Now, Paul and Silas had preached throughout the land
of Phrygia. Sometimes, if you have the time
and would like to do it, in the back of most Bibles is a map
of Paul's missionary journeys. And you can look right there
and see where we're talking about. He preached down here in Phrygia. And then he and Silas, he and
Barnabas had had a division over John Mark. And Barnabas took
John Mark and Paul took Silas. And he preached in Phrygia and
in the regions of Galatia. You see it there on your map. And he would have gone to that
place called Asia, right above Phrygia. He would have gone to
Asia. But the Holy Spirit forbade him.
don't go to Asia. You see, we go and preach the
gospel where God is pleased to have the gospel preached, effectually. Brother Walter Gruber is a preacher
of the grace of God, ministering in the Yucatan, and he lives
in Mérida, the cheap city, and he goes out in his van to different
places, and he may go through a dozen before he comes to one
where he feels led of God to preach, where the gospel will
be heard. The Holy Spirit told Paul, said,
don't go, don't go to this particular place, Bithynia, don't go. So
he came to this, don't go to Asia, and then he wanted to go
to Bithynia. He said, I'll go to Bithynia. See, it's right
up there a little further up above Asia. And again, the Spirit
of God said, don't go. Don't go to Bithynia. So he came
down here to a little seaport town called Troas. You see it
there in Missia, M-Y-S-I-A, and there's a little town called
Troas on the seaport there. It was a seaport on this GNC. So while he was asleep that night,
or he had a vision, and a man appeared to him in the vision,
and said to him, come over into Macedonia. Macedonia is right
across the Aegean Sea there. See Macedonia, and Thrace, and
Philippi, and Neapolis. There were those little towns
there. Come over to Macedonia. And so he went over to Macedonia,
and he came down to the chief city of Macedonia. You see it
there, Philippi. Later on he wrote the epistle
to the Philippians. Well, there was no synagogue
in this city of Philippi. You see, this was a military
town, a military city, and there were not a great number of Jews
there. There had to be so many Jews in the place before they
would build a synagogue. So there wasn't any synagogue
there at all. But there were some women There were some women
that, how many I don't know, but there were some women who
met together, not in town, they didn't rent a building. They
were down by the riverside. Some women who believed God.
They hadn't heard the gospel. They didn't know anything about
Christ, the gospel, the Messiah. Not a thing. This was over in
Philippi, over in Europe. This is the first missionary
journey into Europe. This is the first convert in
Europe. And so Paul went over to Philippi, into the town of
Philippi. Now imagine, here's a preacher
of the gospel, here's God's apostle, who knows and loves Christ, who's
been brought to the knowledge of Christ, has the gospel burning
in his soul. God's committed to him the gospel.
Here he is in a military town, military city, famous old city. All these things, I'm sure a
very religious city, but no one knew God. And it wasn't a synagogue. Paul usually went right to the
synagogue and started preaching because he had some foundation
to talk to people who knew God. And if a person could have gone
through this town, he could have walked through this town a hundred
times. A stranger could have gone through this town a hundred
times and never found that little group of women. Nobody knew about
them. Now I tell you this, if you're
looking for the gospel of grace, you'll find it. You're looking
hard enough. I've heard people say, well,
I said, you know, I've been in this town for a long time. I
never heard of you. Well, if you was looking for
something, you'd hear of me. Paul was looking for some people who
were worshiping God. I've had people say they moved
somewhere, you know, and stayed there for months and called me
and said, is there anything in here preaching to God? Yeah,
right out 30 miles from here a man preaching to God. Well,
we didn't know anything about it. You weren't looking. You weren't
looking. These women were down there by
the riverside worshiping God, and Paul was looking, Paul was
looking for people who believed something about God. And he kept
looking and searching, and finally he found these women down by
the riverside. And he went down among them.
Now just imagine what took place here. Here's a bunch of women
sitting around worshiping God, all walking in the light they
had. Here comes Paul, Silas, and Timothy, three men. And these
women, you know, women had a place of real subjection then anyway. And here are these three fellas
coming to their midst and they didn't have a set of words. And
Paul spoke up and he said, I'm Paul and this is Silas and this
is Timothy. We're servants of the Most High
God. He said, I'm going to tell you a little bit about myself.
