The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-27
OBEDIENCE TO THE FAITH.
Rev. A. ID. PhiIputt's Sermon at Central
Christian Church

At Central Christion Church yesterday
morning Rev. A. B. Philputt preached the
first of a series of sermons to be delivered
this week on the general topic, obedience
to the Faith All last week, with the ex-
ception of Saturday night, Mr.. Philputt
preached to good-sized audiences and the
revival services will be continued. His text
yesterday was from Acts viii, 80: "And he
preached unto him Jesus" The pastor said
in part:
The circumstances of Philips preaching
to the eunuch are interesting. The repre-
sentative of a royal court had gone up to
Jerusalem as a proselyte of the Jewish faith
to attend q feast. He had heard there the
discussion Of the messiahship of Jesus. The
prophecies were cited both for and against
the claim. Like many other laymen when
the doctors disagree, he felt that it was not,
for him to find the way. On his return he
was reading the book of Isaiah and espe-
cially the ffty-third chapter, which con-
tains the description of the one who should
come and suffer for the sins Of the world.
Philip came to him and began at that same
chapter and preached unto him Jesus My
purpose this morning is to reproduce or out
line what must nave been this very effective
sermon preached to the eunuch. In the first
place Philip must have told the story of
Jesus. 1t is a wonderful story to those who
have never heard it. DR.. Chamberlain, a
missionary in india, went to a savage tribe
and encountered at once the suspicion and
hostility of the tribe. The men held a coun-
ell and decided to put him to death. He
begged that he be permitted to tell them a
story. Consent was given and he told them
the story of Jesus. Their hearts were
touched and the chief said that a man who
could talk like that must live. 1t grows
trite to us because we hear it so often. A
woman wanted to go up into the steeple
of Trinity Church in New York TO hear the
chimes. The sexton said: Go off a dis
lance. the noise would deafen you And yet
the sparrows build their nests in the belfry
and seem to take no notice of the noise.
Phillip must have told of the beautiful
life of Christ, beginning, perhaps, with the
bright Galilean days when the people fol-
lowed after HIM and before the bitter night
Of His rejection had come. He must have
told bow Christ loved the poor and suffering;
how He wept with the bereaved and gath
cred the little children in His arms. And
then of His passion and all the dreadful
ordeal through which He passed. Here
Philip would find ample fulfllment of the
''Tyhe second part of his discourse must
have pertained to the mans need of a
savior. any QelVefdnce OF the SOSpel IndL
does not make men feel that they are sin
ners and need Christ is imperfect. The
evangelist had no need to leave the fifty
third chapter, for here it is recorded that
all men like sheep have gone astray and
the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of
us all In the first place Philip must have
told the eunuch what to do TO be saved, for
the man said to him: See, here is water,
what doth hinder me to be baptized" l am
aware that this portion of the narrative is
not found in some of the Oldest manu-
scripts and for that reason may seem to lose
it's force. But our friends, the higher
critics, are wont to reassure us that though
a scripture may not have been written by
Moses, for instance, yet if it is written in
the spirit of Moses it loses nothing of au-
thority. So of this bit of narrative. 1t is
thoroughly in the spirit of the book of Acts
and finds it's counterpart in other narratives
whose g%enuinness mo be questioned.
Somewhere in the sermon of Philip the
eunuch heard the call to obedience and he
responded to it immeditely. We long to-day
TO see men obedient to the faith. We are
here this morning to call TO you to come out
and take your stand on the side of Christ"