Acts chapter 16. I just want to read these three
verses, 30, 31, and 32. You remember the context, though,
of this is so familiar with all of us. The Apostle Paul and Silas
had gone to Philippi. They had met a group of ladies
there on the riverbank where they often met for prayer. The
Apostle Paul had spoke to them, the Lord opened Lydia's heart
and saved her. And this lady possessed with
a spirit of divination. Begin to follow the Apostle Paul
and Silas around and crying and grieving them. These men show
us the way of salvation. And very disruptive to the preaching,
their witnessing. Paul cast her out. Cast the devil
out of her. Her masters were angry. Took Paul and Silas to the magistrates. They beat them without cause,
without trial. Gave them to this jailer, who
we're told to keep them safe, to make sure they didn't escape,
to secure his own job and maybe his well-being or even his life.
He thrust them, he threw them into the back of the prison,
put their feet fast in the stocks. At midnight, while Paul and Silas
was praying, The Lord, by earthquake, shook the prison. The doors were
open. This man, this jailer, woke out of his sleep, was so
fearful that he was ready to commit suicide. Paul cries out
unto him, Do yourself no harm. We're all here. And then, out
of that, this man asked this question. In verse 29, he called
for a light, sprang in, fell down at the feet. 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. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord, and to all that were in his house." Now, as you
consider the context of this incident here, one thing that
becomes evident that this man and his household was converted. They were saved out and through
the sufferings of this apostle and Silas. That's what this come
out of. This man would have never asked
this question to Paul as he did without Paul had been there in
jail. Paul would have never been in jail if he hadn't have cast
that devil out of that woman. And they beat him. So we can
truthfully say that this jailer and his family's salvation, their
conversion, their hearing the gospel and believing it, come
out of Paul's sufferings and Silas' suffering. When we suffer
as Christians, there's always a positive effect. We need to
remember that. When we suffer as Christians,
there's always a positive effect. The apostles rejoiced that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame. Now that's a positive
effect. Rejoicing because they were counted
worthy to suffer shame. If you do well and suffer for
it, and you take it patiently, Because for conscience sake,
this is acceptable to God. I want what I do to be accepted,
don't you? When we suffer wrongfully and
take it patiently, that's acceptable to God. If you suffer for righteousness
sake, happy are you. You may, when you first begin
to suffer for righteousness sake, You may be burdened down about
it. You may be ashamed because of
it. But you suffer enough for righteousness sake. And after
a while, you become happy because of it. Because you know it's
from the Lord. On their part, He may be evil
spoken of. But on your part, He's glorified.
And you're happy about it. If any man suffer as a Christian,
and because he's a Christian, Let him not be ashamed, but glorify
God on this behalf. If we suffer with him, we'll
also reign with him. All the positive things come
out of Christian suffering. Not one negative thing that I
can think of comes out of Christian suffering. Some things we suffer as Christians
are to try us. It's for my personal good. Think
it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try
you. What effect does that have upon
you? It tries your faith. You're in heaviness. That's the
trying of your faith. That'll do you good. That'll
strengthen your faith. Trials come to us personally
to try us as individuals. Sometimes we suffer for this
reason. It heaps coals of fire on the
heads of others. If somebody is doing you wrong,
take it patiently. Don't avenge yourself. Paul said,
if you're enemy hunger, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him
to drink. Be good to him. Don't avenge
yourself. In so doing, you'll heap coals
of fire on his head. Paul said this, it is a righteous
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble
you. Sometimes God lets people rise
up against you and persecute you and trouble you because He
is going to punish you. He's going to punish you. And thirdly, so often when Christians
suffer for the gospel's sake, this is the end of it. I'm not
talking about when we suffer personally to increase our faith,
God trying us personally. Our suffering for conscious sake,
but I'm talking about when we suffer for the gospel sake. When
we've been bold to stand for the gospel, and we suffer for
it. So often, the end of that is the conversion of others. The salvation of others. Listen
to what Paul said. Jesus Christ was raised from
the dead according to my gospel. The gospel I believe. It's mine.
