If you'd like to follow along,
I'm gonna be in Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. And I wanna begin reading in
verse 12. 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 a riverside where prayer was wont to be made. And
we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city
of Thyatira, which worshiped 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 ye have judged me
to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. Today, I want you to truly hear
the word of the Lord. And that's what I want for me
also. Because we live in a world that is caught up in this one
saying, if you really wanna know it. Seeing is believing. Now that may be true for the
secular world, for the unbelieving world. But the scripture is clear. Isaiah 55 verse three puts it
this way, incline your ear, come unto me, hear, and your soul
doth live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. God spoke from
heaven himself at the Mount of Transfiguration. And he said,
this is my beloved son, In whom I am well pleased, hear ye him. To the child of God, hearing
is believing. The preached gospel of Jesus
Christ is vital. Romans 10 and verse 14 says this,
how shall they call on him whom they have not believed? How shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? But also, just as vital as the
gospel being preached is the hearing ear. The hearing ear
and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them,
right? What did Jesus Christ say several
times? He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Guess what? If you don't have
ears to hear, you're not gonna hear. I want both. I want the gospel
preached and I want a hearing ear. I wanna preach his gospel
and I wanna hear his gospel with the faith of Jesus Christ. and
this is my desire and my prayer for you and for you also. Now today we have an account
here in Acts chapter 16 of a woman who heard the gospel. Verse 13
says, and on the Sabbath day we went out of the city by a
riverside where prayer was wont to be made. And we sat down and
spake. unto the women that resorted
thither. Paul had received, and I think
it's verse 10, or in verse nine, a vision to go to Macedonia. 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 verse 10, Paul
was sent to preach the gospel to them in Macedonia. So, and
it said they had been in Philippi and were in the city abiding
certain days. So, on the Sabbath, Paul went. And he went with the express
purpose of preaching the gospel. They went to a place which says
in the King James, a place where prayer was wont to be made. Now
in other places, and in some of the commentators it'll tell
you, he went to a place of prayer. Philippi evidently was a Roman
colony. That's why it calls it a colony.
It was a Roman colony. It was a Roman city. So evidently,
as was their custom before this and after this, they normally
went to a synagogue. But evidently there wasn't a
synagogue here. So Paul had been there a few
days and he found out where people went on the Sabbath. And that's
where he went. That's where he went. And at
this time, traveling with him is evidently Luke, who's writing
this, Silas, because he had come with Paul this time while Barnabas
and Mark just split up last chapter in chapter 15, and Timothy from
verse one. He come to Derbe and Lystra,
and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, son
of a certain woman which was a Jewish and believed, but his
father was a Greek. Him, Paul would have to go forth
with him, and took and circumcised him. That was verse three of
chapter 16. So here we have Luke, Silas,
Timothy, and Paul, all going forth, and that's what it says,
and we sat down. That's who the we is. Now, they
sat down, and spoke. This is why Paul came. He spoke to those that were there,
and in this case, women. Now, I don't know where a lot
of people get a lot of problems with the Apostle Paul saying
he's a misogynist, that he doesn't like women. Paul never said anything of the
kind. Jesus Christ never said anything of the kind. And I'll
try not to ever say anything of the kind. I don't want to
even give that impression. But here it is. He went where
prayer was wont to be made and he spoke to those who wanted
prayer. Who were there at a place of
prayer. Whoever's here, let them hear.
He who has ears to hear, let them hear. And they sat down
and they spoke. and they came to speak of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm certain that's what the Apostle Paul
did here. But verse 14 tells us then, a certain woman named
Lydia. Now we have gone from a group
of women, where it says, you know, there were women, spake
unto the women which resorted thither. We went from a group
of women to a certain women. You understand, there were more
people there But Luke only writes of one. That's all he wrote of. Now, we aren't told anything
about any of the others that were there. We don't know any
of their names. We don't know their occupations.
But we are told of Lydia. We are told of Lydia. A certain
woman named Lydia. What did it say? A seller of
purple. A seller of purple. Of the city of Thyatira. Nobody knows what she actually
sold, whether she sold purple dye, or purple fabrics, or both. I would assume both, because
from the way it talks about her, she was a smart businesswoman.
