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We return again this morning to our verse-by-verse study of the Book of Acts, and I would encourage you to take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter eight. Acts chapter eight, and in a few minutes, we will be looking at verses 25 through 40. For a Christian, there is perhaps no greater joy in life than seeing a child, a loved one, a friend come to a saving knowledge of Christ - to see someone be born again, to be regenerated, to be saved. I tell parents quite often that your child's greatest need is not to be loved, not to be nurtured, not to be well educated or grow up to be a moral or religious person, even though those things are very important, but your child's greatest need is to be born again.

Now, why is this so important? Because unless a person is born again, he will eventually die in his sins and will be forever cast away from the presence of God. Once one of the leading Pharisees of the Jews, a man by the name of Nicodemus, came to Jesus, inquiring about the key to eternal life. And Jesus warned him of these very truths. In John three, Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And Jesus went on to emphasize the dire need this man had of being born again. He said that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life, but he who believes in Him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now, as Christians, we understand that our precious children, for example, are spiritually dead. Sometimes that's hard to fathom when we look at them and we love them so, but spiritually, they are dead until they come to Christ. Spiritually, they live in rebellion to God. They are blind to the truths of God. In fact, everyone who has not been born again is at enmity with God, living under the wrath of God. In fact, as we study the Scriptures, we know that apart from Christ, all that we are and all that we do is fundamentally offensive to a holy God. We understand biblically that there is nothing about our sinful nature before we come to Christ that in any way conforms to the moral character or desires of God. Now that's a pretty serious thing, and because of our innate corruption, we are alienated from God. We are subject to his wrath, and we are therefore utterly unable to do anything to save ourselves; and if our own depravity and inability to save ourselves isn't bad enough, we also have to deal with Satan. In fact, in Second Corinthians four, beginning in verse three, we read that "the god of this world," referring to Satan, "has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." So, dear friends, apart from Christ, man is in desperate need. Man is in need of a spiritual heart transplant. He is in need of a supernatural work of God to give him eyes to be able to see the truth of his sin and the Savior. He is in need of a transformation that only God can accomplish-a work of grace that will somehow transform that heart and change a person's governing disposition. And I would hasten to add that there is not enough altar calls in the world to accomplish this, apart from a work of grace. And what folly it is to claim that a few drops of water on an infant's head could perform such a miraculous transformation. Moreover, what language could possibly describe the lunacy of assuming that such an inexplicable, miraculous work of grace could be achieved by merely immersing someone in a pool? Water. In fact, this ritual was experienced by the false professor Simon Magus that we read about in weeks gone by, and yet that false professor was found by Peter to be one who remained in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.

Now, dear friends, before we go to this text, I want you to understand the concept here of salvation and the incredible need that man has for regeneration, because we're going to see this occur in the text before us this morning with the Ethiopian eunuch, you must understand that it is God who is the author of regeneration, not man. Indeed, God's sovereignty and man's freedom is an inscrutable mystery that we cannot fathom, and we must leave it that way, because as soon as we try to apply our limited, naive, and fallen logic upon such a mystery, we instantly cease to be biblical. But what is clear from Scripture is simply this: man is required to believe, but he cannot do so apart from God. He is a spiritual cadaver, and he is blinded by Satan. And in ways beyond our ability to fathom, God works upon the desires of the human will, so that a sinner will freely and voluntarily choose to come to Christ and be saved. In fact, in Romans 9:16 we read, "So then it," referring to salvation, "does not depend on the man who wills" in other words, man's free will, "or the man who runs," referring to human effort, "but on God who has mercy." Therefore, my friends, in light of all of this, what a glorious day it is when we see our children, our spouses, our mothers, fathers, grandparents, friends, whoever, come to a saving knowledge of Christ, because we know that when that happens, God has been at work, and God did that work. What a day of rejoicing!

