A Close-Up of Personal Evangelism

A CLOSE-UP OF PERSONAL EVANGELISM 

An Exposition of Acts 8:26-40

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: July 20, 2025

Series: The Book of Acts

Note: Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

I want to go right to the message. And I invite you to turn to Acts chapter 8. As we are trekking our way through the Book of Acts, we encountered Philip the evangelist proclaiming the Word in Samaria in our previous passage, Acts 8:4-25. And now we're going to look at the end of chapter 8, verses 26 through 40, where Philip continues his ministry of evangelism. So let me go ahead and read this for us.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Acts, chapter 8, beginning in verse 26. Holy Scripture says:

²⁶ 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. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. (Acts 8:26-40)

This is the word of the Lord, and it is for our good. Let's pray:

Father, we thank you for your holy word, by which we come to know you, and by which we are built up in the faith, and by which we are equipped to serve you faithfully in this world. Father, I pray that you would impress this word upon our hearts this morning. Apply it to our lives. Lead us in faithful service to your holy name. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

GETTING RIGHT TO THE POINT

The Lord guides you to other people so that you can guide them to him. Let me say it again: the Lord guides you to other people so that you can guide them to him. Sometimes the Lord may guide you to a large audience. Philip had a large audience in Samaria, as it says in verse six of chapter eight: “And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip” (Acts 8:6). And then today's passage concludes with Philip proclaiming the gospel to all these towns between Gaza and Caesarea (v. 40). Sometimes you have a large audience, but sometimes you have a small audience. When the audience is just one person, that is really important. The Lord cares about the solitary person traveling through a desert place to a foreign land – and the Lord may send you to that person. The Lord cares about the one lost man or woman, the lonely neighbor, the quiet sufferer, the isolated outsider, the oddball who doesn't quite fit in with the larger group – and the Lord may send you to that person to carry his good news.

PART 1: THE LORD GUIDES THE EVANGELIST TO A SPIRITUAL SEEKER (v. 26-30a)

In the first part of the passage, we see that the Lord guides the evangelist (Philip) to a spiritual seeker. And that takes us from verses 26 through the beginning of verse 30.

Our general missionary mandate

You'll notice that the Lord gives very specific guidance to Philip in this passage. But I want you to remember the larger context before we zero in on that specific guidance. And the larger context is that Philip, along with all of those early believers, were acting out of the general missionary mandate that they had already been given. The Lord has a general missionary mandate for all of his people: go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature under heaven; go and make disciples of all peoples. And frankly, that's all the mandate you need to go anywhere and to share the gospel with anyone. But we're very finite people. We're very limited people. All of us can't go everywhere, all of the time, to everyone. And so specific guidance is really helpful.

Notice that Philip, as we learned from the previous passage (Acts 8:5-13) was already living obediently to the general mandate that he had received. He was going forth when those believers from Jerusalem were scattered about because of the persecution, and those believers “went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). And Philip was one of them. He went forth into Samaria and was proclaiming the gospel. He had already proven to be a faithful evangelist who was bringing the message of Christ to the people along the way.

Specific guidance #1 (v. 26-27a)

But sometimes, while we're operating within that general guidance, that general missionary mandate, the Lord comes to us one way or another and gives us specific guidance. The first specific guidance comes in verse 26: “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.”” Philip had been ministering in Samaria, which was to the north of Jerusalem, and now he's told to go south on that road from Jerusalem to Gaza – a desert road, a road through a desert place. Gaza was about 50 miles to the southwest of Jerusalem. And Philip was obedient to that instruction. It says in the beginning of verse 27: “And he rose and went.” Now at this point we have no reason to think that Philip knew what he was about to get himself into or what the Lord was about to get Philip into. But he was walking in obedience to the Lord's direction.

The man to whom Philip was being sent (v. 27b-28)

And now starting in the middle of verse 27, Luke introduces us to the man that the Lord was sending Philip to. It's quite a biographical sketch that we get of this man – let’s walk through it.

