Acts 16:25-34

[0:00] berries in the house and ambulaces rolupt herアкиー H trzy always start moving reverse 2519 dua Miles d star serve werden Yeah yes I will sorry the prison doors open.

[0:31] He drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners have been fled.

[0:40] Paul cried with a loud voice saying, do thyself no harm for we are all here.

[0:48] Then he called for a light and sprang in and came trembling in his face.

[0:58] He said, I will give you to be saved. They said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house.

[1:07] They spake into him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house. He took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized.

[1:24] He said, I will give you to be saved. He said, meet before them and rejoice believing in God with all his house.

[1:31] We'll stop reading right there for a moment. Back up to verse 25 says at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God and the prisoners heard them and suddenly there was a great earthquake so the foundations of the prison were shaken and the fire was extinguished.

[1:53] So once again we have Paul and Silas here and Paul before this he had cast out a demon out of a girl, cast out an evil spirit out of this young lady that been following them or following him and Silas around for days.

[2:12] And once again that demon it was proclaiming the truth and the truth was revealed to them and the demon was cast out of the prison and Paul turned around and rebuked the demon commands the demon to come out in the name of Jesus Christ and the demon departs from the girl and the man of that city, the man who ruled over that girl, they saw that we're going to have no more money coming in from her and the demon was cast out of the prison and Paul and Silas before the magistrates of the city and the magistrates had been beat. What were they claiming though? They said these men they're preaching this gospel. They're saying these things that aren't common to Romans. They're saying these things that we shouldn't partake in as Romans they're they're preaching in the city. They're saying they're preaching in the city or the people that were there at the time they they began to beat them. Everybody in town came against Paul and Silas.

[3:31] They beat them. They whipped them. They threw them in prison with the Bible here in Acts chapter 16 verse 25 says and at midnight Paul and Silas as I said as she was up here justifying to not it matters not what kind of position we find ourselves in.

[3:57] It doesn't matter what kind of day we've had what kind of week we've had or what kind of life that we've had if we have salvation as a gift from God that has bestowed upon us if he saved our soul out of hell and our heart and that light showed us our sin that last showed us we needed to repent and to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and we believe that gospel and God saved our souls. It doesn't matter if we're in prison doesn't matter if we're at the hospital doesn't matter who we know that may be able to sing praises under God we should still be able to lift up holy hands as the scripture says that we should do we should still be able to acknowledge God for what he is what he's done and what he promises to do.

[5:02] Just as Paul and Silas do here. They were in the worst of circumstances and what were they doing? They were there for doing well for doing right. They were there for doing precisely what I believe God sent them into Macedonia to do folks this dream that Paul had. It wasn't circumstance. It wasn't just something that happened by chance. This was something that had to have been divinely inspired in the mind of Paul as he slumbered that not there had been any hope for him to go to Macedonia for him to be in the position he was in and the place he was in. Hey, we find it hard to believe that it was God's will that Paul got beat. We find it hard to believe it was God's will that Paul and Silas wound up in prison but that precisely where God wanted them. We find it hard to believe in our own life sometimes that why God allows certain things to happen.

[6:11] We find it hard to believe that man's over in the old Testament. Hey, the man as far as we could tell through the scriptures up to that point, the man had done no wrong. He had done nothing to quote unquote deserve what he had yet he had sores from the top of his head to the bottoms of his feet. His family had been killed. All his livestock had been killed. He said, no, he's slain me yet. Well, I trust him.

[6:43] Hey, though the Lord slain me, though the Lord rebuked me, though he chastised me, though things might come in my life.

[6:53] Hey, I will still trust God to see me through those things. Paul and Silas were trusted in the same God that I trust in.

[7:07] They were trusted in the same God that David trusted in the same God that Job was trusting in. They were trusting in the same God. I have nothing to worry about if God can cause an earthquake that opens the doors of the prison and loses the bands of every prisoner that was in that dungeon. If he can do that for them, he can do the same thing for them. I just want to lay my hands down to it and that's his will and that's it.

