Here is the record, and from
Thence, that is the author is tracing out Paul's journey, 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. And on the Sabbath, we went out
of the city by Riverside where prayer was wont to be made. And
we sat down and spoke unto the women which resorted thither. And 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 when she was baptized
and her household, she besought us saying, if you have judged
me faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide. And she constrained us. And it
came to pass, as we went to prayer, A certain damsel, possessed with
a spirit of divination, met us, which brought her masters much
gain by her soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us,
and cried after us, saying, These men are the servants of the Most
High God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned
and said to the Spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ
to come out of her." And he came out the same hour. And when her
master saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul
and Silas, drew them unto the marketplace, unto the rulers. and brought them to the magistrates,
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, or tore off their clothes,
and commanded to beat them. When they had laid many stripes
upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to
keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust
them into the inner prison and made their feet fast with 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 opened, and every
man's bands were loosed. and the keeper of the prison,
awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open,
he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing
that the prisoners had been fled. Paul cried out 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? There's the greatest question
in the Bible. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy
house. Now, let's think back and get
our ducks in a row. In our last study from chapter
15, it tells of that council meeting that met in the city
of Jerusalem concerning the matter of the Gentile and the ceremonial
law. And the truth of the gospel prevailed
there in that meeting. And Paul and Barnabas, having
received a favorable decision, returned again back to their,
I call it, their home church in Antioch. And they had the
written verdict in their hand, and competent witnesses were
with them of the fact of what had occurred there. And Judas
and Silas, two faithful brethren from Jerusalem, were sent along
with them to also confirm the same and be witnesses. Now, our
text today is of the events at Philippi, and there are three
of them. that we want to consider. They
took place on Paul's second missionary journey. And this one was longer
than the first one and is written up in Acts 15 and verse 36 all
the way down to chapter 18 and verse 20. And these three events
that we're looking at today are our text and our subject. However, before we get there,
let me point out that there are three events that occurred in
the interval between chapter 15 and verse 36 and their arrival
in the city of Philippi. And two of these events concern
new fellow laborers, new men that were with Paul on the first
missionary journey. It was the desire of Paul, as
we see in chapter 15 and verse 36, let us go again and visit
our brethren in every city where we have preached the Word of
God and see how they do. Now here's the first event, the
great change, if you will, that occurred before they set out
on their missionary journey. In verse 37 of chapter 15, Barnabas
thought it well to go on the journey, but he also thought
it good and was willing to make an insistence that led to the
separation of Barnabas and of Paul. Barnabas wanted, he wished,
he intended, he had made up his mind to take John Mark with them
again on the journey as they had done on the first missionary
journey. Chapter 13 and verse 5. as an
attendant, not as a minister, but as an attendant to help them
and do servile things for them on their missionary journey.
