And Mark, the thought occurs to me, as we were singing that, we sing that from time to time, and we're that much closer when we sang it tonight than we were when we sang it the last time. And every time we get just a little bit closer, and one of these days, instead of singing about the trumpet, we're gonna hear the trumpet. And that is so exciting. But until that time, we want to be living for the one who's coming, amen? And we have a passage tonight that reminds us of some of the things we're supposed to do along that line. So take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Acts chapter eight. Acts chapter eight. Last Sunday night, of course, we were in revival, and we were blessed to hear Brother Rick, and he preached Sunday through Wednesday. Normally, Josh would be here preaching on Sunday night. As you know, he's been preaching ever since we came back together in these COVID-19 days. Josh and Mary on vacation with the kids. And so you're left with third string tonight. I'm here on Sunday night and glad to be here. It's been a while since I preached on a Sunday night. And it's an honor always to do so. So thank you for being here. Thank you for taking your Bible. and thank you for listening tonight. Josh, as you know, having been here on Sunday nights, he's been in the book of Acts. We're going to back up and look at an earlier chapter and see what God would say to us from his word in the eighth chapter. Let's begin our reading in verse 26, please. Acts chapter eight and verse 26. And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south unto 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 and sitting in his chariot, read Isaiah the prophet. Now, just for clarification, the spelling here is Isaiah, but we're speaking of Isaiah the prophet. So if I refer to Isaiah, I'll refer to the name as given in the Old Testament, same person, Isaiah the prophet. Then the spirit said unto Philip, go near. and joined thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, how can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired, Philip, that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so open he 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. And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came under a certain water. And the eunuch said, see, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 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. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord called away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea." A marvelous account, one of the great stories of the Bible, and one that should encourage us tonight and challenge us tonight. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for your precious Word. There's nothing like it. And we know it's inspired by you and given for our good, for our eternal good. So we pray tonight as we look into it, that you will open it to us. Just like this Ethiopian we read about, how can we understand except someone guide us? And we know the ultimate guide in all preaching, in all hearing and understanding is the Spirit of God, the one who wrote the scripture. So Lord, we look to you to help us understand and to apply what you have written for us here in chapter 8 of the book of Acts. What a story it is. I pray, Lord, that we might not just hear the message, but that we might be doers of your word. in the days ahead, that this would really challenge us and motivate us to be more like Philip. And Lord, should there be anyone here like the Ethiopian tonight, we pray that you would tender that heart or those hearts. and bring them to the point of salvation, just like this dear man. How we rejoice in reading of this man's salvation. And Lord, we would certainly rejoice in the salvation of any souls tonight. You know the souls that are here. You know the condition of our hearts and soul. And so Lord, if there are any lost as of this moment, We pray that before this night is over and we go our separate ways, that souls would be saved and you would be glorified. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. I was reading about the 7-Eleven stores. You may remember those when they came out. I came to find that in 1931, a man named Joe Thompson, became president of what was called the Southland Ice Company. Now, none of us probably have heard of that, but it was formerly known as the Southland Ice Company, and in 1946, The stores of the Southland Ice Company were renamed 7-11 because what they did, they extended their hours of operation from, as you know, 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. Now, that may sound strange to us, and some of these youngsters that may not have ever heard of 7-Eleven, that may sound strange that a business would extend hours from 7 to 11, because now we are living in a world that business is done round the clock, isn't it? There is round-the-clock shopping, You can shop on the internet. Some of you may do that. I prefer to sleep in the night hours, but some people are out, you know, with their smartphones and this and that. Now there is round-the-clock dining, around-the-clock entertainment. And yes, for those that are diehards, even what's called round the clock fitness. Now we have anytime fitness centers. In fact, I belong to one. I don't use it round the clock. I probably should, but it's open around the clock and it's called workout anytime. Now, my point in bringing that to our minds is What I see in this message tonight, what I'd like for you to see, is what I would call an example of anytime evangelism. And this is the way we need to be thinking. Evangelism can occur and should occur anytime. anytime that God wants it to occur. Now, I think all too often we have narrowed down the possibility of someone being saved to something like this. Tonight, we