That's chapter sixteen. Now,
let's pick up where we left off at verse twenty-five. and at midnight, Paul and Silas
prayed and saying praises unto god. Isn't that amazing? And the prisoners heard them.
Someone said they could lock and suddenly there was a great
earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and
immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bands were
loosed and the keeper of the prison Awaking out of his sleep
and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would
have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, do thyself no harm, for
we are all here. Then he called for a light, that
is, the jailer, and sprang in and came trembling and fell down
before Paul and Silas. and brought them out and said,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. And they
spake unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in
his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed
their stripes, and was baptized, he in all his straight way. And when he had brought them
into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing
in God with all his house. And when it was day, the magistrates
sent the sergeant, saying, let those men go. And the keeper
of the prison told this, saying to Paul, the magistrates have
sent to let you go. Now, therefore, depart and go
in peace. But Paul said unto them, they
have beaten us openly, uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us
into prison. And now they thrust us out privately,
nay, verily. But let them come themselves
and fetch us out. And the sergeants told these
words unto the magistrates, and they feared when they heard that
they were Romans. And they came and besought them.
Please leave, pretty please leave. And they came and besought them
and brought them out and desired them to depart out of the city.
And they went out of the prison and entered into the house of
Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they comforted
them and departed. As we read earlier in the first
half of the chapter, Paul has been directed by a vision given
him to come to Macedonia, and he comes there to the city of
Philippi. And we read how God opened the
heart of Lydia in verses 13 through 15. The conversion of this woman. I made a note here, despise not
the day of small things. And then I thought, Larry, that's
not so. That's not so. The conversion
of this woman was not a small thing. It might appear so as
the beginning of the church, but as you read the letter Paul
wrote to them afterwards in his epistle to the Philippians, it
became a flourishing and a prosperous church, serving God and helping
the apostle. materially, whom he said no other
church did at that time. No, the conversion of Lydia was
not a small thing. But in reality, it was a great
thing, was it not? Neither is any conversion. Any
other conversion is not a small thing. Consider what's required. Consider what's necessary in
the conversion of a sinner. For example, we read there, whose
heart the Lord He opened her heart. We sang in our bulletin
to Him a moment ago, at one time, Jehovah Lord Jesus meant nothing
to me. That's the truth. Meant nothing
to me. The prophet asked, is it nothing
to you? All ye that pass by, yea, more
than that, it's Christ himself asking. Does it mean nothing
to you? All you that pass by, look and
see. If there be any sorrow, liken
to my sorrow. And does it mean nothing to you?
The Son of God hangs on the tree, bearing the sins of all His people. He's forsaken of God. He endures
what we cannot enter into, what the old writers most properly
referred to as the unknown sufferings of Christ. He trod the winepress
alone. Alone! Oh, and what loneliness! He who was with God and was God
is forsaken of God. I can't understand what sort
of loneliness that must have been. When he who knew no sin
was made sin for you and I. And he asked, he asked, does
it mean nothing to you? Does it not move you? Does it
not demand your attention? Does it mean nothing to you as
you pass by and behold me? Is it nothing? And sad to say,
it was nothing to me. It meant nothing to me, John,
until this. Until the Lord opened my heart,
just as he did Lydia. Paul faithfully preached the
gospel, but as we said, he couldn't do this. This is God's work. As Paul himself would write afterwards,
for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness have
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge. Aren't
you thankful? Aren't you thankful? He turned
the light on. You sat in darkness, just like
Barnabas by the wayside begging. And you weren't even aware of
the darkness. And it may have been religious
darkness and natural spiritual darkness. But you sat engulfed
in darkness. And it meant nothing to you until
He turned the light on and gave you the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And now by that amazing act of
God's grace we can sing, He's everything to me. He's everything
to me. Oh, thank God it was true. It
was true. At one time he was nothing to
