We'll be reading in Acts chapter
16, and then we'll work our way through our study tonight according
to our outline. Acts chapter 16, verses 20 through
33, just to remind ourselves of our context. And they brought
them, that is Paul and Silas, to the magistrates, verse 20,
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 their clothes and commanded
them to be beat. And when they had laid many stripes
upon them, they cast them into prison, and charging the jailer
to keep them safely, who having received such a charge, thrust
them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight, Paul and Silas
prayed, and saying praises unto God. And the prisoners heard
them. And suddenly there was a great
earthquake, so that the foundation of the prisons were shaken. And
immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands
were loosed. The keeper of the prison, on
wakening 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. Then he called
for a light and spring in and came trembling, fell down before
Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, sir, what must
I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved and your house. They spake unto him the word
of the Lord and unto 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 way. Thus is the reading of God's
holy and precious word. Paul and Silas, prisoners of
hope is the way I've entitled this because contextually they
are prisoners. The events that we are looking
at and have been looking at for several weeks is that they are
in the city of what? Philippi. They are in the regions
of Macedonia where they are responding to a call that was given to them
in Acts chapter 15 the vision of a man who said come over here
and help us which means contentually if we were to Affirm the fundamental
objective of the Apostles here is that they are on a missionary
journey, correct? So that being the case What is
our text? Addressing it's addressing evangelism
evangelism, that's what it's addressing and if we fail to
understand that we'll miss the dynamics of God's working and
the concept of sovereignty and Providence in the midst of these
events that are transpiring the Apostle Paul and Silas have been
blessed to run across a sister Lydia as we said two weeks ago
and and that sister was a seller of purple, fairly well-to-do,
at least she ran her business and had several people under
her, and they were a very quiet, discreet group that would separate
themselves from the populace of the city and do service to
God, at least in the context of prayer, at the riverside. We talked about that. This is
where Paul was providentially led to find them practicing communion,
prayer, To God with the hope of God revealing his glory to
them. What we saw was that how God actually Inclines people's
hearts to be interested in him enough to where they are gradually
moving into Forms of calling upon God whether it's prayer
whether it's Bible study whether it's searching the scriptures
whether it's engaging in communion with other people or The nature
and fashion in which God begins to draw us is frequently different
for everyone. And that all depends upon, I
think, your temperament. I think it depends upon your
culture. I think it depends upon your upbringing. In this context,
these would have been what we would call proselyte Jews, right? Or either actual Jews. We can't
really distinguish. We know that we're not in Judea
or in Palestine. We are in Philippi. So it's very
possible that Lydia and her group were not actually Jews, but we
don't know. so if they were proselytes then
they had come under the Jewish teaching and now they are moving
into what we call a Fundamental evidence of God's drawing in
our life and that is prayer. We talked about that at length
before Prayer is something that the book of Acts features significantly
as a first cause of grace operating in their life. It doesn't necessarily
constitute saving grace or an actual work of regeneration.
It could, but when we consider the model of Cornelius in Acts
chapter 10, didn't we learn that he prayed and God answered his
prayer? In fact, an angel came to him
and told him specifically what to do to hear words by which
he and his house would be saved. What that means then is just
because you and I are functioning in levels and practices of piety
does not actually mean we've been converted. But it is important
to know that prior to an actual conversion that there are things
that are evident tokens of God dealing with us. When we're talking
about witnessing or evangelizing and wanting to see people saved,
we're not just talking about this one moment in time. which
we're going to be dealing with here with the jailer, uh, where
someone comes to you and ask you the question, what must I
do to be saved? That would be nice. It would
be easy if that were all to it. And unfortunately, much of our
evangelism today is circumscribed around this punctiliar event
by which we get people to accept Jesus into their heart, right?
But we know better than that as being a telltale sign of salvation. Nothing in the scriptures affirms
that experience. And we are not, uh, we are not
called upon to try to press it to that point. If it happens
naturally as in our text, that's a good thing. But what we do
want to be careful to discern as people who are called to be
evangelical. And we certainly want to be evangelical,
right? We want to be people who are
capable of and inclined towards engaging men and women in the
gospel in a way that ultimately brings them to salvation. as
Cornelius, as Lydia, and as now the Philippian jailer. Like I've
said before, and it just breaks my heart when I think about it,
it's possible for you and me to go years without being the
object or vessel of God to see a soul saved. And as a Christian,
that ought to really tell us something about our priorities,
even in the matters of our heart. because it really is a heart
matter, don't you think? Shouldn't we be asking God to
grace us with the ability to know when that season occurs
by which we can share the gospel and that if he would be so pleased
to use us in our unqualified, our lack of personal supply of
grace self, that God would be pleased to use us in our weaknesses,
in our flaws to be the means by which someone comes to a saving
knowledge of Christ. Isn't that what we want? If we're
evangelical, we are. If we're grown-up Christians
or wanting to grow up as Christians, that should be the end game for
us. We should all be able to rejoice
at least in an experience by which God used us to draw someone
to himself. If we didn't get to see them
close with Christ, at least we saw how God used us to draw them
to Christ. Or somebody else drew them to
Christ, and then God allowed us to close the deal with them,
if you will. That is the heart of evangelism,
which the apostles should not have the full monopoly on. It
should be something for you. I mean, that's why our text should
be interesting to us, and I'm gonna press into it here in a
moment in terms of God's larger sovereign providential workings.
What does God do to bring his servant people into the midst
of a circumstance or set of events. And the transpiring of those
events work out towards the conversion of a sinner. What does he do?
How does God work? We all get to ask that question,
but we get to see it worked out in our texts as well. The apostle
Paul and Silas have done a marvelous work of discreetly sharing the
gospel with Lydia and her band. Away from Philippi. They are
not standing on soapboxes in the middle of the city screaming,
repent and believe on the Lord Jesus or you're going to hell.
They are not doing that. They are not bothering people
as they walk by. They are not pushing tracks into
their face. They're not forcing people to
reluctantly take their tracks so that they can go on about
their business. They are not bringing the gospel to them in
a way that is unseemly unkind or confrontational or aggressive,
as would be the case with some who think evangelism is all about
getting in people's face. They are not doing that at all.
And yet God is using them to actually bring people to a saving
knowledge of Christ. as they simply work providentially,
providentially sensitive to God's will to enter into communion
and dialogue with people who are willing to hear the gospel.
And that's really what Christ meant when he said, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel. He meant for us to go
in every way in which life Affords itself for you and me the circumstances
that we are in the places that we are in the people with whom
we engage ourselves Whether family members or not, and we are simply
looking for an opportunity to share the gospel And that's all
paul and them are doing as missionaries they by the sovereign providence
of god met these people in a community of prayer and they were able
to share the word of god opened lydia's heart didn't he And she
heard him and she attended unto his words and a fellowship started
there. And as they were practicing, and that's really the key word
here, practicing serving God in the context of communion and
fellowship, Here comes this little slave girl possessed by a spirit
of python. Remember that she joined them? They didn't go looking for her.
