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[0:00] Acts chapter 16 and verse 16. Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.

[0:14] She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us shouting, These men are servants of the Most High God who are telling you the way to be saved.

[0:25] She kept this up for many days. And finally, Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her.

[0:36] And at that moment, the spirit left her. When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.

[0:49] They brought them before the magistrates and said, These men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.

[1:00] The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.

[1:15] Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell, fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

[1:31] Suddenly, there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once, all the prison doors flew open and everybody's chains came loose.

[1:43] The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, Don't harm yourself.

[1:55] We are all here. The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

[2:09] They replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.

[2:20] At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. Then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them.

[2:32] He was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God, he and his whole family. When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order, Release those men.

[2:45] Then the jailer told Paul, The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace. But Paul said to the officers, They beat us publicly without a trial, Even though we are Roman citizens, And threw us into prison.

[3:03] And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No, let them come themselves and escort us out. The officers reported this to the magistrates. And when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, They were alarmed.

[3:17] They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, Requesting them to leave the city. After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, They went to Lydia's house, Where they met with the brothers and encouraged them.

[3:31] Then they left. Let's hear the preaching of God's word. Believers in Christ, When you get to heaven, And you are fellowshipping with the saints there, I'm sure that one of the favorite pastimes will be Hearing one another's testimonies Of how it was that Jesus Christ saved so many.

[3:58] And you'll be talking to some, Whether it's the first year or the millionth year that you were there, And you will learn that they were saved on Paul's second missionary journey.

[4:11] The journey that we are now studying. There were hundreds of people that God saved Through the preaching of the gospel on this second missionary journey.

[4:22] Now most of them we don't know their names. Most of those conversions were not told much at all about them, Just that there were many that believed, And so on. Only a few conversions are recorded for us in any detail, And this is one of them that we have this morning.

[4:42] The conversion of the jailer at Philippi Is a conversion that's told with great detail, And that's a rarity. And that ought to get our attention.

[4:54] It means that God has some important things to say to us About conversion through this conversion of the Philippian jailer.

[5:05] So here's a man who woke up in the middle of the night, Lost in sin, Ignorant of the way to be saved from God's wrath Because of his sin. He was just one breath away from everlasting torments in hell.

[5:19] But before the sun rose that morning, He was a different man. Forgiven, Saved, Right with God. And so now, Just one breath away from everlasting joys in heaven.

[5:34] And we're told here in Acts chapter 16, How this happened so quickly on that eventful night. We're not told the jailer's name.

[5:46] It's not important. We are told the question that he asked, And the answer that it received. No one ever asked a more important question Of eternal significance Than what this Philippian jailer asked.

[6:01] I wonder if you have personally asked this question. Not in some detached theoretical way, But like a drowning man would ask for salvation.

[6:18] What must I do to be saved? That's the question that he asked. I wonder if you noticed how few are asking that question today.

[6:28] That's not the burning question in the hearts of many, is it? Rather, people today have other questions on their minds. What must I do to look better?

[6:39] To be more attractive? What must I do to make more money? To be able to buy whatever I want? To get ahead in life? What must I do to have a happy marriage?

[6:50] To raise good kids? To feel self-fulfilled? What must I do to enjoy better health? To live a longer life? And on and on. These are the kinds of questions That preoccupy most people in the world today.

[7:07] Such that they live and die Without ever asking and considering The most important question of all. What must I do to be saved?

[7:19] I doubt that this jailer ever asked it before this night. God literally had to shake the earth beneath his feet And turn his world upside down And just shake his soul to the depths In order to draw this burning question out of his heart.

[7:38] So he didn't just wake up one night And say, you know, I wonder how I must What I've got to do to be saved? No, there was first of all Our first point God's preparing circumstances God's preparing circumstances So just as the farmer Works the soil In order to prepare it for the seed That he plants in it So God prepared The jailer's heart Getting him ready To ask this question And then bringing two men A thousand miles away Right to his prison To answer His question This jailer lives in Philippi It was a pagan city Without a Christian witness There was no Christian church here Only recently had Lydia Become its first convert To the Lord Jesus