And here's the thing, she was a female merchant. I have no
idea how common this was in the old days. Or in Thyatira, or
in Philippi, for that matter. But I have an inkling that it
wasn't a common occurrence. But I do also think sometimes
it was more common than people realize. But here it is. Luke goes on and tells us why
Lydia was here at a place where prayer was wont to be made at
that time. It says, a certain woman named
Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, and then
he says this, which worshiped God. Oh my, that's a good thing
to do. That's a good thing to do. Lydia
came to worship God. And Luke plainly writes that
she did worship God. And it also says, heard us. Lydia worshiped God, what, and
heard. And that word there does actually
mean by the hearing of the ears. She heard with her ears the words
that they spoke. Now, I do need to ask this question,
I think, because it's answered here. How was it possible that
Lydia worshiped God? Understand, most people don't
worship God. All right, you wanna get more
specific? Most people in churches don't worship God. Christ told that woman at the
well, you've gotta worship God in spirit and in truth. A lot of people might be worshiping
a God, but that doesn't mean they're worshiping God, and that's
what Luke wrote here. How is it possible that Lydia
worshiped God? Well, Luke tells us, whose heart
the Lord opened. And that's my title poem, whose
heart the Lord opened. This is how Lydia worshiped God. She worshiped God, and that word,
I checked to make sure, where it says she worshiped God, that's
in the present tense. That's in the present tense.
That's what she was doing at that time she was there, right? But when you look, it says, whose
heart the Lord opened. Folks, that's in the past tense.
That's in the past tense. Oh, because I'm gonna tell you
something. The opening of the heart comes before the worship
of God. I remember Earl told me about
that phone call he got when somebody asked him, what comes first,
life or faith? And the answer is life. The scripture's
clear. The scripture's clear. You can
say, I know, I know, a lot of people up here, you come here,
pray the prayer, God'll give you faith. God'll give you life.
No, God's gotta give you life before he gives you faith. That's
just the way it is. Life comes before faith. These
are the words of Jesus Christ in John 5, verse 25. He says,
verily, and then he says again, verily, I say unto you, understand,
Jesus Christ says unto you, the hour is coming and now is when
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that
hear shall live. The hour's coming and it now
is. I'm doing it now. I'm doing it
now. What's he doing? He is opening
her heart. He opened her heart. Whose heart? What'd he say? The Lord opened. You can't open your heart because
the heart of the natural man is dead. The heart of the natural
man is a stone, is what it says in the Old Testament. It talks
about take out the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. You
wanna know why? Because your heart, as you are
born, the natural man, our hearts, including myself, is of absolutely
no value. I can't change it. I can't do
anything good with it. Matter of fact, out of the heart,
ooh, The mouth speaks, and the mouth speaks abundantly. This is the fact. Let's look
at it just for a second. First Corinthians chapter two,
and the whole thing is from nine to verse 16. But here it is in verse, well,
sorry, nine. But as it is written, I hath
not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us, speaking of believers, by
his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
Even so, just exactly like that, a man knows the things of a man.
The things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. Now we have received, verse 12,
not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God,
that we might know the things that are freely given to us God
And here is which things also we speak That's where the message
comes from From the Spirit of God not in the words of man's
wisdom Teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teaches comparing
spiritual things with spiritual and here it is folks But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for
they are foolishness unto him Neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned. There you have the word of God
written by the Apostle Paul according to the spirit of God. The natural
man cannot understand the things of the spirit of God. He cannot.
He will not, and he cannot. Both are true. That's why it says about Lydia,
that's why Luke wrote this this way, whose heart the Lord It takes the power of God to
open your heart. It takes the power of the Holy
Spirit to give life, to be born of God, to be born from above,
to be born again. Oh, I like that, oh. Because only those who have heard
the Lord Jesus Christ call them, heard the voice of the Son of
God, only those that are born of God live. And only those have
their hearts opened, opened. Now here it is, how can Luke
know that God opened her heart? He tells us that too. There's
a reason he said that. Because here's the truth, what
I just read. Those whose heart has not been
opened by the Lord, they will not attend to the things of the
Spirit of God. They won't attend to the words
of the Apostle Paul. That's what it says here about
Lydia. What does it say? Whose heart
the Lord had opened that for the express purpose that she
attended unto the things which were spoken of of Paul. that were spoken of by Paul.