They didn't crash as it were cultic groups and drag her out. They didn't bring her into captivity
to the gospel in some kind of aggressive, unkind way. I'm pressing
that part home to help you understand how bad evangelism is done. Because the next thing we have
to consider is the reaction of the culture to the gospel communicated
by the apostles. Because really what I want you
to think about is what is God up to here? So a theological
frame of mind when you and I are considering biblical truths,
a theological frame of mind is always holding as a foundation
and backdrop to everything that we are considering God. That's
called theology. Where God is in the backdrop
of our contemplation, our consideration, we're asking the question, what
is God up to here? What is God up to here? Because
that will help you define the nature and character of God relative
to the event. It will help you determine the
manifestation of God's sovereignty relative to the event. And it
will help you see how God moves providentially relative to the
event. But when God is in a thing, we
can ask the question. So now how did God work all that
out? Because the final conclusion
was for a third time, Paul and Silas find a sinner bowing before
the sovereign God and believing on the Lord Jesus. That's amazing. That's amazing. And so we want
to be able to work that through. So in your outline, let's deal
with point number one as we work it through. Acts chapter 16,
verse 20 through 23, we have our first point. They will bind
you for my sake. You guys see that in your outline?
Right. So immediately what I'm doing is extracting the principles
of evangelism that were given to the disciples by Christ. And
he told them that if you are active, if you are practicing
the term in the Greek is proxies. This is why the book of acts
is called the book of the acts of the apostles, because they
are practicing what Christ told them to do. If you practice these
things, If you practice sharing the gospel, here's what you can
expect. You can expect them to do what?
Bind you. Bind you. So now, y'all ready
to be evangelists? Because binding is an expectation
that Christ said would come. Expectation. Expect them to bind
you. Expect them to bind you. He said
they will bind you for my sake. And you and I saw how in verse
20 through 24, this almost insane response on the part of the rulers. Look at verse 19. And when her
master saw that the hope of their game was gone, they caught Paul
and Silas, drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers and
brought them to the magistrate saying, these men being Jews
do exceedingly trouble our city. So as we think about what just
happened, we have to think about who is allowing this to occur.
And what is he teaching us about this? Well, God is the one that's
allowing this to occur. Is he not? Just as he is allowing
the apostles to be successful in their excursion or journey
up north, further into Asia, because they're going to land
at Thessalonica ultimately. But while they're heading that
way, they are prospering in the cause of the gospel, but prospering
in the cause of the gospel is never without some form of opposition. You can extract that as a principle
in your thoughts right now. If you want God to use you in
the matters of the gospel, you have to be willing to accept
some opposition. That's just the nature of how
God works. That's why I'm saying what we're doing right now is
called theology. We're not just reading a textbook or a historical
narrative. We're looking at this from the
standpoint now, how does God work? If I ask God to make me
a successful evangelist, What am I asking for? I'm asking for
God to grace me to be a mouthpiece for his cause, but that's going
to also require me to be ready to take hits for the gospel.
If I don't accept that into the equation, I'm going to be rudely
surprised when someone says, Hey dude, you better stop that
or I'm going to punch you in your mouth. And then I'm going
to be shocked that God would allow me to be assaulted like
that Because I didn't bring into the equation of the cause of
the gospel being met with what's our word? opposition opposition
That's the nature of the context in which the gospel is rendered
opposition And so, um, you guys got the powerpoint pull the first
point up so we can get at it They will bind you for my sake
And look with me now at Matthews chapter 5 verse 11 on that I'm
thinking that's what it is Matthew 5 11. This is where the Lord
Jesus spoke about it. He spoke about it in Matthews
24 as well, but on the Sermon of the Mount he speaks to this
in Matthew chapter 5 verse 11 Here's what he says blessed are
ye when you when men will what revile you and persecute you
and And say all manner of evil against you falsely for what
I say He says you're blessed He says you're blessed when that
happens Because now you're a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel
That's what he's saying. And so he's telling the disciples.
You got to have a beatitude mindset if you're going to be evangelical
You got to have a beatitude mindset you have to be ready to suffer
opposition as a consequence of the nature and implications of
the gospel, which I'll talk about that when we move down to our
second and third point. The gospel itself carries within it certain
divine rights and powers that when it is unhurled, unleashed,
it actually is breaking into the spiritual dimension and creating
conflict with hell. And as a consequence of that,
you and I now are in a theater of conflict. And in that theater
of conflicts, the lights are cut on and the curtains are pulled
back and we get to see who is on the enemy side and who is
on God's side. That's what occurs every time
the gospel is preached in power. If I were to reduce the screen,
shrink it down to a very practical and common scenario. Here you
are in a family meeting. Inadvertently engaging with family
members over anything whatsoever having dinner just enjoying one
another and someone says something about God and You having forgotten
the nature of the full scope of the impact of the gospel when
once you open your mouth You just slip right on in there said
but now you know, the Bible says this. I And when once you say
the Bible says this, you don't realize, but that lines are being
drawn in the spiritual dimension. People are taking positions and
a warfare is engaged. If you prolong the conversation
at length to where it becomes overtly and obviously clear that
you are holding a biblical worldview over against a non-biblical worldview,
you can begin to see the uneasy tensions occurring in the room.
And then you will have to ask the question whether or not you
have the capacity or even have the mandate to push this conversation
to the next level. Because sometimes you don't. Sometimes you don't have the
mandate to push it to the next level because you're not right.
I know you didn't think I was going to go there, but I have
to. Sometimes, you know, we have
the privilege of the gospel and all of its benefits and blessings,
But if we have not prepared ourselves to engage our loved ones around
the gospel so that our attitude is right, we fundamentally now
are actually despising our calling. And we're setting ourself up
for a carnal situation, a carnal incident that basically actually
mandates us being smitten by the outcome because we were not
discerning the situation enough to be prayerful beforehand or
prayerful during that time and therefore engaging really on
a spiritual level so that the outcome would be spiritual. Does
that make some sense? All right, so sometimes even
though we have the gospel in our lips, it's not really our
mandate at the moment to push it to the level in which it might
recall, it might cause some retort on the part of those who are
uncomfortable with what you're saying. But you can negotiate
that when you're talking, I do it all the time. When I'm engaging
with loved ones, as was the case last week, I was in Alabama.
I'm in the heart of the civil rights movement. I'm in the midst
of old schoolers, and I'm recognizing as I'm engaging with them that
there are some old trees, hundreds of years old, that are not moving
philosophically, ideologically, or any otherwise, that if I don't
want to shake those trees too hard and cause that old rotten
fruit to drop on the ground and create more stir, I better calm
it down, Jess. Calm it on down. Right? Because my aim is not to simply
cause trouble. That's not my aim. My aim is
to win people to Christ. Plus, if that was not my assignment,
even though I have the resources and arsenal to blow a thing up,
I don't have the right to blow it up unless that's the assignment
God gave me. Am I making some sense? It's
very important for us to know that. So they will bind you for
my sake. And what we see in our text in Acts chapter 16, don't
go back, keep the PowerPoint up there. There's a rushed response
and reaction on the part of the citizenry of Philippi as Paul,
as if Paul and Silas were some plague that the city had to quickly
get rid of, or it would be contaminated and everyone would die. It's
almost unreasonable the way they are rushing to punish these guys,
isn't it? Almost unreasonable other than
the fact that you and I have been told already by Christ that
the nature of the gospel In most contexts in which it is being
ushered into the kingdom of darkness is an assault against the gates
of hell So now when I remember that it's an assault against
the gates of hell now It's reasonable to me why they are acting the
way they do. I because they're being confronted
with light and men love darkness rather than light they will not
submit to the light and they'll they will marshal every resource
necessary to stop it i want you to think about this implication
a little bit because this will tie in segue with church history
um um you know throughout the next several months as we work
through it what our master told the disciples very plainly is
that the gospel will create such a stir that it will become a
matter of politics become a matter of law enforcement, will become
a matter of judicial consequences, even to the point of criminality
on the part of those who are sharing the gospel. So think
about these levels of response for a moment, because you and
I don't really get that in America right now, not yet, it's coming.
