Thank you, and, once again, good morning to students and teachers

of the word of God. Our lesson this week is called, "Messenger to

the Outsiders." And this deals with the evangelistic work of

Philip, who has gone out to the road that leads down to Gaza, to

witness to one lone, single sinner. He leads this sinner to

Christ, and this sinner turns out to be a very valuable prospect,

because this sinner goes down to Africa, and evidently has

something to do with the starting of the Ethiopic Church, the

Coptic Church--which, until the Communist revolution against

Haile Salassie several years ago, made the country of Ethiopia

open to all missionaries anytime, day or night.

Haile Salassie was a born-again believer who professed faith in

the Lord Jesus Christ. When he was attacked by the Fascist Romans

in Rome--Mussolini, who had a concordat with the heathen

religious leaders--Halle Salassie went to the United Nations and

appealed for help and got none. During the time he was king,

missionaries could get into Ethiopia any time, day or night. Some

of the priests and nuns in Ethiopia came to Haile Salassie one

time--some of the Coptic group--and they said, "You've got to

stop them, your majesty. They're down there, and they're teaching

people the Bible, and baptizing converts."

And Haile Salassie said, "Go thou and do likewise."

So this Ethiopian convert turns out to be a gem--a rare jewel.

And it is no wonder that the Lord calls Philip away from a great

revival which he's having--and he is having a great revival--down

to this way that goes down to Gaza and desert, to deal with one

man about his soul.

In this portion of Scripture we have a remarkable outline that

speaks of finding, faith, fact, and feeling. In the chapter, in

chapter 8 of the book of Acts, verse 26 to verse 31, we have the

finding. Philip finding his prospect, the unsaved man. Then we

have the fact--verses 32-36. The fact that Christ died for

sinners and was the blood atonement in their place. Then we have

the faith, mentioned in 37 and 38, and finally we have the

feeling in verse 39 and verse 40.

Now this is always the case. And this passage of Scripture is one

of the most remarkable passages of Scriptures to edify and

elucidate the doctrinal truths of salvation.

First of all, the Lord must find the sinner. "The Son of man is

come to seek and to save that which was lost." So, if I'm talking

to a man who fancies his sacraments and his commandments and his

Golden Rule and his other little play things will get him to

heaven, he's fooling himself. Somebody has to find you. In the

Bible, you're lost. The fact that you may have a $100,000 home

and income of $50,000 a year is immaterial. We have the down and

outs, and we have the up and outs. The Lord needs to find you.

Next, you need to be faced with the facts. The facts are that

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was

buried, and rose again the third day, according to the Scripture.

The facts are, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,

of whom I am chief. The facts are, Christ died, the just for the

unjust, that He might bring us to God. And the facts given to the

Ethiopian eunuch by Philip are, that Jesus Christ was wounded for

our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement

of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we're healed. All

we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his

own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

The fact is, Jesus Christ died for sinners, and was buried, and

rose from the dead.

Now, what you think about that fact, again, is immaterial. If

some of you don't believe that, it's your funeral, not mine. If

some of you don't accept that, it's a free country. You have as

much right to believe what you want to believe as anybody else.

Help yourself. You're free, white, and twenty-one. If you want to

reject the facts, go on and do it. See where it gets you.

That's a fact.

Next, we have faith. In verse 37 of our passage Philip said,

"If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest." Quite

naturally, this verse has been knocked out of 90 percent of the

so-called new bibles--which are no more bibles than

feather-dusters. The new bibles subtract from the word of God in

152 salient places, add to the word of God in about 50 other

places, deny the virgin birth of Christ in Luke 2:33, deny the

ascension in Luke 24, verses 51-52, deny the blood atonement in

Colossians 1:14, and deny salvation by believing in Acts chapter

8, verse 37.

If you are one of the unfortunate people to be deceived into

buying a so-called "new" bible, you will find verse 37 has been

removed from your bible!

Or else, in case of the compromises, you will find it in italics

or in brackets, with a note that perhaps it shouldn't be there.

You say, "What's the authority for doing this?"

Oh, "Mary had a little lamb." "Puss in boots." The usual.

All right, we have faith exercised in verses 37 and 38, and

finally, feeling, in verse 39 and verse 40.

