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Hey, I’m going to invite you to Acts chapter 16, where we’re going to be together today. Acts chapter 16. Pastor Wayne did a great job in introducing this chapter to us last week. And I’m going to look at really the tail end of, of this chapter in connection for our spiritual journeys and what we can glean from this as, as Luke records this chapter for us. And one of the things I really like about chapter 16 is I think it’s it this chapter is a great chapter, especially for the month of January. And the reason I say that is because I know some of us, we get to January and we like, come alive because some of us are avid skiers and we love the mountains and the snow. And so we appreciate that. But I find like there’s a good majority of people, when you get to the month of January, you’re like a piece of you dies on the inside. And because it’s because January is the month where the sun goes to die, right? It’s like it’s bitter cold. The there’s not as much light in the day. And and your body’s like telling you you need vitamin D and some of you with a lack of vitamin D, your personality might change a little bit. And some you go from less happy to or more happy to, less happy. And in the month of January. And so January is built sometimes for people that just that might be on the struggle bus.
I feel like January is one of those months that reminds us of how much we like creature comforts. The reason I say all that is when you get to Acts chapter 16, the the apostle Paul in this, in this circumstance is certainly also on the struggle bus in some of the experiences that he is having in life. But he’s also doing this in, in light of God’s call on him. And, you know, maybe this could be similar for us in our lives. And that when you start to follow after the Lord, if you begin to experience some adversity you maybe raise your hand and ask the Lord God what’s going on, right? Like, I, I wanted to follow you. I’d give my life for you. And all of a sudden it just seems like every corner I turn, it’s just. It’s just trouble and adversity and. And you might even begin to ask the question, like, God, are you even here? Like, what’s going on? Why? Why would you do this? And and the apostle Paul is teaching us really about our faith journey in the midst of the struggles we might experience in Acts chapter 16. As we’ve learned together, this is the second missionary journey that is recorded in the Apostle Paul’s life in the book of Acts. There’s three of them that that are recorded in Paul’s life in the book of Acts. Paul likely went on more missionary journeys than just these three.
There are some that even continue on after the book of Acts, but Luke records for us three of these journeys and on his second missionary journey. What we learn about next chapter 16 is he went from Jerusalem back to Antioch, where he was pastoring with with Barnabas and Paul and Silas, then go on a missionary journey where Paul journeys back through the areas that he had previously been, but then he begins to advance further west. So he went back through Derbe, Lystra. Iconium, Antioch. Those are all areas where he went to preach the gospel. Churches were birthed, and even as he went through that region, he traveled further west into the province of Asia. In the first century, Asia was not as big as a continent yet, but it was just a little province. And and he and he goes on to Macedonia and he goes to Achaea. And in each one of those providences where he’s going to travel on this journey, he stops off in the, in the capital of each of the providences. So it’s a, it’s an area of influence where in Asia he goes to Ephesus. In Macedonia, he makes sure he hits the capital of Thessalonica and Achaea. He goes to Corinth. And not just the capital cities. He also goes to other prominent towns and cities. He he goes to Philippi, which we’ll see today. He goes to to Athens and to Berea, all significant areas that he wants to influence for the sake of Christ by declaring the gospel.
Watch his watch churches be birthed. And as Paul’s going on and doing this in Acts chapter 16, what we read about in 16 is Paul’s journey all the way to Philippi in his second missionary journey. Now, one of the things that makes Philippi unique is that this is the first time we have recorded that the gospel goes to Europe. We’ve we’ve looked at together how when the early church started, the the gospel was proclaimed in Asia, where in Western Asia, in Jerusalem, here, here the gospel is being proclaimed. And then we find in in Acts chapter 13 that as Paul’s ministering in Antioch, there’s several leaders named in this church. And one of the things we highlighted at the beginning of Acts, chapter 13 is a lot of those names were found in Africa. Some of them were from northern Africa. There was one, at least, that was from sub-Saharan Africa. And so you see the gospel moving in in Asia, in Africa. And while Paul is on the second missionary journey towards the tail end of this journey, this is when Thomas, one of the early disciples of Jesus, takes the gospel as far east as India, where he’s ultimately martyred. So here you see, early on, the early church is expanding throughout the world with with the gospel and watching God’s Word proclaimed and, and churches started and lives being transformed.
