Turn to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. The title of the message is, The
Lord Opened Her Heart. That has such a sweet sound to
it, doesn't it? I read that this week and last
week. I thought that has such a sweet
ring to it. That's such a contrast. Between the Lord opening her
heart in this same chapter, you see the Philippian jailer who
got in an earthquake. We have to be careful comparing
our experiences to some of these people. God deals with His people
where they are. He deals with them where they
are. We're going to look at Lydia this morning. The Lord opened
her heart. It says in verse 13, and on the
Sabbath day, we went out to the city, Paul and those with him,
by a riverside where prayer, prayer was wont to be made. I was thinking as Frank was praying,
and I tried to find it over in Revelations real quick, but I
couldn't do it. I couldn't remember the chapter. It talks about the
vows. They are being full of the odor
of the prayers of the saints. Our prayers are kept before God.
Prayer was wont to be made and we sat down. They didn't go in
and take over. They just sat down. Sat down with those women. It
was just a group of women. And spake unto the women which
resorted thither. And a certain woman The Bible
deals in particulars, doesn't it? A certain man, a certain
woman, a certain eunuch, and a certain woman named Lydia,
a businesswoman, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira,
which worshipped God. She worshipped God in the light
she was given. She walked in the light she had,
just like that eunuch did and like Cornelius did. And it says
she heard us. They supplied that word us. It says she heard. She worshipped God heard. She
heard. Faith cometh by hearing. God
gave her ears to hear. Whose heart the Lord opened. He invaded. He invaded her heart. He opened her heart and walked
right in and took over. It's just like a sweet, smelly
perfume was to take over this room. You would just be captivated
by it. Everyone used to smell it. The
Lord took over her heart. Here's the evidence the Lord
opened her heart. She attended. and to the things which were
spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized in
her household, God saved her house. Well, that's a blessing
that cannot be put into words. That God saved you and your household.
And 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
them. She would not let him go. She
would not let Paul and him go. She said, you come to my house.
You're coming to old Paul. Now you're coming to my house
tonight. You're not going to go sleep in some motel room.
You're coming to my house. Well, let's look at this. As
you know, Paul had visited several churches to give them the decrees
to keep that were ordained to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem
concerning this matter of circumcision and keeping the law in order
to be saved. They went about to these churches and gave them
these decrees that had been established at Jerusalem. And the churches
were blessed of God as Paul went and preached and delivered these
things. And God added to the church daily, it says. And they
were established in the faith. And Paul thought, he said, well,
I'll just go over to Asia. And God said, no, you're not
going to Asia, Paul. We're going to see the providence
of God here first. You're not going to Asia. So Paul thought,
well, I'll go to Bithynia. No, you're not going to Bithynia,
Paul. God hindered him from going to Bithynia. What he ends up
doing, he ends up going to Philippi, which was the principal city
of Macedonia. And here we see the providence of God in bringing
Paul and Lydia together at the appointed time. You have to realize
when you look at this story, every minute thing had to be
orchestrated by God to bring this together, everything. And the same thing happens over
and over again every day when God saves one of His sheep. It
happens over and over again. The trouble between Barnabas
and Paul, the trouble that was suffered at Jerusalem over this
matter here of circumcision, was used of God to bring Paul
to this area to meet Lydia, the Philippi. It says they were there
certain days, and Paul was there certain days, no doubt looking
for the will and purpose of God for him being in Philippi. Paul
knew he was in Philippi for a reason, because he saw a man in a vision
at night from Macedonia saying, come over here and help us, come
over here, we're lost. There's some lost people over
in Macedonia, Paul, that need you to come over and preach the
gospel. That was of God. So Paul immediately, discerning
that this was of God, went to Macedonia. And while he was there,
he found out, no doubt those few days he was mingling around,
he found out there is a group of women that meet on the Sabbath
day down by the river. Not up here in this hustling,
bustling city. of all this metropolis, this
was a good-sized city, but this small group of women despised
not the day of small things. Don't do it. God's in it. Old
Elijah thought God was in the big things. God one day sent
an earthquake. God wasn't in it. He sent a wind,
a storm. God wasn't in it. Remember him
standing in that cave? He sent a fire. God wasn't in
it. You know what he was in? That
still, small voice. God opened her heart just by
the preaching of the Gospel. You know, religion tries to help
along. Religion, if you watch it on
television, they try to help get people saved, so to speak. They try to help the Holy Spirit. No, we just preach the Word.