[7:43] That's what he wants for my life. I believe that he can and he will do these things. But folks that were singing that were singing hymns, they sang praises on the God. It says in the prisoners heard them. I bet that was the sweetest sound at the walls of that prison I've never heard. I bet they had this man Paul that God saved on the road to Damascus as he was on his way to throw Christians in the jail. He saved him on his way to rebuke Christians and to rebuke Christianity. He saved Paul while he was on his way to go against the church and now here's Paul out preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ growing the very church that he was condemning he was singing praises under God. There was never a sweeter voice in song than that of Paul and Silas in this prison. And the prisoners heard him. What do people around us hear? What do people in our houses hear? What do people in our families hear? Deb said tonight she said she says she was talking on the phone to a young man. And what did he do when when God was brought up? What did he do when Jesus came into the conversation?

[9:08] What did he do? He hung up the phone. People don't want to talk about it. They don't want to hear about it. Just as Deb said they've got their own religion. They've got their own God. They've got their own idol that they've concocted in their own mind and that idol in their mind has saved them. It's no different than the Israelites as Moses was up on the mountain receiving the 10 commandments. What they do they took all their gold. They took their gold earrings.

[9:35] They give them the Aaron. Said make us a calf. Make us something that we can see. Something we can touch. Make us something that we can worship. Moses has done up in the mountain. He's not coming back. Make us a God. And people nowadays are no different. They want any God that they can lay their eyes on. Any God that can get in their head. Any God that they can imagine other than the Jehovah God of the Bible. They don't want this God because this God condemns their sin. This God makes them a known sinner. Their word it makes us know that we are sinners but folks it doesn't end there. It also lets us know that God is a Savior. He is the Savior. The only Savior. He is the Lord. Our God and beside Him there is no other.

[10:30] Praise God. There is none other than God. There is none other that is able to save. None other that can save. None other that will save. Only God. Only God can do that.

[10:46] These prisoners they heard what was going on. Then what would we read? Suddenly there was a great earthquake. So the foundations of the prison were shaken immediately. All the doors were open and everyone's hands were loosed. People doubt this. People will doubt that this happened. If you doubt that this happened I say I doubt seriously you're a true blue Christian. If anybody doubts that this is a either that or they'll say well that that earthquake it was circumstantial. It was happenstance. It just happened. Folks this was a local earthquake. It was centered right there at that prison. I ain't saying that people maybe immediately around the prison couldn't feel it or didn't know what happened. But folks hey when you read on just a little bit further in the chapter and it says that the guards came and they said hey you can lose these men.

[11:44] They don't say anything about the damage to the prison. They don't say anything about anything that like that. We know they didn't ask this this Philippian jailer. Hey did you feel they shaking in the ground last night. Nothing in scripture is brought up about that. This was a divine act by a divine God for a divine purpose. Its purpose was to open the doors to lose the band and to bring salvation under this jailer. God uses amazing things and everything that everything on this earth everything out in space everything in this universe is at God's disposal because he created he can use whatever he wants. He didn't need that earthquake. He wanted that earthquake. Those prisoners could hear the hymns being sung to hymn. Could hear the praises under God. God wanted those prisoners to know who it was. Fallen silence. We're worshiping.

[12:48] I like something I get to have with this church sometimes. That's not to say that it will but I'd like for it to. Let's just get you so caught up in the spirit. Like I'm sure Paul and Charles was.

[13:01] It's a very ground shakes. Bands are loose. Hey folks even Christians we get bands on us sometimes. We get bands upon us. We get cuffed. We get put in in the stocks and sometimes it ain't even sin that does it. Sometimes it's just something burdening us down. They'll put some bands on. Well I'd like to see God move like that sometime here. It may happen in the future and it may not but regardless of whether it does with us right here in this little building it happened here to the to these to Paul and Silas and everyone else that was within that prison that was the ground shook. The bands were loose. The doors were open. It says the keeper of the prison awakening it waking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open drew out his sword and would have killed himself supposing that the prisoners have been playing. People will read that and say don't you think that's a little harsh punishment for yourself. Just cause a few prisoners got loose. Folks you got to understand the Roman government. You got to understand the laws of the Roman government and the rules of the Roman government. If a prisoner got away from a Roman guard what happened to that Roman guard. He received the punishment of the prisoners that escaped from him. He got whatever it was that they were getting. I don't know what was in the plans for

[14:30] Paul and Silas. I don't know what was in the plans for any of the prisoners that were there but that guard wanted nothing to do with it. That guard saw that it would be better let him kill himself as to let the Roman government have their way with him. That's why he almost killed himself. That's why I crossed his mind.

