turn if you would to Acts chapter
16 I had brother Tim read over there in Acts 13 and as he said
it's such a such a simple proclamation of the gospel when Paul was just
bringing forth the believe on the Lord Jesus Christ look to
Christ he's the only hope for sinners the only hope now all
through this wonderful book I called the Acts of the Apostles, we
see clearly revealed the eternal purpose of God. The eternal purpose
of our great triune God. And that all things, in all things,
and we see his sovereign power executed. Executing what he's
purposed to do at his own appointed time. That's the key, at his
own appointed time. The name of the message today
is, what must I do to be saved? Well, we'll look at the answer
to that question. Oh, my. Now, Paul is on his second
missionary journey. And Paul and those traveling
with him were forbidden by the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit,
to go into Asia and Bithynia. They were forbidden to go there.
Well, why would God forbid them to go to those two places? Why
would he do that? Well, it was not his purpose
for them to go there. It was not his purpose for them
to go there. Our great God was sending them to Macedonia and
they were led out of the city to a riverside on the Sabbath
day to where some women were gathered by the riverside. beloved of God our great sovereign
God had not allowed Paul and his companions to enter into
Asia or Bithynia because God had appointed a time a time of
love the scripture says a time of love for when Lydia would
hear the gospel for when Lydia would hear the gospel she's one
of his lost sheep She's one who the Father gave to Christ in
eternity. She's one for whom Christ died
for on Calvary's cross. Therefore, she must be born again.
She must be. She must be born again by the
Holy Spirit of God through the preaching of the gospel. And
we know that when Paul went and he spoke to people, he preached
Christ. He didn't mess around with anything
else. He just preached Christ. We saw that in the reading that
Brother Tim did. He proclaimed Christ. Let's look at verse 12 here in
Acts 16. And from Thence to Philippi,
which is the chief part of the chief city of the part of Macedonia,
and a colony, and we were in that city abiding certain days.
So God had sent them to this city. 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 woman which resorted thither. Now remember, remember this. The whole Bible hadn't come to
pass yet, right? And we know that Paul and Peter
and John and all the apostles, they preached from the Old Testament.
We know that. They had the holy scriptures
and they preached Christ from the Old Testament. And the hearers,
most of the hearers, which we've looked at before, the hearers
in Thessalonica, they didn't have the scriptures. They were
Gentiles. But they heard, and God gave them spiritual ears
to hear the truth. And they received the words of
Paul. We know from our study in 1 Thessalonians, they received
the words of God from Paul, not as the words of man, but as the
words of God. And they were born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. And they trusted and rested in
Christ. And so here, Paul's going to them here. And he sat down
and spake unto the woman, which resorted thither. And we know
Paul preached the gospel to whomever he came to. And a certain woman
named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which
worshipped God, heard us. Look at this. Whose heart the
Lord opened. It's the Lord who opened her
heart. She didn't open her own heart. It's the Lord who did
it. Look at that. She's born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. And she attended unto the things
which were spoken of Paul. She believed what he said. Because
she'd been granted faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
when she was baptized in a household, she besought us, saying, if you
have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house
and abide there. And she constrained us. So a
woman by the name of Lydia, who was attending that prayer meeting,
heard and believed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Paul had the honor of preaching to her. And we read that there
were several other women there who also heard the gospel, but
we read that our Lord Jesus only opened Lydia's heart. And she
attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. So it's
God who made her to differ, isn't it? He granted her faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, what comes first? You always hear me say this,
what comes first, faith or regeneration? Well, regeneration. You must
be born again. You must be. And you're granted
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll never believe
unless we're regenerated, unless we're born again in the Holy
Spirit of God. So she was born again in the Holy Spirit of God
and she believed. She believed what Paul was saying. Now, when
people used to come to me before the Lord saved me and talk to
me about Christ, I didn't want nothing to do with them. Is it
so for you? But when we're born again, oh,
we want to hear about Christ, don't we? And then we never stop
wanting to hear about Christ. He's the only one we want to
hear about. Oh, he's wonderful. Now, again, God is the only one
who can speak to the heart. And he made the difference between
Lydia and the other ladies. He's the one. And it's God who's
made every one of his sheep to differ from another. Only God,
not us. Only God. So it was God's eternal
purpose that Christ was to be made known to Lydia. And we see in verse 15 in others
in her household, too. In others in her household. And
when she was baptized in her household, she besought us, saying,
if ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house
and abide there, and she constrained us. So God delivered Lydia and members
of her household from the power of darkness. From the power of
darkness. And translated them into the
eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ. How? All by his almighty power.