It saved me. I believe it. I preach it. It's
mine. And he said, I suffer because I preach it. Even unto bonds,
but the Word of God is not bound. And then he makes this statement,
I endear all things for the elect's sake that they may obtain the
salvation that's in Christ Jesus. What's he saying? He's saying,
I've learned this. I've learned that when I stand
for the gospel, and I'm bold to proclaim the gospel, and I
suffer opposition for it, and I suffer for it, I know that
God's getting ready to do something. I know He's going to stand up
and plead His own cause and bring forth fruit out of this suffering.
God always blesses the gospel when it's under persecution.
When the preachers and the churches care more about the glory of
God than they do the praise of this world. When they fear God
more than they do the fear of this world. And they suffer persecution
for the gospel. Paul and Silas were shamefully
treated here at Philippi. Thrown in jail. But look what came out of it. The salvation of this jailer
and his family. I wish, I wish, I hope, I prayed
for this, I hope to this end that you and I will be revived
and renewed and taken a firmer stand, brothers and sisters,
with the gospel. To our neighbors, to our co-workers,
to people we meet in the way, to start up a conversation. To
preachers that you meet, I wish that we would start suffering
persecution. for the gospel sake, because I earnestly believed
that the salvation of souls would come out of that. I was talking with Brother Bell
not long ago, and he was talking about when he put an article
in the paper there, in Crossford, that the members of the church
were suffering because of it. People would come up and start
an argument with him. One young lady even made him
after church out in the parking lot. Came there and sat and waited
until he left the pulpit to start an argument about one of the
articles he put in the paper. And he was sort of down about
it. And I said, Brother Donnie, I would to God it was that way
up here. People are so indifferent around here, they just don't
care, do they? Well, that's what you think. That's all right,
dear brother. That's all right. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? This question came out of this
man's suffering and Silas' suffering. This question would have never
been asked if Paul and Silas had not suffered for the gospel
sake. See what I'm saying? We know little about this man.
What we read here is the only time we ever read anything about
him. We don't know if he was from this city. He lived here
at Philippi. He had a family. He had a house. We're told that in verse 31 and
32. He was a jailer. We know that. We're told that in verse 23.
And it's implied here in this story concerning him that he
was a common man. He didn't have much influence.
He was very fearful of his superiors. He received this charge to keep
them safely, and he was so afraid of what they would do to him
if he lost these prisoners, he treated them even worse than
he should have treated them to secure their imprisonment. He
was afraid. He had no influence with his
superiors. He had nobody in high places.
It seems to indicate that he was just a common fellow with
little or no influence. We know this about him also in
verse 24, he had no regard for the injustice of those who had
suffered. We're told here that he thrushed
Paul and Silas. He cast them, he threw them,
and made their feet fast in the stop. He had little regard to
the stripes on their back. They're bleeding. All he was
concerned about was securing his safety himself and his job. Here were these two men, and
they were good men, that suffered injustice, that suffered cruelty,
they suffered shame, and this man didn't care enough, didn't
care enough to wipe their swords, to loosen the stocks, to speak
comfortably to him. He seemed to be a hard man. He was a jailer. He probably
saw the worst of mankind, the worst of criminals. And that
probably hardened him without any concern, without any pricks
to his conscience. He threw them in the back of
the jail while they were bleeding and stripes on their back and
lay down and went to sleep. He seemed to be a hardened jailer. Something else about this man,
it's doubtful that he ever heard anything, any truths concerning
God. There was not even a synagogue,
as far as we know, in this city. Most usually when Paul went to
preach the gospel, that's one of the first places he went in
the city, to the synagogue. He had preached to the Jews and
then to the Gentiles. There was obviously not a synagogue
in this town. He met on the riverbank with
these women to pray. This man never heard the gospel. Paul brought it there to Philippi
himself. He never heard it and believed
it. He seemed to be a harned Jailer living in ignorance, living
