Acts 8:35

Opened his mouth. The phrase, wherever it occurs in the New Testament, implies something like a set discourse rather than the mere act of speaking.

The same scripture. Philip met the eunuch on his own ground, at the passage he was studying. There was no better place for Philip to begin. Nor is there for the preacher today.

Preached unto him Jesus. During his sojourn in Jerusalem the eunuch had probably heard of Jesus’ teaching. The work of the disciples had attracted the attention of the entire city (chs. 2:41; 4:33; 5:12-14; 6:7, 8). But many of the discussions he had heard undoubtedly classified Jesus as an impostor, and it is very unlikely that he would have seen Isa. 53 in the light of the apostle’s preaching. But this prophecy is one of the clearest Old Testament portrayals of the sacrificial and substitutionary death of Jesus Christ as the only avenue of salvation from the experience, the condemnation, and the destructive power of sin. The sequel indicates that Philip’s teaching included not only an application of the prophecy to Jesus Christ, but instruction as to what it meant to join the fellowship of His disciples. It is clear from the New Testament that such instruction was given before baptismal candidates were immersed.

To preach Jesus is the work, not only of every preacher of the gospel, but of every Christian, whether the preaching is done by word or by the witness of the daily life. Whatever the announced subject of a sermon, its burden should be Jesus Christ.