Pastor: So let's now turn to the Word, if you'll remain standing, and we'll look in our text this morning. We are in Acts chapter 16. We'll begin in verse 16, and we'll read to the end of the chapter. It before we read, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us your word that you are not silent and Lord, I pray that you will bless your people, that you'll speak boldly through your word, Lord, that will not return void, it will strike our hearts.
Pastor: Let it not find hardened hearts.
Pastor: Let it not fall on deaf ears.
Pastor: Let not the seed be sown and fall and birds come and fly away, as the parable The Sower reminds us, but that it will sink deep into our hearts, that by the power of your spirit that you would bear much fruit. Lord set us free to live for Christ.
Pastor: Please be merciful to your people. We pray in Jesus's name.
Pastor: Amen.
Pastor: People of God, hear God's word for us this morning from Acts chapter 16, beginning in verse 16. As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling. She followed Paul and us crying out, these men are servants of the Most High God who proclaimed to you the way of salvation. And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her, and it came out of her that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
Pastor: And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept at or practice. The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods, and when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundation of the prison was shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped, but Paul cried out with a loud voice, do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And the jailer cried for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear. He fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.
Pastor: And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them in the same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them, and he rejoiced along with his entire household, that he had believed in God. But when it was day, the magistrate sent the police, saying, Let those men go. And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent to let you go, therefore come out and now and go in peace. But Paul said to them, they have beaten us publicly, uncondemned men who are Roman citizens and have thrown us into prison. And do they not now throw us out secretly? No, let them come themselves and take us out. The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens, so they came and apologized to them, and they took them out and asked them to leave the city. So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia, and when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed. He was ears. Let him hear the Word of God. Please be seated.
Pastor: Today's sermon is actually kind of part two of last week's sermon. If you missed last week's sermon, that's okay.
Pastor: Again we see in this text. Just really the sovereignty of God.
Pastor: And what we mean by that is we see the ultimate rule of God over everything, that nothing occurs in creation apart from his will. God is ruling over everything. We saw that last week where God was sovereignly closing doors, but opening up other doors, and even opening up Lydia's heart that she might believe. If you remember, we're tracking the Paul's missionary journey. This is his second missionary journey. He's been accompanied by Silas, the young man Timothy and the doctor Luke is also with them. As you might have noticed that in the text, there's a phrase of us and we.
Pastor: Luke is accompanying now Paul on his missionary journey, and they're here in Philippi. And I also wonder too, in your life, if you've ever wondered or seen something or heard something on the news, and you might have even asked yourself, why would God allow something like that to happen? So terrible, so bad, so evil, how could he possibly use that for good? Why would he allow that to happen? I just don't see it. You ever had that thought? Well, in our text, we see a lot of bad things occurring, a lot of wrong things and evil things occurring. We in this one text, there's injustice, there's racism, there's public humiliation of those who are innocent, the Christians, simply for being Christians are beaten with rods and imprisoned. And why? Well, sometimes the why, God doesn't always answer for us, the why of what's happening, but at least here in our text, and I think maybe in our lives, and we'll contemplate this further, he is showing us that he is indeed still sovereign, and working through the difficulty, the pain, the sorrow that he is still sovereign through suffering and conflict, and using these means that we would not have chosen ourself to glorify himself, to sanctify us, that is, make us more like Christ, and to use it to save sinners. He will turn despair into joy. He will build His kingdom using the most unexpected ways to draw the most unexpected people, and we see that in our text, using unexpected ways to save unexpected people. The whole chapter of 16 here in Acts has been about setting people free.
Pastor: Last week, Lydia was set free.
Pastor: God opened up her heart and God saved her. But certainly now in our text, there are kind of three main characters, and they are all set free. We see that language used. They were enslaved, they were imprisoned, and they are set free. We're going to see that through the slave girl. We're going to see that in Paul and Silas themselves. We're also going to see that in the Philippian jailer, all people who were enslaved and imprisoned in various ways that God sets free.
Pastor: And that's our goal here this morning, that you might hear of the gospel, that you might hear of the Lord Jesus Christ, be set free from sin and to live in joy and freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ, as we begin the text and we consider this setting free of this slave girl, it's about a week has gone by since Lydia that since God opened up Lydia's heart, and we're told that they are now going Back to the place of prayer. Remember, God was closing all the doors. They're finally directed to Philippi, where think God's going to do something great and amazing, because all these other doors have been closed, certainly now we're going to go to Philippi, a great city, a proud city, and there's going to be some Wow.