By his power. See, we lack the ability to save
ourselves. But he has all power. All ability. It's all him. And remember, there's
no New Testament. So Paul, like all the other apostles,
is proclaiming Christ from the Old Testament. And our Lord said,
the law and the prophets, they testify of me. Me. Christ is all through the Old
Testament. And it's absolutely wonderful to read and see him
all through the Old Testament. It's wonderful. Now we will see that Paul and
Silas will be cast into prison. But remember that this is all
coming to pass according to God's eternal purpose. All come to
pass according to God's plan. Because one of his lost sheep
just happens to be at the jail. Oh. And we know that God sends
preachers to his lost sheep. So we're, see, that our great
sovereign God had not allowed Paul and his companions to enter
into Asia or Bithynia because it was God's appointed time for
Lydia to be saved and hear the gospel. She was one of his lost
sheep, one for whom Christ died for. She must be drawn in. She must be born again. And Paul,
again, he preached the gospel wherever he went, wherever he
went. Now let's read verses 16 to 24.
And remember, remember that as we read these verses, we're seeing
God's eternal purpose come to pass. We're seeing His purpose,
His eternal purpose. Look at verse 16 to 24. And it
came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel, possessed with
the spirit of divination, met us, and which brought her masters
much gain by a soothsaying. And the same fall, Paul and us,
and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the Most
High God, which show us unto the way of salvation. And she
did this many days. And she wasn't promoting them. She wasn't promoting them, not
at all. This was for the gain of her masters. And she did this
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. Now look what happens. And when her master saw that
the hope of their gains, oh, there it is, they lost their
moneymaker. They lost their moneymaker. Was
gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace
unto the rulers. And they 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. So Paul's in the city of Gentiles
here. They're Roman citizens, though. And a multitude rose
up against them, and the magistrates ran 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 safe, safely. Who, having received such a charge,
thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in stocks. So we see, then, at God's appointed
time, and all according to his eternal purpose, 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 at
that same hour. And again, this is all done by
the power of God. It's not done by Paul. It's done
by the power of God. And then we see Paul and Silas,
who were not guilty of anything but preaching the gospel. That's
all they did. They preached the gospel. They
weren't troublemakers. Not at all. They weren't insurrectionists. No. They're not forcing doctrinal
truths upon anyone. They're simply and plainly preach
the gospel, but they preached it with authority, didn't they?
And the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And they had an uncompromising
spirit. They wouldn't compromise at all.
But they preached the truth in love, leaving the results of
their preaching in the hands of the sovereign God who they
proclaimed. And that's what every gospel preacher does. Just leave
it in God's hands. The Lord can save you in your
seat right now without you moving a muscle. Because it's a heart
work and it's a work done by God. You must be born again. And that's our prayer, that God
would take the words of the preacher of the gospel and make them effectual
and that you'd be born again by the Holy Spirit of God. He's the only one who can make
his gospel effectual. So we see then the masters of
this woman who had the demon cast from her, they get bent
out of shape. They're angry. They're angry. They're mad at Paul and Sardis
because the hope of their gains just vanished right before their
eyes. And they're probably making a lot of money off her, just
like a lot of junk that's out there and people go to, right? Oh my. But we see here that it was a public beating,
too. They beat them in public. Many stripes were laid upon them,
crossed their backs, and they were cast into prison. And they
were treated shamefully right there in the marketplace. A multitude rose up against them. Now, Paul was a Roman. And these
wicked men did not know that he was a Roman. And what they
did to him was contrary to Roman law. A Roman had to be found
guilty through the right process of the law before any punishment
could be imposed or inflicted upon him. But again, we see God's purpose
cannot be thwarted. God's eternal purpose cannot
be thwarted. There's a lost sheep of God in
the prison. There's a lost sheep of God in
the prison, in the prison which they were going to be cast. Therefore,
the fact that Paul was a Roman was not revealed yet. Again, all according to the purpose
of God. So we see God's purpose in allowing
Paul and Silas to suffer persecution from the hands of these ungodly
men. And this becomes more obvious
as we see where God's divine providence is going to place
them. Paul and Silas were cast into
prison. And the Philippian jailer and
the members of his household, they did not know it, but they
were chosen blood-bought children of the Most High. They had no
clue. Did you have any clue before
