Let's turn to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. This book, or this chapter, It's
where Paul and Silas were traveling around, through, and coming to
Philippi, because there was people there that God needed to save.
And he was sending them a preacher. And our God, before the foundation
of the world, he chose a people. He sent his son into this world
as a man to live as us without the sin. pay all our sin debt,
rise and sit at his right hand. And that's where our king is
sitting this morning, is at God's right hand on the throne. He's
doing as he pleases, when he pleases. He's chosen his people, and in
his due time and determined presence, he will save them when he needs
to, or when they're supposed to be saved. Abraham was 75 years
old before he called him Other men, you know that goes
through when Christ was here on the earth all the people he
went and Visited that he had to save certain people But we're
told about Lydia here Love that it's a certain woman You know
named Lydia. My understanding is that at this
time there was probably a lot of women named Lydia in that
area And then Lydia wasn't even from Philippi. She was from Thyatira, which
is where Paul wanted to go, was into Asia. And that's where Thyatira
was. But the Lord, it says in verse
6, that they were forbidden of the
Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. And he sent them Through,
he gave him a vision to go into Macedonia, which is, Philippi
is the capital of that. Because there was a certain woman
there that needed to be saved. By his mercy and his grace, he
sends his preachers, he sends his people where they need to
be. I thought about when we talked about Lydia not being from Philippi,
that she was from Thyatira, but she was in Philippi. When Paul
came, when the Lord sent Paul to preach to her, think through
this congregation, how many people, you know, a few of us grew up
here in Frank County, and a few of us he put in his church and
kept us here. But a lot of people in this congregation aren't from
Frank County, didn't grow up here. The Lord put them here,
some of us he put here, and then he sent the gospel here. You
know, the Lord does everything in his time and in his providence. And he said in Romans 9 that
he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. And he'll have
compassion on whom he'll have compassion. And then we look down through
after he saved Lydia, sent Paul to save Lydia. Then is back in
verse 16. It says as Paul and Silas were
coming to pray, went to prayer. Certain damsel, possessed with
a spirit of divination, met us, which brought her masters much
gain by soothsaying. She was making money for these
men. Paul, in the name of Jesus Christ,
told that spirit to come out. This upset those men. Those men
were That was their money-making scheme. They were using this
woman and this spirit to make money. So it upset them. So they
took him before the Council of Men, just like our Lord was taken
to the Council of Men and falsely accused. His preachers will be
done the same. His men will be falsely accused
And in this case, Paul and Silas were beaten, put in stocks, put
in prison. Verse 25 says, and at midnight,
Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners
heard them. May the Lord, if he decides,
To put us under persecution like he did these men and through
the book of acts may he give us And remind us that it's all
by his will his glory and his honor and make us sing And sing
his praises And pray unto him because that without him there
is no salvation salvations of the lord He has to be the one in this case he put Paul and
Silas in prison for a specific reason. He put Paul in prison
to write most of the epistles which we have to read and that
God gave him the words to declare and that's the reason we have
those is because our God at mercy to us put Paul in prison They
kept Paul in pretty good comfort in prison from what I've read.
You know, he was allowed to have visitors and men come minister
to him. But that was the reason for that.
But in this case, he put him in here for this because he had
a Philippian jailer that needed to be saved. And Paul and Silas
were there for this reason. Verse 26, it says, And suddenly
there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the
prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors were
opened, and everyone's bands were loosed. Our Lord is in the earthquake.
