We're following the journey of
the Lord Jesus Christ as he goes throughout this world. He said
to the apostles when he finished his work here and had borne witness
to his resurrection for those six weeks to those hundreds of
people, he said, He said, you shall receive power after the
Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto
me, both in Jerusalem and all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto
the uttermost parts of the earth. We've seen by this stage that
witness in Jerusalem and we've seen it in Judea and we've seen
it in Samaria and now we see it to the uttermost parts of
the world. And the work that he did then is the work that
he's doing now because our God doesn't change. He has no need
to change. The way he saves people in the
scriptures is the way he saves people right now. And so these
salvation stories of Lydia, The salvation story of the Philippian
jail or the salvation stories of the people in Thessalonica
and on through to the rest of the Book of Acts are all typical. They are chosen out of tens of
thousands of people are saved and they're chosen especially
so that we would see how the Lord Jesus Christ saves his people. So that we would see that salvation
in our day and we would have the comfort of the scriptures
and have hope. So last week we looked at the Flippian jail as
a journey to this place of salvation, but I thought today we'd look
at what it is to have saving faith. What is salvation? Let's just read the story you
may have known about Lydia. Lydia was a lady whose heart
the Lord opened, whose heart the Lord opened, in verse 14
of chapter 16, that she attended unto the things which were spoken
to Paul. Her heart was open, she didn't just listen to what
Paul said, she grabbed those words as if they were life itself
for her. And then they cast the demon
out of that poor young lady and she is cast aside by her masters
and they take Paul and Silas to the marketplace, verse 19,
to the rulers. And they brought them to the
magistrates, verse 20, saying, these men being Jews do exceedingly
trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to
receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude
rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off
their clothes and commanded to beat them. And when they had
laid many stripes on them and cast them into prison, charging
the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge,
thrust them into the inner prison, so they were in a prison inside
a prison, these two men, and made their feet fast in stocks.
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 open, and everyone's
bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison,
awakening out of his sleep, seeing the prison doors open, drew out
his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners
had 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, both of them said,
in unison it seems, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spoke unto him the word
of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took
them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and
was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had
brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and
rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. The aim of gospel
preaching is that people would believe in God and they would
be rejoicing. And they would be rejoicing with
their house. They would be rejoicing with
all those who join with him in that. We're going to sing number
52. 52. We rest on thee, our shield and
our defender. We go not forth alone against
the foe. Strong in thy strength, safe
in thy keeping tender. We rest on thee, and in thy name
we go. Thanks. Strong in Thy strength, safe
in Thy peace and love, we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go. Strong in Thy strength, safe
in Thy peace and love, we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go. Jesus, our God, is the satchmog
of nature. Thou brings all glory and health
in your blood. Jesus, our God, is the satchmog
of nature. rest all we the battle I shall be the face. When passing through the gates
of Alexander, victors we rest, we lead through endless days. When passing through the gates
of Alexander, victors we rest, Okay, let's pray. Our Heavenly
Father, we pray that you would send your spirit amongst us this
morning, Heavenly Father, and the words that you speak to us
would be spirit and life, Heavenly Father, that you might be pleased to reveal your Son to us. To those who are yours, Heavenly
Father, might it be that your Son might be revealed in us today
and that we might find ourselves resting on Him now and into eternity. Bless your words, Heavenly Father,
for your Son's glory and for the good of your people. For
we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Can I put it up there? It's sort
of bothering me. Sorry Norm. Can I have it sort of back or
something? It seems like it's attacking me. Is that going to be okay? Yeah. You're happy? Sorry about
that folks. Technology is wonderful stuff.
Anyway, let's just read Read this jailer's story again. There was a great earthquake
and he drew out his sword. The Philippian jailer was about
to pierce his heart. He'd come to that moment of realisation. A few moments beforehand he was
absolutely sound asleep and he couldn't care less. It's wonderful,
isn't it, how in these two stories of Lydia and the Philippian jailer
we have to polar opposites in many ways. Lydia was a devout
woman. Lydia did all that she possibly
could coming from that place of Thyatira. She did all that
she could to worship God and she gathered others with her.
The Philippian jailer couldn't care less. He was sound asleep. He was sound asleep. He'd probably
been responsible or a party to the beating of Paul and Silas.
