He had gone throughout Phrygia
and the regions of Galatia. But when He wanted to go to Asia,
it says they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the
Word in Asia. And then in verse 7 and 8, it
says after they came to Mysia, they were determined to go to
Bithynia again. They were denied that privilege. And so they passed by Mysia and
came to Troas. And here in verse 9, it says,
A vision appeared to Paul in the night, and there stood a
man of Macedonia. And he prayed him, saying, Come
into Macedonia. Come over into Macedonia and
help us. And Paul gathered from that vision. Verse 10, it says, After he had
seen the vision, immediately, immediately, he endeavored to
go to Macedonia, assuredly, confidently, gathering that the Lord had called
us to do what? Preach the gospel. Preach the
gospel in Macedonia. Now, I tell you, if God calls
a man to preach, he'll open a door. Paul is called of God to preach. And if God calls a man to preach,
you'll do two things. You'll give him a message. In
other words, Paul said, I'm determined to go down and do what? Preach
the gospel. You'll teach him the gospel.
And then you'll open the door. You'll give him a place to preach.
A place to preach. So verse 11 says, Therefore,
loosing from Troas, We came with a straight course to Samothrace
and the next day to Neapolis and from thence to Philippi. Oh my, who would have thought
that this is a military city? This is a pagan city, Philippi
in Macedonia, chief city of Macedonia. Who would have thought that God
would have in Philippi and elect people. A strong church. The
church, the book of Philippians is written to this church in
later years. But only God knows where His
elect are. Only God. They're where they
are. They're where they are. People call me Ever so often
they say, I live over here, I live over there, is there a church
near me? I don't know of one. There may be one, but I don't
know of one. Many large cities where there's no gospel and yet
here in Ashland, down in Dingus, Turkey Creek, Cottagetail, Lexington,
Danville, Virginia, different places, North Carolina, little
towns. where God has a people. You know, over here in the turn
to the 18th chapter of Acts, Paul was down in Corinth. Corinth was a great city, a pagan
city. And he was being harassed and
abused and persecuted and he was about to leave, just about
to leave that place, to flee. And in Acts 18 verse 9, the Lord
spake to Paul in the night by vision. And he said, Be not afraid,
but speak. And hold not thy peace, for I
am with you. I am with you. And no man shall
set on you to hurt you, for I have much people in this city. Only
God knows that. The Lord knows them that are
His. Our Lord Jesus knew from the
beginning who would believe and who would betray Him. So here
the Lord sent Paul down to Philippi. Philippi. Paul didn't select
the place. God did. Paul didn't elect the
people. God did. And sent him. And sent him to preach. Oh, I
tell you, the greatest blessing that could ever come to a place,
the greatest blessing, heavenly blessing that can fall upon a
place is for God to choose to send His messenger down there
to preach the gospel. Oh, what a blessing that God
would send Paul to Philippi. He could have gone to Asia, he
could have gone to Bithynia, he could have gone to countless
thousands of places, but here this servant of God, this bond
slave of Jesus Christ, this man who knew the Lord, this man who
knew the Gospel, this man upon whom God's hand rested, power
rested, came to Philippi. I tell you, those people in Philippi
should have been dancing in the streets. One of the great basketball players
or baseball players or singers or politicians can come to a city
and make headlines. Everybody goes out to greet them,
wave. And they land at the airport,
big crowd there to greet them, you know, down the street, parade. I tell you, the big blessing
is when God sends His preacher. Alright, usually when Paul came
to a city, he'd go to the synagogue to preach. That's where he would
usually start. He'd come wherever he came, he'd
go to the synagogue because that's where the Jewish people assembled.
That was the place at least where God was recognized. At least
where people came in the name of God. At least where there
was some semblance of worship. And Paul would go to the synagogue.
