Introducing the Gospel in Europe

Transcript

GR 616
10/10/1982
Introducing the Gospel in Europe
Philippians Acts 16
Gil Rugh

Acts Chapter 16 in your Bibles, the sixteenth Chapter of the Book of Acts. As I mentioned to you we are going to begin a study of the Book of Philippians. So I would encourage you to be reading that book and as you read that book I am sure you will be encouraged. I look at the background of the book this morning just to highlight some of the events in Acts Chapter 16 which lay before us the founding of the church at Philippi when Paul traveled there on his second missionary journey and was used of the Lord to lead several individuals to faith in Jesus Christ and at that time the church at Philippi was founded in a strong testimony for Jesus Christ and an encouraging church to the Apostle Paul. Perhaps the most encouraging, at least one of the most encouraging of the churches that Paul founded.

They continued to play a key part in Paul’s ministry. It wasn’t just the material support that they gave him, but the encouragement that it was to know that they stood with him in his ministry. Philippi was a key Roman city. You noted in our Scripture reading in verse 12 of Acts Chapter 16 that is called a colony. And a Roman colony was a city in a key location that was in effect a miniature Rome and had a number of these in different parts of their empire, key cities that in effect became miniature Romes. They just functioned just as Rome did. They were populated largely by Roman citizens. Men who retired from the Roman armies would be settled in these cities to give them a strong Roman flavor, a strong allegiance to Rome. So they become important cities, dominant cities, so the church at Philippi is in a strategic location as far as its impact on the surrounding region and on the whole Roman world.

A little bit of background, the events here go back to Acts Chapter 15 in verse 36 where the preparation is made for the second missionary journey. I would encourage you to get a map or a Bible atlas, a map in the back of your Bible and just trace the missionary journeys of Paul so you have some feel for where we are located. After the first missionary journey some years have passed Paul and Barnabas now are determined to retrace and go back and visit the churches they established, to encourage and strengthen them in the word. And at the end of Acts Chapter 15 beginning with verse 36 you will note that there is a dissention that occurred Barnabas and Paul.

On the first missionary journey they took John Mark to accompany them, but the going got a little rough evidently for John Mark and he decided to go back home to mama and left in the middle of the trip. Now that did not sit well with the Apostle Paul and you can appreciate something of the character of the Apostle Paul. He was a man with strong commitment and he expected those who join with him in ministry to have that commitment and Paul was reluctant to take John Mark on the second journey when he had bailed out of the first one. Verse 37 of Acts 15, Barnabas was desirous of taking along John also called Mark with them, but Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphilia and then not gone with them to the work.

So Paul didn’t think it was a good idea to take a deserter on the second trip. Now you think man of maturity and stature of Paul and Barnabas could have come to an agreement and they did, and the agreement was we will go our separate ways because verse 39 says there arose such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another. Now this wasn’t a lifetime parting of the ways because later we will see Paul and Barnabas, and later we will see Paul and John Mark, John Mark because he is also called Mark as well as John, where Paul asks for him to come to spend time with him. But on this occasion they part ways.

So Paul takes a new companion. Barnabas takes John Mark and leaves. Paul takes Silas as his companion in place of Barnabas and embarks on the second missionary journey. And they come and Chapter 16 opens up through Derbe and Lystra and they pick up a key individual here who will become important. We will see him in the opening verse of the letter to the Philippians, Timothy. Timothy evidently converted on Paul’s first missionary journey. Now he has had some years to grow and as Paul returns to the area we are told a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer but his father was a Greek and he was well spoken of the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to join Silas and himself, perhaps to carry on the functions that John Mark would have on the first trip.

Timothy is of mixed parents. His father was a Greek, his mother was a Jew. So Paul has Timothy circumcised. We spent some time talking about circumcision in our study of the Book of Galatians. Interesting, on another occasion Paul refuses to have Titus circumcised but on this occasion he proceeds and has Timothy circumcised. It seems like a contradiction. I don’t know Titus was not a Jew. Timothy is of mixed blood and so he has rejected by both factions. The Greeks view him as a Jew, but the Jews view him as a gentile. So to clarify his position Paul has him circumcised because he does have Jewish heritage, to remove any questions regarding his relationship to the Jewish faith.

