Acts chapter 16, verse 1. Then came Paul and Silas to Derbe
and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple
was there named Timothy. Timothy was a believer in Christ,
redeemed by the grace of God. It says here that he was the
son of a certain woman. He was the son of a woman named
Eunice, and the grandson of a woman named Lois. And the Apostle Paul
paid tribute to his grandmother and his mother over here in 2
Timothy. Listen, 2 Timothy 1 verse 5. Paul said, I call to remembrance
the unfeigned, without hypocrisy, genuine faith that's in you,
as it is in Timothy, which dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois,
and in your mother, Eunice, and I'm persuaded in you too. That's a wonderful family tree,
isn't it? And then he says here in the
next line, he was the son of a certain woman, which was a
Jewish, she was a Jewish woman. She was a follower of Moses writings,
the word of God, and she believed. She believed the gospel. She
believed the gospel. Lois, her mother, believed the
gospel, and her son Timothy believed the gospel, all three of them.
That's the greatest thing that can be said about her or anybody
else, that she's a believer. She believed Christ. He that
believeth on the Son hath life. But it says here that his father
was a Greek. We don't know a great deal about
his father, but we know he was an uncircumcised Greek. and probably an unbeliever because
he refused to have his son circumcised according to the law of Moses.
That was, see his mother was a Jew and his grandmother was
a Jew, probably his grandfather, but this Greek daddy refused
to have his son circumcised, so he refused the Passover, he
refused the law, he refused the teachings of Moses, he refused
it. So he was an unbeliever, we're sure of that. But one prominent
word characterized these three. Eunice, Lois, and Timothy were
believers. All right, verse 2. And Timothy,
verse 2, was a man well reported of by the brethren. A man well
reported of by the brethren. at Lystra in Iconium, the place
where he lived. So verse 3 says, And the Lord
him with Paul have to go with him. See, Paul had Luke, had
Paul and Silas, and Luke was with them. Luke was the writer
of the book of Acts. He wrote the book of Luke, he
wrote the book of Acts. Luke was described, but Paul
wanted to take Timothy with him. He's a man who loved Christ and
who loved the gospel and was well reported of by all the people
of that part of the country, and Paul wanted Timothy to travel
with him. be his companion, his helper
in the ministry. See, the ministry is not a one-man
situation. Here's Paul, Silas, Luke, and
Timothy. And Paul wanted Timothy to go
with him, and you know he did. He went with Timothy all the
days of his life. He was with, in and out of the
presence and company of the Apostle Paul the rest of his life, a
faithful, godly persevering believer was Timothy. Paul wrote two epistles. God gave Paul two epistles under
the name of Timothy. Timothy, first and second Timothy.
What a great man. But then, in verse three, Paul
does a strange thing here, strange to a lot of people. It may seem
strange to some of you, especially regarding the controversy over
circumcision. Look for a moment back in Acts
15. In Acts chapter 15. And certain men, verse 1, Acts
15 verse 1, certain men came down from Judea and taught the
brethren and said, except you be circumcised after the manner
of Moses, you can't be saved. And so Paul and Barnabas had
no small dissension and disputation with them. We're going to have
a quarrel over this now because salvation is not in circumcision.
The law of Moses is fulfilled and taken away and Christ has
established us in the gospel. And when Paul met Titus and took
him down here to to talk with these Jewish brethren, Paul refused
to have Titus circumcised. He refused. He said you cannot
do it. Why? Why did he refuse? Because
he said you're making it a test of salvation. That's the reason
he refused. You're making it a test of salvation. You're saying
that a man has to be circumcised to be saved and that's not true
and Titus will not be circumcised. But Timothy Right here in verse
3, in my text. Him, verse 3, look at it. Him would have Paul, Him would
Paul have to go forth with him, and he took him and circumcised
him. Paul wouldn't circumcise Titus
because these fellows were demanding it to be saved. But Timothy,
Paul took him and circumcised him, and listen, he tells us,
because of the Jews which were in those quarters, for they all
knew him. They knew his daddy, they knew
his background, they knew his father was a Greek. He was an
uncircumcised man. And this is what Paul is saying.
