Open your Bibles, if you would,
to the book of Acts, chapter 16, where we continue our journey
with Paul and Silas and Philippi. Last week, we saw the Lord open
the door for them to go into Philippi and preach the gospel,
and then the Lord opened Lydia's heart, and then last week, actually,
we saw that there was a certain damsel, a certain lady that was
following them around that was possessed with an evil spirit,
and Paul cast them out. She was obviously a slave girl
because it said her owners were enraged with Paul then and reported
them to the magistrates, and we saw what happened. They beat
them. They beat them. They were not guilty of what those men said. All they were doing was preaching
the gospel. And yet these men stirred up
the magistrates and some of the people in the city against them,
and they were enraged with them, just as As Neil was reading that
passage, on the side thing it says they were, with madness
there was, they were enraged with him, filled with rage. And so were these people at Philippi. They were filled with rage against
Paul and Silas. And we marvel that God's divine
providence in bringing Paul and Silas to Philippi forbidding
them to go into Asia and Bithynia, and then to go down to the river,
and there's one of the Lord's lost sheep. And today, we're
gonna look at a fellow called the Philippian jailer. He's one
of our brothers. He woke up that morning, dead in trespasses and sins,
a pagan worshiping Gentile dog, as the Jews would call him. One
of my people. And little did he know that he was one of God's lost
sheep. He didn't have a clue, did he, Brother Brian? But God
knew. And not only is the Lord going
to save him, but the Lord's going to save some members of his household,
too. It's amazing. Oh my. I've decided to call this message,
Mercy Shown to Sinners. I looked the last time I preached
this passage, I called it the Philippian Jailer. But as I looked
at this passage, what mercy is shown to sinners here? What mercies? It's amazing. Did the Philippian
jailer deserve it? No, not at all. He actually had
just beaten the servants of God and thrown them into jail in
the inner prison, which is in the dark part of the prison. Why do you think he asked for
a light? They're in darkness. That just came alive for me this
week. Isn't that amazing? My oh my. Let's stand up together
and read verses 25 to 32. We're going to read a long portion
together, but that's okay. Let's stand up and read this
together. Praise God for his word. And
at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and
the prisoners heard them. And suddenly, there was a great
earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And
immediately, all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands
were loosed. And the keeper of the prison,
awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open,
he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing
that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice,
saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called
for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down
before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what
must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And
they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that
were in his house." Oh my! So not only was the Philippian
jailer a vessel of mercy, but a whole bunch of his family members
were too, beloved. And notice the key here, and
to all that were in the house, and they spake unto them the
word of the Lord. They had to hear it, didn't they?
Oh, and then they had to have it revealed to them. Isn't that
wonderful? Oh, by God, the Holy Spirit.
Now, last week, we looked at Paul and Silas. They were treated
wickedly. Oh, my. They were treated like they were
common criminals. But they weren't criminals. They
were dragged to the marketplace where the rulers of the city
had them beaten. Look at verse 22
of Acts chapter 16 all the way to 24. And then the multitude
rose up together against them. And the magistrates ran off their
clothes and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes
upon them, this was not a mere, okay, this was they beat them. They beat them. And when they
had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging
the jailer to keep them safely. Who, having received such a charge,
thrust them into, look at this, the inner prison. That's the place, what we would
call a dungeon. Pitch black. Roman prisons weren't like the
prisons nowadays. People were left there to rot. And there was rats running around
and all kinds of stuff. And look what he did. He made
their feet fast in stocks. Put leg islands on them. So they really wouldn't get away.