Pastor: Factors happening here. They show up to Philippi, and it's almost quite disappointing, isn't it, there's no one to talk to. They're not welcomed in by the magistrates or the pro councils, and they just find a group of women who are praying well, they talk to them, and then we might think, Well, certainly, at least all these women will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're only told one singular woman does Lydia, that God opens up her heart. And it's been a week since that's happened, and Paul and Silas, Timothy and Luke, they are back to the place where that occurred. They're heading back to the river there. And they, as they are making their way back, they encounter this slave girl who has a spirit of divination. And literally a Python spirit, which is associated with pagan oracles and fortune telling. She had a demon that had power to see aspects of the future. She had a supernatural power and young people. I think that's important to recognize, and maybe for all of us to remember that there is supernatural powers at work among us, things we do not see physically with our eyes, but there is a reality around us now that is real and it is powerful, and it is not to be trifled with. It is not to be messed with. It is real, and on our own strength, we are defeated against Satan and his demons. We are powerless unless Christ is on our side. So just because something is supernatural doesn't mean that it's divine.
Pastor: And so I would also encourage you do not play around with fortune tellers or palm readers or Ouija boards or anything that tries to seek the secret counsel of the Lord. There might indeed be a power there, that is a supernatural power, but that is a demonic power, where the Bible tells us to trust the Lord, to rest in His providence, to trust in his care.
Pastor: Now she is doubly enslaved this little girl. She's probably in her teens, 1415, around that age, she is enslaved spiritually. She is under demonic control, but she's also enslaved physically, she's enslaved by these other men who are using her as a commodity to get wealthy, they make much profit, we are told from her and her abilities, and she is following now the missionary team around Philippi constantly crying verse 17 tells us these men are servants of the Most High God who proclaimed you the way of salvation. And time and time again. And for many days, she cries out. They proclaim the way of salvation. They proclaim the way of salvation. And Paul tolerates it for a while, we are told, but eventually he gets greatly annoyed and commands the spirit to leave in the name of Jesus, Christ. The focus is on Christ, not himself, and instantly, she is set free.
Pastor: There's no spectacle, there's no crying out or riding on the ground, no crowd that gathers together to see what's happened, no applause, just silently, but yet quietly, and immediately she is set free from the spiritual bondage she was in. Now we might ask, why doesn't Paul welcome this isn't what she's saying true. Aren't these men servants of the Most High God, aren't they? Are they not proclaiming the way of salvation? Why would Paul get annoyed at this? Is this one of you know, Paul was probably not the easiest person to work with, but why would they not be okay? I mean, isn't this good publicity, good press here in Philippi? I mean, isn't Philippi hearing now that they are bringing the words of salvation? So what's happening here? Well, we aren't told specifically, but I think there's a few things that are happening here. One, if I'm trying to present a message to you, and even someone else, maybe they're saying something true is constantly interrupting or interjecting something else.
Pastor: It's going to be difficult to actually say something coherent and clear if someone else is constantly interjecting their own message. But I think secondly, they don't want the message of the gospel to be confused or actually connected with the sorcery or the pluralism that that girl represents in her being demonic, demon possessed. I think it's important to remember that Satan's strategy of deceit never really goes directly for outright denial of biblical truths, usually Satan, very sneakily, as he does, distorts and perverts over time. He often takes a biblical truth and then incrementally, over time, distorts it in the Middle Ages, that's what happened with the sacraments. And sacraments became the way that you are saved, that you're not saved unless you're baptized. And we even actually just saw this attack by Satan, didn't we in the church in Acts chapter 15.
Pastor: What was he saying? Yes, Jesus saves. Of course, Jesus saves.
