 Hey, man, so Acts chapter 8 looked down at the story of the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip. So we're going to talk about this story this evening and I'm going to answer a lot of, or talk about at least, a lot of deep philosophical questions that I, that as a satellite leader, I wouldn't have touched with a 10-foot pole. You know, some things as a satellite leader, you're just like, okay, I don't deserve to be able to have an opinion on that, but now as a pastor I can kind of give you my thoughts on some of these questions and things that people have asked. But anyway, I was talking to somebody before I even get into that story. Look at verse 13. I was talking to somebody at Sher Foundation and they talked to me. They were saying that they knew a pastor, a certain denomination, that it was kind of a controversy on whether Simon the sorcerer was saved or not. And I was like, well, they must not have had a King James Bible because verse 13 says, then Simon himself believed also. So that's pretty clear right there that Simon the sorcerer was saved and he was baptized and of course we'll find out that you're only baptized after you're saved in this story with Philip. So anyway, who knows what all the different Bible versions changed that verse into, but that could be the only way there's a controversy because the King James Bible is so clear about these things. So we're going to start at verse number 26, the second story of Philip. So Philip is told now to go somewhere else in verse 26. The Bible says, and the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, arise and go towards the south under the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia and eunuch of great authority under Candace Queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for to worship. Was returning, the eunuch was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Aseus the prophet, that's Isaiah, that's the New Testament name of Isaiah. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet Aseus and said, understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, this is what the eunuch replies to Philip. So basically Philip goes up to him and he sees that he's reading the Bible and he says, do you know what you're reading? Do you understand what you're reading? And this is what the eunuch says. He says, how can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The title of the sermon tonight is Why We Do What We Do. This is such a great story in the Bible explaining why we as a a Bible preaching church, a soul winning church, that that's our whole goal is to go out and preach the gospel. This is a very good story that teaches the doctrine in the Bible about why we do what we do. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. So this man says he's reading this and he doesn't understand what he's reading. He said, how could I possibly understand this? Except some man should guide me, he says. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse number 12. We'll get into what he was actually reading in a few minutes, but look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2 in verse number 12. So the man says, I can't understand what he's reading. I need someone to help me is what he says. Look at 1 Corinthians 2 verse number 12. The Bible says, now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. So this is Paul talking about the saved people in the church and he says, we don't have the spirit of the world. He says, lowercase s. He says, but we have the spirit which is of God how, for what purpose? It says that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Look at verse 13. Which things also we speak. Not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth. So here Paul is saying, he's like through this spirit that God has given us, the Holy Spirit, he's like, we speak not our own wisdom but we speak God's wisdom. Does that sound familiar? We speak, you know, we don't speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth. He's like, we don't go out there teaching the philosophies of men but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual. So what he's saying there with spiritual things with spiritual, the Holy Ghost teaches us where is the Holy Ghost? This is what you have to understand right here to get where we're going to go with this sermon. If you are saved tonight, where is the Holy Ghost? Your body is the temple of it, that's a clue. So the Holy Ghost is in you and the Holy Ghost is teaching you. So you can now compare spiritual things with spiritual things. So the Holy Ghost in you is kind of like a key to understanding the Bible. So if you have the Holy Ghost, you can understand the Bible. We say what about somebody that doesn't have the Holy Ghost? Look at verse 14. It says, but the natural man, this is the person who doesn't have the Holy Ghost. This is someone who is not saved. This right here, verse 14, is the Ethiopian eunuch right here. It says, but the natural man receiveeth not the things of the Spirit of God. Why? For there are foolishness unto him. Why are they foolishness unto him? It's like they don't make any sense unto him. It seems silly unto him. This is the world today. I mean, you don't believe this verse? Look around today. Look around today and just look at what's going on in the world and look at what people think about the Bible today. Even the simplest things in the Bible. I mean, the simplest things in the Bible are foolishness to the people in the world. I preach a sermon and I mention that, you know, a woman should submit to her husband, a wife should submit to her husband, and it like blows up the internet because everyone's like, that's foolishness. But that's the natural man right there. The natural man can not receive the things of the Bible. They're foolishness unto him. Alright? Neither can he know them. Why? Why can't he know them? Why can't the natural man understand the Bible? Why? Because they are spiritually discerned. So what the Bible here is saying is, the Bible's a spiritual book. The Bible's a spiritual book. First of all, I don't believe that anybody who is, I mean, people will lie to you about the Bible and how much they know about the Bible, like more than any other book ever. I don't believe that an unsaved person could actually read through, would actually read through the Bible. Because you simply can't read, look, when I was unsaved, I tried several times. I've read Genesis chapter one like a thousand times in my life. But you just, you get to a point where it just doesn't make any sense to