Paul adamantly opposed taking John Mark because he had left
them and gone back on the first journey. The contention became
so sharp that these two brethren, so close in the Lord, actually
disagreed and separated, and Paul took Silas with him on this
missionary journey. Now the second event that occurred
in the interval is in chapter 16, verses 1 through 3. It is
the addition to the party of a disciple named Timotheus, also
called Timothy in the Scripture. Now Timothy was young, but he
was also a devoted disciple. He had been schooled in the Scripture
from childhood, 2 Timothy 3, verse 15, by a Jewish mother
who was a believer in Messiah. And we read in Acts 16, verse
2, that Timothy was very highly regarded by his brethren in that
area. And look at verse 3 of chapter
16. Him would Paul have to go forth with him. He caught Paul's
fancy. Paul was immediately attracted
unto him. He highly, in some way, endured
himself unto the beloved apostle. He called him, my dearly beloved
son. In 2 Timothy 1 and 2. He called him mine own son after
the common faith. In 1 Timothy 1 and verse 2. And left Timothy in charge in
Ephesus that he might oversee the affair of the church. And because it was common knowledge
that his father was a Greek, that is, his father was a Gentile,
Paul had Timothy circumcised, and the scripture said, because
of the Jew which were in those quarters are in those places. Now, we'll not spend time here
on this action of Paul except to say, if any call this a compromise
on Paul's part, then see Acts chapter 21 and verse 21 through
verse 26 and 1 Corinthians chapter 6, 19 through 23. I become all things to all men
that I might win some. Now, the third event must give
the Arminian a pause when he reads these words. In Acts 16,
verses 6 through 8, we did not read them, but here we read that
Paul was forbidden by the Holy Spirit of God to preach the gospel
in certain places, which means unto certain people. And in the
last part of verse 6, they were forbidden of the Holy Spirit
to preach the Word of God in Asia. Then look at verse 7 just
a moment. They tried, they endeavored,
The tent seems to be like this. They were trying to make their
way there to preach the Word of God, but the Spirit did not
let them. The Spirit hindered them or prevented
them. John Gill said on this passage
of the Scripture that it must be referred to the sovereign
will of God, like that of Matthew 10. and verse 5 and 6. Go not into the way of the Gentile,
but go to the house of Israel and such like. How about in Matthew
11, 25 through 27? The Lord says, I thank you, Father,
that you hide these things from the wise and the prudent and
reveal them on debate. But back in our chapter, in verse
9, Paul had a vision in the night. And in that vision or dream,
a man of Macedonia urging Paul, come over and help us. And immediately, Paul and his
party set forth, firmly convinced that the Lord had called them
in this manner to preach the gospel there. Now a point to
ponder, it was the combination of two things together working
in tandem, first of all being hindered and then having the
vision that eventually directed them into the city of Philippi
and the events there that we want to consider in our study
this morning. We find that Paul took a journey
by sea. leaving Troas, loosing, that
is, sailing out over the sea. Paul came then to a place called
Samathracea, then to Neapolis from there, a very short distance
inland to the chief city of that area, Philippi. You see that
in verse 11 and verse 12. Notice in verse 12, the chief
city of that part of Macedonia and a colony. It was a distinct
part in some way of that part of Macedonia and likely, probably,
a Roman colony. And Paul carried there certain
days. And while he was in the city,
then came the Sabbath day. And something interesting here,
if we note it. Here he took a different thing,
a different route, a different way than was usual with Paul. Ordinarily you would read, and
on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue of the Jew
and entered in and sat down. This was their usual custom in
whichever city they might be in on the Sabbath day. So why
is this? Was there no Jewish synagogue
at all in this chief city of Philippi? Were there not enough
Jews there that were interested or that were believers in having
a synagogue? Was it forbidden them to have
one by the Romans? For as we read in that passage
of Scripture, they teach customs not lawful, for us to observe. These men being Jews do exceedingly
trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to
receive or to believe being Romans. In other words, they might have
forbidden them. Whatever the reason, they not
only did not attend a synagogue of the Jew in the city, But they
actually went outside of the city on the Sabbath day, and
that not to a building or a synagogue, but by a riverside where some
women had come together intentionally to make prayer. Calvin observed
Having entered the principal city, they find nobody there