Because of these Jews in those quarters, because by his background,
his father was a Greek, Paul had him circumcised, and I'll
tell you why. Not for the sake of the believers, but for the
sake of these unbelieving Jews, because these unbelieving Jews
would not have a man minister in the synagogue, or in the tabernacle,
or in the temple. He couldn't even come in. He
couldn't minister, he couldn't teach, and these Jews would not
listen to him because they knew his background. And Paul said,
I'll become all things to all men, by all means I'll save some,
and I'll have him circumcised, because circumcision doesn't
mean anything anyway. So regarding it on that particular
issue, Paul settled it, he said, have him circumcised, and that'll
take away the stigma and the reproach that these men feel. And listen, when these men came
to know Christ, they forget it too. They say it's unnecessary,
but at that time they felt it was necessary, because Timothy
couldn't come in the synagogue. He couldn't teach, he couldn't
preach, he couldn't talk with them. So you can't have it. All right, look at verse 4. So,
with Paul, Silas, Luke, and Timothy, as they went, verse 4, through
the cities, They delivered them the decrees for to keep, the
things that the apostles had ordained them to keep. The apostles
and elders told the people how to conduct themselves in the
house of God, among the people of God, and Paul taught these
things. And so, under the minister of
these men, the churches were established in the faith, and
they increased in number. Now this is interesting, look
at verse 6. And when they had gone throughout
Phrygia and the regions of Galatia, they were forbidden of the Holy
Ghost to preach the word of God in Asia. God said no, don't go,
don't go to Asia. Don't go to Asia. But now, Paul
did later go to Asia. He's not saying here that you
do not ever go to Asia, you're not going now to Asia. Because
let me show you that in Acts 19. Acts 19 verse 10. Paul did go to Asia later in
Acts 19 verse 10, listen. And they and this continued by
the space of two years, so that they which dwelt in Asia heard
the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. So Paul in chapter
19 went to Asia, but not now, not now. See, that's what the
Lord is saying here, not now. In verse 8, and they passing
by Mysia came to Troas, verse 7, and they came to Mysia,
they wanted to go to Bithynia, and the Spirit of God said no,
not now. later perhaps, but none of them.
And they passing by Mississippi came to Troas. Matthew Poole
said this about this thing of preaching the gospel where God
ordains it to be preached. Now listen to this. These disciples
at this time were forbidden of the Spirit to preach the gospel
in these places at this time. Later though, afterwards they
preached for two years in some of these places. Because our
God orders the light of the gospel to either be removed or to be
placed in one place or another place. He sends, he takes away. He sends to whom he will and
when he will, the way he will, for our calling and our election
is always, even so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. I visited
a man one time in Huntington, West Virginia. He watched me on television.
He was a sick man. He was an older man in his seventies,
not a believer, but he watched television, got interested in
the gospel, and the Lord saved him. And his son called me and
told me about his father being saved. His son was a minister.
And he called me about his father being saved and said, I wish
you'd go see him because I think it would mean a lot to him since
the Lord used the message you preached to bring him to Christ.
And so I went to the hospital in Huntington and found the room
and opened the door and he was standing looking out the window.
And when I walked in, he turned and he said, I never thought
I'd ever see you. But he said, I'm glad to see
you. And the Lord has revealed the gospel to me, and I thank
you for preaching to me. And we talked a little while,
and I said to Brother Luther, name was Luther Mounts. I said,
Brother Luther, I said, you're 70 years old, past 70. In all
these years you've had no interest in the gospel at all. How do
you account for this? You know what he said to me?
I couldn't believe it. He said, I remember a scripture.
Even so father, it seemed good in Nazareth. Now that says it
doesn't it? Even so father, it seemed good.
And that's what our Lord says here in regard to these places
where he told the disciples, don't go. Don't go, don't go,
go here. If he sends me here, he's going
to bless here. That's the way, here's going
to be blessed, when he sends me here. That's right. So, verse
9. And a vision appeared to Paul,
it appeared to Paul in the night. There's still a man in Macedonia,
a man, or an angel, I don't know who it was, but I know he was
dressed in the likeness of that country. because he said a man
of Macedonia appeared to me and prayed me that I'd come over
to Macedonia and help us. I've experienced that more than
once. 1985, a man and his wife came by our
house and they were traveling through and they heard about
us and we were friends from a past experience, but they came by
and spent the night with us, and had a meal. I can't remember
their names. That's not unusual, is it? You
might remember them, see if you can work on that. But anyway,
honestly, and they said to me, they said, we don't have any
gospel in our part of the country. They were from Central Point,
Oregon, near the town of Medford, Harry and Days. Bedford, Oregon. That's that's where they're from.
