All righty. Can you guys hear me? Something's not right. Hello, hello. Yeah. Hello, hello. Testing, one, two, three. Testing. Oh, there we go. Alright. Can you hear me now, I guess, right? Probably you can hear me a little too good. Maybe we should turn it down just a little bit if possible. Let's take our Bibles this evening and open them to Acts 8.39. Apparently, there's emails being circulated in my name asking for money. I mean, if you guys want to give me money, you can do that, but it's got nothing to do with these phony emails, so I guess my account has been hacked. I mean, generally speaking, you probably know me well enough not to email you for money, right? And apparently now the emails aren't enough there's texts coming from me Wanting discreet personal conversations with women So that probably isn't me either right So just I don't know how all this electronic stuff works these days the hacking and the However, they do it but As Paul says, I would not have you to be shaken by a forgery allegedly coming from me. Particularly if you get one that says the day of the Lord has started. You know, that's probably not me either. Well, we're going to try to wrap up Acts chapter 8 tonight. Acts chapter 8 is the ministry of the second deacon selected a man named Philip. You can take his ministry and you can divide it into two parts geographically. He first has a ministry in Samaria up north there. That's verses 5 through 25. Then the Holy Spirit moves him down to Judea. and basically has him standing on a road connecting Jerusalem, which is right here. That didn't work too well, did it? Let's see. I'm obviously doing something wrong. Anybody know how I get this pencil to work? Oh, maybe it's one. I got to push a button over here. Let's try that. Push the pen button, let's see if that works. There we go, look at that. Jerusalem is down here, and he has him stand on a road, the Holy Spirit does, connecting Jerusalem with Gaza. Because down from the north on the Via Maris Highway is going to come the Ethiopian eunuch. who Philip is going to have the opportunity to lead to Christ. And so we've studied all of that. So we've seen the Ethiopian eunuchs conversion, verses 36 through 38. And I wanted just to spend a little bit more time on verse 37. Notice what verse 37 says, and it says, and Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, Philip speaking to the Ethiopian eunuch, if you believe with all your heart, you may. In other words, the Ethiopian eunuch wanted to be baptized and Philip wanted to make sure that the Ethiopian eunuch was a believer. And Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may, in other words, baptism follows belief in Christ. And he, that's the Ethiopian eunuch said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. So he had believed on the right Jesus. He had fulfilled God's single condition and consequently was, um, of an authentic believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Philip. ascertaining that, then led the Ethiopian eunuch into water baptism through full immersion. So we've been getting a lot of emails here at the church of people that want to be water baptized, and we're happy to do that. There is a class that has to be taken first with Pastor Jim to make sure that people understand that baptism doesn't save. And once people take that class, we schedule water baptism in a local body of water here called a swimming pool. And we will baptize. Happy to do that. But the thing that bothers people is if you're reading this out of the New American Standard Bible, do you notice that this is in brackets? How many are using the New American Standard Bible? All right. 90% of you are saved then, I guess. No. I'm just joking. You'll notice in the New American Standard Bible that this is in brackets. So what in the world does that mean? And if someone doesn't explain this to you as a new Christian, Satan will use things like this to make you feel like your Bible just has willy-nilly things added to it. Because if you I have a study Bible. There's usually a note at the bottom somewhere that said, this verse is not found in the better manuscripts. So you slap your forehead and you say, oh my goodness, what does this mean? How was the Bible put together? How could some verses be OK, but others look like they're thrown in at the last minute? Let me give you another famous example where this happens. If you could just hold your place in Acts 8, and go back to John 7 for a minute. John 7, verse 53, very end of John's Gospel, all the way through John 8, verse 11, it's the woman caught in adultery. You'll notice that there's a bracket that begins in chapter 7, verse 53. And then the bracket ends after chapter 8 and verse 11. And for example, in my study Bible that I'm using, it says later manuscripts add the story of the adulterous woman, numbering it as John 7 verse 53 through chapter 8 verse 11. So, there's a big one in Mark 16. You might want to take your Bible and flip over to Mark 16 just for a minute. It has to do with Christ's final instructions to the disciples. And if you look at the beginning of verse 9 of Mark 16, And this bracket, I think, spans through most of the chapter, if I remember right. It says now, after he had risen early on the first day, he first appeared to Mary Magdalene, etc. And as you read all the way through verse 20, the end of verse 20, these are bracketed. So there's a little note at the bottom in my study Bible. It says a few late manuscript versions contain this paragraph, usually after verse eight, a few have it at the end of chapter two, uh, I E the gospel Greek Abia, I E priestly descent. So. There's a couple places in the Bible, well actually there's several places in the Bible where this happens. It throws this bracket at you and it has some comment that this is not found in the better manuscripts. So what in the world is happening here? And if you don't get an explanation on that, you're gonna think the