However, this journey was not without adversity and especially on the Apostle Paul’s second missionary journey. He finds. This journey begins that this doesn’t begin easy for Paul and for Paul. It would have been very easy for him to just simply raise his hands in frustration to the Lord and start to even question God. Are you are you in this? I mean, Paul at the beginning of his life, when he when he came to know the Lord, the beginning of his, of his faith journey, his new life in Christ. The Apostle Paul. It was proclaimed about him that he would go throughout the world and pronounce the gospel. And and Paul obediently follows after that. But yet what we discover is there’s many challenges for Paul along the way. Does that mean God doesn’t care? Does that mean God has abandoned him or that God’s not in it? And today, this is what we’re going to talk about is, is three reminders for us in life’s challenges. And as we look at these three reminders, what we’re going to discover is there’s something that God does. There’s something that the gospel does. And the third point, there’s something that God calls us to do. There’s something God does. There’s there’s something that the gospel does, and there’s something that we’re called to do. And when we look at these three reminders, I want you to know that these three reminders are not going to be these this, these profound epiphanies where I’m going to tell you something you probably haven’t heard before, But rather these are good reminders for us, and that sometimes when we go through struggles in life, our tendency is to start to question God.
Am I on this journey with you? Do you care about me? And it’s in those moments of discouragement that we need encouragement. And these reminders become important for us in what God has called us to in in life. In fact, I think this is one of the reasons that regular reading in the Bible is important because when we read God’s Word, we start to discover the promises of God which are true. Like, it’s true that in Jesus your best days are always in front of you, no matter the the struggles this life might give to you. Because what you have in Jesus endures forever. But there’s there’s the truth of what God says. And then there’s what we experience in a broken world. And and we try to understand, okay, how does the truth of what you say God fit with where I am? Because sometimes in my circumstance I feel like I’m the only one, or I feel like I’m. I’m all alone. God, I need to know you care. And I need reminded that your promises are true. I need to know that you’re with me. And when we have hope as people, we can endure some of the most challenging things life can throw at us.
Just because we go through adversity doesn’t mean that God’s not there. And so when we look at these, these these words, we’re going to talk about this morning, these points that we’re going to talk about this morning are not new in and of themselves, but rather they’re reminders that we learn through through Paul’s story in Acts 16 and themes that we learn throughout the Bible. But point number one in your notes is this God redeems adversity in unexpected ways. God redeems adversity in unexpected ways. Paul needs to believe this, and the reason he needs to believe this is, is if you take time to read the Acts chapter 16, you discover the. One of the big focuses of Acts 16 is how Paul Paul finds himself. He and his friends find themselves beaten within an inch of their life and thrown in prison like they’re going through a difficult time. And and even along the way, they met adversity, and it ultimately culminates in this beating and thrown in prison. And in that moment, you could imagine as a human being, how you might perceive that and some of the struggles emotionally in your own heart. If you were to have endured something like that. And no doubt Paul needs reminded how God can use some of the most difficult circumstances to do some of the the most incredible things. And maybe, maybe that’s even you this morning.
I mean, I can’t help but think in a room with this many people that there there’s something that God has called us to, but because of struggles that we’re going through, we’re on the verge of just quitting, and we might know in our mind that that’s not really what God wants. And God wants me to live the kind of life that he he can bless, that he desires to bless. But there’s a circumstance for which seems adverse for me. And right now, if I’m being honest, I just want to quit. Or or maybe some of us are in a position in life where we’ve realized we did quit, and now we’ve followed a path that we shouldn’t be on, and it’s gotten us so far from the Lord. And now, now we’re in a in a place that we shouldn’t be because we doubted the goodness of God and who he’s called me to be in him. God redeems adversity in an incredible ways, and when we think about our own faith journey and what it is God desires, maybe, maybe for some of us, we have some hopes and dreams of what we want to see God do in a circumstance, or maybe what we want to see God do in the life of someone else. Like maybe, maybe our approach to God looks like this. God, this is hard. I want you to change this. So therefore I’m going to follow you so you can change this.
