The Only True Path to Baptism (Acts 8:26-39)

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. [27] And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship [28] and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. [29] And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” [30] So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” [31] And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. [32] Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. [33] In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” [34] And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” [35] Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. [36] And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” [38] And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. [39] And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

I. Many Paths to Baptism?

There are many paths which might lead a person to being baptized. For some, their path is ultimately motivated by the perceived (or actual) expectations of one's family or friends. For others, that path is informed by a desire to start a new chapter, or a 'second act'; to experience a kind spiritual makeover. For still others, being baptized is just one more box to check on a check-list of religious duties, maybe to bolster one's religious resume. “Attend church? Check. Read the Bible? Check. Pray? Check. Get baptized? Check.” And in a slightly different category, the path toward baptism for some is actually directed by another person. I still remember a mother who came to me many years ago, hoping to get her school-age kids baptized, because she wanted... God's spiritual protection over their lives; like some kind of divine 'force field'.

But as we prepare to celebrate two baptisms today, I thought it would be important for us to look back to the New Testament (NT), back to God's word, in order to clarify this issue. You see, even though there are many paths which might lead a person to being baptized, according to Scripture, there is only one true path to genuine baptism; that is, to a baptism that truly represents something bigger than just a religious ritual involving water; that is, bigger than just the act itself.

II. The Passage: “What Prevents Me from Being Baptized?” (8:26-39)

To help us clarify this issue, let's spend some time thinking about, not a baptism taking place twenty minutes from now, but one that has already taken place...almost two thousand years ago!

The story of this baptism was read to us earlier, from Acts 8:26-39. Now, if we had time to look it over, you'd see that this whole chapter, that Acts chapter 8, is focused on this man Philip. Who was Philip? Well, even though there was an apostle of Jesus named Philip, this Philip was, according to Acts 6, one of the six men chosen to help assist the apostles with food distribution to the widows in the newly-formed Jerusalem church. But two chapters later, we find Philip among those who had been scattered by persecution in Jerusalem. Now notice what 8:4 tells us about these religious refugees: “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.”

Of course, that's the very thing we saw in our main text: Philip preaching the word. And just as the writer described back in verse 12, this was reaching that eventually led to baptisms. But let's go deeper into our main passage, and consider the different elements of this specific path toward baptism. I have four words for you, four words that I think can help us mark out that true path toward genuine baptism. Those words are searching, Scripture, sacrifice, and supernatural.

Here's what I mean: did you notice how the other main character in our account, this eunuch from Ethiopia... did you notice how he was searching when Philip first approached him? He wasn't simply kicked back in his chariot taking in the scenery or chit-chatting with his driver. He was reading from the OT prophet Isaiah. And when Philip asked him in verse 30, “Do you understand what you are reading?”, this man was honest about his search. “How can I [under-stand], unless someone guides me?” He was not only open to, but hungry for guidance, wasn't he?

The man or woman whose journey ends in the waters of baptism, the one who comes down that true path, is a man or woman (or boy or girl) who is spiritually hungry; spiritually searching.

Some people are simply searching for everyday answers to everyday questions: How can I fix my marriage? How can I feel better about myself? How can I make the people around me happy? But the path toward baptism begins with spiritual questions: Why am I here? What will fill this hole inside my heart? What is ultimate love? If there is a God, how can I know him? How can I be forgiven? How can I feel clean, or... how can I feel hope, even in the face of death?

But just as in this story, that searching must bring us to Scripture. There are many people in our world today who are offering us spiritual answers. And some of these answers, or principles, or values, some of them do overlap with what we find in the Bible. But that in no way changes how unique the Bible really is. It is not simply another book containing spiritual truths. It is the one and only book that reveals everything we need to satisfy our spiritual longings. It is the only reliable road map in terms of taking us where we need to go in our searching.

Those who have come down that true path to baptism, they have been guided by the divine directions contained in the Old and New Testaments. Please ask yourself this morning, “Do I recognize that I too am spiritually searching; and if so, am I looking to the Bible for directions?”

But the Bible is a massive book, isn't it? So what exactly should we be looking for in its pages? Well, did you notice how this story answers that question? Look again at v. 32: “Now the pass-age of the Scripture that he was reading was this: 'Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. [v 33] In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.'” Now even though that passage was written 700 years before Philip was even born, Philip was able to connect this man to the Bible's main, main, main storyline. Verse 35... “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.”