the Lord saved you that you were one of his people? I had no idea
at all. Matter of fact, I'd be the last
person that thought that I'd be one of his people. They didn't
know it. That jailer got up, ate his breakfast,
went to work, which was working at the prison, had no idea what
was awaiting him. Oh, but again, the purpose of
God shall never be thwarted, never be. Oh, him and his family, it was
their appointed time of love, beloved. It was their appointed
time of love, the appointed time of deliverance from the prison
house of sin and unbelief. But they had no clue. Note in verses 23 and 24 that
Paul and Silas were cast into prison and the jailer received
a charge to keep them safe. It says, who having received
such a charge thrust them into the inner prison and made their
feet fast in stocks. Well, the jailer wasn't going
to take no chances on them escaping. And it meant sudden death for
him if any prisoner escaped. If he lost one prisoner, he was
dead man. So we see God's faithful servants
who were guilty of absolutely nothing, but obeying the clear
commands of our great God, they were thrust into prison, and
not just prison, into the inner prison. And their feet made fastened
stocks, put chains on them. Now, it would appear to be, humanly
speaking, absolutely impossible for Paul and Silas to get themselves
loose from the positions they were in. They were bound. But let's continue to read our
text. Again, knowing that all this is falling out according
to God's eternal purpose. Verse 25, 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 everyone's bands were loosed. They fell off. The chains just
fell off them. And the keeper of the prison,
awaking out of his sleep, got a little tired, he fell asleep.
And seeing the prison doors open, he drew out a sword and would
have killed himself supposing that the prisoners had fled.
Because he knew it was death if you lost prisoners. And Paul
cried with a loud voice saying, do, do thyself no harm for we
are all here. We are all here. Then he called
for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down
before Paul and Silas and bought them out and said, sirs, what
must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord and to all that were in his house. And he took them
the same hour of that night and washed their stripes and was
baptized he and his straight away. And when he had brought
them into his house, he sat meet before them and rejoiced, believing
in God with all his house. Look at verses 25 here, and at
midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and
the prisoners heard them. Paul and Silas recognized that
their imprisonment was as much the work of God as his daily
provision for them. Therefore, they were both confident
and joyful in this situation. How many of us would sing praises
as we're in the innermost darkest prison with stocks on? But again, they knew that this
was all occurring according to God's eternal purpose. They believed
in the absolute sovereignty of God and they rested in that fact.
And so they offered to God the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. God gives grace in time when
we need it. We often say, how would I do
that? Don't we say sometimes, Lord, I hope we can have dying
grace? Well, God will give you dying
grace when you need it. God will give you grace to overcome a
situation that comes in your life. He does. He always gives grace to help
in time of need for his people. And so we see here they're offering
sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving in the midst of great trouble.
And again, this is all by the grace of God that they can do
this. Because we know in our natural
state we'd be freaking out, wouldn't we? We'd be like, what's going
on? What is going on? But God gives grace in time of
need. And they sing praises unto God.
They sing praises unto the great sovereign king. And the prisoners
heard them. The jailer heard them too. If
the prisoner heard him, surely the jailer heard him when he
was awake, right, because we knew he'd fall asleep. And they
knew that their imprisonment was by the will of God. They
knew that. They knew it was by the will of God. And God's will
is always good even if we can't understand it, beloved. Even
if we can't understand it, God's will is good. and therefore they gave God thanks
because they believed that God had a purpose for this and they
rested in him. 1 Thessalonians says this, rejoice
evermore, pray without ceasing and everything give thanks for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians
5, 16 to 18. So we see that right here. And
the believer's joy, turn if you would to Philippians chapter
1, the believer's joy is the joy of faith. The joy of faith. Listen to what Paul tells the
Philippian believers. The same one who's locked in
prison in the text we're looking at. So he didn't just say things,
he put it in practice, didn't he? Again, because of the grace
of God that was given to him. That was given to him. Philippians
chapter 1, verses 25 and 26. And having this confidence, and
our confidence is only in Christ, beloved, it's nowhere else. Philippians
1, 25. And having this confidence, I
know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance
and joy of faith. Look at that, joy of faith. That
your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my
coming to you. So Paul had joy. And the reason
he had joy is because God had given him faith in Christ Jesus.