“And there was an Ethiopian” (v. 27). Now my understanding is that this shouldn't be confused with modern-day Ethiopia, but rather with the kingdom of Cush – sometimes you’ll see the word “Cush” in the Bible. Another name for Cush is the kingdom of Nubia. This was a kingdom to the south of Egypt in modern-day Sudan. And so this man was an Ethiopian. He was presumably dark-skinned, as this term would often be used to describe someone who was dark-skinned.

He was also “a eunuch” (v. 27). Luke is presumably using this term to describe his physical condition, the condition of having been castrated as a male, which was a common thing for men who served in high positions of foreign courts.

And he held a very high position within the royal court in Ethiopia: “a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.” (v. 27) He was the treasurer of the Queen – the Queen's treasurer. So it was a very prominent royal official who had charge of the Queen's treasury.

And this man “had come to Jerusalem to worship” (v. 27). There was an earnestness about this man that he would have traveled hundreds of miles to worship God in Jerusalem. And he “was returning” (v. 28). So he had already been to Jerusalem, and by now he had begun the several hundred mile, multi-day, probably multi-week journey back to the land of Cush where he had come from.

“[And] he was reading the prophet Isaiah.” (v. 28) He was a student of Scripture.

This Ethiopian-eunuch-court-official-worshiper defies simple categorization

I want you to notice that this sketch of this man defies simple categorization. Sometimes we like to fit people into a neat and tidy box – like you have the rich over here and the poor over there, you have the insider over here and the outsider over there, you have the privileged over here and you have the impoverished over there, you have those with social capital over here and those who lack it over there. You can't put this man into one of those boxes, because he could be put into both boxes, so to speak. On the one hand, he was evidently an educated man serving in a high position in a royal court. And in that sense, he was a man of privilege and wealth. He had the ability to travel hundreds of miles. The very fact that he possessed the scroll of Isaiah the prophet marks him out as an extraordinary character. It was not common in those days for ordinary people to have the scrolls of sacred Scripture. And this man was also earnest and serious about engaging with the God of Israel.

At the same time, he was an outsider. He was a foreigner, being an Ethiopian. Nothing wrong with him on that account, but it does mark him an outsider to what is happening within Judaism there in Jerusalem.

But then we're told that he is a eunuch, and that put him in a disqualifying condition for full membership in God's people. By God's people, I'm not in this instance referring to the New Testament Church, but to the Judaism that flowed out of the Old Testament system, okay? It says In Deuteronomy, chapter 23, verse 1: “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 23:1) This man had a disqualifying condition from full participation in the assembly of Israel. Furthermore, that condition is not only a disqualifying condition for membership in God's people under the Old Testament system, but it is also an affliction. It's an emasculating affliction. And he would never have the privilege of having a wife and having sons and daughters.

And so do you see how you can't simply put this man into one box? Is he an insider or an outsider? Well, he's kind of an outsider with respect to Judaism. And yet within his own context down there in Ethiopia, he actually has privilege, wealth, and education. But he also has this angst and this frustration within himself.

I think the biographical sketch of this man is very helpful to us because, like I said, sometimes we like to put people into boxes. But it is important to understand than there are rich people, there are those with social capital, there are privileged people who have a deep angst within them, a deep hole within them, a deep frustration within them. And you might be tempted to envy their wealth and outward comforts, but do you see their heart, their sinful heart, their experience of fear and shame and frustration that may be a very significant part of their existence?

The Gospel is for everyone. Everyone has a disqualifying condition. The disqualifying physical conditions that we see in the Old Testament are all pointers to the spiritual disqualifying condition that we all have as sinners, who in our sinfulness are not qualified to come into the presence of a holy God.

So that's the man to whom Philip was being sent. And he would soon discover that fact.

Specific guidance #2 (v. 29-30a)

And it's at this point where the Lord gives additional specific guidance to Philip. It says in verse 29: “And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”” That's very specific. The first specific guidance got him on the right road, going in the right direction. The second specific guidance directed to a specific vehicle, as if to say, ‘That chariot! There's a man in that chariot! Go to that chariot! Go to that man!’ And once again, Philip obeyed, as it says in the beginning of verse 30: “So Philip ran to him”.

