Now here in the 16th chapter
of the book of Acts this morning, I want you to look, beginning
here with verse 9, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night,
and there stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come
over into Macedonia, and help us. One of the blessings to my
soul that I've received out of the book of Acts is to see the
Spirit of God directing and leading those that are his servants into
the fields wherein the Lord would have them to go. And this is
very clear here that Paul would not have went over into Macedonia
unless he had received divine direction to go. And so there
stood a man, he saw this vision in the night of this man that
was over there in Macedonia And this man prayed him, this man
asked him, this man was beseeching him that he would come over into
Macedonia and that he would help us, that he would come over and
help us. Well, beloved, men are in need,
are they not? They're in need of hearing the
gospel, and so in verse 10, and after he had seen the vision,
immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia. because God
had enabled him to see this vision, assuredly he gathered that the
Lord was in it, and that the Lord had called them to preach
the gospel unto them, that the Lord had called them to go over
there to minister the gospel, not to minister a social program,
not to go over and build a hospital, no, but to preach the gospel
unto them. And then as we follow this story
we find them over in Macedonia at Philippi and on the Sabbath
day in verse 13 they went out of the city by the riverside
where prayer was wont to be made and sat down and spake unto the
women which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia,
a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped
God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended
unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized
in her household, she besought us, saying, If you have judged
me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide
there. And she constrained us. And then
as the story goes on, I want you to skip on down to verse
19, after there had been a miracle wrought and demon cast out of
a young lady and her master saw that the hope of their gains
were gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the
marketplace and to the rulers and brought them to the magistrates
saying, these men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city. And then as the story goes on,
these brethren, Paul and Silas, they were taken before the magistrates,
they rent off their clothes, and they commanded them to be
beaten. And when they had laid many scribes upon them, in verse
23, they cast them into prison, 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 sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard
them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the
foundation 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're all
here. Then he called for a light, sprang
in, 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. And they
spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in
his house. And he took them the same hour
of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized, he
and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them
into his house, he sat meet before them, and rejoiced, believing
in God with all his house. Now let me begin by saying this
morning that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, when it is
attended by the power of the Spirit of God, is always victorious. When the gospel of Jesus Christ
is preached, by that one who is anointed by the Divine Spirit,
that one who has been directed to go into a certain area, into
a certain place, when God Almighty intends to accomplish a purpose
there, when He has some people there, when He has some sheep
there, and that gospel is preached in that place by the anointing
of the Spirit, that gospel is always victorious. And that's
what we find here in the 16th chapter of the Book of Acts this
morning. My subject this morning is three
words, belief. baptism and blessing. Belief, baptism and blessing. Now the gospel came to Lydia.
We read this, she was a devout woman who was one given to prayer
and who worshipped God although she did not know the Lord Jesus
Christ. The gospel had not been preached
to her and she had not received the message of the gospel and
she was not a Christian. But the Lord opened her heart,
as we read there in verse 14, that she attended to the things
that were spoken by Paul. She heard Paul's preaching, and
she received the truth of the message of the gospel. It penetrated
her soul. The Spirit of God brought it
home with great power to her heart, and she received the truth,
and she was baptized. and became the cornerstone of
the church at Philippi. This woman whom God arrested
and saved there under Paul's ministry became the cornerstone
of the church at Philippi. Well, you say this woman was
a very delicate, a very tender, and a woman of a very gentle
nature. And that's why the gospel was
so overwhelmingly victorious in her case. But now, beloved,
here in our text this morning, here is an old soldier. Here
is a man that has been appointed to the office of a jailer at
Philippi because he had been a good soldier. He had been one
that had received various commendations because of his service to the
Roman Empire, and here he was placed in this position. He's
a man who knows the sight of blood, and he keeps prisoners,
and he's not a gentle man, and he's under very stern and strict
law, and he's as hard as a rock. And what will the gospel of God's
grace, what will the gospel do for this man? What will it do