to whom they might minister, so they're forced to go out into
the country to an out-of-the-way spot," unquote, the words of
Calvin. Described by the author as a
place where prayer was wont to be made. And who was there? A
few women were in attendance in that place and by the riverside. Now, how did this come to be,
that Paul's company happened upon this group, assembled together
for prayer, and that on the Sabbath day? We wonder, one, did they
inquire ahead of time about Sabbath day worship and where they might
attend. Or secondly, we wonder, was it
strictly an act of sovereign guiding providence that brought
them upon a place where prayer was fixing or seemed to be made? Whatever be the answer, it was
here that Paul would have an effect upon the first three people
that we read about in Philippi. Two women and one man encountered
the apostle Paul and had life-changing experiences. And it's interesting
to notice the extremely different backgrounds of the three people
that we are to consider today. And yet, in all of these three,
they're meeting with Paul, Their influence of that having come
across him was a life-changing event for all three of the people. Now, let's look at the first
one, written up in just two verses. Verse 14 and verse 15. A woman named Lydia, a native,
the Scripture said, of Thyatira, where, by the way, was a church
addressed in the letters to the churches in Revelation 2, verse
18-29, a letter to Thyatira. Now notice, by vocation, this
woman was a seller of purple. There was a very beautiful purple
dye that was greatly desired and very expensive in that day,
extracted, I'm told, from a shellfish. And it is likely that Lydia sewed
cloth or material that had been dyed with these exquisite dyes. But the two most important things
about her yet to come. Number one, it is said, which
worshipped God. A woman named Lydia, which worshipped
God. This is shown by what Falda does
not describe her as a Christian believer at least not yet. When it is said she worshipped
God, the meaning is in that setting that she was not a pagan. She was not a worshipper of pagan
or of Gentile gods. She believed in not the gods
of the heathen or the Gentile or the pagan, but she believed
in the God of the Jew. And if she were a Jew, she worshipped
Jehovah, yet not knowing at this point Christ the Messiah, not
having received that revelation. So let's verify the point from
other places when she is described, not as a Christian believer in
Christ, but as a non-pagan who believed in the one true and
living God. Take, for example, the case of
Cornelius. You'll find that in Acts chapter
10. He is called a devout that feared God with all of his house,
that prayed to God always, and that continually was giving alms
unto people. And yet, in Acts 11 and verse
14, Peter would tell him words whereby his house would be saved. That is, Peter would bring him
the saving revelation, or the knowledge of the crucified and
the risen Christ, and would in effect bring him out from under
the old covenant and advance him from a proselyte to a born-again
Christian. And we read in Acts 13 and 43
of, quote, religious proselytes, unquote. Acts 6 and 5 of the
proselytes of Antioch. And there may be an intended
contrast in Acts 13 and verse 16 when Paul asked to be heard
by men of Israel and those that fear God. But the second thing,
I think, is the crowning blessing, and that is In verse 14, she
heard what Paul said. Paul began to speak to the lady.
Paul began to teach them and to mention Christ and bring up
the Scripture and the prophecy. And Lydia listened. She heard
what Paul said. What he said, we're not told. But it no doubt centered around
the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel. It was gospel truth. It was words of the prophet.
Linsky said that the tense is durative. That means she kept
on hearing, an action going on, as if the Lord or the Spirit
keep her interest in what Paul was saying. And then add a point. Look what we read. The Lord opened
her heart. The Lord opened the heart of
Lydia. The result was this. She gave
heed. She attended. She became obedient
to the things spoken by Paul. Her heart being opened, the message
of the cross then became clear. People are like deaf adders until
the Lord opens our ear and our understanding. Let's admire this
a moment before we go on. Because it was a sovereign work
of God. It was an internal work performed
in this woman. The Lord opened her heart. Let's be very clear. It is not
said that she opened her own heart. It is not said that she
opened her heart unto the Lord, just as the Lord
opened the understanding of the two on Emmaus' road. In Luke
24 and verse 45, opened their understanding that they might
understand the Scripture. So the Lord opened the heart
of Lydia. But as she did not open her own
heart, neither was her heart opened by what she was listening
to or what she heard. The Arminian can always be heard
saying, oh, the truth will do its work. The truth will work.