me. Oh, but now Jehovah Lord Jesus is all things to me. God opened my heart. Thank God. Thank God I'm thankful. Very thankful that what we hear
so much of on every hand today is not true. It's not true. And I mean these sort of things
we hear. And we've heard them all our
life. And we hear them today. It's up to you. It's up to you,
sinners are told. God's done all that he can do. What kind of God is that? He's
done all that he can do. Open your heart. Were you ever
told that? Open your heart and let Jesus
come in. Dare I trust such a God as that? Ask yourself. Are we so foolish
to trust such a God as that? A God that's done all he can
and left the most crucial? up to me? One dead in trespasses
and sins? Oh, no, no. The only reason I
would trust such a God is that if it doesn't matter at all to
me where I spend eternity, then I'll trust that God. If I don't
have any sins that need forgiven by mighty grace, then I'll trust
that God. Oh, but But if my heart's been
opened, if I've been made aware by His sweet mercy of my sin,
then I need not that God, but this God, this one, looking for
that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God, the
great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. What did He do? Exactly what He came here to
do. Who gave Himself for us. That
He might redeem us. That He might redeem us from
all iniquity. Did he? Was he successful? Oh yes, glory to his name. He
bore our sins in his own body on the tree, and he bore them
away. After Lydia's conversion, Paul
cast the demon out of the soothsayer, and now he's gone too far. He
hit them where it hurt the most, their bank account. No. Oh, he's gone too far now. We've
got to do something. So this is what really landed
him and Silas in prison. Look again at verse 25. And at
midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and
the prisoners heard them. Imagine that. Listen to what
Paul himself wrote afterwards in writing his epistle to this
church. He refers to them as my brethren
dearly beloved in Philippians 4 and 1. And longed for it, my
joy and crown. So stand fast in the Lord, my
dearly beloved. And then in verse 4 he says,
Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, Rejoice. Rejoice. Oh, this is the kind
of joy that glows in the dark. Paul was hurting. He had just
been beaten. He was cast into prison, but
he knew everything. Everything that comes to pass,
even this, was in the will and purpose of God. Oh, blessed be
God! He works in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform. He plants His footsteps in the
clouds and He rides upon the storm. God brought all this to
pass. He used the soothsayer. He used
the magistrates. He brought all this to pass to
put Paul in prison because there was a jailer there that he loved
with an everlasting love. So he brings all this together
so that jailer can hear the gospel and believe. Isn't that glorious? And Paul was aware that all things
work together for good. This was no accident. This didn't
catch God off guard. Paul didn't become an emotional
basket case. He sang praises to the God that
he professed to believe in. May God give us grace to do the
same. And setting in prison again,
when he wrote this epistle afterwards back to the church. He's in prison
at the time he wrote it. And he says, Now I speak, not
rather, that I speak in respect of want. For I have learned in
whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. Paul practiced
what he preached, didn't he? I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me. And he did that here, didn't
he? In Acts chapter 16. At midnight, they sang praises
to God and prayed. There they are, beaten, bloody,
cast into inner prison, their feet chained in the stocks, and
yet, what did Paul and Silas do? They prayed to their God
and sang praises to His name. Do you think they sang something
like this? content with beholding his face,
my all to his pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. While blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy would appear, and presents would palaces
prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. And prisons were palaces proved
if Jesus would dwell with me there. Look at verse 26. And
suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the
prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors
were opened and everyone's bands were loosed. And the jailer,
assuming assuredly, they're gone. They're gone. And he had received
a charge as we read previously. They were committed to his keeping. He was responsible for these
prisoners. And if they would escape, his
life would be forfeited for theirs. You remember in Acts chapter
12, when Herod killed James? Because he saw it pleased the
Jews, he arrested Peter as well. But God opened the prison doors
and Peter walked out. We read the next day, Herod was
much displeased and he killed those responsible with the sword. And this jailer knew the same
would happen to him. So he's ready to commit suicide. Ready to take his own life. That's what the law demanded.