But if you were to share the gospel and then all of a sudden
the citizenry is hostile towards you. Then they apprehend you
shut you in and now move you more towards the magistrates
And now you are facing the courts and now it becomes a crime and
now you go to jail for the gospel See be very careful to be prayerful
for your missionaries Be very careful to be prayerful for your
missionaries because this is normative for them. You guys
got that I And I don't know if you ever have been in a situation
where the law has come after you in an unreasonable fashion
and has just taken you and have used all the employments of legal
force to bind you and put you in jail. You are totally captivated
by that legal power and they rush to put you in a place of
submission. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Some of y'all are
blessed not to have been there, but I've been there. I'm sorry
to say I've been there I know what it's like for the legal
earthly powers to get you and then to make you feel like you
are a criminal and to take you in the lock you up and You realize
very evidently that there's a power greater than your own physical
person that has now entered into the scenario and taking you where
you don't want to go and And that's what's happening with
the apostles. And so, and the interesting thing about it is,
you notice what our master said in Matthew chapter 5, 11, and
it probably is 12, is that they will say all manner of evil against
you and they will falsely accuse you. Here's the interesting thing
about our text. Paul and Silas are in prison,
aren't they? But what are they in prison for?
What crime did they commit? None! but they're being falsely
accused of stirring up the citizenry, taking away their commerce and
income simply because they're sharing a gospel that ideologically
and in its worldviews oppose what these Roman citizens are
used to adhering to. And this is what we dealt with
in our last outline, at least in part, and that is the conflict
that exists. The conflict that led to their
binding really had to do with the threat of worldviews. And
the one is they were polytheistic, weren't they? Polytheism means
that they believed in how many gods? Many. And what they were
hearing was monotheism, weren't they? And monotheism means that
we believe in what? One God. And these two views
are mutually exclusive. If you hold to a pluralistic,
polytheistic worldview that you believe in many gods and then
in a context of pluralism where everybody's view is equally right
and we all get to hold our different views and someone comes along
and says, no, there is but one God. Propositionally, And rhetorically,
we are at odds with one another, right? And because we are philosophically
and rhetorically at odds with one another, we now have to ask
the next question. So now how do we continue to
engage in a conversation where you hold to a view that's diametrically
opposed to my view and vice versa, and there's no reconciling the
two? Where do we go from here? So I want to take you back to
the kitchen table or the dining room table or the living room
with your relatives and loved ones and the ones who are very
comfortable with a pluralistic worldview where they say to each
his own. Everybody holds to their ideas.
You got your view. I got my view. You got your God.
I got my God. But once we enter into the conversation
and we run into that dead end where we are a conflict, what
do we do? Do we try to break through each
other's wall of theological opposition, creating all kind of dust and
matter and conflict? Or do we put it in reverse and
back it up and go down another road? Or do we ask the question,
now that we have actually come to sort of a hiatus, a fork in
the road because our propositions are opposite of each other. How
now are we going to proceed? Are we going to just call it
a truth, stop it right here, have dinner, talk about sports,
talk about something else? Or might we ask the question,
are there rules that we can lay down by which we can be civil
and rational and reasonable as we continue to talk about the
things of God? Since we both say we really like to talk about
God, Can we lay down some ground rules by which we can engage
in dialogue? You set forth your ideas. I will
listen. I will set forth my ideas. You
will listen. And then when we begin to talk
about each other's ideas and see whose ideas have merit. If we can do that, then we can
continue talking in a dialogical way, in a respectful, civil manner.
Am I making some sense? If we can do that, we can continue.
And what we get to do in that is air our views. And for me,
that is an ideal scenario. What do you mean? I don't believe
that I have the right to coerce you or subvert you into believing
anything that I say, even though I believe I'm right. until I
have been able to reason with you through the scriptures, both
from the standpoint of your willingness to hear me out as I develop my
position, and then demonstrate why my position is biblical,
coherent, logical, and reasonable. Even on a human level, not even
being saved. And I promise you, I will hear
you out as you lay out your position and your views and assess or
allege to be coherent and clear in your expression of faith as
well. What's my advantage as a believer
in a scenario like that? Well, it's not that I'm going
to hogtie the individual and bring him into the kingdom. If
that's the case, it's all about me, right? If that's the case, it's all
about me winning an argument and getting that person to say
uncle, which is not the same as salvation. I said this in our evangelism
class when we did our last evangelism class in West Oakland with a
group of brothers that were seeking to establish a local church.
I said, what's the difference between making a proselyte and
seeing a person become a believer. What's the difference between
a believer and a proselyte? Is that a good question? Right.
So get ready to write this down because you need to know it.
The difference between making a proselyte and seeing a person
come to faith is someone adhering to a set of man-made doctrines.
That's what a proselyte is. Versus a person coming to a knowledge,
a saving knowledge of the person of Christ. See the difference? The difference is a person capitulating
to a system of teaching that is man-made in origin and a person
bowing the knee to the true and the living God in the person
of Jesus Christ so that there is a real saving experience where
they are coming to a person and not just simply to the agent
of that person. So now watch this. Watch this
now. Watch this now. It's not enough for me to get
you to agree with my doctrinal views That is not salvation This
is why we see people come and go Because what they did was
bow to your reasons and your logic and your argumental skills
But they didn't come to Christ. They just came to your set of
doctrines and when when they realized that there was no power
in those doctrines because there's no power in the doctrine in and
of itself and except the power of reason through coherent, logical,
propositional, syllogistic arguments that can win a person for a moment,
but then because they haven't made a new creature in Christ,
they're gonna go back. See, that's the difference. And
so we're not into making proselytes, are we? We're not just simply
wanting people to believe our doctrine because we know that
mere doctrine alone does not translate you out of the kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son. It doesn't change
you from being a devil to an angel or a hell-bound sinner
to a saint. That requires a whole nother
radical work that's outside of the sphere of our ability to
communicate or to affect. That requires the spirit of the
living God to do something through what you said of which you know
that you don't have any part in that work whatsoever. Am I
making some sense, ladies and gentlemen? Now to stop short
of making a proselyte requires real humility, especially if
you have the gift of gab, especially if you have the ability to win
arguments, win debates, It takes a real humility to stop short
of saying, say uncle spiritually, repeat after me spiritually.
Now you're saved. I get to say, now you're saved. You don't see any of that in
the scriptures. I'm treating this right now so that once we
get to the Philippian jailer, you will observe that his response
to the apostles was not predicated by the apostles tugging on him
rhetorically with doctrinal dump trucks unloading on him ideas
that simply overwhelmed him to the point where he just collapsed
under their influence. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So it's very important for us to see how God works versus how
man works. So Their false accusations are
something that Christ said would occur. I think it's 1 Peter 3,
verse 16. You can pull that up. I love
the way Peter said it. In Peter's writings, if we were
dealing with church history, is in the later 50s, even maybe
early 60s, when the church had begun to experience increasing
persecution at that time, so that it was normative for apostolic
exhortation to be along the lines of, this is how you behave while
you're being persecuted. So first Peter really deals with
the believer knowing how to behave himself in society while he's
being thrown in jail, while he's suffering for the cause of Christ.
That's an amazing thought, really. This is how you behave while
you're suffering for Christ. Having a good conscious, see
this is what he's saying, behave the right way, right? Having
a good conscious that whereas they do what? Speak evil of you.