He said, you see, I was Saul of Tarsus. I've raised Saul of
Tarsus. I come from a very prominent
Jewish family. My mother was a Jew and my father
was a Jew. And the ladies liked that. They
loosened up a little bit then, you know. This was a Jew. This
wasn't just anybody. He was a Jew. He was of them. And he said Silas here is a Jew.
Now Timothy, his mother's a Jew. But his daddy's a Greek. But
he's been circumcised. He's a believer in God. But he
said, ladies, he said, And so it says here, he said, he sat
down. He said, Paul sat down in verse 13. On the Sabbath day,
we went out to the city by the river where prayer was wont to
be made. And he sat down. And he sat down. I was educated
at the feet of Gamaliel. I'm a Jew. Educated. They knew
of Gamaliel. Most Jews. There were two leading
schools in that day. One was Gamaliel. And he said,
ladies, I was a Pharisee. He said, I was a member of the
Sanhedrin. Now, he's really got their attention
now. Here, they didn't even have a synagogue. They didn't have
a priest. They didn't have anything. All
they did was meet down by the river and encourage one another
and look into the Word. And here is a man among them
who was a member of the Sanhedrin. Here was a man who was a Pharisee.
It may even be they'd heard of him. I tell you, King Festus
and Agrippa had heard of him, and these ladies may have heard
of him, and he sits down. He says, Now I'm going to talk
to you. It says here that Paul sat down and spake to these women. He sat down, verse 13, and spake
to these women that had come there to pray. I mulled over in my mind and
tried to put myself in this position, where did he start? Well, you
know where I think he started? I think he started with God.
I believe he'd say to them, ladies, Almighty God, according to Moses
in Genesis 1, created the heavens and the earth. And he created
them in holiness. And he said when he finished,
it's good. And Almighty God created man. He created a man. He called
him Adam. And He created him in His own
image. He created man upright, without sin, in the image of
God. He created him. And He saw it
wasn't good for man to be alone, so He made him a woman. He called
her name Eve. These ladies, they'd heard that.
They liked the sermon so far. And He said, And God put in the
midst of the garden a tree, And he told Adam to rule over the
garden, to multiply and replenish the earth, subdue the earth.
He was king, had dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowl
of the air and the beasts of the forest. But there was one
tree in that garden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
He said, Adam, don't eat of it, lest you die. And he said, God
is holy, God is sovereign, God is the ruler of heaven and earth.
And man is totally dependent on God in all things. And this
one token or sign, as long as it stood untouched, was saying
that man was willing for God to be God. Willing for Him to
reign and willing to be in subjection to Him. But He told the story
of the temptation and how they fell. And He said, now judgment
and death passed upon Adam and upon all his posterity. In Adam, all died. When they
said, God Almighty, I know this, ladies, I know that God Almighty
was not willing for the human race to be plunged into utter
chains of darkness as he permitted the angels. But Almighty God
has determined to redeem some of Adam's race because right
when Adam fell, he said to the woman and to the serpent who
tempted her, He said, I'm going to put enmity between you and
the woman, between your seed and her seed. And thou shalt
bruise his heel, but he'll bruise your head. He said, now ladies,
what God is saying there is that he's going to redeem out of this
fallen race of people by our Redeemer, who would be the seed
of woman, a virgin-born seed of woman. That's what God's saying.
That he's not going to suffer man to go the route that the
angels went. Well, he took not on himself
the nature of angel, you see. But he's going to redeem the
people. And I said, he said, I'll show you something else
God showed him while he was still in that garden. You see, Adam
and Eve, realizing they were naked, realizing they had sinned
in fear, had tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. They made an
apron of fig leaves. And God came and took their fig
leaf aprons away. Man's efforts cannot cover his
guilt and sin, his nakedness. And God slew an animal. Now,
he said, ladies, there's a key right there. First, there's an
announcement of the seed of woman, and then there's a slaying of
that animal. Here's an innocent animal who was slain, and it
had to be killed because God didn't cover them with the wool.
