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biblestudy: Acts (Part Seventeen)

Acts 15-16 The Imprisonment and Release of Paul and Silas
John W. Ritenbaugh
Given 17-Jan-89; Sermon #BS-AC17; 58 minutes

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OK, back to the book of Acts. We're going to go on to Acts the 16th chapter tonight. And this chapter does not have anything in it of the magnitude of what was in chapter 15. So we are going to be able to move a good bit faster here. Well, with the console over, it became necessary then to send people out. To spread the word regarding the decisions that that were made at the council, and this was entrusted to Paul and to Barnabas and to Silas and to who was the other one? Was it Matthias Judas was a man by the name of Judas. Well, as they went out on their way, they went to Antioch. And the apostle Paul there made the decision that he wanted to go back and visit the churches that, that they had visited before and uh. A contention arose between them, that is between Paul and Barnabas. Barnabas wanted to take Mark with them once again. The apostle Paul did not want to do that, and the contention became so great between them. They actually divided up and Paul went with Silas, and Barnabas took Mark with him. Nobody knows exactly what the contention was over. Uh, nobody knows for sure why Mark left them. There are speculations that it's possible that Mark left because he disagreed with the teaching the apostle Paul was giving to the Gentiles whenever they went into Asia Minor and into Cyprus. The other time that perhaps he disagreed with things regarding cir circumcision, some of the things that were discussed there in in Acts the 15th chapter. There is a speculation that it was Mark who came back to Jerusalem and really kind of stirred things up. Nobody knows for sure, but whatever it was Mark left and then Paul apparently felt that he could no longer trust Mark. He felt that apparently that they would get out on the road again and Mark would get upset about something and he would bug off and uh. Paul would be left without a companion. Well, as it turned out, it did not turn out that way at all. Uh, whatever it was that Mark was upset about, apparently was in the background, and there was growth on his part, and later on we had the apostle Paul writing and saying that Mark was valuable to him. Uh, and Paul accepted him back. After Mark proved himself, maybe after Mark apologized to Paul. I do not know, we just do not know what went on there, but at any rate, they did get back together again and he became very valuable to the apostle Paul. Now In a way, it shows the way that God makes good out of bad. We can look back on that and say that, well, that should have never occurred. And indeed, you know, if we are looking at it idealistically, it never should have occurred. There is never should have been that kind of sharp feeling and that kind of strongfeeling between them that would cause a breakup of Of a pretty good team. But it did occur, showing that these men were were very human, and they had their problems that they needed to overcome. But the good thing is that instead of having one team, now God had two teams. So the work was actually double. Now you had Barnabas and Mark, he had Paul and Silas. Both of them apparently very fine teams, and they went out and did their work amongst the people. And so rather than having 1, it was now 2. Let's get on into chapter 16. So then he came to Derby and to Leicester. Now we had already gone through these cities before in chapters 1415 or 13 and 14, pardon me. And Paul is going back there to see how things are going, to see if the people are growing, and we are back in the area now we are especially Lystra, where Paul and Barnabas were called gods and then stone, whenever they rejected the acclamation. Now, there was there a disciple by the name of Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. So we have a A question here, why was she married to a gentile man? Uh, you know, just understanding. The general Jewish prejudice. Very strong feelings. Uh, that they had about such a thing. Why was this done? Why was it permitted? Uh, Why did such a thing ever occur? Well, we all we can do is speculate. There is a lot of little things like this that that there are no answers to. You know, no good solid answer. It could have been that there were hardly any Jews around. If she was ever going to be married. She would have to be married to a gentile. Maybe they had the idea that being married to a gentile was better than no marriage at all. The widowhood was was considered to be something that was really a curse. You know, and to, to be a widow and or maybe bachelor or whatever, and to to die childless was something that that they did not want to face. So it would be better to do that. Then again, on the other hand, Maybe she was not a religious Jew, maybe her father was not a religious Jew. Uh, they were Jews racially, but they did not give a hoot about what went on in Jerusalem. I mean that that's a possibility too. Um, I do not think that we should look at all Jews as being stereotyped, as, as being religious, devout you know, bowing down at at every opportunity and really following strictly all the regulations of, of the scribes, the Pharisees, and gods besides. Is it possible that the Jews then were no different from the Jews today? I think it's highly possible. They were exactly the same. How many of you have told me you have a Jewish boss or a Jewish fellow worker, or there is somebody married into the family, and they eat pork, and they eat shrimp, and they keep Christmas, and