Now they passed through the cities in verse 4 and strengthen the churches in verse 5 and they were increasing in number daily. Interesting The Book of Acts we have notes on the miracle growth of the churches, not that that’s Paul’s focal point. But I take it that to strengthening in the faith results in the growth numerically. People who are growing and maturing in their faith are sharing their faith and where the gospel of Jesus Christ is being shared the Spirit uses it to bring others to salvation in Christ. The result is the church grows. That’s a byproduct of maturity. Physical growth is not maturity with the church. We could grow numerically by other means, promotional means and so on, gimmicks. So just because there is numerical growth does not mean there is spiritual growth but where there is true spiritual growth we would expect that numerical growth would be a byproduct of that.

Now verse 6, they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region. Having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they were come to Mysia and were trying to go into Bithynia the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. Important we are going to see through this section the sovereign control of God where and to whom the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed. There are regions of needy people Asia, Bithynia, people who were in need of the gospel that God closed the door to Paul saying I don’t want you going into those regions at this time to proclaim the gospel because he wanted Paul to go into another area. You see God is controlling and directing the course of where Paul will proclaim the truth.

Now, we don’t know how God forbid him to go there perhaps in a dream or a vision, perhaps a prophet that Paul met. We are not told but it was clear to Paul that God had closed the door to those regions. Interesting it is called the Holy Spirit in verse 6. Verse 7 calls him the Spirit of Jesus. So it can be called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus talking about the same person, the third person of the triune God the Holy Spirit. So they passed by Mysia and came to Troas. At Troas Paul has a vision. A vision appeared to Paul in the night. A certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him and saying come over to Macedonia and help us. And when he had seen the vision immediately we sought to go into Macedonia concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Paul is directed in a vision of the night. A man from Macedonia and we are not told who he is, how Paul knows he is Macedonian perhaps by his dress, perhaps by his accent, it is not relevant. The issue he was a Macedonian, a Greek. And in the night Paul sees him appealing for Paul to come and help us. And I like verse 10, when he had seen the vision immediately we sought to go into Macedonia. No reasoning here look. Why should we cross over into Europe? We haven’t reached certain areas of Asia. Perhaps we ought to go into Bithynia. God says go to Macedonia immediately. We began to make our plans, book passage and so on because we concluded that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Now that’s a key turn of events because verse 11, therefore putting out to sea marked something that is significant for us all because on this occasion the gospel is going to be carried to Europe, going to move from Asia to Europe and Europe now will be exposed to the gospel. Tremendous impact for the course of the gospel right down to our day. They put out to sea from Troas, went to Samothrace. On the following day to Neapolis. From there to Philippi. Samothrace key center of a mystery religion. Paul spends no time here because he had been called to Macedonia and he had to proclaim the gospel where God directed him. So they come to Neapolis. Neapolis is the port for Philippi, ten miles in to Philippi from Neapolis.

So he lands in Neapolis and he proceeds to Philippi, the Roman colony, key city named for Philip the father of Alexander the Great. Strategic center, I encourage you to get a Bible dictionary and read about Philippi. Some key battles fought here, key individuals in Roman history like Anthony and Cleopatra had their destiny by conflicts in the region of Philippi. But Paul comes to Philippi a leading city of the district of Macedonia. So God had called him to Macedonia. So he goes to key city in the region of Macedonia to begin to proclaim the gospel and we were staying in this city some days. And the establishing of the church at Philippi centers on three key events or three key persons.

First is Lydia a merchant woman, a seller of purple. Second there will be a demon possessed girl and third perhaps the best known of all the Philippian jailer. These three people are the focal points of Paul’s ministry as it is recorded in Acts. Many other people touched with the gospel. But Luke centers in on these three people as he records the account who is going to highlight what happens with each of these and will give us a better feeling for what goes on as Paul writes back to the Philippians in his letter in later years.