We don't have any gospel true gospel. Would you come out and
preach? And I said yes, sir, I certainly would he said I ran
a hall I ran a Grange Hall That's what they call those part farmers
halls in that part of the country. I ran it and We'll have services
for a week if you'll come I said I will I He said, how many people
do you require to be there? I said, two. He said, who's that? I said,
me and you. He said, well, I can do that. Well, he got more than
that. And I went out and started preaching.
God bless. People came. I'll tell you five
preachers that came. They came from Rescue, California,
Reading, California, Malien, Oregon. and Central Point, Oregon. Five preachers. Norman Wells,
John Watson, Brother Pope, Colin Pope, Brother Claude Haggerty,
and Brother Gene Harmon. And we thrashed out the gospel
that week. Two of those preachers were saved and baptized in that
meeting. Of course, they both were fired
from their churches because they couldn't take a saved preacher,
you know, both of them. Brother Norman Wells and Brother
Watson were both fired. My friends through this year.
Brother Norman sat here during the conference. He loves the
gospel. He's pastor again after 14, 15 years. John Watson is
not a pastor, but he writes and sends an offering to this church
every month, John Watson. and his wife Linda, 1985. They
loved the gospel. And that was when Brother Gene
Harmon asked me if I'd go for a ride with him one day. I said,
yes, sir. So we took a ride. He said, you
have a Sovereign Grace Bible Conference in Ashland, don't
you? I said, yes, sir. We've had it for many, many years.
He said, would you help me do that in Rescue, California? I
said, I will. Will you come down Bring Brother
Bill Hodge, Brother John Shultz, and you come and we'll have a
Sovereign Grace Bible Conference, 1986. It's going to this day. So I'm telling you this, God
opens the door where God opens the door. God closes the door
where God closes the door. Now that's just right, that's
just the way it is. Now let's look at this place
again, verse 11. Therefore, loosing from Troas,
we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next
day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi." Some of you men
are familiar with this. Paul wrote a letter to the church
of Philippi. The Lord said, I've got many
people in this city, many people, and the Lord called out a church
there. in Philippi. And it's the chief city of Macedonia. It's called Philippi. A little
history here. It was named for King Philip,
the son of Alexander the Great, who later rebuilt the city. But
anyway, that's the city. That's the city of Philippi. All right, let's look, if you
will, now at verse 13. And on the Sabbath On the Sabbath day,
Paul and Silas, Luke and Timothy went out of the city by riverside. On the Sabbath day, Paul and
these men going down by the riverside? Why would they do that? There
was no synagogue in that city. No synagogue. No Jewish worshipers
in a synagogue in that city. You had to have so many You had
to have so many Jews in order to have a synagogue. I don't
remember how many. Just 12 or 13 or something. Maybe
it's more than that. But anyway, they had no synagogue. See, Paul always, when he went
to a new place, he always first went to the synagogue and reasoned
with those Jews and preached to them. He got thrown out a
lot of times, but he always went to the synagogue. But there was
no synagogue in that city. No synagogue. He says here, on
the Sabbath day, Paul went out of the city by a riverside where
Paul was wont to be married, where some people, some dear
women, met to pray. They had no synagogue on the
Sabbath day, no place to worship God, so they went to the river.
They went to the seashore. They went, someone says, to a
quiet place where they could be together and worship the Lord. That's right. You know, I thought
about this, a stranger could walk through a city like Philippi
and never find those twelve people. Down by the riverside was ten,
eleven, or twelve women, just mentions of women, doesn't say
anything about any men being there. But they were meeting
down by the riverside, they read the Law of Moses, they
read these things. None of them were converted.
We're not talking about Eunice now, we're talking about these
Jewish women who had met by the riverside to worship God in the
way that Moses taught them on the Sabbath day, exactly as Moses
taught them. That's right, they met, and a
person could walk through this town probably a hundred times
and never find this little group of believers, but God knew them. They were women who were seeking
the Lord, seeking the truth, reading the scriptures, praying
to God, worshiping, walking in what light they had, putting
forth what effort they can to find God. And God knew them,
and he sent Paul to these 8 or 10 or 12 women who wanted to
know the truth, just like he sent Paul to the sent Philip to the eunuch and
Peter to Cornelius. But Paul, Silas, Timothy, and
Luke sat down and talked to these women about Christ, told them
who he is and what he did. Why he came, where he is now. Wouldn't you like to have been
there? I've talked so often. I'd just like to sit there with
those people. Those twelve, eight or ten, twelve
women and talk to them about the Lord Jesus Christ. And you
know, turn to the book of Philippians a minute. I wonder if someone
was still there. One of the first ones. I wonder
about this. I'm going to look here at Philippians.
chapter 4. He names three. I wonder if these
were three of those twelve. We know Lydia came to faith.