you. And you're just like, you just stop is what happens. But you'll find unsaved people out there that just lie to you, like, oh yeah, I've read the Bible, you know, X amount of times or whatever. But there's no way you're going to sit there and read, you know, the entire, you know, 66 books of the Bible and just like, not understand anything. I mean, that's a really determined person right there. Okay, because it's spiritually discerned. If you're not saved, you don't have the Holy Spirit, you can't understand it. Turn to Romans chapter 10. Do you know how can people understand it then? I mean, that seems kind of like a non-starter. I mean, people can't understand the Bible. So how are people supposed to get saved? I mean, that's some rule to make God. You know, how are, I mean, you can't sit down and just read the Bible and figure it all out yourself as an unsaved person. No, the Bible says the natural man will not receive the words of God. They won't make any sense to him. Okay, he won't be able to understand it. And look, I can relate to this. I can relate to this. If you got saved later in life, you know, if you got saved when you were six or seven years old, you probably can't relate to this. But if you got saved later in life, you can relate to this because you know that like the Bible just opened to you when you got saved. It was like a door was opened and just like everything made sense. And look, a big part of that, a big part of that, not to go off on this, a big part of that is understanding the correct gospel too. Because if you don't understand the correct gospel and you don't get saved, look, the only way the Bible makes sense is if you have the gospel correct, which makes sense because then you would get saved, you're sealed by the Holy Spirit, become the temple of the Holy Ghost and bam, now you have the key to understand, you can compare spiritual things with spiritual. Look, go to Romans chapter 10. So how are people supposed to know? You know, it's an exact fit to what's happening in Acts chapter 8, what I'm about to teach you. Look at Romans chapter 10, verse 13. Romans chapter 10 in verse 13. Remember now that we go soul-winning and we read these certain verses to people all the time. But you should go back in your Bible and you should read, you know, read the chapters that your soul-winning verses are coming from time to time. So you always, you know, kind of keep the context of these verses and what they actually mean. Look at Romans chapter 10 in verse number nine. The Bible, I mean, this is the soul-winning verse right here that we use all the time. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, this is after we've preached the Gospel, we've checked out, hey, did they believe it? You've gone through the beginning to the end with them. Do you believe these things? And now you're going to explain to them, like, if you believe these things, God just wants you to ask for it. He wants you to tell him you believe these things. He wants you to confess it with your mouth. But it's connected directly to believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. So the confession with your mouth comes with believing. But now let's just read a couple verses down. Look at verse number 13. Verse number 13. Verse number 13 of Romans chapter 10 says this. It says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Look at verse 14. So here the Bible is saying, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Was there belief on the Lord in that verse? It's not in there. I'll explain that in just a couple minutes. But look at what it says here. So it says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So if you call upon the name of the Lord, you're saved. The Bible says in verse 13. Now look at verse 14. It says, so the key, I mean, you gotta call on him, all right, to be saved. But how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Okay, there's the connection there. All right. Okay, so how they're not going to call on him unless they believed, the Bible says. All right, now keep reading. And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? Okay, so not heard means it implies that someone has spoken it to you, first of all. Okay, and how shall they, and again it just reinforces this idea right here, how shall they hear without a preacher? That's a person? That's a person with the Holy Spirit, just as 1 Corinthians chapter 2 is talking about speaking the words not his own philosophy, not man's philosophy, but speaking the words of God. This is what it's talking about. It says how shall they hear, they can't believe until they've heard, and they can't hear until someone's preached to them. Okay, and now look at verse 15. It says, and how shall they preach except they be sent? Okay, so as it is written, how beautiful are the feet, here it is again, of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring, this implies, you see, there's people doing this, bring the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings, preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. It's literally talking about people here. It's talking about, it makes a point to say their feet, they're going, they're walking, they're going and they're speaking the words of God. This is what's happening. They're speaking, people are hearing, they're believing, and they're calling on the Lord. Okay, the point is here is that God uses us to preach his word. God uses us to preach the gospel. I mean, I'll just read you a few verses, Mark 16, 15, and he said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's the great commission right there. Acts 10, 42, and he commanded us to preach unto the people, us, and to testify it is he that was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. He commanded us to do it. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, Paul says to the church, which he also, which also ye have received. They heard it, they believed it. He's saying that they received it, and wherein ye stand. All that to say this, folks, God's model, it is so clear in the Bible. God's model is for people to preach to other people, saved people with the Holy Spirit, preaching God's word to unsaved people. And that's exactly what we see playing out in Acts chapter 8 with Philip going to the Ethiopian eunuch. And what Philip does going to him, and preaching to him, and what the eunuch says to Philip matches this exactly. He says, how could I understand unless someone would explain it to me? All right? Now look, here come in all these philosophical debates that I've heard like over the last, you know, a couple of years. Like, can someone get saved by reading a tract? You know, where people say like, you know, but here's the thing. You say, and I might have a little different answer to this question than a lot of people, but here's the thing. I reject the question. You say, why? You say, because that's not the point. Most of the time, people pushing the philosophy and asking that question, I'm more like, why are you asking that question? When somebody asks the question, well, I think, you know, you look at somebody who says, I think people can get saved by just reading a tract. My question is, why are you asking that question? God's model is very clear here. Not only do we have the doctrine that I read to you, we actually have an example in the Bible of an apostle carrying out this doctrine. So my question is, why is someone asking the question? That's the smarter question, to answer that question with a question. Why are you asking that question? And the reason that the root of that question is coming from people that they don't want to preach the gospel, they just want to go door hangers. How many churches are out there that don't actually preach the gospel? They don't actually go out and confront people with the gospel, and they just want to hand out tracts and, you know, hand a door hanger on that. Look, can somebody get saved by reading a tract? I reject the question. Because the question itself is rooted from people that are trying to attack the idea of preaching the gospel, which is the clear model that God wants us to do. And that's why we will always be confrontational soul winners here. I'm not talking confrontational by like errr, we're confrontational. I'm talking about we're always going to go out always at this church, and we are always going to preach the actual gospel out of our mouths to anyone that wants to hear it. Always be what we do here. Why? Because that's God's model what he told us to do. That's why. So don't ask silly questions that imply that maybe that's not what we should be doing. Okay? And look, we point them to a video. If they don't want to hear, we point them to a video and they could watch that video and that person in the video could preach that gospel to them. So, I mean, we do that as well. But we're never going to be in the church. It just goes out and hangs door hangers, ever. Not as long as I'm the pastor here, we will always go out and preach the gospel to people. Alright, here's another one. Here's another philosophical question that has come up in the last, I don't know who's thinking about these questions, but here's another one. What if someone doesn't call upon the Lord? The question is, what if someone believes on Jesus but doesn't call upon the Lord? Huh? What about that? Well, let me show you a contradiction in the Bible. Go to Romans chapter 10 in verse 13 and then put your other finger in Acts chapter 16 in verse number 30. Let's see if we have a contradiction in the Bible here. Alright, look at Acts chapter 16 in verse 30 and then keep a finger in Romans chapter 10 in verse 13. Alright, so here's what the Bible says in Romans 10, 13. We just read this. Okay, and you're going to keep your place in Acts 16. The Bible says in Romans 10, 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. So here the Bible says if you call upon the name of the Lord, you're saved. Okay, and of course, in the verse above that, I won't even give the answer away to right now, but Acts chapter 16 says in verse 30, it says, and brought them out and says, serves. This is the Philippian jailer. He's bringing the disciples out. He wants to be saved too. And he asks this direct question and brought them out and says, serves. What must I do to be saved? Very direct question. How do I get saved, man? I want to go to heaven too. How do I be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And I house. We have a contradiction in the Bible here, because one verse says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the other verse says, call upon the name of the Lord. What does Romans 10, 9 say? Romans 10, 9 says, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, that's calling upon the Lord, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised into death. Here's the thing. If you believe in the Lord, you are going to call on him. What you say like 99 percent, 99 percent? 100 percent. 100 percent of the time. Anyone that believes on the Lord will call upon the Lord. It's really that simple. So I reject that question too. Because, I mean, look, you will run into people. You will run into people out soul winning. If you're soul winning long enough, you're not the soul win that long actually to have this happen. But you'll run into somebody that doesn't want to pray when you're done giving the gospel. You give the gospel, and you go through, and you check, and make sure they believe every point. And then they don't want to pray. They don't want to pray. Well, you got one of two situations on your hands here. Either they don't believe, and I think that's the majority of them, by the way. I think the majority of people that, I mean, this is my opinion, just my experienced opinion. I believe the majority of people that you explain the gospel to them, they believe everything, or they tell you they believe everything, and then they don't want to pray. They don't want to ask God to save them. I believe that they don't really believe. I mean, most of the time. I mean, yes, there's those people that are embarrassed to pray in front of you. But you will find those people too. And those people, what I do in those cases, and I'm just like, hey, you don't have to pray in front of me. This isn't a magic prayer that you have to say in front of the guy at the door. But I tell them, like, hey, as soon as I leave this door, you go in your bedroom, or you go in a room by yourself, and you just tell God you believe these things and you ask him to save you. And look, if they believe that, they'll do it. They'll do it. I mean, think about it this way. Here's an analogy for you, and there's no analogy that's good enough to explain salvation. But basically, somebody that would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that would believe that they were a sinner, and that they deserved, that they were like, literally one heartbeat away from an eternity in torment and hell. And you got that across to them, that they deserved to go to hell, and their breath could stop at any minute and they would be there for eternity. And you got that across to them, that