[14:54] That's precisely why there's a gospel message in that too. Praise God. But Paul cried with a loud voice saying do thyself no harm for we are all here and call for a light spring in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought them out said sirs what must I do to be saved and they said believe him the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. Praise God this this this prison keeper. I don't know how hard he was. I don't know how long we had kept the prison. I don't know I've read a couch you read on just a little bit further we read it a little while ago about how he could have very well been one of the guards that beat Paul and Silas folks. He was the jailkeeper.

[15:42] He wasn't one of them outside. He was the one of them on the inside. I don't believe he's one of them that beat Paul and Silas on the outside but regardless of that or regardless of this or anything else regardless of any of that this this prison keeper this jailkeeper Paul cried out unto him said do no harm to yourself don't you dare follow in that sword hey we're all here you ain't gonna get any trouble with your master we're all here you're not gonna get any trouble with those that have rule over you we're all here and it says that this man he called for a light and he came trembling and he fell before Paul he fell before Silas and what question did he ask after they went out he said sirs what must I do to be saved and Paul gave him one of the greatest gospel messages you'll find in all of scripture he said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and the house he didn't give him a big theological run down he didn't bring in the nomination he didn't bring in religion didn't bring up church didn't bring up any of it he said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved folks that is grace alone through faith alone grace alone through faith alone he didn't tell him anything else that he needed to do about now listen I've heard this very scripture preached before I've heard it come out of the pulpit see we don't need to preach repentance Paul didn't preach it here folks there was no need for Paul to preach it there it says that that jailer come before him trembling he came before and trip that jailer was already in a repentant state he was he already had a penance and attitude he and what calls that hey when he started to fall on his sword Paul could have said this is our chance as soon as he kills itself we can run out the door but Paul used discernment and he said hey this must be the very reason that we're here he cried out said don't do yourself any harm we are all here because of the love that Paul had for a fellow human being that man lived he got saved and his entire house got saved because Paul didn't leave right what would I have done what would I do as soon as the band's loosed and as soon as I saw them doors was open what would I have done would I have acted like

[18:28] Paul and Silas and stayed behind or would I have taken off running saying that jailers on his own but let that jailer do what he's going to he ain't nothing but a stinking Gentile anyway he don't deserve my God remember Paul the Jew talking to very well said that in his heart the Paul got the change on that road to Damascus we were talking to earlier he'd received a change in Jesus Christ he was a changed man now instead of condemning Christians he was out trying to try and his best to spread the gospel that he could have more brothers and that he could have more sisters in Jesus Christ he wasn't now for the condemnation of the world he didn't look at that man and say hey it was your buddies out there that beat me just a couple of hours ago and you you know he can I don't know about the jailer but he could have been standing down there in the prison laughing about it I don't know these things but he could have looked at him as someone they would have deserved to have died without God but instead when that man started to kill himself he said do that self no harm we are all here and that man seeing that seeing the act of