He covered them with the skin of that animal. And the skin
to come off that animal has got to shed its blood. So he said,
God's saying something bad. that we'll learn later. But remember
that God is saying something back. And then he said, when
Adam and Eve were thrown out of the garden, God put the flaming
swords before the gate of the garden and said, Man cannot come
back in. He's separated from God. He's lost the way to God.
He's lost the truth of God, and he's a dying creature. But Almighty
God spoke to Adam, and his son came, and Abel, and all of his
sons, that God would save. He would save a people out of
this fallen race because he gave to Adam and his sons a sacrifice. He told them to take a lamb and
build an altar and slay that lamb and put its blood on the
altar as a sacrifice for sin. Now, he said Abel did that, which
you know about. But his brother Cain didn't.
His brother Cain went out and got the fruits of the field,
the fruits of his own labors. And he brought those things,
he built a beautiful altar, and he brought those things and put
them on the altar and said, God, this is my sacrifice. But he
said, you see, without blood there's no remission. Sin demands
death. Sin demands judgment. Sin demands
the shedding of blood. So God had no respect to Cain's
offering, but he had respect to Abel's offering because of
blood offering. Now he said, ladies, remember that. Here we
have the announcement of the woman's seed by God in the garden.
Here we have God Himself demonstrating how He would cover man's nakedness
and guilt in the garden. And here outside the garden,
we have God illustrating to Abel and to you and the whole world
that sin demands death, and sin demands blood, and sin demands
a sacrifice. Now, are you listening to me?
I'm sure you say that to Him. And then he said another illustration
God gave. He said the wickedness of man was so great on the earth.
He said God looked down from heaven and saw that every imagination
of man's heart was evil continually. And God said, I'll destroy man
off the face of the earth. I'll annihilate, I'll obliterate
the whole human race, but I'm going to save a family. You see? You see, ladies, what God is
saying. That even though Adam failed, and even though Adam
sinned, even though the whole human race sinned in him, God
will have a people. Even though in the days of Noah
they were wicked, every imagination in the heart of man evil, yet
God will have a people. God will not leave himself without
a people. So he had Noah build an ark.
It took him 120 years. But a flood came and destroyed
the world, but God kept alive Noah and his wife and his three
sons and their three wives. Do you understand that? God has a purpose to redeem.
Now, he said, then God, the years passed, and God called out a
man called Abraham. Their eyes went up, you know.
They knew Abraham. They were Abraham's seed. They took great
delight in being Abraham's seed. He said, God Almighty, you see,
Here the world was full of people again. And God was going to choose
a people, a nation, through which he would send that Redeemer,
that Messiah, that Prophet, that priest like Melchizedek. But
he's going to choose a people and going to choose them himself. So he called Abraham and his
father were in idolatry. Abraham was seventy-five years
old. And God came down and said, Abraham, get thee out of thy
father's house, and from thy people, and go to a land I will
show thee, and it will make thee a great people, and I will bless
thee, and I will bless them that bless thee. And he said, God
chose Abraham, and Abraham see, through which he would send the
Messiah, through which he would send the Redeemer, through which
he would preserve worship, to whom he would send the prophets,
to whom he would give the oracles, You see, God's not going to just
let this thing pass from general mouth to ear and mouth to ear.
He's going to have a set nation. He's going to have a set people.
Not the Philistines, or the Babylonians, or the Egyptians, or the Amalekites,
or any of these friends, the Medes and the Persians and all
these. But God's going to have a people. Most of that nation
did not believe God. Most of that nation perished
in unbelief. But God's going to have a nation.
through which he would preserve his worship, his priesthood,
his prophets, his word. It has to be that way. It can't
be just turned over to the general public. It has to be a people.
You following me? And he chose Israel. He said,
I didn't choose you because you were most in all. You were the
fewest of people. But I chose you because I would keep my promise.
I will send a Redeemer. And he said, God raised up that
nation, and that nation went down into Egypt. There were just
70 of them at that time. They went down into Egypt. They
were led into Egypt by Jacob, because there was corn there.