The law of Rome. But you know what? God's holy
law declares the wages of sin is death. And all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Infinitely short. Joe, no matter how I try, No
matter how determined, no matter what I sacrifice, no matter what
I do, it doesn't matter. I fell infinitely short of the
glory of God, of what God demanded. And the wages of my sin was deserved
death. Everlasting, eternal death. Oh, look at verse 28 though. But, but, there it is. But, Paul stopped this man. He's ready to fall on his own
sword. And Paul looks out and says,
don't do it. Don't do it. We're all still
here. But I was once in darkness. And though I didn't know it,
didn't have any better sense, I was committing spiritual suicide. I walked every day of my life
on the very brink of hell. And the only reason The only
reason that I didn't fall in was because of this, but... but God. I saw others fall in,
but God. I look back and see a 16-year-old
boy that looked up to me, so I taught him how to get drunk
and every other sin I could think of. And he went out to meet God
drunk on booze that I'd given him in the back seat of a demolished
car right behind me. But God. But God. The man who stopped this jailer
from killing himself afterwards wrote these words. I was a blasphemer. I was injurious. I was a persecutor. But God. Oh Elani, but God, but God who called me by His grace, blessed,
blessed words, but God broke my stubborn will, but God brought
me to the feet of the Redeemer, but God was pleased. And the reason can only be in
Himself. God was pleased to reveal His
Son to me. But God, what blessed words of
grace. But God, but God, what blessed
words of grace. He broke my stubborn will. Throughout
the great eternal age, I'll chant His praises still. Verse 29, Then he called for
a light and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before
Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must
I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. Verse 30, you have a question.
Verse 31, you have the answer, the only answer. The question,
verse 30, sirs, what must I do to be saved? I've heard a few
messages taking this verse, this question, put forth by the jailer
to Paul and Silas. I've heard messages on that verse
that primarily consisted in proving that this jailer, by his question
to Paul and Silas, must have been a rank Arminian. That was
the essence of the message. He was a freewheeler, was the
point. And their contention was, since he couldn't do anything,
his question was altogether wrong. Altogether wrong. I altogether
disagree. Oh, no. Oh, no. Now, there's
no doubt. There's no doubt that he was
a freewheeler, Arminian, whatever you want to call it. But do you
know anybody who wasn't before God saved them? Do you know anybody
that wasn't before God saved them? Oh, I know men claim to
have a knowledge in their head. But do you know anybody in their
heart of hearts who wasn't a freewheeler before God, by free grace, taught
them better? We're born that way. It's inbred
in us. We all think we can do something
to merit God's mercy until He teaches us better. Our Lord told
the religious leaders of His day in John 6, it is written
in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Everyone
therefore that have learned of the Father and have heard, what
does he do? Comes to me, Christ said. He
comes to me. He comes to me if he's been taught
of God. And notice too in the question,
he didn't ask, what can I do to be saved? That's not what
he asked, did he? He said, what must I do? And
there's a difference. There's a difference. I know
faith is the gift of God, but it's also the command of God. God commands all men to believe
on His Son. A command all men are responsible
to obey. I hope we see the difference.
Our responsibility before God is measured by God's command,
not our ability. Hmm? When Adam fell, was he still
responsible to obey God, Lord? When he fell, when he disobeyed
God, and fell into sin, and became depraved, and spiritually dead,
wasn't he still responsible to obey God? Of course he was. Could
he? No. No, he couldn't. Did God
hold him responsible too? Yes, He did. Yes, he did. And
the same is still true. God still holds us accountable,
yes. Otherwise, otherwise, the more
unable we are, the less responsible we are. And that just can't be
so. I remember many years ago, I'd
been asked to preach at the church of a man who was much older than
me, the pastor. And I preached that morning,
and we had lunch afterwards, and as we sat, and he sat across
from me at the table, he said, you know, Larry, I heard a wonderful
message the other day by a man we both know, and if I call his
name, you would know him, but I won't. But he preached such
a wonderful message on grace, but at the end, he just ruined
the whole thing because he said, you must believe. He told sinners
they must believe. Well, I was just young and ignorant,
so I looked at him and said, what was the problem? And he looked at me and said,
you're just young and ignorant. I said, what was the problem with that,
Earl? He said, but they can't. I said, but they must. If they
would be saved, they must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he looked down at me and said, oh, you're just young, and that's
just that free willism still in you. And I said, well, no
doubt there's much of it still in me. But I said, the Bible
declares that God commands all men everywhere to repent. That's
what Paul preached on Mars Hill. And Earl, well, he's gone. And he said to me, he said to
me, but he was only talking about God's elect. I said, oh no, oh
no. God commands all men everywhere
to repent. Our Lord told Nicodemus, God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. As
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, what did He say? Mums the Word? No! He said, look! Look and live. Look and live. And I say unto
every sinner, and praying while I say it, God grant them the
precious gift of faith that they may look and live. Because there's
life for a look at the crucified one. It's like this. I know men by nature can't believe. But they can't be saved without
believing. What's the answer? We're told
in John 1, He was in the world and the world was made by Him
and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His
own received Him not. But, there it is again, but to
as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons
of God. Why did they receive Him when
nobody else would? The next verse tells us who we're
born. not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but they were born by the will of God. I'm not really very much
concerned, John. I'm 61 years old now, and to
be honest with you, at one time, when I was much younger, this
may have been a concern for me. But it's just not anymore. I'm
not much concerned with being consistent with man's idea about
God's Word. I want to be consistent with
God's Word. what God's Word said. I don't feel a desire to prove
every time I stand up to preach what a staunch Calvinist I am.
