I hope you are. I am. Aren't
you interested in salvation? I'm interested in the salvation
of my soul, and I'm interested in the salvation of your soul.
I want to know how I can be right with God. I want to know how
God can be just and justify a person like me. I'm a sinful man. I
want to know about this salvation. This is a deliverance that is
all of God. The way of salvation, she said,
these men are preaching about the way of salvation. Well, what
is the way of salvation? Well, it's not by works. It's
not by the deeds of the law. For by the deeds of the law,
there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. The apostle has
spoken out against anybody who thinks that righteousness can
be obtained by the deeds of the law. He said, if you can obtain
grace, if you can obtain salvation, rather, by your works, he said,
then our Lord Jesus died in vain. There was no need for him to
die. If you can, by your efforts, by something you do, by your
baptism, by walking an aisle, by making a decision, by keeping
the 10 commandments. If you are able to save yourself,
then that means the death of the Lord Jesus was absolutely
unnecessary. And that's a horrible thought.
That's why Paul says in Galatians chapter two, I don't frustrate
the grace of God. The grace of God is not in vain
because he says if righteousness come by the law, then there was
no need for Christ to die. What an awful thing to say. I
can be saved by my efforts and therefore the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ was needless? That's a terrible thing to say.
The only way of salvation is by the Lord Jesus Christ who
obeyed the law of God, who made satisfaction for our sin, who
brought in peace and the forgiveness of sins by his substitutionary
death. He brought everlasting righteousness
in by the shedding of his blood to his death. Through him we
have grace and glory. This is the good news. The good
news is not, well, you must do something. You must keep these
laws. We saw a bumper sticker today. It said, God allows you to make
a U-turn in life. You know what that is? You change
yourself. That's not God's salvation. That's
you doing something for God. But here's the truth of the matter. You are unable to save yourself. You're unable to make yourself
right with God. You're unable to forgive yourself
of your sins by your works. God alone has the authority to
save and he has the grace to save, but he'll get all the glory. and we'll get none of it. You
see, our God has purpose that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
have all the preeminence in salvation. And He will not allow any flesh
to have any glory whatsoever. It's the Lord Jesus who's gonna
be magnified. He is the Savior. You are the
sinner. He's the one who rescues us.
We're the ones who are in trouble. He's the great physician. We're
the ones who are sickened to death. He's the one who raises
the dead. We're the ones who are dead.
He's the one who puts the eyesalve of the gospel upon our eyes,
and then we see. Before that, we're blind. He's
the one who unstops our ears so we can hear of Him and His
grace and His salvation. Apart from Him, we'll remain
deaf and uninterested. He must do for us what He did
for Lydia. He opened her heart and she attended
to the things of God. And so this woman, she didn't
know what she was saying, but she did speak the truth. She
didn't speak all the truth, That's the way it is with false prophets
and false prophetesses. They speak some truth, but they
don't speak all the truth. What she said was accurate, but
it didn't go far enough. It didn't go far enough. Well,
anyway, Paul, he got tired of hearing this. And it says this,
look at verse 18. She did this many days. But Paul, being grieved, he turned
and said to the spirit, to the demon, I command thee in the
name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and he came out the
same hour. Well, then something happened.
Her masters, they saw that the hope of their gains with her
was gone. She's the moneymaker. She's the
one who brings in the cash. So they caught Paul and Silas
and drew them into the marketplace under the rulers. The word is
dragged. And just kind of as a kind of
side note, the apostle Paul, he knew about dragging people
in because he did that himself before his conversion. Hold your
place here and look back at Acts chapter eight. Acts chapter eight, this is after
the death of Stephen. Stephen was stoned to death. Acts chapter eight, verse one says, Saul was consenting
unto the death of Stephen. At that time, there was a great
persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem and they
were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,
except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen
to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. And as
for Saul, he made havoc. He tried to ruin. He tried to
devastate. He tried to destroy the church. Entering into every house and
hailing, men and women committed them to prison. In other words,
he forcibly dragged them out of their houses taking them to
prison. He knew perfectly well what it
was for somebody to drag somebody off to prison because he had
done that himself. And now the tables are turned.