And may I remind you that regeneration-if you want kind of a biblical theological definition-regeneration is basically an instantaneous supernatural impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead. In fact, the Greek word "palingenesia" is a compound word. "Genesia" means birth or being born, and "palin" is again. It's the idea of being born again. That's why we read, for example, in Titus 3:5 that "He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. "

Now, as we look at the text this morning, we're going to see four spiritual truths pertaining to regeneration unfold before our very eyes. And as I lived with this text, I realized there are many ways we could approach this text. But I have chosen, I believe, by the Spirit of God, to speak to you primarily about the issue of regeneration in the life of this African nobleman. What we are going to see is number one, the author of regeneration is God. Secondly, we will see that the agent of regeneration is the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, we will see that the instrument of regeneration is the word of God, and fourthly, the proof of regeneration is joyful obedience.

Given this introduction, let me read to you Acts chapter eight, beginning with verse 25.

"And so, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

"But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, 'Arise and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.' (This is a desert road).

"And he arose and went; and behold, there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship,

"and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

"And the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go up and join the chariot.'

"And when Philip had run up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'

"And he said, 'Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?' And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him."

"Now the passage of scripture which he was reading was this:

"'He was led as a sheep to slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearers hearer is silent, so He does not open His mouth.

"'In humiliation, His judgment was taken away; Who shall relate His generation? For His life is removed from the earth.'

"And the eunuch answered Philip and said, 'Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else? And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this scripture, he preached Jesus to him.

"And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this scripture, he preached Jesus to him.

"And as they went along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, 'Look, water! What permits me from being baptized?'

"[And Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.']

"And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.

"And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing.

"But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through, he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea."

Now, let me give you a bit of context here again. This is a very important passage in that there is a transition occurring with respect to the sphere of evangelism in the early church. You will remember that the custodianship of divine truth has been taken away from the Jews who rejected it, and it has now been temporarily transferred to the Gentile church until the church age is completed, until the church is snatched away at the rapture of the church, and then at Christ's second coming, God will make good on his promises to the Jews for a glorious kingdom of which even the church will enjoy a glorious kingdom for an ethnic, national Israel that will not only worship the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah, but be restored to their promised land in fulfillment of God's Abrahamic and Davidic and New Covenant promises in the Old Testament.

Now you will remember at Pentecost the church is born, and the gospel now explodes on the scene, primarily in Jerusalem, primarily to the Jews, and then next, like throwing a rock into a pond, you see the ripples of evangelism begin to spread out when you look at Philip's ministry to the Samaritans, and now we're going to see those ripples spread out even further, all the way into Africa, as Philip now is called to bear witness of Christ to an Ethiopian.

Verse 27 it says that he was an "Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all of her treasure." So it indicates that he was a very trusted servant of the queen's court, a man of great influence who had come a long way to find truth in Jerusalem, to worship in Jerusalem, and obviously there were some problems there. We know that the Jewish faith at that time was apostate. It was primarily a works righteousness type of system. It was bankrupt, and they were very confused. They had rejected Christ, and so now this Ethiopian had come, and we see that he leaves even more confused. But God has other plans. He's going to use Philip now to bring the gospel to him, and then the gospel through the Ethiopian eunuch will go into the continent of Africa. This, of course, was consistent with what Jesus had predicted in Acts one eight, when remember just moments before he ascended into heaven, he told his disciples, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem." - there's where the rock first enters the water - "and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the uttermost remotest part of the earth." So that's what we see going on here.

Now, let's examine this text and marvel at the "Work of Regeneration in Evangelism," which is the title of my discourse to you this morning. First of all, I would submit to you that the author of regeneration is God. Let me remind you that Jesus made this very clear in many passages, but especially in John 6:44. There we read that "No one," he says, "can come to Me..." No one can come to me unless something happens. Well, what's that? "Unless the Father who sent Me draws him." The word "draw" in the original language, "helkō" is a term that means to draw, to drag. It's the idea of of a forceful, vigorous, irresistible, compelling. We see it used, for example, in Acts 21:30, where we read that, "the people rushed together and, taking hold of Paul, they dragged him out of the temple." That's what the Father does with us. He draws us, he drags us unto Christ. And here we are going to see the irresistible drawing of the Father occur in the life of this Ethiopian nobleman.

Now, what is fascinating is that we never know when or how this divine work is occurring. The Ethiopian had no idea what was going on with respect to what God was doing to draw him. Notice verse 26, and here we get the behind-the-scenes look at what God was doing.