Stop right there. So see, now this is very important
for you to get. Thank you, Lord. If I am not
armored up. One of the strategies of the
devil in my engagement with people around doctrine teaching or whatever
is to get me to be vulnerable enough to think that this is
about me. So when they speak evil of me, that's where the
fight starts. And the goal of the enemy is
to speak evil of you to see whether or not you are armored up. Got that? Go, Lord, why did that dart hurt
so much? Because that was a part of the
armor that you left uncovered. You were wide open because you
felt like you need to be the one who is approved of and loved
and accepted, et cetera. Is that good? It's really true. It's really true. If I am not
preparing beforehand to take a hit for Christ, that's based
upon the strategy and schemes of the devil to come after me
personally. And if you really don't, aren't
persuaded in what I'm saying, just, just go to the book of
Job. What Job had to endure were accusations
against him. And they kept coming and pummeling
him, pummeling him, pummeling him, pummeling him, pummeling
him, even from his so-called what? Friends. So the point is
having a good conscience is that you and I are so clear that we
are in the will of God. That's one area in which we know
we have a good conscience. I'm not here because of some
innate desire for self glory. I'm in this situation because
God put me here and I'm not here to merely win an argument. I'm
here to be a representative of the Lord Jesus as best I possibly
can without doing injury to anyone that's listening to me. And I'm
not here to save myself because Christ told me if I save myself,
I'm going to lose myself. But if I lose myself for Christ's
sake, I will be saved. And so if I'm going to lose myself
when the hits come, because I'm nothing in my own eyes, the hits
won't abort my objective. Does that make sense? Because
I've already belittled myself in my own eyes. Because I've
said to myself, I'm nothing. Compared to what my Lord went
through, this is nothing. This is not even worth me defending
myself. You know how sometimes we want
to defend ourselves over accusations? If you and I are clear that this
is not about us, we don't even have to defend ourselves. Let's
suck that one up for the glory of God's sake. Having a good
conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as an evildoer
As of evildoers that's in the plural form because christians
were called that they may be ashamed that do what? Falsely
accuse your good conversation in christ. Now the word conversation
there is the term conduct That they may be ashamed because they
falsely accuse you when your conduct was otherwise which means
That the mandate of sharing the gospel must always be coupled
with an ethic that corresponds to the gospel. I don't get to
clown while preaching or behave in a fashion that is contrary
to the character of God or the work of the Spirit of Christ
and expect the outcome to be a blessing. I don't get to do
evil that good may come of it. Am I making some sense? I don't
get to do that. And the reason why I don't get
to do that is because I'm going to already be spoken evil of
anyway. Christ has already said they're
gonna already falsely accuse you of all sorts of things. Just
a tad of church history. They frequently blamed the Christian
for everything that was going on in the culture. Bad economy. Omens and events that would have
occurred. People dying. People living. Everything you
want to, they could blame on the Christians. And they did. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? what a scenario just because you're a christian they
found ways to blame it on you when we go into the uh diocletian
uh persecution of the church that 10-year persecution at around
the end of the third century uh a.d you're gonna see the horrible
things they did the christians just because they could like
they do in many countries now simply because they could and
if you and i don't have an ethic that they are going to speak
evil of us because they can, then we're going to not be ready
to handle or deal with that kind of opposition. Does that make
sense? So our conscience has to be clear that when they falsely
accuse you, they won't be able to actually nail you on your
conduct. They'll have to do what they
did to the prophets, what they did to the Lord Jesus, and what
they've done all throughout church history, lie. You guys got that? they will have to lie. And they
will do that too. Be sure of that. So our second sub point
is, I think I shared it already with you and there's no verses
to go to. It's just something for you to think about. We call it
the intolerable what? Pluralism. The intolerable pluralism. What do you mean by that, pastor?
In our present culture, we love to talk about tolerating everybody.
But the reality is very little toleration for a biblical worldview
is accepted virtually anywhere. So I call this the intolerable
pluralism because pluralism fundamentally and inherently suggests that
every view is equal and deserves equal airing our presence. Well, we would love that. That's
why I said, I'm fine with the pluralistic worldview. I am totally
fine with that. If you want, you know, Buddha,
and you want the Hindus, and if you want the avatars, and
you want the Gnostics, and you want the atheists, and the agnostics,
if you want the Muslims, if you want any other group to be free
to exercise their right to expression, give us that same right. I would love that world. Because
that's the best world we could have. Because the only other
world is a world where everyone believes the gospel. And that
don't happen down here. That's only in glory. So this
idea that you and I would want to make this world a monotheistic
environment is talking about bringing heaven to earth. And
that's not going to happen until Jesus comes. Does that make some
sense? Right. So the best world you
and I can live in is a world where everybody's views are respected.
This gets back to my basic objective and argument is that if I believe
I have the true gospel, what I want is to be able to air my
views. And that's it. Because I believe
that my views will prevail for those to whom God has purpose
to target my views. Am I making some sense? like
Lydia, like that slave girl who had the python spirit. She heard
the gospel like our brother in our text that we're getting ready
to deal with. Amazing, amazing. So then let's go to point number
two. Point number two, the joy of the gospel heard where? In
tribulation. All right, so here we go with
paradoxical tensions again. The joy of the gospel heard in
tribulation. People hear the joy of the gospel
heard in celebration. They hear the joy of the gospel
heard in church worship. People hear the joy of the gospel
heard in exaltations. They hear the joy of the gospel
heard when we win events, when we are awarded events. People love to talk about how
God blessed them in the ceremonies, right? BET Awards. Olympics,
sports, this and that. You get to hear the joy of the
gospel in exaltation. But do you hear the joy of the
gospel in tribulation? Does the joy of the gospel spring
up in your soul and discreetly out of your mouth when you're
surrounded by the wolves? And they go, we got him now.
And again, this year is going to show us an evidence of the
working of the spirit of God authentically in the life of
true believers who look not on things seen But things what unseen? And so we'll be able to look
at two sub points praying and singing in the midst of trouble.
Isn't that good? Praying and singing in the midst
of trouble now, let's look at this. Uh briefly in act chapter
16 i'm at verse 25 and then 26 I'm gonna start it just work
with verse 25 now at midnight now at midnight Paul and Silas
did what pray now again Luke is writing Strategically giving
us a clear chronology of the events. They've been beaten Strip
beaten they've been falsely accused. They've been thrown in prison.
They've been thrown in the inner prison They've been locked in
the stocks They're locked in the stocks hand and feet. I like
malefactors who killed somebody. They're in the worst part of
the prison. Are you guys hearing me? They're
in the worst part of the prison. Now, how many of you and I will
be crying, go get me a lawyer, go get me a judge, go get me
the rainbow coalition, go get me, you know, the NAACP, go get
me all of the advocacy groups because they treat me wrong. stay right there for a moment.
I'm making some points whether we want to admit it or not. Go
get me a bunch of advocacy groups to come see the injustice that's
taking place so they can deliver me and at that point, we are
exposed to having put our trust in men rather than in we have been exposed as to whether
or not our gospel is spiritual or social. Because a social gospel
at its foundation will depend upon social means for deliverance. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? A social gospel at its foundation will depend upon social
means for its deliverance. If my job is secretly to go into
cultures and change the culture Simply because I believe it's
unjust Then my job is to stir up events so that there's enough
notice given to the powers that be That there might be dialogue
and debate and hopefully a change of policy That's called social
justice That's a social justice gospel. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? but if my policy is to win the
hearts of men for Christ and That's a whole nother social
gospel. And it has nothing to do with
the political structures of this current system. And so in our
context, what we see is at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying.
They weren't strategizing. They were praying, praying, which
gives us an indication of who they were depending upon, who
they were calling upon, and what they were seeking. So I'm going
to give us a little time in the next 30 minutes for a little
Q&A. But in a scenario like this, and it tells us in general that
they prayed, right? We don't know what kind of prayers.