have a worship service and the preacher is preaching. and preaching the word. And we have sometimes narrowed our thinking that this is when folks are saved. They're saved in church when preachers are preaching and Bibles are open and invitations are given. And yes, that is true. That is a time when people get saved, but that's not the only time. when people get saved. And we are dead wrong if we think that this is the only time or even the main time. The truth of the matter is, people can get saved anywhere, anytime, because God's power is available and God's grace is available. The question is, are we available? God's working all the time. God's working around the clock. And so this story here is such an example of how God was working in this man's life named Philip, and also in this unnamed man's life from Ethiopia, at just the right time, and all the ingredients come together. You remember how the book of Acts starts back in chapter one? Well, maybe you don't, let's turn there. Acts chapter one, verse eight. It's a good review for us, because this sets the tone for the whole book. Jesus speaking says in Acts 1 verse 8, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Now at that point in time, that was not happening, but it would happen. And not only was evangelism to take place in many parts of the world, it was to take place at many times around the clock. And so we read of an instance here where the gospel is now spreading far from Jerusalem, and it was even to spread farther, as we read of later in the book of Acts. One thing I wanna say about salvation, kind of as a preliminary thought, And I think it's probably a good counterbalance to what we have been talking about just in the last hour in our chosen by God study, and some of you were in that. And of course, what we're focusing on in this study is God's work in salvation. And it is biblical, and it is important to know that God is sovereign in salvation. That is, when a person is saved, God is not surprised by that. In fact, it wouldn't happen if God was not in that. If God did not direct that. If God did not plan that. If God did not supervise that. And in every way, God brings that together. But at the same time, God uses people. And God uses methods. God uses his word. God uses prayer. God uses witnesses. And though God is sovereign in salvation, we are responsible to take the gospel to the lost. And we must always keep this in balance. I've often used this illustration of two wings on a plane. A plane, any plane, doesn't fly with one wing. It just doesn't happen. You have to have two wings for a plane to fly. And in the sense of salvation, there are two wings of the plane of salvation, if we want to speak in that term. There is the sovereignty of God, but it's not just a one-wing flight. There is human responsibility. And you can't have one without the other. Now what's happened in our day, and it's happened for a long period of time, is we so emphasize human responsibility that we've neglected divine sovereignty. We've just forgotten about that part, that it doesn't happen without God's intervention, and God's supervision, and God's power, and God's planning. And if God's not in it, nobody's gonna get saved. But at the same time, We must be involved, and we cannot sit back and say, well, if God's gonna save the lost, it'll just be up to Him. He'll have to do it. That's out of our hands, that's God's work. We can take a verse like we saw this morning, and we can go to seed on that verse, we can say salvation is of the Lord, and since it's of the Lord, then it doesn't involve me, and I can sit back and be passive about the matter, and be idle, and know that God's gonna get it done. But that is wrong. It's wrong. There is both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. We're responsible to what? To evangelize. We're responsible to pray. We're responsible to take the gospel. We're responsible to preach and to teach and to evangelize. And it's not just for pastors, and it's not just for missionaries. We're gonna see here a man involved in this story who was what we would say a layman. So let's get to this. I wanna show you four ingredients, four ingredients that come to play in salvation whenever it occurs and wherever it occurs. And it's so clear. I don't know of another passage that really brings these four ingredients into play like this passage. and as you ladies can attest because not only do you cook some men here in the building cook but I don't know I just follow that habit I guess I'm just old school thinking that ladies cook and I think probably ladies do more of the cooking but somebody bail me out with an amen. All right. But anyway, you ladies or men, you get a recipe out, and it's not just any ingredients, is it? You don't just say fee, fie, foe, fum. You don't say eeny, meeny, miny, moe, chocolate cake, here we go. You know, you have ingredients. If you want something to turn out right, there's gotta be the right ingredients. There's four ingredients in evangelism that we see here, and here they are. Number one, we see a prompt servant. a prompt servant. And the man's name is Philip. We happen to have a man named Philip in our church, who, by the way, is also a soul winner and a prompt servant. And so it's good to work alone, Philip. But this is another Philip, of course. He's a prompt servant. Now, what do we know about this Philip? We do know a little bit about him. And we don't know, not only from this passage, but earlier in the book, we find this. And for the sake of time, we won't turn over there and read that. Just let me share a couple of items about this Philip, this prompt servant. He was one of the first deacons. Now they're not called deacons, but over in chapter six, that's probably what they were. There was the food distribution