in enmity, living ignorant of the way of salvation. All indications. That's what he seems to be. So in the light of that, what
does this man's question reveal? You take an ignorant, hardened
heathen, As far as we know, it heard little to nothing from
other men and other preachers about God and certainly nothing
about the way of salvation. What does this tell us about
this man? Let me explain it to you like
this. There is something within the
conscience of a fallen man or a woman, though it be suppressed into
the subconscious, that something is wrong between himself and
his Creator. He has these sudden flashes of
light, and they shine into his conscience, but the light is
so dreadful he resists it. He suppresses it. He refuses,
partly out of fear, partly out of ignorance, and partly out
of enmity to investigate what the trouble is. If he gives any
thought to this source of light and what it means, he even gets
more confused and more afraid. So he buries his mind and his
thoughts in one thing and then another, and he chooses to live
with these occasional fits and fears. that something is dreadfully
wrong between Him and God. I tell you, man is not as ignorant
sometimes as we say he is. We talk about how
dead he is, and he is, and how ignorant he is, and he is. But
he has a conscience, doesn't he? He has a conscience. Some
say this calls of these fits and fears is the light of nature. And that this light once burned
brightly until sin entered, and this light that at one time burned
brightly, now has become a flickering candle. God made Adam, and the
light that Adam had by his very nature burned brightly. But sin entered, and darkness
entered, And now it's just a candle. But it's there. It's there. Here's
what the wise man said in Proverbs 20. The spirit of man is the
candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly,
the heart, the conscience. There's a spirit within a man.
And that is the candle of the Lord. And it's this searching
that causes these fears and anxious moments and causes the soul to
be restless and sometimes sleepless. Some of us went through this
when we were lost, didn't we? Remember this so well. Nights
we were so restless. This fear had been stirred up.
This searching within us. What was that? That's the candle
of the Lord. the Spirit that's within a man. Why did this hardened heathen
ask such a question? How did he know to ask it? Ain't
that amazing? If I'm right that he never attended
the synagogue, if he never heard anything from a preacher about
God, and certainly not the way of salvation, how did he know
to even ask this question? Where did such knowledge come
from? What must I do to be saved? There was no indication that
any preacher or priest or rabbi had spoken to this man before.
Paul and Silas indeed took him into his house and spoke the
Word of God to him afterward, but not before. There is no indication that his
knowledge of his lost condition can be attributed to man speaking
to him about that condition anywhere. We're not aware that anybody
came to him and said, Jailer, did you know you were a lost
man? I doubt if anybody ever said that, confronting him with
that. Paul and Silas indeed prayed,
and they sang praises to God at midnight, but this man did
not hear. He was asleep. He was unconcerned
about it all. How can you and I account
for this question? What must I do to be saved? How
can we account for this man knowing his condition? that he was lost. I think Romans chapter 1, and
you're very familiar with this passage, I think it sheds some
light on this man asking this question. Listen to Romans 1.
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness
and ungodliness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Now listen to this. Because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them. How do they
know that? God hath showed it. God hath
showed it. This is not from man. It's not
something man has taught. It's something that God has taught
a man. In His Spirit, light in this candle, God has taken in
hand to teach these men something. God hath showed it unto him. For the invisible things of God
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even His eternal deity and Godhead. so that they are without excuse,
because that when they knew God, they knew there was a God, knew
that He had created all things, knew that He was the judge of
every man. They glorified Him not as God,
neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and
their foolish heart was darkened." They had some light. What is
that light? The Proverbs said it was the
candle of the Lord. It was the spirit of a man that
God had enlightened, dealt with. And because these men suppressed
it, their foolish hearts was darkened. Listen to what Job
said about the death of the wicked. And he's talking about this candle
being put out. This light being snuffed out.