We don't know if they were doxological prayers. where all they were
doing was exalting God for His character, and for His nature,
and for His manifold names, and for His absolute sovereignty,
for His rule and immutability, for His mercy, and His grace,
and His kindness, and for His attributes. We don't know if
they're doing doxological prayers. We don't know if they're doing
supplicatory prayers. We don't know if they're laying out petitions
relative to the needs of the body of Christ all around them.
We don't know that. We don't know if their prayers
are penitential prayers. We don't know if they're saying,
Lord, you know, we could have sinned, we could have done something
wrong, we could have hurt somebody's feelings. We're in this situation
because of mischief and an evil heart. Have mercy. We don't know
if they're praying penitential prayers. We don't know if they're
praying prayers of judgment on the people as some of the Psalms
will pray. Lord, rain down judgment upon those who are doing wrong.
We don't know any of that. All we know is they're praying
to God, right? But we do have a good idea that
their prayers shifted into another mode of expression that would
have given us a little idea that their prayers were more rooted
in praise and thanksgiving to God because of his kindness and
mercy and grace and probably because of a clarity they had
that I believe you have to have when you're in tribulation. So
when you and I are in trouble, the peripheral vision that we
have narrows. It's just a natural survival
mechanism technique that we all have where when things become
a problem, we focus in on it. But once you focus in on it,
you lose peripheral vision. So you don't see the big picture
because you're locked in on that thing that's threatening you. That's what we call fear mode.
We're in fight mode. And all I'm concerned about right
now is what's in front of me. I'm not operating on the larger
periphery that God's in control. I'm not largely operating on
the larger periphery that God has brought me to this situation
and that God will deliver me through this situation and he
will deliver me out of this situation. I am full of the Holy Ghost if
I'm praying like that. Is that true? If I'm talking
like that to God, God, I thank you that you have been pleased
to use me in a situation whereby I can bring you glory. I do not
know what the outcome of this mess is all about. I do know
that you have a plan. I know you have a purpose. I
know you have a goal. I know you want us to reach people
for Christ. I don't see it. It's so black
and dark and cold in here. I don't see it. But God, the
light and the darkness are the same with you. So I'm going to
rejoice in the God of my salvation and let you do your thing. Hallelujah. So let's sing a hymn. See what
I'm getting at? Mind you, I'm saying all that
in an air-conditioned, plush, comfortable church in Hayward,
California, where they haven't come to accost me yet. At midnight,
Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns. They prayed and sang hymns. It's an amazing, amazing thought. Now watch this. They sang praises
unto God. Is that a pattern? Do we see
that in the scriptures? Is that a pattern? I skipped over point number two
to go point number three. I'll come back to point number two
in a moment. Look under the joy of the gospel heard in tribulation.
Look at James chapter five, verse 13. This is an ethical principle
that James uses in James chapter five, verse 13. Here's what he
says. This is interesting to me. James
five, 13. Is any among you what? Were they
afflicted? Yes, they were. Affliction is
always when something from the outside imposes itself upon you
and humbles you. That's always affliction, okay?
Affliction is when something from the outside imposes itself
upon you and humbles you. A physical illness can be an
affliction. Someone beating you can be an
affliction. Someone speaking evil against
you continually can be an affliction. And when that affliction has
worked its way to your nerves and brought you down, now you
are at a place where you need a remedy for the affliction.
And the scriptures tells us that the first thing we should do
when we're afflicted is what? Pray. See it? Now think about our context,
Acts chapter 16, and James's ethical response for the believer
in difficult times. Is it possible that our text
is teaching that in the midst of affliction where your mind
is weary, where your mind is worn, where you are troubled,
where you are burdened and you know you are not in a well frame
of mind, that when once you enter into prayer as your resource
for dealing with your affliction, that that prayer can work so
effectually that it brings about a settling of your mind around
your afflictions and leads you into a joyful contemplation of
the God who is taking care of your afflictions so that you
move from affliction to joy. Is that possible? Is it possible
to overcome the subtle manipulations of the inward man and his complainings
and it's troubled and it's arguments and it's fears and phobias to
where now you are rejoicing because God in his mercy has allowed
the sun to rise in your mind and you realize the nearness
of God in the midst of your circumstance and he gives you that real sense
of inner peace. That the relief of that burden
is off your shoulder and you know God is present and now you
can rejoice Have you been there? Right. So the context is telling
us that we can actually deal with two problems here are two
challenges the afflictions being dealt with by prayer leading
to joy Recommending that we sing Is it? And if anyone is married,
let him sing Psalms Ooh. Ooh. Isn't that amazing? Preserve me, oh God, for in thee
do I put my trust. Keep me, oh God, for thou art
my salvation and my strong tower. So now I am also disciplined
to understand the beauty of the Psalms as a principle of deliverance
in my soul. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. At what time I am afraid, I will
trust in thee. Oh Lord, I look unto you because
you are my rock and my salvation. And on and on and on. This poor
man cried and the Lord heard him and delivered him out of
all his troubles. and on and on and on and on we
can go with the Psalms as they remind us of the sovereignty
and the providence of God in our soul. And those Psalms are
songs, are they not? This is the day that the Lord
has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it, right? In many other Psalms, if we were
studying the Word of God and they were in our souls, would
begin to come up and help us to remember who God is in our
life. Cause that's how the spirit of
God works through the word of God. So we are being given a
key for success in the midst of trouble. As our third point
says, the joy of the gospel heard in what tribulation praying and
singing in the midst of trouble. So James gives us the recommendation,
Matthew chapter 26 verse 30 gives us a model of it with none other
than whom the Lord Jesus. Look, you know, your Bible, by
the time you get to Matthew 26, it's all about Christ and him
being crucified. Now listen to what it says. And
when they had what, sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount
of Olives. The Lord sang a hymn with his
disciples and contextualized what was about to take place.
He basically volunteered to be assaulted by hell, but his heart
is already full of joy resting in his God. Absolutely amazing. So now, I'll just say this as
we, deal with our second point and move forward. When our Lord was hanging on
the cross, did he sing? Yes, he did. This is why you gotta know your
Bibles. Are the Psalms songs? Are the Psalms songs? My God, My god, why have thou
forsaken me? We're getting ready to deal with
the shepherd psalm this wednesday And the shepherd psalm is a triplet
of three psalms. You can't understand psalm 23
without psalm 22 And you can't appreciate psalm 23 without psalm
24 Without the cross There's no confidence for the
sheep to get the glory. You guys got that? Without that
confidence of getting the glory, we don't get to see the eschatological
conclusion of what Psalm 24 lays out for us. Who is this king
of glory? Who is this king of glory? Open up ye gates, ye everlasting
doors, and the king of glory shall come in. It's a wonderful
triad of the centrality of the triumphant nature of Christ in
leading his sheep to glory. But our Lord sang on the cross. And it's amazing if you really
were to just study the way those seven sayings are laid out. Our
Lord was thoroughly biblical in everything he said. Reaching
back into the Old Testament, affirming scripture while suffering
for our cause. To teach us the joy of the gospel
in the midst of tribulation at its epitome. Are you guys following
what I'm saying? So what's our Lord full of the
Holy Ghost on Calvary Street? Yes, he was. Yes. He was so then
our second point goes like this The Word of God cannot be what
right and fundamentally what I'm doing is I'm just basically
looking at what they did to the Apostles and my thoughts reflected
on verse 24 when it says verse 22 23 and 24 says when they had
laid many stripes upon them that wasn't enough they cast him into
prison And then they charged the jailer to keep them there
safely. That means they had a watch over them. Who having received
such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and met their
feet in their shocks fast, which means they were bound, right?
Bound, bound, bound. But what's my argument? Even though the
apostles were bound, what was not bound? The gospel. Right. Now think about this for
a moment. I'm going to get past this really
quickly. If the apostles were not thinking
properly, and if they were anthropomorphic in their view, if this was all
about them and not Christocentric in their worldview, they wouldn't
have known that what they were supposed to do while they were
bound was to let loose the Word of God. If they were man-centered
in their view, if they were self-centered, if they were narcissistic, if
this was all about them, their mouths would have been shut.
They would have been dumb. Their tongues wouldn't have been
loosed. They wouldn't have been free to preach the gospel in
the midst of their bondage. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? This is why Paul himself made it very plain. I might be
bound but the word of God is not bound. Second Timothy chapter
2 verse 9. We'll look at it quickly. And this again is this sort of
paradoxical nature of your Bible. It's very important for you to
know the vast majority of suffering Christians are almost always
bound by the carnal powers of this world. The vast majority
of suffering Christians are almost always bound by the carnal powers
of this world. So what the carnal powers of
this world do is immediately respond to the free proclamation
of the gospel by bounding the purveyors of it. The goal of
the enemy is to bind you. Are you hearing it and his job
in binding you is to exercise his pseudo his pseudo his false
Authoritarian role in this world as someone who has the power
to control It is a pseudo authority In that it doesn't have the capacity
to bind you totally but only superficially God has allowed
this in his sovereignty Binding and loosening. Binding and loosening.
Binding and loosening is the sort of dynamic of the conflict
between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. Is that
true? What does the kingdom of darkness like to do? Bind. What
does God like to do? Loose. He binds, God blows it up. He
binds, God blows it up. Doesn't he? Right. We're in I
suffer trouble and he's talking about for the gospel. That'd
be very clear in verse 8 as an evil doer even unto what? Paul
said I suffered trouble as an evil doer and this was commissioned
to me in Acts chapter 9 when the master told me Paul you are
a chosen vessel unto me To bear my name unto the Gentiles and
to the Jews for you must suffer many things for my name's sake
He knew that Paul you got to suffer brother for me and look
at his ethic We're in our supple trouble for the gospel as an
evildoer even unto bonds. That's where we are in our text,
right? Paul is writing this to Timothy in about the year 67
ad The next year he's going to have his head cut off by Nero
He's letting Timothy know that I'm born to change. I Of a prisoner
a malefactor for the cause of the gospel. Here's what he says,
but the word of god is not bound Isn't that amazing But the word
of god is not bad. You cannot bind the word of god
You believe that? Listen to psalm 105 verse 16
psalm 105. So this is what we where we love
the balance between the old and the new Because the old is a
foreshadow of the new. The new is a confirmation of
the old, but the patterns are consistent because the enemy
works the same way in the old as he does the new. Were the
people of God in the Old Testament frequently bound? Of course they
were. That's what the whole book of
Hebrews is about. Chapter 11 particularly. They
suffered for the cause of the gospel. Now listen to this. Are
we there? Moreover, God called for a famine upon the land. That
is the land of Palestine where Israel was. And he break the
whole staff of bread. This would reach over into Egypt.
Verse 17. And then he sent a man before
them, even Joseph, who was sold for what? So Joseph being sent
by God. That's evangelism. Sent by God. He was sent by providence through
the process of what? Bondage. The text says God sent
him, but how would he get there? As a slave. He's in bondage. You got that? See, so even that
paradigm is affirming itself in the life of God's free servant,
because he's God's free servant, isn't he? But how is he going
to get to Egypt? As a slave. So what God is saying
to Joseph and he's saying to you and me is we live with this
paradox of being in the world, not of it, the world hating us
and despising us. And it's natural retort towards
our gospel and our alien status is to bind us. And we have to
be able to operate biblically in that bondage. So that bondage
is actually going to be God's tool of providence. This is why I was saying earlier
in the opening of our study if you and I are not studying the
Word of God Theologically and therefore asking the question.
What is God up to? We might actually find ourselves
disagreeing with God's methods In fact, I know we do I Know
we disagree with God's methods because we're not prepared to
accept his methods when we're not prepared to accept his presence
in all things If I'm not thinking through The Coramdale principle
of God is present with me. Lord, I'm with you always even
to the end of the world. If God says he's with me always and
then I find myself in a mess, is he still with me? See what
I'm getting at? If he says, I'm going to be with
you in the dark time, I'm going to walk through the fire with
you. You won't be burned. And when the floods come, they
won't overwhelm you because I, the Lord, your God, am your redeemer,
the Holy one of Israel. Shouting words and tell that
water start going down my throat. And I'm gargling saying, where
is my God? Or the fire gets hot. Right? We love to talk he sent a man
before them even joseph who was sold for a servant verse 18 watch
this There you go, are we there she did she get it Okay, so we're
working on go there psalm 1 105 18. There we go So let me get
there in my bible. We need to practice anyway practice
this anyway He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold
for a servant, whose feet they did what? Hurt with fetters.
Do you see Paul in him there? Whose feet they hurt with fetters.
He was laid in iron. Nothing new, right? Watch verse
19. Are you there? Until the time
that his word came. You see what God word did? It
came into the midst of the situation. God's Word came. Why? Because
God's Word is not bound. God's Word came and did what?
And the Word of the Lord did what to Joseph? Tried him. So
Joseph is in bonds. He's in change. He's already
had the vision. He's going to be the ruler. But
this brother is a slave. He's in change. And what is the
Word of God coming to him saying? Joseph, I'm with you. Remember
the vision. I'm not a God that lies, fails
or change. You can trust me. So what is
the Word of God doing for Joseph? Liberating him in his soul. Not
his circumstance, his soul. Do you see it? Liberating him in his soul, not
his circumstances. Another little tidbit about church
history that we're gonna deal with. What Bible version was
Joseph reading while he was in bondage? What translation of the scripture,
copy of the scriptures that he had in front of him? Was he in
the stocks with his cell phone and the biblical text right there?
Was he scrolling down to Psalm 105 or John 8 31? If you are my disciples, you
will continue in my word and you shall know the truth and
the truth shall set you free. Verse 36, Whomsoever the son
shall set free will be free indeed. So the first thousand years of
church history, the vast majority of our brothers and sisters had
to memorize the scriptures that were preached to them by the
bishops because they did not have the Bible in print extant. Thy word have I hid in my heart
that I might not sin against thee. Got it? can't come back
if it didn't come first. See it? That's why I know we're
in trouble in our present day. Verse twenty. Verse twenty. The king sent and what? That's good. Now, in the historical
context, of course, this is gonna be the king of Egypt. In the
larger redemptive context, this is the king of glory. And the
king of glory always loosens his servants when the enemy binds
them. Is that the case? In the book
of Acts, let's go back to our Acts account. In the book of
Acts, have the disciples already been bound before? Of course.
Peter was bound. Angel came in and did what? Delivered
him. Delivered James. And Paul and them are about to
experience that too, right here in our text, to underscore the
larger cosmic and redemptive realities that's in our text.
When we're dealing with them binding us for his sake, we know
that we are going to experience some of that. But even though
we experience it, the Word of God is not bound. The enemy binds,
but God loosens. Biblical evangelism does what? Identify with the sinners. Love it. Good. So now what we're
doing is understanding the nature of evangelism on the practical
level. And this gets into the nature
of the proposition that I have shared with you so many times
that God values what? And because God values relationships,
he meets people where they are. The nature of evangelism should
always be that we meet people where they are. We must identify
with people where they are. In this context, God in his sovereignty,
has taken his servants and done several things of which the culture
will have to answer for it. Several things of which the disciples
or the apostles as a human being might've said, Lord, what was
this all about? Why did we get hijacked? Why did we get beat
publicly? Why did we get thrown in jail?