to the widow women, and it wasn't getting done properly because the apostles didn't have time to do their preaching and their ministry, their teaching, their praying, that kind of ministry, and also do the hands-on ministry of getting the food to the people that needed it in a timely manner. So there was murmuring going on. Can you imagine that in a church? And so to resolve the matter, they chose seven men, and Philip was one of these men. Now, the way they chose the men tells us something about this man. Because it wasn't just any man, like, you know, find seven people that'll volunteer. No, they went about it very carefully. And so we're told that these were to be men of good character. men of good repute, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom." Chapter 6 and verse 3. That tells us a lot about Philip. He was a godly man. He was a man that was wise. He was a man that was full of the Spirit. He was a capable man for the job. Now something we find out in this chapter earlier on, we didn't read this, but Philip was involved in ministry already before this encounter. Let's turn to that. You probably have your Bible open and look right across the page probably or the page before. at chapter eight and verse five. Chapter eight and verse five. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, it tells us, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with palsies and that were lame were healed. and there was great joy in that city. And so you get the idea here, ministry's going on, and ministry with great impact was going on, and Philip was right in the middle of that. God was using this man. But then we come to verse 26 and pick up with this matter of Philip again, and a very strange request. Look what is said to Philip. In verse 26, the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip. Remember, ministry's taking place, good things are happening. But the message from this angel was, arise and go toward the south under the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. So here is a layman given an assignment to leave a place where ministry is happening, great things are happening. He's at the middle of what we would call a revival, something great happening in this community, and he's called to go down toward the desert. But to his credit, He goes, look at verse 27, and he arose and went. No ifs, no ands, no buts. That's why we call him a prompt servant. Now we would just read that and perhaps overlook that, but we shouldn't. If God asks us to do something, do we do it? Would we arise and go? He arose and went. Now, that's not the end of the story, of course. He is going along, and behold, there's this Ethiopian eunuch that we're introduced to in verse 27, who's reading his scroll, the scroll of Isaiah, and then come to verse 29. And the Spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot. That is, go over there to that man riding in that chariot. And Philip ran thither to him. So we see Philip being a prompt servant and obedient servant in two ways. The Lord told him to go. to go to a place that didn't really make sense, down toward desert. Why, Lord, do you want me to go to the desert? He didn't ask that. He just went that way. And then the Lord says, by his spirit, go near. And what'd he do? He ran near, joined himself to this man, came close, and began to talk to him. Did you know that Jesus invites sinners to come, but He commands us as His people to go? He commands us to go. We have forgotten that in the church. listen and obeyed God. And we can learn from this story that we should be prompt as servants, just like Philip was. Now he could have given some excuses. He could have said a lot of things, couldn't he? Based on what we know, he could have said, well, God's using me right here. Why should I leave and go there? He could have said, I'm too busy. You ever say that about anything God is prompting you to do? We probably use that excuse. He could have said, I'm not a missionary, I'm just a layman. That would be true. He wasn't like a Paul. He wasn't an apostle. He wasn't a preacher, though he did some preaching, but in every sense we know about this man, he was a lay man. He was a common man in the church. He could have said, let somebody else do it. They'd probably do a better job than I would. We often use that excuse, but he didn't do that. He obeyed the Lord. Just think, if he had not done what the Lord told him to do, then this man would not have heard what he needed to hear. And the rest of the story would not have taken place. The Bible says, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. You see, God had an assignment for Philip, and he's setting up what we would call a divine appointment. We often refer to them like that around here. And you really can't beat that term. God is setting up the appointment, that's why we call it divine. But in order for this to occur, there has to be the Ethiopian, and there has to be the servant that's willing. God could send an angel to present the gospel, but you never find that in the gospel. You find God using people to do that. God uses people just like you and like me, common people just like Philip. Little boy got a toy around Christmas time and it was a racetrack. And I remember having one of those, most guys I think can probably remember something like that, a racetrack with race cars. And it worked good, like toys do, for a couple of weeks. And then his favorite car in the racetrack set up, Quit working. With a little boy in his own way, he wanted to get it fixed. And he took the car, and he found his daddy. Here's what he said. He said, Daddy, I don't know what's wrong, but all I can tell you is the go was broke. Now, the way that little boy put that exactly describes what's wrong today in a lot of churches. And I