I love that psalm. I love that
psalm. Go with me, if you would, back
to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. I was thinking about this story
Thursday morning and I turned over to it and I started reading
it and one line grabbed a hold of me and it wouldn't let go.
I just couldn't stop thinking about it. It's in the middle
of verse 14. It says, whose heart the Lord opened. whose heart the Lord opened."
When I read that, I thought, that's salvation. That's salvation. That's what
happens when Christ comes to a sinner. That's what happens. That's what happens when God's
Holy Spirit moves. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of God's Spirit. And when He moves, when it's
real, I mean when it's real, when it's of God, not of my emotions,
not of my fear, not of my decisions, when it's of God, when God's
Holy Spirit moves, that's what happens. That's what we long
to see in men and women. That's what I long to see from
this viewpoint. But that's what all of God's
people long to see among men and women. That is the difference in doctrine
and salvation. That really is the difference. True conversion, true God's true
calling, His life-quickening work. Because we are born into this
world dead in trespasses and sins. We get up in the morning
dead in trespasses and sins. We put our clothes on, eat breakfast,
get in our car and go to work dead in trespasses and sins.
We breathe air. dead in trespasses and sins we
live life on this earth spiritually dead in trespasses and sins physically
alive but spiritually dead before God and when that life giving work
comes it's a heart work It is a heart work. Solomon said out
of the heart are the issues of life. Men know a lot of things
in the mind and men ought to know a lot of things in the mind.
Mankind ought to know that he is totally depraved. He ought
to know that. And what that means is, in my
terminology, that means completely flat ruined in sin. Another way to put it is plum
ruined. Well, there's a little bit of
good here. No. Plum ruined. Man ought to know that. All he
has to do is look at himself. That's all he has to do. He can
look on the inside. And he can see the evil of his
heart. And he can see the wickedness
of his mind. Don't you wish it wasn't there?
Don't you wish it wasn't so? But here's the fact of the matter.
The mind is wicked. The heart is wicked. It's deceitful
above all things. Desperately wicked. But even
if a man doesn't look on the inside, you can tell people,
just look on the inside. Think about what goes through
your mind. But even if men and women don't do that, all a man
has to do is look in the mirror. He can watch himself age. He
can watch wrinkles come and spots come and sickness come. That's
all the result of sin. None of those things are in heaven
because there's no sin there. No death, no aging, no sickness,
no sorrow, because there's no sin there. That's all the result.
of being completely ruined by sin. So man ought to know that
he's ruined in sin. Man also ought to know that God
elected a people to save. If he knows that he's totally
ruined, I mean totally ruined and can't do anything good before
God that would commend him to God, then he ought to know that
God chose some people to save. That is on every page in the
Bible. That's on every single page in the Bible. All we need
to do is read the Word. Read the Word. It's in black
and white ink. Some will say, well, I don't
believe in election. Well, why not? It's literally
in black and white in the Word. Elect, elected, election. Chose, you've not chosen me,
I chose you. Some will say, well, yeah, I'll
tell you, I do believe in election. Well, we ought to. All men ought
to believe in election. It's on every page of the Word.
Man ought to know that God predestinated his people to salvation. Predetermined for his people
to be brought to salvation. And what that means is brought
to Christ. God predestinated the lives of
his people to be brought to Christ. That cannot be more clearly written
in the word than it is. The same thing goes for who Christ
came to save man ought to know that Christ did not come to save
everybody. There man has no excuse. He ought
to know that at the announcement of his birth, the angel said,
call his name, Jesus, for he shall save everybody from their
sins. It's not what it says. Call His
name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. So there are a lot of things
that men and women ought to know in the mind. But here's the fact
of the matter. When the Spirit of Christ moves
on His own, and I'll just tell you, I've been begging the Lord,
knowing this was my message, I've been begging the Lord to
move on me. I just, I want to tell you, I
want to be one of them. I want the Spirit of God to open
my heart today. I want Him to bless me and I
want Him to do the same thing for you. When He moves, when
He moves on His people and He does speak peace to His own child and when He
calls that child to Himself and when He puts true faith in the
child, That causes the child to stop looking here and start
looking there. That's what faith is and that's
what faith does. Men and women spend their whole
life thinking, well, I gotta look right here, I gotta fix
right here, it's all right here, right here. And the moment God
puts faith in a sinner, the sinner goes, boom, for the first time,
truly, truly for the first time. And when he puts that there and
he puts that life where it was not before, That work comes straight
to the heart. It comes straight to the heart.