Oh, my. Oh, those whose heart has not
been opened will not attend to the things that we speak. They
won't. Well, Acts 751, ye stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears. What's he talking about?
Talking about the natural man who receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God. The uncircumcised, stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, what do they do? You always,
you do, You always resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did,
so do ye. Those uncircumcised in heart
and ears, they can physically hear, unless they're deaf, but
they do not attend to the things that Paul spoke. Oh, I like that. Oh, understand, please understand,
there is this result of the Lord opening your heart. You will
attend. And I like that word. Because
what's it say? Because when it says she attended
to the things Paul spoke, she physically heard him, he already
said that. She heard us. She heard us. But when it says
she attended, that's not talking about hearing. That's talking
about paying attention. It's talking about thinking.
It's not talking about hearing, although she heard. It's talking
about she attended to the thing. It's much more than physical
hearing. She physically heard and the gospel of grace captured
her attention. That's what it means. Lydia heard
and her mind was turned toward this gospel, these words spoken
by Paul. The gospel of grace. Oh, the
gospel of God's dear son. The gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh my, her mind was turned to
this gospel. And how? By the power of God. By the power of God. Psalms 110.3,
actually I think I quoted this this morning on TV. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. Thy power, oh I like
that. What? In the beauties of holiness.
From the womb of the morning, thou hast the due of thy youth.
Lydia heard, and she, with her opened heart, willingly gave
the more earnest heed to the words that Paul spoke. Paul's
message. She willingly focused her full
attention upon the gospel. And folks, that is a rare thing. You wanna know why this building's
not full this morning? To the brim and running over
and other places are. They don't want to hear this
gospel. They don't wanna hear that God
saves and man has nothing to do with it. Oh, they don't wanna
hear that God has to open their heart because they're dead in
trespasses and in sin. They don't wanna hear that they're
dead, and they need to be made alive. And that comes from above,
not from within. Nothing comes from within that's
good until he puts something good within you. How's that? I like that. Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. Oh, what this means is, that
the things spoken by the apostle Paul, the gospel of Jesus Christ,
held her mind. That's what this word attend
means. She attended to the things that Paul spoke. First John, chapter four and
verse six says this. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of
God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. It is that simple. If you won't
accept, if you won't attend to the gospel of Jesus Christ, you
might wanna make your calling and election sure. I mean, I
understand about distractions, I understand about circumstances,
but here's the thing, if your mind does not come back to Jesus
Christ, that's not good. It's not good. I mean, you know. There are distractions, there
are circumstances in the world where you, our physical minds
are so limited, we barely can concentrate on one thing at one
time. Multitasking is a lie, okay? I'll tell you that right
now, folks. People say they can multitask
all they want, but they can't. We're lucky if we can focus on
one thing at one time. And I understand that. But if
your mind doesn't come back to Jesus Christ, As a baseline,
put it that way, if your mind doesn't, if you really don't
care about hearing the gospel preached, that's not good. It's not good. Because here's
the thing. My sheep hear my voice and what? They follow. They follow. So if you're not following, even
though you may straggle, you may be behind, you may wander
off. That's all right, that's why there's a good shepherd.
He'll get you back in line. But if he doesn't get you back
in line, you may not be one of his sheep.
Like I said, his sheep follow him and they do attend to his
word. You know why? He'll make them,
he'll make them do it. Oh my, I like that. So what's
my conclusion here? Well, what happened, here's the
thing. What happened after Lydia, whose
heart the Lord had opened, what happened after she heard and
attended to the things that Paul spoke? Well look at verse 15. And when she was baptized, and
her household She besought us, saying, if ye have judged me
to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. Oh, I
like that. She was baptized. She was baptized. And I'm sure she was baptized
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. She
was baptized the way Jesus Christ told us to be baptized, which
I'm sure Paul told her. Huh? Like the Ethiopian eunuch
in a chariot. He said, what does hinder me
to be baptized? What? If you believe. If you
believe. If you believe. Oh, I like that.