"But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, 'Arise and go south of the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.' (This is a desert road.)

"And he arose and went. Behold, there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship,

"and he was returning and sitting in his chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah."

By the way, this is the same supernatural force that drew you and that drew me to a saving knowledge of Christ. In fact, we read in John one, beginning in verse 12, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born..." there's the new birth, "...not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man," but of what? "But of God." Now, practically speaking, no man has ever been saved because of the techniques and the methods of some preacher. No man has ever been saved because there were finally enough verses of "Just as I Am" to get him to walk that aisle and to repeat some prayer. Nor has any man ever been saved because he alone exercised his will and made a decision for Christ. Beloved, you must understand that men are saved ultimately because the Father drew them. In First Corinthians three, beginning in verse six, Paul said, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth." Indeed, God, not man, is the author of regeneration.

So again, it's interesting. This Ethiopian has traveled many miles, and of course to travel many miles as he would have done from that land down under in Africa to this place, he had to have a large entourage and quite a large group of camels and horses to carry all of their belongings, and he was probably also a Jewish proselyte or perhaps one who was considering to become one. He had obviously now gone to the temple to worship, but he's leaving utterly confused. It reminds me of a lot of worshippers today. They come to church, they come to worship, and they leave utterly confused. I hope you are not going to be among that number today. But oh, God is at work because again, God is the author of regeneration, and we see this happening now behind the scenes.

But secondly, Scripture makes it clear that the agent of regeneration is the Holy Spirit. Let me remind you again, Titus 3:5. He saved us by the washing of regeneration. There it is, "palingenesia,"and "renewing" -  the idea of making something new by the Holy Spirit. Now notice how this plays out in this historical narrative, verse 29,

"And the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go up and join this chariot.'

"And when Philip had run up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'

"And he said, 'Well, how could I unless someone guides me?' And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him."

So the Ethiopian needed someone to guide him. And I find it interesting that earlier in John 16, Jesus had promised that it was to the disciples and to all of our great advantage that he depart and ascend back into heaven. He says, "For if I go, I will send Him, the Helper," the Holy Spirit, "to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment." And he goes on to say that when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. The Ethiopian needed a guide, and here we see this occurring as the Holy Spirit, the author of Scripture, now guides not only Philip as he presents the Gospel to this Ethiopian, but also guides the Ethiopian in an understanding of the truth. Now, again, remember the Ethiopian has no idea that this marvelous work of sovereign grace is working on him. He has no idea that the triune Godhead have conspired together to deliver him from the kingdom of darkness. He has no idea that redeeming love that was set upon him in eternity past was pursuing him; that the Father was drawing him to Christ through the agency of the Holy Spirit and through the instrumentality of the Word of God. It's interesting. Jesus said this same thing to Nicodemus in John three eight. He said, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Let me pause for a moment. Have you ever taken time and just reflected upon what God did prior to your salvation? To think about the many ways that the Father was drawing you without you realizing it? How, in his sweet providence, he was orchestrating the events of, frankly, the world, not to mention your sphere of relationships, to cause you to come to a place where you saw the wretchedness of your condition? Have you ever stopped to think about the ways he had worked, perhaps in your parents or grandparents or some friend's life, so that they were praying for you and witnessing to you and living a life of godliness for you? And for all of those people, perhaps in a number of churches who were giving, who were giving of their time and their energy and their money, so that the gospel could be proclaimed, so that ultimately, it would, in God's providence, filter down to you and save you? I think it's a fascinating thing to wonder about the ways the Father drew us unto himself. And don't you wonder how he's doing that now in the lives of those for whom we pray? I was thinking the other day how biblically I would understand that before time began, God chose me through no merit of my own to become one of his own, and also we know that before time began he chose, and I'm just using myself as an example, if you'll forgive me here, but before time even began, before I was even born, he decreed that I would come and serve here at Calvary Bible Church. He knew that, and here I am, and here you are. And I think of all of the ways that God works to orchestrate the events of history to accomplish his glorious purposes, and beloved, herein is the glorious adventure of serving Christ. You never know what God is up to. I believe that God is calling me to go to Russia and to train pastors periodically, as I've been invited to do. Now, it's kind of like God calling, for example, Philip to go speak to the Ethiopian. But when he does that, he doesn't just use me; he uses all of you, right? And you never know how that 20-dollar bill that you put in the offering plate was part of the Father's plan to ultimately lead some Russian to a saving knowledge of Christ. You see how that works? Obviously, we don't see how it works, but we understand the principle of it all, and we know that God has set all of this into motion before time even began. In fact, in Ephesians 2:10, we read, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Literally he is saying that our sanctification and our service to God was ordained in eternity past, even before time began. Beloved, there is nothing in life more noble, more exhilarating, more fulfilling, more eternally significant than loving and serving Christ.