You know, I never had true peace until the Lord saved me. And
now, what a peace. Now, my circumstances and things
can disrupt that peace, but that's me. That's because of me. And that's why I constantly have
to remind myself, and that's why we gospel preachers constantly
bring Christ forth to you, because we have to keep looking to him,
don't we? Get our eyes off the circumstances and get a look
into Christ, who's our sovereign God. And it's wonderful. So this joy of faith spoken of
here, it's not based upon circumstances. It's not based upon circumstances.
It's not circumstantial. It's of God. It's spiritual joy. And it's given to us by God.
As one commentator said, it's a joy that glows in the darkness
of trial and tribulation. It's wonderful. Turn back to
Acts chapter 16, if you would. We're continuing. We're in verses
26 to 28. So they're singing praises, knowing
that this has all fallen out according to the will and purpose
of God. And suddenly there was a great
earthquake, verse 26, so that the foundations of the prison
were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and
everyone'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 fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice,
saying, do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Now we see that in the midst
of the praying and singing from the lips of God's servants, that
God's power was demonstrated. God demonstrates his power according
to his will. He does whatever he pleases,
but here it's demonstrated in such a way that even the unregenerate
minds of the other prisoners could not deny it. Our great
God sent an earthquake. Now, he's the one who's the ruler
over the heavens and the earth. He controls all things, all things,
the weather and everything. He's sovereign. Either he's sovereign
over all, and that includes salvation and everything, or he's not sovereign
at all. But we know God is a king who
rules in sovereign majesty, in power. He's the king of kings
and the lord of lords. He's ruler over all things visible
and invisible. And not only did our great God
open all the prison doors, but he loosed all the bands of the
prisoners. Now we know that as a general rule, What would have
happened if the doors swung open and all those bands loose? What
would have happened with those prisoners? They'd have taken
right off, eh? Boy, they'd be gone faster than
you could blink. They would have jumped at such
an opportunity to escape the prison and find some place to
hide. Man's not changed. It's not the
same yesterday, today. We're the same as we were thousands
of years ago. But God's unchanging, right?
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's eternal. Our sovereign God placed his
restraining hand on these prisoners. That's the only reason they didn't
run. Because according to the eternal
purpose of God, they would not run. Otherwise, the jailer would
be dead, wouldn't he? He's one of God's lost sheep,
he must hear the gospel. So our sovereign God placed his
restraining hand on those prisoners and not one of them fled. Again,
this is a demonstration of the sovereignty of God, of his absolute
sovereignty over all things. He's in full control in this
situation, just like he's in full control right now. We know this took place at night
as the jailer could see that the prison doors were open, but
it was too dark inside the prison cells to know if the prisoners
were still there. And again, he supposed that they
had all fled. And it would not have mattered
to the higher authorities that he answered to that an earthquake
allowed the prisoners to escape. The jailer was responsible for
keeping the prisoners. That was his responsibility.
And he'd have been executed for failing his job, no matter if
it was an earthquake. They'd have taken his life. And
the jailer knew he'd be put to death. That's why he drew out
his sword. That's why he would have killed himself. But we see
Paul cry with a loud voice saying, do thyself no harm, for we're
all here. Look at verse 29. Then he called
for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down
before Paul and Silas. As soon as the jailer's servants
had bought him a torch or a candle in order for him to see, we see
in the next verse that he expresses Holy Spirit conviction. And note that he did not attribute
the prisoners not escaping to any of his own doings. The Philippian jailer recognized
that Paul and Silas were servants of God, who'd been sent there. Not because
they were guilty of breaking any laws of the land, but all
according to God's purpose. And note that he sprang in, it
says there, and he called for a light and sprang in and came
trembling. In the Greek, that word sprang
there means to leap or rush in. He didn't waste time. He jumped
right in there as quick as he could. He sought out Paul and
Silas. And nobody came in trembling.