Now, notice how these tremendous truths always follow a proper

order. Finding, fact, faith, feeling. Let's be explicit. The fact

is, if you receive Jesus Christ, you're saved. That's a fact.

There are people in Pensacola who are saved and don't know it.

There are people in Pensacola who aren't saved, and think they

are. These days you hear so much about faith, you'd think it was

Biblical. Faith without fact is hallucination. Faith without

documented evidence is fabricated imagination. Faith without

facts is heathen speculation.

A couple of years back, up in Alabama, a trucker had the

unfortunate tragedy in his life of running over a ten-year-old

boy and gravely wounding him. And the boy was dying. The boy's

father was a Holiness preacher who believed in faith. And he

insisted, instead of calling for an ambulance or an emergency

unit, to pray for the boy, being sure God would heal him. And the

boy died.

The trucker went to the judge, and the judge issued a subpoena

against the boy's father. The trucker had tried to get help, and

the father wouldn't let him get help. The father was in a way

responsible for the death of that son of his--a kind of a

second-degree murder. That father had faith, but it wasn't placed

in the facts.

Now, it's a fact that Jesus Christ died for your sin, was buried,

and rose from the dead. Your faith cometh by hearing, and hearing

by the word of God. Therefore, faith that is not rooted and

grounded in the word of God is speculation. It is pagan

imagination. It's delusion.

You hear these days on the radio and television this constant

business about "release your faith, release your faith, release

your faith." Nobody anywhere in the Bible ever "releases" faith.

That expression occurs nowhere in the word of God, from cover to

cover. In sixty-six books, there isn't one case where anybody is

ever said to release their faith. You say, "Where'd they get it

from?" That's a psychic terminology. That terminology comes from

spiritualists and spiritism. It has nothing to do with the New

Testament.

Somebody says, "Have faith! Have faith!" Well, "Faith is this."

And, "Faith is that." Faith that is not rooted and grounded in

the word of God is pagan imagination. When a man says, "I've got

faith to believe I can do greater works than Christ did," he's

not a faithful, Spirit-filled, fruitful Christian. He's a

deceived fool. You say, "Doesn't the word of God say?" Well, if

you don't know, why do you ask? You see how people are?

When the Lord promised those things to the twelve apostles in

John 13, 14, 15, and 16, He let you know those apostolic signs

and miracles were for Israel, because they sought for a sign

(1Corinthians 1), and that's why they're called "apostolic"

(2Corinthians 12).

Now, some of you people don't care enough about what God said to

look up what I just read. That is, in your blind superstition and

pagan imagination, you don't give a flip what God says! What you

want is what you want when you want it! And, in trying to talk

yourself into doing it, you're trying to convince yourself you

have faith.

Let me tell you something. Any faith that makes a liar out of God

is ineffectual. There are men who are going up and down this

country who are encouraging people to deny 1Corinthians 1:22 and

1Corinthians 14:22 and 2Corinthians 12:12 and Mark 16:17. You're

not dealing with people who are faithful. They're deceived. And

the word of God says, "Let no man deceive himself, and let no man

deceive you." And again, "Be not deceived."

Now, your salvation depends upon the fact that Jesus Christ died

for you. Your assurance of salvation depends upon your faith in

that fact. Your feeling depends upon how you live for the Lord

after you're saved. Let's get it clear. Feeling is not the root

of salvation. Feeling is the fruit of salvation. Some religions

in America have the facts. They say, "Repent, confess, believe,

and be bup-tized." But they don't exercise any faith in what God

said.

When you talk to these people, these deluded souls, about the

eternal security of the believer, "He that hath the Son hath

everlasting life," "They hath everlasting life," "They shall

never perish," "Nothing shall separate them," "They are

predestinated to be conformed to the image of God's Son," they

look at you like a tree full of owls. Do you know why? They have

access to the facts, but they never exercised faith in the facts.

You can always tell these people, these people who exercise no

faith in the facts, and don't believe God, because when you talk

to them about obeying the gospel, they always think obeying the

gospel refers to something that you do with your body, instead of

something you believe with your heart.

Notice when Isaiah says, "Lord, who hath believed our report?"