When salvation comes, the Lord opens the heart. Now let's look
at this story. Our brother just read this story.
This whole story is an example. It's a pattern of who God saves
and how he saves them. And verse one says, Acts chapter
16, verse one, it says, then came he, speaking of the apostle
Paul, then came he to Derbe and Lystra and behold, a certain
disciple was there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which
was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek. You may
notice that we're going to see the word certain quite a few
times in this passage. Let's begin the message by realizing
this. Everything that God does is certain. Everything that God does is on
purpose. It is exact. It is particular. It is ordered. It is sure. Nothing is left up to chance
and there are no accidents and no surprises with God. None. So verse one says, then came
Paul to Derbe and Lystra and behold, a certain disciple was
there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was
a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek, which was
well reported of by the brethren. Timothy was well reported up
by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would
Paul have to go forth with him and took and circumcised him
because of the Jews which were in those quarters, for they knew
all that his father was Greek. And as they went through the
cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep that were
ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem,
And so were the churches established in the faith and increased in
number daily. So Paul brought this young man,
Timothy, with him and they traveled around, they started preaching
the gospel. Verse six. Now, when they had gone through
Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy
Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia,
they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them
not. And they, passing by Mysia, came down to Troas. 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. 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." Paul and Timothy and I believe Silas and the physician
Luke were with them. Luke is the one who penned the
book of Acts. He wrote down the things that
happened as they traveled. But they had in their mind that they
wanted to go throughout the region of Galatia to preach the gospel. But the Spirit of God would not
allow them to do it. So they decided that they might
go into Bithynia. portions of Asia and Bithynia,
but the Spirit of God suffered them not, wouldn't allow them
to do that either. God's Spirit sent them to a certain place
at a certain time for a certain purpose. And I'll tell each person
here, starting with myself, you're here on purpose. You want to know why we're here
right now? I didn't have anything else going. No, you're here on
purpose. I'm here on purpose. Every single
thing that happens is according to God's purpose. Every single
thing. So he sent them to this exact
place at this exact time for this exact purpose. Now we know
that God had some people in the region of Galatia. Paul wrote
a whole epistle to the Galatians. We also know that God had some
people in the region of Asia and Bithynia because Peter wrote
his first epistle to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. But this is what we
also know. Our Lord said in Jeremiah 3.14, that He would take one of a city. This is an amazing verse to me.
He said, I will take one of a city, two of a family, and will bring
them to Zion. Our Lord calls His people from
particular moments in time and from particular places, particular
families, particular generations within the families. There are
some who believe on Christ that generations before them didn't
and generations after them won't either. THERE'S A TIME AND A SEASON TO
EVERY PURPOSE UNDER HEAVEN. AND AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME THERE
WAS NO PURPOSE FOR THEM TO GO INTO THOSE PLACES TO PREACH THE
GOSPEL. THE SPIRIT WOULDN'T ALLOW IT. NO PURPOSE. NOW I HOPE THIS
WILL BE AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO US. I REALLY DO. I HOPE THIS WILL
BE AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO US AND SOME OF YOU WHO REGULARLY ATTEND
OTHER PLACES WHERE THE TRUTH IS BEING PREACHED AND THE GOSPEL
IS RAISED UP. The Lord sends His gospel where He has a people. The Lord always sends His gospel
where He has a people. The Lord does not send His word
to a place where it will return void. He doesn't do that. He does not do that. He raises
up ministries and he sends preachers to a particular place at a particular
time for a particular purpose. And that purpose is calling out
his sheep. calling out all of his sheep.
That's a, that's a wonderful, encouraging thought to me. We,
we, we all labor in the work of the ministry and that's just
so precious to me. God has a people and he's going
to call them out. All right, now here's how he
does it. Here's how he calls them to himself. Verse 13, it
says, And on the Sabbath, we went out
of the city by a riverside where prayer was want or known to be
made. And we sat down and spake unto
the women, which resorted thither. There was more than one woman
there. There were women. There may have
been just a few, few women. I've always had this scene pictured
in my mind, but really, I don't know. There may have just been
a few women. There may have been many women. I don't know. But the
thing about this is it doesn't say that the Lord did anything
for any of them, but one, no matter how many were there. It
doesn't say, it's just not written down that he did anything for
any of them but one. That doesn't mean that the Lord
can't move on more than one at a time. Pentecost is how this
book opens and 3,000 souls fell to their knees crying, God be
merciful to us. But the truth of the matter is
God always moves on his people individually. Even if it is 3,000
souls, each person is saying, God, be merciful to me. Me. Individually. Oftentimes, there may be many
who hear the preaching of God's Word with the ear. But here's the truth. If God
does not apply it to the heart, no life is given. It may be applied
to the ear, It may be applied to the mind, but if it's not applied to the
heart, no life is given. Verse 13, it says, and on the
Sabbath, we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was
known to be made. And we sat down and spake unto
the women, which resorted thither. Verse 14 says, and a certain
woman, as if to say, behold. It is so amazing when this happens.