they keep Easter, and they do everything like everybody else does, you'd never know they were a Jew. Well maybe Timothy's mother. What's her name? Was it was not Eunice, was it? Lois was his grandmother. I can't think of his mother's name right now. But at any rate, maybe she came from a family like that. But at any rate, we find that that Timothy, his mother, and his grandmother, every one of them, were converted. I did write down a scripture on that. It is in First Timothy. You do not have to turn to it. I'll just just go there. The II Timothy 1:5. Yeah, Eunice, that's the name I was thinking of. So he's he's writing to Timothy, and he says, when I call to remembrances, the genuine remembrance, the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois. Apparently she was the first one converted. I should have looked this up Is Lois a Hebrew name or a Gentile name? Maybe Lois was the gentile father's mother. That would be interesting. And then your mother Eunice. Or I've heard that word or name pronounced unisi. No less a percentage than Alexander Scooby. On the Bible tapes pronounce it, pronounces it Unisi. I do not know which is correct. We call it Eunice today, but at any rate there was his mother, and he says, I am persuaded is in you also, Timothy. Now I think one of the things that that does show is the value of godly forebears. And we are going to get to something a little bit later here in the chapter that I think is rather eye-opening in regard to this. Something I've never noticed before, but once you see it, it's so obvious. But at any rate here was Timothy, who had some godly forebears and apparently they were all converted just about the same time. Uh, first, Lois, then apparently Eunice, and then came Timothy. OK, verse 2, but he, he was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Ionian. And Paul wanted to have him go on with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, where they all knew that his father was a Greek. No. To me, the most important thing about this verse. Is something that it doesn't say, but rather something that is implied. Here we have just gone through in Acts 15, apparently one of the greatest decisions the 1st century church ever arrived at, and it involves circumcision. Now circumcision, of course, was put for a much larger body of of regulations, but it, it was the thing that stood out. And they decided, well, circumcision was unnecessary. But you see, this is the way you've got to look at God's law. God's law is eternal. I do not care whether it's a ritual. I do not care whether it's been set aside or whether we call it done away or whatever, we are still to live by it. Nothing that ever comes out of the mouth of God is bad, see? You do not want to ever give God's law any kind of connotation like that. And to do something like circumcision is not wrong. Now we are going to find out later that the apostle Paul went in and he made sacrifices. He shaved or cut his hair. as a man would do at the end of a vow. And he was letting you and me know that there is nothing wrong with those things. They aren't necessary, they do not need to be done, but do not ever get the idea that there is something about them that is dirty. And we can learn from them. Uh, excellent. Spiritual principles that are contained within their intent, even though we are not required to actually do them. So here, when it was in the best interest of everybody concerned, especially the best interests of the church, and maybe he might even save Timothy's life, God says, hey fella, you better get circumcised. Because they were going to do what? They were going to go into synagogues, they were going to come into contact with Jews, and they had to have everything possible working for them because they knew those Jews were going to be antagonistic. So Uh, they would then see have a fellow here was, who was half Gentile, who was not adverse to the law. Verse 4, and as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the the decrees to keep, see that the what the council in Acts 15 decided which were determined by the apostles. And elders at Jerusalem. You can see that the apostle Paul had no desire to flout his liberty, within the law. He did not want to cause any unnecessary offense. And especially, he did not want to do this, which in turn, if he did it, would bring unnecessary persecution. Verse 5 so the churches were strengthened. Uh, in faith and increased in number daily. Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, all these are on that that southern border of what is today Turkey. You can kind of picture that in your mind. Uh, they were following that road that went through there. They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. Now after they had come to Mia, they tried to go into Bethenia, but the spirit did not permit them. And so passing by Mia, they came down to Troas. Now We do not know, it's another one of those unanswered. Uh, questions. The question would be, would be what stopped the apostle Paul? How did he know that the spirit Forbid it or hindered them or whatever, but we do not know. All we know is that every time he tried to turn inland and go north or northeast, some other direction other than west. Following that road that eventually got over to Mia and Troo, every time he tried to turn away from that, something would happen. And he would be forced back to that general direction. Now it could have been weather, it could have been news of robbers, you know, it could have been uh. Persecution? It could have been all kinds of things. Maybe he had. restless nights and dreams or whatever. Every time he tried to go in a