528 Philip had to cross so many barriers in his own mind and heart and God had to help him do that. 00:11:58.528 --> 00:12:03.091 This was not an easy move, but he did it. 00:12:03.091 --> 00:12:09.105 The power of gospel has seen its reach across cultural barriers to transform people's lives. 00:12:09.105 --> 00:12:17.852 But second, as Philip will show us, the power of the gospel we can see to transform lives is actually found in its message. 00:12:17.852 --> 00:12:20.124 We're going to look at that. 00:12:20.184 --> 00:12:27.966 Next, it's clear that God, providentially, has been preparing the Ethiopian eunuch to hear the gospel, and again we've talked about this. 00:12:27.966 --> 00:12:32.231 The Ethiopian eunuch just came from a worship festival in Jerusalem. 00:12:32.231 --> 00:12:35.101 He's seeking God from a worship festival in Jerusalem. 00:12:35.101 --> 00:12:35.663 He's seeking God. 00:12:35.663 --> 00:12:40.147 He wants to know all about the Israelite religion. 00:12:40.147 --> 00:12:41.748 He's reading their Bible. 00:12:41.748 --> 00:12:44.091 He's reading the prophet Isaiah. 00:12:44.091 --> 00:12:58.952 Based on his question to Philip, we know what part of Isaiah he'd been reading in the Isaiah 40s and 50s Philip opened his mouth and asked the Ethiopian a question do you understand what you're reading? 00:12:59.052 --> 00:13:02.736 And the Ethiopian invites Philip into his chair to help him understand. 00:13:02.736 --> 00:13:18.726 These two people couldn't have been more different from each other, but God was bringing them together around his word to help them encounter the Messiah Acts 8, 34, 35,. 00:13:18.726 --> 00:13:24.465 The eunuch asked Philip, tell me please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else? 00:13:24.465 --> 00:13:33.048 Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning from this scripture, he preached Jesus to him. 00:13:33.048 --> 00:13:37.027 The message of the gospel is Jesus. 00:13:37.027 --> 00:13:41.761 Let that ring in our heads over and over. 00:13:41.761 --> 00:13:48.461 He preached that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah that God promised to send, who would save us from our sins. 00:13:48.461 --> 00:14:11.188 Now, in what this Ethiopian is reading, you don't want to miss this, because the main life-changing part of the message of the gospel, in believing the truth about Jesus, is his substitutionary atonement. 00:14:11.188 --> 00:14:21.975 That's it, that's the heart and core of the gospel and that's what Philip is preaching. 00:14:27.779 --> 00:14:30.865 You know there are many analogies in the Bible that describe the language of Messiah's work of atonement for our sins. 00:14:30.865 --> 00:14:36.695 There's a military image Jesus fought our enemy, sin and death, and won. 00:14:36.695 --> 00:14:43.669 There's a marketplace image he paid the price for our redemption. 00:14:43.669 --> 00:14:51.230 There's a temple image he was our perfect sacrifice, great high priest. 00:14:51.230 --> 00:14:57.150 There's a law court image he took the judgment and paid the penalty for our sin. 00:14:57.150 --> 00:15:03.808 All these analogies, but they all have one thing in common Substitution. 00:15:03.808 --> 00:15:05.613 All of them. 00:15:05.613 --> 00:15:11.251 Philip preached Jesus' substitutionary atonement from Isaiah 53. 00:15:11.251 --> 00:15:24.413 He explained that Isaiah was talking about Jesus who took our sins and died for us instead of us dying for the judgment for our sins. 00:15:24.413 --> 00:15:33.349 I've always marveled at the power of the gospel in the substitutionary tone. 00:15:34.701 --> 00:15:44.373 Several years ago I struck up a friendship with a Jewish man and it was a wonderful time with this guy. 00:15:44.373 --> 00:15:50.413 We had many conversations over coffee about Jesus and Christianity and the Jewish faith. 00:15:50.413 --> 00:15:58.586 One day before we met for coffee, I decided I'd try to help him see the gospel. 00:15:58.586 --> 00:16:08.570 So I copied Isaiah 53 on a copier, without any notation there about where it was found in the Bible Isaiah 53. 00:16:08.570 --> 00:16:16.288 And we met for coffee and I told him, gave it to him and said I'd like you to read this and tell me what you think. 00:16:16.288 --> 00:16:21.009 And told him it was from the Bible. 00:16:21.009 --> 00:16:23.688 After he read it I asked him what he thought it meant. 