Well, obviously Philip understood this, and because of his dedication to service, God is going to expand the sphere of his ministry to reach into the very heart of another continent through the heart of this Ethiopian eunuch, so the Father secretly draws him through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Now this nobleman is seeking the truth that will transform him, and the Spirit now summons Philip and gives him a divine directive to go and speak to him. Now, here's where we're going to see this regeneration begin to take place, this instantaneous supernatural impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead; and notice how the Spirit accomplishes this, and this would bring me to my third point in your little notes here - if you're taking notes - the instrument of regeneration is the Word of God. The instrument of regeneration is the Word of God. Dear friends, what is the nobleman reading? Some bestseller? No, he's reading the Word of God. Now let me pause here for a moment before we look at this more closely. We live in a religious culture that has little, if any, appreciation for the authority, the power, and the sufficiency of the Word of God. In fact, the Word of God is really not enough to many people, and therefore it must be supplemented with human wisdom, with philosophy and psychology, or we must replace the Word of God with other things that is more appealing to man, or we must add to the Word of God mystical visions and promises that, frankly, God never made to make it a little bit more tasty. We've got to add to the Word of God, personal revelations, words of knowledge, and so on, because the Word of God is not enough. We cannot preach the Word of God alone, because after all, we all know how boring it is, how confusing it is, and my goodness, it is terribly offensive. So we live in a religious culture today that basically says, "Be careful with the Word. You need to tone it down and spice it up." So the trend now is to either replace it or rewrite it to make it more appealing to sinners, and there's many ways that people do this. Certainly, one of the terrible things that has happened are these free translations and paraphrases that are out there today that deviate greatly from the true original meaning of the text to a point where, in many places, they absolutely butcher the text and make it say things that it does not say. Then best-selling authors take those distorted, paraphrased, and free translations and use them to somehow support their agenda and their presuppositions with the Bible. Naive, undiscerning people think, well, my goodness, the Bible says it, when in fact it does not. You read best-selling Christian authors today, and you'll be hard pressed to find very many that have any emphasis on biblical exposition. Oh, there'll be a lot of Scripture in many of their writings, but they will use Scripture without any exegetical or contextual considerations, twisting it to somehow fit their message. But beloved, the testimony of Scripture is very clear. It is immense and infinite in power. This is unquestionable. For example, we read in Psalm 19:7 "the law of the Lord," the law referring to the Scripture, "the law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul." Restoring, in the original language, means transforming the soul, the inner man, the inner self, and it goes on to say, "the testimony of the Lord is sure," meaning it's reliable, it's absolutely trustworthy, "making wise the simple," the simple referring to people who lack an understanding of God and of themselves. It goes on to say "the precepts of the Lord" again, another term describing Scripture. The precepts of the Lord are right. It means literally they're correct, they're fitting, they're appropriate, "...rejoicing the heart..." in other words, it's the word of God that is so fitting, so appropriate, so right, that it produces within man a tranquility in the innermost being. Then it says, "The commandment of the Lord is pure." Again, saying that Scripture is absolutely untainted by sin, and it is without error. And then it says, "Enlightening the eyes." In other words, the Word of God, the instrument of regeneration, by the power of the Spirit of God, who is the agent of regeneration, will transform a person so suddenly their eyes are open to the truth of their own depravity and the holiness of God and the gospel of grace that can redeem them. In light of such a supernatural document, why would anyone want to use anything else? Why would I want to preach from any other text? Why would you want to listen to anything else? Hebrews 4:12, "The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart." It's a little wonder that Paul would say, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes."