All earthquakes. He's seen His judgment on this
earth, and sometimes it's in forms of earthquakes. I see pictures
and destruction from earthquakes that the Lord has sent. here
recently in my lifetime that destroyed everything. In this
case, it was specifically to open the doors. He rocked that
foundation to open the doors and let Paul and Silas out. But
also knowing that they wouldn't leave because of the jailer. And said, verse 27, in the keeper
of the prison, awakening out of his sleep, And seeing the
prison doors open, he drew out his sword. And he would have
killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled. Just a few chapters back, Peter
was put in prison. Herod was going to have his head. And the Lord wasn't ready for
Peter to be taken. He sent an angel to take him
out. But he didn't save the jailers. It's said that the jailers, Herod,
when he found out, had the jailers killed. This time, the Lord put me in
prison, loosed me from the prison, and had to save a sinner, had
mercy on one, as He's done for all of us that He saved. He's
had mercy on His people. He sent His grace in His due
time. And then, verse 28, Paul said, Paul cried a loud
voice. He said, do thyself no harm for we're all here. Paul
didn't let any of the prisoners leave. He made him and Silas
stay. And I'm sure there were others because back in verse
25, it said those prisoners heard Paul and Silas praying and singing
praises unto our God. It said then the, verse 29, the
jailer called for a light spring in. came trembling and fell down
before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and he
said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? This is where I want
to dwell just a little while this morning. What must I do
to be saved? You know, our Lord answered every
man that asked Some form of this question, you know the rich young
ruler He said what shall I do to enter inherit eternal life
The Lord told him to keep the commandments Well in his self-righteousness,
he said well, I've done all that Then he taught him he said well
sell all your possessions take up your cross and follow me But he went away sorrowful because
he had a lot of possessions he wasn't That's, that's me and
today. It's not that they can't be saved. It's they won't be saved. They
won't seek after a God. They won't call upon a God. They
won't believe in a God that can save them. We're dead in our
sins. We're blind. But I want to look
at a few people that have went through like this. You know,
the Christ answering these questions. I've listened to a message by
Henry Mahan on it, and I never really dawned on me not to say
that. But he said, never answer a man that there's nothing a
man can do to be saved, because you'd be in error. The Apostle
Paul here told him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved. Die in thy house. The Lord told
that rich young ruler, He said, sell off. In Acts, in the Pentecost,
you know, Paul preached at Pentecost, and at the end of that, the men's
hearts were pricked and convicted. And they asked, said, so what
shall we do? And Paul gave them an answer. I mean, Peter, he gave them an
answer. He said, repent. Repent and believe. And Saul of Tarsus. Let's look
at that back in chapter 9. A little bit of that. You know, Paul speaking from
a place where the Lord had called him. And said, verse 1, And yet, and
Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughters against the disciples
of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters
to Damascus, that if he found any of this way, whether they
were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. The
apostle Paul thought he was doing the Lord's work. But as he journeyed,
he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him
a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And he said, who art thou, Lord?
He'd been out persecuting the Lord, didn't even know who the
Lord was. The man that he thought he was persecuting, he just thought
that he was in more power than what that man was. He wanted
to have control of his life. He wanted his righteousness.
But after this, the Lord stopped him in his tracks. Apostle Paul asked the two questions.
I mean, yeah, asked the two questions of Saul of Tarsus. He said, who
art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I'm Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. Saul had heard the word of God.
He was standing there. He was holding the coats of the
men that stoned Stephen in that message. And his question, once the Lord
came to him and stopped him in his tracks, and he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me do? Lord, what must I do to be saved? The Lord gave him an answer also
in this. He said, Arise, go into the city,
and she'll be told thee what to do, what you must do. You know, there's A lot of things
a sinner can't do. But there's some things a sinner,
which are hard to find. Everybody's a sinner. But you
go ask a man if he's a sinner, and you'll be hard pressed to
find one that admits that he's a sinner and actually knows what
it means to be a sinner. But a sinner, he can admit that he's a sinner.
He'd come before God with his head down and just as the publican, as the publican said, God be
merciful to me, my son. You know, he wouldn't even look
up. That Pharisee was standing there bragging, you know, that
he was glad he wasn't like the rest. He wasn't like that man.
That publican, He wouldn't even lift his head. He smote on his
chest and said that, ask God to be merciful to be a sinner.