This is not because of the earthquake. This is not because he feared
his life was over, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. Listen
to what John Gill says about this. He says, cheaply through
the awe of his conscience and the dreadful sense of he had
of himself as a sinner and of his lost estate and condition
by nature, he came trembling before them. He has Holy Spirit
conviction, beloved. And this is how a sinner comes
to Christ. God's elect are showing our utter
hopelessness. We're showing our helpless estate.
We're showing our desperate need for Christ. And we have revealed
to us that state, helpless, hopeless, and lost. Absolute sinners from
the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. And then, he bought
them out, look in verse 30, he bought them out. and said, sirs,
what must I do to be saved? Now, note the jailer's attitude
toward Paul and Silas. It's much different now, isn't
it? It's much different. It's much different now than
when the magistrates brought them to the jailer. Now, he treats
them with respect. Sirs. Sirs. This is a title which would not
have been used toward a common criminal. Some commentators bring forth
that this confirms that he believed Paul and Silas were the servants
of God. And he brought them out of that
dirty rat infested prison. It wasn't a country club. No,
it was a dirty rat infested prison. Remember when Paul's writing
to the Philippians, he's writing from jail. Rats running around. Wasn't like the prisons like
today. I don't know. He brings them out. He showed
genuine concern for them. And he cries out, sirs, what
must I do to be saved? Now with this question, we see
that he is genuinely concerned for his eternal soul. But like
all men and women who have not yet been taught that salvation
is of the Lord, the jailer thought he had to do something to merit
favor with God. He thought he had to do something
to earn his salvation. He says, what must I do to be saved? Now there's false preachers out
there who tell you that you have to do something to be saved. And then they tell you that you
have to keep doing something to continue to be saved. But
we see here in the next verse that Paul and Silas tell the
Philippian jailer what all gospel preachers say. Look at verse
31. And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. They didn't
say you must be baptized to be saved. They didn't say you have
to do this or that to be saved. They said believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Believe. We know that faith is
a gift from God. We know that. We know that, that
he grants us faith and repentance when we're born again. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. So to those
who anguish of soul and long for freedom from this body of
death, which is what we carry around, the gospel proclaims,
look unto me. In Isaiah, Isaiah 45, 22, look
unto me, just look. Looking doesn't require you doing
anything, does it? Just look. I'm looking at the
clock over there. I'm looking at the wall, right? It doesn't
require me doing anything. Just look. Look. Look unto me and be saved, all
the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. The
Lord himself said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden. Are you laboring in works-based religion? Are you laboring to
keep your salvation? Are you laboring to save yourself?
Cease it all, and just look to Christ. Just look to him. Are you thinking, well, I'm a
pretty good person? No, you're not good. No, not
one, the scripture says. We're all guilty before God.
Come unto me, all you that labor in our heavenly lady, and I'll
give you rest. Rest, that's rest for your souls. Cease from your
lambs. And the hardest thing for the
believer to do, let me tell you this. You've heard me say this
and it's so true. Brother Joe Terrell said this.
The hardest thing for the believer to do is to simply rest in Christ. But that's what we're commanded
to do. Rest. Look unto me. And what? Just
keep looking. No matter what circumstance comes,
just keep looking. Just keep looking to Christ.
And the believer lives a life just looking to Christ. Just
looking to Him. Trusting in Him. Look unto Me. So the Gospel message
comes here in verse 31 with all its simplicity and mercy. Look
at this. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. Look unto the Lord Jesus Christ
in Him alone. And may God grant your faith
to look to him. Because that's what he does for his people.