His son Joseph was there. Of course, they're right with
him now. They're picking up. And he said, he went down into
Egypt, and they stayed there 400 years. And pharaohs rose
up that didn't know Joseph, and the people were brought under
oppression and into slavery and bondage. But God will deliver
his people. Now, he said, ladies, here is
where the pictures really come together. He said, God told Moses
after he'd sent these plagues, he said, I'm going to kill the
firstborn in every home. He said, but you take a lamb,
the first thing of the flock, on a certain day without spot
or blemish, a year old, and you set it apart for four days and
exert it. And then on this certain day,
you kill it. and you roast it with fire and eat the body, and
you put the blood on the door." Here we are with the blood again.
Under the law, almost all things are purged by blood. Don't forget
it. And he said, he put the blood
on the door, and he called it the Lord's Passover. He said,
I'll pass through the land of Egypt, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. And he said, ladies, that's saying
something. And then they went out into the wilderness, and
they were thirsty, and a rock followed them. And he said, Moses,
smoke that rock, and water came out of it. And then he told them
about the brazen serpent. And then he told them about the
erection of the tabernacle. He said that tent or tabernacle
down in the midst of the camp, and he told them all about the
four coverings, the badger skin, and the goat's hair, and the
ram's skin dyed red, and the white linen, and all these different
pieces of furniture inside. And he said there was a priesthood.
He said, you see, there was a holy place in which the priest ministered,
and then there was a veil. They knew that. They nodded their
head. And the priest went under the veil, and in that holy of
holies was an ark. That's the ark. The ark over
which the mercies seek. The beaten gold in which was
the broken law. And he said the priest went in,
the high priest only, once a year with the blood. and put it on
that mercy seat. But he said these sacrifices
didn't put away sin because they kept offering them. He said if
they'd put away sin, they would cease to be offered. Well, that
makes sense to those ladies. They're listening. And then he
said Isaiah wrote, Isaiah wrote, he shall grow up as a root out
of dry ground, a tender plant, despised it, and he was wounded
by transgression. He said Jeremiah wrote, The Lord
our righteousness. I just imagine he quoted this
one here. Listen to this passage of the
scripture here, over in Jeremiah. Oh, it's chapter... Here it is. Behold, the day is coming. Chapter
33. Saith the Lord, when I will perform
that good thing that I promised to the house of Israel. All these
promises, he said. God said, the day is coming,
I will fulfill the promise to the woman concerning her seed. the promise to Abel, the promise
to Abraham, the promise to the priests, the promise to the people,
in those days and at that time will I cause the branch of righteousness
to grow up unto David. And he'll execute judgment and
righteousness in the land. And in those days shall Judah
be saved, saved, saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this
is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. He said, ladies, I'm here to
tell you that that Messiah has come. Don't you know they were aghast?
Now, he said, I didn't believe it. No, I didn't believe it. Not me. I was a Pharisee of Pharisees. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews concerning
the law. I was righteous, and he said
I was a member of the Sanhedrin. I was on top of the ladder, and
I didn't blink. Ladies, let me tell you something. There's a man born in Bethlehem,
Judea. Now, he said, you know, Micah,
our prophet, said he'd be born in Bethlehem. And he said there
was a star marked the place of his birth. And he said, people
came from other countries following that star, seeking him who was
born, king of the Jews. And he said, that infant that
was born in Bethlehem, his father and mother both were from the
tribe of David, tribe of Judah, David's lineage and house. Just like it said, he's the son
of David. The Messiah, ladies, is to be the son of David, and
he's the son of David. He's the son of David, the rightful
son of David. And he said, let me tell you
something else. He said, Simeon, old Simeon was in the temple,
and they brought this child Jesus in the temple, and the Holy Ghost
had told Simeon that he would never die until he had seen the
Lord's Christ. And he said, when they brought
that child Jesus in there, this Joseph and Mary, that the Holy
Ghost said to him, there he is. And he said, Simeon took him
up in his arms and blessed God. And he said, this man, Jesus,
went about doing miracles only the Messiah can do. He said,
ladies, the Old Testament said the Messiah, the blind would
see, the lame would walk, the deaf would hear, and the dead
would be raised. And this same Jesus did all those
things. He raised the man who had been
dead four days. He fed a multitude with five
loaves and two fishes. He said, ladies, he'd speak,
and the ocean would lay down like a shepherd dog at his feet.
He said, this man gave sight to blind men. He said a man called
Bartimaeus was sitting by the gate at Jericho, had been blind
for 40 years. This man made him sit. There
was a man by the pool of Bethesda that laid there 38 years, lame.
He took up his bed and walked. He said, I didn't believe it.
Believe me, I didn't believe it. He said, I thought he was
another imposter. But he said, ladies, let me tell
you something. I was on, and he said, I was trying to block
his name out. I was on my way to Damascus. I had papers in
my pocket from the chief priest that would give me permission
to haul into prison anybody bleeding in this Jesus of Nazareth. And
he said, ladies, at noonday, When I was on that road, there
was a bright light, brighter than the sun, smoked me from
my horse. And I fell on the ground, and
I looked up, and I couldn't see for the brightness of that light.
And I said, and a voice from heaven said, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And I said, Who are you, Lord?
He said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth? Jesus of Nazareth? He said, Ladies, they took this
Jesus of Nazareth. arrested him and tried him, and
put him on a cross. And he was buried, and on the
third day he rose again. Now let me tell you something,
ladies. You see, now, as I go back through the Old Testament,
I see how that Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of all these
promises and prophecies. He is the seed of woman. He was
born of Mary, who was a virgin. And he said he is of the house
and lineage of David. He's a tribe of Judah, family
of Jesse. And this man, Jesus of Nazareth,
John the Baptist, the forerunner, the last of the Old Testament
prophets, said he's the Lamb of God. And he said the works
that he did bear witness of him. And he said twice, on two occasions,
the Father spoke from heaven like he spoke from heaven to
me. And he said, this is my beloved son. The voice of God from heaven
said, this is my beloved son. Hear ye him? And he said, not only that, but
the scriptures bear witness of him. You see, ladies, when they
took that lamb at the Passover and flew it, Jesus Christ is
the fulfillment of that whole thing. He's the Lamb of God. He's the first thing of the flock,
the firstborn of every creature. He's without spot or blemish.
He was tried for three and a half or four years right here on this
earth, and he was slain on a cross. Christ is our Passover. He said
that rock was smitten, and out of it came water. That rock is
Christ. He said that tabernacle, if you'll think about that tabernacle
in the wilderness, on the outside it looked like any other tent.
But he said on the inside, the very glory, the Shekinah glory
of God was revealed. You see that? Christ the carpenter
appearing to men. but inside the very glory of
God himself. And he is our righteousness.
No one, he said, ladies, he was tried and no one could accuse
him of sin. He said even Pilate at his trial
said, I find no fault in it. No one can find fault. The only
way they got him on trial was false witnesses rising up against
him. He went about doing good. And I'll tell you this, every
word he said on that cross is recorded right there in your
Bibles in Psalm 22. Ladies, I barely believe that
Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. He is our Messiah. And he said,
like I told you, on that road, he said, the light shone, and
I said, who art thou, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth,
whom thou persecutest. And he said, I cried, well, Lord,
what will you have me do? And he said, I was blind for
three days. And I went down into a place
on the street called Straight. And three days later, a man came
in called Ananias. And he told me, Saul, God had
chosen thee that you might see the just one, that you might
hear his word, that you might preach his gospel. And he said,
ladies, the scale lifted from my eyes. And he said, I've gone
forth preaching that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Christ. He is the Lord our righteousness.
He's that priest forever like Melchizedek. He's that rock.
He's that brazen serpent. He's the fulfillment of everything. Now then, there was a lady sitting
there, looking here, if you will, at Acts chapter 16. It says here in verse 14, And
there was a certain woman named Lydia sitting there. A woman
named Lydia. I'll tell you something about
Lydia. Lydia was from Thyatira. That was the place where Paul
was told not to go. That's right. Right there in the country where
God told him, don't go there. If Lydia had not been in Philippi,
she'd never heard the gospel. Lydia was an older woman. Lydia was a woman in a business. She prepared and sold purple,
they called it. All the ladies knew about it.