That's where he'd start preaching to people who were there at the
synagogue. But Philippi didn't have a synagogue. It didn't have a synagogue. There
was no synagogue in this military city of Philippi. And perhaps
the reason was there weren't enough Jews there. I don't know
a great deal about this, but I read somewhere years ago that
there had to be a certain number of Jews in a place before a synagogue
would be built. But I tell you, there were some
people there who worshipped God. There were some women there who
worshipped God in Philippi. They didn't know Christ. They
didn't know the Gospel. They didn't know redemption story,
but they were Jews. And they were brought up in the
tradition, in the oracles of God, in the tradition of religion,
recognizing at least there is a God. And it says in verse 13, And
on the Sabbath we went out of the city by the riverside where
prayer was wont to be made. Some people were meeting together,
some women. Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen,
sixteen, I don't know how many, but there were some women who
met on the Sabbath day. This was the Sabbath day. They
had no synagogue. They had no scribe or ruler or
teacher. But they met down by the river
in the name of God to worship and to pray. Now a stranger might
come to that city a hundred times and never find that little group. They were certainly unknown and
unrecognized. There was all kind of religion
in that town, false gods and false worship and all that sort
of thing like in any other big city. But over here by the river,
there were some people who were praying, seeking the truth, seeking
God. And a fellow could come to that
city and walk through that city hundreds of times and never know
of the existence of that little group down by the river. But
Paul found them. Now let me say something here.
Paul found them. You know how he found them? He's
looking for them. That's how he found them. He's
looking for them. He's looking for somebody in
agreement with him. on who God is. The God of Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob. And I'll tell you, I'll tell
some of these folks out in different places. If you look for some believers,
there's a good possibility you'll find them. We had a lady from this church
moved away from here. Had to. Her husband worked somewhere
else. She moved away. She couldn't
find a place to hear the gospel, a church. There were churches
all over the place, but nobody preaching the gospel. She put
an ad in the paper. She put an ad in the paper that
said, does anybody in this area believe God is sovereign? That
God elected a people? That man is to pray? That the
Holy Spirit calls people? Does anybody in this area believe
that? Call me! Somebody called her. An old preacher out in the country
said, I preached that. And she went out and met with
them. Found fellowship. I know a young lady right now
that's moved down to Florida. She went to about 14 or 15 different
churches trying, hunting them, hunting them. Hunting the gospel,
seeking the gospel. I'm going to hear the gospel. These people were meeting down
by the river and nobody knew about them. But Paul found them. He found them. And it says in
verse 13, And we went down out of the city by a riverside where
prayer was wont to be made, where somebody was seeking the face
of God. And we sat down and spake unto
the women. Evidently they were just women.
No men. What did he say to them? You know, I believe that he didn't
have a New Testament, did he? Here's some women now, you know,
they're Jewish women on the Sabbath day. They're in their tradition,
they're in their Jewish customs, keeping a Sabbath day, praying. Seeking God. Ignorant of who
Christ is, or even if Christ even came to the earth. Jesus
of Nazareth. Down here in Philippi. Strange,
pagan city. What did Paul say? Where did
he start? Well, turn to Luke 24. Luke 24. I'll tell you. And you know,
I'll be going over to Belarus, Russia. Little satellite country
over near west of Moscow, between Poland and Moscow, and you know
where it is, I'm sure. Preaching. And I'm going to preach
in some churches. And the fellow said, will you
preach in the jail? Yeah, I'll preach in the jail. I told him
there'd be two of us, Bill Clark and I, we'd take turnabout preaching
and we'd just schedule as many places as we could. If I can
find out how Paul started with these ignorant women, maybe I'll
know where to start with those Ignorant people. They're religious.
They're religious. Oh, I was over there once before
in Moscow. They're religious. They have a form of godliness,
but denying the power. They don't know the gospel. Well,
here in Luke 24, our Lord, it says in verse 27, beginning at
Moses, and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. That's where I bet Paul
started. He started in Moses, Genesis. Look down here at verse 44. And
the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, These are the words which I have
spoken to you while I was yet with you, that all things must
be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, in the prophets,
in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened He their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. What are these Scriptures? The Old Testament. The Old Testament
Scriptures. These women were somewhat familiar
with the Old Testament, with the Scriptures, with the promises,
with the prophecies, with the sacrifices, with the holy days,
with the customs. They were familiar with the Scriptures.
They were. And Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures. He is buried and rose again according
to the Scriptures. In verse 45, our Lord opened
their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures,
and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved
Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.
It is written in the Scriptures that repentance and remission
of sin should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem. Paul went back yonder to the
seed of woman. and the promise, and told how
that Christ is the seed of woman. He came to the Passover, the
sacrifice, before they were delivered out of Egypt. When I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. He showed how Christ is the Passover.
He came to the brazen serpent lifted up, the smitten rock,
all of those, David, the prophets, Isaiah, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me that anointed me to preach the gospel of the poor.
That's where he started. And let me show you an example.