I want to preach God's Word according to Him. The last thought on this
question that the jailer asked, there are other examples, and
we've already referred to them in Scripture, where this question
was asked and answered in the same way. Let's look at just
one. Just one. I had several jotted
down here, but for time's sake, let's look at just one. Acts
chapter 8. Acts chapter 8. Philip had been preaching in
Samaria, and God had granted faith to sinners, and a multitude
was converted. He opened a multitude of hearts.
A time of genuine rejoicing and revival in the grace of God And
the Lord tells Philip, leave. Leave. And you know the story. He goes down and God directs
him to one eunuch going home. Look at verse 34 in Acts chapter
8. And the eunuch answered. Now
the eunuch was reading from the scroll of Isaiah and apparently
he was reading out loud because Philip heard him. And in verse
34 we read, and the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee,
of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of himself or some other
man? And he was reading from Isaiah
53. Who's the prophet talking about?
Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture
and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they come into a certain water, and the eunuch said, See, here
is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the
chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water,
both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they
were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught
away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more, and he, that
is the eunuch, went on his way rejoicing." Rejoicing. Oh, believe. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. This brings us to the
answer that Paul gave the jailer. Paul didn't correct the man.
Did you notice? He didn't correct him or give
him a lesson in theology. The man said, what must I do?
And Paul told him what he must do to be saved. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only good news there
is for a needy sinner. Imagine standing on a riverbank.
I'm standing there, and I look out, I hear the cry of a drowning
man. And I look out, and there he
is, drowning, thrashing about in the water, and I stand on
the bank with the rope. He says, throw me the rope! Throw
me the rope! Pull me out! And I say, well,
do you understand where I got this rope? Do you understand
the process where this rope was manufactured? Do you have an
understanding when you grab the rope that first there must be
a signal sent from your brain to your hands to grab the rope?
No, no! Throw the rope, man! I'm dying! This is what the jailer
said. What must I do to be saved? And
Paul said, Believe! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And Paul rejoiced to give him
this answer. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? Lord, Lord, Lester, Lonnie, Louis,
brothers and sisters in Christ, I've prayed for years. I prayed,
I prayed since I looked in the cradle after my children came home from
the hospital after being born. I prayed to hear them ask, Daddy,
what must I do to be saved? Oh, I would rejoice. I would
rejoice to tell them, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
you'll be saved. You'll be saved to the uttermost. This answer alone gave this jailer
hope. And this is the only answer?
If you're here this morning and you don't know Christ, or you've
been clinging to a false profession, built upon a false hope, trusting
a false gospel, This is the only good news for you. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. What do I need to understand?
What must I know that I'm a sinner and He's the Savior? Notice what
Paul didn't say. At one time, this wasn't the
answer that he would have gave the Philippian jailer, would
he? Before that life-changing, never-to-be-forgotten experience
of grace on the Damascus Road? That's what grace does, Joe.
I read in Scripture, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Now he can be in this building
and not be a new creature. He can be a five-point Calvinist
and not be a new creature. But if he's in Jesus Christ,
he's a new creature. Grace makes him a new creature.
God opens his heart and drops into him eternal life. And bless
God, everything becomes new. That's what grace does. And if
what has happened to you has not produced that life-changing
change in your heart, then it's not the grace of God. It's just
your imagination. Oh, but Paul at one time would
have given a much longer answer, wouldn't he? In answer to the
question of the grounds of acceptance before a holy God, his answer
would have been, I'm a Pharisee. You've got to be like me. There's
no hope for you unless, like me, I'm of the stock of Israel.