And he's the one that's being dragged along with Silas. So go back to our text in Acts
chapter 16. They drew them in the marketplace
under the rulers. Now, every Roman colony in a
Greek city had two men who were the magistrates. They had absolute
authority. They were the government of Philippi
in this case. And so here are Paul and Silas,
they're brought before the magistrates. And here's the accusation, these
men being Jews, Okay, we're in a Gentile city. This is a people
who are very anti-Semitic. That's obvious right here from
these words. These men being Jews do exceedingly
trouble our city. What had they done to trouble
the city? All they've been doing is preaching the gospel. All
they've been doing is exalting the Lord Jesus Christ. No, they
weren't troubling the city. They had interfered with the
money making of the masters of this woman. They said further
in verse 21, they teach customs, which are not lawful for us to
receive, neither to observe being Romans. Now, if the magistrates
had been fair, if they'd been just, they would have said, what
customs are they teaching? What is it that these men are
doing that bothers you and you feel are contrary to Roman law? But there was no answer. because
there wasn't a good reason for this to happen. Verse 22, the
multitude rose up together against them. Now it turns into a riot. That's mob violence against Paul
and Silas. And the magistrates rent off
their clothes. They ripped the clothes right
off of Paul and Silas. My, what shame. What disgrace. These men are preaching the gospel.
They're exalting God. They're preaching Christ and
Him crucified. And Paul has cast a demon out
of this woman. What is his reward for casting
the demon out? What does he get for his efforts?
They stripped him of his clothes. And there he stands naked before
all these people in silence as well. And then it says they commanded
to beat them, verse 23. And when they had laid many stripes
upon them, in 2 Corinthians, you remember the apostle Paul,
he said, three times I was beaten with rods. That's what he said,
three times I was beaten with rods. And I told you this morning,
they took birch rods and they bound them together and they
would beat prisoners. Oftentimes they'd beat them so
bad the men would die from their injuries. There would be lacerations,
severe bruising, even damage to the muscles, damage to the
bones, and oftentimes damage to the organs of the body. They
laid many stripes upon them. They cast them into prison, charging
the jailer to keep them safely. And this jailer, who having received
such a charge, he thrusts them into the inner prison, made their
feet fast in the stocks. Typically, a Roman prison had
three sections, three compartments. The inner compartment, that was
reserved for the worst criminals. This is the lowest of society. Whoever's in the inner prison,
they weren't fit to have any communication with anybody. These are the lowest of the low.
Those are in the inner prison. You wanna know what these people
thought about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the servants
of God who preach God's salvation by grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus? Put these men in the inner prison. where there's no light, there's
no fresh air. There they are in this dungeon
in their nakedness, with their bruises, with their wounds, and
nobody offered to do anything for their bleeding stripes. And
there they are, and not only are they catched in the presence,
the word is thrust. In other words, he didn't say,
now come on, and lead them in tenderly and gingerly. Oh no,
he just shoved them in there. Then he put their feet in stocks.
They can't even walk around. And there they are in the filth,
in the muck, in the mire, even in their own excrements. Around
them historians say would have been bones and the putrefying
bodies of those prisoners who died in the inner prison. And
there they are! That's God's preachers! And of course the saints of God,
Lydia, her household, along with Luke and Timothy, who apparently
weren't with Paul and Silas when this happened, so they escaped
this sort of thing. They're all upset because these
two preachers have been cast into the inner prison. And the
inner prison had a reputation. That's an awful place. You don't
want to go in there. Men go in there. They don't come
out. It's vile. It's a rotten place. It's a stinking place to be.
And they're God's preachers. And I'm sure some people thought,
you know, We assumed the work of God was growing. Look what's
happened now. This is awful. This is a terrible
thing to happen. Just when things were getting
going, the church was growing. People were being saved by the
free and sovereign grace of God. And now the preachers are locked
up. Here's the blessed Apostle Paul. We won't hear his voice anymore.
He won't be preaching to us anymore. Oh, why God did this happen? Why did this happen? You know
that that's bound to have gone through the minds of the saints
of God. And there they are. Adverse 25. And at midnight,
at midnight, they couldn't sleep. How you gonna sleep? Aches and
pains. One writer said that just the
awful smell of the place was indescribably obnoxious. can't sleep, feet in stalks,
can't get up and go to the bathroom. Just go to the bathroom right
there where you're in stalks. And at midnight, they sang praises
to God. They prayed, first of all, and
they sang praises to God, and the prisoners heard them. Job 35 verse 10 says, God giveth
songs in the night. God giveth songs in the night. I wish I could learn and I wish
that you could learn that things that seem to be a hindrance to
the work of God are not a hindrance at all. because the work of God
can't be hindered. That which God has set out to
do, no man can stop or slow it down. And in our daily lives
and in your life and in my life, things happen and you say, Lord,
I don't understand this. I can't comprehend this. Here
I am trying to serve you and worship you and do what's right
and now this has happened to me or I'm in this location now. This seemed to everybody to be
a sad disruption of the work of God. But this is all by God's direction. Now listen, all things are. Isn't that right? All things
are by God's direction. You see, Paul and Silas, they
must go into prison because there's a jailer there and his family
who got to hear the gospel. They were given to Christ Jesus
before God made the world. They were entrusted to the Savior.