(Romans 10:16), we're told, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing

by the word of God." Obeying the gospel is never Acts 2:38,

because the gospel Paul preached is not in Acts chapter 2.

Therefore, if you're substituting Acts 2:38 for obeying the

gospel, you're denying God and making a liar out of God in

exercising faith in a superstitious fabrication of private

interpretation that has nothing to do with the truth at all. You

were told in Romans chapter 16 that the gospel is made manifest

and is made known unto all nations for the obedience of faith

(Romans 16:26).

And, where a man refuses to exercise faith in the gospel, he

hasn't obeyed it, no matter how many times he goes through Acts

2:38, trying to kid himself into thinking he's a Jewish proselyte

on the day of Pentecost. You were told in Acts chapter 1, verse

5, the gospel is for obedience to the faith among all nations. To

obey the gospel is to exercise faith in it.

Somebody says, "Well, faith without works is dead." Oh, come on,

now! Come on, now! You poor people have been deceived so long,

some of you, by some of these elders, you don't know where you're

at! You quoted that verse out of James 2, and you don't even know

who James is written to! If you have a Living Bible, James 1:1 is

not even written to the people it's written to!

Now, listen! If you trust Jesus Christ, you're safe. That's a

fact. If you believe what God said, that's faith--you can be

sure. That's certainty. And, if you live for the Lord, you'll be

satisfied, and have the right feeling.

Have you got it?

Fact. Faith. Feeling.

Safety. Certainty. Satisfaction.

You're not safe because of your faith. It could be misplaced.

You're not safe because of your feelings or satisfaction. It may

change. You're safe if you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as

your Saviour.

You're not sure because you feel good. There will be days when

you don't feel good. The order has always been fact, faith, and

feeling from the foundation of the universe. And nowhere is it

any clearer than in Acts chapter 8.

Let's look at the passage. 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." Imagine a call like that in the middle of a city-wide

revival, where they're getting results right and left! I mean,

look at the results they're having there in verse 12. Look at

verse 8: "Great joy in that city." Verse 6: "The people with one

accord gave heed." That fellow is having an earth-shaking revival

that's changing the face of a city. And God calls him down to do

personal work with one African going down the desert. Isn't that

something?

"And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an 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." So this man up to this point is a Jewish proselyte. Up

to this time, this is one of the many Gentiles who came to

Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles or the Passover to worship

God, and recognized the Jews had the one true religion. And, as

Jesus Christ said, "Salvation is of the Jews." So he's coming to

Jerusalem, worshipping.

And he was returning, and sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah

the prophet. "Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join

thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard

him read the prophet Esaias." So he's reading out loud. "And

said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can

I, except some man should guide me?"

After all, that's what a Bible teacher is; he's a guide. When it

gets right down to it, the Holy Spirit's going to guide and lead

you into all truth. And the anointing which you have received of

God teaches you all things. He'll teach you what's right and

what's not right. All you have to do is believe what God said as

God said it where He said it.

And he comes up here and he says, "He desired Philip that he

would come up and sit with him."

Now we find the facts. Here are the facts. Now, as I said before,

facts are stubborn things. And a fact is a fact. You may not let

people know that it's so, but it's still there. You may deny that

you said it, but if you said it, you did, whether it's in print

or not. You may deny that you said it because nobody can catch

you at it. But God will catch you at it. A fact is a fact. You

can't argue with facts.

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 dumb 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."

Now, readers of the Bible are very familiar with the passage

being quoted. The passage being quoted is the great chapter in

the Old Testament on the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus

Christ, Isaiah chapter 53, where we read, "He was oppressed, he

was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as a

lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is

dumb, so he opened not his mouth."

The modern, corrupt bibles have tried to find a contradiction

between verse 32 in Acts chapter 8 and Isaiah 53:7, for in Isaiah

53:7 the sheep is said to be a "she." "Her shearers." Whereas in

Acts chapter 8, verse 32, it says, "He." "His shearer." This is

typical of the combobilated mess that Christian education gets

into when it tries to set itself up as a judge superior to the

Authorized Version. Anybody who knows anything about sheep knows

the male lamb will open his mouth at the shearing, and the female

sheep won't open hers. A female lamb will, but the lamb in Acts

chapter 8 verse 32 is not a female--it's a male.

