I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 16. Acts 16. The Lord according to the good
pleasure of his will to show mercy and compassion or certain
woman moved Luke to relate the account of her conversion. And then also after Paul and
Silas, who was in jail, thrown in jail in the town where they
were, where this woman was too. related something else about
this woman that was very encouraging. And I want us to look at the
conversion and the effect of this woman's conversion for just
a minute. Acts chapter 16, I want to start
in verse nine and read through verse 12 and kind of just let
us look at how this all was brought about by the Lord. Acts 16, 9,
it said, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night, and there
stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over
into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision,
immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto
them. Therefore, loosing from Troas, we came with a straight
course to Samothracea, and the next day to Neapolis, and from
thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of
Macedonia, and a colony, and we were in that city abiding
certain days." Now, there was a vision. Apostle Paul was spoken
to by the Lord. It was a vision. And in that
vision, there was a plea that was made by one that Paul recognized. He was dressed, obviously, like
a Macedonian. He knew that he was Macedonia,
from Macedonia. And in this vision, The man had
told him, said, come over here. We need some help. We need to
hear what you've got to say. And that stirred the Apostle
Paul. He was moved, the scripture says
immediately, gathering. That's what it said. He said
after he had seen the vision, Verse 10, after it seen the vision,
immediately, we endeavored to go to Macedonia. I mean, right
now, we got to go. We got to go. Assuredly gathering,
that is, putting together in one's mind and concluding something.
This is not something that we could put off. We've got to go. So he made preparations and He
knew that the Lord had called him to preach to him. So they
loosed from Troas, they came and they made a straight course
as fast as they could get to this place over Macedonia. And the scripture says when they
got there, something very interesting happened In verse 12, it says,
from Fence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part
of Macedonia, and a colony that, there was some Roman soldiers
there, is what it was. I just looked up to find out
what they're talking about. It was some Roman soldiers were
there, and we were in that city abiding certain days. Now you'd say, well, okay, what
does that mean? Well, it means that they were,
that they were wearing away, when it's abiding, abiding. You just thought, well, they
were just there. But the definition means they were consuming, they
were spending, they were passing time. I mean, they went there
as fast as they could. Paul had this vision and he said,
we got to go, we got to go right now. You know, they're just there. They were there at their own
expense, no record where they knew anybody. They were just
waiting. I mean, he had gotten there,
and I don't doubt for one second that the flesh in their heart,
you know, start thinking, Why did I make such fast preparation? Why did I, you know, I mean,
the old man within us would end up saying, you'd been better
off just stay where you were. But that's what it means. They
were abiding there certain days. But obviously, the Lord had called
them to that place. And this is what we know. God's
timing is not our timing. What are we called to do? Obey,
obey. Well, what if the Lord, what
if he doesn't? Well, what if I have to, well,
what if you do? They were convinced, we gotta
go to Macedonia. And so they did, they made that
trip and there they were, bearing up under the good providence
of God. The trial that they were going
through would be that we're having to make our own way, spend our
own money, whatever we need, the Lord is not going to be indebted
to them. God had called them to that place. But then something
happened. In verse 13, it said, on the
Sabbath, we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was
wont to be made And we sat down and spake unto the women which
resorted thither." Now, outside of the city where they were,
they were in Philippi. And that's where they'd landed,
on that boat. And on the Sabbath day, obviously
the day of the custom of the Jews, there was a group of women
that met by a riverside to pray. And that was their custom. They'd
gone out there on the Sabbath day. That was their day, that
was when they met together. And providentially, now here's
Paul and Silas, and they're continuing to wait on the Lord. We're here,
they came to the place where these women were, and they sat
down, and the scripture says they talked to them, started
talking to them. I noticed that the Spirit of
God was not pleased to relate the exact words that were said,
but you can rest assured that the subject of the conversation
was concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel. That's
what Paul had said in verse 10. After he had seen the vision,
immediately we endeavored to go to Macedonia, assuredly gathering
that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel. unto them. It was necessary that they hear,
that they heard the gospel of God's free grace, that message
of the Lord who's pleased to save His people, how He paid
their debt and put away their guilt in His own shed blood,
and surely call them out of darkness, and Paul was preaching to them,
telling them what God had done for people of his choosing. So
there they are. Now they're by the side of a
river, and there's some women there. Paul and Silas are there,
and they're preaching to them. And then the Lord was pleased
to relate some things about a particular woman. One of these women in
particular that was there. Four things in particular that
I, I noticed that the Spirit of God was pleased to say about
this woman. And somebody said, well, you
don't, I mean, it's just some things that were said. No, it's
just not some things that were just said. No, this woman in
particular, the Spirit of God said some things about her. And
I want us to just look for just a minute at these four things
that were said about this woman. And I pray the Lord bless it
to our heart. First thing, that I noticed in
verse 14, it says, and a certain woman named Lydia. Spirit of God was pleased to
relate to us what her name was. Now let me tell you the real
blessing about that. This book right here, this book was inspired
by the Spirit of God. And I know this, when the Spirit
of God was pleased to tell us what her name was, He knew her
first. He knew who she was. There was
a certain woman named Lydia. And the Spirit was pleased to
tell us something about this woman that He was pleased to
relate in the holy scriptures. Now, I realize that not every
name of every believer was always mentioned in the scriptures.