Now, obviously, the Holy Spirit knows all of this, because he is both the author of Scripture as well as the agent of regeneration, and his instrument now of regeneration is going to be the word that he has written. Indeed, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). In fact, James one verse 18 says, "In the exercise of His will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be as it were the first fruits among his creatures. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness," verse 21, "in humility," he says, "receive the word implanted." In other words, be teachable from the word, "because it is able to save your souls, to prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves." And Peter likewise reiterated this glorious concept of the incredible, infinite, supernatural power of the printed word, the instrument of regeneration. He says in First Peter 1, verse 23, "For you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable. That is,” and here it is, "through the living and abiding Word of God. " And then he gives an illustration. He says, "For all flesh is like grass in all its glory, like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord abides forever. And this is the word which was preached to you."

Parents, let me speak to you for just a moment here, if I can digress for a moment. Do you want to see your children be born again? Then unleash the word on them. Read them Bible stories. Teach them what the Scripture says. Use every opportunity to expose them to the truth and let them hear it from others as well-grandparents and other siblings, qualified Sunday school teachers, and others that God provides in the body of Christ. By the way, I don't buy this new philosophy that many homeschool people have bought into, that basically says only parents should be responsible for the spiritual education of their children and the spiritual development of their children. That says to me that you think that you have all of the gifts. My friends, I hope you do, I sure don't. That is a very arrogant position that I believe breeds even more arrogance in children. Moreover, it violates numerous principles concerning the role of the church and the importance of availing ourselves to the vast range of spiritual gifts within the body of Christ. So, bottom line, what we need to do is we need to expose our children to every opportunity to be taught the Word, and to expose ourselves to the same. It's for this reason that we believe in expository preaching here, the systematic verse-by-verse study of the Word of God, because that's what God uses to transform lives. Because we believe that that is the power. I'm not the power. This is the power.

Now, notice how the Spirit of God uses his Word in this scenario, verses 32 and 33.

"Now, the passage of scripture which he was reading was this..." and by the way, this is from Isaiah 53, verses 7 and 8. "'He was led as a sheep to slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth.

"'In humiliation, his judgment was taken away; who shall relate His generation? For his life is removed from the earth.'"

Verse 34,"And the eunuch answered Philip and said, 'Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?'" Obviously, he's very frustrated here. And if you know anything about first-century Judaism, you can understand why. He certainly got very little help from them after his worship time. You see, some of them thought that the slaughtered sheep referred to Isaiah. Others thought, no, I think maybe it refers to Israel. And some would say, well, maybe the Messiah. But very, very few, only the Christians would say that it refers to Jesus of Nazareth. Well, obviously Philip knew the answer. Notice what he did, verse 35, "And Philip opened his mouth and said...'Well, you know, no one can really understand Scripture. It can't mean one thing alone. It means different things to different people so you need to embrace the mystery of it all, you need to have the necessary humility to admit that you don't know. I don't know what it means for sure. You need to ask the real question: What does this mean to me?" Now, friends, that is the message of the fast-growing emergent church.

Or maybe it would go like this, verse 34, "And Philip opened his mouth and said, 'Well, this refers to Jesus who loves you so much that he died on the cross for your happiness. And if you will believe in him and ask him to be your Savior, he will save you from your unhappiness, from your lack of success, from your poor self-esteem, from your negative emotions. He will save you from your problem marriage, from your bad habits, and from your lack of purpose and direction in life.'" That is the message of the enormously popular purpose-driven life and purpose-driven church.