So Paul has been staying in the city of Philippi. Now it was Paul’s normal practice when he went to a key city on the Sabbath day to go to the synagogue. Synagogue being the place of Jewish worship and at the synagogue he would take opportunity to speak to the Jews about the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies regarding the messiah in Jesus Christ. So he had a touchstone with these people, people who believe the Old Testament. He himself a Jew so familiar with The Old Testament would go and explain to them how the promises of a messiah had been fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ but at Philippi there evidently is no synagogue. Now that tells you something about the city and the Jewish population. There had to be at least ten men to found a synagogue. Ten men, women did not count in the number and I say that because we are going to talk about the women here and we don’t know how many.

So there could have been a number of women but it took ten men to form the foundation for the synagogue. So that tells you something about the Jewish population in Philippi, evidently very small, a Greek Roman city not with a strong Jewish influence. On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate, verse 13, to a riverside where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. Now Paul was familiar in a city where there not a synagogue not enough men to form a synagogue it would be the custom of the Jews to gather at a spot by the river for worship and prayer. So Paul seeks out this location on the Sabbath day again following his pattern to seek where the Jews that would be there would be gathered. And as you might expect he sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

You would expect that these would be women assembled here because there weren’t enough men to have a synagogue. The Jews that were there would primarily had been the women. And a certain woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira evidently she had originated in Thyatira had moved to Philippi for commercial regions. The purple from Thyatira a dye used for garments very expensive squeezed drop by drop from a certain kind of shell fish and it was an expensive process so it was an expensive garment to have dyed with the purple from Thyatira. She being from Thyatira had established evidently her business in Philippi and was living there. A seller of purple fabrics, a worshipper of Go; here comes an expression for a proselyte. She is a convert to Judaism and so is worshipping here with the Jews, was listening.

So Paul comes and begins a conversation with these Jewish women assembled at the riverside. Speaking to them the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the promises and prophecies of The Old Testament, his death and his resurrection and great statement at the end of verse 14 that you ought to have it underlined in your Bible, “And the Lord opened her heart to the respond to the things spoken by Paul.” Here you see the sovereign control of God. Remember up earlier God had sovereignly directed Paul to the place of ministry Macedonia. Now he sovereignly moves in the heart of one who hears the gospel to cause them to believe it. The Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. It wasn’t a matter that she was a better person, more intelligent person, is the sovereign work of God. That's crucial because that’s always the way it is when the gospel is presented.

And you and I ought to keep it in mind. We have an emphasis on reaching with the gospel into the city and I take it that my responsibility in that is to present the gospel as clearly as I can saturated with prayer before God, but only God can open the heart of the person to receive it and believe it. And I need to keep that in mind as I presented; it is sovereignly in God’s hands. I present the gospel so that the Spirit of God can use it in opening a heart and bringing them to salvation. We saw in our study last week. Turn over to Second Corinthians Chapter 4 and you have the picture of what is going on as the gospel is presented. We touched on this as we looked at the activity of demons in the context of worship.

In Second Corinthians Chapter 4 verse 3, and even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Note that Satan is working to blind minds and hearts whereas God’s work is to open them. In verse 6 of Second Corinthians 4, for God who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. So as Satan works to blind minds the key people from seeing and comprehending the truth of the gospel. It is the work of God to sovereignly intervene and open the minds of some to perceive the truth of the gospel. Not also falls true that is not only the work of Satan but it is the work of my won sinful self to reject the gospel and sinful fallen being that I am I reject that.

Jesus said to the Jews of his day you will not come to me that you may have light. Their own stubborn sinfulness they were unwilling to come. Satan works together with that along with the world system, all working to keep the veil that hinders the work of the gospel but God in grace reaches into hearts and causes them to see the light comes on and they perceive and understand and believe that Jesus Christ the son of God has died for them. I think this would tie with what Jesus said in John Chapter 6 in verse 44, no men can come to me expect the father draw him. Because of our sinfulness the degenerate condition of fallen humanity it takes a special work of the grace of God to bring a person to salvation. So the gospel is proclaimed because this is the means that God has ordained to use to turn on the light and bring salvation to those that he calls.