All this just because they preach the gospel. The one thing that those magistrates
didn't realize, and we're going to look at this next week, is
that Paul's a Roman. And you do not do that to a Roman. We'll see that next week. That's
amazing, too. They're going to change their tune. They're going
to be They're going to change their tune just like that. And they're going to want nothing
to be said about this. And Paul says, no, I want to
go. I'm going to Rome. Oh, my. Now, let's look at this part
here, this narrative. Paul and Silas, we just saw,
were treated like wicked criminals, even though they'd done nothing
wrong. They were dragged into the marketplace where the rulers
of the city beat them. They were falsely accused of
crimes they didn't commit. They weren't seditious. They
weren't stirring up rebellion. They were preaching Christ and
Him crucified. They were preaching the only Savior to sinners, the
only one true living God. And the magistrates and the people
heard those false accusations. The multitude rose up, beat them,
shamefully mistreated them, right there in the marketplace, right
in public. They didn't take them somewhere
to do it. They did it right in, it's a public display. It's even
worse to do that to a Roman. But they didn't know Paul was
a Roman. They just thought he was a Jew. Oh my. Public beating, many stripes
laid across their backs and then cast into prison. And what do God's faithful servants
do? They're guilty of nothing but
obeying the clear commands of God himself, right? God told
them to go to Philippi. He directed them to Philippi. And they were thrust into the
inner prison. Darkness. And then their feet are tied
with stalks. They can't even see. It's so
dark in there. Now, there's a light in there
because the Philippian jailer would have to put him in stalks
so he'd have a light with him. Remember the old movies? You
see a torch? It's either a torch or a candle. One or the other. And then they left. He left.
And leaves them in darkness. They can't get loose, they're
bound up. But God's got one of his lost
sheep there. And he's the very one who put
them in stocks. He's gonna hear the gospel, isn't
he? He has to. And God sent two faithful preachers
to him. Paul and Barnabas, they're ready
to preach the gospel, but they don't know at this time that
the Philippian jailer's one of God's lost sheep. They're gonna
find out though, aren't they? And they're gonna be ready to
give an answer for the hope that lies within them. Isn't it been amazing to watch
God's sovereign control of the events as we go through the book
of Acts and to see him moving and protecting? And I was just
thinking as I was reading this, I was thinking about something.
That earthquake happened and none of them got crushed. What happens usually in an earthquake
and you have a lower part of the ground, man, everything's
going down, isn't it? None of them died. And a matter of fact, their bands
were opened and not one of them took off. I'll tell you what,
10 out of 10 criminals that are in jail, if the door suddenly
flew open and their bands broke, they would be running out that
door. But not one of them left. Not one of them. That shows us
the restraining hand of God. He's sovereign over all things. So remember that as we read this
portion. God's restraining hand is upon them. And then we're
going to see His restraining hand even on the Philippian jailer. Paul's in the dark. How did he
know that the Philippian jailer was going to kill himself? God revealed it to him. How do we know he was in the
dark? Because the jailer brought in a light. Isn't God amazing, beloved? His
hand of protection? That's one of his lost sheep.
He can't kill himself. He not heard the gospel. Oh,
my Lord. I'm just amazed at this. I just
get so excited about this. This is amazing. Oh my. So it appeared, humanly
speaking, that it was impossible for Paul and Silas to get themselves
loose. They're in bonds. They're in
the deepest part of the inner part of the prison. Humanly speaking,
it's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible, right? Remember earlier, we saw, wasn't it Peter? He gets let out of the prison
by the angel. Remember that brother of mine?
He gets let out right by the prisoner or right by the guards.
The doors start swinging open. And the next day, they're like,
where are they? We don't know. They're just gone. And Peter shows up, and they
think he's a ghost, remember? He shows up at the house. Oh,
it's a ghost. No, it's not. I'm here. Peter's
like, I'm here. I need to eat. I imagine he was
pretty hungry, probably. Oh, my. Isn't it amazing? God's protecting
hand. I'm just amazed at it. So God
has one of his last sheep. He's the very one, again, who
put Paul and Silas in stocks. He's called the jailer in our
text. He's called the jailer. Oh my. Look at verse 23. And
when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into
prison, charging the jailer. So he's, again, indicated as
an individual, the jailer. Not all the jailers, the jailer. Imagine he had other guys helping
him and stuff, but this is specifically talking about the jailer. Specific,
I love it. And again, Paul and Silas are
in prison by the providence of God. Let us marvel at what unfolds
before our eyes here as we read this incredible text. Seeing
God's hand of protection and seeing how God moves. Look at
this in verse 25, and at midnight, Pitch black, right? Now it's
pitch black outside. They didn't have street lights
like we have, right? It's black outside. So if you're ever gonna escape,
that's the best time to escape, isn't it? It's at midnight. And Silas,
Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. So here they
are, they're in the darkness of the prison, and they're praying
and they're singing praises unto God. And look at this. And the
prisoners heard them. They heard them. They heard what they were saying,
and they heard what they were singing. Oh my. And you know, it's only the grace
of God that allows Paul and Silas to submit joyfully to the will
of God here. And this grace is given to us
when we need it. And it's given to them. They
need it. God gives them the grace to go through this. And think of this, even in times
of trouble for us, in times of pain and sorrow, times of heartache,
how do we get through the things that we get through? It's the
grace of God. How do we get through things
that would have destroyed us before we were saved? It's the
grace of God. Isn't that amazing? It's not
by anything I do. I got no strength. Find myself down like that. He just picks us up again, doesn't
he? Isn't he wonderful? Isn't our God amazing? He doesn't
go, man, you'd never do that again. No, he just picks us up
lovingly. Come on, my son. Hmm. Hmm. So Paul and Silas recognize that
their imprisonment was as much as the work of God as the daily
provision for their needs. They were resting in the sovereignty
of God, trusting in him. Therefore, they're confident
and joyful by the grace of God. And we see in our text that they
believe God was sovereign, they're there praying. And I'll tell you what, when
you start praying and singing songs to our King, it'll fill
you with joy. It will. It's not like a magic
thing like this. It just will. Because it gets
our minds off the situations and our minds on Christ. When
I'm struggling with sin, and that happens all the time, I
cry out to God, please, Lord, give me strength to get through
this. I don't want this. Give me strength, please. And when we do submit to sin,
which we sin all the time, we ask God to forgive us, don't
we? We're not antinomians, we don't believe we can go out and
do whatever we want, no. We confess our sins to Christ,
don't we? How do we do that? By confessing
we're sinners. I'm a sinner, Lord. I need your
help all the time. Scripture tells me, the Lord
himself tells me, without me, you can do nothing. Tells all
of us that, doesn't he? Oh, my. And this is a lifelong lesson for
us, beloved, as believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. learning
to rest in Christ, learning just to look to Christ. It'll be a
lifelong lesson for us, because how long are we going to struggle
with sin for? Until the day we die, eh? We need to look to Christ
then daily, don't we? You know, that's the most, I
heard a couple guys talking this week in preaching. I was sharing
it with Sister Karen. I love this. I thought this was
wonderful. They said the most ordinary thing for a Christian
to do, the most important thing for a Christian to do, yeah,
so there's that word do, right? Uh-oh, is just to rest in Christ,
in His finished work. Lord, I'm a sinner. I'm going
to rest in you, though. Lord, I'm struggling with this situation.
I'm going to rest in you. The work's already done, beloved.
We're already redeemed. Let's just look to the Savior
together. Struggle and sinners such as we are let's just look
to the savior Let's just keep our eyes fixed upon him a sister
carolyn Oh my Look at verse 26 again And suddenly
there was a a great earthquake number 26. We looked at 25 and
suddenly 26 There was a great earthquake so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken. This was a this was not just
a small earthquake The whole foundations of the prison was
shaken You'd think the walls would start falling in, right? But they're not gonna be dying.