that's what they deserved. And then you explain to them that God sent his Son to take their punishment to take the punishment for their sin, and that God lived perfect life, he suffered on the cross and he became sin for them, and he bear their sin in his own body, and that he died and rose again from the dead, and all they have to do is trust in that to get themselves out of this mess that they're in, and they believe that, and yet they're not like, they're gonna ask for it. If you got it across to them and they believed it, they're gonna ask for it. It's like, here's the analogy, it's like somebody falling off, falls off a cliff. They're falling off a cliff and they're floating down this cliff and they've got enough time falling off this cliff to realize, I'm hitting those rocks down there and I'm dead. I am a dead man. And then somebody jumps out after they've realized that they're in, they're in for certain death as they're floating off that cliff, somebody jumps out and miraculously somehow catches them and saves them from that certain death when they're five feet from the rocks. And that situation happens and you put that person down after you've caught them and you put them down and they say nothing to you and they walk away. Would that ever happen? Of course not. They would be like, thank you for catching me. I was almost dead. Like, you saved me. They would be so thankful. They would be praising you. They would be saying, thank you. They were saying, I was in for certain death. How in the world did you know that I was falling? I mean, they would have all kinds of things to say. There would be not one single person who that would happen to who would get caught and saved at the last moment who would just walk away and say nothing. It would never happen. So again, it's a ridiculous question because if somebody calls upon the name of the Lord, they've done so because they believed. The two things are coupled together. You can't have one. You won't have one without the other. So if somebody doesn't want to pray with you at the door, either they didn't get it, they didn't really believe it or it could be that they're just embarrassed to pray in front of you. You'll run into those people as well. But most of the time, if you do a good job, especially explaining the situation, this is why you really need to spend some time up front explaining to people the condition that they're in. If you spend that few minutes up front, soul winning, talking to somebody, look, most people will just readily admit that they're a sinner. They readily admit that they've broken God's law. But if you spend that time up front showing them what they deserve for that, you will have them for as long as you need to explain the rest of the gospel to them. Because they're like, oh man, I'm in serious trouble here. Please tell me how to get out of it. And then they will pray. And so the point is, we are always going to go out and preach to people. We are always going to go out and preach the gospel to whoever wants to listen. And we are always going to offer to help people call upon the name of the Lord. We're always going to offer to help people do that. It's a valuable point. Is somebody that has believed the gospel, even if we wouldn't like offer to do that with them, they would do it anyway. On their own, or after we leave in their mind, if they realize what has happened to them, they would do it anyway. But the point is, it gives them a nice moment where they can realize, yeah, that's where my salvation was. But the point is, you're not going to have one without the other. Turn to Titus chapter 3. Turn to Titus chapter 3. So look, the point is that all these silly questions and these silly philosophical questions, it's really less about how you would answer that question and it's more about why the person is asking that question. And that's what the intelligent person really needs to think about. Like why are you saying that why would you like it's obvious in the Bible that it's God's plan for someone to go and preach the gospel? That it is our purpose. Look, it's why we do what we do in our lives. It's why I'm out today in 105 degree whatever it is out there, like suffering. You know, but I mean, it's not really suffering, but I mean, the point is, it's why we do what we do. Because that, I mean, everyone's like, oh man, what's the purpose of life, bro? This is the purpose of life right there. It's to get saved and go out and get other people saved. Bro, that's the purpose of life. Isn't it nice that we don't have to like just bother ourselves with all these stupid, philosophical, weird things that people like spend their whole lives on? I mean, is there a God? What's the meaning, man? You know, all this stuff? It's like, no, we know. We know what the meaning is. We know what it is. So all these stupid philosophical questions, you kind of have to just ask why are you asking that question? It's clear that God wants us to go preach. Why would you say that we don't need to preach? Why would you be asking a question that implies that we don't need to preach? Right, that's the more important thing to realize there. Look at Titus chapter 3 in verse number 9. This is the category that I put those types of questions in. It says, but avoid foolish questions. Why would I need to know the answer to that stupid question? Because I know what God is telling me to do. Because I know what I'm supposed to do. I don't need to know the special circumstance of every single person that's ever been saved on planet earth throughout history. All I need to know is the very clear teaching that God tells me the whole purpose of my life is to go out and teach and preach the gospel to people who are the natural man and can't understand it themselves. That's all I need to know. I don't have to waste any horse power on that type of stuff. That's what Titus 3.9 is saying. It says avoid this stuff. Because why? And genealogies and contentions and strivings. People will just like strive over this stuff about the law. For they're what? They're unprofitable in vain. Then there's all the people that come up with dumb questions just so you can think that they're smart or something. But the point is like these two specific questions, I believe actually have like a sinister origin right here. So that's the more important that's the more important I answer that question which with where did that question come from? Because it's very clear that we are to go out and preach with our feet. We are to preach the gospel. I mean Acts chapter 8 Philip in the Ethiopian eunuch