So she believes back in Acts Chapter 16. First convert in Europe Lydia a woman sometimes viewed as playing down the role of woman and women but here you see first convert in Europe to Jesus Christ is Lydia. She will become a key part in the church founder there I take it although there is no development of that later on. Verse 15, and she and her household had been baptized. So you see the salvation here is not limited to Lydia. Others of her household I take it perhaps relatives, perhaps servants, those who are part of her business heard the gospel they too believed. Now be careful some pick up household salvation here and say well see here is an evidence for baptizing babies. It had nothing to do with baptizing babies. It has to do with those whose heart is open and they respond to the things spoken to such as Lydia did very clearly.

To say household must have included babies is to read a lot into this. We have no idea of the age of Lydia, of her servants and those there with her. If my household would be saved today and be baptized there would be no babies baptized in that because my household there are all old enough to hear and comprehend and believe the truth of the gospel. I think that’s what is being stated here. So here you have a number of people converted; how many, we don’t know. Then she responds and you see something of the immediate response in the life of a person who say there has to be time for growth but there are immediate changes and you ought to pick this up. At the rate I am going we are going to go quickly at the end of Chapter 16.

But there are immediate in the life of a person who trust Christ. Look what she says, what happens first, she and her household had been baptized. She urged us saying if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord come into my house and stay and she prevailed upon us. You know what happens first thing they do when she has believed, she is baptized. And we find that pattern consistent in The Book of Acts. People believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and they are baptized because baptism was the public open declaration that they were identifying with Jesus Christ as their savor and as their Lord. It made an immediate upfront break. I take it that’s the purpose of baptism. I take it we have lost something today with allowing the matter of baptism to drag on indefinitely. And one of the reasons we delay baptism, well maybe there is two reasons.

One, we don't want to confuse the issue of salvation. We are afraid if we make baptism a statement right away people will think they were saved by their baptism. Paul wasn’t worried about that confusion. He made clear salvation is by faith. When she opened her heart to respond to the gospel she was saved. She is immediately baptized as a public testimony of that. What did that do? That made an immediate break. It was a testimony to all around of where she stood. Matthew Chapter 28, when Jesus told the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. These disciples they were to be baptizing and teaching. And we see that carried out in The Book of Acts. Immediately they are baptized over into Philippian jailer in verse 31 and following.

They believed, in verse 31, what the gospel presented and in verse 33 he took them that very hour of the night, washed their wounds and immediately he was baptized and all his household. They didn’t even wait till the next day. They are baptized immediately upon their profession of faith in Jesus Christ. I think that pattern ought to be followed right down to today. Well, what will happen here? I need to prepare my family. They wouldn’t understand if I get baptized right away and I don’t want to alienate them. We got to go into this slowly. We have to win it in God’s way and when you have come to believe in Jesus Christ there is going to be conflict and Christ demands that you be identified with him immediately, no matter how offensive, how divisive that really is. I take it baptism is a key issue in the accomplishing of that. So she is immediately baptized.

All right, now we drop Lydia, those of her household who have been saved. I take it Paul’s ministry to them continues. Verse 16 that we were going to a place of prayer. It happened that as we were going to a place of prayer a certain slave girl having a spirit of divination met us who is bringing her master much profit by fortunetelling. So here is a demon possessed girl who is telling fortunes and those who were the masters the owners of this slave girl were making good money on her fortunetelling. They would charge people to have their fortunes told by this demon possessed girl. She was following after Paul and us and I didn’t mention to you but up in verse 10 of this Chapter he begin to talk in a we and us way instead of the third person which indicates Paul was joined by Luke the writer of Acts at Troas with verse 10 in Acts. Instead of talking about in the third person he is starting to talk about we and us.