Maybe Jodeas, and Syntyche, and Clement. Let's read it here in
chapter 4 of Philippians, verse 1. Beloved, long for my joy, my
crown, stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech
the Odious," that's one of the ladies, I beseech Seneca that
they be of the same mind in the Lord. Evidently Seneca and the
Odious had a little falling out, maybe so, because Paul said,
I'm writing to you ladies to get it all together, to be of
the same mind in the Lord. Maybe they were one of the twelve.
Oh, here's another one. And I also entreat, also true
yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the
gospel. Must be more than one or two or three or four. They
labored with me in the gospel. They were the beginnings of that
church. With Clement also and with my
other fellow labors whose name is in the book of life. What
an experience. How did it all come about? We'll
give you five things. How did it all come about? Let's look here in verse 14. It says, And a certain woman
named Lydia, a seller of purple, God by his providence brought
her to this place at this time to hear the gospel. Now, she
wasn't from Philippi. Originally, she was from Thyatira. And she later moved to Philippi.
God moved her from Thyatira to Philippi. Evidently, her husband
was dead. She was a businesswoman, a seller
of purples. She was a middle-aged woman. She had children. She had a household,
a big household. And she had moved from Thyatira
over to Philippi. That's when God brought her.
to hear the gospel with her family. You know, God's providence is
a companion of God's grace. Where you find God's grace, you'll
find God's providence. Where you find God's providence,
you'll find God's grace. What was Lydia doing in Philippi,
down by the riverside, worshiping with Jewish people? who at one
time was in Thyatira. God put her there. God brought
her there. You and I will be where we are
at the time God designates when his preacher will tell us the
truth. We'll be where we are. We'll
be where we are at God's time when God sends his preacher to
open our minds and our hearts to the gospel. That's right.
That Samaritan woman Our Lord sat down by that well. His disciples were gone. Nobody
around. Here comes a woman. Woman had
been married five times. Living with a man who wasn't
her husband. Had no interest in the gospel, or God, or Christ,
or eternal life, or anything else. She came to draw some water.
And our Lord Jesus Christ met her. When she left there, she
even left a water pot. She was so frail, what she heard.
I wonder sometime, can you imagine all of the providence and ways
of God that brought that dying thief to the cross when Christ
died there? Now you think about that now.
Think about all the things that happened in his life to come
to that point, that six hours, when he was hanging on the cross
with Christ. What about Zacchaeus? What's he doing in that tree?
God put him there. The Lord came by, and the Lord
brought him to Christ. What was Bartimaeus doing in
Jericho? What was Lydia doing by the river?
Meeting Christ. God moves in mysterious ways,
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps on the
sea, and he rides on the storm. His purposes were ripe and fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste.
And some of you have been through some bitter experiences and bitter
tastes and bitter trials. But God brought you one day to
where the gospel was preached. And though the bud has a bitter
taste, sweet will be the flower. You'll never hear any more bad
news when you hear the good news. That's right. Now foolish men
are sure to err and search his work in vain. They can't understand
it and can't explain it. But God is his own interpreter. He'll make it plain if you want
to hear it. You may be holed up in One of
these places, the Lord said, don't go. I hope I'm not. I want to be where he came when
he met me. Well, God's providence brought
her to Christ. Secondly, God prepared her for
a blessing. Let me show you something. Had
a certain woman named Lydia, a settler person, the purple,
of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God. She what? She worshipped God. That's right,
she was not a Jew, she was a Gentile. She left paganism and left heathenism
to worship God. She found her way among the people
of Israel. God taught her the truth out
of Moses. She didn't know Christ, but she
wasn't just religious. She wasn't just carrying on a
farm or a ceremony, she was one who was seeking the Lord. I know
that. Because what's she doing down
here by this riverside with these Jewish women seeking the Lord?
She was gathering with others to pray and to worship God. I'm
telling you this, and I say this to you young people, if God has
not revealed the gospel to you, do not neglect the means of grace.
You say, but I'm not a believer. No, and if you don't hear the
word, you never will be. That's right. Cornelius was busy
with the means of grace when God revealed the gospel to him.