Turn to Acts 13. I looked for this. Paul's actual
message to a people who did not know Christ, but who knew something
of the Old Testament. In Antioch, Acts 13. Here he
is. Listen. Here it is. And we'll
read this to you. Here's a message he brought.
And this is what he preached to these women, I'm sure. Acts
13, verse 16. Then Paul stood up, beckoning
with his hand. He said, Men of Israel. See who
he's talking to now? Like these women, the women of
Israel. And ye that fear God. They did. They were there to
pray. Worship God. Listen to me. Give all this.
The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers and exalted
the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt.
And with a high hand brought he them out of it. And about
the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
And when he destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided
their land to them by lot. After that he gave unto them
judges, about the space of four hundred and fifty years until
Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a
king, and God gave unto them Saul the son of Seth, a man of
the tribe of Benjamin, and he ruled for forty years. And when
he had removed Saul, he raised up unto them David to be their
king. To whom? To whom also he gave
testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man
after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. Of this
man's seed hath God promised, hath God according to his promise
raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus. When John the Baptist
had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance
to all the people of Israel, and as John fulfilled his cause,
he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But behold, there
cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to
loose. Men and brethren, in this case,
I imagine he said, Ladies, listen, Children of the stock of Abraham,
whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation
sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem
and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices
of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have
fulfilled them in condemning him, the Lord Jesus. And though
they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate
that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of Him in the Scriptures, they took Him down
from the tree and laid Him in a sepulchre, but God raised Him
from the dead. And He was seen many days of
them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are
His witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you good
news, glad tidings, the gospel, how that the promise which was
made unto the fathers God has fulfilled that same promise unto
us, their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as
it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this
day have I begotten thee, the first begotten from the dead.
And it is concerning that he raised him up from the dead,
now no more to return to corruption. He said on this wise, I'll give
you the sure mercies of David, Wherefore, he saith also in another
psalm, I shall not suffer thine holy one to seek corruption.
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will
of God, fell on sleep, and was laid under his father's and sought
corruption." When God said this, He wasn't talking about David,
Paul said, He was talking about Christ. Now verse 38, Be it known
unto you therefore, ladies, I believe He said the same thing to them,
that through this man, Jesus of Nazareth is preached unto
you the forgiveness of sin, and by Him all that believe are justified
from all things from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses. Now beware, beware therefore,
lest that come upon you which was spoken of in the prophets. Behold, you despisers and wander
and perish. I work a work in your days, a
work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you. And when the Jews were gone out
of the synagogues, the Gentiles besought that these words might
be preached to them the next Sabbath day. Now when the congregation
was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed
Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them persuaded them to continue
in the grace of God. And the next Sabbath day came
almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God. But
when the Jews saw the multitude, they were filled with envy and
spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, the things
of Christ, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas
waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the Word of God should first
have been spoken to you, to the Jew first and also to the great,
but seeing you put it from you, and you judge yourselves unworthy
of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath
the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light
of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends
of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and
they glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed." That's what I believe Paul preached
to those ladies. Same thing. Now, let's see the results over
here in Acts 16. See what happened. Paul preached
to them. I don't know how many of them believe. I know over
here in Acts 13, most of those Jews won't have it. Some believe.
But here, watch this, in Acts 16. Acts 16, verse 14, And a certain
woman I know one that believed. I know one. Maybe some of the
rest of them did. Turn to Philippians just a minute,
chapter 4. He names some women over here.
I think I wondered when I studied this, I wondered if these ladies
were there in that group, that first group. Here he is writing
to Philippi to the Philippians in Philippians 4. Philippians
4 verse 2. He said, I beseech you, Odias,
That's a woman. I beseech, Syntyche, that's a
woman, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I entreat
thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored
with me in the gospel." When I was down there with Clement
also and with other of my fellow laborers whose names are in the
Book of Life, maybe, maybe they all heard him. He talks about
those women that labored with him in the gospel. Maybe this
group of 12 or 15 when Paul preached Christ to them. But I know one
that did. Let's look at this one for a
moment. What a day when the sheep of Christ hear the gospel. Somebody says, well everybody
hears you preaching. No, no they don't. I wish they
did. Everybody didn't hear Christ.