look it's a testimony of our lives. Think about it that way. It's a testimony of what we are supposed to be doing. Go back to Acts chapter 8. Go back to Acts chapter 8. Look at verse 32. So let's see let's see how it plays out. Now that we know the doctrine we know what we're supposed to be doing let's see how it actually plays out in practice. I mean this is such a beautiful story in the Bible because not only does God give us all this doctrine but then he gives us an example of how it works. Look at verse 32. It says the place of Scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before his shearers so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth? This is what he's reading. He's reading Isaiah 53. He's reading Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 53 the first 10 verses or you know of that is just like it's all just this messianic prophecy. He's just quoting just Isaiah 53 just verbatim here. He's reading it and look what he says in verse 34. He says and the eunuch answered Philip and said I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this of himself or of some other man. He's reading Isaiah 53 which is this it's just one of the best messianic prophecies in the Old Testament just Jesus fulfilled every bit of it and he's just like who's he talking about and what does Philip do? Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Jesus. So here we have you know where we have this implication that this guy this guy understands the idea of you know the Messiah and all this kind of stuff he just doesn't know who it is. He understands you know he was in Jerusalem worshiping he has some understanding he's actually trying to read the Old Testament he has some understanding of the basic philosophies he just doesn't know who the Messiah is. So what does Philip do? He preaches in the Gospel. He preaches Jesus to him look at verse 36 and he preached unto him Jesus and look he got it connected the dots look at he connected the dots for him look at verse 36 it says and they went on their way and they came under certain water and the eunuch said so I mean we don't even know like if he really believed it at this point right all we know is that Philip preached to him right we don't know if he received it we don't know if he believed Philip we don't have any idea at this point in the story but as they went on their way they came upon certain under certain water and the eunuch said see here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized so here the eunuch sees water and he wants to be baptized so I'm sure Philip preached him all that doctrine I mean Philip probably preached to him for quite a while between verse 35 and verse 36 was probably some serious preaching right there this guy knows that he wants to be baptized at this point and he says what is stopping me from being baptized and then we have the most hated verse in the whole Bible right here or the most attacked verse in the whole Bible verse 37 where Philip says if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest you know what he means he means if thou believest on Jesus if thou trust in Jesus many times I will say explaining trust in Jesus I will say it has to be 100% Jesus 0% you it can't be 1% you 99% Jesus 98% Jesus 2% you no it's all or nothing which is exactly what Philip says right here same gospel same gospel but look if you have a Bible that I mean here's the thing like look at verse 37 it says what does he have to do what would hinder him to be baptized and he's like the only thing that you need to be baptized is if you believe with all your heart in Jesus basically if you're saved okay he's saying in order to be baptized you have to be saved look if you have a Bible that has verse 37 in it as I just read it to you could you ever baptize a baby I mean what did the eunuch do here look at verse look at the end of verse 37 I'm sorry I didn't even read it all look at any answered and said what does he do then so he says if you believe us with all your heart so the belief the belief is where can I really tell what you believe I can't see what you believe you know the Bible talks about this in James 1 and James 2 talking about how like as men how how I can the only way I can see your belief is through your actions right the only way that's why a lot of people say like man that guy just does all this wicked stuff like yeah I don't even think he's saved you know because like that's the only way men can see your faith like I can't I can't see your heart I can't see anyone's heart right but look he's he says but then he what does he do here he says I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God you know what he did just did right there he confessed with his mouth did those two things go together of course it's a perfect example of the doctrines in Romans chapter 10 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and all throughout the New Testament so the point is could you ever baptize a baby if you had verse 37 in your Bible you couldn't because let me he believed number one can a baby believe can a baby believe can a baby trust can a baby confess with his mouth can a baby say I mean it's ridiculous but that's why they remove it from the Bible because they're like you know actually in the Lutheran church when a baby is baptized and I've seen this like I don't know million times in my life the church confesses for the child it's the weirdest thing and I even thought it was weird when it was happening we're just like that doesn't seem right but you know the whole church will the past will say to the baby he's holding the baby and he's like do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he'll go through this whole liturgy and all this kind of stuff and the congregation will say we believe that and it's just like weird you're waiting for like the twilight zone music to come on you know it's really strange but obviously the baby can't confess the baby can't believe you could never baptize an infant if you could never have the Catholic doctrine so why do they do it it's very easy to see why the Catholics did this because it's a control thing the Catholics that's that's the philosophy of the Catholic church from the beginning you have to come to us to go to heaven you see we can't have people believing that's why they kill people with Bibles that's why they would burn villages where they found Bibles there we can't have people reading the Bible and figuring out that and having people teach out of the Bible that you can be saved just by what you believe we can't have that we need people