And you know what? Not one of them prisoners is
gonna be running away. Now look at this. The foundation of the
prison was shaken and immediately all the doors were opened, okay? Imagine we're all locked in prison
and suddenly the doors open. How many of us are gonna make
a bolt for that door? Right? Brian, we're taking off,
aren't we? Anybody would, wouldn't they? You know what, and you know how
we know that they could have ran out? And everyone's bands were
loosed. So imagine, we're shackled in
prison, And there's a great earthquake, Brother Tom. And we got leg irons
on, and those leg irons are loose, and the doors fly open. I'm going
to be trying to catch you. You're going to be trying to
catch me. One or the other. I think you run faster than me,
though. But right? We take off, wouldn't we? By
nature, we just gone. I'm gone, man. God restrained them all. Because now, if that jailer had
lost one prisoner, he'd have been killed. But he has to hear the gospel. And not only him, but folks in
his household. Do you think, do you think that
after the Lord saved that Philippian jailer, do you think he told
people about what happened? Oh, I believe he did. I believe he's part of the Philippian
church too, that Paul later on writes to. If he was still alive
at that time. Remember, Paul was the one, Paul
and Silas were the ones used by God to establish the church
in Philippi. Here's the birth of it. Got Lydia. Oh, now we're gonna have a Philippian
jailer and his family. Isn't that amazing? We're seeing
the birth of the Philippian church by the grace of God. It's absolutely
incredible, beloved. Absolutely incredible. Because
remember, this is the first time he's went into Philippi. And Philippi is the first European
city that he enters into. Oh my. So in the midst of the vocal
praying and singing from the lips of God's servants, God's
power is demonstrated in a way that those other prisoners couldn't
deny it. The doors fly open, their bands are loosed. You know, God's the one who sends
earthquakes and hurricanes and tornadoes. You listen to the weather guys,
mother nature. That's just robbing God of his
sovereignty. Now there's laws of nature, we
wouldn't deny that, is there? There's laws of nature. There
is the laws of thermodynamics. We don't deny any of that stuff.
We just know who's in control of it all. That's God. Oh my. God rules over us. Scripture
says in 2 Corinthians 5.18, all things are of God. So we see in our text, not only
did the Lord Jesus Christ open the doors of the prison by his
almighty power, but he loosed the bands of all the prisoners. Now again, as a general rule,
they would have taken right off. But God's restraining hand is
upon them. We see again, as we've seen all
through this study in Acts, God's sovereign display of his power. That's the same power that's
working in our lives, beloved. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing. That's the same God who saved
us. Brother Tom, we're saved by a sovereign God. God incarnated
in the flesh. God became a man, saved our souls. This God. Think of Sister Anne, all our
friends and stuff back home, don't know Christ, and here we
are, we love Christ. He showed us mercy, didn't he? Showed us grace. Let's read verses 27 and 28.
And the keeper of the prison awakening out of his sleep. Oh,
he fell asleep on the job. How many of us have been working?
They're nodding off, right? We all do it. I just have to
sit in my easy chair and it's good night. Yesterday I got up early so I
could take the dog so Vicki could sleep in and around 10 o'clock
I woke myself up with my own snoring. Just sitting in my chair. So
he nodded off. It's midnight, right? It's late
at night. And seeing the prison doors open,
what's he do? He draws out his sword and would
have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, do thyself no harm, for
we are all here. Now, the reason he was going
to kill himself is because if he lost one prisoner, he's going
to lose his life. That was Roman law as a prisoner. Look, he's received a charge.
Look at verse 24. "...who, having received such a charge, thrust
them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in stocks."
So he had been charged with their safety. He'd been charged to
hold them until the next day. That's probably why he's still
at the prison. He don't want to leave them. And we know Paul was in the innermost
prison, right? In darkness. In a dark dungeon. There's no way he could have
seen that the flipping jailer was going to kill himself. There's no way he could have
known what he was going to do to himself. But our Lord Jesus,
by divine revelation, made Paul aware. of what was about to transpire. It's amazing. It's incredible. So Paul cries with a loud voice, letting the jailer know that
none of the prisoners have escaped. Because he'd wake up, he'd see
all the doors open, he'd think, they're gone, right away. He
can't see, it's all dark down there. How do we know that? He's going to ask for a light. Plus, it's midnight. It's pitch black outside of the
prison. Now again, this Philippian jailer
is one of the Lord's lost sheep. He doesn't have a clue. Oh my. He doesn't have a clue. He's a vessel of honor. He has
no idea. He's a vessel of honor that God
chose in Christ from before the foundation of the world. He has
no idea. Did we know that about ourselves
before the Lord saved us? We didn't have a clue, did we?