direction other than the one that was gradually heading in northwest toward Macedonia and Greece, he was somehow stopped. I see I wrote myself a note here when I originally made this out and I forgot to bring a commentary. I was going to read something to you from Tyndall's commentary on this verse regarding Galatia. There are I'll say 2 glass that we are dealing with here. In the area of Asia Minor the commentators, the researchers just simply call it a northern glacia or a southern gallacia. And quite a controversy and Uh, some quarters as to Whether the apostle Paul was preaching and teaching in Southern Galatia or Northern Galatia. OK, the church's position is that it was Southern Galatia. That the apostle Paul was involved in. And It seemed as though every time he turned in the direction to go toward northern Galicia, which would have been off the road that I am just talking about, he seemed to have been hindered. But at any rate, this period of time that we are talking about here right now covers a period from roughly 49 AD to sometime between 52 and 56. Now there is 4 years there, but it's one of those things that nobody can really put a handle on. Some in that period of time, this first, or pardon me, this second missionary journey, as it's called, it begins here in chapter 16 and passes, goes on through until he gets back into Jerusalem again. But covers about a 4 or 5 year period. OK, verse 9. Uh, incidentally, Troos is In the northwest corner. of present-day Turkey. If you can picture that. Now while they were there, a vision appeared to Paul in the night. And a man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. This was probably what was in God's mind and the reason why he was not permitted to go into other areas. God had ideas that the gospel was going to get into Europe, and that this is the direction in which it was going to go in. Gonna come up through the south into Macedonia. No, I do not know how the apostle Paul knew that this was a Macedonian in his dream. Maybe they wore a special kind of clothing. Uh, that would indicate it. Maybe they had. Uh, facial features or something that would indicate to him at any, at any rate he did not doubt that it was a Macedonian. What we are looking at here is You know, it's a major turning point, a big step. Now, Mr. Armstrong felt That the time that this occurred was 50 AD. It was one time cycle after the beginning of the preaching of the gospel, 119 year cycle. I mean, the preaching of the gospel by the church. It began in 30 AD. And got to Macedonia into Europe in. 50 AD. I he related that to. The preaching of the gospel by himself in this era of the church, which began the first Sunday of January 1934. And we went on Radio Luxembourg in Europe. Uh, the first week in January, I do not know whether it was exactly the same day, the first week in January 1953, it was exactly 19 years, at least to the week. After Mr. Armstrong began preaching. He felt that there was at least some parallel that again the gospel went into Europe, 19 years after in this case, after it was revived. OK, verse 11. Now therefore, sailing from Tross, we ran a straight course to Samothrace. Samothrace was an island that was partway in between Turkey and Macedonia. Uh, This islands, if you've ever done any reading in Greek mythology, this island's name turns up every once in a while because it was from here that Poseidon, the Greek God of of water, earthquakes and Uh, I do not know what else, horses, I think it was, was here that he surveyed, you see his, his kingdom there in Troy, so you could look down on the plains of Troy from Samothrace, but at any rate, They made it to there. It was pretty good sailing. It was about 35 miles, and they made pretty good time. And from there they went to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony, and we were staying in that city for some days. Now there is one thing that I need to Interject, it popped up in verse11. It says, therefore sailing from Troos, we. Now that we Seems to indicate that it was in Troos that Luke joined with the apostle Paul. And that everything up to this point. were things that were recounted to him by others. That Paul told him things and Barnabas told him things, whoever his source material, uh. It was probably quite a number of people, and you will find that he uses the third person up to there, they. Uh, approach, but now it's we. And if you're careful in reading like this, just taking a note of the pronouns, you will find that every time Luke was not there. He, he Took away the first person and inserted the third person. So he apparently joined the apostle Paul and his party in Troos. You know that leads to another question. Where was Luke converted? When was Luke converted? Was Luke in in Lystra? Was Luke in Derby? Was Luke converted at some time in the apostle Paul's early ministry, maybe when he was preaching from Silesia, when, when Paul was there. That is when Paul was in Tarsus. 