Bible is just filled with a bunch of errors. You might remember that we brought this up in Acts 2 verse 47. If you can remember back that far. We're now, by the way, on our 50th sermon or lesson in Acts, which is kind of neat because 50 is Pentecost. And I think last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday, if I had that right. But in Acts 2 verse 47, we said the church has started and I had to give a long explanation for that because the word church is not found in Acts 2 verse 47. Acts 2 verse 47, the very end of the chapter, says, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. That's the way the NASB reads. And I said the church has started here, and I gave some arguments as to why that is so. But if you're reading out of the NKJV, And sometimes when I say that fast, I say the KGB, and that's an error. That's a different issue, right? We're not dealing with politics here, at least not tonight. But in the KJV and the NKJV, the King James Version and the New King James Version, you'll notice that the word church is thrown right in there. It's a Greek word, ecclesia. It says, Praising God and having favor with all the people, the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Meaning that the long explanation that I gave as to why the church started in Acts 2 is no longer needed, because if you're reading this from the KJV, the word church is thrown right into the text. So the word church, the Greek word ekklesia, appears in Acts 2, 47 in the King James Version, but not the New American Standard Bible. So what in the world is going on here? Well, this is what we would call an issue of text criticism. And let me just back up just for a minute. We do not possess the original. Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, we do not have them. And you might be saying we mean we've staked our whole lives on manuscripts that we can't validate anymore. And that's true. And the, and there's actually a divine reason for it. I think God did not allow us to keep the original manuscripts of the Greek new Testament for two reasons. Number one, if, if they existed and they got damaged in some way or changed, then all of Christianity would be hurt. But if you have multiple copies of the original manuscripts, which we do have, then if you damage one, it doesn't cause all of Christianity to suffer because the same truth is found in another copy. You see that? So God in his providence did not allow us to retain the original Greek manuscripts. And a second reason why I think God did not allow us to retain the original Greek manuscripts is because of idolatry. I mean, you see how people act when they think they find a splinter of the cross or something. I mean, they just go crazy and they travel everywhere to worship it. And, you know, I mean, just think if we had the originals, think of the idolatry that would take place. God does not want us to be idolaters. He will not share His glory with another. Isaiah 42 verse 8. So the truth of the matter is we don't have the original Greek manuscripts that our New Testament is based on. But here's what we do have. We have copies. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of copies of the originals. Why do we have so many copies in comparison to other works of antiquity? We have so many copies compared to other works of antiquity because Christianity has always been evangelistic. Its whole purpose is to get the truth out to as many people as possible because God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. So we have, you know, fragments of different New Testament books, copies everywhere. And when you compare the copies that we do have in terms of number to other works of antiquity, which no one questions because the other works of antiquity don't have the originals either. When you compare the copies that we do have compared to other works of antiquity like Thucydides, Tacitus, Suetonius, Homer's the Iliad. We have way more copies than any other work of antiquity. So if you're going to play this game of, well, we got to throw out Christianity because we don't have the originals. You got to throw out everything. You got to throw out Plato, but nobody's challenging Plato. They only challenge Christianity because Christianity makes a moral claim on people's lives. Plato, smart as he was, doesn't do stuff like that. So you have to throw out Plato, Thucydides, Tacitus. You have to throw out every other work of antiquity that we have if you're going to throw it out on the basis of we don't have the originals. Well, it's true. We don't have the originals, but we've got way more copies than anybody else. And, and this is an important and, when you examine the earliest copies that we do have, compared to a likely date when the original was written, there is a shorter distance of time in our copies and our original, our copies and their proximity to the original than any other work of antiquity. So a chart like this just kind of helps you see that. You take the works of Caesar. We have 10 manuscripts of Caesar and 1,000 years between the earliest manuscript and the original. Plato, seven manuscripts and 1,200 years. between the earliest manuscript and the original. Thucydides, eight manuscripts and 1,300 years between the earliest manuscript and the original. Tacitus, 20 manuscripts and 1,000 years between the earliest manuscript and the original. Suetonius, eight manuscripts in 800 years between the earliest manuscript and the original. Homer's the Iliad, famous in classical literature. 643 manuscripts in 500 years between the earliest manuscript and the original. Jumping down to the bottom, the works of Caesar, 10 manuscripts. and a thousand years between the earliest manuscript and the original. So just kind of keep some of those numbers in your head. And look at the New Testament second from the bottom there. 