It is so amazing, it is so precious. You never know who it's going
to happen to. None of us, it's not in our time,
it's not by our power, it's not by our will. You never know who
it's going to happen to, you never know when it's going to
happen. You know, you have service after service after service,
you study, you write, you preach, you talk to people that you know.
The preacher does, God's people do. You just keep preaching the
Word and preaching the Word. Paul and Timothy, they had been
listed all these places, they've been preaching all over the place. Preaching the Word all over the
place. In the process of their journey, God's Spirit led them
to a particular place at a particular time. They didn't know this was
about to happen. But verse 14 says, A certain woman named Lydia,
a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped
God, heard us. whose heart the Lord opened,
that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." That
is so precious. This particular woman, this chosen
woman, chosen vessel of mercy named Lydia. You know what the
name Lydia means? It means travail. It means pained,
burdened, anguish, travail. That's what all men and women
suffer because of their sin. The sin in them, the sin all
around them, the travail of sin, the anguish of sin. Verse 14,
it says, she was a seller of purple. What that means is she
was a working woman. a woman of work, a woman of works. She was a woman
of works. There's nothing wrong with a
woman working. The woman wants to go get a job.
That's great. Spiritually speaking, this is pointing to something,
spiritually speaking. Spiritually speaking, she represents
all men and women who are trying to work their way to God. Salvation by works. She was a woman of the travail
of works. It says she was of the city of
Thyatira. That name Thyatira means affliction. She was a particular woman who
was under the pain and the burden and the anguish of her own works
because of her affliction. That sounds like so many poor
lost people that I know. Suffering under the bondage of
works. Works before God. Just always
burdened. It's never enough. It's never
good enough. Well, I was doing so good and
then I ruined it. Now I've got to start over. That's
the burden and the bondage and the travail of works because
of affliction. And it breaks my heart that men
and women are so under the burden of it. They don't know they're
under it. They think they're not under it. But they are verse
14 says, which worship to God. What that means is she was religious.
That's what being under the bondage of, of works to try to satisfy
God is it's just being religious. This poor woman was religious. It's the bondage of false religion. That's the key false religion.
But it says the Lord in kindness and in mercy and in grace and
in love opened her heart. The Lord opened her heart. The
Lord opened Paul's mouth and he opened her heart. No sinner
can open his own heart. Men stand up in pulpits and they
say, now won't you open your heart? You just need to open
your heart now. Now you better open your heart.
Listen, no sinner can open his own heart. How can a dead man
open a dead, cold, hard, stony heart? It's a work that God must
do. And if the Lord opens it, if
He does, what the Lord opens, no man can shut. Now that's good
news. because this man can't even shut
it. Is that not wonderful news? What
the Lord opened. If he opens it, no man can shut
it. Verse 14 says, the Lord opened
her heart that she attended unto the things which were spoken
of Paul. Attended means she was brought
near to. That's what that word means.
Brought near to the things which were spoken of Paul. She was
drawn to. She fell in love with. The things
that were coming out of his mouth. What things do you think were
coming out of his mouth? I have told you that I've imagined
this scene and I'm sure you have too. I have the scene of the
river and the river bank and the ladies and Paul and Timothy. I imagined this moment. I imagined
what he said to them. I can imagine him, they came
and they sat down and they were there having prayer. I can imagine
them coming up for a minute, feeling out the situation and
not really saying anything, just sitting down. And then there's a lull in the
conversation and I can imagine Paul saying, ladies, would you
mind if I told you what great things the Lord has done for
me? And I can imagine them saying,
oh yeah, we'd love to hear that. So he says, well, my name is
Paul, and I was a leader in works religion. I didn't know I was in works
religion, but I was. I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. I was a blasphemer of the person
and work of Christ. I hated the message of complete
and total salvation, not by our works of righteousness, but by
the blood that Christ shed alone. I hated that message. I was the
enemy of that message. I hated hearing of Him doing
all the work and me doing none. I hated the message of Him getting
all the glory and me getting none. So I blasphemed Him. I denied
Him, and I persecuted, and I injured, and I murdered His people. I
used to murder His people. But in great mercy, He stopped
me. I was on the road to Damascus.