and even some Calvinists believe in gospel regeneration. But pay heed to how it is worded,
whose heart the Lord opened, so that as a result of that she
attended. Now Linsky calls this another
durative, to be heeding, to be heeding. The Lord opened her
heart to beheading the things that were spoken unto her by
the Apostle Paul. And the word here translated
out of the Greek, attended, in the King James Version, it is
attended, a word that I can't pronounce, is a picturesque and
expressive one as seen in other places where the same word is
used in the New Testament. It means to hold the mind toward. Hold the mind toward something. In other words, to pay attention,
to pay close attention. It means to adhere to. It means
to have regard. In other places it is rendered,
take heed, attend. She believes She embraced the
word and submitted unto baptism, and she gave the evangelist lodging
in her home. So grateful and rejoicing was
she. If you have judged me faithful
to the Lord, she said, come and abide in my place. Giving them
a place to abide and to work out of while they were there. But now, let's move on. We turn
to a very, very different sort of person that Paul and his party
had contact with in Philippi. We read it in verse 16 through
verse 18. And the only thing that they
had or have in common was their gender, that they were both female. That while Lydia was a businesswoman,
a God-fearer, a dignified lady. I just have a picture of her. I imagine her as a dignified
lady in that day and that time. But the young damsel, on the
other hand, as she is called, a maid, referring to a female
slave or a female servant, and that's what she was, it's the
same word that Paul uses to describe Hagar in Galatian. It translated
the word bondwoman four times in Galatian. that the damsel
was a slave is confirmed in verse 19. Her masters, her masters
are referred to. But we're told that this young
damsel or maid or girl or young woman was possessed with a spirit
of divination. And that provided her masters
a nice and a decent living. It provided much gain for them
by her soothsaying. The Margin has it, a spirit of
Python. This woman had a spirit of Python. Gil said the Greek text has it
that way, the spirit of Python. And it came forth from and through
Apollo, who was called Pytheas. And the people coming to him
to hear his prediction and his advice on difficult matters. And he became well known. So
this young girl, or maiden, or damsel, was possessed with an
unclean spirit. She was what we might call a
demoniac. And her masters made use of that. And her masters charged the people. to have her tell their fortune,
or to predict their future, or to give them advice, or where
they might find their lost possession or property. The meaning of their
dreams, perhaps, they would tell to this young one. Maybe she
would conduct seances and contact the dead, where to find true
love and things of that sort. And she brought in quite a bit
of profit to the masters who had her or who owned her. Now,
not to get off the track or chase down a rabbit trail, but there
are still those people in the world today who seek fortune
tellers and have their palms read. or have their tea leaves
read and have their dreams analyzed and won't move until they consult
their zodiac sign or consult some kind of a mystic or a fortune
teller who have no confidence in the Word of God but resort
to these charlatans that are out only for their money. Then
we notice something. This Pythonist began to taunt,
I guess is the best word to express it. She began to taunt Paul and
his companions and parties as they came and went about the
city to prayer and from. She would follow them And she
would shout out such things out loud to them as, we read, these
men are the servants of the Most High God that shall unto us the
way of salvation. How did she mean this, we wonder? What she said was in itself true. But she spoke it through the
spirit of Python. And something about it grieved
Paul. He did not think it well. He
did not take it well. And it grieved him in verse 18. So what are we then to make of
her words? Well, perhaps we can gain a little
bit of light by considering the experience of the Lord and the
demoniac of Gadara written up in the Gospel, Matthew 8, Mark
5, and Luke chapter 8. There we read the story of a
demoniac so full of demons that he went about naked. He wore
no clothes. He preferred to dwell out in
the cemetery and among the tombs. And he had almost superhuman
strength. And Luke 8 and verse 30 said,
many devils were entered into him. He called Himself Legion. There were so many. And the point
is, He came before the Lord Jesus Christ, and He fell down before
the Lord, and He called Him, Jesus, Son of the Most High God. Now, we must be so bold as to
say demons have a higher view of Christ than do poor, ignorant
human sinners at certain times, be that as it may. under the
Spirit of God's grace, cast the unclean spirit out of the young
girl, commanding, I command you in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ to come out of her. And verse 18 said, And it was