And when we don’t see God change what we want him to change, we start to get upset with God. And we don’t want to follow God because, well, our real reason for pursuing the Lord wasn’t so much about my own faith journey in the Lord. It was about trying to get God to change something that I wanted in order to satisfy me. But can I tell you that the primary call of the Christian life is not driven by results? The primary call of the Christian life is for you to surrender your life to the Lord and grow in him, like God will take care of the results. God it’s. It’s God who the fruit is up to the Lord. But what God’s primary interest is in you and what he desires to do in your life. And then through that God works through you to bless others. But so. So I would say it like this if you’re moving along your Christian life and you’re not seeing the results in a circumstance that you want, the goal of the Christian life is not primarily about results. It’s about walking with Jesus. And so what we do is we get up as believers and we continue to follow Jesus because regardless of what people choose to do or not do, what I am about as a believer is I want to know Christ intimately in my relationship with him. In fact, in the Apostle Paul’s challenges, this is one of the things that we’re going to discover that the beauty of, of, of adversity and a journey is that God ultimately grows us more than anything in those challenges.
Let me let me just read it for you in Acts 16 verse six, it says, and they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go in Bithynia. But the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. I mean, could you imagine? For for Paul he would say, man, God, I know that you called me here, but I’m not seeing you move in this way. And it tells us that the Holy Spirit forbid him to speak in Asia. Like if I if I’m just being honest and I just said to you and if you ask me the question, well, tell me some of your most frustrating verses in the Bible. I would say Acts chapter 16, verse six. And the reason for that is it doesn’t tell us how the Holy Spirit forbid him, right? Like, what does that even look like? I don’t even know. Luke just tells them that. That that’s what was happening. Luke just records it like a statement and moves on. He doesn’t really explain it to us, which I find incredibly frustrating, especially when you’re trying to figure out what it is God wants you to do, right? It’s like, explain to me how to work through this, right? And so so here it is that that Paul’s, he’s met some sort of resistance to the point that he recognizes that God’s just not working here, that the Lord’s just not desiring to to move in this way.
And so and so, even though he’s not discovering what he might want to see, he knows that God is is still desiring to move, because God has called him to be a light in the world for his glory, to the benefit of others, to the blessing of others. And so then it goes on, and it says it like this. It says verse eight maybe. So passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately he sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. I’ll talk about a vision in just a minute, but let me just say this early in my Christian faith I would have found what we described in these verses incredibly frustrating. Like God, here I am to do this thing, and this isn’t working out the way that I want it to work it out, or the way I want to see it work out.
And I can’t figure out God what it is that you want to do because you’re not doing what I think you should do, and you get frustrated, but then you start to learn, you know, out of all the things God could do in your faith journey, the greatest thing God does is the work that he he does in you. God can use anybody to do what he desires to do in this world, but the gift that God has really given you is his faith journey. And his faith journey is that relationship with you. One of the things that I have grown to find very endearing in my relationship with the Lord is early on what frustrated me. I’ve learned to embrace it as a blessing. And what I mean by that is when we go through seasons where we can’t quite figure out, Lord, how is it that you desire to move? I find that those are the moments that are sweetest in my relationship with the Lord, because those challenges are what drive me to my knees to seek him. It’s in those seasons that God brings me closer to him as I’m as I’m yearning to honor him with my life. And so for for Paul, God is doing this incredible work in his heart as he’s seeking after the Lord. And it’s the same for you that God uses adversity to to not only not only work through your life, but most importantly, work in your life to bring you to that spiritually awakened moment where you recognize how you need the Spirit of God.