The eunuch had been to Jerusalem to worship. He didn't know the
gospel from anything else, but he was seeking the Lord, seeking
the Lord. Lydia, she never expected the
apostle Paul to walk into her gathering, but she was walking in the light
God gave her. That's what I'm saying. I'm glad when they said to me,
let's go to the house of the Lord, because that's where God
is revealed, and that's where Christ is revealed, and that's
where the gospel is preached, and that's where if you come
to know Christ, you'll come to know Him. That's right. So just hang about wherever you
want to, but if you want to meet God, you hang out where his people
hang out, and you'll learn something. That's right. That woman... And just stay there. He does.
He doesn't have to do it tomorrow. I'll give him two weeks. Well,
forget it. It may take two years. That's all right. If it saves
your soul, it'll take... Forty years would be better.
All right, go to this. And it says, she worshiped the
Lord and God heard us. God heard. God heard. God heard her prayer and she
heard God's word. One of the old writers said,
if there be an elect soul here today, a eunuch, a Lydia, a Cornelius,
if there be an elect soul here today whom the Lord has determined
to save by His grace, God will bring, God will bring that person
to hear his gospel of his dear son and God will move heaven
and God will shake the earth to accomplish that purpose. Turn over here to Haggai a minute. Haggai. Over here is a little book of
Haggai and chapter 2. Chapter 2. Haggai chapter 2. God heard us. Haggai chapter
2 verse 6. For thus saith the Lord of hosts,
yet once in a little while, and I shake the heavens and the earth
and the sea and the dry land, and I shake all nations, and
the desire of all nations shall come. And I'll fill this house
with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. Wouldn't that be something? I'll shake this house, shake
the earth. All right. She worshiped God, and she heard us. And it says
here in the next verse, and God opened her heart. God opened
her heart. Whose heart? The Lord opened.
It doesn't say that she opened her own heart and invited Christ
in. You don't do that. You don't
have the will to or the desire to. It doesn't say that Paul
opened her heart. Paul preached the gospel to her
and prayed for her and witnessed to her, but he didn't open her
heart. Her prayers, she prayed a long time. Her works, she was
a person of good works. But her prayers and her good
works didn't open her heart. It says the Lord opened her heart. God opened her heart. God is
the heart maker. I'll give you a new heart. I'll take the stony heart out
and give you a heart of flesh. God is the heart maker. God's
the heart opener. God is the heart master. And
Lydia's conversion was not a matter of mind. A businesswoman who sorted out
all the facts, and weighed all the evidences, and studied all
the doctrines, and came to the conclusion that she's going to
believe all Jesus now. God hope to her. God hope to her. What was the result? Look
at this last verse. God opened her heart, verse 14,
and she attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved, but how shall they call on him in
whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall we preach except every sin? God
sent her a preacher. She heard the truth. And God
opened her eyes. And she attended to the things
that were spoken. Let me show you two scriptures
and I'll close. Here's the first one in John
17. How the scripture, God uses the scriptures to settle in us. saving faith. In John chapter
17 verse 8, our Lord said about his disciples, John chapter 17
verse 8, Father, I have given unto them the words which you
gave me, and they have received them. God gave us the word, and
God wrote it on our hearts, and we've received it. And we have
known surely that you came from thee. And they have believed
that you sent me." We heard the word, we believed it. Now watch
this, the next verse is in Hebrews 11, talking about all these giants
of faith. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 13,
listen. And they continued, see Lydia
heard the gospel, God opened her heart, she received it, believed
Trust it, rest it, and then look at the future. Hebrews 11 verse 13, And these
died in the faith, having not received the promises, but having
seen them afar off. And they were persuaded of them,
they embraced them, and they confessed. They confessed Christ. They confessed that they were
strangers and pilgrims on this earth. What did she do then?
All right, Acts 16, and we close. God opened her heart, she attended
to the things that Paul said and spoke, and verse 15, and
when she was baptized in her household, she besought us saying,
if you've judged me faithful, to be faithful to the Lord, come
into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. People
who love the gospel, who know the gospel, number one, they
believe it in their hearts. That's where it's confessed,
in the heart. Secondly, it's confessed with the mouth. Thirdly,
it's confessed in believers' baptism. And fourthly, it's confessed
to other believers. They want to be together. They
form a fellowship, they form a union of hearts and minds. And that's what she said, come
to my house, bring your friends. If you've judged me faithful,
come to my house. Alright, let's sing a hymn.