Pastor: But you know what else? If you're a real Christian, if you're truly saved, in fact, you have to be circumcised, and if you're not circumcised, then you're not really saved. Jesus saves. Yes, but you all. Have to be fill in the blank, and that's how Satan works, usually not outright denying, but subtly working through even the prosperity gospel. And as affected the church nowadays, do we find blessing in the Lord Jesus Christ? We say yes and amen. But you know what that blessing looks like? Says a prosperity gospel. It means that you'll be fairly healthy and wealthy and wise, and if God, if you really have God's blessing, that means you'll have all these earthly blessings here, where that's a perversion of the truth, where Paul will even tell us, no, we will pick up our cross and follow Him that being a Christian often has suffering connected to it. That's that that's not just the blessing of God. In some ways, God might be judging people by just giving them financial benefits because it blinds their eyes and that they've made their idol, the things of this world and their health and their wealth, and these are the things that they love. George Orwell, I think captures, I think maybe what Satan is doing here. Well, in his book, The Animal Farm, if you read it, it's a fun little book, the animals create these seven laws of animalism. I don't know if you know what I'm talking about, but one of them is all animals are equal, and that's how the book begins. But then subtly and over time, the book then ends with the animals then declaring all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. And you see suddenly over time, from the beginning of the book to the back, the truth is completely altered, and no doubt that's what Satan is doing here, somehow, in this crying out, he is not trying to promote the gospel. He's trying to gain people's trust, that he might pervert it, that he might twist it, that they might listen to this little girl and the voice of this demon, rather than the messengers that he has sent to them. Now this spiritually enslaved girl has been set free from demonic oppression, and everyone rejoices. Is that what happens? No. Now people are not happy about this, that she has been set free. Her owners do not rejoice at her spiritual freedom. They are furious. Why?
Pastor: Because she no longer has that ability, this that the spirit leaves her and the spirit leaves her and the Master's her Master's hope of financial gain leaves them, and they're upset about that the gospel is attacking their idol, and it's one of the most popular idols in all the world, and one we've already talked about Is money like the Gerizim, the man possessed by a demon in Gero the pig. The demons are sent into the pigs, and the pigs are destroyed, and then the people are angry because they are enslaved by their business is affecting their pocketbook, and Jesus here is threatening the thing that they love most, their finances and their comfort, they seize Paul and Silas and they dragged them to the marketplace before the rulers of Philippi.
Pastor: Note here that Timothy and Luke are not dragged it's just Paul and Silas and why? Because Timothy is only part Jew. His dad was a Gentile, so he probably looked more Gentile.
Pastor: And also, Luke is a full, outright Gentile, and the hatred, again, to be reminded, between Jews and Gentiles is palpable here, because that's how they began their attack on Paul and Silas says these men are Jews. That is, they are not like us, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.
Pastor: And again, just note, there's no trial here. There's no really defense, no justice. They are stripped naked. They are beaten with most likely, a one inch dowel several times, and each time would have been 40 lashes about So imagine that you're stripped down naked, beat with a wooden dowel about 40 times, several times. You are now thrown into prison, and the prison guard takes it upon himself to put you in uncomfortable, stiff stocks you cannot move. You are uncomfortable, bruised and bloodied. This is also a little bit of a deja vu of what's happened to Christ, and we see that often in the book of Acts, the disciples of Christ, in many ways suffering as Christ suffered and. I often think that if things are going well in my life, God loves me, but here it seems like things are are going poorly. We might ask, where is he? Has God abandoned Paul and Silas. Why would he let these things happen? Well, Acts 16, as we will see, is going to correct us that Paul and Silas are in the middle of God's will, even though they are experiencing maximum pain. How and why? Well, there's no vision that Paul and Silas get yet why they're experiencing all this pain.
Pastor: There's no divine revelation that they get why they are in in prison. So it's probably not clear to them what's happening or what's going on, except for maybe one thing that Paul will write later to the church in Philippi in Philippians, chapter three, verse 10, he will say that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings. So often in our sufferings, we think about Jesus, and even maybe around Christmas time, when we think about Jesus, he's comes and he suffers, and Jesus really understands us, because we have a great high priest who suffered like we do, and we're grateful for that, that we do have a high priest who has suffered like we do.
Pastor: But I think also what's happening here is that our sufferings actually help us to understand and know our Lord better, to know His sufferings.
Pastor: Who was the man of sorrows? That when we are in pain or when we are feeling the effects of the fall, there's a taste of the curse that we are experiencing, and we recognize that Jesus Christ took the full weight and the full measure of the curse that we deserve. We still only get a taste and of it, but Jesus took the full measure of it, and in our pain and in our sorrow and our bruised and bloodied bodies as we might know Christ better, we might know a little bit of what he went through for our sake, and if our goal is Christ, likeness, Paul tells us, as Christians, we need to take up our cross daily, and what is the will of God for our lives, sanctification, that is sanctification, being putting off the old and putting more of Christ on. But often what that looks like, God often uses the pain and the suffering and the discomfort that we might have our idols shaken from us, that we might put on the Lord Jesus Christ, more. But my confession to you is, I don't know if sanctification or Christ likeness is my ultimate goal. Am I willing to pray Lord make me like Christ more that I might know Christ more even if that means I suffer, would we be okay? Praying that make me like Christ more no matter what, or is really my prayer, I think functionally, give me comfort, take away any pain for any reason, and I rather not be more like Christ, just so I say more comfortable. I think, if I'm honest, that's typically what my heart is saying. I just want comfort. I want pain free. But Here Christ is using the suffering to conform His servants in his image, that they might know him more, that they might rest in Him more. Now think about what your state of mind might be. You're dragged there's no justice. You You've been stripped naked, you've been beaten now you're in uncomfortable chains in a prison, and you're sitting there, and what are we told?
Pastor: Paul and Silas are doing? Well, first, they're praying again, a reminder. They are seeking the Lord. They are completely tossing themselves at the disposal of the Lord, recognizing who God is. He rules over everything. He rules over the injustice he No one, no injustice will ever be left. God is just, but they completely are dependent on him, so they're praying, but they're also singing. Could you be singing at a time like that? They are singing because they they know Christ more that they're able to share in his sufferings. What would they be singing? Well, probably one of the Psalms. What Psalm would you sing if you're in prison, you get stuck. What what song comes to mind? What song have you put to your heart that you would sing to praise the Lord, to remember the truths of the scriptures? Were they singing Psalm three, Lord? How are they increased? That trouble me. Many. Are they that. Rise up against me, But thou, O Lord, our shield for me, the glory and the lifter of my head. Or maybe you know this one right Psalm, 23 the Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want right. You can just hear it echoing throughout the script, throughout the prison.
Pastor: Off the prison walls, the scriptures are being echoed as they are singing and praising God in their suffering. And everyone we are told, is listening. Everyone is hearing the word proclaimed as it is sung throughout the prison. Now this jailer who was probably a Roman retired soldier, who would have been very hardened, as Roman soldiers were callous, indifferent to people's pain.
Pastor: His job was to make sure Paul and Silas were secure. That's why he puts them in the inner cell. He ties them up tightly, and he does that on his own accord. He wasn't told to tie them up, but he does it. And it's about midnight. We're told that God intervenes by sending a great earthquake, an earthquake that is so large it shakes the foundation of the prison. It's so large it loosens the bolts of all the shackles. All the doors are flung open, and everyone's chains fall off, the jailer wakes up and he sees all the prison doors open, and he draws his sword and he seeks to turn it on himself. Why? Because he knows, under Roman law, if you are in charge of a prisoner, their sentence becomes your sentence if they escape, and it's typically the death sentence in Rome. You know, Rome hadn't really solved the overcrowded prison system problem. They put everyone to death. If you were a prisoner of Rome, you weren't going to be around very long. And so that's why he's feeling that all these prisoners are going to go their sentence is going to fall upon me. I'm going to take my own life in an instant. He is completely overwhelmed, and Paul cries out to Him in verse 28 do not harm yourself. We are all here. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas.
Pastor: What's interesting is knowing that all the prisoners are there, a new, somehow even greater fear grips this prison guard, this jailer, a new fear of God. God has gripped him, and he's no longer afraid of Rome because there's no reason to be all the all the prisoners are there. Nothing's going to happen to him, but he's afraid now of the power of God. No doubt he's heard the voice of that little girl. They proclaim the way of salvation. No doubt he they have heard the prayers and the singing. He has heard of the true and living God, and he is now gripped by fear, and he falls down at their feet, and he asks the question that everyone must ask, What must I do to be saved? Saved from what I think we have to ask? Right? Saved from the judgment of Rome? No, that's not it. Not say, you know, help me with these. That's not it. The judgment of God for sin. The wages of sin is death.
Pastor: We read that earlier in our service, what must I do to be saved? And then Paul answered him, well, you can't really be saved unless God works in your heart. For Calvinists, he says, is that it No. Paul gives him a very clear and simple and direct answer. He says, Believe.
Pastor: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved you and your household. Believe it's not the law that will save you. It's not ritual, it's not self improvement, it's not trying your best. It's not being a good person. It's believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the jailer, he washes their wounds, he takes them out of the jail and brings them to his house. He's not being delinquent in his duty. His job is to watch them, and he knows that they're not going to try to escape, so he actually takes them to his house. They share the word to the house, and they believe, and his house is baptized, and there's much joy in verse 35 and 40, Paul then reveals his citizenship. They're going to let him go. It's illegal to be a Roman citizen. That's what's happening there at the end.
Pastor: You're not to humiliate a Roman citizen. And so that's why the the magistrates there are afraid when that happens. And why does Paul reveal this knowledge?
Pastor: Wouldn't that have made sense to reveal that earlier? Well, it matters now for the people who are going to remain behind there in Philippi and. By forcing the magistrates to come and personally let them out, Paul is going to clear the name of the church to protect new believers from future harassment and to establish a Christianity that knows that this isn't a criminal movement. We didn't do anything wrong. We're just proclaiming to you Christ. And by the end of chapter 16, there's a new church there in Philippi. And it's not a kind of church that anyone would have planned, a church no one would have expected. And it has people a part of it that no one would have guessed that would have joined a church. You have this wealthy single business woman named Lydia. You have a teenager who was formally demon possessed and enslaved to demonic activity. And then you have this crusty retired Roman jailer who are now all part of the church in Philippi. They don't have any shared background. There's no social similarity, but there is one Christ and one Lord, and how God uses injustice and suffering to draw them to Himself. And isn't that what the cross directs us to? I know we've talked about this before, but if you think about all the pain and suffering, the wickedness and perversion in the world. And we look again to the cross, and we say, at the cross, there is no greater wickedness perversion to ever occur, or ever will occur in the history of mankind.
Pastor: Nothing greater happened in wickedness or evil than what happened at the cross the innocent god man was crucified for sins he did not commit. But yet, did God use that for His glory and our good, of course, and we're here to celebrate it, even Christmas, that he came into the world to suffer and die for sins. Now we can look at our own life. Then we are facing maybe injustice and in pain and difficulty and wickedness and perversions and all those things are real and they're painful and they hurt, but yet could not. If God uses the Cross for his glory and our good, can he and will he, and does he not use those other things for His glory and our good, even if we don't yet understand it, maybe he's using those things in your life to bring someone like a Philippian jailer to know the Lord through being whipped and pain and injustice. We do not know the ways of the Lord, but we can entrust ourselves to our Lord.
Pastor: Now, have you ever asked that question that the jailer asked, What must I do to be saved? That is the question you must ask, and if you haven't asked it, what that means is that you indeed are enslaved. You are imprisoned to your own lust of this world of the flesh of the devil, you are enslaved. The rich young ruler, he asked that question. I don't know if you remember, he asked a very similar question to Jesus. He says, What must I do to be saved? Remember what Jesus tells him. He says, You know the commandments, not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother. And he says, I've kept all those things. So one of the questions I just want to end here is, Why does Paul simply tell the Philippian jailer Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but Jesus gives the rich young ruler the law. He says, keep the commandments. Well, the rich young ruler was enslaved because he says, I've kept all these things from my youth. And then Jesus gives him one more command, sell all that you have and give it to the poor, which shows him that he was enslaved to his money. Again, money, an idol. He was not willing to let go. He was enslaved, and he was Jesus was showing him the law to show him that he was enslaved, that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble and the Philippian jailer. He's at the end of himself. He is not in a proud state at that point is he, but he is humbled. He's ready to drive a sword through his heart. And so the gospel then is proclaimed to him.
Pastor: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
Pastor: If you're here this morning and you think that somehow you will earn your way to heaven. It will fail you. God will resist you, and you will perish. But if you will humble yourself, and you'll see that you have not kept the law and that you deserve death, that you are imprisoned to sin and death apart from Christ, and if you believe in Him, you. Will be set free from sin. You will have eternal life that is yours.
Pastor: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Let's pray Our Father. We thank you for giving us your word, for giving us the gospel, Lord. We are all here, and I recognize that apart from your grace, we are all enslaved and imprisoned in different ways. And we need the gospel to set us free. We need Jesus to set us free. Lord, I pray that you will help us more and more to be conformed to the image of Christ, even through our suffering, that we might know Christ more Lord, that we might not be content in the things of this world, but be content in Christ. Long for Christ more would be merciful to your people. We pray in Jesus's name.
Pastor: Amen.