Lydia publicly acknowledged the God of all grace, Jesus Christ. And she besought, she called,
she invited Luke and Paul and Timothy and Silas to live in
her house. Oh. You understand? She heard,
the Lord opened her heart, she heard, she attended to the word
spoken by the Apostle Paul, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and she
wanted the company of those who spoke the truth of Jesus Christ. You understand, if you don't
like being around the people of God, something's wrong. And it's you, okay? I'll just
be honest, it's you, okay? Now, some days I might be surly. I used to tell people I have
distinct antisocial tendencies, and that's true, you know? I'm
not going, I'm not willingly going where there's a massive
crowd of people because I don't wanna be around a massive crowd
of people. They may be perfectly nice people,
but I don't like massive crowds. Did you go there? No, there was
10,000 people there and there's only room for five, so I'm not
going. But this is the thing. I like
being around the people of God. And I want to be around the people
of God. Now, I may not wanna be in a
church packed like a sardine, but if the gospel's preached,
I'm gonna try and attend to it. I'm gonna listen, because that's
why I'm there, to hear the word of God. Oh, Lydia wanted the
company of those who spoke the truth of Jesus Christ. She constrained
them. She insisted. She urged them,
come on. And here's the thing, if God
has opened your heart and you have heard and believed his gospel,
you will join together with his people if you can. I understand distances. I understand
being by yourself for a while, because I thought I was at one
time. And Paula, you were. He's way
out in the boobies in Colorado. And there are other people. We
know a fella in Washington, people down Tazewell. That's another thing. But here's
the thing. They wanted to be with the people
of God. They want to be with the people of God. And they do
assemble with the people of God when they can. Just as Ruth constrained
Naomi, Ruth one in verse 16 says this, and Ruth said, entreat
me not to leave thee, nor to return from following after thee,
for whither thou goest, I will go. Oh, and where thou lodgest,
I will lodge. But here it is, folks, thy people
shall be my people. And there's a reason for that.
And thy God is my God. All right, let me ask a few questions. Has God opened your heart to
attend to the things spoken by the Apostle Paul? It's in this
book. Has God opened your heart to
believe that Jesus is the Christ? Has God opened your heart to
know that he is your only hope? Has God opened your heart to
desire the sincere milk of the word? Has God opened your heart to
hunger and thirst after his righteousness? I wanted to clarify that. That's
what it meant, but I wanted to put it in there. It's his righteousness,
not yours. Has God opened your heart to
want to know him and his love for his people? If he has, If
you believe Him, if you trust Him, if you want to know Him,
do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Gather together with the people
of God, because here it is. True hearing will believe without
seeing. Ah, I like that. We have the Lord Jesus Christ. He's in this book from cover
to cover, from beginning to end. Starts with the light, ends with
him being the light. Well, wait a minute, it starts
with him being the light, and it ends with him being the light. Here's the thing. The Lord Jesus
Christ is three things to people. Different people, but he's three
things. A, he's foolishness. to those
who are secular, as we say. It says to the Greeks, foolishness.
Secondly, to the religious, he's a stumbling block and a rock
of a fence. And thirdly, though, to the believer,
he is the precious cornerstone which God planted. I lay in Zion
a cornerstone, elect, precious, That's what he is to us. But
it's the same Christ. The same Christ. What's the difference? Well, either the Lord has opened
your heart or he hasn't. That's the difference. It's up
to him. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this time and this place. I ask that you be with
Paul as he comes to preach your gospel this morning. And Lord,
help us to hear it. to hear your word, to attend
unto the words that are spoken, to attend to your gospel, to
contemplate it, to mull on it, to ponder it, to love it, your gospel. The
good news that our Lord Jesus Christ is our substitute. He
took our place, he took our sin. He was made to be sin for us
who knew no sin. and given to us the very righteousness
of God in himself. He is our righteousness. Thank
you, Lord. Be with those who couldn't be
here. Bless them and keep them by your mighty power. In Christ's
name we ask, amen.