There was a woman that had an issue of blood. What was her
name? I don't know. There was a thief that was on
a cross beside the Lord Jesus Christ that said to him, Lord,
when you enter into your kingdom, would you remember me? What was
his name? I don't know. There was a certain centurion,
manned over a hundred soldiers. What was his name? Spirit of God wasn't pleased
to tell us who it was, but he was pleased to tell us about
this woman, this woman. And though all the names of all
God's people are not mentioned in the Holy Scriptures themselves,
let me tell you a greater blessing is that their names are written
in heaven. Turn to Luke, Luke 10. Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10, verse 17. Luke 10, let me, I was in John. Luke chapter 10, and verse 17. The 70, returning again with
joy, saying, Even the devils are subject unto us through thy
name. And he said unto them, I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you
power to tread on serpents and scorpions over all the power
of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you, notwithstanding. In this, rejoice not that the
spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your
names are written in heaven. You talk about a blessing. Turn
over, you've read, you've seen this before. Revelation chapter
17. Revelation 17. Rejoice that your names are written
in heaven. Revelation 17 verse eight. The beast that thou sawest was
and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go
into perdition And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder
whose names were not written in the book of life from the
foundation of the world when they beheld the beast that was
and is not and yet is. Here's the blessing. All the names of God's people
have been written in the book of life from the foundation of
the world, before the foundation of the world. before this world
was ever formed, when did God enter the names of all of his
people? Before this was made. Now that's
a blessing. The Lord said, don't rejoice
in that the devils are subject unto you. I saw Satan fall from
heaven. Don't rejoice in that. You rejoice
because your names are written in heaven. I thank God that he
was pleased to tell us who this woman was. Her name was Lydia,
Lydia. She was one of God's own. I know
what the Lord's gonna do to her. I read the rest of the passage,
you have too. You know what God's gonna do for her. But this woman's
name was personal. This is our sister, our sister
in Christ. What's her name? Her name's Lydia,
Lydia. And the Lord was pleased to tell
her that. Let me second thing back in Acts 16, second thing
that I thought was a real blessing. In verse 14, she was a seller
of purple. Now you think, she was a seller of purple. I
don't know if she sold dye. I don't know if she sold clothing
that was purple. I don't know exactly what she
was selling, but I know that this woman, she was a woman,
a hard-working, honest woman. It doesn't say she wore purple.
Purple was for royalty. That was a royal color. It didn't
say she wore it. She said she sold it. And so
this woman has a, she's got a profession. She's just a hard-working, woman
and and the thing is you think well What's what's so special
about that turn over to first corinthians 1 1st corinthians
chapter 1 1st corinthians 1 verse 26 to
29 Well, you see you're calling brethren have that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called,
but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise. God has chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the mighty, to confound the things
which are mighty and base things of the world, things which are
despised as God chosen, yea, the things which are not, to
bring to naught the things that are that no flesh should glory
in his presence. So what did this woman do? She
was a sales lady. That's what she did. Just a hard
working sales lady. Doesn't say anything about anything
else but that this was her name and this is what she did for
a living. Just worked hard. honorable. And then thirdly,
it says this back in Acts 16, chapter 14. She was of the city
of Thyatira, Thyatira. Now, what is the significance
of the Spirit of God telling us something about where this
woman was from? I know her name, I know what
she did for a living, and I know something about where she was
from. Thyatira, that was a city. But
the Lord moved on an apostle named John who had been, you
know, exiled to the Isle of Patmos back in Revelation. I want you
to hold your place right here. Turn over to Revelation 2. The
Lord told John to write a letter Revelation chapter two, and I
want you to write a letter to the church at Thyatira. Now, this is where this woman's
from. She's from this city. And I don't know for a fact,
but a very good chance this woman went to this church, went to
this church. Well, what did the Lord tell
John to write to this church at Thyatira? Well, Revelation
2, verse 18, the scripture says, and unto the angel, unto the
pastor of the church in Thyatira write these things, saith the
Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and
his feet like unto brass, I know thy works, and charity, and service,
and faith, and thy patience, and thy works, and the last to
be more than the first, notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee,
because Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself
a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit
fornication, to eat things sacrificed unto idols. I gave her space
to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. Behold,
I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with
her into great tribulation, except They repent of their deeds, and
I'll kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know
that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts, and I will
give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you,
I say, and to the rest of Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine,
and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak,
I will put upon you none other burden, but that which you have
already hold fast till I come. and he that overcometh, and keepeth
my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations,
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and the vessels of a
potter, shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received
of my father, I will give him the morning star, he that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Now, you know where this woman came from? She came from a place
where The Lord revealed through that letter that he had John
to write that this woman was in a place where there was some
false doctrine that was being taught. There were some believers,
but there were some tares among the wheat. And again, I know
something about this woman. We're not there. We're not to
the last thing that the Lord going to reveal that he's done
for. This woman is a woman that has been coming out of a place,
she's been in a place where there's some false doctrine, and the
Lord has revealed, he said, I've got something against you. This
is where she came from. This is where she came out of.
She's coming out of this place right here. But here back in
Acts 16, I know her name, I know what she does for a living, and
I know where she comes from. Then the scripture says, fourth
day, middle part of verse 14, she said, she's of the city of
Thyatira, here's what it says, which worshiped God. This woman, scripture says, worshiped God. And you say, well, doesn't scripture
say that she worship? Yep, it does. Doesn't say that
she believed the Lord. Doesn't say that she trusted
the Lord or cast himself upon mercy. You say, well, wait a
minute, wait a minute. I thought if the scripture says
that somebody worships, that that means that they're believers.
I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me over to Mark,
chapter five. Mark, chapter five. Mark five. And I wanna read the first nine
verses of Mark five. And they came over unto the other
side of the sea, unto the country of the Gadarenes. And when he,
that is the Lord, was come out of the ship, immediately there
met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had
his dwelling among the tombs, and no man could bind him, no,
not with chains, because that he had been often bound with
fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him,
and the fetters broken in pieces, neither could any man tame him.
This man be chained up, he broke the chains. This man was, bad. And always, night and day, he
was in the mountains, in the tombs, crying and cutting himself
with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off,
he ran and worshipped him, cried with a loud voice, and said,
What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High
God? I assure thee by God that thou
torment me not. For he said unto him, come out
of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, what is thy
name? And he asked, that is the spirit, he asked him, what's
your name? And he answered, my name is Legion, for we are many. You say, well, okay, but it's
said, it's said that he worshiped, said he worshiped. Turn to John four, and here's
where I'm gonna Try to make good on what I'm saying here concerning
always assuming whenever we see in the scriptures it's a worship.
Read that scripture, make sure you know the context of what
it's talking about. John chapter four. The Lord has
met a Samaritan woman at a well in a place called Sychar. John
chapter four. And the Lord's talking to this
woman. Verse 19. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain, and you say in Jerusalem is the place where men ought
to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour
cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem
worship the Father. Now listen to these next words,
what he told her. She said, well, our father, we
worship this man. You say we gotta worship over
here, this way. We worship this way, you say
we worship. Verse 22, ye worship, ye know
not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews, but the hour cometh. and now is when
the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth,
for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Is there a false
worship? Oh yeah, oh yeah. The Lord told
this woman, he said, you don't know who you're worshiping. Back in Acts 16, this woman,
Lydia, one sold purple, the one that was from this place in Thyatira
where the Lord had said there's some false doctrine in that place. This woman worshiped God. That's what scripture says. The
God of her imagination. This is who I think. How many
times have I told you I came up out of false religion? People telling me that salvation
is all up to me. It's up to my decision, it's
up to my will. All I got to do is walk down
an aisle, come to this altar. I told you before, there ain't
nothing up here but carpet and wood, just like there. Ain't
no difference. This woman worshipped who she
thought was God, who she believed was God. Back in Act 16, I'll try to wrap
this up. Something happened. Something
happened. While she was there at this place,
the scripture says that, still in verse 14, she heard us. Paul was preaching God Almighty,
who rules in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. He was telling them about who God is, not who, Somebody
is saying he's trying to be God, or he'll be God if you'll let
him be God. I'm talking about God that has the right to do
what he will, with whom he will, when he will, how he will. God.
And the scripture says that she heard us. Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by this word right here. She heard us whose heart
the Lord opened, whose heart the Lord opened. This woman heard
and heard with a heart that previously had been closed. That's what
he's saying. She heard what was being preached
and she attended, the scripture says. She was truly attentive
Her mind was turned to what she heard. Again, I grew up in church and
this is what I, this is all I was concerned about. I hope they hurry up. This woman
heard what he said and she attended She attended to what was being
said. She heard about the Lord. She heard this God that Paul
was preaching. And the scripture says in verse
15, and when she was baptized, not in order to be saved, She
was baptized because the Lord did something for her. And that
was the open confession of faith. That's how it was confessed before
others. You don't get baptized in order
to be saved. Baptism don't save you. Water
don't save you. This woman was baptized before
she was religious. See, I don't doubt that she was
an honest, hardworking woman. I mean, look, she was out there,
I don't know if she was, had moved from Thyatira and now lived
in Philippi. I don't know if she came from
Thyatira and that was on her route. I don't know. It doesn't
matter. I looked up the words. It could
be either way. But whatever it was, this woman
heard the gospel and God did something for her. Opened her
heart. Now, before she was religious, she worked as a lot of people.
But this woman now is a believer. God had given her a new heart
and he did something for this woman. He gave her life in Christ. And not only did he do something
for this woman, he was pleased to do something for her household.
When she was baptized and her household, she besought us saying,
if you've judged me to be faithful to the Lord, Would you come into
my house and abide there? And she constrained us. Paul
said, we got there, we got in Philippi just, you know, a while
back and we didn't know where we were going. And here's a woman
that the Lord has given a heart. I want y'all to come over and
visit with me. I mean it now, she constrained us. She said,
no, I mean it. No, you're not imposing on me. You come to my
house, you stay at my house, I'll foot the bill for this one.
Here's this woman, and she's, God's done something for her.
Well, Paul and Silas, they get thrown into prison, and you know
what happens. They're there in that prison,
rest of that chapter right there for sake of time, I'll just tell
you what happened, you know what happened. They were bound in
the inner part of that of that jail. They got thrown into prison
because the powers that be didn't want to hear what they had to
say. Put them in there, told the jailer, said, you better
make sure these guys don't get out. Lord came in, earthquake,
shook it, all the doors were open, chains fell off. Jailer
came in, saw what was going on, oh no. Oh, they're gonna kill
me, gonna fall on his sword. Paul said, don't, don't hurt
yourself. Don't hurt yourself. We're all, we're not going anywhere. We're not your prison. We're
the prisoner of the Lord. God, God, God sent us here. God sent us here. That jailer
asked, what, what must I do to be saved? Paul said, you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. God will
save you. Well, after the Lord was pleased
to put them out of darkness, I want you to look at the 40th
verse of this, and I'm gonna stop right here. After they got
out of prison, and the scripture says, verse 40, and they went
out of the prison, and they entered into the house of Lydia. And
when they'd seen the brethren, they comforted them, comforted
them, and they departed. You know, Paul and Silas, these
men knew something about the trials and the tribulations that
a believer suffers in this world. And here was Lydia, the Lord
pleased to open her heart. Just a hardworking woman, just
trying to get by. Went to church, she went to church, But God was pleased to save her.
And after the Lord saved her, kept her, Paul and him got out
of church, I got out of a prison. And they said, let's go to Lydia's
house. Let's go see how Lydia's doing.
And they did. Brethren, we've got a great privilege,
great privilege, to be able to assemble ourselves together today
and hear the gospel. We're a family. This is our family
right here. I pray God bless this to our
hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. All right, let's just take
a minute break.