The Lord Jesus has already died for them. He has redeemed them. He has reconciled them to God,
but they don't know anything about it, neither the jailer
nor his family. And they're not going to come
here, Paul and Silas preach. So if you won't come hear the
preachers, the preachers have got to go where you are. And
that's the way it was in this instance. And God sent His preachers
where they were most needed, notwithstanding the difficulties
that they must encounter before they meet up with Him and tell
Him about Christ. The Lord knows what's best for
each of his people. And he'll make certain that his purpose
is fulfilled, though it may cause us pain and
even a heartache. God put them in this prison,
ultimately, because God's the first cause of all things. So
Paul and Silas are in the inner dungeon. At midnight, at midnight, they're
praying and singing praises. Did you catch that verse I read
out of Psalm 119, verse 62? David said, at midnight, I will
rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments. What do you do in dire circumstances? When you're in a situation that
is not pleasant to the flesh? Do you cry? Do you curse? Do you go to pieces? Do you get
depressed? Or do you pray? and sing praises. And the scripture says, the prisoners
heard them. The prisoners heard them. Whatever
these men, Paul and Silas, would say in prison, the prisoners
would hear them. Be careful what you say. People
are listening. Huh? That right, people are listening. People hear you talk about the
grace of God. People hear you talk about divine
providence. I believe all things are of God,
and then something happens, and then you go to pieces. Hmm. The
prisoners heard them, and that people will hear you too, and
they'll hear me. What'd they hear from Paul and
Silas? They heard prayers. They heard the singing of the
Psalms. Look at the next verse then,
verse 26. And suddenly there was a great
earthquake. It is interesting that there
is no record in history of an earthquake hitting Philippi.
This was a very localized earthquake. Right here within the dungeon,
the jail, It was a great earthquake. So great that the foundations
of the prison were shaken. And so great that all, immediately
all the doors were open and it was so great that everyone's
bands were loose. Never been an earthquake like
this. Here's a troubling of the whole
place. And I find it interesting. There's
certainly a lot here, but you know, in the conversion of Lydia,
it's very quiet. The Lord opened her heart. In
the conversion of the jailer, the Lord shakes the place like
it's gonna fall to pieces. Because God deals with people
in different ways. in the manner that He chooses
and in the manner that will bring about the result that He has
purposed from old eternity. And so God Almighty shakes the
whole prison. And the doors just fly open.
And everybody's chains just fall off. That is one unusual earthquake,
I'll tell you. It's a real troubling, troubling
of the earth by God. It reminds me of when the Lord
had an angel trouble the waters in John chapter five and whoever
was the first one in there was healed. It's the Lord who troubled
the waters and great things happen. It's God who troubles the earth
and shakes it. Well, verse 27 quickly, The keeper
of the prison, awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison
doors open, evidently slept within view of the prison. And he went
on to sleep, this hard-hearted man. He's got no conscience.
He's a tough guy. He had beaten many a prisoner
before. Didn't bother him. He's climbing
the ladder of success in the Roman army. He's got a good job. But he wakes up out of his sleep.
Paul and Silas couldn't sleep. Even the prisoners couldn't sleep,
because they heard the prayers and the praises of these two
preachers. But the jailer, he can sleep.
It's amazing how hard-hearted some people can be, isn't it? But God woke him up. And I'm telling you, God can
wake up a sinner. He gonna deal with him in mercy.
He's gonna deal with him in grace. He's gonna trouble his heart.
God can wake him up out of a sleep of death. Maybe he'll wake you
up. I hope he will. He wakes up, he sees the prison
doors open. He drew out his sword. The word
is really a dagger. He pulls out his dagger. It's
not a long sword, it's a dagger. And he's ready to commit suicide
because he knows he's responsible for these prisoners. And all
the prison doors are open, everybody free of their shackles. And he
just draws the conclusion they're all gonna escape. and the magistrates
that's gonna hold him accountable. He just figures, well, I'll end
it all right here. But the apostle Paul cried out
with a loud voice, verse 28, do thyself no harm, don't hurt
yourself, we're all here. Well, that's a miracle as well.