think, we'll be honest, it's probably true of our church. The go. to some extent, is broke. That is, not enough people are willing to do what Philip did. So let's learn the lesson here of being a prompt servant, a prompt servant. When the Lord asks us to go, He tells us to go, we need to go, and we need to draw near. Some churches have on their buildings, either as they go out the sanctuary or as you go out the exit doors, you're now entering the mission field. And that is a good reminder. There's every reason to put something like that, because it's true. We are here to worship, but we're going out to help others that don't know our Savior and so desperately need to hear the Word from the Lord, the Gospel that we have to share. So there's a prompt servant. That's ingredient number one. But then there is, secondly, are you ready? A prepared sinner. A prepared sinner. And that is this Ethiopian eunuch We don't know his name. We know he was a long way from home. He was a man of Ethiopia and he was heading home. He had been to Jerusalem. Now the thing that's striking about this story is when you look at it in the context of the Bible in the book of Acts, you remember how the book of Acts opens up in chapter two? It's the day of Pentecost. A great day when Peter stood up and preached that sermon and 3,000 souls were saved. The church on that one day went from 120 in its membership to 3,120. Can you imagine in one day? So Peter stands up, 3,000 are saved, 3,000 are baptized. Then we come along just a few chapters later And here we read an account of one soul being saved in the middle of nowhere. We're told it was desert. Wasteland is the idea of that word. What is that telling us? It's telling us, if it's saying anything, it's reminding us that to God, every soul is precious. And it's also reminding us that people don't get saved in groups. They get saved one at a time. Every soul is precious. Were the 3,000 precious? Nobody would doubt that. But this one man was precious to God. And thankfully, was important to Philip. And so he was there to help him. And the Lord was working on this guy. I want us to look at something, how he's described here in the story. We say he's a prepared sinner. We mean that in the sense of God preparing him. You see, God had a prepared servant, but he also had a prepared sinner. And the same thing that we read of in this story is happening, whether we realize it or not, every day. God is going to use us and he's going to prepare the people that he has for us to talk to. Notice some things about this Ethiopian man. First of all, he was a respected man. It says in verse 27, is a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority. under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. So you get the picture. He is like the staff, the cabinet of the queen of this country. And it further tells us that he was the treasurer. He had charge of all her treasure. So he's like the secretary of the treasury, which tells us he was a trustworthy man handling the finances. And when we read here about the chariot, it wasn't just one single chariot. This man was in a chariot, but without a doubt, this was an entourage. This was a big convoy coming through this wilderness area. And this is one man among a group with the queen being there. And what had they been doing? Well, it tells us at the end of verse 30, excuse me, verse 27, that he had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship. So not only is he a respected man, he's a religious man. They had gone to Jerusalem to worship, now they're returning. Now this doesn't mean that he's saved, obviously he's not saved at this point, because he gets saved later in the story. So he's religious, but he's lost. A lot of folks like that. There are a lot of folks like that. Religion, as you know, does not save. Religion often gives people a false sense of hope and a false sense of security. People can be very religious and very lost at the same time. There are a lot of people that went to church today and they're religious. People. They'll go to church. They'll even take a Bible. They'll sing the songs. They'll listen to the sermons. This man had come on a journey to worship. But you know something? He had come there empty, and he was returning home empty. Because religion cannot satisfy the soul. Religion is not the answer. Religion is a false substitute. No doubt this man was a God-fearer, as they were called. That is, he wasn't a full-fledged Jew, but he was involved in the Jewish religion. He was a God-admirer. He was an admirer of the Jewish way of doing things, and it was a very admirable way, and it was a very respectful religion, but it was just that. It was religion and nothing more. Sometimes it's sad, but it's true. In our churches, the attitude is, well, people have their religion, and they're satisfied with their religion, and we just need to kind of leave them alone. I've heard that out of church-going people. You have too, perhaps. Why do we need to do missions? They have their religion. They have their way. What we're really saying is, they're lost and bound for hell, leave them alone. because religion doesn't satisfy the soul. Religion does not bring people to God. Religion doesn't save anybody. Only Jesus Christ can do that. So here is a lost man. He's respectable, yes. He's religious, yes, but he's lost. But then I want you to see something else. Here is a man who is not only a respectable man, a religious man, he is a ready man. He's a receptive man. And how do we know that? Because the way the story plays out. He's reading a Bible. He's reading the scripture. I wonder how that happened. God has given him a heart to read the scripture. And let's not take this for granted, God had made the Scripture itself available to him, which is remarkable in that