24,000 manuscripts. And the time distance between the earliest manuscript that we have One of the earliest, and I think there's some earlier ones even earlier than that, is John Ryland's Papyrus, which I believe is a very early manuscript of a fragment of John's Gospel. There's no more than 25 to 50 years between the earliest manuscript that we have and when the original was likely written. So you can see from this chart that we come out smelling like a rose compared to any other work of antiquity. So when people raise this issue, well, we don't have the originals. Um, you'd have to throw out everything to be intellectually fair. You have to treat Christianity with a special set of gloves, a case of special pleading, which people do with Christianity all of the time. because Christianity is politically incorrect because it makes moral claims on people's lives. Here's another chart that basically teaches the same thing. The works of Caesar, a thousand, excuse me, ten manuscripts and a thousand years between the earliest and the original. Plato, seven manuscripts, 1,200 years. Thucydides, eight manuscripts, 1,300 years. Tacitus, 20 manuscripts, 1,000 years. Suetonius, eight manuscripts, 800 years. Homer's The Iliad, which you probably studied in college or high school, 643 manuscripts. 500 years, and look at the Bible, look at the New Testament, 24,000 manuscripts. And the distance between our earliest manuscript and the original is no more than 25 to 50 years. And again, we have so many manuscripts because of the evangelistic nature of Christianity. Now, the thing to understand when you get into the subject of text criticism is these 24,000 manuscripts that we have, they agree with each other. They're copies. They're not originals. They're copies. They agree with each other over 99% of the time. I mean, they're almost identical. Now, there's less than 1% where there's slight variations in the copies. And it's also important to understand that the variants, these are called variants, when the manuscripts disagree with each other, they don't disagree with each other on any cardinal doctrine of Christianity. So the differences never call into question the Trinity or the virgin birth or the deity of Christ or the inerrancy of Scripture. But you have to understand that With all of these 24,000 copies, they're not going to read identically in every instance. There's a very small percentage where there's disagreements in the copies, less than 1%. And these disagreements, called variants, don't affect any major doctrine of Christianity. So with all of that being said, what is text criticism? Text criticism is a science and an art. There are people that New Testament scholars that give their whole lives to this pursuit. And so the explanation that I'm giving you here is probably a very gross oversimplification of it, but I want you to see the big picture of it. The work of a text critic is trying to figure out when you run into a variant, In other words, when you run into an issue where there are disagreements in the manuscripts, how do you figure out which reading, because they both can't be right, which reading better reflects the original manuscripts, which we no longer have? That's what text critics do. They're focused on that less than 1% that doesn't affect any cardinal truth of Christianity, but a text critic who has devoted their whole lives to this science and art is trying to figure out when you have a variant reading, when there is a contradiction between the manuscripts, which reading better reflects the originals, which we don't have anymore. That's what text criticism is doing. So what you have to understand is the Bible translation that you use or choose, they have different theories as to which variant reading is the correct one. So not, it's just like any other discipline, not all text critics agree with each other. Just like in the field of law, not all lawyers agree with each other. I know that's shocking to learn that. Not all physicians agree with each other. Not all counselors know, agree with each other. So it's the same in this area of text criticism. There's basically different theories. The New American Standard Bible that I typically use says that the earliest is the right reading. And I'm oversimplifying because some people use kind of a combination of these two views. They call it rigorous eclecticism, but I'm not getting into that. I just want you to see what your different Bible translations are doing. So the New American Standard Bible is saying if it's in the earliest manuscripts, that's the one you follow. So when the two manuscripts contradict, you go with the earlier. Earlier is better. And that's a valid theory. So in our Acts 8 verse 37 passage, the New American Standard Bible is going to put brackets around verse 37. Because that contradicts other manuscripts, but verse 37 is not found in the earliest manuscripts. The New American Standard Bible is going to put brackets around Mark 16, the passage we saw a moment ago. What is it? Verse 10 through verse 20. Something like that, because that's not found in the earliest manuscripts. The New American Standard Bible is going to put brackets around the story of the woman caught in adultery, because that's not found in the earliest manuscripts. So when it says this is not found in the better manuscripts, it's saying it's not found in the earliest. Now I'm not an expert in text criticism. I just know a little bit about it. We had a little bit of it in seminary. It's something I wish I understood better. But to be honest with you, I don't always think the earliest is the best. Because one of those very early manuscripts comes from Alexandria. It's called Alexandrinus from North Africa or Egypt. And that's where Gnosticism, allegorization, amillennialism ultimately came from. So if I was making a guess, I would say that kind of manuscript is not necessarily the best. But text critics that put together the New American Standard Bible, which is a wonderful translation, would argue vehemently with me on that. And they would