He grants us faith to look to Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. We see the true gospel message
is not one which tells man the things they must do to appease
the justice of a sin-hating God. Because we can never appease
the justice of God by anything we do. Nothing. God is only satisfied, the wrath
and justice of God is only appeased in Christ. Because he who was
the perfect man, the sinless, spotless lamb of God, lived the
perfect life on this earth in the place of his people, and
that he died on Calvary's cross for his people, and all the wrath
and justice of God that was deserved me, and you for a believer, was
poured out on Christ. And he bore it all, and then
he cried, remember? I mentioned this in Sunday school,
it is finished. It means nothing to be added
to it. In the scripture, Colossians boldly proclaims, and ye are
complete in Christ. Complete means complete. So the
believer, again, lives a life of just constantly looking to
Christ, believing on him, trusting him, trusting him. That's what
we do. All by the grace of God. Again, the true gospel message
is not one which tells men the things they must do, but it tells
them the things which Christ has done, which he's done. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
4, 7. Look at this wonderful verse here. And always remember
that the only one who's made you to differ from your family
and friends who are not saved is God. Brother Marcus, you and I were
talking about that yesterday. It's only God who's made us to
differ. We both have family members where
no one else is saved, but God made us to differ. He granted
us faith and repentance to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
born again by the Holy Spirit. Look at this in 1 Corinthians
4, 7. And again, Paul's writing to believers. For who maketh
thee to differ from another? In the Greek, that's who distinguished
you. Who distinguished you from another? What is thou that thou
didst not receive? Well, we've received all spiritual
blessings in Christ. We can't boast in anything. Our
salvation's all of Him. Now, if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? So we don't glory in ourselves.
We glory in He who saved us by His precious blood. And we see ourselves as the chief
of sinners, don't we? Just like Paul. We don't see
ourselves as good folks. We know we're just saved sinners.
And we're saved by the mercy and the grace of God in and through
Christ Jesus alone. And we give Him all the glory
for that. We praise His mighty name for saving us. the gospel message goes forth
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ look to Christ and live this
is the message of the gospel preacher proclaims cast your
eternal soul upon him and cease from your labors you
can never do anything to satisfy God neither can I but Oh God
satisfied with Christ and what he'd done so the cry is ceased from your
labors Cease trying to establish your own righteousness, because
it's worthless before God. It's utterly worthless. Cease
trying to gain merit and favor with God by anything, anything,
anything you do. Cease. Stop. Look to Christ. Cast yourself upon the mercy
of God, just as the publican did. Remember the Pharisee? Oh,
I've done all these things for you, Lord. Look at all the wonderful
things I've done. I do this, and I do that, and I do all this.
And there's the publican. He can't even lift his head.
He says, oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And he went
home justified. And that's what the believer
does. Oh, God, just be merciful to me, please. Now, why don't
men come to Christ? Well, the simple answer is because
they don't believe that they're helpless sinners. They don't
believe it. They're saying things like this.
If I had a knuckle for every time I hear these things, I'd
be a very rich man. They say things like this. Well,
I'm not perfect, but nobody else is either. Yeah, that's true.
None of us are. But when they say that, they
think they're perfect. Yeah. Really, they do. And then they
say, I'm not really a bad sinner. Well, the scripture says there's
none good, no law. And this is the famous one that you hear
all the time. Well, I'm not as bad as such and such over there.
Now, that guy is really bad. Them folks in prison are really
bad. The only difference between us
and anyone in this world is God who's made us to differ, and
him alone. Because by birth we're all sinners,
every one of us. So the hardest thing to find
is a completely lost, helpless, hopeless, vile sinner. Men will
admit that they sin, men and women will admit that they sin,
but they won't admit that they're absolutely depraved. They won't admit that they're
worthless to stand before a holy God, but the believer does. The
believer says this. The believer in Christ says this. I don't get what I deserve. Because if I got what I deserved,
I'd be in hell. But the believer receives mercy,
mercy, mercy. All through Christ and Christ
alone. Mercy. Never forget that. Never forget
that. So the jailer, faced with the
awful power of God and his sovereign majesty, and convicted of his
lost estate by the Holy Spirit of God, earnestly sought the
salvation of his soul. And he's made well in the day
of God's power, isn't he, beloved? Which is what the scripture proclaims. He, first of all, had no respect
for Paul, and cast him into the inner prisons. Then he says,
sirs, what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. So the Lord in his sovereign
mercy sent a gospel preacher to him, didn't he? And we see
it right there. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. The God in his sovereign mercy
sent a gospel preacher to him with what? The message of free
grace, of salvation in and through Christ alone, plus nothing, plus
nothing that he might hear and believe. And truly he saw himself
to be a vile sinner. He was born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. And it's the merciful hand of
God that brought this to pass, all by his sovereign eternal
decree. The Holy Spirit granted him faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And again, all that we've looked
at today has come to pass according to God's eternal purpose. It's
all come to pass. according to God's eternal purpose. The hymn writer penned, Pass
me not, O gentle Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others
thou art calling, do not pass me by. And broken-hearted sinners
find a sweet relief leaning on the bosom of Christ, on the Lamb
of God, the sinless, spotless sacrifice. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Cast all your hopes upon him
and upon him alone. Trust in him. And the faith of
the believer has one object, doesn't it? The faith of the believer looks
outside of ourselves and looks to Christ. One object of our
faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is our salvation and
because of his substitutionary life and the place of his people,
And because of his substitutionary death in the place of his people
and the fact that he was raised for our justification, the believer
in Christ has a sure confidence, a sure confidence. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And he is the
one who saves his people to the uttermost. And again, one day here present
us faultless before his throne, faultless. So the believer in
Christ has forsaken all hope in ourselves. All hope in ourselves. All hope
of being saved by any other means than through Christ and him alone.