00:16:23.688 --> 00:16:27.046 He looked straight at me. 00:16:27.046 --> 00:16:31.451 He says well, it's obviously referring to Jesus, who died for our sins. 00:16:31.451 --> 00:16:38.988 And I'm like whoa, do you know where that's found in the Bible? 00:16:38.988 --> 00:16:42.966 No, isaiah 53. 00:16:42.966 --> 00:16:49.513 And he was stunned, stunned. 00:16:49.513 --> 00:16:52.368 This is what's interesting about it. 00:16:53.061 --> 00:16:57.847 I didn't tell him that he saw Jesus in the Bible. 00:16:58.370 --> 00:16:58.971 That's it. 00:16:58.971 --> 00:17:00.485 That's where we're at. 00:17:00.485 --> 00:17:03.582 And he even told him. 00:17:03.582 --> 00:17:09.046 He even found in there the gospel message he died for our sins. 00:17:09.046 --> 00:17:12.670 I didn't say that, he saw it. 00:17:12.670 --> 00:17:15.048 That's what the Holy Spirit does. 00:17:15.048 --> 00:17:17.099 That's what the Holy Spirit does. 00:17:17.099 --> 00:17:18.747 That's what the Holy Spirit does. 00:17:18.747 --> 00:17:22.866 This troubled him. 00:17:22.866 --> 00:17:25.925 I don't want to go a long story, but this troubled him greatly. 00:17:25.925 --> 00:17:37.009 He went and told his rabbis, his rabbis emailing me Okay, all right, but I don't think he could ever get over. 00:17:37.009 --> 00:17:38.772 He saw Jesus there. 00:17:38.772 --> 00:17:39.924 I didn't tell him that. 00:17:39.924 --> 00:17:49.309 And we kept meeting until the day of his death, and by God's grace, I mean he was even calling himself a Christian. 00:17:49.309 --> 00:17:58.259 But I believe he eventually came to believe in Jesus before he died and I do think it was the result of the Holy Spirit's work in his heart. 00:17:58.339 --> 00:18:08.105 That began from the Scripture, specifically for him, isaiah 53, just like the Ethiopian eunuch, substitutionary atonement. 00:18:08.105 --> 00:18:18.211 Philip preached the good news of Jesus from that Scripture he came as a sacrifice, paid a divine penalty for our sins. 00:18:18.211 --> 00:18:28.708 And from this passage in Acts what do we learn, is necessary to understand about the gospel and receive salvation? 00:18:28.708 --> 00:18:30.724 Three things. 00:18:30.724 --> 00:18:40.553 First, we must understand who the Savior is Jesus, who substitutes himself for us, in our place, to take God's judgment for sins. 00:18:40.553 --> 00:18:46.083 Second, we must understand ourselves From this passage. 00:18:46.083 --> 00:18:54.107 No matter how rich or poor or powerful or weak we are, we all need Jesus to save us. 00:18:54.107 --> 00:18:55.792 We're not going to save ourselves. 00:18:55.792 --> 00:19:01.509 Finally, we must believe in Jesus as our Savior. 00:19:01.509 --> 00:19:07.069 We must place our complete trust in him to save us from God's wrath for our sin and be forgiven. 00:19:07.069 --> 00:19:12.270 We must believe in him to receive the gift of eternal life. 00:19:12.270 --> 00:19:21.846 So the power of the gospel is seen in its reach across all kinds of barriers cultural, religious, racial. 00:19:21.846 --> 00:19:33.692 The power of the gospel is seen as message of substitutionary atonement Somebody took my place, it did for me this amazing gift of love. 00:19:33.692 --> 00:19:47.411 And then, finally, the power of the gospel is found in the hope that it gives us, which we'll talk about next, for the Ethiopian and all who believe in Jesus, the Messiah. 00:19:47.411 --> 00:19:54.431 The power of the gospel can be seen in the hope that it gives us to be part of God's future kingdom. 00:19:56.020 --> 00:20:07.607 We know that even though the Ethiopian was successful, powerful, rich, highly esteemed, part of a very important royal court, he was not happy or fulfilled. 00:20:07.607 --> 00:20:08.865 We talked about this last time. 00:20:08.865 --> 00:20:13.238 Even after he'd made the long, thousand-mile, dangerous trip to Jerusalem, his emptiness only increased. 00:20:13.238 --> 00:20:19.448 Long, thousand-mile, dangerous trip to Jerusalem his emptiness only increased. 00:20:19.448 --> 00:20:31.284 His emptiness is real because at this point, before he meets Jesus, the most important things in his life were power and money. 00:20:31.284 --> 00:20:40.703 We know that because he became a eunuch to get it thinking. 00:20:40.703 --> 00:20:42.727 That's what it's all about. 00:20:42.727 --> 00:20:48.255 His sacrifice meant that he would never have his own children, he would never have an heir, never have a legacy. 