say the earlier is the better. Now the King James Version and the New King James Version have a different theory of text criticism. What they say, if this is found in the majority of manuscripts, it's the accurate reading. So it doesn't matter how early we go. What matters is, was it picked up by the Christian community early on in the majority of existing manuscripts? So when you're reading this in the New King James Version, Acts 8 verse 37 is not in brackets because it's found in the majority, not necessarily the earlier. When you're reading the woman, the story of the woman caught in adultery, there's no brackets around it because it's found in the majority, not necessarily the earlier. When you are reading this, you're reading the Mark 16 about you're going to pick up serpents and not be hurt, that kind of thing. There's no brackets in the New King James Version or the King James Version because that story is found in the majority of manuscripts rather than the earliest. So that's why that bracket, if you're reading this in the New American Standard Bible, is there in Acts 8 verse 37, but it's not there in the King James. What is happening is the English translations are following different theories of text criticism. So I guess I lean more towards the King James way of doing things. I think if it's in the majority, it's authentic. So I take the woman caught in adultery as an authentic story. or else it's hard for me to believe why the Christian church would have early on adopted it. I take the instructions that Jesus gave in Mark 16 about picking up serpents. By the way, you don't have to experiment with that. Let's not go there. But I do think when Jesus said that, it was an authentic story. In fact, Paul did that. Remember, he got bit by a snake in Acts 28, and they thought he was going to die on the spot, which he didn't. And then Acts 8 verse 37, you know, I think is authentic as well. So anyway, that's sort of a crash course on text criticism. And that's why you'll encounter these brackets. I wouldn't let them bother you too much. I think if someone doesn't explain this to a new believer, it wreaks havoc in their mind. It's not that big of a deal. because the manuscripts agree with each other 99 or more percent of the time. And the disagreements really have, you know, very little to do with the cardinal Christian doctrine. So my position as a Bible teacher is just ignore those brackets if you're reading them in the NASB. If you like crossing things out, you know, you can go ahead and do that. If you're reading this in the King James Version, you don't have any crossing out to do because it's following majority text. So I hope you found that helpful a little bit. We come to verse 39. We covered verse 38 last time. And then notice verse 39. Philip has just baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. It says, when they came up of the water the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away and the eunuch no longer saw him but went on his way rejoicing now notice this expression they came up out of the water it doesn't say you know Philip sprinkled the Ethiopian eunuch on his head with water while the two of them were on the edge of the water. I mean it doesn't say that at all. It says the two of them came up out of the water. So we believe that what this communicates is baptism, which doesn't save. It's an outward symbol of an inward reality. It's a step of obedience for the new Christian The typical mode of expression for baptism is to be completely immersed in water. And last time, you might remember this slide where I gave you several reasons why we think that's true. First of all, if baptism was by sprinkling water on the forehead, the Greek New Testament has other words for sprinkling, which are not used here. you'll find sprinkling in 1st Timothy 1.2, excuse me, 1st Peter 1.2, and then the concept of pour, as in pour water on a part of the body in 2nd Timothy 4.6. The word pour or the word sprinkle is not used. Beyond that, we believe that Christ was immersed in water. Matthew 3, verse 16, Mark 1, verse 10. When you read those passages, you'll just see it's full immersion. So therefore, if that was good enough for Christ's baptism, it should be good enough for our baptism. Number three, the Ethiopian eunuch's baptism, verses 38 and 39, which we're covering. That's why we're bringing this up. We're not just bringing this up carte blanche, but it relates to what's happening in our verse-by-verse study of the Book of Acts, was obviously full immersion. So if that's how Philip baptized in water completely, totally immersing a person, that's the normal mode of baptism. Of course, we don't build what's normative in the Church exclusively from the Book of Acts, right? Because the book of Acts is a transitional book. There's all kinds of transitional things happening in the book of Acts. You might remember verses 14-17 where the Samaritans believed and received the Holy Spirit later. After the apostles came from Jerusalem to lay hands on the Samaritans. And I tried to explain when we were covering those verses that that was a one-time occurrence for a specific historical reason. It's not normative. What's normative is you believe and you receive the Holy Spirit instantaneously. So you have to be careful with the Book of Acts. You can't build what's normative in the church age in the Book of Acts. But this concept of immersion in water is not something just found in the Book of Acts. You'll see it taught in Christ's baptism and It best symbolizes what the epistles explain our baptism into Christ, which is the next bullet point. Immersion in water best symbolizes our union with Christ. Because when Christ saved you and took you at the point of faith and baptized you in the Holy Spirit, meaning he identified you with the body of Christ, according to Romans 6, verses 3 through 5, Christ didn't just take my elbow or my right foot. He took my whole body. So, I have