He said, their light shall be dark in his tabernacle. The light
of these wicked men shall be dark in his tabernacle, his body
when it dies. And his candle shall be put out
with him. What is that candle? It's the
Spirit of the man, the candle of the Lord, the light that he
has within him. Job says in chapter 21, how often
is the candle of the wicked put out, and how often comes their
destruction upon them. God distributes sorrow in His
anger. This natural light. It ain't what it was. It ain't
what it was. But it is light. It is light. And when God takes that candle
and causes it to shine, I tell you what, it can create some
disturbance in the soul, some restlessness. What was it that caused this
hardened heathen to ask this question? How did he know to
ask it? Where did the knowledge of his
condition come from? God taught him that. God taught
him that. God lit the candle and did a
search, and this search was irresistible. He went down into his inward
parts, into his heart and his soul, and death's light could
not be stifled or stuffed out. It broke this cry from his heart,
what must I do to be saved? I'm lost. I can understand how
somebody come here and said, I'm the gospel, could be brought
to the place to ask that question with anxiety and truthfulness.
But ain't it amazing that this hardened heathen knew to ask
it? And what it tells us, brothers
and sisters, is this, that this knowledge is from God. Man is not from some ape that
came out of a tree, or some man that came out of a cave that
evolved over a period of millions of years. He's God's creation. God breathed under his nostrils
the breath of life. He had the image of God within
him. He had this wonderful burning, shining light within Him, the
Spirit. God breathed and man became a
living soul. And though He fell, though He's
a fallen creature, He's got this light in Him. He's got this light
in Him. And that's why He's anxious sometimes. This is why He's sleepless sometimes. This is why he's afraid of death.
This is why he's afraid of dying. This is why he's afraid of eternity
when he thinks about it. It's been 6,000 years now
since man fell. And if this was not so, that
man is a creature of God, his choice creature, this candle,
this light would have gone out a long time ago. It shows us
that we are indeed God's choice's creature. For a man to even ask
this question, what must I do to be right with my Creator?
I'm away from my Creator. I'm lost. That shows us right
there that He's not a beast. Man is not an animal. He's a
rational being, and God still has left light within him. A consciousness! And that consciousness
often rises up and screams, you're lost. You're going out to face
your God and your judge and you're lost. You go to the heathens,
you go to the tribes where the name of Jesus Christ has never
been mentioned. You get you an interpreter and
you begin to talk to that tribe. about this very thing. And they'll
tell you if they're honest, yeah, I have these times. I have these
anxious thoughts. I have these fears. I have these
dreads. What's causing that? What causes
that? That's the candle of God. That's
the Spirit of man and his soul. This heart cry, what must I do
to be saved? did not come because some preacher
asked this man to say it. He did not have the knowledge
of his condition because somebody taught him that condition. God
taught him that. God taught him that. And whether
a man sits under the gospel and the reality and the knowledge
of this comes out of that, or whether a man is a heathen who
has never heard the gospel, In either case, setting under the
gospel or never setting under the gospel, in both cases, only
God can teach a man that. This is a cry of a man whose
heart has been taught of God. What must I do to be saved? God
has taught that man. And when God so lights a man's
candle, this spirit of a man, He can't keep secret what God
has revealed. A man may think himself to be
lost. He may even have periods that
he's restless and fearful about it. But let God light that candle
as He did this man. And you can't keep silent. You
can't. You can't hide it. It will show
in your countenance. What must I do to be saved? And I'll tell you something else.
When God so lights a man's candle, I'll tell you something else
will happen. Man will be seeking a way of
relief. He won't be shy about it. He'll
be a-crying out about it. What must I do to be saved? And the very fact that this question
was asked reveals something else. The very fact that he asked this
question, what must I do to be saved, reveals something else.
And it reveals this, that the answer to this question must
come from without this man. If he knew the answer to this
question, why would he even ask? He was brought to the point and
to the knowledge that he knew that something was wrong. That
he was indeed lost. He was not right with his Creator
and Judge. But search as he may, he cannot
find the remedy or the answer to that question that he asked.