Because anything that that Paul’s going to do in this world is certainly that’s going to matter anyway. It’s not going to be by his own strength, but rather by the Lord’s. And so this, this challenge of this moment is, is really what causes Paul to to lean deeper into the Lord, to discover how how God wants to move as he himself is strengthened in the Lord through the circumstances that he’s going through. And it tells us in the midst of that moment that the way that Paul finds the answer is through a vision. Now, I want you to know I’m not like anti vision or anything, okay? But the Bible is writing this in a narrative, and a narrative is just saying to you, this is what happened. This is not necessarily prescriptive. And there’s a big difference between understanding how narratives work and prescriptive narratives. Just describing you as a story prescriptive is saying this is what you should do. And the reason I say that is when you look at the word vision in the New Testament, you might read this and think, oh, Paul had a vision, I should have a vision. And then some people can get Uber obsessive about having visions. I think it’s important to know that when you look up the word vision in the New Testament, you discover there are a few instances in the book of Acts where that word is used.
When when Peter had a vision in Cornelius, when Paul had a vision, when when Jesus visited him on the road to Damascus, here in this moment with the apostle Paul, and then you really got to jump all the way to the book of Revelation at the very end, where John talks about a vision for revelation. But in between all that, when you look at the word vision in Scripture, you discover really there’s one other section that talks about it. It’s Colossians chapter two, and it warns you about people who boast in visions, as if to say, this becomes a way people become abusive and manipulating what they claim God wants when it’s not what God desires. I will remind us sometimes as a church not because not because I hate people, but I just want to know. Some of the most dangerous words I think can be spoken is God told me not because I don’t think God can tell you things. I do think he can. If you want to know how, just read the Bible. He’s telling you all kinds of things. God can tell you things, but I think sometimes people can use that in a very dangerous way to manipulate what it is they want rather than what God says. Now, having said all that, I think it’s important to to to know what God desires for you.
And the Bible gives us a, a plethora of ways of understanding how we discover that as God’s people. It tells us in second Corinthians five seven walk by faith, not by sight. So learning your faith becomes critical for us. It tells us in Colossians chapter three verse 16, let the Word of God dwell in you richly. In Romans chapter 12, verse two. Renew your mind on the things of the Lord. In James chapter one, verse five, seek the wisdom of God and how you you carry out the truth of the Lord in this world. So, so important passages in helping us understand what is God desires and is reminding us. The Word of God becomes the basis of understanding the will of God as we live for his glory in this world. But, but here comes the Apostle Paul with this, this idea of, of of a vision and God directing him in this way. And I’ll tell you, like I am reluctant when people say, And God told me, I know sometimes we we tend some people use stronger language than others. I typically say it like this, that I feel like the Lord’s pressed this on my heart. You know, I feel convicted by this. I feel the Lord burdening my heart this way. And sometimes people, when they say God told me, they tend to mean those things. I think it’s good to clarify what we mean by that.
And I’m not trying to make you paranoid. You know, when you talk to me, if you say the word God told me. Right. But as a pastor interested in what that means, I want to know how God’s leading your life. More than just simply using a statement like that. God, what is it you desire to do through me? And God, what is it you desire to do in me? I would tell you in my own relationship with the Lord when I when I moved to Utah, I. I felt like the Lord wanted me in Utah. And one of the reasons I, I felt the Lord leading me here was when I came to know the Lord. My my transformation in Jesus was rather radical. I grew up a rough kid doing stupid things, had a very hard heart to religion in general or any belief system. I just thought it was an ignorant guessing game where your your belief system you hope was right in the end. And and a lot of things that I’d gone through as a kid that, you know, built, built an angry heart in my soul. And so when I came to know, the Lord radically transformed me. And when I learned about Utah, I realized, man, with people that don’t agree with me, I can be incredibly patient because God had been incredibly patient with me. So anywhere in the world God would lead me. I felt like the Lord, Lord could use me because I had been the person that most would think would be furthest from the Lord.