day, because people in that day didn't have Bibles aplenty like we have. They didn't have a Bible in every household, much less under every arm. Bibles were scarce. And for this man to have, a man who lived this far away from Jerusalem, and from the things of the Jews, to have a scroll, and apparently it was his, he was reading the scroll, was simply amazing. Let's remember, there were no printing presses in that day. So this shows us how God prepared this moment just in giving him the Scripture. Every copy of the Scripture at that point in time had to be hand-written. Hand copied. And God saw to it that his precious word was preserved. Not only inspired when it was originally given, but every copy of scripture up to this point was preserved by God. with precision, where they would copy from one to another, one to another. And you can read about that. And I would encourage you to find out all you can about that. And the more you find out, you see the hand of God. So here's a man who has the word of God. He has an interest in the word of God. He's reading the Word of God. He's eager, and he's receptive, and he is still at a loss for what the Scripture means. He's trying to make sense of it. So he's receptive, and he needs help. Let me just stop to say this before we go on. We'll find people like this. God is at work in people. Do you believe that? Say, Amen. God is working in people's lives. Sometimes we think we don't see much evidence of that. We don't see people knocking the doors of the church down. But that doesn't mean God's not at work. There's a hunger in the soul that only God can satisfy. There's scriptures that God makes available, and people that are willing to read the scripture, and given the help they need to understand the scripture, we have to believe and we have to trust God that He is on the other end as well as on our end. He's the one that gives us a heart that's willing to go, but He's also on the other end of the sinner preparing them to hear. drawing them, wooing them. This is all the work of God. From the going and the sending and the being there to evangelize to the people on the other end. And so, our approach is to reach the ones we can reach. To reach the reachable. To teach the teachable. To win the winnable. But it's God at work. So there is a prompt servant. There is a prepared sinner, but then the key ingredient here, and I wanna spend just a little time talking to you about the precious scripture. You talk about the sovereignty of God. You talk about how God is working in this man's life. He wasn't just reading anywhere. He wasn't over in some passage that, you know, is dealing with something that he just, it really had nothing to do with salvation. He's at the very heart of the matter. He is reading what we know today as Isaiah, the 53rd chapter. And what a chapter that is. Martin Luther said of this chapter, it is so precious that it should be written on leaves of gold and letters of diamond. You read this chapter, Isaiah 53, which we'll not turn to, but he's reading this, has 12 verses and 12 different references to this work of Christ on the cross where he took our place. He was that substitute. He was that Lamb of God given as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of man. He bore our sin. And so he's reading, let's look at it in verse 32. The place of the Scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. And like a lamb done before his shearer, so opened he 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. And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? He couldn't figure it out. Of himself or of some other man. In other words, the he's. and the hims and the his. Who's it talking about? Who's the he? Who is the one spoken of here? Is it the prophet? Is it somebody else? And that was a perfect opportunity for Philip to explain it to him. But what happens here can happen anywhere. That's what we're talking about. Anytime evangelism, anywhere evangelism. because here is the heart of the matter. Jesus is who it's talking about. So he needs somebody like Philip who is there obediently to guide him. He asked the question that a lot of people are asking. Back up in verse 30, Philip asked him a question. Understandest thou what thou readest? Do you understand, sir, what you're reading? And then his honest answer, also in the form of a question in verse 31, how can I except some man should guide me? This is exactly what people need. Because would we not admit that the Bible can be a confusing book? Not that God wrote it to confuse us, but who doesn't need help? That's where we come in. And this is where every Christian should be equipped and know enough to tell a lost person the plan of salvation. Let's be more specific, not only the plan of salvation, but talk to them about the man of salvation. to be able to explain to them that there is a Savior and He took our place. He died for our sins. We're sinners by nature. We're sinners by choice. He died in our place. We should be, should we not, all of us should be equipped enough that we could take a Bible and show somebody about the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't have to call for the preacher to do it. We don't have to ask a Sunday school teacher to do it. At least we shouldn't. We have classes around here we call Way of the Masterclass. That's what those classes are for. So that nobody can say, I just don't know how to do it. We take that excuse away. We offer classes. And the reason we do that is not just to have something to do on a Tuesday night, but because everybody should be equipped to know how to do that. Because you never know where you're gonna be, who you're gonna be talking to. And it doesn't mean that you're gonna preach a sermon. It says that he preached unto him Jesus, but that