So this demon possessed girl in verse 17 starts to follow Paul and us and kept crying out saying these men are bondservants to the most high God who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation. Now note everything she says is true. This girl is not a believer. This girl is possessed by a demon of Satan but she has the perception under the control of this demon of who Paul is and of what his message is. Paul and his associates are servants of the most high God. They are proclaiming to you the way of salvation that is all true. Now it tells us something about Satan who masquerades an angel of light. Here the demons are giving accurate true testimony to the character of the apostle Paul, the ministry of the apostle Paul.

Note how Paul responds, verse 18, she continued doing this for many days. I take it everywhere Paul went. Here is this demon possessed girl under the influence of the demon announcing his coming, announcing his way. And it says Paul was greatly annoyed. I like that to know Paul got annoyed. This bothered him. You know it is nice to have people say true things about you but it is also important who is saying them, and to be announced by a demon everywhere you go is not necessarily a good introduction for a preacher of the gospel. It confuses and blurs the issue. Does that mean that this demon possessed girl also would be a representative of the most high God and of the message proclaimed. Since she joined with Paul in announcing him, Paul is unwilling to have her testimony on his behalf.

And so he says in verse 18, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out at that very moment. Now turn back to Mark Chapter 3, you used to pick up this incident in the life of Christ. In Mark 3 Christ has been carrying on his ministry and in verse 11 note what happens. Mark 3:11, whenever the unclean spirits beheld him they would fall down before him and cry out saying, “You are the son of God.” So what happens as Christ went about demon possessed people the spirits who dwelt in these people, the demons recognized Christ and bowed down before him and confessed that you are the son of God. But note what Christ does in the next verse, he earnestly warned them not to reveal his identity. It was not given to the demonic to testify to Jesus Christ and their testimony is unacceptable to him. It is also unacceptable to the apostle Paul.

Now I take it that’s going to take some discernment on the part of Christians. I take it the Devil and demons work in the same ways today. And just because someone says something good about you, something good about the word of God it does not mean they represent God. The testimony concerning Christ Jesus by the demons is perfectly accurate. You are the son of God. The testimony of the demons concerning Paul and Silas was precisely accurate, bondservants of God and proclaimed the message of salvation. It is unacceptable because it still comes from the demons. How do you know? You must evaluate them in a broader sense than in just these limited statements.

There is no doubt that this girl in Acts Chapter 16 is demon possessed and Paul casts the demons out. Now that would seem to be a cause of great rejoicing, would it not? It is not a great demonstration of the power of God over the demonic world. But you know what happens it has a reverse impact upon those who are closest to this servant girl, the masters. How do you think they respond? Back to Acts Chapter 16 verse 19, but when her master saw that their hope of profit was gone they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates they said these men are throwing our city into confusion being Jews. Remember the Jews are a very limited minority. They are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe being Romans.

Now they are prejudicing the case perhaps by speaking of the fact that they are Jews because remember Philippi is a Roman colony. We are told in Acts Chapter 18 in verse 2 that Claudius Roman Emperor had given an edict that all the Jews be expelled from Rome. Now Roman colony its goal is to function exactly like Rome so that anti-Semitic so that anti-Semitic actions in Rome, those anti-Semitic actions in Rome would naturally be picked up on in Philippi. So these masters are trying to ride on it. You are Jews. They are causing confusion. What do you mean confusion? What had they done? They even cut down the confusion. This girl is no longer under the control of a demon teaching things that they were not supposed to listen to and Jews were not allowed to actively proselyte gentiles under Roman law.

So Paul and Silas are in trouble. Let me just draw your attention to something here. We don’t have time to go into it. Write down Acts Chapter 19 verses 23 to 27. It is interesting the only two occasions where Luke in writing Acts mentions gentile persecution of the apostles occur when there are business losses for the gentiles. Now the Jews persecuted apostles a lot but the only two record times when it is recorded that the apostles were persecuted by gentiles here in Philippi and at Ephesus in Acts Chapter 19 it was a direct result of business losses as a result of the preaching of the gospel. Now that tells you something. When your testimony for Jesus Christ begins to have an impact in the material area of people you can expect opposition and resistance.