And when God's pleased, He'll open the heart. He'll do it. Just like there's a time for
these young babies to be born, there's a time for every child
of God to be born. And that set time will not be
missed. It will not come early or late.
It will happen at the appointed, decreed time of God before the
world began. So they go down where it says
where prayer, they go down this river where prayer was wont to
be made. There was a certain woman there
from Thyatira, and I told you this last time, that place belonged
to the region where Paul was forbidden to go. If Paul had gone there, she would
have been lost because she would have been down here. If she had
stayed there, And Paul came down to Philippi, she would have remained
lost. But God orchestrated this thing.
It's just, I think these things are marvelous. Marvelous. How God orchestrates all this
for the good of His elect. So this woman from Thyatira,
she was in town on business. All she did was come down there
to hear the gospel. Now, she was going to meet with these
ladies. I'm sure she's done it more than once. That's probably
several times she's been down here on business. She was a businesswoman.
And she was among those women who met down by the river. So
Paul and those with him went down to this prayer meeting.
And they sat down mannerly, orderly. And God opened the door for Paul
to preach the gospel to this group of women. And you know she's the first
convert in Europe, Lydia. God guided every step of Paul
and Lydia to come together at this appointed time. Just as
He has guided every one of our steps from the time we were born,
even before we were born, God guided and ordained and predestinated
our steps to meet the Savior at the appointed time. God did
that. No one hears the Gospel by accident.
Providence is the working of all things together to bring
about the salvation of God's elect. You realize that the whole
universe, now let's just get it out of our little box here
for a minute. The whole universe is operating for the good of
God's elect and bringing this to pass, the way we will hear
the Gospel, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and God's Savior.
The whole of everything is working together for that. Everything. Everything works together in
providence for the good of God's elect. Little did Lydia know. I know she didn't know this.
No more than I knew it the day I went and I heard Henry preaching
on television. I had no idea who that man was. Never heard of him in my life. Until that day. But little did she know that
God was guiding her. Gently. Gently. Wisely. Guiding her to this place
where she's going to meet the Savior. Like the woman at the
well. He's going to guide her to the
place and time where she's going to be born again. A new birth
is going to happen. Now, no doubt she believed she
was saved. She wasn't looking for salvation. Or she may be
looking for the Messiah. They were. The Jews were. They
missed Him when He came. She believed she was saved. She
believed she was alright. She met with those women, it
says, to worship. To pray and to worship. And I
like this about her. When it came time to worship,
She dropped her business. She dropped her business and
she was doing it in town and went down by the riverside when
it came time for that. She dropped her business. God, I thought about this, God
put her in business in order to bring her to Philippi at this
time to save her soul. God put that woman in business.
to bring her to this place at this time and save herself. God puts His sheep where they
are on purpose. You ever wonder why am I here? Why am I in this position? Why
am I in this situation? I'm telling you, God has a purpose
and an eternal purpose in it. Isn't that enough? Is that not
sufficient? It is. And then we see the power
of God in Providence. What would Providence be without
God having the power to control it and to move it along? God overruled Paul's decision,
his desire to go to Asia. He overruled that and said, you're
going to Philippi. God opened the door by his power
for Paul to go to Philippi without a hindrance. I notice this here. Paul says, and after, in verse
10, after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to
go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called
us for to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore, loosing from
Troas, we came with a straight course, no hindrances, straight
shot, straight course to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis,
and from thence to Philippi. Boy, it was just like bam, bam,
bam. God removed all the hindrances.
He opened the door for Paul, and this is how you can tell
I believe in open doors. God removes the hindrances. If that door is open, there's
no hindrance to me going from this room to that room. If that
door is shut, and I have to pry the lock on it, that's what a
thief does. A thief prys the lock open. But God opens the door, and He
removes the hindrances. And then all the events that
had to take place were controlled by the power of God. Satan would
have hindered this. Satan would have loved to have
just broke this meeting up. He would have loved to have taken
one of those ships and shipwrecked it. Keep Paul from going to where
God told him to go. But God's power is over all things. And listen, in God's power opened
her heart. That was the hardest of all.