God radically transformed my life. But there was. There was a moment where I moved here, and I thought to myself, you know, if we’re going to start a church, I want to be confident that we’re going to be able to do this right. As much as one can be confident, I want to be confident. And so I took some time to study Utah and started to learn, like what caused churches to close. Like I wanted to know why churches succeeded, but also more importantly, why. Why churches close, by the way? The answer is the Lord always. Okay, but but what caused some churches to close? Because statistics in Utah, especially at this time when I was studying, within five years, 80% of biblical based churches would close. And I didn’t want that to be. And one of the reasons I didn’t want that to be is because I know for some people to come to know the Lord here, there’s a tremendous sacrifice in that. Sometimes your neighborhood, your friends, your family can abandon you. And one thing I didn’t want to do as a follower of Jesus is abandon someone else who was seeking new community in Christ. So how do I know that I can make it here? And as I started to study different ministries and why they didn’t survive, and sometimes there’s good reasons for it, right? Sometimes there’s things you can’t control.
But a lot of times what I discovered is it was just hard and people quit. And it was sad to look at over and over again, but repeatedly looking at, looking at it, it was hard and people quit. Like, can I just tell you being a pastor is not easy, right? And you, you forsake certain creature comforts and that’s that’s even more so in in Utah. There are certain things you just know you’re going to sacrifice on for the benefit of seeing God’s work done here. But one of the things I really, I began to recognize in that is I grew up as a kid with a single mom who had me when she was 16. By the time I graduated high school, I’d lived in 20 different homes. Sometimes I lived in homes without running water. I had a childhood that was full of some adversity, but also I had an incredible mother, very strong woman, who demonstrated what it was to work through adversity. And when I stood here in Utah and I started to pray about planting a church, I realized God had used my path to prepare me for things I may not have had the strength to do otherwise. I had walked a difficult road. I know what it was to to to live in life in some challenging circumstances. And I realized God had worked in my life in such a way that incredible things could happen here.
I don’t say all that to say. And look, look at me, I don’t that’s that’s not the point. But the point is to recognize God uses adversity in our lives in incredible ways, ways that we may not even realize. And it might be decades later where you get to look back and you say, and this, this was what God was doing. Sometimes we don’t even get the the pleasure of understanding that until we see him face to face in eternity. But but God uses our circumstances. None of what we go through goes to waste. And so for the Apostle Paul, he is he’s keenly aware of this. And and so God redeems adversity in unexpected ways. Let me give you a point, Number two. The gospel powerfully transforms lives. The gospel powerfully transforms lives. And I want to say this quickly. And we’ve seen we’re seeing this throughout all of Acts 16. And I really just wanted to focus mostly on the latter half. So I spend too much time on the front end. But when you think about what happens in the book of Acts, he’s reminding us of just how the Spirit of God works and and people in different places of life where in Acts 16, my gosh, we’re going to get a new clicker. Shalom. Give me, give me a click. There is verse 13, we meet this lady named Lydia who was a who was a follower of Judaism.
She was a god fear, but she was a follower of of Judaism. And and she’s outside of the riverside and with women. When and when cities had at least ten Jewish men, they would put a synagogue. And if they had less than that, then they would have to find alternative ways. And this was a customary way the women would worship. They would go out to the the riverside. And so Paul knew that. And because he would typically go to cities and start with the synagogues. He went to an area where the Jewish people were, and the reason he would do this is because there was an Old Testament foundation. It’s easier to to build upon that Old Testament. So he would he would go and find the Jewish people. He would share with them. He finds this lady named Lydia, who happens to be a seller of purple goods. It tells you in verse 14, and what that means is she is from the upper class of society. You knew you were bougie when you had purple in the first century. That’s what that’s what Lydia did. And so Lydia was more of a wealthy individual. And so Paul comes to the these Jewish people, he shares the gospel and she comes to know Christ. Paul says, look, the Old Testament declares the Messiah, the Messiah has come. He’s come for you. Will you give your life to him? And this is what Lydia does.