If your stance for Jesus Christ is going to make a difference in how much money they make, then you can expect they are going to oppose you. So interesting that’s what happened to Paul. The crowd rose up together against them. The chief magistrates tore off their robes, proceeded to order to be beaten with rods. Now this was not the more severe being lashed that the Jews practiced and you got 39 lashes but Paul does indicate in writing to the Corinthians in Second Corinthians Chapter 11 that this happened to him five times. He got beaten with rods. That was a severe form of punishment.

In fact so severe it was forbidden to do it to a Roman citizen. So I say it is not severe as the lashings, it is still a severe punishment. The Roman citizens were not allowed to be dealt corporal punishment in public. So here they don’t take it. It has already been told they are Jews. Perhaps all you had to do was look at Paul and know he was a Jew. The men in verse 20 said these are Jews. Paul and Silas had taken Mark and Timothy and others we are not told. Paul and Silas were singled out. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison commanding the jailer to guard them securely and he having received such a command threw them into the inner prison, fasten their feet in the stocks. So they are dealt with very harshly and the Roman jailer here he is commanded to guard them securely.

Remember when happens to a Roman jailer if he loses the prisoner he dies in their place. So he put them in the inner prison and he puts their feet in stock just to be sure they are not going anywhere. Now this must be very uncomfortable situation. They had been beaten on the back with rods. So their backs have undergone severe punishment. Now they lay down on their backs while their feet are plucked into the stocks. The stocks were made so you could stretch the feet as widely as you wanted to make it as painful as you wanted. And then they are left there for the night.

Can you imagine Paul and Silas talking about what went on, where did we go wrong? All we wanted to do was preach the gospel. I mean I was sure I saw a vision of Silas. I just was sure, I don’t know maybe it was the garlic and the leaks in the onions we had the night before and God what had happened? If you gave me a vision and sent me here, what value is there now for us to be beaten and put into prison? We got here and preached to Lydia and we say her conversion. We thought you are really going to do something here but what a disastrous turn of events. Now you know what I would have been talking about that night.

But verse 25, but about midnight Paul and Silas were praying. Now if it was left there we would read all kind of things into and singing hymns of praise to God. That’s remarkable. Here they have been severely beaten, been cast into a prison with their feet in stocks and they are singing praise to God at midnight. Remarkable testimony. Now so often, so easy to get down by the circumstances and it is easy for us to read and get the highlights here and say oh yeah that’s good. But you know what happens when you share your testimony, when you present the gospel to somebody and they come back in such a strong bitter way. Maybe you get fired the next day and you go home, driving home I got fired praise the Lord. Just let me sing these hymns of praise.

You know what goes on in our mind, oh where did I go wrong, maybe I shouldn’t have presented the gospel. You know find Paul here, he is praising God. Why? He had been functioning his God wanted him to. God had been using him. Turn to back to Psalm 42, we don’t have time, but we got to look at these two verses anyway. Psalm 42 verse 8 and I like the context here. You got to pick up verse 5, why are you in despair o my soul, why have you become disturbed within. Hope in God for I shall praise him again for the help of his presence. O my God my soul is in despair within me. The waters have rolled over me. Look at verse 8, the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and his song will be with me in the night. A prayer to the God of my life.

That’s exactly what’s happening with Paul. The song that God gives him in the night in the midst of which could and should be despair humanly speaking. Look over in Psalm 77 in verse 6. Note the context again of the trouble and the difficulty. Verse 4, thou has held my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of long ago. I will remember my song in the night. I will meditate with my heart and my spirit plunders. That song in the night again in the midst of the difficult and the trouble and the gloom. What are Paul and Silas doing? Praying and singing. Now you know it would be one thing to do this quietly but back to Acts Chapter 16 and I don't know what kind of Paul had or Silas had but it says at the end of verse 25, the prisoners were listening to them.