been identified into the transaction of Jesus Christ. When he died, I died at the point of faith. When he was buried, I was buried at the point of faith. When he rose from the dead, I rose from the dead at the point of faith alone in Christ alone. When he ascended back to the right hand of the Father 40 days after his resurrection, I ascended. And that's why Ephesians 2, I think it's around verse 6, says that's where we are right now legally. We are legally at the right hand of the Father. although where we are factually hasn't yet caught up to where we are legally. So the truth of the matter is, when you became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is a transaction called baptism in the Holy Spirit, which the Lord did for you, and the Lord took all of you. He didn't just take an elbow, He didn't just take an ear, He didn't just take your wisdom teeth, if you still have your wisdom teeth. I got my wisdom teeth removed a year or two ago. I felt my wisdom deteriorating once they took them out, but that's another subject. So he doesn't just take part of you, he takes all of you. So the issue is, of the different modes of baptism, which one expresses that truth? Well, obviously, taking a human being and immersing them totally and completely in water best illustrates that. Sprinkling and pouring does not. And then the last bullet point here is it symbolizes a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 says, if any man is in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature, new creation. Old things have passed away, new things have come. And all you've got to do is go back to original creation. And what you'll see is God in a giant ball called water, brings the earth, Genesis 1 verse 6 and Genesis 1 verse 9, up out of the water. So the land, the Eretz, is totally underwater, and when God wants to create dry land, it comes up out of the water. You'll see Peter making a reference to that in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 5. So the whole imagery of coming up out of the water, just like what's happening here with the Ethiopian eunuch, is the mode of baptism that symbolizes that a person who is now a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is a new creature or creation in Christ Jesus. And it's imagery that parallels original creation, physical creation, going back to Genesis chapter one. So you take these concepts, there's other words for sprinkling, which are not used here. And then you throw into the mix Christ's baptism, the Ethiopian eunuchs baptism, which mode symbolizes our union with Christ, which symbolizes the truth of Genesis one of a new creation. And we believe that baptism, the norm is to take a person who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. and immerse them completely in water and bring them up out of the water. So that's why we practice full immersion here at Sugar Land Bible Church. So that's the significance of verse 39 when it says, when they came up out of the water. And then it gets even more interesting. What happened when they came up out of the water? The Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away And the eunuch no longer saw him, but rather went on his way rejoicing. So what just happened to Philip? He got snatched up. Now, he was snatched up, but then he was brought back down, which I'll make reference to in a second. But the Holy Spirit caught him up. Now, the word translated snatched in the New American Standard Bible is the Greek word harpazo, which is used where else in the Bible. It's used to describe our rapture. When we who are alive and remain will be caught up just prior to the events of the great tribulation period. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18, you know these verses well, but we do not want you to be uninformed brethren about those who are asleep so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, With the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain..." Let's assume this happens in our lifetime. Which would be a good thing, right? As we've said before, I don't have a single problem in my life that the rapture wouldn't resolve. So come Lord Jesus. "...then we who are alive and remain will be caught up..." Now that's the same Greek word harpazo that's used right here. Together with them, that's the dead in Christ, descending in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Notice Jesus here doesn't come to the earth. This is a heavenly reunion. And so we shall always be with the Lord. So we're going back to the Father's house, to the heavenly dwellings He's prepared for us. John 14 verses 1 through 3. Therefore, read a bunch of prophecy books about the New World Order and Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum and the Mark of the Beast and be terrified until your dying day. Oh, I'm sorry I didn't say that. Because all this stuff is supposed to comfort the Christian. Therefore comfort one another with these words. So it is interesting that the word for our rapture, harpazo, is the same word that's used right here in Acts 8 verse 38. And I bring this up because a lot of people will say, this rapture stuff is just science fiction. How could you believe it's true? Well, the truth of the matter is there have already been several raptures in the Bible. Why can't there be one more? Enoch was caught up, remember? Genesis 5. As was Elijah in a chariot. 