That's what a sinner needs to do. A sinner needs to ask God
for mercy, always. If God shows us that we're sinners,
shows us our need of a savior that can save, and his arm's
not short, He reached down and got me. He can save anybody. And then, look at Matthew 15. I want to look at the Canaanite
woman. starting in verse 22 of chapter
15 And behold a woman of Canaan came out the same coast and cried
unto him saying Have mercy on me O Lord thou son of David My
daughter is grievously vexed with a devil She asked the Lord
To have mercy on her and save her daughter that was grievously
vexed with a devil And there was the, that may have been the same one,
and I wrote it down wrong, that came to him, the woman came to
him. And the Lord told her, said,
well, it's not me to give bread from Israel to the dogs. Called her a dog. A sinner knows
they're a dog. A sinner puts himself in that
place, as the Lord shows him. Then there was the thief on the
cross You know he told his He told the other man that they
were Right there with the crowd chanting
slurs that our Lord that was hanging there and That thief He said, we deserve
this. He said, you know, this man's
done nothing. He said, we deserve this. And all he asked for was
that the Lord would remember him when he came into glory.
And our Lord told him that he would be with him that day in
eternity. I mean, that man, the thief,
he had done nothing good in his life. Men want to make it about
works and gotta live a good life. That man had done nothing. And
the Lord revealed himself to him and showed him that he was
a sinner and he just asked for mercy. That's what a sinner needs
to do, is ask for mercy. And there was a woman with the
issue of blood. She had been through years of
doctors, spending money, no help, no cure. But she knew that all
she needed to do was to touch Christ's garment and she'd be
made whole. May the Lord show us that we
need to touch the garment of Christ to be made whole. We need
a blood sacrifice. And Christ is that blood sacrifice.
We need a Savior that can save us. That's what we need. Another
thing that a sinner can do is seek the Lord. It's not that
we can't seek the Lord, it's that we won't seek the Lord.
He's told us in Isaiah, he said, seek you the Lord while he's
near. seeking while he may be found.
Our Lord right now has set up this congregation in Franklin
County, and this is where we need to be. In this Roanoke Valley,
not saying there's not, but the Lord hasn't revealed any other
congregations to us that actually declare his truth and his mercy
and preach Christ. The Lord has sent it here. If
you're not saved, seek the Lord. Seek the Lord by being in a place
where the Lord is preached. Seek the Lord where men declare
His Word, not themselves. They're not looking to go about
and show what kind of people they are to the community. They're
out there declaring the Word of God. Look to this scripture. Look for Christ in the scriptures.
He's everywhere. He's blind in man's eyes. They
can't see. He said, Romans 3.11 tells us that, that
there's none that seek. Romans 3.11, there's none that
understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God. There's none
righteous before that. Our Lord makes us righteous.
But He's told us we can seek. He told us to seek. There's not
many things a man, a sinner cannot warn himself. He can't save himself. You know, we're supposed to be
born of the water and the spirit. But a man can't do that for himself.
The Lord has to do that. All that the Lord... All that
the Father giveth Christ will come to him. And then... Turn back with me to Acts 8.
Acts chapter 8. Look at the eunuch. Then the Lord, angel of the Lord,
spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go towards the south unto
the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is
a desert. And he arose, and behold, a man
of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority, under Candace, queen
of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasures, had come
to Jerusalem to worship. This man was seeking something. And as he was returning, he read
Isaiah the prophet. And the Spirit said unto Philip,
go near and join thyself to this cherry. Philip ran thither and
heard him read from the prophet Isaiah and said, understandest
what thou readest. This man was genuinely seeking
something. The Lord found him. The Lord
sent him a preacher. out in the middle of that desert
on his way back he had been to Jerusalem and heard all the people
talking and that's all it was was talk but the Lord sent Philip
to declare the word of the Lord because it said the place that
he read was he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and a lamb done
before shearer so that he opened not his mouth That's our Christ. He was delivered. God in His providence sent Him,
put Him before Pilate and the men of this earth, and they wanted
Him dead. And He spake nothing. He got
on that cross willingly. He died for our sins. But this eunuch, he was searching. He didn't know what he was searching
for at that time, but the Lord found him. That's why we're told,
seek ye the Lord while he may be found. I'm sure, and I know, men, we're
dead. And until God opens our eyes,
we won't know what we're seeking, even though we're told to seek
it. And seek after the Lord, we know, but we know not how
to seek the Lord. And then we're told to look. That's another form of seeking. In Exodus, the snake, God sent
the snake to bite those people. for their sins. But then he made
a brazen serpent and he put it on a pole and told him to look.