You can certainly ask the question, but I'm here to tell you, God
may not get you to answer because the secret things belong unto
the Lord. Deuteronomy 29 29, right? So
when God don't speak just go to Deuteronomy 29 29 what God
has said don't worry about it Don't worry about it You just
hold on Because sometimes he don't want you to be distracted
by the process when he actually has a goal for you to accomplish
Am I making some sense? So the goal for you and me now
is that we are situated in a prison scenario where we are in the
inner court of the prison, in the darkest part of the prison,
in the coldest part of the prison, locked down in this dark, cold
part of the prison. Ready? With prisoners. How much does God love sinners
that he would take his servants like seed and throw them into
the midst of a soil that he's already begun to prepare in their
hearts because he has given them the hard tasks of life, showing
them that they are by nature, what? Sinners. And it's undeniable
that they are sinners, even on a legal level, they are sinners.
I guarantee you, there's hardly a person in this church Yeah,
I said church. In the church in our context.
Because the word church, ekklesia, just simply means a gathering.
Are these prisoners gathered? Y'all ready to go to church?
Are these prisoners gathered? Did the sovereign Lord gather
them together? Did he gather them together under
his justice of law? Did he apprehend them by the
power of the law to bring them into this prisoner state so that
they would be available to hear the gospel as a whole group at
one time? Would God do that? Would God
take hell-bound sinners and throw them in jail? Say, now you've
been running, but I'm gonna get you now. You go in the church,
buddy, girl, you go in the church and I'm getting ready to see
and see my choice preachers up in there and y'all getting ready
to hear the gospel. See, that's good. See, that's
good. This is how we redeem every event. This is how we know that God
is able to save to the uttermost those who come to him by faith.
This is how we know that we have to stop looking on external things
and realize that God is often dealing with the heart. And that
when he's breaking our knucklehead gorilla sons and our chimpanzee
daughters down because they be clowning and nothing can bind
them like legion, no man can bind them, but God can bind them,
gotta throw them in jail. And we go, Lord, why you do that?
because I want them to hear the gospel. You guys hear him? And that's
why he gives many of us such a passion to go in. Some of us
he has delivered out, we go back in. I'm hoping to put together
a collage of all the ministries that we do here at Grace because
most people think they know us. They don't know us. They don't
know what we do after we leave these four walls. We'd be penetrating. We'd be going in. that some of
us have been in there. We know what it's like to be
in a incarcerated state where we're thinking that nobody cares
about us. And sometimes only in that state will we actually
hear the gospel. And what's amazing about it is gospel ministers
go up into the prisons exactly like God told us to do. Isn't
that right? So for the first time, some people
now must hear the gospel. because he sends them in there.
In this case, the apostles were thrown into the midst of a scenario
by which biblical evangelism, that's crystal centric in nature,
goes inside of the same pit that sinners are in to let sinners
know that God uses sinners to save sinners with a sinner's
gospel. You got that? God uses sinners
to save sinners with a sinner's gospel. This is a sinner's Gospel Sinners gospel This is why people
don't like our gospel that much Jan especially religious folk
I'm just telling you religious folk are not gonna adopt the
true gospel because it's a sinner's gospel And religious folk are
not sinners anymore often They done with sin. They holy now
they Saints now Saints are the most high God clean now Don't
come near me. I'm holy. They wouldn't dare
be found shredding the depths with filthy sinners Because they
saved Haven't you heard it? I'm not a sinner anymore Yeah,
and you act like it You act just like it So we don't expect to
find you with sinners eating with tax collectors and publicans
and harlots and dope fiends and and rappers and and crazy folks
and Our skid row brothers and sisters. We don't expect you
there We don't expect you struggling through all of the dynamics that
human beings struggle through because they're sinners We don't
expect you there. The only people we expect there
are sinners Who are wanting to reach sinners? with a sinner's
gospel Are you hearing me? That's the only people we expect
there. People who are still sinners, saved by the grace of God, who
are willing to reach sinners so that they might be saved by
the grace of God. That's our context. That's our
context. Does God do that? And is Paul
and Silas now following the paradigm of the master of the Lord Jesus?
The rulers of the church said he eats Republicans and sinners. See him? He let that harlot woman
touch him see that if he were really the Messiah he'd a new
who touched him That's religion Do you hear me? I saw religion
talks They crossed the street as y'all heard from my elder
last Sunday They make they fetch a compass and go around Because
they have nothing of any capacity to meet the need of that desperately
lost sinner Religion has no power to say
Are you hearing me? Right. So the two things going
on the enemy bonds, but God losing biblical evangelism identifies
with sinners conditions and that's Isaiah chapter 61 verse 1 and
2 Isaiah 61 the spirit of the Lord God hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the poor He's called me to set the
captives free to loosen those that are bound. I That's the
nature of the gospel The spirit of the lord god is upon me because
the lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek That
is those who are suffering and he has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted to proclaim what? Liberty to the captives and the
opening of the what? To them that are what? boom Because
our text now Is literally going to fulfill this passage as a
massive implication of the spiritual reality behind it Let's look
at the text This is how I love a crystal-centric hermeneutic.
And I know this Bible is about Jesus. It's not about you, it's
not about me, it's not about Paul, it's about Christ. And
it's about the power of the gospel to do for us what we cannot do
for itself. This is crazy. This is my last point for today.
I'll open up the mics in a moment so we can do some fifth inning.
But now watch this. This is what it says, and then
I'm gonna shut it down. And I want you to think about the implications
for next week, okay? Think about this. and as they
prayed and sang praises unto the god unto god the prisoners
what heard them well so paul and barnabas were
worship leaders told you we had church we had church and church
is taking place at midnight the darkest hour and for prisoners
midnight is the more most tormentuous time, because it's the darkest
part of the night where you got to deal with your conscience.
And can you sense the healing balm of praise and exaltation
and biblical proclamation taking place in the quietness of that
conclave of cold, dark prison where Paul probably started off
preaching the Genesis account. And then Silas jumped on the
Exodus account. And then Paul went back in front
of him and dealt with the Leviticus account. And then Silas went
in front of him and did the Numbers account. And then they both closed
out in Deuteronomy, the second giving of the law. And they showed
how Joshua took Moses' place and brought the children of Israel
through Jordan, dry, shy into the promised land. And they made
it all the way up to Malachi, speaking about him who is coming,
the messenger of the covenant to deliver the people of God.
And how that the hearts of the fathers will be turned back to
the children and children to the fathers as the prophet closes
out And they're hearing the unfolding of god's biblical truth concerning
him of whom the scripture says lo I come and the volume of the
book it is written of me to do that will oh god They were hearing
the gospel and just think about them learning how to sing right
along with silas and paul as they're singing the hymns come
thou fount of every blessing hard to sing thy praise. And as they are singing, God
says, I think I'm going to join in on this. I think I'm going
to join in on this. This sounds good. And we read
over in verse 26. And suddenly there was a great
what? Boom. So that the foundations of the
prison were what? Shaken while Paul and Silas were
praising God. Now you can use the word coincidence
if you want to, but I know better. And then I want you to see what
happens. The earth shakes while his servants preach and pray.
And while the prisoners in the pews are listening, they all
experienced the presence of God. Cause that's what the earthquake
represents. listen to what the text says and all the doors were
open. Boom! Every door in the prison
open. Every door. Every door opened. Boom! There was a legion of angels
that were down there because they were worshiping too and
the Lord said do it and they just slammed those doors open.