He'd put them in stocks, which were stocks to cause their legs
great agony and around their necks as well. And then he put
them in the inner prison and he was so safe and secure. He
slept through their prayers and he slept through their praises
and he couldn't care less. So it's a great picture, isn't
it, that salvation, salvation is of the Lord. Jonah had to
go into the belly of the great fish to learn that story. Most
of us have to go through all sorts of things, but we keep
thinking that salvation is about something that we do and something
that we must do. And the gospel, the so-called
gospel is presented these days. I don't like commenting on current
events, but we have this story of the footballer and the difficulties
that he's going through. But the saddest thing of all,
the saddest thing of all in all of this is that there is a guy
with great zeal and millions supporting him around the world
and giving their money and things. But wouldn't it be lovely if
he was proclaiming the gospel to people instead of bringing
a law to people? Wouldn't it be wonderful if he
was declaring who God is? You see, in all of these pictures
here, we have a picture of the glory and the power and the greatness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had these people. This Philippian
jailer was his. He was given to him by his father
in eternity. And when he came, when the Lord
Jesus came, he came specifically with a purpose. to save the Lydias
and to save those jailers and he has their names written on
his heart and he carries their name on their shoulders. He rules
and reigns over everything in this world. He rules and reigns
over everything to get these people to hear the gospel. The
gospel will come to them. They will come to the gospel
by a sovereign hand of God. And it's remarkable if you read
on this story that Paul and Silas could have said just a simple
word to the jailer and to the magistrates. Just one word, and
they wouldn't have been in jail, and they wouldn't have been beaten.
All they had to do was say, I'm a Roman. And yet they didn't. And yet they didn't. And they
suffered that beating. He calls it the appalling way
he was treated in Philippi. Why? Why? We keep asking why's, don't
we? There is one answer to all the
why's of this world. God did it. God did it, and everything
God does is good, and everything God does is for his glory, and
everything God does is for the good of his people. And so there
was this Philippian jailer, secure and safe, and suddenly, And suddenly,
verse 26, 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 prison, waking
out of his sleep, seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword
and would have killed himself, supposing the prisoners had 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. It's a lovely picture,
isn't it? The sword in the scriptures is
a picture of the word. Word spoken and words thought.
And he, like the rest of Adam's race, has a sword that he has
drawn against himself and does harm to himself. Because anything
that is not of faith, anything that is not based on belief,
is sin. And all of Adam's children are
doing themselves harm all the time. And the greatest harm that
we do ourselves all the time is simply that harm of not believing
and not trusting who God is and what he's done and what he's
said in his word. But it's a great picture, isn't
it? He had that sword at his heart. The Philippian jailer
had a heart problem. You and I and the rest of Adam's
race have a heart problem and nothing and nothing will change
that heart. You can be as religious as Lydia
and as religious as Nicodemus. You can be as religious as the
most zealous religious people you see around you today, with
all of their zeal and all of what they go through and all
of what they may suffer for their religion. But unless God in sovereign mercy
comes and does as he is promised and takes out that heart of stone
and puts in a heart of flesh, in the words of Ezekiel 36. You
will be as dead, as dead as the Philippian jailer, as careless
about your soul as the Philippian jailer, and you will be doing
yourself harm. All of Adam's race do themselves
harm. For all of God's children, salvation
is as it is for this world. Jailer. It's a matter of absolute
urgency. He could have had a whole lot
of other things on his mind, and he no doubt in his life he
had a whole lot he'd done, and a whole lot he was doing, and
a whole lot he'd planned to do, and the foundations of his life
were just ripped apart. If God saves you, my friends,
the foundations of your life will be torn asunder. And that sword, that word that
you have in what you say and what you think about the Lord
Jesus Christ, that sword that you have to your own heart, will
be put down, will be put down. But he sprang in, verse 29, and
came trembling and cried out, what must I do to be saved? I must be shown salvation. I must have the truth of salvation. I must have the life of salvation.
I must have the who of salvation. He had no idea what he was asking. All he knew, all he knew was
that he was about to die. All he knew that he has a word,
a word from a man, do yourself no harm. And it's just beautiful,
isn't it, what the simplicity, the simplicity of Paul and Silas'
response to him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's worth noting, and I
keep wanting to remind myself and others of it, that in the
Scriptures, Jesus is referred to as Jesus. during his earthly ministry.
From the moment of his death and his resurrection, he is always,
in the scriptures, referred to with his titles. These titles
mean something. So, to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ is to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. That means it
is God Almighty. I love saying that. I hope you
like hearing it. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is God. All you
will ever know about the real and living God, you will know
through the Lord Jesus Christ. Any other talk of God, any mention
of God, which doesn't directly mention the Lord Jesus Christ
in all of his glory, as the scriptures declare him, is not talking about
God. It's the figment of man's imagination.
They can call it what they like. He is God Almighty. He is Lord. He is sovereign. He rules all
things. He ordained all of these events. He ruled the earthquake. He caused
there to be an earthquake where the foundations were shaken in
that prison, but all that happened was that the doors were opened
and the chains fell off and he set his captives free. He's the
Lord. He's the Lord of everything.
He's the Lord of you right now. He's the Lord of your thoughts.
He's the Lord of your actions. He's the Lord of everything that
goes on in this universe. There is not a thing that wriggles
in this universe without Him ordaining it, ever. He has his
way in the whirlwind. You think of the most extraordinary
things, a hurricane swirling around, all that dust and rubbish
being thrown around. Every tiny little bit of it is
moving exactly according to the ordination of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He did it. If you want to know
what he did yesterday, get the newspaper. He did it. All of
it. And he's doing it all the time.
And he shakes the foundations of this world. He is the Lord
of glory. He is God Almighty. He is Jesus. You'll call his name Jesus, says
Matthew 1.21. You'll call his name Jesus, he
said to Joseph. Call his name Jesus. Why? Because
he will save His people from their sins. He will save His
people from their sins. So any Jesus who doesn't save
His people from their sins is not the Jesus of the Scripture.
A Jesus that loves everyone and wants to do something, you cannot
attach a desire to God and consider it an unfulfilled desire. He's
not Lord. He's Lord and Jesus. The Lord
Jesus Christ. So when he came, he came with
a specific purpose. He came with all the power of
Almighty God and he came because he has a people in this world,
the Philippian jailer and Lydia and friends sitting in front
of me here. He came in human flesh. He came in human flesh
to be one with us. to bear our sins in his own body
on the tree. He came in human flesh to be
one who on this earth walked before God and before man, holy. We have no idea what holiness
is. We talk about it, we have absolutely no idea what holiness
is. He was holy before his father. He loved his father. He loved God with all of his
heart, all of his soul, all of his mind, all of his strength,
and he loved his neighbour as himself, and he did it all the
time, and he did it with consummate ease and delight. The law is
a burden and works are a burden for man. But the law, keeping
the law was not a burden for the Lord Jesus Christ, ever.
He delighted to do it. He delighted in it. It's God
with us. And that's what his other title,
Christ, means, doesn't it? Christ just means the anointed
one. He's the anointed one of God. He's the anointed prophet. He speaks God's word to us. He's
the anointed priest. He takes his people and he takes
them into the Holy of Holies on the basis of his blood and
he presents them there before his father and they are accepted
in him. He is the king and he rules over
all things. The title Christ means his union
with his people as the anointed one of God. So he's the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I love that Norm mentioned
that in the scriptures, God's children attach personal pronouns
to him. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Martin
Luther said once that there are many, many people who go to hell
because they can't use personal pronouns. He's our Lord Jesus
Christ. He's my Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what Thomas said,
didn't he, when he had put himself in the most extraordinarily
difficult situation. You would think Thomas, he had
a sword to his heart, wasn't he? He had eight days, he had a whole
week of all of his friends, those people he'd been with for three
and a half years, Mary and others. He'd had them there and they'd
all said, we've seen him, we've seen him, we've walked with him,
we had a meal with him at Emmaus. And Thomas says, I don't believe.
I don't believe. I don't believe. And he says,
I won't believe unless I see. What did Thomas say when he saw
him? He says, my Lord and my God. The great story of the Philippian
jailer is that God, our Lord Jesus Christ, comes to his people
when they're in the same sort of situation that Philippi and
Jada is, when they couldn't care less about him. And he awakens
them and gives them life and reveals himself to them. So the question that we have
before us today is what is saving faith? What is salvation? Salvation is a person of course,
but the first thing I want to say about salvation is salvation,
saving faith, is not what you believe about yourself. There
are countless multitudes As we sit here now, there are people
leaving this earth and standing before the Lord Jesus Christ,
and they are going there on the basis of something that they
believe about what they have done. Their baptism, their walking
the aisle, their doing this, their being associated with these
things. The Philippian jailer had the foundations of his life
pulled away from underneath him. Saving faith is not what you
believe about yourself. Paul says it so clearly. He says,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The entirety of saving faith
is in him, isn't it? The Alpha and the Omega, he calls
himself. He's the beginning and the end.
He's the starting and the finishing. He's the author and the accomplisher.
He's the first and the last. See, all of salvation, all of
your salvation is about Him. It's not what you believe about
yourself, but it's what you believe about Him. It's remarkable, isn't
it, when Peter, in that upper room, he showed what happens to man's
free will. Peter's a great free willer,
isn't he, in the upper room? He says, all of these others
will fall away, but I won't. I'm gonna stand by you, I will.
I know what these other guys are like, I know what that Judas
has been like, and I know what these other 10 are like, but
I'm gonna be there, I'm gonna be there with you to death. And
the Lord said to him, Satan, has asked to sift you, Peter." And the Lord's prayed for him.
Everyone he prays for, everyone he prays for is saved, always. He says, I pray for you, Peter,
that your faith fail not. Everything about Peter's faith
failed that night in terms of Peter's personal testimony. He stood before a little servant
girl and cursed and swore to prove that he had nothing to
do with a righteous man. He denied him three times. The question is, did his faith
fail? That's what the Lord prayed,
didn't he? Did his faith fail? If you'd asked Peter that night
as he walked out of there and wept, if you'd asked him the
next morning as he knew the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on
Calvary's tree, if you'd asked him when he'd been buried in
that stone at Aldergrenster Tomb, if you'd asked Peter If you asked Peter about his
faith and his personal testimony, what did he have? Absolutely
nothing. You'd asked him that day, are
you a Christian, Peter? He said, no, I'm not. If you'd asked him about who
the Lord Jesus Christ is, what would Peter have said? He is
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that he said was going
to happen, did happen. See, Peter's faith didn't fail
because Peter's faith was his testimony about the Lord Jesus
Christ. It wasn't about himself. It's not about us, brothers and
sisters. If only, if only we could be
brought by the Lord to take our eyes off ourselves and have them
fixed upon him. we would find that salvation
is in him. Salvation, as we see with the
Philippian jailer and with Lydia, salvation comes by revelation. There is light. The Lord opened
Lydia's heart that she would see the Lord Jesus Christ in
the preaching of the gospel that Paul brought to her. The Philippian
jailer had to have light brought to him. The Philippian jailer
had to have the word of God. If you read in verse 32, he spoke
to him the word of the Lord. He preached the gospel to him.
Salvation is based on revelation. Salvation has its foundation
in the grace of God, the electing grace of God, the redeeming grace
of God. the sovereign grace of God, the
unchanging grace of God. Salvation is based in an eternal
covenant that was made between the three members of the Trinity
before the foundation of the world. Salvation is by grace. You are saved by grace through
faith. And that's not of yourselves.
It's not of yourselves. Grace is given to those who have
nothing in themselves, and can contribute nothing, and God expects
nothing from them. Because all that God requires,
and all that God accepts, comes from Him. Comes from Him. It comes from Him, it comes by
Him, and it goes to His glory. Salvation is based on revelation. We see it because of a revelation.
The eyes of the hearts are opened. It has its foundation in the
eternal covenant and the grace of God. And it's held, it's accepted
and it's held in a new heart. And salvation is revealed and
salvation comes because a word is preached. A word is preached. They preached the word of God
to this Philippian jailer. They simply preached, as Paul
did in all of his other messages, he simply preached a message
about the Lord Jesus Christ. We can read his message in Philippians
chapter 2. Turn over there for a second
and we'll have a quick look. This is a summary. The Philippian
church was reminded of the gospel that he brought to them. And it's a great description,
isn't it? He says, in verse 5, let this bind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. And then he describes him. This
is salvation. The description of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. There was no robbery to the glory
of God for the Lord Jesus Christ to be declared to be God. There's
no robbery at all. He's equal with God. He is God.
He is God the Son. But, I love how it describes
his activities here, but made himself of no reputation. He emptied himself and took upon
him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself. and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore, because of that humbling,
because of that death and because of who died. So it was God who
died. God the Father put God the Son
to death on Calvary's tree. And it's only by the death of
God the Son at the hands of God the Father is there any possibility
of salvation. Because salvation requires that
you be able to stand in the presence of God. And what's required for
you to stand in the presence of God? It's really simple. You have to be as good as God.
You have to be as holy as God. You have to be as righteous as
God to stand in his presence. Anything else will be burnt up
by his holiness. You have to be as good as God.
Forget about human goodness, brothers and sisters. There's
no such thing. There's no one good but God.
So that's why the wherefore is there, isn't it? He humbled himself
and he was obedient. He was faithful. He was faithful
unto death because he had covenant promises
to make. He died because he was made our
sin. He died because of his union
with us. He died. He died. being made sin. And we can say
the words and only opened hearts will have any understanding of
what it means. We drink down sin like fish live
in water. And we have no idea of it. The
measure of sin is the measure of the man who died on Calvary's
tree. That's the one place where you
measure the sinfulness of sin. But the glory of the gospel,
isn't it, and the glory of the gospel that Paul preached to
this Filipino jailer that night, well, that's not the end of it.
Wherefore God has also highly exalted him and given him a name
which is above every name. What's the name? Lord Jesus Christ. Jehovah is the name that's above
every name. That at the name of Jesus, every
knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and
things under the earth. and that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father." That's a summary of the message that Paul preached
to the Philippians. It's a summary of the message that Peter preached
on the day of Pentecost. It's a summary of the Gospel
message that's preached all the time. This notion that somehow
Jesus came and offered salvation, that somehow Jesus comes because
he loves everyone, he wants everyone to be saved, dethrones him. It dethrones him. A failure cannot be exalted by
God. He says he will not fail nor
be discouraged. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the sovereign Lord Jesus Christ, the successful Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ that stood in the place of his
people. Salvation is in a saviour. Salvation is in the Saviour. And because this Lord Jesus Christ
lives, this Lord Jesus Christ reigns and rules, this Lord Jesus
Christ comes. In the preaching of the Gospel,
He comes to His people. There's a lovely verse in Acts
3. I'd like you to read it. This
is what salvation is. Salvation is the blotting out
of sins. And salvation is when the times,
Acts 3.19, repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins
may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come
from the presence of the Lord. And what's he going to do? How
do you know about this refreshing? How do you know about your sins
being blotted out? And he shall send Jesus Christ. And how does he send Jesus Christ?
What's the next words there? which before was preached unto
you." Paul was sent on a mission. He just had one mission, didn't
he? One aim. He was to preach the gospel.
And churches that have the gospel do nothing but preach the gospel. That doesn't mean that we don't
care for people and look out for people in all sorts of ways,
but the church has one mission and one message and one purpose. that is to preach. And if churches
don't have the gospel, they'll do everything else and exalt
themselves in it. Romans 10 makes it so clear,
doesn't it? It says in verse 13, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's a
promise from God. And how then shall I call on
him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, that bring
glad tidings of good things. It's the Lord Jesus Christ coming.
Salvation is Him coming. He was there that night. He is
there when He gathers His people together. He's there in the preaching
of the Gospel. It's the Lord Jesus Christ coming
to you. It's the Lord Jesus Christ revealing Himself to you. It's
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Why can He be in you? because you are as holy as he
is. He does no harm or damage to
himself, brothers and sisters in Christ. All who believe, all
who have saving faith, are perfectly fit bodies for the Lord Jesus
Christ to dwell in. It's remarkable, isn't it? Salvation's
a remarkable thing. This great God who sits on the
throne of the universe can dwell in our hearts by faith. It's Him revealing Himself to
you. It's Him declaring who He is
and it's declaring what He's done. It's Him in a real, vital,
living union with you. It's the head and the body, the
shepherd and the sheep, the husband and wife, all of the analogies
of scripture remind us of the depths of this union. That's
why he says to Peter, he says, you feed my sheep. I own them. They're not your sheep, Peter.
You feed my sheep. You feed my lambs. Saving faith
is a heart work. The Lord opened Lydia's heart.
That dagger that was at the heart of the Philippian jailer was
removed and God pierced that heart with the gospel and that
Philippian jailer was saved. The people in Acts chapter two,
that 3,000 on the day of Pentecost, they were pricked into their
heart. If you are pricked into your
heart, then your heart, your Adam heart of flesh, which beats
in enmity against God all the time, is given a mortal wound. It's called circumcision of the
heart. It's cut around, is what circumcision
means. And we read it in Romans 10,
you believe in your heart. The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith which we
preach, that if you shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shall believe in thine heart that God raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. They're promises from God. I
didn't write those words, brothers and sisters, but I'm so thankful
that God wrote them. I'm so thankful that salvation
is simply, simply believing a message preached. It's simply believing
what God the Father says about him. For with the heart, Romans
10.10, for with the heart, Man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. A new heart is the new heart.
We saw it in, we see it in Acts chapter 16, don't we? Verse 34. And when he'd brought
them into his house, he set meat before them. He'd washed their
stripes, and he was baptised, and he set meat before them.
What did he do? He believed. But what did he
do? He rejoiced. He rejoiced believing in God. Believing God's testimony about
him. Believing God's testimony about
his son. Believing God's testimony about
his character. That's why God's servants never
want to hide the character of God. We don't want to hide the
fact that God is absolutely sovereign. We never want to hide the fact
that he elects people. People say, well, you can't teach
the children. Why not? The Lord Jesus Christ
did. He declared himself to be the
elect. It's one of his titles. We want to preach the fact that
he predestinated things. How on earth did the Philippian
jailer and Lydia get to be in the church at Philippi? God said
to Paul, you cannot go there to Asia and preach, and you cannot
go there to Bithynia and preach, but you're going here to Philippi. You're going there because Lydia's
there, and a bunch of other people. And you're going there because
you're going to get arrested and beaten and put in jail, and
the Philippian jailer is there. And Paul didn't have a clue about
any of it. And neither do we, brothers and sisters. But we
have the same God and we have the same gospel. We talk about
a predestinating God. We want to talk about a God of
particular redemption. We can't talk about God and then
talk about the fact that he died in the hope that people might
honour him by believing in him. He predestinates all things,
even your hearing, even your being in the place where the
gospel is preached. We declare a God, as he declares
himself to be, a saviour who saves his people from their sins. He doesn't try and do anything,
ever. He doesn't need to. He speaks
and the universe comes into existence. And here we have in Acts this
glorious picture of him coming to his people and gathering them
to himself and building his church together. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you shall be, you will be saved. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Come unto
me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. You'll find rest
for your souls. One of the wonderful things about
the preaching of the gospel, and what should be a great comfort
to the children of God, is that the gospel comes as a command.
Comes as a command from God. So you're warrant for coming.
is that God has commanded you to come. And when God commands
and God speaks to the hearts of his people, they come. They
come. They come. He commands as a sovereign. Saving faith. So many beautiful
pictures of it in the scriptures, aren't there? The two in Matthew's
gospel. are called great faith. Saving
faith is great faith, isn't it? Because it has a great saviour's
object and it has a great destiny ahead of it. But you might remember
the story of the centurion who had his servant that he loved
very much was dying. And he says, I'm not worthy to
have you come under my roof. And the centurion says, you just
speak the word. I'm a man under authority. I
know that you have absolute authority over all things, Lord Jesus Christ.
You just say a word. Great faith, great faith attaches
great value to the word of God. You just speak the word only.
You speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. There's
another lovely story where the Lord Jesus commends great faith. It's in Matthew chapter 15. It's
one of my favorite stories in the scriptures. And the Lord
Jesus had gone to the coast of Tyre and Sidon. Why? Because
there was this Syrophoenician woman there, who had a demon-possessed
daughter. And she comes and she's a pest.
And the disciples are sick of her, bothering the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he ignores her. She's in
desperate strife. And it seems as if she ignores
her. And then he declares himself
as a sovereign, successful saviour. He said, he said, I am not sent,
but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I've come for
a particular group of people, they're called lost, and they
are the house of Israel. I haven't come for all of humanity,
I've come for them. And what did she do? This woman
who'd been ignored, she came and she worshipped him. And what
did she say? Lord, help me. Do you know in
the scriptures, not one person who cried out to Him like that,
not one person who came as a beggar in need of salvation, with nothing
in themselves and nothing of themselves and no hope in themselves,
not one of them ever went away disappointed. She said, he said
to her, it's not meat, it's not right to take the children's
bread and cast it to dogs. He called her a Gentile dog. And what did she say? Truth,
Lord. And then she said, yet the dogs
eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus
answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto
thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
that very hour. See, great faith cries out to
God. Great faith acknowledges the
absolute sovereignty of God. Great faith acknowledges the
particular redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Great
faith Great faith is the faith that I would love for us to have. I'd like to spend the last few
minutes we're together just looking at how this faith is in operation
because the question you keep getting asked, well I said you
keep getting asked and especially when I travel. Maybe you people
know better than to ask me but we How does it all work out?
What does it look like? You're telling me about how amazing
this saviour is, and you're telling me about how wonderful the redemption
is, and how particular it is, and how glorious the Lord Jesus
Christ. How does it work out? So I'd just like us to briefly,
as we close, look at the mentions of faith in the book of Philippians. We've read the sermon that Paul
preached, and we have this letter to the Philippians.
He'd written back to them and he'd reminded them of what had
happened to him there. But in the first mention of it
is in verse 25. He talks about wanting to go
and to be with Christ, which is far better, but he says, I'm
staying. And having, verse 25, and having
this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with
you all for your furtherance and joy in the faith. He has seen the Lord do a work
in their lives. Turn back to verse 6 while you're
there. This is his confidence, isn't it? He has another confidence,
but this is the basis of his confidence that these Philippians
will persevere, these Philippians will go further. Being confident
of this very thing. Are you confident of this, brothers
and sisters? I like being confident about
things when God says to be confident about them. Being confident of
this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. The work of
God is a work in you. It's a work for you, but it's
a work in you. But Paul says he has another
confidence, doesn't he? That I shall abide and continue
with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith. The joy of faith. The Philippian
jailer rejoiced. If the gospel doesn't cause you
to rejoice, brothers and sisters, you haven't heard the gospel
and you need to hear it again. God looks to his son for everything
he requires of all of his people all of the time. And salvation
is perfectly secure in him. That's why it's called in Romans
15, 13, Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
in believing. The Philippian jailer rejoiced,
believing in God. So it's the joy of faith. It's
the joy of faith because it's the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You might recall that verse in Hebrews 12 too, it's one of my
favourites. I've got thousands of favourites, but this is a
really wonderful one. Jesus is the author of the beginning and
the finisher of faith. He's the beginning and the finisher.
If he began it in eternity, and he will finish it in eternity
future, for want of a better word to describe those two events
that we are We are beyond our minds. Who for the joy, the joy
that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Forget the notion. Take the notion
that somehow the Lord Jesus Christ is frustrated out of your minds
altogether. He is joyful right now. He joys over his people and delights
in them right now, and so does the Father, and so does the Holy
Spirit. He's satisfied, our God. He's satisfied. and he's joyful,
and his church is perfectly, perfectly fit in every regard
in this world. No harm is going to fall to this
church ever. It's always doing exactly as
he wishes it to do. It's the joy of faith. The jailer
rejoiced. Zechariah 2.10 says, Sing and
rejoice, O daughter of Zion. That's the description of the
church. For lo, I will come. So what's the singing and the
rejoicing about? He's coming and I will dwell in the midst
of thee. He's come to dwell with his people.
The next one is down just a couple of verses in verse 27. It says,
only let your conversation, only let your citizenship is really
what that word means. It's your life, but in fact you're
actually, God's children are citizens of a new creation. They're
citizens of heaven. They belong to another lord and
master. Only let your conversation be
as it becometh the gospel of Christ. Live in this world in
the light of the gospel of Christ. that whether I come and see you
or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs." And this is
what he wanted to hear, and this is what he's looking forward
to hear. That you stand fast, you stand fast, brothers and
sisters in Christ, you stand fast in one spirit, you stand
fast with one mind, That word mind is the word of
life and the word soul. You stand together as one, striving
together for the faith of the gospel. The faith of the gospel
is the declaration of the faithfulness of our great God, isn't it? It
is the faith. The faith there is a noun. Nearly
all of these descriptions of what it's like is a noun. It's
describing the gospel, that you stand fast, you stand firm and
say, I'm going to plant my feet here and I am not going to be
moved. Lord, helping me. I'll stand
in one spirit, with one mind, and I'm going to strive together
with my brothers and sisters. both here and around the world,
and strive together. Strive together. He says in chapter
four, verse one, he says, therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved,
longed for, he calls them my joy and my crown. Stand fast
in the Lord, my dearly beloved. The faith of the gospel is the
declaration of a faithful God. He's faithful to his character,
he's faithful to his word of promise, he's faithful to his
covenant promises, he's faithful to his purposes, he's faithful
to his people. He's not an adulterous husband,
our Lord Jesus Christ. He's perfectly faithful to his
bride. He cannot lie. And the greatest
glory you can bring to him, the greatest honour you can bestow
upon him, the greatest love you can show for him, is simply to
believe what he says. Simply to believe what he says.
Like the Philippian jailer, put down your sword of self-destruction,
your words and your thoughts against him, and believe. Verse 29, just another couple
of verses down, Philippians chapter one. For unto you, It is given. It's a grant, a grace gift of
God. Unto you it's given, and anything
you are ever given by God, given from God, is in behalf of Christ. If you get anything at all, He's
earned it for you. If you get anything at all, He's
given it to you. If you believe, if you believe
it's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. It's a given,
it's given on behalf of Christ, not only to believe, he's earned
this, the saving faith that the Philippian jailer had was the
purchase and the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's given
on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to
suffer for his sake. Suffering will come to the children
of God in this world, and the children of God will suffer in
ways that the rest of the world suffers, and the children of
God will suffer in a way that the rest of the world has no
idea about suffering. We suffer. We suffer for his
sake. For his sake. Having, he goes on to say, having
the same Conflict which you saw in me. Paul suffered for the
sake of the gospel. As I said, it appears almost
as if he voluntarily was beaten and put in jail that night. I
can't understand why he didn't say, I'm arraigned, let me out
of here. But God knew, and in the midst of that suffering,
in that jail, in that darkness, in that despair, in that extraordinary
injustice, they're singing. They're singing praises to God.
If God would let us sing in the darkness, brothers and sisters,
if God would let us pray in the darkness, earthquakes might happen. Let's turn over the page to Philippians
chapter 2. He says, if there be therefore
any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, any fellowship
of the spirits, this is a Trinitarian activity, any vows and mercies,
fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same
love, being of one accord and one mind. Verse 2. Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be
like-minded. You be like-minded. That word means souls that beat
together. It's a beautiful description,
isn't it, of what the Lord does amongst his people. When our
brothers and sisters come from around the world, we find that
we have souls that beat together. How long does it take to become
friends with them? How long does it take? I only
have to mention the word Owen and people smile. It's his work. Verse 17, chapter
two, yea, and if I be offered upon the service, the sacrifice
and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. The
good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep and the under shepherds
lay down their lives for the sheep. And the joy that they
have is a mutual joy, isn't it? Sacrifice and service are not
something that are anything other than the greatest pleasures for
the servants of God. Philippians 3, verse 3, we repeat,
we quote this verse often. Paul is warning the Philippians
about the dogs. Beware of the evil workers, beware
of the concision. That is simply a description
of anyone that says to you that salvation is about something
that you do. You can procure it by something
you can do, you can keep it by something you can do. It's salvation
by works, and it doesn't matter what shape or form it comes in.
God calls them dogs. God calls them evil workers,
and God says to beware of them. They're all over the place. They're
in churches all over the place. And then he says, for we are
the circumcision which worship God in the spirit. And what do
we do? Rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. No confidence in the flesh. And then he says, he speaks of
his own confidence that he had. And we'll skip those verses because
he talks about all the heritage he has of the Jew and how he
had zeal. And touching the righteousness
of the law in verse 6, he said he was blameless. He could stand
before men and say, I've kept the law of God. and be sincere
in doing it, and lying without knowing it, and dishonouring
God. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count
all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done. worthless, that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith." The faith that God accepts. is
the faithful obedience of his son. And our faith rests in the
fact that he is faithful. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
walked on this earth, he was faithful to God from his birth
until his death. He was faithful to keep the law
of God. He was faithful to honour all of what was laid out before
him. He was faithful to his people. He was faithful to his cause.
And he kept the law perfectly. Do you know what else? I did
it with him. That's what Paul's saying. I
have kept the law of God perfectly because when the Lord Jesus Christ
kept it, I kept it. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
suffered on Calvary's tree to pay the price of sin, Paul says
I was crucified with him. The righteousness of which is
of God by faith, to trust. to simply be brought to a place
where we are stripped of everything ourselves, and all the props
of our lives are taken away, and all of what brings to our
pride and our self-righteousness is cast down before Him. Go home believing brothers and
sisters, rejoicing, because your Saviour is rejoicing. I'll close
with those words that Zephaniah, I love so much, Zephaniah chapter
3. He says, sing. Sing, O daughter
of Zion, shout, O Israel, be glad and rejoice with all the
heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away thy judgments. He has cast out thine enemy.
The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee.
Thou shalt not see any evil any more. In that day it shall be
said to Jerusalem, fear not, and to Zion, let not thy hands
be slack. The Lord thy God is in the midst
of thee. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. Lord Jesus Christ is singing.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for the perfect and successful work of your dear and precious
Son. We praise you, Heavenly Father, that he is God in human
flesh, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself,
not counting our sins against us because they were laid upon
him. Oh, Heavenly Father, will you just cause us to have the
simplicity of faith, the childlike simplicity of faith that looks
to him and to him alone, that honours him in his character
and honours him in the work that he's done and honours him for
what he's doing in the lives of his people right now. Father,
help us to remember what it cost him to have his bride. And may we feast upon him as
the Philippian jailer did, Heavenly Father, rejoicing believing in
God. Bless your word to the hearts
of your people, Heavenly Father. For Jesus' sake, Amen.