with this man? Can the gospel be victorious
in the case of this hardened soldier, this old soldier? Well,
brother, sister, let me say this this morning, that the gospel
triumphs as much in the jailer at Philippi as it did in the
lady from Thyatira. The victory was just as complete. The victory was just as thorough. Both of them were genuinely converted
and brought into the family of the living God. Now the victory
over the rough jailer was as thorough as the victory over
this gentle and devout Lydia. Notice this, if you will, this
morning, that the Philippian jailer stands before us as one
who was converted and baptized and who was brought forth by
the Spirit of God to produce fruit. And all of this took place
in an hour or so. It just took place immediately,
straightway. It took place immediately. And
as the scripture here tells us, the same hour, says the text,
he ministered to the brethren and he washed them and washed
their stripes and he was baptized of them. And this word straightway
just means immediately. Immediately he did this. Immediately
this all took place when the gospel was believed, when the
gospel came home to his heart with power. Now this man was
brought from darkness into marvelous light all of a sudden. All of
a sudden so distinctly brought that he avowed his faith there
and then in his own house by entertaining this man who a few
hours before he had thrust into the inner prison and whose feet
he had made fast in the stocks. And so he ministered. Now in
many cases I know that conversion may be said to be a slow work. It may be said to be a gradual
work. Well I don't think that it really
is so, but it appears to be so. In some people's cases, well,
the work of grace appears to be very gradual in them, and
it's like the sunrise on a very foggy morning. There is just
a tiny gleam of light at first, and then a little bit more light,
and then at last you can tell that the sun has finally risen
above the horizon. Now this seems to be the way
it is with some believers. with some people in their experience. They just gradually come into
the light. I mean, gradually, what we might
say, the scales are lifted from their eyes, and while they might
have seen men as trees walking, as we're told in the Gospel of
John, and then finally, you know, the eyes The salve of the Word
of God and the Spirit of God's anointing seems to take it all
away and men see clearly the Lord Jesus Christ and how that
God justifies poor sinners and reconciles them unto Himself.
Now then, I say that after considerable time, it appears that these people
receive the full light and that it's really come in clearness
to their souls. Yet mark it down, beloved, there
was a moment On that foggy morning, there was a moment when the sun
did come over the horizon, when it appeared above the horizon. And in conversion, there must
be a time in which death is gone and life has come. John 5 and
verse 24 says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath passed from
death into life, and shall not come into condemnation. There
is a time when a soul passes out of death into life. Brethren,
there really cannot be anything between life and death. Nothing
between life and death. There's no middle ground. The
man is either dead or alive. He's either saved or lost. He's
either damned or delivered. A man is either in Christ or
out of Christ. And you cannot be in two places
at one time. You're either in or you're out.
And there must be at some point at which a man ceases to be dead
in sin and when he comes to life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
a man cannot be somewhere between condemnation and justification
because there is no place in between. The man is either condemned
on account of sin or he is justified through the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And everyone to whom I'm speaking
this morning, you stand on one side in defense of the other.
You're here this morning and you're justified through faith,
justified freely by the grace of God in Christ, or you stand
condemned this morning because of sin and because of unbelief. You stand condemned. You're one
place or the other. Now the man is either condemned
on account of sin, as we've said, or he is justified. He cannot
be in between. So after all, salvation must
be an instantaneous thing. In all cases, just like it was
here with this Philippian jailer. Now there may be a whole lot
that leads up to salvation, that makes it appear to be a gradual
thing, but in reality, if you get to the root of the matter,
there was a turning point, well defined and sharp, and if not
clear to you, it is clear to God who wrought the change and
brought the soul from death to life. You hath he quickened,
Paul said, who were dead and trespasses in sin, Ephesians
2.1. You hath he made alive that were
dead in sin. And so, beloved, there's a turning
point. And this man came to that turning
point that was sharp and well-defined and God saved him. Instantaneously,
suddenly, immediately this man passed from death unto life. Now then, the number one thing
I want to point out is this. In our text here this morning,
here is a man who was converted and he was converted at once. Converted at once. Now there
was nothing in his previous life. I want to hit this nail a few
times and drive it in just a little deeper. And I want you to listen
to me today. There was nothing in his previous
life that led up here to his conversion. As far as we know,
he had not heard sermons. He had not had any instruction
in the Bible or in Old Testament Scripture. He'd never heard an
invitation. He never had any entreaties from
a preacher up to that time and probably up to that night. He