9 years that that we were talking about was Luke converted there? Or was Luke just converted in in Troos when Paul was on his way through and he hopped on the boat and went in, went with him. That doesn't sound likely. But the indication would seem to be that Luke had been converted for a little while. And that the apostle Paul then coming through there with Silas, maybe they contacted him and Luke then went along with them. So then they went to Neopolis and from there to Philippi. Neopolis is again kind of the seaport city for Philippi. Philippi was the main city in that area. was not the capital of of Macedonia, but it was a main city in that area. They went quite a distance there from Cholos to Neopolis is 125 miles. A little bit of a journey there. And Philippi was 10 miles northwest of Neapolis. Now it was important, that is Philippi was an important city. But Mostly as a result of a strategic location. It sat astride the main roads. It was on a a fertile plain, agricultural center mostly and it was a Roman city. It was in Macedonia, but it was a Roman city. Apparently the reason why it was a Roman city. And again nobody knows why, but there was a very large number of discharged Roman soldiers there. You know, when they left the service, when they retired, for some reason a lot of them ended up in Philippi. Nobody knows why. That it might have to do with it was Through land grants. And maybe the offering of freedom, if these people would, would leave the army when they were discharged and go live in Philippi and sort of represent Rome there and fill the city up with Romans, make the area more Roman and more secure, they offered them land or gave them their their freedom. Uh, that's a possibility, but there were a large number of Romans there, so here we are in a Macedonian area, but it is basically a Roman city. Now, something happened there. I do not know whether you're interested in it or not. But When Julius Caesar was was killed. By Brutus, Cassius, they flint. Well, guess where they fled to? For some reason they went to Philippi. But uh, That's where they met their end. As the Supporters of Julius Caesar turned out to be Mark Antony and Octavian, they caught up with With Brutus and Cassius there, and that was the end of Brutus and Cassius. It was in Philippi that that that Uh, occurred Now I brought this out about Rome. Because it was in Philippi. That the apostle Paul is going to have his first Contact With what would be A Roman culture. And the getting the experience of preaching the gospel to these people and finding out pretty much kind of what their reaction to it is going to be. So I am sure that it helped him whenever he eventually got into more Roman situations. But it was a good place to start. I think God was leading this whole thing. And sort of try things out in the hinterland first before you get to to the really big time. OK, verse 13 on the Sabbath day, we went out to the city of the city to a riverside where prayer was customarily made. We sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now this verse gives an indication that there was a very small colony of Jews there, probably hardly any at all. I believe that it was by regulation that they had to have at least 10 men to form a synagogue. There is no indication that there was a synagogue there, so it's indicate that there were not even 10 men, 10 Jewish men there. Now we begin to see even more that he's going to be confronted with. Outright pagans, Romans. So he went on the Sabbath day instead of going to a synagogue, apparently was not any, went out to the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made. We sat down, Luke with him, and spoke to the women who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us and she. Uh, She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, and she worshiped God, and the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by by Paul. Again, nobody knows who this Lydian lady was. But she was the first convent invert in Europe. And it's from such small beginnings that great works grow. That principle that Mr. Armstrong said that anytime God begins something working through a human being, it always has the smallest of beginnings. That way, God is glorified, and we understand then. That the that the person, the human did not do it, but God working through the human did it. OK, now, Luke shows very clearly that the conversion resulted as a re Came about as a result of God opening her heart. Or God's God worked it. I mean, she was not convinced by a clever argument. I do not mean that Paul did not reason with her. She was convicted, convinced, as a result of of God opening her heart. No, and when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. And she constrained us. Sometimes the Hospitality of these people that I read of in the Bible is, is amazing. I do not think that it necessarily indicates when it says that she was baptized, that she was baptized immediately. I do not think that there was, I do not mean she was baptized immediately upon hearing what Paul had to say. I am sure that there was more personal counsel and talking with her. But she was baptized reasonably quick. Certainly a lot quicker than most of the baptisms that we have today take place. The average amount of time, from what I understand, from the time a person begins listening to the program until they are finally baptized is usually in the neighborhood of about 2 years today. You talk about being hard-headed. We must really be something. Mhm I do not know whether it's whether we are hardheaded or whether we are just so distracted. We have so many things buzzing around our heads, so many things to do, so many things that we think we have to do. That we can't concentrate long enough, meditate, take time to sit sit down and do things like these people did and think things through, and they arrived at. That the Conviction and the decision here a lot quicker than than we did. But at any rate, She opened her house to the apostle Paul that quickly. The man was practically a stranger, but yet she opened her house to him apparently without any kind of fear at all that he was going to rob her blind or beat her or rape her mugger or anything like that. She trusted him and also seems to have almost kind of well it says she begged him to stay with her. Verse 