We're redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. No one comes
to the Father except through him because there is no other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
No other way. Let's look at verses 32 and 34
here. Verses 32 and 34. Actually, let's read all the
way to the end of the chapter. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord and all that were in his house. And he took them
the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was
baptized he and all his straight away. So it wasn't just one lost sheep
there. that Paul was sent to, not just Lydia, but also to the
jailer and to others in his household. And when he had brought them
into his house and set meat before them and rejoiced, believing
in God with all his house. And when it was day, the magistrates
sent the sergeant saying, let these men go. And the keeper
of the prison told this saying to Paul, the magistrates have
sent to let you go, now therefore depart and go in peace. But look
at Paul here. But Paul said unto them, and
remember they were Romans, and remember I was saying earlier
that in order for a Roman to be beaten, they had to be properly
go through a proper court proceeding and everything. Well, they didn't
do that, did they? Because they didn't know Paul
was a Roman. But Paul said unto them, they have beaten us openly,
uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison. And
now, do they thrust us out privately? Oh my, nay, verily, but let them
come themselves and fetch us out. And the sergeants told these
words unto the magistrates, and they feared, they were afraid,
because it was unlawful for them to do what they did to Paul and
Silas. And when they heard, when they
heard they were Romans, And they came, and look, they came personally
now. They're not going to send them out privately. They came
personally now. And they came and besought them,
and bought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.
They wanted them to get out of there as fast as they could.
You can leave. You can go. Just get out of here,
please. They didn't want no trouble now.
And they went out of the prison and entered into the house of
Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they comforted
them and departed. Look at verse 32 and 34 there. We see the Philippian
jailer was not the only lost sheep again. Paul and Silas preached
the gospel to that night. Look at this. And they spake
unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house.
And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their
stripes and was baptized he and all his straight away. And when
they had bought them into his house, he set meat before them
and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." So marvel
here, beloved. Marvel at what we've looked at
today in this chapter. There was an elect soul at the
Philippi prison, whom Paul must preach the gospel to. He must.
And there were more of God's lost sheep we see here in the
text. There was Lydia there, too. They must hear the gospel. They must be born again. They
must be granted faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
they were. They were. All by the power of God. All
by the power of God. So all this came to pass, just
as all the other scriptures we read, came to pass by the power
of our eternal sovereign God and all according to his eternal
purpose. Now bring that home when the
Lord saved you. It happened according to God's
eternal purpose. Praise be to our great God. What a merciful God. What a merciful
God. Glory to his name. Glory to his
name. Heavenly Father, we thank you
again for allowing us to come together and look at thy word.
Oh, we marvel as we see thy eternal purpose unfold in the pages of
scripture. We marvel that at the time of
love, the Philippian jailer, Lydia, and those of their household
were saved. And we marvel that at the time
of love in our lives, we were born again of the Holy Spirit
of God and granted faith and repentance to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Glory to your name, Lord. Honor
and praise and glory for all you do in Jesus' name. Amen.