Or it might go like this, "And Philip opened his mouth and said, 'This referred to Jesus, who died on the cross, where he took upon himself the nature of Satan when he died spiritually, not physically, and he descended into hell as a mortal man, and then was born again, and thus defeated Satan. And if you will believe on him and be born again, you can become a little god. After all, since God was in Christ when we are born again, Christ becomes in us. He comes into us, and therefore we become incarnate as Christ was incarnate. And therefore, you must understand that you are a god. And when you begin to live out your godhood by the power of of faith, you can speak things into existence." Well, this is the message of the word faith movement. And you say, "Well, Pastor, come on, this is fringe stuff." You know, friends, if you believe that, you are naive to the point of being foolish, and I say that with all kindness, because I have just given you three examples of the distortion of the gospel of Christ that absolutely dominates Christian television - it dominates the shelves of our Christian bookstores. You go to any of our Christian bookstores, and you will find these things in virtually every shelf. It fills stadiums. It fills mega churches. Beloved, Philip opened his mouth, and it says, "...beginning from this scripture, he preached Jesus to him." It says he preached Jesus to him, not the philosophical mystical Jesus of the emergent church that no one can possibly understand. Not the Doctor Phil Jesus of the purpose-driven life. This is not the reinvented Jesus of the prosperity predators in the Word Faith movement. Instead, he preached Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible, and my, there's hours and hours of material that we could recite here at this point. This is the same Jesus the Apostle Paul preached in Colossians two, beginning in verse two, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery-that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." In verse eight, he goes on to say, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." And I've just given you a few samples of that. And finally, he concludes, saying, "For in Him, referring to Jesus, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority."

So indeed, Philip now begins right here in this passage of Isaiah, and through the power of the Spirit of God begins to teach the Ethiopian about Jesus. Now we don't know exactly what he said, but I'm sure that it would have been something like this that he traced the glorious truths of redemption from the Old Testament up to that present day. I'm sure that he showed this dear sinner the scarlet thread of the blood of the Lamb that was woven all through the tapestry of Holy Writ. I'm sure that he went all the way back from the bloody covering that God provided for Adam and Eve in the garden to the provision given to Abraham in place of Isaac. I'm sure that he spoke of Jesus, the Lamb of God, that was pictured in the Levitical sacrificial system and trace it all the way up to the Jesus that died on the cross as the Lamb of God, Jesus who was the light of the world. I'm sure that he spoke of Jesus as the incarnation of the law, the only one who could fulfill the moral law through his righteous life. I'm sure he spoke of Jesus who fulfilled both the judicial law as well as the ceremonial law, when on the cross he became the perfect and the final sacrifice, the atonement for sin. Oh, dear child of God, wouldn't we somehow know the Word of God well enough to show sinners Jesus on every page, because it is here. It is here, and only those blinded by Satan are unable to see it. And would that we trust in its all-sufficient power and depend upon it alone as the instrument of regeneration. Unleash it upon people and watch what God will do, because beloved, we must understand that when we trust in Scripture alone, it is the power of God resulting in salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as we see written around these walls in Latin. Oh, what a glorious day it was when that Ethiopian suddenly saw the truth by God's grace. The powers of redemption had been released upon him. He didn't even know it. He didn't realize that the author of regeneration was God. He didn't realize that the agent was the Holy Spirit and the instrument that God would use would be the Word of God, God's all-sufficient resource.

But lastly, I want you to notice that the proof of regeneration is joyful obedience. Now, this is a radical statement, and before I bear it out in Scripture, I want you to think with me for a moment. It's a radical statement because, for the most part in our neo-evangelical apostate culture we see that obedience is kind of optional. You know when the Lord said, "If any man wants to come after Me, he needs to deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." That that's pretty much meaningless in most circles today. "Being separate from the world, presenting our bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God" (Romans 12:1). That's kind of passe. That's kind of puritanical. Today, the dominant gospel message is the gospel of self-fulfillment, not the gospel of self-denial; so you can kind of come to Christ and then keep doing whatever you're doing, whatever your thing is. But beloved, we must understand that genuine regeneration is a spiritual work of transformation wrought by God, where a man becomes a new creature in Christ. The old things pass away; the new things come. A person begins to love the things that God loves and hates the things that God hates, and you see a different direction in their life, a different direction that is discernible.