Now this shows us two remarkable things about Christian

education. When the modern Christian educator talks about the

so-called Septuagint, this mythological pre-Christian bible

written before the time of Christ, we know they're full of

apples. The quotations in the Old and New Testaments don't have

to match, and in the dirty work of the people who lie a hundred

years after the death of Christ who wrote an Old Testament to

match the New Testament quotations was done to make you think the

Apostles were quoting from a Greek Old Testament. They certainly

weren't. They were quoting a Hebrew Old Testament.

You say, "Why didn't they quote it accurately and verbatim?" Very

simple. Any author is allowed the privilege of freely quoting his

own work. The laws of jurisprudence in the United States teach

that, since the author had known what he intended when he wrote

the passage that he wrote, that he himself had the liberty of

making a free quotation of his own work. God wrote this Book, so

he can jolly well quote it any way He likes--as long as it

doesn't contradict. And here it does not contradict.

The passage, then, is a reference to the blood atonement of Jesus

Christ, and this is the first time this is mentioned in the New

Testament publicly as a doctrine for salvation. In Acts chapter

2, Simon Peter says nothing about Jesus Christ dying for sinners.

In Acts chapter 3, Simon Peter says nothing about our sins being

blotted out at Calvary. In Acts chapter 5 and Acts chapter 6 and

Acts chapter 7, you don't read one word about the gospel of the

grace of God, of Christ dying as a blood atonement for sinners.

And, the first time that shows up in your Bible as such is in

Acts chapter 8.

You say, "It's mentioned in Matthew." Matthew wasn't written

until after the events in Acts chapter 8 took place.

You say, "It's mentioned in Mark." Mark wasn't written until the

events in Acts chapter 8 took place.

You say, "It's in John." John wasn't written until after the

events in Acts chapter 8 took place.

You say, "It's in Luke." Luke wasn't written until after the

events in Acts chapter 8 took place.

I'll say it again and finally. The first time--are you

listening--I mean, some of you shut it off back there; you know,

you got too many facts there for you to handle these days. Folks

these days are very leery about facts. They like to kind of

scurry around quietly, you know, where you can't get caught. Are

you listening? The first time in the New Testament that blood

atonement and blood redemption is preached to a sinner as a means

of salvation is Acts chapter 8, verses 32-38.

So, the first man who's saved like sinners in Pensacola are saved

was an Ethiopian eunuch. Now, isn't that something? Did you ever

stop to think about this? The dying thief wasn't saved exactly

like you people are saved, because the dying thief died before

Christ rose from the dead. You didn't. Did you ever think about

this? You weren't saved exactly as Paul was saved. Paul was

knocked flat off a horse and blinded when he was saved; you

weren't. Did you ever think about this? There isn't anybody

reading these words who was ever saved according to Acts

2:38--not a man, woman, or child within the sound of my voice.

Everybody in Acts chapter 2 was a Jew or Jewish proselyte, and

you're not. They lived in a communist holding of property in a

local church, which you don't. They met on a Jewish feast day,

which you don't even meet on.

Isn't it amazing how people get their Bibles screwed up? I'm not

talking to a man, woman, or child in this writing who was saved

like anybody in Acts chapter 4, 5, and 6 was saved. The first

man--don't turn it off; be broadminded; that's what some of you

folks preach, isn't it? Yes, that's what you preach; you just

don't practice it!--the first man in that Bible who is saved by

grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, apart

from water baptism or laying on of hands, is an African. Acts

chapter 8, verse 37.

And that's why verse 37 has been removed from your bibles!

Because it is the first clear case of salvation by grace through

faith in the finished work of Jesus before the man has been

baptized! And this Ethiopian eunuch is told, "You can't get

baptized until you believe with all your heart."

And that's why Paul said, "If thou shalt believe in thine heart

that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For

with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and confession

is made unto salvation." Nobody in the New Testament was ever

saved when they were baptized--nobody. The Apostles were all

saved before Pentecost, and none of them baptized according to

Acts 2:38. There isn't any case in the Bible where Peter, James

or John or Matthew, Mark or Luke were ever baptized according to

Acts 2:38. Everybody in Acts 2:38 who got baptized had to get

baptized on a Jewish feast day for Israel in order for that

nation to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And, thereafter,

every single one of them is saved before he touches a pond

anywhere.