Having ears, he said, they do not hear. Having eyes, they do
not see. Having hearts, they do not understand. As a man in Mexico came up to
Brother Howard and I after a service one night, in Spanish he said,
Milton translated it for me later, in Spanish he said, I've heard
you fellas lots of times. I've heard you fellas lots of
times. Tonight, I heard you. I heard you. Now listen to this. Listen, a certain woman, it says
here, a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city
of Thyatira. She wasn't of the city of Philippi.
She was a visitor in that city. She came from Thyatira. She was
living there doing business. She worshipped God with these
ladies down by the river. She heard us. She heard us. "...whose heart the Lord opened, and she attended unto the things
which were spoken of Paul, the things of Christ." You know,
when Christ went away, He said to His disciples, the Holy Spirit
will take the things of mine and show them to you. The things
of mine. And she attended to these things.
She had spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized in
her household, she besought us saying, if you judge me faithful
in the Lord, come into my house. She had a house there in Philippi
and abided there. She constrained us. Now, I want
to give you five things here to remember about this woman
named Lydia. First of all, it was God's providence
that brought her to this place. This woman was a thyrotyra. Evidently,
now listen, I judge these things, and most people who've studied
this, this is what they feel. This woman was a businesswoman,
a seller of purple, something known to women. She was a businesswoman. Evidently, her husband was dead.
She was a widow. Evidently, she was up 50 or 60
years of age. An older woman. She was a businesswoman.
She was in town on business. She was a seller of purple. And
here she was, she was a Jewish woman, here she was down by the
river meeting with a group of women, praying. God's providence
brought Paul at that time, while she was there, to preach the
gospel. And she heard it. Somebody said
God's providence is a companion of God's grace, and God's providence
will miraculously, mysteriously bring His sheep at an appointed
time to hear His gospel. What's she doing here? God brought
her here. Isn't that wonderful? What's
she doing here? You know, in John 17, our Lord
says something here. I want you to look at it, John
17, in his prayer to the Father. In John 17, he says in verse
2, As thou hast given me, him, your son, power over all flesh,
good flesh, bad flesh, old flesh, young flesh, saved flesh, lost
flesh, all flesh, every creature. I have power over every creature.
In order there, I should give eternal life to as many as I
was given him. This woman's husband had not
died, he probably would have been in town on business. If there had been some sort of
failure in the economy, her business would not have permitted her
probably to be there. There are so many things, so many intricate,
involved details that have to be under the power and control
of our God to bring that woman to this place that she might
hear the gospel. You see what I'm saying? Providence.
God's providence. Amazing. Secondly, God prepared
her soul for the blessing. Now, she was a Jewish woman.
Her parents evidently had taught her some truth about the writings
of Moses. This woman is down here by the
river. She had some knowledge of God.
She had some knowledge of the Sabbath. She had some knowledge
of the law. For it was the Sabbath day and
it was her religion and her tradition to be at this place on the Sabbath
day. I'm telling you, never neglect
the means of grace. I hear people say this, well,
if a man is not saved, it won't do him any good to read the Bible.
Oh, yes, it will. That's where he'll find the Gospel.
If a man doesn't know God, it doesn't do him any good to come
to church. Oh, yes, it does. That's where the Gospel is preached.
If our children don't want to come to church, there's no need
us bringing them. Oh, yes, it is. What advantage has the Jew? Much in every way. Much. That's where the gospel was preached. Ethiopian eunuch had been to
Jerusalem. He didn't find anything there,
but he had a Bible with him coming home. And Lydia, she wasn't enlightened,
she wasn't illuminated, she didn't know Christ, but she was where
the gospel was preached. And I tell people, and live in
other places. And I tell those who listen to
these tapes, tapes are fine. But I tell you this, somehow, I'm a daddy over a household,
and I'm going to say with Joshua's, me and my house, we're going
to be in the house of God. We're going to serve God. We're
going to worship God. And if there's a daddy out there
listening to my voice right now, and you're not on the Lord's
Day where men are worshiping God, you better ski-daddle down
to the riverside or somewhere and take your family to hear
the gospel. Isn't that right? But they don't want to go. If
they eat at your table and sleep in your bed, they'll go. That's
right, if you're a daddy. And wife too. That goes for a
wife too. I mean, this woman, God's providence
led her there, but she was there. She was there. She didn't know
God. She didn't know what providence
meant, I imagine. But she was there. And thirdly,
listen, she heard a message. She heard a message. Spurgeon
said this, now listen, If there be an elect soul whom God has
determined to save by His grace, He'll bring him someday in some
way to hear the gospel of His Son. He may hear a hundred false
gospels. He may hear a hundred false preachers.