doesn't mean he preached a sermon. It just means he told this man about Jesus. He explained the scripture and helped him understand this was referring to Jesus. And every person in this building that's saved should know how to do that. Do you know? You can. The Bible says in John 5 and 39, search the Scriptures. This is Jesus speaking. Search the Scriptures, He said, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me. Yes, the Bible can be a complicated book. It can be an overwhelming book. I mean, just look at the size of it. And it has no pictures. So people are intimidated from the get-go. People are not going to just sit down on their own, more than likely, and just sit down and say, I'm going to study this, and I'm going to figure this out. They need help. And so it's, the simple truth of it is that it's all about Jesus, isn't it? The Old Testament says someone is coming. The four Gospels tell us someone is here, and the rest of the New Testaments tell us someone has come and someone's coming again. And every one of us knows that much. If you're saved, you know more than a lost person. And if you don't know more than a lost person, then you need to know so you can be saved. If you're saved, you have to know something. You have to know the basics about the Gospel. You have to know. And we need to know clearly, and be able to explain clearly, because it's just that important. Romans 10.17 says, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. I'm convinced as I read that verse and as I read other scripture that no one is ever saved apart from the truth contained in this book. We're not saved by feeling, we're saved by facts. Understanding truth. And a lot of people, as you know, are not gonna come to church to hear it. And they're not going to be under the influence of the big fisherman, that's the pastor. We say we're fishers of men, but I think we've reduced this to where we're relying on the big fishermen to do the fishing. But no, the fish are outside the building. And we're all fishers of men, and it takes us all working together. So, there is a prompt servant. There is a prepared sinner. There is a precious Scripture. And then, last of all, the salvation of this man. Let's call this a personal surrender. A personal surrender. Because after all, that's what salvation amounts to, is surrendering our will to the will of God. Let's read about it. As they went on their way, now it's verse 36. And something happens, doesn't it? Between verse 35 and verse 36. There's more that was said than is recorded, obviously. Because all it says in verse 35 is that he told him about Jesus. But something happened. That man heard what Philip said, and that man believed in what Philip said, and furthermore, Philip told him not only about Jesus, but he told him about baptism, because it says in verse 36, as they went on their way, they came into a certain water, and the eunuch said, see, here's water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? So obviously, Philip has told him not only about salvation, but he's told him about the first step of obedience. And that is that he should be baptized, follow in believers baptism. And that's another good thing that we need to tell people. And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.' And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, because his mission at that moment in time was done. The Spirit of the Lord caught it away, Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more, and he, that is the eunuch, went on his way rejoicing. Let's notice a few things as we round the message out, looking now at this man's salvation. First of all, let's note this. This is important. Salvation was settled in his heart. And that's where it's always settled. Salvation is a matter of the heart, isn't it? Salvation was settled in his heart. This man wants to be baptized, but before he is baptized, Philip wisely says, if you believe with all your heart, you may. Bible tells us in Romans 10, nine, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. It's a matter of the heart. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. It must be settled in the heart. Salvation is settled in the heart. Out of the heart are the issues of life, we're told in Proverbs. The heart is the problem. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. It's the heart that needs to be changed. Logan started the service tonight reading in John 3 about the new birth. And that's what it is. It's a birth inside. It's an inner new birth. It's a birth from above where we get a new heart. And we're changed from the inside, and then it shows up on the outside. So it was settled in his heart, but then it was shown by his baptism. Philip told this man, you need to be baptized. And as the Lord would have it, he made water available. I don't know how that water came about. Maybe it was there all the time, or maybe the Lord just put it there for that purpose. Remember, they're in a desert. You don't expect to come across water in the desert. So it was either a pool or a stream. It was deep enough for a baptism. And it's almost like there's a bit of surprise. They came to a certain water. The eunuch said, see, here's water. They weren't expecting it. But again, God knew what was gonna happen, and he made that available. He directed their path to where they saw the water, and then Philip baptized him in that water as a sign, as a symbol, as an expression, a testimony of his salvation. Baptism's a beautiful thing, and it's wonderful when we can baptize folks who have been saved. And I always stress this when I talk to people being baptized, and I'll stress to you tonight, because there should be no confusion. Salvation is one thing, and baptism is something separate. Don't confound those two things. Baptism doesn't