had never even heard the name of Jesus Christ. Maybe he had
never heard of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, all his
previous education was unchristian, if not anti-christian. This jailer, he was a good Roman,
and he was a good Roman soldier, and he was a good jailer, but
he was not a child of God. He was not a Christian. But before
the sun came up on this night that we're talking about, before
the sun came up the next morning, our beloved, he was a Christian
and one of the best around, if you please. One of the best in
Philippi. Because God had come to him and
at once he was converted by believing the gospel of God's grace. Well,
what do you think impressed this man? What was it that touched
this man? What was it that got a hold of
this man? What was it that brought this
work in this man and brought him to the place where that he
trembled before the brethren? Well, I think it was the behavior
of Paul and Silas. I think that had an awful lot
to do with it. Now there was words that night
that fell from the lips of these brethren, the likes of which
this man had never heard before. Can't you imagine? Here is Paul
and Silas. They had been beaten. And they're
not these kind of wimpy people, you know, that sit around and
always moaning and complaining about their situation and their
circumstances. There was a time when they had
accepted death. for Christ's sake, when they
had become willing to die for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they had been whipped, they
had been beaten, and their backs had been laid open by the Roman
rod. And here they were in prison,
and they were singing. They were singing praises to
God. They were rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ. They rejoiced
that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And there were some things that
came out. There was praise to God. There
was prayers to God. And the last thing, I suppose
that this man, when he saw their patience and their cheerfulness
and their courage and their holy joy and all of this made an impression
upon them. But I feel that the last thing
that happened before this earthquake took place, he heard Paul and
Silas praying unto their God, crying unto their God for deliverance
from this prison and from these circumstances. And as they prayed
unto the sovereign God of heaven and earth, I'm sure that this
made an impression on this poor sinner. Then in the middle of
the night, a miracle took place. A miracle took place! And the
prison is shaken by an earthquake. Verses 26 and 27. And suddenly
there was a great earthquake. So 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
waking out of his sleep, seeing the prison doors open, He would
have killed himself supposing that all of those that he was
in charge of had gotten away. But Paul cried with a loud voice,
don't do yourself any harm. We're all here. We're all here
in this place. And I think that this man then
begins to say that surely there must be a God in heaven. And
surely God has done this. God has sent this earthquake
into this place and he trembles. And he says, sirs, in verse 30,
he says, sirs, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to
have the hope that you have? What must I do to have this joy
of heart and this ability to sing with my backs laid open
with the Roman rock? What do I have to do to be the
kind of man that you are? What must I do to be saved? He is plainly told the way of
salvation. And he's a lost man, and he wants
to know. He wants to know. He's got to
have the understanding of what's taking place here. And so he's
plainly told in verse 31, and they said, You believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. Now this
man, I don't suppose he... Well, I'm sure that what was
involved in that was a proclamation, and that's what the ministry
is. It's a ministry of proclamation. Now, we do try to explain the
Word of God, and sometimes that's helpful and sometimes it's not.
But the ministry is primarily a ministry of proclamation. We tell forth what God said in
His Word. Well, I'm sure that they preached
the gospel to this man. They told him what a sinner he
was, and I'm sure that he agreed with them on that point. And
I'm sure that they told him the sufficiency of the work and the
blood, the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ to save
a poor sinner from his sin. And this poor sinner, he come
to hope there and he understood the word of the Lord. And he
believed it. He believed every word of it. And he was saved. He was converted. Say it however you want to. God
touched him. His life was changed. He was
immediately brought out of death. He's alive now in the Lord. He's a saved man because God
has come to him and God has breathed the breath of life into his immortal
soul. And here he is, alive in the
Lord. Now, beloved, if you never heard
the gospel before this morning, If you believe it, if you believe
it. You say, I've never heard it
before. I don't understand how God saves sinners. Well, if you
hear it this morning, and if you believe it this morning,
God can and will save you at once. John chapter 3, verse 14,
15, and 18, and verse 36. And you can turn there if you
will. I want you to see this is a plain, a plain message. And I want you to look at these
verses. verse 14 and 15 of John chapter 3. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have eternal life. That whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have eternal life. John 3 and 18. He that
believeth on Him is not condemned. Listen to it. But he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Spirit of God, anoint those words
and bring them home to a poor sinner's heart here this morning.
He that believeth on Him is not condemned. Is not condemned his
condemnation has already been taken away It's been taken away
because jesus was condemned on calvary's cross and suffered
the payment of our sin In full in his body on the tree and so
the payment has been made Look, if you will a little further
down here in verse 36 It's the last verse of the chapter he
that believeth on the son hath everlasting life. Wasn't that
what I told you? Wasn't that what Paul, wasn't
that what he told that jailer? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. You got it right now. You got
it immediately. You get it when you believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life. Never will you see eternal life. Never will you dwell with God
and the holy angels. Never will you walk the streets
of gold. Never will you have fellowship
with heavenly saints in heaven unless you believe on the Son. Unless you trust Christ, you
cannot have eternal life. is in a person and that person
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it says, but the wrath of
God abideth on him. The wrath of God abides on the
man or the woman, the boy or the girl that believes not the
Son. and does not trust the Son of
the Living God, does not have faith in Jesus Christ. And so, beloved, I say to you
this morning that if you never heard the gospel before this
morning, if you believe it this morning, you have eternal life. And that's what these verses
say, and that's exactly what happened to the Philippian jailer. Rejoice, if you will, with me. that the gospel is simple. It is indeed simple, though it
is received and understood by revelation only, yet the gospel
is very simple. There are those who, like the
old colored preacher, must they will mystify it. And it is a
miracle that there is such a thing as a clear message in our day. The old colored preacher said
to his brethren, he said, I read you a chapter and now I will
confound it. I will confound it. He meant
to say, I will expound it. But he said, I will confound
it. And brother, sister, if you go
in and out of the church doors in Great Falls and other places
this morning, You'll hear men confounding the true and simple,
plain message of God's grace. You'll hear very few of them
expounding the truth as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
then, the gospel was meant. It was meant for the common people.
It was suited for them, was it not? The poor. The Lord Jesus
says they have the gospel preached to them. Those who have nothing
and feel themselves to be nothing. Those who have nothing but their
sin to commend them unto God. The gospel is preached to those
people. This is the gospel. Beloved,
if it was ever told, believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved. Trust Christ. If you do, you
will be saved. Listen to what Romans chapter
4 Romans chapter 4 and verse 5 has to say about that. Listen to this blessed verse.
But to him that worketh not. I mean, give it up. You're not
going to save yourself. You can't work your way into
the kingdom of God. Listen to it. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith, His faith is counted for righteousness, and that's
what God demands of you if you're going to be in His presence,
is righteousness. And your faith is counted for
righteousness if you believe on Him that justifies the ungodly. That's what it takes my friend.
Trust Christ and you will be saved. Now the number two thing
is here is a person that is confessing his faith at once. We talked
about his belief. He believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then he confessed his faith. Immediately. He was baptized,
the Bible said, he and all his, straightway. And the word straightway
means immediately. Immediately. Well, should a person
be baptized as soon as he believes the gospel? Should he be? Well,
as a rule, yes. There may be a good reason why
he cannot be, but there was no reason not to baptize this man. No reason in the world. In the
first place, his conversion was as clear as the noonday sun.
It was clear. Paul and Silas had no problem
with this man's conversion. He was converted all the way
down. He was like that little dog named
Rover. When he died, he died all over.
And this man, when he was converted, he was converted from the crown
of his head to the sole of his feet. He was a saved man. And Paul didn't have any problem
with baptizing him. Now Paul had no question about
it. They did not hesitate to baptize this man. Remember the
Ethiopian eunuch. In the 8th chapter of the book
of Acts. As they were riding along in the chariot, he had
heard the gospel, and he believed the gospel, and he said, See,
here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized. And Philip
replied, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. You may if you believe with all
of your heart. Now if we have any doubt, about
a person's confession, that it was made in ignorance or without
due thought, then it's wise to wait. It is wise to put them
off for a little while. It's wise to wait. Well, somebody
said, well this man, apparently nobody had any reason to suspect
or believe that this was not genuine, and that's true. But
somebody else would say, well why was it necessary to baptize
him in the middle of the night? Couldn't he at least wait a day
or two? Well, you can ask that question if you want to, but
apparently there was a place nearby where Paul could immerse
this man. And he was immersed. There isn't
any other kind of baptism. The word itself means to dip,
plunge, or immerse. That's what the word means. Bury. And so Paul buried this fella
in water that night to picture. that he believed in the death
and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this man participated that night in the gospel picture. He went
into the water and he was buried there and Paul raised him up
to walk in newness of life. A picture of the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ and a picture of a believer with
the spirit of the resurrection in him enabling him to walk. in a new way, a new life here
in this world. Well, this is going to get out
on him. Is it not that he's been baptized? This old hard Roman soldier,
this jailer, and he's been trusted, you know, with a tough job, and
it's going to get out on him. That something happened in that
jail, and here's this old jailer, he's got converted, and he got
baptized last night. Can't you imagine the talk all
around the city the next day? He's a changed man, and he doesn't
care what anybody got to say about it. He don't care. He was
baptized and he don't care what anybody got to say about it.
He's converted and he didn't make any difference to him. Wasn't
nobody going to hold him back. He's going to confess the Lord. Have you said what you are? Are
you something that you never confessed you are? Well, have
you come out on Christ's side? You say, I'm a believer preacher.
I'm a believer. Well, the promise of eternal
life is not made to faith. which is never avowed. Now I
want to repeat that statement one more time. I want you to
listen to it because it's a true statement. The promise of eternal
life is not made to a faith which is never avowed. Now you just
write that down and you think about it a little bit. Keep it
in mind as you read the word of God. Listen to what Mark 16
and 16 said. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. And then listen to Romans 10
and 10. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Christ said,
whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess
also before my Father which is in heaven. And he went on to
say in connection, with this confession, but whosoever shall
deny me, which must mean whosoever does not confess me before men,
him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Now
if you don't have faith enough in Jesus Christ to say that you
believe in Him, to say that you're trusting Him, weak though you
be, if you don't have faith enough to come out and say what you
are, Then what you have is not saving faith and it'll not get
you through the graveyard. It won't get you into heaven
unless you've got a faith that'll move you to confess openly, I
know Him. I love Him. I follow Him. I march to the beat of His drum. I follow Him. He's my Lord and
my Master. Now then, For it is written,
the fearful, that is, the cowardly, and the unbelievers shall have
their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. The unbelieving, the man who
says, I just won't do it. I'm not going to identify myself
with this. Well, this man was downright
earnest. He was. He would not delay his baptism.
He said, I'm going to be baptized, and even tonight. Why don't you
confess Christ? Now Henry mentioned here that
the way we confess Christ. One night he said we do it in
our hearts. We confess Christ in our hearts,
and then he said we confess Christ in baptism when we submit ourselves
to water baptism. And then he said we confess Christ
when we join up with God's people, with the church, and submit ourselves
unto the church. And then in your life out in
the world, as you live out your life before the world, your daily
confessing the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a man who came to Charles
Spurgeon one time and told Spurgeon, he said, I've been a secret disciple
for 20 years. He said, I never have told anybody,
but I've been a believer for 20 years. And the Spurgeon said,
well, you mean you never confessed Christ openly? And you've never
been baptized? He said, no. And Spurgeon said,
well, why not? And he said, well, it's because,
preacher, the Bible says that he that believeth shall not make
haste. And Spurgeon said, well, my friend,
that if you would confess Christ this morning, and if you'd be
baptized today, you certainly couldn't be accused of making
haste. You said you've been saved for
20 years. And he said, the more suitable
text for you would be the one found in the Psalms, I made haste
and delayed not to keep thy commandments. My friend, if you have been genuinely
laid hold of by God, apprehended by Christ Jesus, I mean, if God
has saved you, and you know that you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, then you ought to confess it. This jailer, the same hour
of the night, he confessed his faith, he was baptized, he and
all his immediately. Straight away. Then they had
a love feast. He had a love feast with Paul
and Silas. Happy fellowship with the people
of God. Now if you're converted, don't
stand back from confessing the Lord Jesus Christ. If you do
stand back from confessing the Lord Jesus Christ, you rob the
preacher of his wages. Because it is his reward. to hear that God has blessed
his word to your soul and that you've been converted under the
sound of the word. And also you're robbing the church
if you have the right, if you yourself take it to yourself
that you have the right not to confess Jesus Christ, then everybody
else has the same right you do. Is that right? They have the
right not to. Where would there be any visible
church or any of the ordinances observed, or any ministry for
that amount. Beloved, if we have the right
not to confess the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have a right not
to come to baptism and the Lord's Supper, then every other Christian
surely has the same right. Then why was these ordinances
instituted at all, if we've got an option? If we got an option,
I mean if we can say, well I'll believe, but I will not. I will
not come to the waters of baptism. I'm not interested in taking
the Lord's Supper. Why were these ordinances instituted
in the first place? And what is Christ in His own
house? Is he master or are you the master? And do you take liberty to do
or not to do just what you please? You say I'm a believer, I'll
do what I please about it. Well... You might say that, but
you have no right to say that. If you're truly a believer, then,
my friend, arise, confess Jesus Christ to this little assembly,
and present yourself to this church for baptism. That's what
the Lord would have you to do. That's the way that you would
confess the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, this man was baptized,
he and all his, immediately. Straight way. Number three, and
the last thing is this. This man became a blessing. He
became a blessing. And I believe that all God's
people, all those whom God has converted, everybody that God
saves, they'll turn out to be a blessing. They'll turn out
to be a blessing. Here's a person, he's useful
at once. Now immediately, he's useful. Well, you say, well what could
this man do? He's a rough old soldier, sure
he got Christ in his soul, but what can he do? Well, we've mentioned
here that he performed an act of mercy in verse 33. In verse 33 of Acts chapter 16,
listen to it, and he took them the same hour of the night and
he washed their stripes. He washed their stripes, and
when he had brought them into his house, in verse 34, he set
meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all of
his house. Now then, I believe this showed
the sincerity of this man's repentance, the sincerity of his faith. He
was a hospitable man. He brought them in, and he set
meat before them. And there wasn't nobody cantankerous
about it in his house, and everybody seemed to be in sympathy with
it. And here he sat down and he had set out the meat, if you
please, for the brethren. Beloved, it's a shame, is it
not, that we have so many professing Christians, they're Christian
so-called, who would do nothing, literally nothing for the Lord
Jesus Christ. If there's one thing they're
set on not being, and that is they're set on not being a blessing. Nobody's going to be blessed
by me. I've met them. It's like they had been rubbed
with a corn cob and baptized in vinegar. There wasn't going
to be any blessing to anybody. There wasn't going to encourage
nobody and nobody going to get anything from me. I got what
I've got and I'm going to keep what I've got and I'm not interested
in being a blessing to anybody else. Selfishness, my friend,
is one of the worst sins. that is known to man. It's a
terrible, terrible sin. And the Lord Jesus Christ died
for his people. Died to redeem them. Shed his
precious blood. It flowed from his wounded side. And he gets nothing, nothing
in return from some who profess to believe. Well, what can I
do, you ask? What can I do to be a blessing?
Well, I believe you can speak to someone. You can speak to
someone about their soul. It could be a child. It could
be your child. It could be a neighbor. It could
be your mother. It could be your father. You
can speak to somebody about their soul. You can tell them that
they have a never-dying soul in them. And that unless God
lays hold of them, unless the blessed and divine Spirit of
God comes in mighty power to the soul and converts them, They're
lost and doomed to go off to a devil's hell and suffer eternal
torment forever and ever in that place where the worm dies not.
And the smoke of men's torment ascendeth up forever and ever
in that place where there's no rest, neither day or night. There is some poor soul who needs
some help that you could give them. some help. You remember
that vision Paul had? Why a man stood up and prayed
to come over and help us! Come over and help us! And there's
people, poor souls around you that's lingering on the very
threshold of eternity that need some encouragement, that need
some help. Some of the poor, afflicted people
of God that need somebody to put an arm around them. Somebody
just to tell them a little bit of something about their experience
of God delivering them, helping them along the way. Need some
encouragement. There's something that you can
do. Listen, an act of hospitality
for some needy child of God. And you'll show your gratitude
for what the Lord's done for you by doing so. Do it as unto
the Lord. Do it as unto the Lord. Don't
do it because you think you're going to get something out of
it, but you are going to get something out of it. You're going to be
a blessing, and you're going to be blessed for being a blessing. God's going to bless you because
you have been a blessing. We want to have a church in which
all the members do something. do something in which all do
all they can, in which all are always doing all they can, for
this is what our Lord deserves to have from a living, loving
people that's bought with His precious, precious blood. Now this church here, we don't
say nothing about doing at all when it comes to the salvation
of the soul, when it comes to sanctification. We believe it's
all in Christ. But my friend, when we serve
the living God, Paul himself, he said that he was forward to
remember the poor. And there are many examples in
the word of God where God's people have been useful and helpful
and have been a blessing to those around them. And this church
ought to be that. We've heard the gospel, we've
been blessed here, God's given a clear light, and there's so