00:20:48.255 --> 00:20:55.417 Everything he had would die with him. 00:20:55.417 --> 00:20:55.940 That's it. 00:20:55.940 --> 00:21:03.119 Second, his emptiness only increased in his spiritual search when he came to Jerusalem, a thousand miles into the temple, to worship. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:07.376 Third and he would have been turned away. 00:21:07.376 --> 00:21:11.457 Eunuchs are not allowed in here. 00:21:11.457 --> 00:21:24.282 According to the Mosaic law, there were a lot of people who were not allowed in the temple to worship Lepers, diseased people and sexually altered people. 00:21:24.430 --> 00:21:26.979 Deuteronomy 23, verse 1. 00:21:26.979 --> 00:21:29.142 You're not allowed in here. 00:21:29.142 --> 00:21:33.063 Verse 1. 00:21:33.063 --> 00:21:34.066 You're not allowed in here. 00:21:34.066 --> 00:21:46.611 Here's a man who has literally thrown everything aside in a major spiritual search that he might find an answer in the Jews' religion and temple and he's turned away. 00:21:46.611 --> 00:21:49.881 Hearing people like you are not allowed in here. 00:21:49.881 --> 00:21:54.881 Can you imagine what he's thinking as he starts the long ride home? 00:21:54.881 --> 00:22:04.980 How rejected he must feel, how unclean he must feel, how shamed he might feel or unloved he must feel. 00:22:06.411 --> 00:22:13.064 And on his way home he's reading this scroll of Isaiah for answers. 00:22:13.064 --> 00:22:26.273 And he's reading in the Isaiah 50s and I can't help but think his field of vision most likely comes across Isaiah 56. 00:22:26.273 --> 00:22:35.439 Again in these passages about the coming Messiah. 00:22:35.439 --> 00:22:38.621 Here's what he's reading and he's confused. 00:22:38.621 --> 00:22:41.903 He doesn't get it yet, but he's reading this. 00:22:42.002 --> 00:22:49.426 He says to the Lord say the Lord will surely separate me from his people. 00:22:49.426 --> 00:23:03.974 Nor let the eunuch see say I am a dry tree, foreigner eunuch, isaiah 56. 00:23:03.974 --> 00:23:12.021 For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and choose what pleases me and hold fast my coming to them, I'll give, in my house and within my walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. 00:23:12.021 --> 00:23:15.420 I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off. 00:23:15.420 --> 00:23:17.636 This is the power of the gospel's hope. 00:23:17.636 --> 00:23:18.752 It doesn't matter. 00:23:18.752 --> 00:23:24.780 Whatever we've been through here, however mistakes we've made, however longings are unfulfilled. 00:23:24.780 --> 00:23:27.859 There's something coming, god promises. 00:23:27.859 --> 00:23:33.782 If you're part of him, you're going to be extremely happy and blessed. 00:23:33.782 --> 00:23:53.743 So also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to him and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast to the Sabbath, even those I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. 00:23:56.131 --> 00:24:13.238 From the scriptures, the Ethiopian eunuch hears let no foreigner say, let no eunuch say this, because there's a day coming when I'll give you so much more than you could ever imagine or get here. 00:24:13.238 --> 00:24:19.278 Have you ever been reading God's word and the words just jump out at you? 00:24:19.278 --> 00:24:26.715 Do you think God could have done any better than to point for the Ethiopian eunuch, than to read something like that? 00:24:26.715 --> 00:24:29.439 He hears to the eunuch so I'll fast my covenant. 00:24:29.439 --> 00:24:34.018 I'll give within my temple a memorial and name better, better than sons and daughters. 00:24:34.018 --> 00:24:41.455 I'll give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off. 00:24:44.119 --> 00:24:47.285 Then he's reading this astounding passage in Isaiah 53. 00:24:47.285 --> 00:24:48.511 The eunuch said who is this? 00:24:48.511 --> 00:24:50.296 Who is this? 00:24:50.296 --> 00:24:52.342 Who's like a lamb to be slaughtered. 00:24:52.342 --> 00:24:52.991 Who is this? 00:24:52.991 --> 00:24:56.430 Who died, had no children, was cut off from the land of the living for transgression? 00:24:56.430 --> 00:24:57.191 Who is this? 00:24:57.191 --> 00:24:58.612 Who is this? 00:24:58.612 --> 00:25:02.875 Who voluntarily, basically, became a eunuch to take the justice of God? 00:25:02.875 --> 00:25:13.267 Philip's answer well, that's Jesus, our substitute, our savior. 00:25:13.267 --> 00:25:22.580 He was cut off so you could have an everlasting name and if you believe in him you will not be turned away. 00:25:22.580 --> 00:25:29.821 You'll receive the hope and blessing of eternal life and be in his coming kingdom full of blessing. 00:25:29.821 --> 00:25:32.859 You know that still holds true to this day. 00:25:32.859 --> 00:25:36.317 Everyone who believes in Jesus. 00:25:36.317 --> 00:25:40.259 The hope of the gospel is certain and sure. 00:25:42.230 --> 00:25:52.061 Apostle John tells us in John, chapter 1, that through faith of Jesus we receive grace upon grace. 00:25:52.061 --> 00:25:55.659 You can't even sort it out. 00:25:55.659 --> 00:25:59.840 We're given the gift of forgiveness of sins in Jesus. 00:25:59.840 --> 00:26:05.166 We're given the gift of the Holy Spirit in Jesus, we're given the gift of eternal life. 00:26:05.166 --> 00:26:11.210 In Jesus, we're given the gift of becoming adopted children of God, the Father, and a citizen of his coming kingdom. 00:26:11.210 --> 00:26:12.875 And on and on and on and on. 00:26:12.875 --> 00:26:16.420 Gift, gift, gift, gift, grace, grace, grace. 00:26:17.210 --> 00:26:26.534 Nothing from us except our simple, humble belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior, gift upon gift. 00:26:26.534 --> 00:26:29.836 And all the Apostle Paul can say to this is Ephesians 1, 3,. 00:26:29.836 --> 00:26:39.423 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. 00:26:39.423 --> 00:26:42.294 So we've seen. 00:26:42.294 --> 00:26:47.237 Through this account, god demonstrates the power of the gospel's reach. 00:26:47.237 --> 00:26:51.096 It crosses every cultural barrier on earth. 00:26:51.096 --> 00:27:08.403 God demonstrates the power of the gospel in the message of Jesus' substitutionary atonement for our sins, and we see the power of the gospel's hope in the assurance of a coming kingdom and eternal life in Jesus. 00:27:09.450 --> 00:27:15.336 Jesus accomplished everything we need to be saved from God's judgment for our sins and enter the kingdom of heaven. 00:27:15.336 --> 00:27:19.901 All that is left is for us to believe in him and receive it. 00:27:19.901 --> 00:27:22.530 We're all at. 00:27:22.530 --> 00:27:27.482 There's no one immune or exempt from that. 00:27:27.482 --> 00:27:40.759 Whoever you are or exempt from that, whoever you are To be converted to Jesus, regardless of your race, your class, your culture. 00:27:42.102 --> 00:27:56.063 You must humble yourself, acknowledge that you need Jesus to save you from your sins, and if you do that you will receive the Holy Spirit in every single promise that Jesus gave us in the Scripture. 00:27:56.063 --> 00:27:59.396 I trust you've done that. 00:27:59.396 --> 00:28:04.221 If not, I would encourage you even as I close in prayer. 00:28:04.221 --> 00:28:17.442 In your heart you pray and tell Jesus you believe in him that he's the savior of the world and invite him into your life to be your savior. 00:28:17.442 --> 00:28:19.494 I invite you to do that. 00:28:19.494 --> 00:28:20.298 Let's pray together. 00:28:20.690 --> 00:28:27.778 Father, thank you for Jesus, who was cut off so you could bring us in. 00:28:27.778 --> 00:28:36.382 Jesus received what we deserved, so you could give us what he deserved. 00:28:36.382 --> 00:28:39.959 Would you help us to give our lives to him? 00:28:39.959 --> 00:28:42.238 Who gave his life for us? 00:28:42.238 --> 00:29:00.061 We ask for the grace power to do that and we commit our efforts, ministries here at West Sub, to that end that people would hear and understand the gospel of Jesus and that through that we might see many, many, many come to faith in Jesus and be born again. 00:29:00.061 --> 00:29:21.646 We pray for that Lord and ask this in the point of our service. 00:29:22.750 --> 00:29:24.135 We're going to receive our offering. 00:29:24.135 --> 00:29:28.840 Just a quick reminder that you can give in three different ways. 00:29:28.840 --> 00:29:38.815 You can give your offering to the ushers here as they collect it, or you can put it in that little box back there on the wall, or you can give online. 00:29:38.815 --> 00:29:41.491 Let's pray, father. 00:29:41.491 --> 00:29:51.237 We thank you for all that you have given to us, father, and we just offer these gifts as an expression of our gratitude for all that you've done. 00:29:51.237 --> 00:29:54.861 We pray that you'd use them to your glory and honor. 00:29:54.861 --> 00:29:57.298 We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.