2 Kings 2. Jesus was caught up when he ascended. Acts 1.11 and when Revelation 12 verse 5 talks about it, it also uses the word harpazo. The ones I've got underlined here use that same Greek word harpazo. Now Philip is caught up. Acts 8.39, we're reading about it right here. Paul was caught up. Harpazo is used there in 2 Corinthians 12 Verse 2 and verse 4, and there he was caught up to the third heaven. John in the book of Revelation chapter 4 verses 1 and 2 was caught up to see the end times vision. And then the two witnesses in the book of Revelation who will be killed in the city streets of Jerusalem in the full visibility of the whole world as their bodies lie dead for, what does it say, three and a half days, they'll be brought back to life and they'll be caught up to heaven. So people say, how can you believe in this concept of the rapture? It's so science fiction. Well, the truth of the matter is, how many raptures have there already been in the Bible? I'm counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Why can't we have another one? It's just the next time it happens, God's not coming for an individual. He's coming for a whole generation of Christians. In other words, He's bringing the bus, right? He's bringing the whole bus, and we're all going to be taken at the same time. So don't let people tell you that don't believe in the rapture because anybody who believes in it is crazy. If you don't believe in the rapture, you're basically ignoring countless Bible passages where raptures have already transpired Not the least of which is Philip. Once his ministry to the Ethiopian eunuch is over, he is the same word, snatched up, harpazo, seized or caught up by force, is what the word means. By the way, from the word harpazo, we get the English word harpoon, where you spear a sea animal to yourself and yank it towards yourself. That essentially is what the rapture is like. It's to be caught up almost violently. But don't worry, there's not going to be any physical harm to you because he says comfort one another with these words. So the rapture is a reality. Now in Philip's case, he was not raptured to heaven. He was raptured up and then he went back down somewhere. So he was not raptured to heaven, but he was raptured away from the Ethiopian eunuch. And so what does the Ethiopian eunuch do? I'll tell you exactly where Philip was taken to in just a minute. It's in verse 40. But what does the Ethiopian eunuch do? And the eunuch no longer saw him, that's Philip, but went on his way rejoicing. So there's a lot of people who have a mentor or someone that leads them to Christ and they become sort of inappropriately attached to their mentor. And they want to be with their mentor all the time. You'll notice that that isn't necessary because Philip's mentor was snatched up and Philip doesn't sit there despondent. Oh no, my mentor was taken away from me. He went on his way rejoicing because he knew he didn't belong to his mentor, Philip, the man that led him to Christ. He belonged to the Ethiopian eunuch. So there are people that God will put in your life for purposes of birthing you and helping you grow. But you should not inappropriately attach yourself to that person because you belong to Jesus. And when Jesus moves you from phase A of your life into phase B, He'll bring other people into your life who can help you with your spiritual well-being. So sometimes people, particularly new Christians, get inappropriately attached to the person that initially blessed them. And you'll notice that Philip doesn't, the Ethiopian eunuch rather, doesn't follow that pattern when the Ethiopian eunuch's mentor, Philip, is taken up. So the Ethiopian unit goes on his way rejoicing. And I'm not sure we talk enough about the joy of the Lord. Jesus did not come into the lives of people to ruin them. Jesus came into the lives of people to liberate their lives. In fact, if you go back to verse 8 of Acts 8, When the Samaritans were won to Christ, it says, so there was not a little, but much rejoicing in that city. That's what Jesus does. He doesn't make people miserable. This is a great lie of the devil. The devil makes the unbeliever think, wow, if I get involved with Christianity, Jesus is going to ruin everything. And the opposite is true. When you come into a relationship with Jesus, you come into the one who gives you context and an explanation as to why you exist. And only He who created you and redeems you can fulfill you. You cannot find true lasting fulfillment outside of Him. So true Christianity never results in misery. You know, if you're in a church and you're finding yourself miserable, and under legalistic bondage, I can guarantee you this much, that the Spirit of Christ is not in that church. Some other spirit is running it, but not the Spirit of Christ. When Christ encounters people in the Bible, the result is always rejoicing. John 10.10, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I, Jesus speaking, have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. I don't find in the Bible legalistic bondage that makes people miserable. What I find is 1 John 5, verse 3, His commandments are not burdensome. What I find in the Bible is Matthew 11, 28 and 29, where Jesus says, Come to me, all you who are weary, and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." If you're walking with the Lord and you just feel yourself more and more miserable, you might want to reevaluate whether it's the Lord causing that. Because I don't necessarily find that in the Bible. I do believe God can make us feel miserable when we step out of line and convict us, but that's for our own protection and good. I mean, ultimately, the Christian should be the happiest, most joyful person on planet Earth. Paul in Philippians 4.4 says, Rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say what? Rejoice. And how about the commandments of the Lord? Deuteronomy 10, verse 13, it says, "...to keep the Lord's commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your own good." I mean, God's commandments are not there to be a cosmic killjoy. They're guardrails, basically, to keep us away from the cliff. It's like when you go camping and you go to Pikes Peak and there's not a rail up and your youngest jumps out of the car and starts running towards the scenery and you yell stop at the top of your lungs. You're not doing it to take away joy from the young person's life. You're trying to protect them from falling over the ravine. That's what the commandments of the Lord