so. He came out the same hour. of Paul, it might be said in
wonder and amazement. What manner of man is this that
even the devils obey him?" Paraphrasing something from our Lord. But
I want to raise a question, and it's only a question, and consider
it and turn it over in your mind. And the question is this. Are
we to consider this young maid or this young girl as a convert? as a believer, as a Christian,
as a saved person. Now, I want to raise the question
on two accounts. A, the unclean spirit was cast
out of her, there is no doubt. But B, nothing is specifically
said of her believing or rejoicing or being baptized or having fellowship
with Paul and the other believers, as was the case with Lydia and
the Philippian jailer Tefala. It is just a question to ponder,
could be, that the uproar that the uproar caused by her masters
at the loss of their moneymaker takes the story another way without
giving us a follow-up on her conversion. We wish to consider
next, however, and finally, the Philippian jailer as he is commonly
called in Christendom. For it was the exorcism of the
unclean spirit that forms the link to the next convert that
we read about. For when the master saw that
the hope of their gain was gone, they had lost their illicit source
of income. When their cash cow was put to
death, when the goose that laid the golden egg was killed, They
laid their hands upon Paul and Silas and took them to the rulers
in the court of the city, brought them before the official magistrate,
the government magistration official called praetors a judge, and
they charged them with disturbing the peace. and with providing
religious teachings that violated the customs of the Romans. And they stripped Paul and Silas
of their garments and they beat them. They gave them a good beating
and then had them thrown In 1 Thessalonians 2, Paul speaks there of his shameful
treatment at Philippi, and I have no doubt that he refers unto
this. You may remember, this is one
of two times in the book of Acts when Paul is persecuted, not
by Jew, but by Gentile, both of them, by the way, on account
of money or gain or profit or material object. that their deliverance
was a work of God may be seen in how tight the security was
in verse 23, keep them safely, that is securely, carefully. Verse 24, put them in the inner
prison, not in the outer part. They carried them in the deepest
part or the recessive of the prison. And they put their feet
in stocks. on top of all of that, as if
they had been the worst and the most guilty and had committed
the most heinous crime that a man could imagine. I suspect with
guilt that the Romans were driven by the thought that these two
were gifted with strange powers, and therefore they were the more
careful with them. than their other prisoner. But
it came to pass, about midnight of that first night, Paul and
Silas began to pray unto the Lord. They began to sing praises
unto God out loud. And the other prisoners in the
prison heard them. Suddenly, without warning, an
earthquake shook and rattled the prison. And every man's bands
were loose that was there in the prison. All the doors of
the prison burst open. under the power of that great
earthquake. It shook the prison mightily. The keeper of the prison, being
awakened, made a natural assumption that the prisoners had all fled
and were gone to enjoy their liberty. And he's about to throw
himself on a sword and take his life because he had let the prisoners
go. His life, therefore, would be
required of theirs. When in verse 28 he heard Paul
back under in the darkest recesses of the prison cry out to him,
don't do yourself any harm, my friend. We are all here. Do not this thing. We are all
here. Whereupon, in verse 29, the jailer
secured a light and came directly to where Paul and Silas had been
bound in their stocks and fell down trembling and afraid before
these preachers of the gospel. Now let's stop here and take
an account of this man called the keeper of the prison in verse
27. He's referred to as the jailer
back in verse 23 of the chapter. No name is ever given. Not a
single name is mentioned. But he must have been a hardened
man, dealing almost exclusively with the criminal element of
depraved individuals. All he saw in his work were criminals
and depraved individuals. The man was a Gentile. He was
a Roman. And F.F. Bruce surmised in his
commentary that he might have been a retired soldier and now
the warden of the prison. We notice something, that God
took a different way with him than with the two previous women
that God worked in there. Lydia's heart he quietly and
almost invisibly opened, she being not far from the kingdom
of God. Out of the second he cast a devil,
but this man was brought to despair of his life. This man is ready
to take his own life at his own hand rather than face the shame
and the disgrace and the public humility of being a failure in
sustaining his prisoners. And as one said, it took an earthquake
and it took imminent danger of death to make him take thought
of salvation. He never had thought of it much