help you become saved. It has no part in your salvation. Remember, salvation is settled in the heart, but it's shown in baptism. This is our confession of faith. This is our statement of the fact that we have been saved by grace, by the Lord Jesus Christ. And it shows that though salvation is personal, Salvation is not meant to be private. There's a difference. Salvation should be personal, should happen inside us, in the very heart and soul of us, but we're not to keep it to ourself. And so there's a place, even if it's only one person that sees your testimony like it was here, just fill up in that guy. And I suppose the rest of the entourage probably saw the baptism. And he wasn't ashamed. He went on record, I'm a believer in Jesus Christ and wanted to take his stand in that water. Also, I might add here, we know that the method of baptism is by immersion. How do we know that? Because they both went down into the water and they came up out of the water. This business of pouring or sprinkling, that's not biblical. Baptism is by immersion. That's not the Baptist way. That's the biblical way. And the very word baptism means to immerse, to plunge, to dip, to put under. And so, that's the way they did it. That's the way it should be done. And then his salvation was shared with others. Settled in his heart, shown through his baptism, and then shared with others. How do we know that? Well, just look at the last of verse 39. I think this implies everything we need to know about this man. He went on his way rejoicing. And where was his way? Back to his homeland of Ethiopia, far, far away from where he was and farther still from where he had started there in Jerusalem. But you know what? This man is going back a changed man, isn't he? He's going back with joy. He's going back knowing the truth of what we sang. There's a new name written down in heaven. He may not have known that truth, but he knew he was not the same kind of man. So he went on his way rejoicing. And being the man that he was, the treasurer under the queen, just think of the influence that that man had in his home country of Ethiopia. Four ingredients. that come together when a person is saved. We saw this morning, salvation is of the Lord, and we see it play out here. It's God's work, isn't it? God's work in His servant. God's work in the sinner. God's work through the Scriptures. And God's work in salvation. What's the time to do evangelism? It's anytime. Anytime. is the right time for evangelism, for at least three reasons. And I'll just mention these, our time's up, but I'll just mention these three short thoughts. Why any time is the right time for evangelism. Number one, because eternity is a long time. And all of us live on the edge of eternity. We don't know when that we're gonna cross that line and go from time into eternity. Evidence abounds. People do not always die expectedly. And so people are living on the verge of eternity. That's why it's always the right time to witness. Always the right time to give out tracts, or engage people in conversation, and bring the gospel into the conversation as best we are able, and as God would allow. God has to open the doors, of course. So because eternity is a long time, then because life is such a short time, people are not going to live all that long, and we're not going to live all that long to be able to tell them. I'm old enough to know I don't have that many years left, and I may not have even one year. I may not even have one month. I may not even have one week. I know this, at best, I may have 20 years. Probably at best. It's so short. And we don't want to come to the end of our time with regrets that we missed opportunities. I've missed enough, and I don't want to miss any more than I have to from this point on. I assure you, I don't. Eternity is a long time. Life is a short time. And a third reason, now, the Bible says, is the accepted time. Let me give you the verse. 2 Corinthians 6. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. And the word there for time is not the passing of time, like you would see on a watch, or you'd see on a calendar, or something like that. It's a specific time. Now is the opportune time. is what that means. Now is the day of salvation. And so if you're here tonight, and you're not sure if you're saved, I would say to you, right now is the opportune time. Right now, as we're reading about this man's salvation, what about you? You can be saved the same way that anybody is saved, the way this man was saved, the way all of us must be saved, if you believe with all of your heart And he said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Let's pray. Father, thank You for this story. It is an unforgettable story. It's a remarkable story of salvation and of soul winning. Prompt service. A story that reminds us of the power of Your Word. The power of Your Spirit to prepare a heart to receive Your Word. Lord, we see Your hand in all of this, and yet we see our responsibility at the same time. I pray that You would help us to see where we fit in this story. Those of us who are saved, help us to be prompt and obedient and faithful. Anybody here tonight, Lord, that's not saved, I pray they would see themselves in the story as this Ethiopian man. He needed salvation. Show them, Lord, they need salvation. And lead them to the point that this man came where he was willing to receive Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. And then, Lord, send us out of here like this man rejoicing that we're saved and that we have the truth that we can share with others and we can live from day to day. I pray that this message would be applied to all of our lives so that we will be faithful to do evangelism anytime that we have the opportunity. We pray this in Jesus' name and everybody said amen.