are. They're there for protection. They're a guardrail. So one of Satan's strategies is to get us to look at God's commandments and sort of resent them and act like He's there to make us unhappy and destroy our lives. It's actually the exact opposite. They're there to protect us. They're there for our own good. And a walk with the Lord always results in more joy. I mean, the Ethiopian eunuch couldn't be more joyful. Neither could the Samaritans who were saved towards the beginning of the chapter. You know who's miserable in the Bible? The Pharisees. Those are the misery merchants. Matthew 6.16, Jesus described the Pharisees when he said, Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face, as do the hypocrites. For they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full." I mean, the people that are miserable and show it externally, constantly, are not God's people, but it's the false teachers and the religionists who are walking in legalistic bondage. In fact, Jesus made a reference to this in Matthew 23. I hope I've got the verse right here. I think it's verse 15. He says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte. Now, that's a convert to Judaism. And when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourself. Wow. No wonder they wanted him dead, saying stuff like that. So I remember when I was in college, there was a guy. He felt God had called him to fast, which is not a bad idea if God calls you to do that. But he would sit kind of in the dorm lobby while everyone else went to lunch. And boy, this guy really knew how to attract attention to himself as someone who was sacrificing for the Lord. I mean, he could put on the most unhappy, gloomy face. And he would remind you as you were walking through the dorm lobby with your big ice cream cone for dessert, how much he had sacrificed for the Lord in giving up his meal. And there was like zero joy, zero happiness. And I'm sorry, that's not the Lord. The Lord doesn't do that to people. I'm not saying the Lord doesn't call us into walks of discipleship, but ultimately when the Lord is at work in someone's life, you're not going to see misery and legalistic bondage and a mindset that misery loves company. You know, what you're going to see is joy. So when you run into a perpetual sad-faced saint, it might be that such a person is walking under some other influence other than Jesus, because Jesus brings complete fulfillment to a human being. I'm not saying that the ways of Christ's discipleship walk are always easy, but if it translates into a lack of joy, a lack of inner tranquility, peace, contentment, that at some point you might want to ask yourself, you know, is this really the Lord? There are people sitting in churches, I get the emails constantly, where their salvation is always challenged. They wonder if they're one of the elect and are going to make it in the final judgment. And so they live their lives in a perpetual state of fear. In fact, the Puritans, there's a doctoral dissertation written on this about what was going on in the minds of the Puritans near death. And almost to a man, this doctoral dissertation doing this historical analysis says the Puritans, who by the way founded largely our east coast, the United States of America, they went to their graves in fear and in trepidation because they didn't know if they were one of the elect and had borne enough fruit to prove they were one of the elect. So on their deathbed, you know, at a time where you really need to be trusting in the promises of God, they were in a state of perpetual fear, wondering if they were going to go into heaven or hell. I'm sorry folks, that isn't Christianity. That's religion, but it isn't Christianity. The Ethiopian eunuch went on his way rejoicing. Paul says, absent from the body is what? Present with the Lord. And in Philippians 1.21-23, he says, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. But anyway, the Philippian eunuch goes on his way rejoicing. Presumably, he went right back to where he came from. And that's how the Gospel penetrated Africa. Some of you have asked me for some historical sources showing that the gospel through the Ethiopian eunuch did penetrate Africa or Ethiopia. You can find that in Irenaeus. Irenaeus is one generation removed from John. John discipled Polycarp. Polycarp discipled Irenaeus. And Irenaeus in his histories Book 3, Chapter 12, Sections 8-10. Against heresies, Book 3, Chapter 12, Sections 8-10 is the historical source that tells you that the Ethiopian eunuchs conversion did lead to the penetration of the gospel into Ethiopia. And I bring that up because Acts doesn't tell us that information. It just tells us He went on His way rejoicing. But Irenaeus tells us He went back to Ethiopia, spread the Gospel, and that's how Christianity made it into Ethiopia. And then we just have one more verse. Can we do it? I feel like that Rodney Dangerfield commercial. We just need one pen, Rodney. Remember that? That was a beer commercial. If you know about that commercial, don't put your hand up. All right. Verse 40, it says, but Philip found himself because he'd been raptured. So where did he go? Philip found himself at Azotus. And as he passed through, he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea. So what happened to Philip? He is raptured from Gaza, where he meets the Ethiopian eunuch, and he goes up in the air. Here's my rapture picture. Back down. I don't know if he necessarily saw the Mediterranean Sea, but I'm trying to say he went up. Let me put that in there. That's for the Selves. They're art teachers. And I would have been the kid that needed extra help. So he went up and he found himself at Azotus. So these are real geographical areas, real geographical names. Azotus took on a Greek name, also named Ashdod. That should sound familiar because that's the area called the Gaza Strip right here. involved with all of the incursions that happened October 7th from the Gaza