He can ask, what must I do to be saved? But he has not the
answer. He has not the answer. Brothers
and sisters, nature, nature, natural light, however much God
is pleased to enlighten a man, the light of nature cannot answer
this question, what must I do to be saved? That light must
come from another source, even the light of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know what condition a
man may get in who has never heard the gospel. He may indeed
come to this place that he knows himself to be lost. But I tell
you this much, he'll never be saved apart from hearing the
gospel. He'll never be saved apart from
hearing the gospel. This man's heart could cry out,
what must I do to be saved? But his heart could not answer
that question. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's a different light altogether.
That's not the candle of the Lord. That's not the Spirit of
man which is in Him. That's not that light of nature.
This is another light. This is the light of the gospel.
Jesus Christ has died. He rose again. He's ascended
into heaven. And the Apostle Paul says He
abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. That's the gospel light. This jailer asked this question
for two reasons. He had to ask it because he felt
the seriousness of his condition. He couldn't hide it anymore.
Or before, he felt some anxiety about it. But this time, he was
overwhelmed with the thought of it. I'm lost. I'm lost. He couldn't hide it. He couldn't
hide it. Secondly, he asked this question
because he had to know the answer. And sooner than later, he had
to know it. And he was serious. I've often
thought that he didn't go up to the apostles or up to Silas
and get alongside of them and whisper in their ear, could I
talk to you outside? Could you fellows go back to
bed and let's sleep the rest of the night and I'd like to
have a meeting with you all tomorrow. I'd like to talk to you about
something. It wasn't that way, was it? This was reality. He was anxious. I'm lost. Is there a way for me to be saved? And I tell you something, a man
or a woman can figure this out themselves. They say they can get the answer
on their own. They're not in this man's condition. You take a fellow that tells
you he's lost, that he's a sinner, and he won't shut up and listen?
He's not a sinner. He's not lost. I'll tell you
what a lost sinner will do. He'll shut his mouth. He'll say,
help me, give me some information, and he'll shut up and listen. When a man gets lost, he puts
a zipper on his mouth. I remember those two ladies,
Clarence and Gail got acquainted with, those two Mormon girls
that came here one night. Clarence and Gail called me and
wanted to know if I'd meet with them. We met over at their housemate's
supper. And one of them finally, one of them finally, began to
listen some. But the other one never would
shut up. You couldn't say a word. Her head was full of information. And they were leaving and we
all got out on the porch to say goodbye. And I looked at her
and I said, young lady, if God ever takes a hand to save you,
first thing He's going to do is shut your mouth. He's going
to shut your mouth. And when a man finds out he's
lost, he knows right then, I don't know anything. I'm lost and I
have no idea how to be saved. The verse that Brother Larry
quoted this morning to us, in James 1, verse 18, "...of his
own will begot he us with the word of truth." You know what
the very next verse says? "...Therefore, let every man
be swift to hear, and slow to speak." Salvation is of the will
of God. Therefore, shut your mouth and
listen. Your soul hangs in the balance.
That's what was going on with this man. I tell you, this will
shut your mouth. It'll stop your talking and thinking
and put you to listening. We wonder about some of the people
who come here. We're worried about them. We're concerned about
them. We pray for them. But we're more concerned about
them than they are about themselves. When somebody comes and they
express some interest or ask some questions, and you don't
see them again for a month or two Sundays, they're not serious.