to come here we need people to believe that they gotta walk through this door and put money in that plate to get themselves to heaven it's a control thing it's really all it is it's very easy to see the motive there it's the same thing with all the other doctrines the confession to the priest all the I mean how many sacraments are there now I mean they seem to make up sacraments after sacrament after sacrament they made up the idea of a sacrament the sacrament just means a work attached to the gospel that's all it means a sacrament means we got hey it's not of works but you know the means of grace the sacrament it's basically works bolted on to the gospel that's the sacrament and that's why so many people died throughout history over infant baptism that's why we were called anabaptists that's why we were called you know they were making fun of us because we were baptizing again or rebaptizing we weren't rebaptizing anybody because a baby being baptized is not baptism it's not biblical baptism so somebody that got saved out of the catholic church as a you know 20 year old and got baptized by a Baptist they were only baptized once but they you know they called it rebaptism then they would you know they would kill them both but it was it was bolting works onto salvation and that's why so many people died over just this one issue verse 37 right here is because it was just Christians it was just Bible believing Christians taking a stand that you will add no works to the gospel that if you add anything to the gospel you are degrading Jesus Christ and you're accursed as Galatians chapter 1 says and as they were being tortured and dying that's what they declared and thank God for those martyrs as examples to us look at verse look at verse number number eight or verse 38 sorry verse 38 so you know another one is let me just go to mark 16 16 real quickly a lot of people will say anybody that believes that that baptism because you'll find a lot of Protestant churches that actually will come out and just like straight up say like the Church of Christ they'll say straight up you have to be baptized to be saved and they'll use mark 16 16 so go there real quickly let's look at that mark 16 16 before we move on in Acts chapter 8 let me just cut that one up real quick for you mark 16 16 the Church of Christ will use this they'll say you have to be baptized to go to heaven I mean and if like I said if you've been soul winning you have met these people or what do you have to do to go to heaven well I know I'm going to heaven why because I believe in Jesus and I've been baptized how many people have you met like that and they've added bolted that work on to salvation not saved not good enough there can be no works nothing added to the gospel folks because if you're trusting in yourself why you say why because then you haven't trusted on Jesus because you're trusting in something that you've done it's a work look at mark chapter 16 verse 16 he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved there it is right there well first of all is that true if somebody believes and they're baptized are they going to heaven of course they are that's a totally true statement right there now if it said he that believeth and is not baptized shall be damned then we got a problem but look what it says it says he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved true but he that what is it that dams you but he that believeth not shall be damned see folks look the only reason any man will ever go to hell you say oh man you know everybody out there in the world you ask somebody in the world why would a man go to hell well if he does really bad stuff well if he's a murderer well if he's done horrible things well if he's committed all these abominations no the only reason that a man will ever go to hell is because he has not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ that's it that's the only reason that's the only reason and then look then then he'll be judged by his works at the great white throne but the only reason he will go to hell is because he did not believe mark 1616 is totally true the whole verse itself and it is not it is not saying that you have to be baptized to be saved it could say a statement he that believeth and installs brick walls for a living shall be saved that's also true he that believeth and never goes to church shall be saved that's also true okay he that believeth and any work good or bad shall be saved it's basically saying like if you have trusted on Jesus you know and you're baptized you're saved but he that believeth not it literally proves against baptism for salvation by the last part of the verse so again it's just but people taking mark 1616 a pastor of the church of christ or whatever that takes mark 1616 and teaches that it means you have to be baptized to be saved it is another proof that the natural man can't understand the word of god and look is that a complicated verse right there I just explained it in like two and a half minutes it's not complicated to understand even just the very simple logic of that verse but an unsaved person will read that and then they will hear the false doctrine of that and that false that false teacher will teach that and they will they'll think they're correct they won't understand that they're even wrong because they're the natural man they're not understanding the spiritual things all right go to acts chapter 8 let's finish up acts chapter 8 acts chapter 8 look at verse number 38 so he believed how do we know that he believed and he didn't lie because he confessed with his mouth that's how philip knew he's like he confessed with his mouth look at verse 38 and he commanded the chariot to stand still and they went down both into the water both philip and the eunuch and he baptized him so philip at that point he deduced in his mind because he confessed with his mouth that he was okay to baptize him I mean so we have to kind of make some judgments if people get saved or not this is why if somebody doesn't pray you know we don't count it as a salvation not like us counting a salvation really means anything in the kingdom of god is just kind of a metric but it's just a way for us to say like yeah we see that that person got saved yeah we can see that right because we can't see and I believe you know that that's one of the reasons god has that attached you know because like how else would we know I mean we can't really see you know let's people tell us what they believe we can't we can't see the man we can't see a man's heart and he commanded the chariot