In fact, as we look at Scripture, we will see that there are both internal as well as external manifestations of regeneration. Internally, we will see that a person will admit that they have a deep-seated faith in the biblical revelation of Jesus Christ. They will begin to have a hatred of sin, a love for Christ, an inner witness of the Spirit of God upon their heart, a passion for God's glory, a secret devotion to God and prayer, an appetite for the Word of God, a love for other Christians, a zeal for evangelism, and so on. These are the internal manifestations of regeneration. But you will also see external manifestations of it as well. Those things that other people will observe in a true Christian, you will see, for example, a life of joyful obedience. That's what we're going to see here right off the bat with the Ethiopian eunuch. You're going to see righteous living. You're going to see a person that guards their body, knowing that it is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You're going to see a person who lives a selfless life, one who is separate from the world, one who is free from habitual sin, one who refuses to tolerate sin in their life and in the life of their family. And here in this story, we see the beginning elements of these spiritual virtues, evidence of his regeneration.

Notice, after Philip had preached Jesus to him, verse 36, "And as they went along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, 'Look, water! What prevents me from being baptized?' And then, verse 37, since this is not in the oldest and most reliable manuscripts, we will omit it. However, I believe that a profession of faith very similar to what is said here must have been stated. And in verse 38, he says, "And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him." Baptize means to immerse, to dip. There's no sprinkling going on here. Obviously, Philip had taught him about baptism, that it was the public expression of an inward reality; a public confession of faith required of all who come to Christ in repentant faith. And you see, this was a very important event for this man because now, in front of his whole entourage, he was telling the world that he was a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, and obviously, this is going to get back to the queen. And I find it interesting too that he says, "Look, water!" In other words, this is an unbelievable surprise. Remember earlier in the text, it said that this was a desert road. You know, you don't find big pools of water that a couple men can get down into on these desert roads. Once again, the Father was sovereignly orchestrating all of these events for his glorious purposes to save this man and untold 1000s, if not millions, in Africa and other places from that day forward.

Verse 39, "And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing." There it is, dear friends. This is the proof of regeneration, joyful obedience. In fact, there are some that would indicate from ancient historians that this Ethiopian went on to be a missionary among his people in Africa. But I find it interesting, there's this miraculous disappearance. Can you imagine that? All of a sudden, Philip is dunking you down into the water, and you come up, and he's gone. Whoa! Where did he go? Boy, once again, further confirmation that God had been at work. My friend, if the dominant emotion of your life is anything other than joy, you have not been born again. That's a bold statement, but I believe it with all my heart. If your happiness is somehow linked to circumstances in your life, things are going good, oh, you're happy and all excited. Things are going bad; oh you're down the dumps and you can't function. There's something terribly wrong with your spiritual condition, and you probably don't know Christ; because the proof - the fruit of genuine conversion - is going to be joyful obedience, and we see this here with the eunuch. He goes on his way rejoicing, and I think of what Peter said in First Peter 1:8 and again remember he was encouraging the suffering saints in Asia, scattered all across the land. He himself, knowing that he was going to be crucified, and here's what he says in First Peter 1:8, "And though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls."

Dear Christian, if your joy has waned, you need to examine your heart and get right with God. Start walking with Him. Start serving Him. Watch God expand the sphere of your service as he did with Philip, watch what God will do. Verse 40, "But Philip found himself at Azotus, that was Old Testament Ashdod. That's about 20 miles north of where he was. Wouldn't that be something? You're baptizing somebody, I put myself in this position, I'm down at Sycamore Creek baptizing one of you. All of a sudden, I disappear, and I'm 20 miles north, up in Clarksville. That's basically what happened here. Well, he says that as he passed through, he kept preaching, "kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea." Dear friends, let's rejoice in our regeneration because it was God that authored it. It was the Holy Spirit that was the agent, and the instrument was the Word of God. And let's never underestimate the power of God and His Word. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths, cause them to bear much fruit in our lives, and especially bring conviction to those that do not know you. Cause them to mourn over the wretchedness of their condition and cry out to you for undeserved mercy and grace. And Lord, when they finally realize that they don't deserve what you offer to them. We know that a man is never closer to grace than when he is quite certain he cannot attain it. So, Lord, we pray that you will save them, save our children, Lord. We beg you, our family members, our friends, those that we love, that we watch living in the blindness of the kingdom of darkness, Lord, save them by Your grace. Dismiss us now with great joy. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.