You know it is under the greatest pressure that our testimony has the greatest impact. Whenever everything is going just super how can the world tell the difference between the believer and the unbeliever, when everything is going super for the world, they are happy too. The difference is seen under the pressure and trial and trouble. Imagine what these prisoners are sitting and listening to these two guys. They had been beaten with an inch of their lives. They are in the stocks and in prison and they are singing. Imagine that had an impact on them.

Well, all of a sudden, verse 16, there was a great earthquake. The foundations of the prison house were shaken. Immediately all the doors were open. Everyone’s chains were unfastened. That’s some earthquake. The jailer had been aroused out of sleep, saw the doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. Supposing the prisoners escaped, much better to take his own life than to suffer the humiliation of a public execution which there was no doubt about what happened to the Roman jailer if his prisoners were gone. Paul cried out with a loud voice saying do yourself no harm for we are all here.

You know I have to say for the longest time I had a hard time and I still have to work at it of thinking of this Roman jailer as he really his. I have to admit I will always like to think of him as this humble, kind, retired kind of soldier who was a little on the soft side. That’s not the picture we have here. What did he do with Paul and Silas? Cast him into the inner prison and put their feet in stocks. He didn’t care about that their wounds were bleeding and they get dirt and everything else in those wounds as they had to lay on their back. It didn’t bother him a bit. The only concern he has is they don’t get away.

Now that’s interesting because of Paul’s cry out in verse 28, Paul cried out with a loud voice saying do yourself no harm for we are all here. No one left. Perhaps under the instructions of Paul, perhaps the fear that was on the rest of the prisoners as they realized what had been happening but there is no bitterness on Paul’s part here saying he ought to run himself through the sword for how he treated us. You know he deserves it, now he knows who is the servant of God. You know Paul never loses his sight of what his ministry is, what he is concerned for. This man here, don’t harm yourself. What about how he has treated Paul and Silas? There is no issue there as far as Paul is concerned.

The jailer called for lights and rushed in trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas and after he had brought them out he says sirs what must I do to be saved? Remarkable statement. How did he know about this? I take it this Philippian jailer had been exposed to the gospel that Paul and Silas had been preaching. He knew what was going on. He knew why they were being cast into the prison. Perhaps Paul and Silas had shared the gospel. Perhaps he had heard their singing earlier in the evening before he retired. He is prepared now what must I do to be saved. What a dramatic radical turnout?

They said believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved, you and your household. Simple statement, as simple and concise statement as we have anywhere in the word of God. Amazing when it comes to the basic issue how simple the gospel is presented. What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. That’s it. There is no long theological discourse necessary. Your faith must be placed upon Jesus Christ. You must rely upon him and you will have salvation, you and your household. Now that doesn’t mean if you are saved that guarantees your household’s salvation. What it does mean if your household will believe on Jesus Christ they will be saved too. The plan of salvation is the same for everyone. You believe on Jesus Christ and your households believe on Jesus Christ and you all will be saved.

Sometime this verse is taken to mean if you believe on Christ that guarantees your whole family will be saved. I think there are evidences that when you are saved God is doing a work in your family but this verse can’t be taken for that. This verse indicates your household is saved the same way you are if they come to believe in Jesus Christ. They spoke the word of the Lord with him together with all who were in his house. So what happens he would explain that you have to believe in Christ and all your household. Here it is midnight, this jailer is around gathering up all of his household, servants, friends, family and Paul proceeds I take it to go through the gospel with them of how Christ died, his resurrection from the dead, the necessity to believe in him.

He took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds. See the difference, transformation. What happened with Lydia? As soon as she is saved she wants them to come and they with them to provide for them. What happens to Paul? As soon as the Philippian jailer is saved he has a compassion on them to care for them and meet their needs and this compassion and caring attitude of the Philippians carries over and we will see this in the Philippian church as Paul writes to them a letter. They continue to care about Paul and his ministry. Immediately he was baptized. Now that’s a strong statement. Because this Philippian jailer and his family are immediately marked off as followers of Jesus Christ. Those who had been baptized in public identification with Jesus Christ. Important statement, there is no going back, the line has been drawn, he has been identified with the man and the message that has been the subject of persecution.