Boom! Door after door, door after door, door after door. All the
doors open and every shackle loosed. Do you see? Every shackle loosed. Every shackle. Every shackle. There wasn't one brother who
didn't experience the power of the gospel. They were all liberated. And one of them, do you understand
that? This is a picture of the true
church of God's elect Under the gospel sinners. They are saved
by grace Experiencing the presence and power of God Liberating them
from the curse of the law Are you guys hearing it? That's the
power of the guy. Hey, can you imagine who? Free free free In the middle
of the night, free. In the middle of the night, free.
Isn't that amazing? Free. But now I'm going to leave
it right there because it's pitch black. You understand? It's pitch black. And this here
is the first work of the Spirit in a revelation of the soul's
need for light. But the light is not taking place
as of yet because God has some things to work through in our
context. And we'll take that up next time. Questions? Going once, going twice. Question
one, two. We got a couple of questions.
All right, I need a runner right quick. We'll get out of here
in a moment. Yeah, not you, Jan. Not you. You too slow. I love
you. I love you, brother. I love you.
You know, you want to vote. You know, you look at it. No, I don't think
I'm going to do it. That's something. Yeah, that's
how it is when we owe. We want to save our latent strength.
No, I think I'll save it for something else. Uh good evening. I ran across something this um
or yesterday and I didn't know how to handle it. I was asked,
what did Recreation have you heard of
this? Yeah, that's a stupid. Well,
I figured that but So now if you figured that but I didn't
you know, I didn't know so now if you figured that So, let me
help you biblically. Okay. Thank you when stupid people
Ask stupid questions and you respond to that stupid question
with a stupid answer That makes you what? Makes you stupid. Right. So now I'm not saying you did
that, but I'm just saying that you have all of these weird sort
of statements that are made by people, right? But what was the first day versus
the eighth day? See, it's so dumb. I mean, I've
heard them forever. My logic kicks in I say can you
tell me what the first day was did I tell you what he did on
a day? Was the first day Wednesday? So that the eighth day is Thursday.
I was the first day Tuesday so that the eighth day is Wednesday.
I was the first day Saturday so that the eighth day is Sunday,
which day was it? See what I'm saying because that's
the way our Lord dealt with them, too. I Answering a question with
a question so that you can deal with the folly of the person
who is not really being respectful for biblical truth You really
have to ask the question because every question does not merit
a response Are you guys hearing me? Your job is not to be the
Bible answer man. I Told you what Luther said to
one of his students who was trying to find out what God was up to
before he was doing the will of God right y'all remember that
sending people to hell for asking stupid questions You didn't want Luther to be
your professor. But a lot of times you get questions
by religious people that really are irreverent. And they're trying to catch you
in your lack of discernment about irreverent statements. Do you
understand that? There was nothing really relevant
about it. It was it's called an open question. That is nothing
but a baited question Because he didn't give you a context
for day one. What's what's what's day eight day eight is nothing
without day one Do you understand that so when the Bible says that
they circumcised the firstborn on the eighth day? They had a
starting point. It was the birth of that child
and Does that make sense? But we're not dealing with a
chronological day, that is to say, whether it was a Wednesday
or Thursday, but a numerical day relative to a starting point.
So give me a starting point. And if you give me a starting
point that's biblical, I might give you an answer that's biblical
relative to an eighth day. But if you're giving me an open
statement, how can I answer that without looking like a fool like
you? Does that make sense? You want to say one more thing
about it? Okay. After the Sabbath he created
the races Okay, see there you go. That's why that's exactly
why I Didn't want to go there That's exactly why you guys understand
what I'm saying. Now, you guys understand what
I'm saying now, so he simply baited her to buy her into this
ethnocentric doctrine that we're dealing with and Because they
just did for some reason folk got to find their identity outside
of christ Are you hearing me? All right, so No, you know what? The bible tells me six days the
lord made heaven and earth And on the seventh day god rested
from all his works which he had made Right, so everything now
is brought into creative form. All it has to do is continue
processing itself, right? And on the sixth day he made
who man Do you understand that? So we don't have to actually
even worry about what happened day 9, 10, 10,000. We know what
happened. The mandate to procreate and
proliferate had already been given in Genesis 1, 26 and 27. But this is how people lead you
into weird doctrines. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
All right, so we'll leave it right there. Any other questions before we,
any other questions? Y'all dead and tired. All right, let's stand
for prayer. Yeah, be careful about these
folks going around Talking about being the Israel of God Hebrews
and the black Jews and Let me give you I'm gonna give you a
real short terse answer for all that are you ready? If they deny
the person and work of Christ They're talking apples and oranges
with biblical Christians And if you should engage them
without first letting them know that So long as you are rejecting
Jesus Christ for who he is and what he did, we really will never
ever come to any reasonable conclusion because you're a legalist while
I'm a child of grace and the two systems are mutually exclusive.
You are either as it were a neo-Jew, neo-Hebrew or liberated by the
finished work of Jesus Christ. These are the only two systems
in the world. Works religion, Salvation by grace in Christ
alone apart from works. Are y'all hearing me? So I'm
not baited by whether or not it was black folks that got put
on ships and and dragged to Egypt It could have been yellow folks
But the man that saved me is the God man Jesus Here's what
he says in 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 15 henceforth we know no man
after the flesh is Our doctrine is not about the flesh. It's
not about ethnicity. We don't even know Christ after
the flesh. We don't argue about his Jewishness.
We call him the God-man and he's the savior of the whole world.
If you want to reduce him down to his ethnicity, you have missed
his true nature and you have missed his eternal work. But
that really is the problem. They have actually denied the
gospel. So the only thing you're left
with when you deny the gospel is salvation by works And so
long as you're doing that you might as well puff up the flesh
And that's why a whole bunch of black people get sucked up
into that because they're still lost in their ethnic identity
Give you one more free this won't cost you anything Distinct ethnicities
white black latino asian, etc are fictitious distinctions,
just like gender bending is fictitious distinctions. Fictitious. Ain't nobody in here pure black
or pure white. And so long as you argue for
those faulty distinctions, you're not operating on a premise of
truth. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying? And this is what
the Christian gospel liberates us from when we are truly rooted
in it. Had a relative of mine try to
jump on me a couple weeks ago and the lord gave me grace again
Hallelujah for not blowing up the fellowship that night. Thank
you lord. I'm growing Sitting there talking
about The black people the true jews the black people the true
jews and the white folks is the people that's under the curse
Y'all heard that I'm sitting there looking at this negro's
daughters And they're as light as Vanessa
and light as you. I said, boy, don't you understand
you just condemn your own children? Because Massa jumped over the
fence somewhere down the line. The slave girl decided she wanted
to be in the house, big house, instead of the coal house. Are
y'all hearing me? And this is why his daughters
were embarrassed while he was arguing for this sort of so-called
black superiority, when they were as light as all get up,
as are many of my children. The spectrum demolishes this
faulty distinction of black and white. Am I making sense? And thus the Lord's lineage was
bled through by all kinds of sinners, black and non-black. That's the true gospel. And if
we preach anything else, we have completely missed the glory of
God. Father, thank you for this time.
Thank you for my brothers and sisters. Thank you for this glorious
gospel. Continue to work saving us, them, and everyone you have
called by the name of your darling son, Jesus Christ. As we go our
way, give us traveling mercies. Prepare us to worship you as
you ought to be worshiped on Sunday, we pray in Jesus' name,
amen.