before, never given it much thought, just going on his way. But this
coming upon him all of a sudden makes him take thought of the
salvation of his soul, just as the Lord used drastic measures
in converting Saul. You have it in Acts 9. Not a
usual conversion, but an unusual supernatural work. and converting
Saul, this hardened jailer asked the question of all question,
what must I do to be saved? Now that's a very unlikely subject
for such a man and for such a time. But the power of God had shaken
the place. The power of God and the fear
of God had evidently entered into this man's heart. And if
I may say it, the eruption in his soul was as great as the
eruption out or under the prison, throwing the door of his heart
an understanding off of its very hinges. Light beginning to break
in upon him where there had been darkness. Now he knew that Paul
and Silas were in jail for religion. He knew that. He knew that it
was a religious matter for which they were in jail. And he might
have thought that the quake was on their account. A miracle for
sure. So of them He asked the way of
salvation. What must I do that I might be
saved? And their answer is this. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Now He does
not speak of being saved from the wrath of the king or for
being saved in his job for the loss of the prisoner, he seemed
drawn to Paul and to Silas as the proper ones to inquire about
salvation. They seemed the logical ones
to ask this question too, what must I do to be saved? And they
point him to Christ. to believe on Him, to trust in
the Lord Jesus who died and is risen from the dead, to cast
their soul into the hand and the care of the Lord. Now, it
is evident, is it not, that the Lord had done a work in this
man's heart, and both a quick and a powerful work in his heart,
we might add. Now quickly, we see this sort
of question in the scripture. Along this line, let's look at
a couple before we deal with this man. You remember a rich
young ruler on one occasion ran up to our Lord, I think one gospel
said, fell down before him and said, what shall I do that I
may inherit eternal life? That's in Mark 10, 17 and 18
and 18. And he didn't like the Lord's
answer, and the Scripture said he went away sorrowful. for he
had great possession. Secondly, in Acts 2, a great
stir among the Jew on the day of Pentecost. And in verse 37,
the convicted Jews asked Peter and the other, what shall we
do? Now this is a critical point,
and I want to underline that. This is a critical point. when a troubled and a convicted
soul inquires of the way to heaven. I want to say it again. This
is a critical point. When a troubled and a convicted
soul inquires the way to heaven. I don't have time to tell you
the people who just dropped in here unawares to speak to me
about this thing and about some conviction and some trouble in
their life. But the problem is, the reason
I say this is a critical point in their life. Will a false teacher
send them off in the wrong direction? Will somebody say, what must
you do to be saved? Oh, you've got to be baptized.
You've got to join my church. You've got to keep the law. You've
got to repeat the sinner's prayer after me. You've got to go down
the Roman road. You be in church Sunday and make
a profession of faith and take the Lord Jesus as your personal
Savior. Pity the poor soul, troubled
about their soul and eternity, who stops in the wrong house. Nobody has an answer. In God's
sovereign providence, even though it occurred in a prison. A true
minister of the Lord was on hand to point the jailer to the Lord
Jesus Christ. In verse 32, And they further
instructed the man and his house, and the new convert tended their
wounds. He washed away their blood and
their flowing, oozing sores, and he cleansed them and doctored
them. followed the Lord in baptism
and rejoiced with all of his heart and with all of his house
in that new life that he had experienced from the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now note verse 34, he not only
became a Christian, he became a monotheist as well. He believed
in one God, whereas before he was likely a polytheist, worshiping
many gods. Now, I close with this. Notice
what diverse character these three samples at Philippi are. I think that's why Luke selected
these three, how different they were. one woman moral, a God-fearer,
believing in prayer, one possessed of a devil, grievously tormented
and enslaved, and another a hardened jailer. Paul says, and I close
with it in 1 Corinthians 6 and 11, he names all kinds of sins,
and he says, and such were some of you. Look at our past. Look what we were. Look what
we did. Look how we thought. Look how
we carried ourselves. And Paul says to them, such were
some of you, but ye are washed. You're sanctified. You're justified. Now, if you're satisfied with
yourself, then that's a fatal satisfaction. But if you're concerned
about life and death and eternity in heaven and hell, then you
must remember that Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer and the
only Savior. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved.