I love you all. I've been here
once before and I told you when I was here how much I appreciated
you giving Brother Tom the time and support to come down to Kingsport
all those years. And we love you. I'm thankful to be here because
I love my brother and my sister. And it's very special for me. This
is the highest honor I've ever known, what I've experienced
in the last year and a half. It is the hardest honor I've
ever known. But I'm just very thankful to
be here. Thanks for having us and sharing
this with us. Turn with me to Acts chapter
16. And I want to call on the Lord one
more time. Let's bow in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we need
You. Dear Lord, if You do not come
down and meet with us, then this is in vain. Lord, would You bless this service.
Would You bless Your Holy Word. Would You send Your Spirit and
meet with us, we pray. May there be two or three gathered
here in Your name. Dear Lord, please forgive us.
Please forgive us for Christ's sake. Amen. Acts chapter 16. The Apostle Paul and a man named
Silas. They were called by God and they
were sent with a message of truth to a city called Philippi. And as they preached, the Lord
opened the ears of a woman named Lydia. And the Lord cast a devil out
of a woman who was a fortune teller, a soothsayer, a palm
reader. And the people that she worked
for did not like that at all. They couldn't make money on her
anymore. And the gospel was not well received there at all. Not at all. After Brother Caleb called me
on the phone and told me that he and Bobby both wanted to confess
the Lord, I thought immediately I knew what I wanted to preach
on. And I was going to preach on the Lord going to John the
Baptist in Matthew 3. What a text that is. But I was
brought over to Acts 16, and as soon as I read this, I thought,
that is our story. This is our story. This is what
happened to every single one of us. And this is the result
of every single one of us. Well, here in Acts 16, verse
22, The multitude rose up together
against Paul and Silas. And the magistrates rent off
their clothes, they tore the clothes off of these two men
and commanded to beat them. Beat them. Because of the truth. The truth that we are confessing
tonight. This very truth. Because of the
calls of Christ, and that's exactly what they did. Verse 23 says,
And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they beat them severely. When they had laid many stripes
upon them, 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." How thankful we are that the
Lord God has given us the freedom to do this right now. For long
periods of time, people had to do this secretly. I thought about these men who
have been doing this for years and years and years, whom I love. Thanks be to God somebody preached
the gospel to me. And could you imagine if these
men whom we love were sitting in a prison right now because
of all those years of preaching the gospel. The Lord has blessed us. These
men were persecuted. They were persecuted. Did their
being cast into prison thwart the purpose of God according
to election? No. Their being cast into prison
was the purpose of God. We're about to see what happened
in just a minute. Did their being cast into prison shut up the
life-giving message of the gospel? Did it stop the work of God's
Holy Spirit? Did it finally work together
for bad? Everything finally worked together
for bad. Was God with them when Lydia's
ears were opened and that devil was cast out of that woman? But
now God's left them to themselves to suffer the consequences of
preaching His gospel. God has worked all things after
the counsel of His own will. And He's done this for the salvation
of His own. Every single thing that happens
is for the salvation of His own. every single thing that happens.
It's for the furtherance of the gospel and it's for the salvation
of His own. Now let's see what happened here
in Acts 16 verse 25. It says, And at midnight Paul
and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. They've just been beaten. They'd just been thrown into
prison and held fast in the stocks, and what did the two men decide
to do? Verse 25 says, "...At midnight,
Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God." Did you know
that's exactly what we're doing right now? Right this very second. That
is exactly what happens in the preaching of the gospel. True worship consists of two
things. The first one is prayer. It's calling on God for mercy. Calling on God for grace. Calling
on God for help. For forgiveness. And the second
thing is praise. True gospel preachers sing the
praises of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the gospel is. Here's what true gospel messengers
say. And when I think that God, His
Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden
gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin, then sings
my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, how great Thou art. My sin, O
the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part, but the
whole, was nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise
the Lord! Praise the Lord! O my soul! O to grace, how great a debtor! Daily I'm constrained to be.