much that we ought to be doing. Now if He has saved me, whatever
lies in my power to do for His glory, I'll delight to do it
as long as I live. And then notice also this man
rejoiced. He rejoiced, and this is found
in verse 34, and rejoiced, he set meat before them, and rejoiced,
believing in God with all of his house. Well, this man rejoiced
because he was saved. His heart, his heart I believe,
beat. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This was his heartbeat. He rejoiced that his sins were
forgiven and that he was a changed man and that he had a whole different
outlook on life. Old things had passed away and
all things had become new. He believed in God with all of
his house. What a blessed scene. What a
blessed scene. This rejoicing I believe was
a seal. of the Spirit upon his soul,
this rejoicing. Turn back quickly if you will,
we're going to close here just quickly, but Isaiah chapter 55
and look at verse 12. Isaiah 55 and 12, here's what
happened. It says, for ye shall go out
with joy, this is a picture of a saved man under the anointing
of the Spirit of God. When God comes and the Spirit
is shed abroad in His heart by the Holy Spirit or the love of
God is shed abroad in His heart by the Holy Spirit. This is what
happens. For you shall go out with joy
and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you into singing and all the trees of the field
shall clap their hands. You ever have that to happen?
Did it ever happen to you? Well, I'll tell you this. It's
happened to me. And I know of others it's happened
to. And they rejoiced in it. And they know what happened in
this house when this man and his family was converted. And
when he was rejoicing, believing in God, they know what took place
there. Just exactly what this verse
says. I'll tell you when this happens, you drive down the street,
everything looks different. I mean, whenever you see them
trees clapping their hands, and I'm saying this in a spiritual
way, it happens in the soul. There's everything. I mean, you
couldn't, nobody could get you down. Wouldn't be a way they
could get you down because God has greatly lifted you up and
you're going forth in the joy of the Lord and the joy of the
Spirit of God. And you're strong in the Lord
and the power of His might. And here's just exactly what
this man was doing. He was rejoicing. And that's
got to be a blessing. This was a seal of the Spirit
of God upon his soul. Such a night, such a night, this
man had just passed through. It had never been known before
as far as he was concerned, something tremendous had happened to him. Well, has all your house believed
on Christ? All your house? My God is able
to bring you and all your house. He brought this Philippian jailer
and all his house. And now listen, may God give
you faith about your house. You say there's some in my family
that's not yet converted. I have little children and there's
some that's not yet converted. My friend, may God give you faith
about your children. May it give you faith about it.
May you be enabled to believe that God is going to touch them
and that God's going to deliver them, that God's going to save
them. May God give you the ability to believe that. But keep your
children under the sound of the gospel. Keep them under the sound
of the gospel. Well I do, O Paul that's here,
and all in my house and yours shall meet in heaven at last.
The Lord shall have all the praise if such a thing occurs. The Lord
shall have all the praise, and let us be praying for the miracle,
because it'll be a miracle if God saves all in our houses. It'll be a miracle, but he can
do it. Now we've talked about belief. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. We talked about baptism, which
is a confession. of the soul that the Lord has
laid hold and that he has touched and that he's converted, that
he's saved. And then we talked about being a blessing, being
a blessing. These three B's if you please.
And I hope this morning that God will use this and that if
there's somebody here today and you say, well I am converted
preacher, I know God saved me. This will be the morning, this
will be the morning when you will stand up right here in the
service. Now we don't want you to come
forward, we're not interested in any show. But we would like
for you just to stand up and say, well I believe in my heart
that God has saved me. I'm as much converted as that
old Philippian jailer was. I've done what he did. I believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and ask this church to baptize you.
If there's anybody here this morning, Mike's going to come
and go lead us in a hymn in just a moment. Is there anybody here
this morning that would confess Jesus Christ in this service
and ask for baptism at the hands of this church? Is there anybody
here that way? Alright, we have one, two, three,
four. Is there anybody else? All right, we have four that
has asked that they be baptized at the hands of this church. The Lord willing, we have another
young man right here that asked some time ago, and the Lord willing,
we're going to try to secure the baptistry at the Fort Shaw
Bible Church within the next