Matter of fact, it never even entered my mind. I didn't know about these truths
till the Lord saved me and revealed them to me. Through the scriptures,
of course. I was talking to Zane last night
and I said, even before the Lord, when the Lord saved me, I didn't
know about election and all that stuff. I heard about it later
on. But I just knew I was a sinner. I needed to be saved. My oh my. Right? This Philippian jailer, he doesn't
know the great doctrines of the faith, does he? And what does Paul say, the one
thing that's needful? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shall be saved. Isn't that wonderful? And then
what does Paul preach when he goes out? Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He preaches Christ and
him crucified, doesn't he? That's the one message we have
as God's preachers. My, oh my. And we see here that by God's amazing grace,
he has put this Philippian jailer and Paul together in the same
circumstances. And we see that God's apostle
cried out with a sincere concern for the welfare of the jailer,
for the welfare of one of God's lost sheep. And this is true of every ordained
gospel preacher. We care about the people we pastor,
and we care about the lost. We pray, as Brother Neil prayed,
and as you guys, you men pray when we're reading the scripture,
that God would take the message and use it to save his lost sheep. And God's preachers preach the
truths of the gospel for the salvation of his lost sheep,
for the furtherance of the gospel. And we also preach the same gospel
with sincerity to God's people who are already saved. For our edification, right? And
our growth. All by the power of God the Holy
Spirit. Now let's read verses 29 to 30.
How do we know that they couldn't see? Well, look at this. The
jailer, it says, then he called for a light. Bring me a light,
I can't see nothing. We all know what it's like to
get up and Vicki finally got me a light at night that we just
tap and it's a double, because I was running into things at
night. The older I get, the more I can't
see. And so it's dark, because he's saying, bring me a light. Bring me a light. And look at this, he sprang in. My, oh, my. In the Greek, that
means he leaped. He went in front. Brother Brian,
he jumped in there. He wanted to get in there as
quick as he could, Travis. Brother Travis, isn't that wild?
In he goes. Gets that light and he springs
in there. What happens when light goes
into a dark place, a dark room? It's full of light, isn't it? Oh my. He sprang in and came trembling. And fell down before Paul and
Silas. And he bought them out. Look
at the care he has for them now. He thrust him into the inner
prison early and locked him in that fence. And now he goes in
there, he leaps in there and he brings them out. And said to them, sirs, what
must I do to be saved? Oh, my. The jailer asked for
a light, which again would have either been a torch or a candle.
I would think it probably would have been a torch. I don't know.
I can't say. But he got a light. It's lighting
the place up. He couldn't see them at first
with his physical eyes, but now he can see them with a light,
can't he? This just again confirms what
we looked at earlier, that Paul couldn't have been able to see
that he was gonna kill himself. It had to be revealed by God. And as soon as the servants had
brought the jailer some light so he could see, he expressed
his Holy Spirit conviction. And as he did not attribute the
prisoner still being there to anything he'd done, he comes in, he sprang in. In
other words, he leaped in, which is the underlying Greek word.
He rushed in as soon as he could to see them. And then we see the Philippian
jailer come trembling, comes in trembling and falls down before
Paul and Silas. Not because of the earthquake.