You don’t have to say wait I am a Roman soldier, I have to think about this. This will have serious ramifications. No, the only thing is have you believed in Jesus Christ? You need to publicly identify with him. He feeds them at the end of verse 34 believed in God with his whole household. That explains. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, you and your whole household. He believed and his whole household believed. There was an openness and receptivity to the gospel and they experienced God’s salvation. Now we don’t know what happens to the demon possessed girl. Although it would be naturally to assume that she comes to salvation when the demon is cast out and Paul deals with her because of the work of God in that life. But Lydia and her household and the Philippian jailer and his household, so you have two families so to speak with perhaps the slave girl that will form now the nucleus for the church at Philippi.

Now just to complete the story the next day the leaders sent the authority and say let them go. We have punished them enough, things have died down, they learnt their lessons, tell them to get out of town. Here you see something of the backbone of the apostle Paul. He is not about to climb out of prison and crawl out and sneak out of town. No, he could use his Roman citizens to good effect. The jailer reported this, I am sure the jailer was excited. Paul and Silas you are free men. Come on you can live in this grey. Paul says no not so great. I am a Roman citizen and you know what they beat me in public and imprisoned me a Roman citizen.

So verse 37, Paul said to them they have beaten us in public without trial men who are Romans, thrown us into prison. Now they are sending us away secretly. No indeed. Let them come themselves and bring us out. The policeman reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard they were Romans. They came, appealed to them when they had brought them out they kept begging them to leave the city. You know things have turned around you know why a Roman colony of all things a Roman colony had to set the example for how Roman citizens were to be treated. And the leaders of this city have publicly humiliated Roman citizens in a colony of Rome. They are very afraid that if these Roman citizens would choose to appeal this. The leaders who had carried this out would be in serious trouble. They would be made an example of what happens to those who publicly humiliate Roman citizens without a trial.

So Paul now is willing to use his leverage. They begged him to leave town. Well, I don’t think so I have to go and have tea with Lydia first. So verse 4, they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia and they saw the brethren and encouraged them. They stayed long enough to build everybody. I have listed a couple of things. They gave the believers there a foothold because the Philippian people now weren’t about to get on their case because Paul had identified with them and they would just assume word didn’t get out about the mistreatment of the Romans. So it wouldn’t be wise to begin to persecute these Christians. So Paul has in effect established them in a good position.

Now that’s the background for Philippi. Paul will be back again in several years then he will write to them. The letter of the Philippians would be written a number of years later. We will talk about that next week. But you see overview of the work of God at Philippi. The gospel has preached the Spirit of God opens hearts people are saved and then they publicly declare their faith through water baptism. The pattern is still the same today. God directs us in the proclamation of the gospel. We present that gospel wherever he places us. God sovereignly in his determination opens the heart of some who hear that gospel and they believe and are saved and they are publicly identified with Jesus Christ through water baptism. What have you believed in? We come to believe in Jesus Christ. We have all strata here. Lydia would have been in at the high end of the social strata. The demon possessed girl would have been at the bottom here. The Philippian jailer would have been middle class. Same message, same need wherever you are.

Let’s pray together. Father, we praise you for the power of the gospel. Lord, a message that has been committed to our trust and our care; the Lord that can be proclaimed in the power of the Spirit which brings about life transforming consequences. Lord, I pray for those who are here today as they have heard the gospel, the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lord, that you had opened hearts and minds to understand and believe that they might experience your salvation. We pray Father for our own holy boldness in the proclamation of this message. Thank you for the testimony of Paul and Silas; Father, their unwillingness to degenerate into self-pity but Lord in the midst of pain and suffering and trouble that they could be singing your praises. God give us that attitude. Focus our lives upon Jesus Christ. Lord, what he means to us, what he is in every way to us, there in the midst of every circumstances we might be full of love for him and the love that he produces for others. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.