A word about seekers

The Lord guides the evangelist to the seeker. And I want to say something about that, by the way, before we leave this first part of the passage. I've called this man a seeker, a spiritual seeker, one who seeks, one who seeks after the Lord, one who seeks after the Scriptures. That's what he is. And it's worth pointing out that when you see someone who is seeking after the Lord, when you see someone who is seeking after a knowledge of the Scriptures, you can assume that God is working in that person's life. Because if God is not working in a person's life, what does Scripture say in Romans chapter three? It says: “no one seeks for God” (Romans 3:11).

The natural sinful condition of mankind is such that left to our own devices, none of us seek earnestly after the living God. So if you encounter someone who's not yet saved but who is seeking after God, reading the Scriptures, asking good questions, open to spiritual truth, the Lord is probably at work in his or her life.

We must apply this lesson to our lives

The Lord guides you to other people so that you can lead them to him. You're going to hear from Gabe a little bit later. Gabe is serving as a counselor again at Camp Berea. Gabe, the Lord may guide you to specific campers so that you can direct those campers to the Lord. VBS Workers: the Lord may guide you to specific children or specific families during the course of VBS so that you can direct them to the Lord.

PART 2: THE EVANGELIST GUIDES THE SEEKER TO THE LORD (v. 30b-35)

In the second part of the passage, the evangelist (Philip) guides the seeker to the Lord. And here I'm dealing with the rest of verse 30 through verse 35.

Now evangelism is not about following a one-size-fits-all formula, as if it always looks like these seven steps. So that's not what I'm doing here in what I'm about to do. But I do want you to notice what, in fact, Philip does, because it's instructive.

Go

First of all, Philip goes to the person. “So Philip ran to him” (v. 30). That's really helpful. If you want to minister to someone, go to him, go to her.

Listen and pay attention

And then what does Philip do? Well, the next thing he does is listen. He's listening. He's paying attention to what is going on with the man to whom he was sent. Did you see that there? “So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet”. It wasn't as if it was just background noise and Philip was just champing at the bit to say something. He took note of what the man was doing and, in this case, what the man was reading, reading aloud in fact. It was very common in the ancient world for one who was reading to read out loud. And Philip heard him reading Isaiah the prophet out loud.

Ask probing questions

Third, Philip asks a probing question: “Do you understand what you are reading?” (v. 30) What a great question! By the way, we really need to learn to ask more questions. It's like the man who came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25) Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” (Luke 10:26) How do you understand it?

So he asks a probing question. And by the way, what Philip is doing here at a very general level is this: he's taking an interest in what the man is already doing. Now, it would be nice if everyone we encountered was reading verses out of Isaiah 53. But if you grow in your knowledge and understanding of the Gospel, you can learn to go from whatever a person is doing or thinking about and take a pathway that leads to the Gospel.

Pay attention. Ask relevant questions.

Let the other person initiate actions and discussion points

Next, Philip lets the man invite him to sit with him. He doesn't just force himself into the close personal space of the Ethiopian eunuch, but he waited.

After Philip asked the man, “Do you understand what you were reading?” (v. 30), the man replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (v. 31) And by the way, that raises a really good point, because the Lord is fully capable of making the Bible clear to an unbeliever just directly through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. That's not difficult for the Lord to do, and sometimes he does that. But ordinarily, the Lord's design is for his people to be his mouthpiece who are declaring his word, what it says and what it means. How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall there be a preacher unless one is sent? (See Romans 10:14-15) The Lord is sending Philip here to be God's mouthpiece to make the Scriptures understandable to this man.

And it is at this point that the man invites Philip to come up and sit with him in the chariot.

And Philip also lets the man ask a question. Again, Philip's just not rushing in to say things. It says in verse 34: “And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”

Tell the good news about Jesus

And it is at that point that Philip opens his mouth and begins to tell the man “the good news about Jesus.” (v. 35)

Preaching the gospel from Isaiah 53

Now, in verses 32 and 33, we are told what portion of Scripture the Ethiopian eunuch was reading when he was perplexed and felt lost in the puzzle of the passage. These verses are, as I said, they’re from Isaiah, chapter 53, verses 7 and 8. So looking at your text there, in verse 32, it says:

“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. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”” (v. 32-33)

And the eunuch wants to know, who is Isaiah talking about? Is Isaiah talking about himself or is Isaiah talking about somebody else? (v. 34) And of course Isaiah is talking about somebody else. And Philip begins from that Scripture to tell the man about Jesus.