He didn't come in trembling because of the earthquake. Not because he feared his life
was over. Because he knew they were all safe now. But John Gill brings this out.
chiefly through the horror of his conscience and the dreadful
sense he had of himself as a sinner and of his lost state and condition
by nature. God the Holy Spirit had revealed
to him that he was a sinner. And God's elect will never see
their need of a savior. until God reveals our helpless
and hopeless lost estate before him. And we see that this convicted
sinner fell down before Paul and Silas. And what did he say? Look at this in verse 30. And
bought them out, he brings them out of the inner prison, and
said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Notice what he, sirs,
he's not addressing them as common criminals anymore. That's a term of respect. Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? Oh my. So his treatment of them
is totally different now than what it was when the magistrates
told him to take them and put them in prison. He's bringing them out now of
that rat infested prison. Serves as a title that he would
not have bestowed upon a common criminal. Not at all. So as Brother Gene Harmon brought
out, this is just confirming that he believed Paul and Silas
were servants of God. And this question here, Serge,
what must I do to be saved? It shows us he's generally concerned
for his eternal soul now. People don't just ask that question,
do they? No. Remember before the Lord
saved us, we didn't have any concern for our souls. Now though, Oh my, we're like
this Philippian jailer. What must I do to be saved? Notice, notice here that he has not yet
been taught that salvation's of the Lord. He's had revealed to him that
he's a sinner. But notice the words. What must
I do to be saved? What must I do? I love Paul's answer. Did you
know Paul and Silas both answered him? It says that in the text. Oh my. And they said, look at
that, they both, these are preachers, they both tell them the same
truth, aren't they? Oh my. Notice he didn't say,
believe on Christ and be baptized. Or he didn't say, believe on
Christ and belong to a certain church. Believe on Christ and make a
decision for Christ by or or they didn't even say pray this
prayer Sir pray this prayer Those are all statements that
people have said I've heard people say No You know ungodly sinners are
willing to do anything They're willing to do anything they can
to appease God's anger, as long as it's something that
they do. But you and I, and anyone else
in this world, cannot appease God's wrath by anything we do. It just heaps more condemnation
on us. Oh my. This is why it's amazing
when God delivers someone out of religion, the bondage of,
well that's all of us, dead in trespasses and sins, and thinking
we can save ourselves, and what a miracle of grace when he delivers
us from that and shows us that salvation's of the Lord. If God the Holy Spirit has not
prepared the heart to receive, the preaching of the gospel of
salvation by grace alone, it'll just fall on deaf ears. But if
God's prepared the heart, he's prepared the heart of this jailer. Oh my. You ever hear the saying that
after a gospel message, some leave glad and some leave mad?
You ever hear that? Some leave glad, praise God I'm
saved. And some leave mad, telling me
I'm a sinner and I can't save myself. Yeah, that's exactly
what we're saying. Salvation's in the Lord. This
fellow's gonna leave glad. Oh my. And salvation is all by Christ
and Christ alone. And the unregenerate hate that
message. You know why? You know why we
know that as God's people? Because we were among them at
one time. Oh my. But who made us to differ? God and God alone, didn't he? Turned the old rebel heart of
mine and yours, if you're a believer, and gave us faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Born again by God's almighty
power, given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, which
is what Paul tells him. So he asks, what must I do to
be saved? And Paul and Silas both answer
with the same answer to the question that he asks, and it's the one
thing needful for sinners. All that a sinner needs for salvation
of our souls is found in Christ and Him alone. Nowhere else. And look what they say, I love
this. Here's the one true answer to the question, what must I
do to be saved? And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou, look at this, shalt be saved
in thy house. Now this believing is not just
acknowledging who Christ is, because there's people who say
they, oh yeah, I know who Christ is. This is being born again
by the Holy Spirit. This is being given faith to
trust our souls upon Christ and him alone, to cast ourselves
upon him. This jailer knows he's a sinner. What must I do to be saved? And
they say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be
saved. That's just looking and living,
isn't it? And then living the life of resting