He lifted it up and told him to look. And Christ told in John
3, let's turn there, John chapter 3, Verse 14, and as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the son of man must be
lifted up. That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. There we're told to believe
again. Look and live. And then a man can just ask God
to save him. You know, if you're searching,
and you're a sinner, and he showed you that, and you've asked him
for mercy, ask him to save you. Ask him to put you under the
sound of the gospel. Be here every time it's preached. Don't wander, don't look for
something else. Just ask God to save you. He
said in Romans 10, I'll just turn there. He said, for whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Doesn't say might. It says shall be saved. call upon the Lord. And it says, for whosoever. But
then it goes on to say, how then shall they call on him whom they
have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? Those are good questions. The Lord saves a man like the
eunuch. He will send him a preacher.
Like this Philippian jailer, he will send him a preacher.
In his due time, he decided to save. It was time. The Lord had chosen him before
the foundation of the world. And now, as this jailer, Paul
had to cross paths with this jailer to save him. And then there's the leper. You know, asking God to save
him out. You know, all he said was, if
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. You know, the leper wasn't
even supposed to be near people. He was supposed to cry, leper,
and deter people from coming near him. Our Lord allowed him
to come to him. And the leper He didn't say,
I want this or I want that. He said, if thou wilt, thou canst
make me clean. It's all Christ and God's will. Nothing to do with man's will.
That's what we need to learn. We're just here on this earth
a short while. We didn't determine to come into
this world. We're not going to determine
when we go out of this world. And we're nothing in between
that time. Even though men seem to think they are something.
Put themselves on a pedestal higher than they should be. We're
nothing. We need to look to our Lord and
our Savior. It was blind Bartimaeus. He asked the Lord to have mercy
on him. He said, Jesus, thou son of David,
have mercy on me. And then after Christ asked him,
he said, well, what wilt thou that I should do thee? And he
said, Lord, that I might receive my sight. That's a good thing
to want. It's for the Lord to open our
eyes to this scripture. Show us Christ on every page. He's throughout this whole book
from Genesis to the end of Revelations. So it's all about Christ. It's
his story. So then we see in verse 32, Paul and Silas, they spake the
word of the Lord unto all that were in his house. This jailer
heard from Paul and him. He's like, hey, everybody needs
to come listen to these men. He brought his whole house in
there. We do well to do that, too. It's
to get our families, get our friends, bring everybody to come
say, hey, come listen. As the woman at the well went
into the town and said, there's never been a man spoke like this.
We need to go listen to Christ. We need to go where Christ is
preached. We need to tell others and get them. We need to bring
them. The Lord will bring them if he
desires. And so then he took them the
same hour of the night and he washed their stripes and was
baptized. And he in all his straight way, he felt so bad. I'm sure he had
been a part of Paul and Silas being whipped. But after he brought
them out and they told him the gospel, he tended to their needs. And their needs at that time
was to have their wounds washed. And that's what he did. And they
baptized him. The Lord baptized him. His baptism was just a profession
that the Lord had saved him. It was nothing more than that. It wasn't that his sins were
forgiven because he went under the water. It had nothing to
do with the jailer. And you notice, just a little
blip between two, a semicolon and a colon there that says,
and was baptized. Wasn't brought out, wasn't pushed
to be something bigger than it was. He baptized because he made
a profession that the Lord Jesus Christ had saved him from his
sin. He had had mercy on him after
he had cried, have mercy on me, Lord, I'm a sinner. And in verse 34, and when he
had brought them into his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced,
believing in God with all his house. And when it was day, the
magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, let the men go. This jailer, and I'm sure he
was glad that Paul wrote that letter to the Philippians. I'm
sure he was one of them that was just tickled to hear from
Paul telling him about God again. And this was the way the Lord
had chose to save. And he listed a couple of people
that he saved in Philippi. But we need to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. We need to seek and call on the
Lord that can save. And he can save. His hand's not
too short. And all that he died for will
be with him in eternity. May He open our eyes and show
us what sinners we are and what need of a Savior that can save
to the uttermost we are. May the Lord have mercy on me.