Is Anyone Too Far Gone for God? (Acts 8:26-40)

Welcome back to the podcast as we continue our journey through the bool of Acts. Today we’re starting a 4-week mini-series on salvation, and we'll be answering this question: Is anyone too far gone for God?

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Q. Is anyone too far gone for God? (Acts 8:26-40)

• I often meet people who assume the answer is yes…
• Past Sins: Many people believe that their past mistakes, whether big or small, make them unworthy of God's love and forgiveness. They may feel too "dirty" or guilty to be accepted.
• Current Sins: Those battling ongoing struggles, such as addiction or habitual sin, may feel trapped in their behavior and believe that God has turned away from them.
• Feelings of Unworthiness: Some individuals struggle with low self-esteem or feelings of inadequacy. They may feel they're not "good enough" for God because of how they perceive themselves, often because of sins against them.
• Spiritual Doubts: People who struggle with doubt or uncertainty about their faith might think God would reject them for not being "strong" believers. Compare your faith with someone else’s. 
• Today we’re going to see the story of a guy who was definitely too far gone for God, at least from a Jewish religious perspective. But he kept seeking anyway, and he found the surprising answer to this question: No one is too far gone for God!
• Let’s get to the text…

Desert Road

Acts 8:26 (NLT) 26 As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

• Last week: Philip was in Samaria leading a revival!
• Must have seemed strange that God would send him away from Samaria to a desert road going nowhere! 
• Away from Jerusalem, where God was on the move
• Toward Gaza - either the old city, destroyed by Alexander Jannaeus in 96 BC, or the newer city which replaced it in 56 BC (Pillar New Testament Commentary) 
• (IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Second Edition) Philip might have no one to preach to on a little-traveled road that would lead by a deserted city, and after the revival in Samaria this command must seem absurd to him; but God had often tested faith through apparently absurd commands (e.g., Ex 14:16; 1 Kings 17:3-4, 9-14; 2 Kings 5:10). The term translated “south” can also mean “noon”; traveling at noon was very rare (see 22:6; comment on Jn 4:5-6), so this detail, if intended, would make the command seem even more absurd.
• Barrett 1994, 422-3. There are 25 uses of mesēmbria in the LXX and all except Dn. 8:4, 9, appear to mean 'midday'. Cf. Acts 22:6 for Saul's conversion 'at noon' (peri mesēmbrian). Spencer 1997, 94, argues that travel at such an extraordinary time and under such unusual circumstances has the literary effect of suggesting an opportunity for 'world shattering knowledge and experience'.
• Desert road leading nowhere - is that where you find yourself metaphorically?
• God sent Philip there with a message to share
• Now he just had to see who was traveling down that road…

The Eunuch

Acts 8:27-28 (NLT) 27 So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

• Ethiopia = Cush in the Bible, not modern Ethiopia. Today, part of Sudan.
• Is 11: 11 (NLT) In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to bring back the remnant of his people—those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt; in southern Egypt, Ethiopia…
• Zephaniah 3:10 (NLT) My scattered people who live beyond the rivers of Ethiopia (Cush) will come to present their offerings.
• Eunuch = devoted 
• to the queen 
• Castrated males held positions of honour and trust in oriental courts (cf. Herodotus, Persian Wars 8.105; Philostratus, Apollonius 1:33.6).
• to the God of Israel
• Traveled a long way to worship at the temple
• Even though he could never become a full Israelite
• Deut 23: (NLT) 1 “If a man’s testicles are crushed or his penis is cut off, he may not be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.”
• (P. H. Kern, 'Paul's Conversion and Luke's Portrayal of Character in Acts 8—10') the eunuch represents 'the ultimate outsider, not even capable of circumcision should he desire it, and inadmissible to the temple.' 
• Probably could go no further than the Court of the Gentiles, and could not even bring any sacrifices required by the Law
• (D. R. Schwarts, 'On sacrifice by Gentiles in the Temple of Jerusalem', in Studies in the Jewish Background of Christianity (WUNT 60; Tübingen: Mohr, 1992), 102-116) Gentile sacrifices could have been regarded as gifts brought to the temple authorities for the upkeep of the building or for the use of others in the temple ritual, but not strictly for the benefit of the offerer.
• Reading from Isaiah
• Hungry for scripture
• Devoted beyond the ritualistic trip

Acts 8:29 (NLT) 29 The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”

• What a picture!
• This is the verse we use to describe mentoring
• Walk along beside someone to help them pursue God

Acts 8:30-31 (NLT) 30 Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.

• More signs of his desperate search
• Philip would have been nasty! 
• Yet the eunuch invited him to sit in his bougie carriage

The Passage

Acts 8:32-33 (NLT) 32 The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter.

And as a lamb is silent before the shearers,

he did not open his mouth.

33 He was humiliated and received no justice.

Who can speak of his descendants?

For his life was taken from the earth.”

• Isaiah 53:7b-
• So he had already read this part: 
• 3 He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
• The eunuch could relate!
• 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.
• The eunuch recognized he was a sinner

Acts 8:34-35 (NLT) 34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” 35 So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.

• Philip knew the secret: all of scripture points to Jesus
• Beginning with this same Scripture (Is 53) implies Philip kept reading…

Isaiah 56:3-5 (NLT) 3 “Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to the LORD say,

‘The LORD will never let me be part of his people.’

And don’t let the eunuchs say,

‘I’m a dried-up tree with no children and no future.’

4 For this is what the LORD says:

I will bless those eunuchs

who keep my Sabbath days holy

and who choose to do what pleases me

and commit their lives to me.

5 I will give them—within the walls of my house—

a memorial and a name

far greater than sons and daughters could give.

For the name I give them is an everlasting one.

It will never disappear!

Close

Q. Is anyone too far gone for God? (Acts 8:26-40)

• No! This is what the eunuch learned: his uncleanness, his unworthiness, his unJewishness, nothing could separate him from God anymore. Jesus opened the door for him with his death and resurrection, and the same is true for you. Don’t let your
• Past Sins
• Current Sins
• Feelings of Unworthiness
• Spiritual Doubts
• …get in the way of a relationship with God.

Romans 8:38-39 (NLT) 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Gospel Close

Want to put your faith in Jesus? Check out this topic.