Don't miss a wonderful paradox here. It says that at the end of verse 35, it says that “he told him the good news about Jesus,” okay. Don't miss this: slaughtered lamb, silent sheep, humiliation, justice denied, life taken away, dead – and that is good news when you rightly understand it and put it in context.

Now, we don't know exactly what Philip said. It stands to reason that a good candidate for what he said would be to move your eyes up and down the scroll of Isaiah 53 a little bit to make a couple things clear to you.

What does it say in Isaiah, chapter 53, verses 4-6? It says:

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But 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. 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.” (Isaiah 53:4-6)

Why the slaughter? Why the humiliation? Why the denial of justice? Why the unjust death of this suffering servant? It's because you and me are chock full of disqualifying conditions. We have griefs and sorrows and transgressions and iniquities that keep us from God, that keep us from fellowship with God. How can sinful human beings who are in bondage to their sin have communion with the living and holy and righteous God? And so God, in His great love, he sent his one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who had no disqualifying conditions. All he had were qualifications. All he had were resources. All he had were riches. All he had were perfections. And in great love for us, he took upon himself all of our disqualifying conditions. He took upon himself our transgressions and sins, and made them his very own, and took them to Golgotha – and there, as God's dear and innocent lamb, he was slaughtered, suffering the judgment of God that we so richly deserved, so that everyone who puts his or her faith in Jesus would be forgiven of those sins and reconciled to God.

Of course, the good news is bound up with the fact that the one who suffered an unjust death didn't stay dead, but rose again on the third day with a title to Heaven – even as we sang earlier of the “everlasting life and light He freely gives” to all who receive him.[1]

PART 3: THE SEEKER DISCOVERS THE JOY OF MEETING THE LORD (v. 36-39)

And as Philip is proclaiming the good news about Jesus to this man, the lights are going on.The Lord shines the light of his truth into this man's heart. And this man understands and believes and desires to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, as they're going along, they see some water. This takes us to the third part of the passage, which is that the seeker (the Ethiopian eunuch) discovers the joy of meeting the Lord. We see that in verses 36 to 39.

The eunuch wants to be baptized

And so, they're going along in the chariot, and the Ethiopian eunuch sees some water (v. 36). Evidently he knew about baptism – about water baptism. Maybe Philip had already explained it to him. Maybe he had prior knowledge. But he says, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”

The status of verse 37

Now, if some of you have certain translations of the Bible, you may have a verse 37. I have the English Standard Version (ESV), in which verse 37 is taken out. Here in my ESV I have a little footnote at the end of verse 36. The footnote says, “Some manuscripts add all or most of verse 37: “And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”” Now the reason why the English Standard Version and other versions have taken out verse 37, even though translations like the King James and New King James have verse 37, is because a majority of manuscripts and some of the best manuscripts do not have verse 37. And so the thought is that some well-meaning scribe wanted to make explicit what was only implicit, and so added verse 37 into the text when it really wasn't in the original text. That's the common line of thought.

The matter is clear with or without verse 37

But it doesn't really matter whether verse 37 is in the text or not, because it is very clear in the Book of Acts, and it is very clear in the New Testament, that proper candidates for baptism are those who confess that Jesus is Lord. So we understand as we're reading this passage that the Ethiopian eunuch was placing his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he wanted to profess that faith. He wanted to obey the Lord by being baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism pictures the washing away of sin. Baptism pictures the transformation that takes place through Christ: we're buried with Christ in baptism, the old self is crucified and buried with Christ; and then we are raised up to new life with Christ and we share in the power of his risen life.

And so, Philip and the eunuch proceed to get out of the chariot, they go down into the the water source, and there Philip baptizes his new brother in Christ.

What about you?