God opened her heart. He took this woman who believed
she was saved and opened her heart and made her understand
she was lost and needed Christ. Sovereign grace arrested this
woman just as it arrested Paul on his road to Damascus. He arrested
her. Grace arrested her. And that's
what we see next. We see the grace of God in her
conversion. It says here she worshipped God. Here's what I see. This is what
I see here. God had prepared her for grace. God's grace was already at work
on her. I believe she was walking in
the light she was given. You know, just being sincere
in worship does not mean we worship God. A man can be sincerely wrong. But this woman was walking in
the light she was given. Grace had already prepared her
for grace. The ground had been plowed and
now the sower had come along. What good is plowed ground if
you're not going to sow it? Weeds will grow back in it. But
God had plowed the ground long before she ever came to this
place. Something was going on before
Paul came down there. God had already been at work
in her. As I heard Henry say in a message he preached here
not too long ago, grace went before grace. It did. Grace is at work even when we
cannot perceive it at all. Not even in ourselves and a lot
of times not even in others, even our own and maybe God's
going to save one of them. I don't know. But that grace
will be at work before we ever know it. All the preparatory work of grace
is of God. There's a preparatory work that
goes on, and it's all of grace. And this grace was bestowed on
her in Christ before the world began, just as it was bestowed
on you in Christ. Look over 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 1, chapter 1. 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. Who hath saved us, and called
us with an holy calling not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. God took care of this whole matter
concerning you before He created the first thing. Grace was poured
out upon you in Christ before He created the first thing. And this grace, God's grace,
God's saving grace, It was effectual, wasn't it?
It was effectual. God opened her heart. And Lydia,
listen, Lydia did not open her heart. I get so sick when I hear
these men say, won't you open your heart? Won't you let Jesus
into your heart? Won't you let Him into your life?
What's He want my stinking life for? I need His life. I need in His life. You want
this mess? He already came into this mess.
Dealt with it. I need in His life. I need His life. And I need God
to open my heart. I can't open it. And Paul didn't
open her heart. Paul did not open her heart. Her heart was opened by the powerful
work of God the Holy Spirit in grace. Quietly. All those women sitting there
by the river, and I'm sure it was just a gently flowing river.
They didn't go down by a babbling brook. They went down by this
river. And God quietly opened her heart
while she sat there and heard the Gospel. A person may do many things in
religion, but unless God opens the heart, you're still lost.
That person's still lost. But grace set this one apart,
just as it set many of us apart. Grace set her apart from the
rest. You notice, if you notice this, nothing is said about the
other women. Not a word is said about them.
They're all down there. They all heard the same message.
Not a word is said about them. Distinguishing grace. They heard the same message,
but it says that God opened Lydia's heart. I can remember telling the pastor
of that place. I remember telling him the gospel
that I heard, and I was excited about it. I was excited. I found
something. He was upset about it when I
talked to him about it. He got real upset about it. And
I was like, how can you be upset with this? This is the gospel.
I'll tell you why. God opened my heart and not his. The difference. Sovereign grace makes the difference.
And the message. He heard the message. Paul preached. And it says she attended unto
the things which were spoken of Paul. Paul did not talk this
woman into a profession. All he did was talk about the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's how salvation comes.
When we preach Christ, and this message that Paul preached was
a message of grace from Alpha to Omega. He preached it's all
grace. There's never at any time a mixture
of grace and works. If so, then it's no more grace.
It was a message concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. I have no
doubt about that. It was all about Him. He probably
said, you know that prophet that Moses said would come? That's
Him. That's Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
I'm sure they heard of Him. I'm sure His fame went all throughout
that region. He probably said, you know, chapter
53 in Isaiah. That's all about substitution.
And who that is? That's Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
The one that was despised and rejected of men there. That happened
over there in Jerusalem. The one who came to his own and
his own received and not. That's him. And the rest of those
women sat there like, hmm. But she sat there like, that's
right. That's it. It's like somebody turned the
light on. That's it. I see. I see. Christ dying in the stead
of sinners. He's the Passover lamb. That's
the Passover lamb when they came out of Egypt. That's Him. That's it. It was a message concerning the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the surety of God's people. He preached Christ as the risen,
reigning Lord of heaven and earth who came to save sinners. He preached a particular redemption.
I guarantee you, He preached a particular redemption. He preached
the glory of His person. That man, Jesus of Nazareth,
is the God-man. He is God Almighty. The God whom
you women are gathered around here and you've met to worship,
the God of heaven and earth, the God of Israel, that's Him.