All the ladies were familiar with this purple which Lydia
sold. And I believe Lydia was a widow. Her husband never mentioned.
It's called her household. She invited Paul to her household. And she invited him to stay in
her house. Her husband never mentioned. The conclusion I draw
is this, that Lydia was a woman whose husband was dead, a woman
who was in business, a very successful business woman, had a household
of servants. Back in those days, anybody that
lived in your household, servants, employees, grown children, that's
your house. It's called their house. And
so she was there, but Lydia was a woman who was interested in
God. She was interested in the living
God. She was interested in the Word
of God, like the Ethiopian eunuch. He had been to Jerusalem to worship,
and he hadn't heard anything, but he was on his way back home
reading the Bible. And Lydia was a woman who lived in Philippi,
who was an older woman, who had a household, who was in business,
But on the Sabbath day, she'd come down there by the river,
and she'd sit with that little group, and she'd listen, hoping
somebody would tell her something about God. Just hoping. Oh, just sit and wait, sit and
wait, sit and wait. And that day, God didn't leave
her without a blessing. Old Paul came in and told them
about the Lord. And you know what it says here?
And it says she worshiped God, and she heard what Paul said.
She listened to what he said. She never took her eyes off Him.
She never took her ears away from what He said. I believe
that Jesus is the Christ. God has made that same Jesus
whom you crucified, Lord, in Christ. Paul said to Olydia and
to the rest of them, he's the fulfillment of every scripture
promise. He's the fulfillment of every prophecy. He's the fulfillment
of every pattern. He's the son of David. He's a
priest forever. He's that prophet God raised
up. He spoke the words of God. He performed miracles none but
God could do. He died on a cross as a Passover
lamb. He rose again. And he ascended
back to heaven. And I saw him, and I heard him,
and he taught me the gospel. He said, ladies, I didn't go
to somebody that was already an apostle before me and learn.
God taught me the gospel, and I'm here to tell it to you. And
he said, God opened her heart, and she attended to the things
which were spoken of Paul. You know, I learned some lessons
from that. Let me give you just two or three. It was the good
providence of God which brought her to Philippi. She was from Taratira. But God
brought her here. She was there by the purpose
and providence of God on that Sabbath day. Tell you who else
was there by God's purpose and providence. Saul of Tarsus. Paul
the Apostle. God brought them together. The
preacher of the gospel and the sheep of Christ must meet somehow,
somewhere. Have to. God might bring them
all away from them. Salt Lake City, Utah. He might bring them all the way
from Huntington, West Virginia. He might bring them, Charlie,
all the way from Garrett, Kentucky. But that sheep is going to cross
the path of that preacher. Spurgeon said, if there be one
elect soul whom God has predetermined to save by His grace, He will
bring him from the outstretched regions of Australia to hear
the gospel of his blessed son. God will shake heaven and earth
to accomplish his purpose for his own. He may kill a son, he
may kill a daughter, he may destroy a household, he may raise up
a household, but his divine purpose will bring that person to that
spot where Christ will be preached to him. The Christ of the Bible,
not a false Christ, the Christ. And this woman Lydia was brought
from Thyatira to sit there while this man, Ernest Godcall, looked
her in the eye and told her, He is the Christ. He is the Christ. There is something else I learned.
The grace of God prepared her soul to receive the truth of
grace. She did not walk in there off the streets. She had been
seeking the Lord for a long time. Some of you were raised in religion.
Religion without Christ. She was raised in religion without
Christ. You think, well, you say, well, shoot, I was, you
know, I was in all this fundamental religion back there years ago
and so forth like that, and I didn't know anything. But now, wait
a minute. Some of you were pretty sincere
in those days. I can tell you I was. I wasn't playing games. I didn't know God, but I wanted
to. Didn't you? Well, sure. Lydia didn't know
Christ, but she wanted to. That's what she's doing now.
That's what she's doing. Bring your children to the place. See them out there. Bring your
friends. Find somebody that's interested.