[19:45] Paul seeing the love in Paul and seeing God in Paul he came through him and said sir what must I do to be said and Paul told him to believe and that's all it takes I said I don't need to preach repentance you'll read about repentance you read Paul's letter to the Romans lead it read his letters to the Corinthians read his letters to the Galatians read all these other things that Paul wrote in scripture and there's plenty of repentance in there but there was no reason to preach that to this man because he was already in a mind of repentance he was already repentant when he came trembling and fell before Paul he was already in that state what does Jesus cross say in the first chapter of Mark hey I know it's a little bit different than what Matthew allows but in the first chapter of Mark Jesus crosses the time is fulfilled and the kingdom is ahead repent ye and believe the gospel hey that word repent came before believed and when Jesus Christ said it when this jailer comes up Paul he was in a state of repentance before he ever truly believed. But folks if Jesus said it in that order it must fall in that order it's got to fall in that order now if there's repentance with no belief it does no good y'all have heard me preaching enough we can give up drinking we can give up drugs we give up men and women and everything else we give up everything that seems simple in our lives but without belief in Jesus Christ we will go to hell plain and simple we will end up in hell without belief without belief they said believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and they shall be saved in the house and they spake into him the word of the Lord and to all that were that were in his house now folks I don't know when they wind up in this man's house scripture don't tell us but at some point this jailer who had who had rule over Paul and Silas who was to be keeping an eye and make sure they stayed locked up this jailer took them to his own house and keep in mind this was a Gentile Paul was a Jew hey Gentiles these Romans they wanted nothing to do this Philippian jailer he would have wanted nothing to do with a Jew in his house but this wasn't just any Jew now this was a brother in Christ and he took him to his house at some point the scripture doesn't tell us when says they spake in the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house and he took them the same hour of the night and washed their straps and was baptized he and all his straight way took him took him at that hour of the night folks this all began at midnight according to scripture it all started then I don't know if this was one in the morning two in the morning or what but it was the same hour is the same time of night they didn't wait till the next day they wanted to be baptized right there they did they went that night and that man he washed the straps that were put on Paul he washed the straps that were put on Silas now listen hey there was Jewish laws in place that kept a man from being beat more than 39 times they couldn't the

[23:14] Jews could not lash another one more than 39 times that law did not apply to these Romans though it's hard to tell how many straps Paul and Silas had on them I don't know if it was 20 40 60 or 80 it doesn't say in the scripture but regardless this gentle man this Philippian jailer took this Jew that had told him about Jesus Christ told him about the way of the salvation he took that Jew and he washed his strap they went down baptized him baptized his family it sounds to me like that when he came before Paul trembling that the repentance didn't stop there when he washed this strap both that was continued repentance in this man's life repentance is a continual thing we repent daily why is that because we send daily that's precisely why took them the same hour of the night washed their straps and was baptized he and all all heads straight away and when he had brought them into his house he set meat before them and rejoiced believing in God with all his house oh this was repentance all the way through although repentance was never preached to this man he never heard one word about repentance come out of Paul's mouth yeah he was repenting all the way why was that the Holy Ghost of God that's why I've heard me preachy y'all heard me teach it I've heard Roger and Orville both bring it up Holy Ghost of God will show us when we need to repent it'll show us it'll show us when we've done wrong and don't show us what we need to do about it this man had a repenting way about him this Philippian jailer did he not only came before Paul tremble why was he trembling because he was scared folks will say he was scared because of that earthquake he wasn't a bit scared because of that earthquake he was scared because because of what had happened he was scared because the bands have been loose and the doors had swung open hey this man knew that the presence of God was in that prison and he knew that it must be the God of Paul and the God of solace that's why the man had fear about him he will say it was that earthquake no no no it was God he brought them into his house and then he went and washed their stripes and then he says he brought them into his house and he sat and beat them before feeding feeding the Jew otherwise he would have wanted nothing to do with not only a Jew but a Jew that had been a prisoner yeah a Jew that had been in his own prison a Jew that could have run off and left this man for dead yeah he fed fed him said and rejoiced believing in God with all his house why was he rejoicing because he believed in God yeah folks that goes back to the very beginning of what we were talking about when it says I'm

[26:19] Paul and solace began at midnight sang sang hymns and praised God in that prison why were they doing because they believed in God because they believed in the works of God and they believed in the power of God this man here it says that he rejoiced in his family rejoiced while they were believing in God that was the only thing that they had to rejoice about was that they believed in God hey we can look back on our lives before we knew Jesus Christ and we can say well I had some pretty good times doing this and I had some pretty good times doing that and I rejoiced over this and I rejoiced over that folks that does not beat the joy that I find in Jesus Christ that doesn't beat the joy that I had in my salvation why wasn't that David said restore unto me the joy of thy salvation because he had lost his joy he had lost his joy when he sent against God when he willingly send against his maker he lost the joy that he had of salvation that's why he pleaded to God restore unto me the joy of our salvation this Philippian jailer had just discovered joy and comprehendible joy that he had never experienced joy that can come only from God and Paul and Silas knew all about it and they didn't leave this Philippian jailer out they were singing songs and praising God while they were stuck in prison folks if they come through them doors tonight they arrest me and arrest y'all granted they ain't but a few of us but they take us over here Washington County