in Christ, looking to Christ. Oh, we humans complicate stuff,
don't we? Do you see what the Holy Spirit
set before us? It's so wonderful. If you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, it says here, what's it say? Thou shall be
saved. Isn't that wonderful? Well, what
if I doubt after the Lord saves me? Thou shall be saved. What about my unbelief after
the Lord saves me? Thou shall be saved. It's all about Christ. It's all
about Him. Notice Paul and Silas didn't
say, well, your eternal destiny's in your hands now. You need to
make a decision. They didn't say, well, you need
to exercise your free will. Did they? Because our will will never want
Christ. We have to be made willing in
the day of God's power. Now, do you see this? This is where
people get all messed up. They say, now, is the Philippian
jailer, is his will gonna be exercised? Absolutely, but he
has to have a new nature. Because our will is in bondage
to our nature. And if we have a dead nature,
all we're gonna do is choose sin. But if we have a new nature,
If we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, all we'll want
is Christ. Isn't that wonderful? So he makes
the unwilling, God makes the unwilling willing in the day
of his power. Aren't you thankful, beloved
of God, that God made us willing in the day of his power? We're
thankful, aren't we, sister? Oh my, we weren't willing, Brother
Tom. He made us well. My! And then the scripture says
He's going to keep us. He's going to keep us because
we can't keep ourselves. Oh, I love our Savior, don't
you? Isn't He amazing? In His simple words, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shall be saved. Man,
religious men tell you, we gotta do this, you gotta do that, you
gotta appease God, you gotta believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shall be saved. You know why? Because God's satisfied
with the sacrifice of Christ. His wrath and anger is being
appeased in Christ. His wrath against us is extinguished
in Christ. There's not even a wisp of wrath
coming up anymore. It's gone, beloved. When I see
the blood, the blood of Christ, right? What does it say? I'll
pass over you. Oh, my. That's wonderful. This is wonderful. The Philippian
jailer asked a sincere question, and both Paul and Silas answered
in the same way. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved in thy house. Oh my. And when we believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe by God-given faith, don't we?
He gives us faith to believe on Christ. Oh my. We look now to Christ
by faith, by faith, God-given faith, for the salvation of our
souls. You know, we entrust our souls
to another. Scott Richardson used to say,
we look outside ourselves to Christ. We used to look inside
before. Well, I can do this. I used to
believe God would put me in the scale of justice. I really did.
I really believe this. I used to believe that God would
put me in the scales, and that because I wasn't a murderer,
that I'd be good. You find out there's none righteous,
no, not one. Boom, you're condemned. My, oh,
my. What a shock that is. But it's
true. But there's salvation. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Oh, it's wonderful. Oh, it's
wonderful. And when we believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ by God-given faith, We take him ourselves. We, we, we, he's my savior. He takes us, he takes us, but
we also embrace him, don't we? Oh, yeah. Oh, praise his mighty
name. And we trust him for the salvation
of our souls. There's nothing we can accomplish
By our own works, except condemnation. But in Christ, all our sins are
forgiven, beloved. All of them. Even the worst ones
we can think of. Which we all have a lot of them,
don't we? The ones that haunt us sometimes. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. They're all bought and paid for,
beloved. Oh, what a Savior! Oh, what a
Redeemer is Jesus Christ, my Lord! Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. What think ye of Christ? What
do you think of Him? Question for all of us. Ah, He's
my Savior. By His supreme sacrifice, Jesus
Christ obtained eternal redemption for His people. And God gives us faith to believe
on Him, to have an absolute personal reliance upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, doesn't He? And by the supreme sacrifice
of Himself, Jesus Christ perfected forever them that are sanctified. We're still sinners while we're
in this body, but in God's eyes, we're redeemed, we're forgiven. My, and that gives a, that, what
does that do? That causes us to have an absolute
personal reliance upon him, doesn't it? Oh my. Who shall lay anything
to charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. That
revealed truth gives every born-again, blood-washed believer faith to
have an absolute personal reliance upon him, on the Lord Jesus Christ,
doesn't it? We're not chargeable. Isn't that
amazing? We look at ourselves and go,