Let Thy goodness, Paul and Silas sang, just like this fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love,
here's my heart. Take and seal it. Seal it for
Thy courts above." At midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang
praises. Turn with me over to Acts chapter
2. Acts chapter 2 verse 22. It says, You men of Israel, hear
these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, Him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because
it was not possible that he should beholden of it." Verse 36 again
says, Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that
God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both
Lord and Christ. That is the message of truth. Call on God, for there is none
greater. There's none greater. Thou alone
art worthy. Salvation belongs to the Lord. He's the author. He's the finisher. All glory and praise be unto
our King alone. Now look back at Acts chapter
16 with me. Verse 25 says, And at midnight
Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners
heard them. Thanks be unto God for opening
deaf ears. If God doesn't open them, they're
not going to be opened. Thanks be unto God for opening
blind eyes and laying hold on the captives." That's the work
of God's Holy Spirit and it comes through the preaching of the
gospel. The prisoners heard, turn with me to Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61 verse 1 says, The Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound. What glorious
news to hear! I believe some prisoners perked
up when they heard Paul and Silas praying and singing praises to
God for everything He's done. Set free? Back over in Acts 16, verse 25
says, 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 foundations of the prison were
shaken." When God opens a sinner's ears to the true gospel, there's
an earthquake all right. Foundations get shaken, really shaken. Everything that
sinner stood on and stood for is knocked out from under him. Everything. All of his doctrines
are shaken. All of his religion and his morals
are shaken. His morals weren't quite as firm
as he thought they were. All of his comfort is shaken. All of his rest, it's all shaken. And you know what the first thing
that happens to a sinner when he hears about this? Fear comes
over him. It's all shaken. Every work he's ever committed
crumbles into sand. It really does, doesn't it? Quicksand. And for the first time in his
life, that sinner will realize, I'm going down. I'm going down. For the first time, I am going
down. And he will cry, when he realizes
he's going down, he will cry, Lord Jesus, Thou Son of David,
have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. He will cry
from the depths of His soul, Have mercy on me. And God will
send the messenger with the song of praise. How firm a foundation,
ye saints of the Lord, is already laid for your faith in His excellent
Word. And that sinner will cry, where
is the foundation? I need it. I seek it. And the song of praise will rank.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand. All other ground. And you now
know this to be true, don't you? All other ground. Everything
other than Christ, the Rock of God, is sinking sand. It's just sinking sand. When God opens a sinner's ears
to that message, and when God confirms that to a sinner's heart,
you know what that sinner is going to say? My hope is built
on nothing less. That's it. Look at the result of that. Look
at the end of verse 26. And immediately all the doors
were opened and everyone's bands were loosed. That's the result of preaching
the true gospel. Every sinner that God gives an
ear to hear is going to be brought to the truth. which is Christ
Himself. And the truth then sets that
sinner free. Verse 27 says, 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." We have not
broken the law. We've been set free. But the
law is still perfectly intact. Every jot, every tittle. Verse 29 says, 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? What must I do to be saved? That's all I've ever known. That's
the only thing I know to say. What must I do, do, do to be
saved? What is my part? What is my responsibility? Verse 31 says, And they said,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and
thy house." You know what they told him right there? It is done. They didn't give him a work.
Believe on is not a work. They said, you believe that Christ
has finished the work. You believe that Christ has satisfied
everything that is required for your salvation. You rest in what
He has done. You rest in His blood. You rest in His righteousness. That's what you do. Do it. Turn with me over to Matthew
11. Matthew 11 verse 28 says, Our
Lord said, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. A yoke hooks two together. And what he's saying is, there's
an empty space on my yoke. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. Why? It's because he carried
all the weight. He's already finished all the
work. You just rest. Just rest. Back over in Acts
16, verse 31 says, And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. Verse 32 says, And they spake
unto him the words of the Lord, and to all that were in his house,
they preached to him." Just like Brother Tom said, they preached
to him. They told him the truth. God
has chosen the means of using a messenger. That's the means
He's chosen to use. Verse 33 says, 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 set meat before them and rejoiced, believing
in God with all his house." What a blessing to be able to believe
in God with all the house, as many as God has called and given
ears to. Man, we rejoice in this together,
don't we? There is nothing better than
being in a house full of believers. This is my story. I know that
this is your story. It's all of our story. What a
story it is. This is what we're confessing.
This is all we're saying in this water. But God, that's all we're saying. May God help us and bless us
and bless His Word. All right, Brother Tom.