[28:02] Jail over here in Johnson City just over the hill from where I work they throw us in there for meeting in church what would we do how would we treat it will we curse God would we curse man would we curse the ones that took us over there or would we praise God would we praise God all in silence and that was a choice that they had to make that they could win either way over in songs I believe it's song 137 it says that it's a song about the Jews when they got carried away into captivity captivity so they sat down I believe by the river in Babylon so they hung their hearts upon the willows and those that held them captive said sing unto us with one of the songs of Zion and they said how can we sing the songs of Zion in a strange land folks we can sing it in a strange land just as well as we can in the church house those Jews hey I've heard that very message there preached as a revival message and say no we've lost their song and we've lost this we've hung our heart upon the willows so those Jews didn't want to sing to begin with they could sing in a strange land just as well as they could have in the temple they could have sung in a strange land just as well as they could in a tavern echel in their own house they didn't sing those songs because they didn't want to sing those songs why was that they had lost the joy of salvation their sin is what got them dragged off in the captivity and if we are not careful as Christian believers are said will drag us down put us in betters put us in bands put us in stocks and we won't be able to sing our songs either I don't want to lose myself I certainly don't lose the desire to sing it but this man here he said he said meet before him rejoice believe it in God yeah with all his house now folks that doesn't mean that we get saved now listen this was Paul inspired by the Holy Ghost of God speaking to a Philippian jailer and when he said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house that's precisely what he meant but that doesn't mean that we automatically get our houses saved but when we get saved folks there's been a lot of spouses of Christians go to hell there been a lot of children of Christians go to hell and those things happen I said this was a promise by a man that was that was directly inspired by the Holy Ghost of

[30:50] God to this jailer so don't think that just because we get saved means that 50 or 100 people around us is going to get saved too because it happened here hey there's some things in scripture that happen that doesn't mean that it's a guarantee to us I can guarantee you that if I drove to Bristol, Tennessee tonight and marched seven times around the Stone Castle up there Tennessee high and blew some horns that those walls would stand up just as upright and just as perfect as they are now just because God done a Jericho doesn't mean that he's gonna do it for me but this was a different circumstance now the odds grow the odds grow up to I saw him in Sid and Proverbs to train up a child the way should go when he's older than I depart from right train up a child in the ways ago what shouldn't depart from that training right the training will not depart from the training won't go away how many of you ever heard prisoners say

[31:50] I wish I'd have listened to mama I wish I'd have paid attention in Sunday school class I wish I'd have paid attention to the preacher I wish I had to make fun of them I wish this and I wish that hey there's prisoners I talked to homeless people that have said that I talked to all kinds of people that have said those very words but they still remembered what they have been trained in they still remembered mama sitting them on their lap and reading those Bible verses to them they still remembered the hymns that mama might have sung or that daddy might have sung I've told y'all before that song that I sing sometimes Jesus saw my pardon hey I remember years and years ago my mama singing that song I'd never heard a recorded version of that song till Roger brought it to me all I could remember was my mama singing me that song over and over what would she do she was training me up in the way that I should go and even when I was out in sin even when I was lost denying the Bible denying God I still remembered those words that didn't depart from me that part of the Bible is true and if that part is true I can promise you all the rest of it is as well now once again it's not a guarantee our house will get saved but when someone gets saved within a house then the odds grow for those that are around right why because that light's coming through life that's never been there that light starting to shine a little bit as the Bible says let your life so shine before man they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven folks we let our life so shine before men so shine before women so shine before children hey it'll get to them yeah and if they're lost it'll get on their nerves it'll get on their nerves bad but they're being exposed to something that they've never been exposed to before what did the Bible say here when Paul went to that house hey he preached a word it says that he spoke the word of the Lord to this Philippian jailers house dislike he spoke the word of the word of the Lord to the jailer himself it takes the word to have faith come about hearing and hearing by the word of God if the word hadn't gone out would have been much hope but the word was spoken and that's why we read during that last line one more time that passage says rejoice believing in God and with all in this house everyone was rejoicing because everyone had received something that never had