She turns to the Lord for her. It was an intellectual sharing. She needed to see how the truth of God’s Word connected. And then she embraced it with her heart. Right. So Lydia becomes an important picture of how God God can work. But not only do you find Lydia, but there’s also this. This slave girl. And this slave girl was she was she had the ability to predict the future. She was clairvoyant. And and so this this slave girl was, was lower class of society. And she was being oppressed by demons. She’s got demonic influence on her life, being oppressed. So. So the Lord meets her in that very practical way. In the midst of this oppression, she discovers the power of who God is as Christ liberates her. And so you see these two individuals from different walks of life, extremely different walks of life, right? One upper class, wealthy, an intellectual sharing of God’s Word gives her life to Jesus. This other woman being oppressed by by evil spirits, working as a clairvoyant to make other people wealthy. She’s being abused, she’s being used. And and Paul comes to her and she’s delivered from this oppression. Now, let me just say a couple of things about this woman, because anytime I bring up something about demon activity, at some point someone in one of those services comes up to me at the end and says, I see dead people.
Like something like that. You know, like something they get, we get sometimes we get really fixated, Uber focused on demonic activity and almost like this, where you live your life, you live your life, you live your life. And then all of a sudden, well, bam, you’re just demon possessed or oppressed or something like, that’s the way they picture it. But but I like to remind us of this. You’re never not in spiritual warfare. Every part of your life has some spiritual influence and impact about it. The decisions you make get this. Everything you do as a human being is driven by a belief, that belief influenced by a spiritual world. Right? So you’re never not in a spiritual Battle. The question is what you’re giving yourself to. Now, I don’t say all that to freak you out, okay? Because if you belong to Jesus, the Spirit of God dwells in you. You can’t be demon possessed. And the Bible tells you that God doesn’t give you a spirit of fear and Timothy, but of power, love, and a sound mind. So I don’t want you to obsess every time you turn a corner. A demon is going to get you right. But rather, I want you to understand the power of God that works in you. And rather than walk in fear, walk in the hope that you have in Christ, because you know you belong to him and give your life to him.
Alright, so so here’s this, this demon woman, and her story tells us something beautiful about the way God works. And one of the things I think is critical to understand is that God doesn’t make new things, but rather God makes things new. And God certainly created in the beginning, and that’s important to understand. He did make new things when he made creation, but since then, God’s interest is not making new things, but making things new. And the reason that becomes important is because at some point in our life, rather than follow and walk after the Lord, we walked after things of this world. We lived for a different kingdom. That’s not Jesus’s, and the Bible tells us that belongs to Satan. And because of that, the marks of the world are on us. Sometimes we can make such terrible decisions in life that we might look at ourselves and think, man, how could God even use me? Why would God even care about me? I’m just one that God should just throw aside, ignore me, and move on with other things. And I want you to know that’s not the gospel more than anything. If that’s what you wrestle with, you need to understand who Jesus is. Because Jesus is not about making new things. Jesus is about making things new. Jesus is about taking what’s broken and restoring it in the beauty of who he is. And that’s what Romans chapter eight says.