As is the case here. Acts 8:35: "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 unto a certain water: and

the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be

baptized?" He knew about John the Baptist's baptism. He knew if a

man believed what a Jew should believe about the Messiah, he

ought to follow the Lord in baptism.

And Philip says to him, "If thou believest with all thine heart,

thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus

Christ is the Son of God." Notice that goes far beyond Jewish

profession. That is not the belief that He is the Messiah, or the

Christ, or the Son of man, preaching the kingdom of heaven. But,

the Son of God.

"And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down

both into the water." Showing clearly that water baptism is

immersion. "Both Philip and the eunuch: and he baptized him."

Now here comes the feeling: "And when they were come up out of

the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the

eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing."

Now, there is the divine order that has never been changed and

never been improved upon. Fact--faith--feeling. Some people have

all kinds of feelings--but no facts. The new bibles are written

for people who feel all kinds of things and judge people by their

emotional experiences, and judge people by their spiritual

experiences--and have access to no facts at all.

There are people who have faith--but no facts. There are people

who have faith, and no feeling. And the world is filled with

scientists who have access to the facts, but no faith, and no

feeling.

Fact--Christ died for your sin according to the Scriptures and

was buried and rose again the third day from the dead. Faith--if

thou shalt believe that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou

shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto

righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto

salvation. Feeling--"These things I speak unto you that your joy

may be full. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. You rejoice

with joy unspeakable, full of glory, receiving the end of your

salvation, even the salvation of your souls."

Now, have you got it?

Every Christian ought to be safe. He ought to be sure. He ought

to be satisfied.

Some of you Christians I'm talking to are safe, and you're

sure--but you're not satisfied. That's because you're not doing

something for the Lord. You're not obeying the Lord.

Some of you Christians are safe, but you're not sure. You're not

sure because you haven't yet taken God at His word and believed

him.

Let's get it straight. You can't be safe without receiving Jesus

Christ. You can't be sure without believing what God said. And

you can't be satisfied if you're living a disobedient life

against and contrary to the revealed word of God Almighty. And,

if your idea of obedience to the word of God is couped up in some

new version that gets you out of doing what it told you to in the

one that you understand, it's no wonder some of you Christian are

deader than a bluefish left on the beach last month.

The reason why you have these cold, dead churches that never have

an "Amen" and never have a "Hallelujah" in them is because the

Christians in them are deader than a hammer! And the reason

you're deader than a hammer is because you have disobeyed God.

And don't kid me. I don't care if the people in my church don't

know what it is; the Lord knows what it is. And when you're

making promotional and motivational efforts in line with the

world, while you're cutting corners and lying and misrepresenting

or putting the authority of the word of God aside, or exalting

your work or your ministry above that Book, or attacking that

Book in public or in private, and yet not daring to do it, you

know, universally or out in the open--you're going to kill your

services!

There are many churches in Pensacola where the breath of death

breathes over that congregation like a funeral home. And their

services are like a morgue. And even the ones who counterfeit the

spirituality and counterfeit the feeling cannot get rid of the

terrible fact that God the Holy Spirit has written "Ichabod"

across the work. If you trust Jesus Christ, you're safe. That's a

fact. If you believe what God said about your salvation, you can

be sure. That's faith. And if you live for God, you're going to

have the right feeling. And that's satisfaction.

I trust today's lesson has been a blessing to you, and you'll

these things to your congregation and students, and make these

applications clear and personal and telling, that they might

affect their lives and mark them forever, with these great divine

truths of New Testament salvation by grace through faith in the

finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ dying on Calvary's cross.

Pray for us in our work now; we'll be going out next weekend to

preach in St. Petersburg. Well, this weekend I'll be in St.

Petersburg. And in May we'll be down with Scotty Drake in Tampa.

Pray for our church building; we've started a work now. The

foundation has been laid, and the men are working, and the

building is going up. It's only a small building, seating about

four hundred or so. But we trust that we can expand later on, as

the congregation grows. Be with us if you can on opening day in a

few months. And pray for our young men and women who are

preparing themselves for a lifetime of service to God. Until next

week, may the Lord bless you, and good day.

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