Here's a dungeon full of prisoners. in the outer dungeon, and then
the next dungeon and the inner dungeon, which is like solitary
confinement where Paul and Silas were, they're all loose now. But nobody leaves. Who do you
think kept them there? God did. Paul says, don't hurt yourself,
we're all here. And he called for a light. He
needs illumination. That's what he needs. He needs
divine illumination. He needs the light of God's spirit. He needs the light of the word.
He calls for a light. I need a light. He sprang in. There is an anxiousness here.
He's serious about this now. And he's trembling. Boy, he'd
been brought down, hadn't he? Not so tough anymore, are you?" And then he fell down. He made
the dust his headquarters before Paul and Silas. He brought them
out. Come on out, men. And I'm sure
he put some kind of robe upon them. He brought them out and
he said, He didn't address them like that
when he threw them into the inner dungeon, because the word sirs
shows an element of respect and honor. He said, sirs, what must
I do to be saved? Where did he get the idea of
being saved, do you reckon? Well, there's been this demon-possessed
woman going around Philippi, following Paul around, and she's
been saying over and over again, these show the way of salvation. These show the way of salvation. Salvation, salvation, salvation. And that registered in his mind. And now he says, that salvation,
I want it. I want it. What must I do to
be saved? And they said, here's unity.
They said, it wasn't just Paul, it was Paul and Silas. Let me
tell you something, all of God's preachers say the same thing. That's right. Oh, they may say
it differently. Some may say it loud, some may
say it soft, but we've all got the same message of grace, of
Christ, of salvation by God, of the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus, of the blood, the blood. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shall be saved. It's not complicated. Didn't tell them go do a bunch
of stuff. Didn't even say, well, you need to go home and think
about it, need to go home and pray about it. And they didn't
say, I'm sorry, there's nothing you can do. Well, there's no
work to perform. But I'll tell you what, if God
believe, if God believe, you gotta believe. I hope you took
the time, and I hope you always take the time to read the articles
I put in the bulletin, whether I write them or I put in something
that somebody else has written. The article by Octavius Winslow
on only trusting, only trusting. You see, that which honors God,
That which we can do by His grace, which honors God, which brings
Him glory, is just to believe Him. I wanna do something for
the Lord. All right, trust Him. Believe
Him. Rely on Him. I wanna do some
great thing. I tell you what, without faith,
it's impossible to please God. And this is how you honor Him.
You see, it's just like if you tell me you're gonna do something,
I honor you when I say I believe you. I believe you'll keep your
word. Faith is believing God will keep His word. That's what
it is. Believe on the Lord. He's the
Lord. How'd he get to be Lord? Well, He's Lord by virtue of
His deity, but He's also Lord by virtue of the fact He finished
the work God gave him to do, and that's his reward. The Lord
Jesus, he's the Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ, he's the
anointed one. And thou shalt be saved. You
wanna be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I say to all of you, and
whoever's watching by way of the internet, whoever's listening
to this CD later on, or watching this DVD later on, you wanna
be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. Yeah, but don't I have to, wait.
No, it's not about turning over and you leave. Promising God
how you gonna do this, gonna do that. Don't make promises
you can't keep. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. And if your house believes, He'll
be saved too. And look at verse 32. And they
spake unto him the word of the Lord. You know what preachers
do? They preach. They spake unto
him the word of the Lord and all that were in his house. But
it's just after midnight. You wanna have a service now?
Yeah, we're gonna have a service right now. And they began to
preach. And he took them the same hour
of the night. He said, let me wash those stripes. Faith without works is dead,
being alone. And then he was baptized. He
said, I love this gospel. I love this Savior. And I'm so
thankful God sent you men into my prison. I'm sorry the way
I mistreated you, but I sure am glad you's here to tell me
the truth. He was baptized. He said, I want
to be identified with this Christ. I want to be identified with
his preachers and with his word. He in all his straight way. And it says, and when he had
brought them into his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced,
believing in God with all his house. He said, let's have something
to eat. I know you men are starving. Hadn't had anything to eat. Hadn't
had anything to drink. I'm gonna take care of you, he
said. And he did. Because he loved the men who
brought him the message of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Well, let's sing a closing song. Let's turn to number 300.