That's Him. That's who He is. He preached who died on that
cross. The Son of God. The Son of God. And He preached
Christ. as the righteousness. I know
He did. He preached Him as the righteousness of His people.
Lydia, these things don't make you righteous. He is our righteousness. And He preached Him, I believe,
in simplicity. He didn't complicate the whole
situation. He didn't complicate it. He preached Christ simply. And as He preached, I believe he just, I believe
he sat there and wherever they sat on him, he sat there and
he just talked to them. He just talked to them out of
the Scripture, reasoned with them out of the Scripture. And God opened her heart. We have to wait on God to do
that. That's what God. And I have no doubt he preached
the necessity of faith and repentance. Repentance toward God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, without which no man will be saved. He preached about baptism. He
had to. And when she was baptized, she was baptized. He preached
its meaning, identification with Christ. It's been identified
with Him. And she so humbly, this business
woman, so humbly submitted to that. She said, I want to be
baptized. And boy, what a good place, right
by the river. That eunuch said, you think that's
just coincidental that there's water happening to be by? The
eunuch said, here's water. What hinders me from being baptized?
You think they just happened to pass by at that exact time,
at that exact moment when he believed? God orchestrated that
thing. When he gave him faith, he said,
whoa, here's water. I want to be identified with
him. That happens when God opens the heart. You don't have to
go down. I've seen this happen a lot of
times. People go down the aisle. I had it happen to me. Get you
by the arm and just talk to you, talk to you, talk to you. Just
drive you nuts until they get you to come down front. I do believe a lot of people
went down front just to get them off their back. Because I was
in the service one time, and I remember the young man, Jake,
I don't remember his last name, but I remember his first name,
Jake. They had him by both arms for about 20 minutes. I mean,
the service was, I mean, we were ready to go home. But they got
him to the altar, and he never came back. He was my age. They embarrassed him. He was
embarrassed to death. But he went to that altar. And
they went through all their rigmarole and whatever. And he left and
he never came back. He had to if he wanted to go
home. He had to do something. That
happened. Paul didn't do that. He preached
Christ and God opened her heart and she said, I'm going to follow
Him. He's the one I came here to worship. I found the one I
came to worship. He's the one. And here's the
results of this kind of preaching. I'll tell you this, if it's of
God, it'll produce results. He said, My word will not return
unto me void. She was baptized. She followed
her Lord's command to be baptized. She was obedient to Christ. Baptism does not save. But I
have no confidence in a person who will not follow Christ in
baptism. I have no confidence in their
faith when they will not follow Christ. She heard, the Lord opened
her heart, and she said, I'm going to be baptized. And here's
another evidence of it. She opened her home. She opened her home to God's
service. She was given to hospitality. The heart that God gives is given
to hospitality. It's given to kindness. It's
given to gentleness. It's given to these things. You
can't help it. You can't help it. You cannot
help but be gracious. A gracious person that has tasted
the grace of God cannot help but be gracious. No more than
you can help breathe. And she was faithful. She said,
if you have judged me to be faithful, true faith will make you faithful. It will make you faithful. Where
there is unfaithfulness, there is great suspicion of faith. I do know this. Hungry people eat. Thirsty people
drink. And God's given faith. He's given
a heart that's hungry, hungers and thirsts after righteousness.
And you've got to be where the righteous one is preached. Because
that's the only way you can be quenched. Unfaithfulness reveals no love,
no joy in the things of God, no real hope in Christ. That's
what it reveals. Because there is no real faith
which gives real substance to the one you believe. Faith is
a substance of things hopeful. And where there's no faith, there's
no substance. Christ is not real to you. He's not real to you. He's just someone who lived.
It's like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln lived. But when he gives faith, he lives.
What was that song, He Lives in Me? I can't think of it. If Mike was here, he could remind
me of it. He lives. And then she even constrained
them to come and stay with her. She said, Paul, you're not sleeping
in the street tonight. You're not going to sleep in
a motel. You're going to sleep in my house. I'm going to put
you up tonight." And those that were with him. Our Lord said,
when I was hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave
me drink. Well, that's evidence, isn't it? This is the best evidence
that God has opened your heart. When He opens your home. He opens
your pocketbook. He opens everything you have
to His service. That's when it's evident that
God's opened our heart. God opened our heart. Lord, I
pray He opens ours too.