Strip into Ashdod. So there's where Ashdod is. You notice the Bible deals with actual real-life geography and real-life geographical areas. You're not reading a fictional account when you read the Bible. So Philip goes up from Gaza after his ministry to the Ethiopian eunuch. He comes back down to Azotus and he makes his way up to Caesarea. And this is an area called the Philistine Plain or the Sharon Plain and the whole way he's evangelizing. So look at what happened in his ministry. I mean he starts in Jerusalem. He has this tremendous ministry in Samaria. And then he's told to go back to Jerusalem and put himself on this road that connects Gaza and Jerusalem. And it's here, probably more down here, where he met the Ethiopian eunuch. He leads him to Christ because God put him in the right place at the right time, where the Ethiopian eunuch happened to be reading Isaiah 53. Then he's raptured up, taken away, brought back down to Azotus, and he keeps ministering all the way to Caesarea. And now I have to do the hard work of getting rid of all this stuff. You guys didn't know so much. Oh, that's one I had in there. There we go. I even got to get rid of up. How sad. So you didn't know there was so much geography in the Bible, did you? So there's Philip up in Caesarea, and that's where we leave Philip. It says, verse 40, Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed, he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea. So from Azotus to Caesarea is this coastal plain, and Philip is evangelizing all the way up. Caesarea is the official residence of the governors of Judea. It's a place where civil, civilian, and military governors typically went. And it's actually an area where Philip settled. We know that he settled in Caesarea. Because Acts 21 verses 8 and 9 says, On that day we left and came to Caesarea, entering the house. So we had a house there. Beachfront property too, by the way. Entering the house of Philip the Evangelist. It's a beautiful coastal area. Beautiful turquoise water when you visit that area. And that's where Philip settled. On that day we left and came to Caesarea entering the house of Philip the Evangelist who was one of the seven and we stayed with him. Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses. More on that when we get to Acts 21. But notice the evangelistic strategy of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sends people to the population centers. This is going to happen a little bit later in the book of Acts. in Paul's second missionary journey, where he is going to be given in Troas, which is right here, the vision of the Macedonian man. This is Macedonia up here. And the vision is going to say, come over and help us. So this is how the Gospel, on Paul's second missionary journey, made it to Europe. and penetrated all of these cities, Philippi, Thessalonica, later Athens. So the Holy Spirit is always directing these people in the Book of Acts to the population centers. That's what Caesarea is. It's an official residence of the governors of Judea. Because the Holy Spirit knows that as those people start to get converted to Christianity, the message through influential people in populous areas is going to spread all the more. And one other quick thing here about Caesarea, before we wrap up, is Caesarea is going to become a big deal in Acts 10 and 11. Because it's in Caesarea that the very first Gentile, a man named Cornelius and his household, His entourage will be one to Christ. So I hope what you're seeing in the book of Acts is progress. The gospel and the church starts out all Jewish, but what just happened in Acts 8? Now we got someone who was a proselyte, a Gentile who is converted to Judaism. The Ethiopian eunuch is now saved. So now the gospel has, in a sense, gotten outside the borders of Israel to a proselyte and ultimately to Ethiopia. And by the time we get to Acts 10, and it's going to be so radical that the apostles will have to explain this to the Jerusalem leadership in Acts 11. By the time we get to those chapters, what we're going to see is now a full-fledged Gentile will be saved. And after that, when Paul leaves the borders of Israel and goes on his three missionary journeys, Katie bar the door. because it's mostly Gentiles that are getting saved at that point. It's unbelieving Jews that are sort of becoming opponents of the Christian message. So that takes us to the end of Acts 8, verses 26-40, Philip's ministry in Judea. And this is actually a very good place to stop because this is our last study Wednesday night for this quarter. I believe we pick it up again either the 4th or the 11th, I can't remember, of September. But it's a good place to stop because what's coming in the next chapter? The conversion of Saul. Who will become Paul? And Paul is destined to become the main man in the duration of the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament from this point forward. So be thinking about Acts 9 over the summer. I used to think when I first came to Sugar Land Bible Church when they took the summer off Wednesday, I used to think, you know, what a bunch of slackers, you know. But after trying to do this ministry for a number of years, I'm saying, thank God they take Wednesday nights off. Because I need a little bit of a rest too. So it's actually a healthy thing to take a little break. It's not unspiritual like I used to think. Let's pray. Father, we're grateful for the Book of Acts, grateful for the stuff that it's taught us. Looking forward to what it's going to continue to teach us as we continue to move through the Book of Acts beginning in the fall. Help us to not go through the book of Acts, but help the book of Acts to go through us. Be with us over these summer months as we study independently, yet continue to meet on Sunday mornings. And keep us close to Yourself. Keep us walking with You. We'll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name. In God's people's name. Amen.