By the way, we have a baptistry back here. It's ready to go. What prevents you from being baptized? Now I'm obviously speaking to those of you who have not been baptized. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it your desire to follow after him? I don't care how old you are or how young you are. If you believe in Jesus and it's your desire to walk with him and be pleasing to him, then this baptistry is for you. It doesn't have to be this baptistry – it can be a river, it can be a lake. But this baptistry is for you. I just spoke with a man the other day about baptism. I'd love to speak with some of you. I’d love to do a baptism here in the sanctuary in the late summer or early fall. You don't have to wait and see, as in, ‘Let me kind of wait and see how this Christianity thing works out for me.’ That's not how baptism is presented in the New Testament. Those who believe in Jesus should be baptized, but it has to be willing from your side. No one should be pressured or manipulated into the waters of baptism. In fact, this is a beautiful picture right here in our passage, because the eunuch himself wants to be baptized and he is the one who takes initiative. ‘Can I be baptized?’ Philip’s answer is ‘Yes’, because he knows that the eunuch believes.

Evangelists are like midwives

Now after Philip baptizes the man, “the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away (v. 39). Mission accomplished! You see, the evangelist is like a midwife. The midwife is not present to build a close relationship with the mother. The midwife is not present to build a close relationship with the baby. The midwife is present to deliver a healthy baby to the mommy. And then the midwife is done. Philip was there to deliver the Ethiopian eunuch into the arms of Jesus. Done. Accomplished.

And so, “the Spirit of God carried Philip away” (v. 39) to other evangelistic opportunities along the Mediterranean coast (v. 40). But the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing” (v. 39).

Before, he had gone to Jerusalem to worship God and he didn't fully know the one that he was worshiping, but now he did. Before, he knew about the sacrificial system in the temple, but now he understood the greatest sacrifice ever made. Before, the Old Testament was like a puzzle that he couldn't quite wrap his mind around, but now he understood that the Old Testament was a portrait that showed him Jesus the Savior. Before, he had made the several hundred mile trip to meet with God in the temple, but now as he was heading back to Ethiopia, God's Spirit was within him and would be with him wherever he went for the rest of his life. No wonder that he “went on his way rejoicing”!

PART 4: THE LORD GUIDES THE EVANGELIST TO OTHER PLACES (v. 40)

Finally, we're told in verse 40 that the Lord guided the evangelist Philip to proclaim the gospel to more people in more places. We always got to be thinking about more people in more places, about making more and new and better disciples in more places.

A FEW CONCLUDING LESSONS

Just a few lessons here as we conclude.

God directs the mission

Lesson number one: God directs the mission. The Holy Spirit directs the mission. Are you responsive to his direction and guidance? Are you responsive to the promptings or the burdens or the insights that he places on upon your heart?

The Gospel is for everyone

A second lesson here is that the gospel is for everyone. Every single human being matters. And it is a good work to take the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to any one person in any one place.

The global multi-ethnic body of Christ is precious

And a third lesson here which will take us back to Isaiah is that the global multi-ethnic body of Christ is better than natural family. Natural family is a wonderful gift from God, but the supernatural body of Christ is even better!

I want to conclude by just showing you a passage from Isaiah chapter 56. I want you to hear verses three to eight through the lens of the Ethiopian eunuch coming to know the Lord. Isaiah 56, verses 3-8 say:

“Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

“And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”” (Isaiah 56:3-8)

You know what we're called to? We're called to the mission of gathering. Gathering more people. Gathering more unlikely candidates with disqualifying conditions such as we all have, and bringing them into the family of God. Let's pray: 

Father, I thank you for this word. I pray that you would do this work over and over and over again in and through this congregation. Lead us individually, lead us as families, lead us as a whole congregation to take your good news to more people, to draw more people into your forever family, that more people would discover the joy of meeting you and would go on their way rejoicing. I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

ENDNOTES

[1] This phrase is from the refrain of “My Hope Is in the Lord”, which we had sung earlier in the service on the day that this sermon was preached. This hymn is still under copyright: © 1945 Norman J. Clayton Publishing © Renewed 1973 by Norman J. Clayton Publishing Co. (A Div. of Word, Inc.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

David G. Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles (The Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.

Patrick Schreiner, Acts (Christian Standard Commentary). Holman Reference, 2022.

Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.