This woman didn't know Christ. She didn't understand the gospel,
but she was aware of God. And she was aware that God was
to be worshipped. And she, no doubt, was acquainted
with the Scriptures. She probably heard of the Messiah
to come, and that was all grace preparing for grace. And then
watch this. Her conversion resulted from
what? The preaching of the Word. Paul
didn't come in there with a bunch of singers. Paul didn't come
in there with a pack of punies. Paul didn't come in there telling
them, now y'all need to build a synagogue and put a staple
on it. Nobody's going to find you down here by the river. Nobody's going to find you. You've
got to get up in town. He didn't come in there with
that trash. He came in there and sat down and told them about
Jesus. You know, Paul's not like some
of us big shot preachers. He could preach by the riverside.
in a tent. There wasn't ten women there,
I'll bet you. Of course, twelve made up a synagogue. But he had
a little handful. And here this great man, this
servant of God, sat there on that seat for hours and told
them about Christ. Perfectly content. While the
military city rolled on in the background. But he didn't tell
them about Christ. And I'll tell you something else,
and I'll tell you this, he preached Christ to her. But it says here,
it says here, one of the key verses, it said, God opened her
heart. I don't know whether any of the
other women paid any attention to him, but Lydia did. God opened
her heart. And she attended to the things
which Paul had spoken. You know what she did, verse
15? She was baptized. But now I know this, and you
do too, and I'm going to keep preaching wherever God lets me.
You saw my schedule in the bulletin there, and I'll be on the road
a lot, but I'm looking for His sheep. Some of our fellows out tonight,
and the rest of them will be out next Sunday again. But we're
looking for the sheep. We're going to go preach wherever
anybody will sit and listen. We're going to sit and preach
all about it. Sit and preach to them. We're looking for the
sheep. And this woman heard, because God opened her heart.
God opened her heart. I see this. She wasn't going
to argue with Paul. God opened her heart. She believed
it. And she followed the Lord in baptism. Now watch this. And
she said, you know what she did? She took him home with her. Because
it said she was baptized in her household. You know what she
did? I know this is what took place. She said, come on, you're
going to my house. You're going to tell my household
about this Christ. This is the greatest news I've
ever heard. She was about to jump a rope, you know. He said,
let's go to the house. So he went to the house and preached.
He was there several days. He went to the house and preached. And more of them were converted.
God did a work in that house. Don't despise the day of small
things. Don't despise the day of small
things. Minister to the few. And maybe one will say, come
home with me. Come home with me and preach
that gospel. And then what she said to him was this, now if
you judge me to be faithful, verse 16, come into my house
and live here. I tell you this, she generously
opened her house to Paul. God opened her heart, and she
opened her house. She said, what's mine's yours?
What's mine's yours? And that's what happens when
God opens a person's heart. When God opens a person's heart
to ten, unto the word preached, to the revelation of Christ.
And they receive that message and fall in love with Christ.
They confess Him, follow Him in baptism, and they'll be evangelical. They want their household to
hear it. They want everybody to hear it. And then they'll
say, like Richard prayed a while ago, it's not mine, it's His. She said to him, she said, Paul,
just live here. Just stay right here and live. It says she constrained them.
She just insisted. You're going to live here. You're
going to eat here. Whatever is mine is yours. It's
yours. Because I love that Christ you
preached to me. Our Father, thank You for Your
Word. We say again how blessed we are. Oh, how blessed we are. How blessed we are. Like Lydia
of old, you've opened our hearts and we've attended unto the things
which you've spoken. And we believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. We believe in His holy name,
we trust His holy name, we call upon His holy name, we rest in
His holy name. He is our Lord and Master, our
hope for the eternal life. We love Him and trust Him and
believe Him. And thank you for your sovereign
providence and purpose and grace that brought us to sit down and
hear the gospel. And it brought to us your messenger
to tell the truth about this book. And the truth about our
sins. And the truth about your glory.
And the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful. And how we pray that tonight's
message will be blessed and used of your spirit to bring somebody
like Lydia Bole to say, I believe Jesus is the Christ. I look for
no other. In His name we pray, Amen.