I'm a true Pharisee. I'm a true Jew on my mother's
side and on my father's side. I live after the strictest sect
of our law, a Pharisee. If you'd heard Paul praying in
the temple, he'd have said, I'm glad I'm not like other men.
I pay tithes on all that I have. I touch not, and taste not, and
wear not, and go not. I thank God I'm not like the
other men. I'm glad I'm not like this jailer down here. That's
what Paul would have said. In his testimony before the authorities,
he said, I thought to do many things contrary to the name of
Jesus of Nazareth before I was a blasphemer and a persecutor,
but God, but God, glory to His name, but God, And now Paul tells
the jailer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. He once was blind but now he
sees. And the whole scope of his vision,
the whole scope of Paul's vision is taken up with one object,
one person. It's not a what, it's who. The
whole scope of Paul's vision is taken up with Jesus Christ. He says, I don't want to know
anything else, I don't want to preach anything else, and I don't
want to hear preached anything else. Why, Paul? Because Christ
is all. He's everything. Paul's answer
to this poor, trembling sinner is God's answer. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Glorious gospel of
God's free grace. Isn't it? Isn't it glorious? The hymn writer expressed it
this way. The vilest offender that truly believes. What happens? That very moment, from Jesus,
a pardon receives. Brothers and sisters, is that
still true? Is that still true? Is His grace
still sufficient? Is He still mighty to save? Does
He still sit on the throne of sovereign majesty and able to
save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him? Glory to
His name. Yes, it's true. Yes, it's true.
If I didn't believe that, I'd close the book, lock the door,
and say, let's just go home and sit down. Oh, no. Oh, no. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood will never lose its power till all the ransomed church
of God be saved, the sin no more. That belief is why Paul and Silas
sang songs in the night. With this blessed, blessed resort,
Paul said, believe and thou shalt be saved. Thou shalt be saved. Anybody interested in that? Anyone
this morning asking their self the question? Has God stripped
you? Has God showed you that that
foundation you're building on is not the Lord Jesus Christ? Then here's good news. I've got
good news. Imagine this jailer saying to
Paul, but Paul, There can't be hope for me. Not after what I've
done. Look how I've treated you. Paul
would say, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. You meant
it for evil, but God meant it for good. Thou, even you, thou
shalt be saved. Why? How can it be? How can it
be that thou, my God, should love a soul like me? You're saved
by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Saved
right now, right here. Thou shalt be saved. today, tomorrow,
for eternity, to the uttermost. From the penalty of sin, from
the power of sin, from the very presence of sin, saved to the
uttermost, to where we read in God's Word this blessed, blessed
promise. They are without fault before
the throne of God. That's what grace does. Nothing
else can. Ask Paul. He'd say it's grace
that made me to death differ. Ask the jailer. Ask any of that
multitude in glory. Let's wrap this up. Look at verse
33 and 34. And he took them, that is the
jailer, the same hour of the night and washed their stripes
and was baptized he in all his straight way. And when he had
brought them into his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced. not long before he was ready
to take his life. Now he sits there with Paul and
Silas rejoicing, believing in God with all his house. What a picture of amazing grace. Can you picture this? There sits
Paul and this jailer that was responsible to keep him in prison,
sitting at the same table. enjoying the same meal and rejoicing
in the same grace. For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. There is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female.
For ye are all one in Christ Jesus. One more question. And I'll close. And it's this. Do you believe Do you believe? Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
This is the only answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Do you believe? I'm asking you
now. Do you believe? Not did you believe? Do you believe right now? This
very moment? Do you believe? Are you answering? Does your heart prompt you even
now to answer that question? Oh, yes. I believe. I believe. I believe that Jesus
is the Son of God. Why don't you come to Christ?
Whose fault is it? As I live, saith the Lord, I
take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Why will ye die,
O house of Israel? Turn ye, turn ye, turn unto me
and live. May God grant you faith to do
that even now. Because as the faithful forerunner
of Christ said, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. This one verse describes us all
right here. We're either in the one class
or the other. There's no in between. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him. The wrath of God abideth on him. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Amen.