oh Lord, which we do, don't we? We confess our sin. But in his
eyes, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, he sees his son, the
perfect spotless lamb of God. And then one day we're gonna
see him face to face, aren't we? We're gonna see our Redeemer
face to face. Oh my. So again, the jailer asked, what
must I do to be saved? Paul and Silas says in verse
31, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved
in thy house. Now let's read verse 32. And
they spake unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were
in his house. Well, they preached the gospel
to him, didn't they? And then they went and preached the gospel
to all that were in his house. Some people say, some people
use this section for infant baptism. I don't know where they get that
from. Because the only ones, the only ones who, who, uh, who
heard the Word of the Lord, right, and they spake unto him the Word
of the Lord and to all that were in his house. Can a baby understand
the Word of the Lord? No. Small child may, right? But not an infant? Oh my. So we see here that Paul
and Silas had the honor of preaching the gospel to the jailer and
to his household. Isn't that wonderful? Look at
the door God opened up. What did he preach them? The
unsearchable riches of Christ. That salvation for sinners is
only found in Christ and Him alone. That His precious blood
was shed to redeem His people from all their sins. That God's law and justice has
been satisfied by the death of Christ, because He was obedient
unto death. And then what did the, now the
Philippian jailer, he's born again. He has faith and look
at the change in this man. Remember we talked about the
Christian love in Philippians this morning in Bible school?
Look at this. It's being manifested here. And
he took them, look at verse 33 and 34, and he took them the
same hour of the night and washed their stripes. Their backs would have been scarred
and bleeding, dried blood. And he washed their backs. And
he probably put ointment on it, didn't he? He cared for them. At first,
in his eyes, they were just common criminals. Now, he loves them. and his love for them is manifest
by the fact that the ones that he just a few hours ago threw
in the inner prison and locked in bonds, now he's cleaning them,
stripes, cleaning their wounds. And then look what happens, and
then he was baptized. They believed and they were baptized. This shows us believer's baptism. Not gonna spend a lot of time
there, because we believe in believer's baptism. They heard
the gospel, they believed, they were baptized. Him and those
of his family who heard the gospel. And when he had brought them
into his house, oh my, not only is he cleaning them, he's bringing
them into his house, his personal area. He's saying, come, break bread
with me. Just a few hours ago, He cast
him into the inner prison. What a change, eh, brother? He's
born again. He's a new creature in Christ.
And his family is, too. They woke up that morning pagan
idol worshipers. Now they're worshiping the one
true living God. Oh, my. Isn't God's grace amazing? Oh, my. Just like Lydia. God opened their hearts to the
gospel. God opened their hearts to the things that Paul preached
and Silas preached. And then he takes them, cleans
their wounds. They were scourged. They were
beaten. He takes care of them physically.
And then he takes care of their needs food-wise too. They're
probably hungry. We don't read anywhere where
they ate. He brings them into the house. Look at this. He said
meet before them and rejoiced He's rejoicing with them He was a pagan the day before
Hating the things of God and Now God has taken the rebel which
he does to every one of us. He's who are born again. He's
taken a rebel And now that rebel's rejoicing
in the things of Christ. You know what they were talking
about, right? We know what they were talking about. They were
talking about the things of Christ. Now they're rejoicing. It says
they were rejoicing. It means joyful in the Greek. Believing
in God with all his house. What a miracle. What a miracle,
beloved. Now these folks, again, are going
to comprise the starting of the Philippian church. Isn't that
amazing? The beginning of the Philippian
church right here. So marvel what we learned. The sufferings
of Paul and Silas were part of God's divine plan and purpose. And what's true with them is
true with us too. What we go through is all part
of God's plan and purpose. Oh my. May God give us grace
when we go through these circumstances of life to put our complete trust
in him. To just trust in him. Because
if I get my eyes on the circumstances I go through, I get all messed
up. I don't know about you, but I got to keep my eyes on Christ.
I do. And again, That's the most important
thing in Christian life for us to do, is believe and just look
to Christ. Isn't that wonderful? That's wonderful, isn't it? Isn't God so good? Brother Brian.