to stand still they went down both into the water both philip and the eunuch and he baptized him so he baptized him go to romans chapter 6 and verse number 4 so baptism is just this it's this picture of you know it's your first act of obedience in your christian life it's your first act of obedience in your christian life showing basically showing that you identify with other christians that you identify with this belief and that you want to actually pursue your christian life look it's super important it doesn't I mean it doesn't have anything to do with going to heaven but being baptized is super important as far as your christian life it's like it's like putting the wheels on the car to get driving in the christian life it's it's the first thing that you should do look at roman 6 4 the bible says therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death it literally identifies us with our savior's death that like as christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father even so we also will definitely no it says we should walk in newness of life it is it is a it is a physical way of us showing Jesus christ the the man the god that saved us that we are ready to serve him that we are ready to go out and do what we're ready to go out and do what he wants us to do we're ready to go out and fulfill the purpose of our life to walk in newness of life because like there's not a single here's another single blanket statement I can make there's not a single person that's unsaved that's out preaching the gospel to people getting them saved none zero there's none so this newness of life is that you're gonna get involved in the christian life you're gonna learn how to preach the gospel because look this is the one thing that god wants for you we talk about you know being backslidden and staying out of sin and all this stuff and I mean I sit here and I just like rip through the bible and just scream at you like how many times a week about not doing this and separating from that and this is good and this is bad in all the world and all this kind of stuff why? so you will walk in newness of life that's why what's the whole point so we'll go out and preach and get people saved that's the whole point and baptism is the first the first thing that we do to show that desire to get moving in that direction look at verse 39 verse 39 I gotta hurry up here I'm getting long winded these days look at verse 39 and they were come up out of the water the spirit of the lord caught away fill up in the unixom no more and he went on his way rejoicing first of all like that's true too like you get somebody saved you're always it's always a joyful thing like I was just like praying out there today I was like man I hope we get somebody saved because it's really hot out here like I was not I mean look let me confess my faults to you all I was not having a great soul any day today even Jacob said something to me he's like dad he's like man you have a bad day and I was just like I don't know I was dehydrated and I just wasn't feeling that great like I was not having the great soul any day but we got somebody saved and it's like bam joy right there just like that it's a rejoice it's a rejoicing moment when somebody gets saved and it's amazing how like when you just go anyway and somebody gets saved it's just like it's just such a joyful thing so we again we see that with Philip he goes away rejoicing but Philip was found at Asatis and passed in the eunuch side the eunuch was rejoicing too okay I'm sure they were both rejoicing but Philip was found at Asatis and passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea all right now one last thing I want to say about this story so he gets the guy saved he preaches to him the guy confesses with his mouth he gets baptized it's a great it's a great story you say but why why this guy turn to verse 27 because this is an interesting you know God's a God's pragmatic too all right so God's trying to get the gospel out to the world and I don't want to leave this nugget unturned here look at verse 27 when God tells Philip to go look at what he says he says and he rose and went behold the man of Ethiopia and eunuch of great authority under Canis the queen of the Ethiopians who had the charge of all her treasure had come to Jerusalem to worship he would was returning and sitting in this chariot read Asaeus the prophet read Isaiah so this guy was somebody back in Ethiopia he was he was like second in command he had the he was the treasurer of the queen of Egypt it says here he had you know or I'm sorry Ethiopia the Canis the queen of the Ethiopians he was the treasurer he was a very influential person and God's like I see that he would believe I see his heart he's what is he doing he's trying to understand the Bible what's he doing turn to Matthew chapter 7 what was he doing he's trying to understand the Bible he's trying to understand like who is this person who is this person is he talking about somebody else is he talking about himself is it the Messiah what's he talking about you know what he was doing he was seeking he was seeking and God this is another great example of how God works right here he was an important person God wanted this guy to get saved so he could go and deliver this message to Ethiopia to Africa so it's good that he gets saved I mean look you never know what God's going to set up for you as a soul winner by the way because God needs you look at verse number 7 of Matthew chapter 7 asking it shall be given unto you seek and ye shall find so here's another thing and this is kind of here's another philosophical question that people will ask what about that kid in Africa how many times have you heard this question what about that kid in Africa who had never had the chance to you know hear the gospel and you know you're somebody in the world that just lived under a tree you know or whatever first of all the kids are not until they realize the law the kids are fine okay they're not condemned until they realize the law Paul tells us that in Romans but what about that person that's just in a tribe somewhere or whatever but here's the thing the Bible tells us if you seek you shall find you know what that is that's a promise right there what was the Ethiopian eunuch doing he was seeking he was seeking the truth okay now turn to Matthew chapter 9 so I hope I can get this two points here at the end across to you but here's my belief on this if someone in the world anywhere is seeking is is trying to find the truth of what God's word says on how they can be saved how they