And while I was on my way to continue this great sin I was
committing against Him, in mercy, He stopped me. And this is what
He did to me. And I'm going to tell you here,
I'm embellishing Paul's message to them. This is mine. He stopped
me. And He knocked me down. He knocked me down. And He broke me. He showed me
what I was. And He broke me. And I saw my
sin for the first time. I saw I wasn't doing great things
for God like I thought I was. I was committing sin against
Him. I was blind to everything after
He broke me but my sin. And I saw what I had done. And
I saw that I deserved to die for it. And I was crushed. I just, I knew he was gonna slay
me right then and there. And then as though it were scales
that fell from my eyes, I saw Christ. I saw who he was. For the first
time, I saw why he came. I saw what He did on that cross. Not just that He hung on the
cross, I saw what He accomplished on the cross. He was dying for
me. Living, He loved me. Dying, He
saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. And now I see that it's not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
His mercy, He saved us. Once I was foolish, and sin ruled
my heart, causing my footsteps from God to depart. But my Lord
Jesus hath found me, happy my case, Ladies, I now am a sinner
saved by grace. Oh, the love that sought me.
Oh, the blood that bought me. Oh, the grace that brought me
to the fold. Wondrous grace that brought me
to the fold. And ladies, if you from sin are
longing to be free, look to the Lamb of God. He to redeem you
died on Calvary. Look to the Lamb of God, for
He alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. Look
to the Lamb of God. Being a preacher, I know this
experience. I can envision Lydia, I can envision
her with tears in her eyes being locked on Him. I can envision
it. I can envision Him saying right
to her heart, Behold the Lamb of God. The story is told that Charles
Spurgeon was scheduled to preach in a great hall, this great auditorium
theater one time. And he arrived there earlier
that day, and just to test out the acoustics in the room, he
cried at the top of his lungs, Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. And as the story goes, at that
very moment, there was a janitor up in the rafters cleaning out
the cobwebs. And as that word came ringing
through the rafters, the Lord opened his heart, pierced him
with it, and he attended unto the things that were spoken by
Mr. Spurgeon. Verse 14 right here
says, A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city
of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the
Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken
of Paul, and she fell in love." That's what happened. She fell
in love. She was never the same. She was pierced. She was called. She was drawn near to the Savior
and she said, I've never heard anybody say anything like this
to me before. And the reason is because finally
God was speaking to her. He speaks through his messenger.
He speaks through his word. But when God speaks to the heart,
God speaks to the heart. Verse 15, it says, and when she
was baptized and her household, What that means is she ran home
to her house and she said, father, mother, brothers, sisters, children,
everybody come here. Everybody come here. She said,
would y'all mind if I tell you what great things the Lord has
done for me? I want you to come see a man. Come see this man. Verse 15, it says, when she was
baptized and her household, she besought us saying, if you have
judged me to be faithful to the Lord, if you deem me to be a
believer who has stopped looking to my own works, trying to save
myself, who is now totally casting my all on the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If you judged me to be faithful
to the Lord, she said, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. She told
all the brethren, she cried to all the brethren, I want all
of the brethren to come to my house. I want everybody to come
into my house. I'm going to feed you. I'm going
to nourish you. I'm going to take care of you. And this woman spent the rest
of her days on this earth being a faithful servant of the ministry
of the gospel for Christ's sake. And that makes me love this woman.
I truly do love this woman. We're done. The message is over. But I'll tell you this. The next
story is a glorious story too. Paul and Silas get thrown into
prison. And it's about what God does
for a Philippian jailer. And after that's all over and
they let him out of prison, if you look with me at verse 40,
Acts 16, verse 40, it says, and they went out of the prison and
they entered right back into Lydia's house. Soon as they got
out, they went straight back to Lydia's house. And when they
had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and then they departed. When the Lord opens the heart,
you know it. You know it, you can see it.
When the Lord opens a heart, that heart falls in love with
Christ and falls in love with those who love Christ. And I
really do want to be one of them. I really do. This old, dead,
cold, stony heart. I want God to open my heart.
I do. And I want God to open all of
our hearts. I pray he might, if he's willing,
I pray he might open all of our hearts today and call all of
us to himself. If he does, we'll give him all
the glory. All right, let's all stand together.