Don't tell me they're serious. This man was serious. God had
lit his candle, and had searched the uttermost part of his soul,
and the conclusion he came to was this, and it was irresistible. He couldn't deny it. I'm lost. What must I do to be saved? And if this question that this
man asked revealed a fearful and miserable condition, the
answer that he heard revealed the best good news that any poor
sinner could ever hear. What must I do to be saved? The
answer was this. You can be saved. You may be saved. It wasn't an answer that said,
we don't know if you can be saved. We don't know if there is salvation
for you. No, what he heard was, you shall
be saved. One thing. Do this one thing
and you shall be saved. Oh, can you imagine? Just hearing
that word. You saved. Me saved. There is salvation for you. You
don't have to die lost. You don't have to perish. You
don't have to experience God's awful wrath forever. Do this
one thing, and you shall be saved. And upon doing this, you shall
be saved immediately. Don't you think that was good
news? Believe on, trust, rely upon,
depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. I wonder, in the light of verse
32, if this man didn't say what the blind man said, who is he
that I may believe on him? I wonder why they took him in
the house and taught him the Scripture. The Scripture says
they took him into his house and preached to him, taught him,
and all that was in his house. Why did they do that? He had
never heard of Jesus Christ. He didn't know who He was or
what He did. And you cannot believe in somebody
that you don't know. How shall they believe in Him
of whom they have not heard? You can't, can you? This is why
we say, the light of nature, if God is pleased, He may teach
us a lot with that. But He cannot save us from the
light of nature. Jesus Christ is not made real
to us by the light of nature, but by the gospel. Paul and Silas preached unto
this man and his household, Jesus. How do you know that? That's
because they always preached it. Nothing else can bring faith
to a man's heart. Nothing else can save a dying,
perishing sinner. that Jesus, they preached unto
Him, Jesus crucified, the just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God. Christ dying for the ungodly,
Christ buried and Christ risen, Christ exalted. And this man
believed and he was saved. And he rejoiced at what the Scripture
said. He was saved. He was saved. Tell me the story of Jesus. Ride
on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever I heard. I tell you, this is sweet. It's
precious to a sinner. One that God has taught. I may
teach a man that he's a sinner and cram it in his head and finally
to get him to consent that, yeah, I'm a sinner. And him go away
unconcerned, the gospel unappealing, Christ meaning nothing to him
and having no beauty. But let God teach him. Let God
teach him. You and I can't compare our experiences
in salvation. We can, but they vary so much. God deals with us so differently. He deals with us as individuals. And when you talk to people in
different congregations, you find out their experiences are
so different. And I've noticed in talking to
people, that those who have sat under the gospel since they were
a child, and the Lord saves them sometime in their life while
they're sitting under the gospel, so often their experience differs
from somebody who had never sat under the gospel. We have that
here in this chapter. Lydia, the Jewish lady, the seller
of purple, She obviously had been taught. She had come there
to worship the Lord. Her and these other ladies. They
had been taught. They were reading the writings
of the Old Testament. Probably had been raised in the
Jewish religion. Knew something about Jehovah
and the coming of the Messiah. Often she was in the worship
with the saints. And while Paul stood there and
gently and softly, I doubt if he raised his voice like I did,
he just spoke where they could hear him. But while he was preaching,
the Lord just opened her heart. That was all that was said. He
just opened her heart. Nothing was said that she cried
out. Nothing that said she was overwhelmed with her lost condition. She sat there, and she was listening. She had been raised in the Jewish
religion. And the Lord just gently opened
her heart, and there is Christ. There He is. There He is. Maybe a passage that she had
read so many times, and now she saw Christ, and she was converted. How different her experience
was from this heathen, this hardened jailer. Everything was chaos. It was like a sticky dynamite
going off. Everything exploded. John Mitchell explained it like
this. He said, so often it's like this. Our children that have been raised
in the gospel. Sometimes it's like the rising
of the sun. It sort of comes up gradually.
And there it is. The light is shining upon it. And a man who has never been
around the Gospel, his conversion is so often like going in a dark
room and flipping the light on. Suddenly and violently, there's
the light. It's so different. But it all comes to this point. However our experience is, and
however they vary one with another, God always brings us to this
place, and that's to the Lord Jesus Christ, and faith in Him. I don't care if we were raised
on the Gospel. Until we're saved, we don't have
faith in Christ. I don't care if we're raised
in heathenism. We'll never believe until God
saves us. Thy faith and cry.