Okay. Clearly this passage from Isaiah is emphasizing the suffering and death of One who was to come. And as Philip went on to explain, that coming one was Jesus Christ, who offered his life as a sacrifice for us, because of our desperate need as sinners before a holy God. If the quote were to continue in v. 33, it would read, “...he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?” Three verses earlier in Isaiah, the prophet revealed what would be said about the future death of this coming One, that he “...was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. [6] All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

The individual who comes down that true path to the waters of baptism, does not come simply because they are spiritually searching. And they do not come simply because they have been spiritually searching in the Scriptures. He or she only comes because they have met Jesus, because they have seen Jesus, through its testimony; because they have embraced the truth about his sacrifice; specifically, that He gave his life for my sins; and only by His wounds can I be healed; that is, only through Him can I be forgiven and reconciled to the God who made me. And the proof that He alone has done this, and that he alone can make this possible, the proof is the fact that after giving his life for you and me... he didn't stay dead. Baptism is a picture, not of Christ's death and resurrection, but of how you and I can die and rise with him; dying to that old me-centered, God-rebelling life, and rising to a new, Christ-centered, God-loving life.

And this eunuch, he must have understood this as well. However Philip connected the dots for him, he knew that part of his faith response to this good news about Jesus should include baptism. That's why his faith response is summarized by the question he poses in verse 36: “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”

But there's one more thing that characterizes this true path, one more reality that is undeniable from this account in Acts 8: this man's journey toward baptism is marked by the supernatural. Did you notice that? Philip doesn't simply stumble on this man. No. He is directed to this man by (v. 26) “an angel of the Lord”. And when he runs up this man's chariot, this man isn't reading just any passage. No. He's reading, not coincidentally, from the clearest messianic prophecy in the entire OT. And when the man had trusted in Jesus as the Promised One, and was baptized, he and Philip didn't exchange contact information as they said their goodbyes. No. Philip simply disappeared, as “the Spirit of the Lord carried [him] away”. Upon seeing this, the eunuch must have been even more convinced that meeting Philip really was a divine appointment; God's perfect provision at that time to bring him to God's perfect provision for all time: Jesus.

Believer, when you came to the waters of baptism, or when you come to the waters of baptism, be encouraged that your path to that place has been just as supernatural as the story we read here. No. The person baptizing you probably didn't meet an angel or didn't (or probably won't) simply vanish. But in your spiritual searching, God supernaturally brought someone or some-ones to you, so that you might hear his word. And just like this man, whether you know it or not, you had been prepared to hear, to respond to the incredible news about Jesus. And your baptism was or will be evidence of something supernatural at work in you. Shouldn't these truths cause us to do what the eunuch did at the end of this story? “...and [he] went on his way rejoicing.”

III. More Important Than Baptism

So let's make sure we understand why all of this is so important, not simply for those being baptized today, but for each one of us. It's certainly important in terms of inspiring praise in us, right? So that we might glorify God in light of everything he's done up to this point. And what we've talked about today is certainly important for anyone who is thinking about being baptized. If that's you, please consider which path you're on. As I said at the outset of this message, there are many reasons people get baptized... but there is only one true path that leads to genuine baptism. Carefully consider and honestly talk with God about whether that describes your path.

But we don't want to miss what is even more important here than baptism. More important than this sacred ritual is what the ritual represents. As I said just a few minutes ago, a baptism with water represents a baptism with God's Spirit, one through which any one of us really can die and rise with Christ. And I do mean any one of us. Remember the man's final question: “What pre-vents me from being baptized?” The word “Ethiopian” here simply means 'black-skinned'. And his place of origin was actually the ancient kingdom of Cush in Nubia, where the kandake (“Candace”), the queen mother, oversaw the kingdom. But if this man came to Jerusalem to worship, and owned a scroll of Isaiah, then, most likely (since he was not Jewish) he was what the Bible calls a 'god-fearer'. You see, because he was a eunuch, he could not become a full convert to Judaism. Deuteronomy 23:1 prohibited this. So even though there were many factors against him in terms of a standing before God, it's possible he was studying Isaiah because of a promise to eunuchs given in Isaiah 56, just three chapters past where he was reading. That promise was of some-thing, “better than sons and daughters... an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” Friends, in Jesus, that's exactly what this man was offered. And that's exactly what God offers each one of us: a new name; a new life, that will last forever. As this eunuch would tell you if he could, no one is excluded. Everyone who comes down this path, in faith, is not only welcomed into the waters of baptism, but even more important, is welcomed into God's family through the spiritual transformation that water baptism represents. If you know that transformation this morning, then like the eunuch, rejoice. If you don't, then please know that God wants to do something super-natural in your life as well, so that you can also find that true path.