16, it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us who brought her master's much profit by fortune telling. Now this girl followed Paul and us and cried out, saying, These men are servants of the Most High God who proclaimed to us. The way of salvation. I want to stop there for just a second. This where it says she was possessed with a spirit of divination. In the Greek, It says This is an interpretation, this word divination. It says in the Greek, Apiian spirit. OK. The Pitian is an outgrowth or a form. Of the word python. Yeah, you know what a python is, it's a snake that wraps itself around you and squeezes you until you can't breathe, and thus it kills it. But this word came from Greek mythology. It came from The snake, the python that was supposed to have guarded Mount Parnassus. Which was where the oracle and temple of Apollo was. I'm saying this only because I want you to understand how much, let's say demonology, how much mythology. How much, how many words there are common words that we use fairly frequently in our language, that have come straight out of. The most Well, horrible of sources. Well we are using the days of the month and the days are the names of the month and the, and the names of the days of the week all of those things have pagan connotations to them. Now here we have a young woman. Or a slave girl anyway, with the spirit of divination and she has a Pitian spirit. OK, now, This thing Develops out into a demon possessed person who had the ability to Either speak through the girl. Or what we would call today to be ventriloquism. You see, the ability to throw one's voice. Well, that's kind of interesting too. Now what is ventriloquism? It's one speaking through another. You see that thing has its associations in demonism. And that's what happened here. They immediately thought that it was the python, the Eitan spirit, Python speaking through the girl. And that This girl did have a gift, you see a gift that was given by the demon. And that gift was an ability to do some foretelling, a spirit of divination. Now this demon knew. Who Silas and Paul were. The girl did not know. You did not have the foggiest idea. Her owners did not know. They did not have the foggiest idea at all either. Paul had only been there a short time. The news hadn't gotten around yet. Yet the demon knew that they were servants of the most high God, and that demon knew that they were there preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. Now apparently, Normally, I do not think that a person like the apostle Paul would mind a bit of advertising. Kind of clear the way. There are indications that Jesus used the apostles in this way, that he would send them before he would go into a city, and they would clear the way for him. Advertising that that he was coming. Make sure that if he needed any halls, any area in which to speak. Uh, so that when he got there, his time was not wasted in any way. They made the very best use of time. But This woman's announcement of whom they were was not pleasant at all. The indication is from the Greek that she was screeching this. It was not pleasant. The voice of the demon was not a pleasant, soothing affair. But it was the kind of thing that attracted crowds. Uh, in a bad way, was a nuisance and a distraction. And apparently she was screeching this thing out even as they were talking, and it was getting more attention than the message. It says in verse 18, and this she did for many days, but Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus to come out of her. And went and he came out that very hour. But when her master saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas Silas and dragged them into the market place to the authorities. They brought them to the magistrates and said, These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city. OK, now what Paul did. For that young woman actually freeing her from the bondage of of that demon, was not appreciated by our masters at all because they saw their profit going right out the door. Now it's interesting that the we disappears here. Oh. Where did Luke go? That's another thing we have no answers. Uh, Did he run? When the disturbance came, was he off doing something else? When this occurred, Again, it's one of those things that we do not know. But at any rate, They seized Paul and Silas, dragged them into the marketplace, and they brought them to the magistrates and said these men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city. OK, the charge against them was disturbing the peace. And Verse 21, they teach customs which are not lawful for us being Romans to receive or observe. That is the preaching or the promoting. Of a Of an illegal cult. That sounds familiar. Now verse 20 2. The multitude rose up together against them. And the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And then when they had laid many stripes on them. Uh, Who knows how many? The Jews had a regulation. It could be 40 less 1, 39 stripes. I do not know whether the Gentiles had any regulation like that. I'm sure that they did not do it just with a little switch, they probably had something like broom handles that they beat them with. They were rats of some kind. Well this was normally done by people that are called liters. Whenever Jesus was, was scourged, lictors did that. It was a profession. And in his case, the straps that they beat him with. Where Uh, embedded with. Bits of metal And so that it would dig into the flesh and make a good job of of tearing it up, make sure that they inflicted a very great deal of damage. In fact, it's recorded in writings that very many people did not survive the