He may come to knowledge of some doctrine, tradition, customs
that have some truth in them. But one day, if he's one of God's
elect, if she's one of God's elect, as Lydia was, God's going
to bring that individual to hear the gospel, the gospel of His
Son, which is the power of God unto salvation. God will move
heaven. Spurgeon said God will shake
the earth to accomplish His purpose in the redemption of His elect.
His divine providence will bring you, if you're one of His, to
hear the gospel as he brought Lydia, Zacchaeus, the eunuch,
Cornelius, Solitarsis, and the Samaritan. But you're going to
hear the gospel. And you're going to embrace it.
That's right. And fourthly, Providence brought
her there, number one. Number two, but she was there.
She was there. She was under the sound of the
gospel. Thirdly, she heard. God gave her ears. She heard.
Heard a message. Heard his preacher. Fourthly,
and God opened her heart. Oh, I love that, don't you? God,
whose heart the Lord opened. She didn't open her own heart.
I hear preachers say, open your heart and invite Jesus in. Let's
see you do that. That ought to be interesting.
That sure ought to be interesting. That old stony heart, it's so
hard you couldn't open it with a crowbar. She didn't open her heart. Paul
didn't open her heart. Her prayers didn't open her heart.
God opened her heart. God's the heart maker. God's
the heart master. God's the heart opener. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. God opened her heart,
just like He opened the sea. Like he opened the rock and the
water came out. Her conversion was not a matter
of mind only. I told my Sunday school class,
you can buy your John Gill commentary on Arthur Pinck's Sovereignty
of God and learn the five points of Calvinism and still perish.
Salvation is a heart matter. The devil is orthodox. Did you
know that? He is the most orthodox fellow
in the world. He quotes scripture. When he
tested and tempted our Lord on the Mount of Temptation, he quoted
Bible, Bible, Bible accurately too. But God didn't open her mind,
He opened her heart. Her heart. Her heart. She didn't learn, she didn't
sort out some facts and weigh some evidence. Paul didn't argue
her into the Kingdom of God. She didn't say, well, he's the
best preacher I've heard. She said, he preaches the best
news I've ever heard. She didn't study the doctrine
and come to the conclusion that that's logical. God opened her
heart and revealed Christ to her. Opened her heart. That's the first heart surgery. God opened it. God performed
a miracle of grace and put Christ in her heart.
Oh boy, well what was last of all? It says God opened her heart
and then something happened. Something happened. She attended unto the things
which were spoken of Paul. She listened. She listened. Taught. Learned. Learned of God. She attended. Seriously attended unto the things
which were spoken of Paul. She didn't sample them. She attended unto them. She tended
to it. As you say, tend to your business.
It was her business. She tended to it. Secondly, she was baptized. She
confessed Christ. She heard the gospel. God opened
her heart to receive it. She listened. tended to those
things Paul preached. And then she confessed Christ.
That's all the way through the New Testament when people heard
the gospel, believed the gospel. They followed the Lord in baptism.
And there's no difference today. That's the way you confess Christ.
Baptism. Follow the Lord Jesus in believer's
baptism. And people in her household,
she had a household here that they heard the gospel too. And
then it says, in verse 15, when she was baptized in her household,
she besought Paul saying, if you've judged me to be faithful
to the Lord, come into my house. I was in Mexico one time with
Brother Walter Gruber and Milton Howard, and we went up to a town
called Progreso. north of Mérida on the coast. I was looking up a woman who
lived there, an elderly lady who lived in Progreso. My mother
had been corresponding with for a number of years. And she told
me when I went to Mexico if I would look this woman up. And so we
went to Progreso and we found the house. We called at the gate
and the lady came and let us in. And when we went into her
house, I told her, they told her, I couldn't speak Spanish,
but one of the missionaries told her who I was. I was the son
of this woman she had been writing to in Alabama all these years. And she turned to me and smiled.
And she said something in Spanish. Milton translated. I said, what
did she say? He said, she said, my house is
your house. And he said, that's what they
say when they really mean you're welcome. My house is yours. And that's what this woman said
to Paul. And she learned the gospel from him. She said, Paul,
my house is your house. My house is your house. And that's
good, isn't it? All right, let's turn to 196.
By closing here, 196. Blessed be the fountain, number 196.