All of creation groans, awaiting for the redemption in Christ. One of the beautiful things that Jesus is first coming is that his first coming was to restore my soul in him at his second coming. His healing hand will be known throughout the whole world as he restores all things in him. And in between all that, we get the beauty of representing this gospel, hope that we can have in Christ, that he doesn’t make new things, but rather he makes all things new. And when God recreates the heavens and the earth, he’s not blowing it up, wiping it away and starting it over. He’s taking the brokenness of this world and he’s making it new. The gospel. The gospel powerfully transforms life. And the last one that you learn about is the Philippian jailer. The Philippian jailer was more of a middle class individual. He’s likely jaded by life he to be in this position as as a jailer, he most likely worked as a Roman soldier, retired, and then, in light of his fulfillment as a soldier, the government gave him this position to guard the jails because he would have been familiar with with some of this, this lifestyle as a as a warrior, to be able to, to serve in this capacity. And so here he is operating as a jailer, and he’s seeing some of the most difficult things in life. In fact, he tells you, verse 23, when they had inflicted inflicted many blows upon him, they threw them into prison and 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. I mean, could you imagine this? Paul’s, Paul and his friends being beat within an inch of their life, thrown in jail, and then just put in jail? I mean, they’re locked down. By the way, this picture is what’s believed to be the place where Paul was put in jail. This is a remnant of the Philippian jail. And when you read the book of Acts, a lot of the places they talk about, you can still go back and see the the ancient civilizations that were there. And the Bible has incredible archeology. But but here’s Paul thrown into this prison. And while they’re in this prison, though, they’ve been treated with, with contempt, had ill treatment from this, this jailer, Paul and Silas, it tells us in this moments choose to worship the Lord. They’re just singing, praising and praying to the Lord. Could you imagine as that jailer how shocking that would be? Here are these individuals having gone through all that and and yet they’re joyfully seeking after God. And then verse 26, it tells us this. It says. Oh, I’ll tell you about that picture in a minute. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were 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 open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. The punishment. If you were a jailer and you lost a prisoner, was that you would lose your life. And so he’s supposing that the prisoners were escaped. He was going to kill himself. Verse 28. But Paul cried with a loud voice, do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights, and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. I mean, could you imagine that? I don’t know very many of us would being thrown in jail. We start to pray and we’re we’re chained to this jail, right? And then all of a sudden there’s an earthquake and the jail bust open and your chains fall off. Right? And if you just spent time praying, I don’t know anyone in this room be like. And God answered our prayer. So we got up and got the heck out of there, right? Like everyone would do that. I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t do that, but but why? Why did Paul not do that? It doesn’t make any sense. Why would Paul? Why would Paul not think about himself and and run for the hills for his own safety? I mean, he’s in a place that’s not his homeland.
I mean, he’s gone way out of his comfort zone into this new area. And now suddenly he’s got opportunity for freedom. And rather than than run into freedom, he chooses to remain in jail. Why would he do that? Les Paul’s interest be about more than himself? I mean, could you imagine when this jailer runs into this moment and he would say to them, you, I was about to take my life, but you gave up your freedom to spare mine. Why would you do that? And Paul very easily would have said, I gave up my freedom for your life, because there was another one who gave his freedom for my life, and because he gave his freedom for my life. I’ve given my life for yours, for this jaded heart. The demonstration of that love and grace Radically transforms him. So you see, Lydia. Intellectually, you see the slave girl being oppressed. You see this jaded heart truly seeing the grace of God. Now, now that this has been revealed to you. And I ruined my big point here. Let me just tell you what Paul is demonstrating is incredible grace. One of the things that happened in our country within with in this century, 2006, just outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a group of Amish girls went to school one morning and a man entered the schoolhouse, and he shot ten young ladies and killed five of them before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life.
Amish people were devastated by that. Heartbroken over everything that had taken place. But in the midst of their own pain, they did something incredible. They said God’s word tells them to forgive and to love their enemies. And so the Amish people went to the home of this lady on the left. This lady’s name is Terry Roberts. She is the mother of the man, Charlie Roberts, who walked into that schoolhouse and shot those children. The Amish people went to this lady and they said, we’re grieving over our loss and you’re grieving over your loss. There’s no sense in us to grieve apart, but rather to grieve together in this tragedy. When Charlie Roberts funeral was held. They said at his funeral, there were actually more Amish people that showed up to the funeral than anyone else, and they did something incredible. At the funeral, they decided to take an offering to give to to Charlie Roberts widow and his three daughters they left behind. Here are people in the midst of their pain rather than just focus on themselves. They’re seeing this as an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Christ. Guys, can I tell you more than anything in your country right now, what people need to see are the hands and feet of Christ. People are angry, frustrated, feel like they’re in the moral right and it seems like want to just cut each other’s throats to prove and demonstrate how right they are.