can go to heaven God will send someone to them 100 percent because that's what the Bible says that's what we see with Philip in the eunuch we have a man that was seeking and you say you sound pretty adamant about this yeah because you know what that's what happened to me I was literally I mean I don't know it is probably a similar story to yourselves I was literally seeking I was literally confused I saw contradictions with what I believed I was a I was a mature adult and I was seeking the truth and God led me to someone who showed me the truth pastor Steven Anderson is the person that showed me the truth through his online ministry so the point I'm trying to get you to understand is if if somebody is seeking they will find that's a promise in the Bible and that's what we see demonstrated with Philip in the Ethiopian eunuch but now go to Matthew chapter 9 in verse 37 so you're saying what are we Calvinists are we Calvinists that say like it's just a guarantee that every single person that can get saved will get saved no say why because is everyone seeking is everyone have you been soul-winning out here I was telling my wife today I mean I'm going to write a whole sermon on this neighborhood we're in today because it's just like if there is is there is any if there's one word to describe you know and obviously there was salvation so that's great but if there's one word to describe Americans today it's just complacency it's just nobody cares about anything nobody's seeking truth nobody I mean I'm not saying nobody but I'm just saying most people are just like here's the thing we're too comfortable we're too comfortable so there's a lot of people that aren't seeking not actively seeking look at Matthew chapter 9 verse 37 then he said unto his disciples the harvest truly is plenty us but the laborers are few you know what that implies verse 39 verse 38 pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest you know what that implies that there's this huge harvest and there's very few laborers you know what that means it means we won't get them all but what if they're seeking we'll get those but they're not all seeking but guess what if you go to the door I mean the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 in verse number 11 it says you know knowing the terror of the Lord what do we do we persuade men we go and we persuade people we find somebody that's not necessarily seeking maybe they're just like they're indifferent maybe they never even really thought about it and they're just like I got some time I'll listen you know what you do you persuade them and during that conversation they're like oh man I need this at that point they start seeking in that conversation and then that person will get saved you have to persuade them to be seeking you have to persuade them to want to know how to get themselves out of this mess if you can't if you can't even get somebody to the point where they need to they want to seek the truth that person's just not going to get saved but the point of trying to get at somebody who's actively seeking without anyone even coming to their door God is going to send someone for them to get saved that's what the Bible is teaching us here and that's what the Bible is showing us with Philip in the unit it's an example of that but for somebody for somebody that's just like indifferent that would believe if somebody explained and persuaded it to them from the Bible we're going to miss a lot of those people you know why because the laborers are few why would Jesus have said that why do you have said that he's like pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest he's saying look you need to pray for more why would we need to pray for more if it's already just a done deal we need more why because if we don't look anybody that gets out of soul waiting people are going to hell for that that's that's how serious it is this is why we do what we do because we will miss part of the harvest if there's fewer laborers so that's what you have to I mean that's how serious your Christian life is that's why you have a pastor and other Bible preaching pastors will get up and they'll just like they just like just exhort you to stay in the Christian life get sold out for the Christian life get going why because of the harvest that's why I mean that's really it really boils down to that brass tack right there the harvest and if if if we have fewer laborers we'll get fewer sheaves it's it's very simple it's very simple that's the importance folks that's the importance of soul winning that's the importance of you know the gospel that's the importance of this doctrine that that it's God's philosophy that we go and do it and that's what he's showing us with Philip in the Ethiopian Union it's just like it's just like built not bought he's not going to do that he he saved us okay but we have to go and harvest in this world it's the design that God put forth for us to do it he's like you know what you go get them like the harvest there's there's plenty of them out there and guess what there's plenty of them out there nearly every time we go out we will get people saved nearly every time and nearly every time like sometimes you go out you will you will find those and I call them divine appointments when you find somebody who's just like and it's really cool to see those you'll find those divine appointments where you meet that person at the door and they're just like man I've been studying this I mean you will meet the Ethiopian unit at the door it's totally awesome like I've been studying this I don't know my church is teaching me this it doesn't make any sense let me show you bam easy that's a divine appointment that's an Ethiopian unit right there but then you'll find people that are just like yeah oh listen I've always kind of wondered about that they're not really seeking but they're just the harvest and we're out there getting the harvest all right so look we have to go out we have to preach we have to persuade and find the people that are seeking and the ones that aren't we we need to convince them and persuade them to start seeking these are the seeds that we can plant too may not necessarily get everybody somebody saved the first time I didn't get saved the first time I heard it but you plant those seeds you show them the truth and they start the wheels start turning in their head and they're like oh that makes a lot of sense and then they start seeking and then they eventually will get saved as long as they seek they will find let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer