Good morning. I apologize in
advance for Abby not being able to be with me this morning. I
appreciate you still receiving me though. I bring you greetings
from my pastor and family and our congregation. Always a pleasure,
always enjoy being here. Open your Bibles with me to Acts
chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. Our text will be verses 13 through
15. But if you would, look at verse
9. This is where the title will
come from. Verse 9, and a vision appeared
to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia
and prayed him saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. Two words, help us. Now I can't offer any explanation
of this vision, anything about that. But I can say with certainty,
this is my request. This is my prayer. This is my
need. I need help. I need help. Do you? Do you need help? Do
you feel the same need? Paul, writing to the Ephesians,
he said, at that time, you were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenant of
promise, having no hope, and without God in this world. I
believe that's true of all of us. That's where the Lord found each
and every one of us, strangers of the covenant. No hope without
God. What a simple cry, help us. Nothing complicated is there
about that. Even a small child in trouble
knows how to cry unto their parent for help. That Canaanite woman,
remember her cry? She said this, she said, have
mercy on me. Just a simple have mercy on me. The thief on the cross, just
two words. He said, remember me. When Peter was walking to our
Lord on the water and he began to sink, remember that? He heard the winds and he saw
the sea and it was boisterous and he was afraid. And his cry,
Lord, save me. And I ask you this, what happened
each time? What happens each time one of his sheep cries out? Well, that Canaanite woman, our
Lord said, oh woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even
as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
that very hour. The thief on the cross, our Lord
spoke to him and he said, today, today thou wilt be with me in
paradise. To Peter, what of Peter? We read immediately, immediately. The Lord stretched forth his
hand and he caught him. Oh, can you imagine the relief?
He went from terror, sinking into the deep to just relief
when the master reached forth, took his hand, and drawled him
to himself. A simple cry, a prayer, a request
unto God, a request for that which I cannot provide for myself,
for that which I am incapable A request born out of true need. I remember Brother Henry, he
used to say, he said, in times of plenty, our prayers often
come from the lips. But in times of need, in times
of trouble, true prayer comes from the heart. That's this,
this, David said this back in Psalm, listen, he said, this
poor man cried. We heard a few cries, have mercy
on me, remember me, save me. Here in our text, help us. This
poor man cried. And what happened? The Lord heard
him and saved him out of all of his troubles. Oh Lord, help
us. Do you still have Acts chapter
16? Here we see in Acts chapter 16, two people. We'll just look
at one of them here this morning, that the Lord was pleased to
help. And let me ask you this, look
at verse, chapter 16, verse 10. How does the Lord, the Lord helps
his people in so many ways, but look here in verse 10. After
we'd seen the vision, after he'd 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. He helps
his people through the preaching of the word. And here in verse
14, we meet Lydia, a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of
purple. Lydia was a businesswoman. It
would appear by reading scripture. Now, she was from the city of
Thyatira. But on this particular day, at
this particular time, at this particular place, she finds herself
in Philippi. If I looked at it correctly,
over 250 miles away. I was thinking about that driving
down here. I think it was a little over 200 miles in a different
place. Where did the Lord call you from?
You think about that. The Lord brings his people under
the sound of the gospel. We're gonna see that here. God
in his providence brought Lydia and his messenger to the same
place. There on the riverbanks. Verse
13, 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. A particular place. You know,
over in the book of Luke, the Lord Jesus Christ had entered
and was passing through Jericho. And there was a publican there
named Zacchaeus. And we read that he sought to
see Jesus. Maybe he had heard stories of
Him. I don't know what, but he wanted
to see Him. He sought to see Jesus. And we all know that story. We've
heard that from little children. They climbed up in that tree
to see the Lord as he passed by. Zacchaeus was little in stature
and he climbed up in that tree to see the Lord when he passed
by. And in verse five of Luke 19, we read that when Jesus came,
now listen, when he came to the place, Think about that. That place
that had been determined in eternity past, he came to the place. And he looked up and he saw him. And he said unto him, Zacchaeus,
think about that, he called him by name. called him by name,
make haste and come down for today I must abide in thy house. And we read Zacchaeus made haste
at the command of our Lord. This day, think about that, this
day salvation has come to thy house. Lydia, and I believe in
the same manner she had been brought to the place. Back in, turn to Ezekiel chapter
34. Ezekiel 34 verse 11. Thus saith the Lord God. Behold, I, even I, will both
search my sheep and seek them out as a shepherd seeketh out
his flock in the day that he's among his sheep, his sheep that
are scattered. He knows everyone. He knows where
they are. He'll seek them out. He'll find
them. I'll seek out my sheep and will, listen, deliver them. I'll deliver them out of all
places where they've been scattered in that dark and cloudy day. He goes, he seeks out his sheep,
he finds them, he brings them to himself. What man of you,
what man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one, does not
leave the 99 and go out and seek until he finds them. And then
what happened? He found that sheep and he laid it up on his
shoulder. He didn't coax it to come. He
picks it up, puts it on. Who does that? He does that.
The work's entirely of him. Puts it on his shoulder and brings
it home. And then he calls his neighbors
and says, come, come rejoice with me. Well, we read here also
that the Lord opened her heart. Back in our text, he opened Lydia's
heart to attend the things which were spoken of Paul. The Lord
must open the heart. He must take out this old stony
heart and give us a new heart. Oh, that he would open our hearts
this morning to receive his word. And it has to be open because
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Why is that? Their foolishness to him. Neither
can he know them. They have to be spiritually discerned. God must open the heart. God
must reveal himself to a dead, dead sinner. We read, she attended
to the things which were spoken upon. She attended to them. She
was, I looked that up, she was brought near. Think about it. She was brought near to the Word. She was attentive. She was given
to what was being said. She had an interest in it. The
Lord gave her an interest in it. She was devoted to that message. She just couldn't get, could
not get enough of it. Well, there was a, is there a
time for all of us? We had no interest in this gospel,
no interest in this word. And then that time came when
God in mercy was pleased to open the heart. And now you rejoice
to hear it. You gotta hear it. We feed on
his word. And we read also here in this
text, she was also where prayer was want to be made. She wasn't
neglecting. the assembly. Doesn't it kind
of make sense? If you're going to hear the Word,
you're going to be where the Word is preached, where the Word
is proclaimed. And she attended to what was
being said. And how important is it to have a hearing ear,
to listen? Faith, faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. Now it's not recorded. what was
being said here. We don't have a recording of
this message that Paul preached to Lydia. But I know this, I'm
confident of this one thing, he preached the gospel to her. Look over just a page in Acts
chapter 17. I was thinking about this. Sometimes
we preach the same message. Luke, you travel, and you'll
preach the message. Obi, you'll preach the message
here, and you go back and look at it, and you go to another
place, and you might preach the same message, same text. And I wondered about Paul here,
because look in Acts chapter 17, verse 2. It says, Paul, as
his manner was, he went in, to them three days, three Sabbath
days, and reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. Now the
first thing, that first point is very important. The message,
this message, and I can just guarantee it, when your pastor
stands here, any of these men that stand here, if they're here
more than once, That message is gonna come from God's word.
It's not from what we think or something we heard that was interesting
last week. It's a message from God's word. And we see that over and over. Turn to Isaiah chapter eight. Isaiah chapter eight. Verse 20, Isaiah 8 verse 20, to the law
and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word,
these scriptures, it's because there is no light in them. When Philip was drawn up to that
eunuch, and he climbed up in his chariot, and the eunuch was
asking all those questions, he said, who's he speaking of here?
Is he speaking of himself or some other man? What did Philip
do? He said, Philip began at the
same place, the same place, same scripture, and he preached unto
him the gospel. The message comes from God's
word. Let's read on here in Acts chapter
17. Paul, as his manner was, he went unto
them three Sabbath days, reasoned out of the Scriptures, opening
and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, risen again
from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you
is the Christ. He had three points. He had three
points. Christ must needs have suffered.
He's risen from the dead. And he's the Christ. This is our message. Not the law. Not my giving. Not my sacrifice. Not my ability. Not my, if this thing actually
existed, self-righteousness. None of those things. The message
is Christ and Christ alone. Christ must needs have suffered. Why? Why did he have to suffer? Well, the sin did. It must be
pain. The sins and iniquities of his
people. Scripture declares this, without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Christ must
suffer, and he suffered like no man ever has or ever will
suffer. He suffered, think about this,
he suffered being made flesh. He was made to be a man. He suffered the shame and the
humiliation of the cross. Scripture says he gave his back
to the smiters, his cheeks to them that plucked out his beard.
He hid not his face from shame or spitting. He was tempted and
scourged. I read that that there were men
that never even survived being scourged. When they'd take that
whip that had those pieces of bone and steel and glass, whatever,
they whipped that into the back of our Lord and pulled out those
chunks of flesh, that there were men that never even survived
that. But he did. He suffered, and
he had to suffer. He suffered unto death. The death
of the cross, those nails driven in his hands. He cried out, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Because the wages of sin
is death. He suffered as our substitute,
suffered the punishment we deserve, the punishment we could not pay.
He suffered in our place. He suffered for the sins of his
people. He suffered being made sin. That's
what scripture says, that he was, I can't understand that. He suffered being made sin. He
was made sin. You know, it makes sense. I don't
like suffering, but it makes sense that we would suffer, doesn't
it? That one thief on the cross,
he said, we receive the due reward for our deeds. We're getting what we deserve,
but this man, he done nothing amiss. Christ must suffer. God's holy. God's righteous. He's just. He'll by no means clear the guilty. His law must be honored. His
justice must be satisfied. And if he's pleased to show mercy,
he'll do it in a way that's consistent with his justice and with his
holiness. He can't do like we do with our
kids and just kind of wink at things and say, close enough
or that's okay. No, it must be perfect. It must be perfect to be accepted.
Scripture says, thou art of pure eyes than to behold evil. He can't look upon iniquity. It must be punished and that's
why Christ came. He came and he obeyed the law.
That's why he suffered and died on the cross that God might be
holy and just and righteous in his dealings with men. He must
suffer. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes
we're healed. Christ must have suffered. He
must be risen. He must be Paul writing to the
Corinthians. Turn with me to first Corinthians. I've written down the wrong reference
there, but he said this. He said, if Christ be not risen,
you're dead in your sins. But what a reason to rejoice. He is risen. The Lord Jesus Christ
is risen. And the fact that he's risen,
proves that he was successful in all that he did and that he
left nothing, nothing undone. Scriptures declare that when
he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the right
hand of Almighty God. How is it that he sat down? The work is finished. The sin debt paid in full. Almighty God satisfied with his
sacrifice. Christ must needs have suffered.
The Lord Jesus Christ is risen. And then third, Jesus. He is the Christ. You know, there's a lot of talk
in our day about a man named Jesus. And they talk about, men
talk about a lot of different ones. There's the Jesus that wants
to save you, but he can't. There's the Jesus that's done
all that he can and left the rest up to you. A weak, impotent
Jesus. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
who's declared in Scripture. Not one who wants to and can't.
One who is mighty to save. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
of the Scriptures. And listen, He's Lord. Not because
you made Him Lord. You woke up one morning and decided
to make Him Lord. No. No. Almighty God has declared
Him to be Lord. made him both Lord and Christ. And he's pictured and prophesied
throughout the Old Testament, the anointed one. He's our prophet,
our priest, our king. Paul says he is the Christ. Paul spoke the word. He said he must suffer. The Lord
Jesus Christ must suffer. He's risen. He's the Christ. And you know, Scripture says this, that when
the Word is declared, this is an amazing thing, some believe.
Some believe. Wouldn't you rejoice in that?
That he would show mercy, he would enable us to believe? Lydia, Lydia believed that word. His message, his word, it goes
forth and it does not return unto him void. It's going to
accomplish the purpose whereunto he sent it. He said it'll prosper
in the way whereunto I sent it. To some, it's a saver of life. To others? It's a saver of death. But thank God, some believe. Believe the record concerning
his son, that which is written in his word. Believing his people,
we rely entirely upon him. my wisdom, my righteousness,
my sanctification, my redemption. Scriptures declare this. We are
complete in Him. His people continue to believe.
We're kept We think we're kept by the... I can't be responsible
to keep anything, especially myself. We're kept by the power
of Almighty God. Scripture says He's going to
present us holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in His sight. And we continue to believe for
this reason. We're kept by the power of God. We're kept by Him. Some believe that. Some believe
that. And that was the case of Lydia
here. Look at Acts chapter, back to
Acts chapter 16, verse 14. Certain woman, it's a particular
woman, named Lydia, cellar purple, of the city of Thyatira, which
worshiped God, heard us. She heard the word. Whose heart
the Lord opened, that she attended to the things spoken of by Paul. Verse 15 says she was baptized. She publicly confessed the Lord
Jesus Christ. She heard that word, she believed
that word, and she desired to be identified with him in his
death, burial, and resurrection. Any doubt, any doubt, the cry
we read there at the beginning of this text, help us. She was helped, wasn't she? Let
me close with this. The Lord, again, he helps his
people. We can't even begin to number
the ways he's been pleased to help his people. But consider
what we've seen in this text here this morning. His providence. His providence. He brings his
sheep to the place. The same place to cross paths
with his messenger. To hear that word. his grace, his distinguishing
grace. A certain woman named Liddy,
if we were to read on here, there's a certain jailer he was pleased
to show mercy to. A man that was in a place Can the gospel penetrate the
walls of a prison? Well, listen, if it can penetrate
this dead heart, the walls of a prison shouldn't be any issue,
should it? A particular, his distinguishing grace. The preaching
of the word, the preaching and hearing of the word. He gave
Paul a message, and Paul preached that message, and he opened the
heart of Lydia, and here we see Lydia received the word. You
know, there are those that stomp their feet and can't get out
of the building quick enough when the gospels preach. Oh,
there's some. Hang around for a little bit,
right? God's merciful to his people. She attended to the things
which were spoken of Paul, and she believed on his word, and
she confessed him in baptism. New heart, new desire. She invited
Paul into her house. I was thinking about, again,
if you read on over, that prison guard, he went from laying stripes
on those men to drawing them into his house to wash those
stripes. Only, only God can do that. Only
God can, only God can do that. That's help, isn't it? Isn't
that, isn't that help? Isn't that, is that your desire?
Huh? Are you in need? That's our cry. Lord, help us. Help us. And listen to this promise to
his people in Isaiah 40, 43. It says, for I, the Lord thy
God will Hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not, don't
be afraid, I will help thee. Oh, I pray he would continue
to help us and reveal himself to us through his word. May he
be pleased to bless his word here this morning.