I mean, how radical it would be that in the midst of the screaming and division and the shouting, that God’s people stand in a radical way to love people where they’re at. Now, I want you to know that when we do that as God’s people, we’re not saying we agree with what other people done. Paul’s certainly not agreeing with with what the jailer’s done. The Amish people don’t agree with what Charlie did. But in the midst of that pain, the beauty of Christ is made known. And this is how the gospel radically transforms life. And when you read what what the response was for the jailer, look at this. He immediately says, then he brought them out and said, sir, what must I do to be saved? And he’s thinking like a religious person. Give me the task list. But then you see in verse 31 they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. He doesn’t. They don’t say, look, it’s an act that you do, but rather it’s what Jesus has already done for you. Like trust in this. And then he goes on, and they spoke the word of the Lord to him, to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and was baptized at once he and his eldest family.
Then they brought them out in the middle of the house and set food before them. And he rejoiced, along with his entire household that he had believed in God. And you see this radical transformation the way it’s demonstrated. You see this immediate compassion from the jailer, this jaded heart now loving on the people that he beat, washing their wounds. And then he starts thinking about community, how to bless others in this. I mean, that’s that’s the demonstration of of life made known in Christ. And so let me give you this last point, because I got to end last, is this live for God’s glory and trust in him to supply. Live for God’s glory and trust in supply. If the gospel is what radically transforms, if God can do incredible things in adversity, it’s important for me to to just live for his glory and trust God. Whatever you want to do, my life is just for you. And you see this in the lives of the believers here in verse 35. But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police saying, let those men go. And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, the magistrates have sent to let them let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace. But Paul said to them, they have beaten us publicly condemned men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison. And do they now throw us out secretly? No. Let them come themselves and take us out.
And the police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid. I got to stop there for time. But let me let me just say this. There’s what Paul could have done and there’s what Paul did. And if if this were happening in modern day America, I think it would look like this. They were they were treated unjustly. And so therefore they used that as an excuse to be absolute jerks on the back end because they had the moral right, and they decided to sue everything for what they were worth and get what they wanted, because what they were primarily interested in was themselves. Now, I’m not saying when injustice has happened to you that you shouldn’t seek legal recourse, right? You have law for a reason. But I want you to know that Paul’s primary interest in this moment is far greater than himself. Because what Paul’s thinking about the minute I leave is they set me free. They’re just going to turn and continue to attack the other believers. How can I use this moment for the glory of God to the benefit of others? And so what Paul does is remind the leaders in that city that he’s a Roman citizen, and that they have treated him illegally. And what that provides then is an opportunity for the church to thrive, because now they’re not going to have to worry about living under the threat of persecution, because the rulers in this area know that they have broken the law against these Christians.
And so rather than make this moment about himself and what he wants. Paul uses it for the Lord. When you read about Acts chapter 16, it’s interesting. Out of all the people in Philippi that that Paul could have told us about or Luke could have written about, he chooses Lydia, the wealthy woman. He chooses the slave girl, and he chooses the the Philippian jailer. Out of all the people he could have told us, told about why? Why those three? Because those certainly aren’t the only three that came to know the Lord in Philippi. I think it was because of this in first century Judaism, and even beyond this, and before this, it became popular, definitely in the first century that Jewish men regularly would pray, God, we’re blessed because you didn’t make me a Gentile, a slave or a woman. God, thank you for not making me a Gentile, a slave or a woman. Which if someone tried that today, they would get stoned, I think. But but in the first century, that was a common prayer for Jewish men to pray. But can I just tell you, it’s so antithetical to the gospel? I think this is exactly why Paul used the people that he used to tell the story, because they are Gentiles, slaves, and women. God want us to recognize the value of everyone and the power of how he can transform, so that we understand as we walk with him, the beauty of what God can do in the most difficult of circumstances.