beating. Such a shock, such a trauma to the, to the system. Now here they were beaten with rods. Apparently a liter did it, but it was not done with the straps, it was only done with with the rods, and that would have been bad enough. When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison commanding the jailer to keep them securely. And having received such a charge, he put them into the the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. Uh, it seems to me that that is a, I think what we would call today a cruel and unusual punishment. All these guys were doing was standing out there preaching. And the charge that was made against them was totally false. They were not disturbing the peace. The woman was disturbing the peace, and then whenever her owners raised a rile, it was they that were disturbing the peace. Everything about this was totally unfair. There apparently was no questioning. They were just simply brought, they were railroaded into into a prison. And after a beating, put in stocks and put in the inner part of the prison where you would put. The worst Of the, you know. Murderers, robbers, rapists. Uh, seditious people. There they are. verse 25. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. I'll tell you, how's that for spunk and spirit. They did not seem to be down on themselves, did not seem to be down on God. And then suddenly It was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were open and everyone's chains were loosed. The keeper of the prison awakening from from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. Paul called with a loud voice saying, Do no harm, for we are all here. Roman law, a guard. Who allowed an escape had to suffer the same fate as the man that he allowed to escape. Oh, Apparently the scuttlebutt was Paul and Silas were going to be put to death. Otherwise, why would the jailer attempt to kill himself? Maybe he thought that killing himself was better than undergoing the embarrassment and pain of the beating. Now if that was so, Then it gives you some kind of an indication of what a terrible beating Paul and Silas took, because the jailer did certainly did not want to go through with it. He would have rather faced death instead. It really begins to give you a bit of respect for Paul and Silas. Here they take this terrible beating. They were probably black and blue, practically everywhere in their body, yet there they are singing and and praying. Apparently we are doing it loud enough that that others were able to be aware that it was going on. OK, the praying, the singing. The earthquake, the opening the doors, the Losing of of the chains, all of those were vindications. That these men indeed were God's servants. Now it's going to have quite an impact on the mind of the jailer. Verse 29. Then he called for a light. He ran in and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? I have no doubt that the jailer knew why Paul and Silas were were there. is that they were preaching the way of salvation. I am sure that that was explained to the jailer. You know, as part of his responsibility of understanding why these men were in prison. Now that plus all of these occurrences, the praying, the singing, the earthquake. And all of those things. Motivated the man because they were vindications that indeed that these people were exactly what they were called. Yeah, these are the servants of God. Verse 32, 31, and so they said, here is their answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. So woefully misunderstood. Uh, Phrase Because if we just took that at face value. Uh, one would think that that's all there is, the salvation. All that a person has to do is to be saved. There is a lot more to it, you know, than that. And what this is indicating here. Belief indicates Trust and committal. It's not just a matter of having. Or giving intellectual assent to the fact of Jesus as Lord and Jesus as savior. But it implies also trusting. And commitment as well. You know, baptism implies commitment. All these things are tied together. You see, Jesus is savior. To those To whom he is Lord. You have to understand that. If he's your Lord, he's your boss. If he's your boss, it means that you're obeying him. That goes part and parcel along with the belief. Intellectual assent all by itself is not enough, as the Bible makes very clear in other cases, and I am sure that this was explained to the jailer. It was not just a matter of saying, yes, I believe. The apostle Paul would have been Unfair to the man if he hadn't explained those things to him. It's just that everything that Paul said to the man is not here. OK, now. It says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. And when they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house, you see, it went further than that. They expounded on these things, and he took them the same night of the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. That is the jailer did that. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Well, it's interesting that he He tended the apostle Paul before he was baptized. So he did receive fuller instructions. It was. Uh, not only the evangelizing of the man, but there was also pastoral care involved in this, so that he was well prepared for the baptism. So he did what he could to assuage their wounds, and that indicates a change of heart because before this was the same man who put them in stocks. Now here he is cleaning their wounds. And Then he took them back to prison. OK, verse 35. OK, the thing that I, before I go on to verse 35, the thing that I mentioned earlier. That I thought was so interesting here has appeared twice. In this chapter And that is, it says in verse 15. And when she and her household were baptized. And then it appears again here. In verse 31. So they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. Well, the interesting thing that I felt anyway that I had never noticed before. Involves this thing about the salvation of the household. Now it doesn't mean that these people are saved on the basis of the faith or the conversion. Of the one who was originally converted. In the first case, the case of Lydia, or in the second case, the Philippian jailer. But what it does indicate very clearly. Is that when God opens salvation, To one person, husband or wife, he is also making it available to the other. They still have to make a choice. But it is available to them. Not only that, we find added to this. In I Corinthians 7 that is not only available to The other mate It is also available to the children. I'll go back there to I Corinthians 7. Now, in verse 12, Say but to the rest I, not the Lord, say. If a brother has a wife who does not believe she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And of a woman who has a husband who does not believe if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife. That person goes into a special category. They are set apart. Salvation is available to them. All they have to do is want it and ask for it. God may have not had that person, let's say, originally in mind, if I can put it in those terms, when he made the calling. But he does not deny them access to him for salvation even. The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. It's available to them too. God is not restraining them. I do not, since God does not change, I do not see why that is not also applicable in this 20th century. But if he has offered it to you, he's also offered it to your mate. Your mate can reject it. I go back to Uh, First Peter 3. Likewise, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct of the wives when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. God is not keeping them from being saved. He is not keeping them from being. Convert it It's up to them. That's very interesting. OK, back to Acts 16. Now when it was day, the magistrate sent the officer saying, let those men go. So the keeper of the of the prison reported these words to Paul saying, the magistrates have sent to let you go now therefore depart and go in peace. But Paul said to them, They have beaten us openly. Uncondemned. They were never convicted of anything. The charge was made, but there was no trial. There was no hearing. Paul said to them, they have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romansoh. And have thrown us into prison and now do they put us out secretly? No, indeed. Let them come themselves and get us out. Now Paul, by doing this, accomplished 3 things. It first of all provided a measure of protection for local Christians. You see, people who were converted. If Paul had just left prison because they had said it. Then the local officials, the council or whatever, they would have felt that they could push the people around any old way that they felt like it. And that these people were not going to resist. OK, the second thing it did. It also provided a measure of protection for any other evangelists who might come through the area. And undoubtedly more came after the apostle Paul and Silas. And the third thing was it corrected the local authorities. So that they wouldn't be so apt to just rush to judgment. Without ever even asking these people whether or not Uh, they were Romans. Verse 38. The officers told these words to the magistrate and They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. Remember this was a Roman city. And then they came and pleaded with them. And brought them out and asked them, please get out of here. That was a serious offense. Because even a Roman governor. Even if that was a Roman governor that was over that city, it was illegal for him to do that to another Roman. Let alone somebody of another nation. It was illegal for him to kill, to scourge, to torture, condemn, or put in bonds. You could not even put them in, in bonds. A Roman citizen who appealed to the people and presented himself before Caesar. Now that law had existed from 509 BC. They should have known it. Here we are talking here about roughly 50 AD. That law had been enforced over 550 years. Roman's only allegiance was to Rome. And when he traveled in a foreign area, even though it was ruled by Rome. He was not in any way subject to any local law unless he chose to do so. I mean, it was diplomatic immunity in spades. You did not even have to be a diplomat. All you had to do was be a Roman. And you had immunity everywhere. Even against roans. So this was a serious offense. And that's why when Paul claimed his Roman citizenship there in in Jerusalem, boy, they backed off right away. And provided him passage to Rome. These fellows were in trouble. And so They were Very fortunate That Paul and Silas were not of a mind. To press this an accusation against them. So verse 40, When they went out of prison, They entered the house of Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed. So Luke has still not reentered the story. We do not know where he is. Uh, The feeling is that he stayed in Philippi, and he was the one who pastored the church. Until Uh, Timothy was sent back there a little bit later, and then he rejoined the apostle Paul a little bit later on his journeys.

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Sermon Topics

False Gospels

Jesus Christ's Return

Life after Death

Repentance

Resurrection

The Gospel

The Kingdom of God