[8:38] We saw that last week The one true God was not known Was not worshipped here Rather they worshipped the gods Of the Roman and Greek mythology It was a place of superstition And witchcraft Evil spirits And fortune tellers There was even a slave girl Who was possessed by an evil spirit And by the evil spirit Predicted the future And she made lots of money For her owners I wonder if any of you Have been the dupes of Satan To take an interest In your horoscope In astrology In fortune tellers You know God has given us In his word All the light We need to know About our future And so let us not go after The light The supposed light That comes from The angel of darkness But rather to the light Of scripture Well here's this Fortune teller

[9:38] It was spiritual darkness That was reigning in Philippi And that's the jailer city That's where he lives That's where he works And he and all living there Lived out their days In sin and darkness On their way to hell Without the light Of the knowledge Of salvation In Jesus Christ Well into town One day came Paul Silas And Timothy And Luke And they came With the light Of the gospel One day As they were going To the riverside To a place Of prayer This demon possessed girl Followed them Shouting Over and over These men Are servants Of the most high God Telling us The way to be saved These men Are servants Of the most high God Who are telling you The way to be saved She was right That's who they were Servants of the most high God She was right That's what they were doing

[10:39] Telling them The way to be saved Well this went on For many days These men Are servants Of the most high God Telling you The way to be saved Finally Paul Was so bothered That he turned around And commanded The evil spirit To leave In the name Of Jesus Christ And it did so At once The same authority By which Jesus Spoke And demons fled Was now exercised Through Paul His apostle As he calls out In Jesus name Now why was Paul So upset After all this Was free advertising For the gospel She was telling the truth About who they were And why they were there What they were doing But consider Who it was coming from From a demon Possessed fortune teller That everyone knew It would be like O.J. Simpson Advertising your product Thanks but no thanks

[11:40] It's not the endorsement You want It hurts your cause Rather than helps it And so Paul would not Have the gospel Of Christ Aligned in any way With an evil spirit Put down on the same Level as fortune telling And no doubt He was also bothered Just to see this Poor slave girl Enslaved by Satan And so he sets her free Well the owners Of the fortune telling Slave girl Saw their profitable business Just go up in smoke She's no good to them Without the evil spirit And they were livid They seized Paul And Silas They dragged them Into the marketplace To face the magistrates The authorities They falsely accused them They said These are Jews And at that time You could hardly call a man A more dirty word Indeed the emperor Had already Cast out all Jews

[12:41] Outside of Rome There was a great prejudice In the Roman Empire Against These are Jewish Troublemakers Who are teaching us To do things And teaching Unlawful things And the crowd Was whipped up Into a frenzy And so the pressure Was put upon The magistrates And they stripped them Right there And with barebacks They severely Beat them With rods Now it's only Then that the jailer First comes into contact With Paul and Silas Because they were thrown Into his prison And he was given The instructions To carefully guard them As if they were Dangerous criminals Or something And so that's what he did He threw them Into The The dungeon There He probably Had heard about them As they had been Preaching in Philippi For many days And the whole city Was stirred up

[13:42] With excitement Over them But now he sees them And what a sight They are to behold Having been Severely flogged Their bodies Were a bloody Mess So these Are the servants Of the most high God Who are telling us The way to be saved Looks more like They're the ones Needing to be saved And he put them Into the inner cell And fastened Their feet in stocks Which was itself A form of torture To cause them To stand To sit And be in a Stretched position That would add To their discomfort And later With all of his Prisoners secured For the night The jailer Went to bed It was just Another day For him Just another day Well God now Has his witnesses Just where he wants Them For the conversion Of this jailer And his family Now you and I Know that Because we've read The story before But Paul and Silas

[14:42] Didn't know that That What God was about To do There in prison I mean after all The rough jailer Did not exactly Give them A warm welcome As he Put them In the stocks So about midnight They were praying And singing hymns To God Now that ought to Make us stop For a moment About midnight They were praying And singing hymns To God Pray Pray now I can't pray I'm too tired I'm too distracted And frustrated With my problems Of the day To pray Ever said that Ever felt that Sing I can't sing I'm too discouraged My heart's too heavy To sing a song Of praise to God And then we hear The strains Of songs of praise And fervent prayers Rising from the inner cell Of this Dungeon In Philippi

[15:44] And it cuts right Through all of our Excuses Of why we can't Pray And why we can't Sing A song of praise To God Now how could They sing and pray In such conditions Well it was because Their eyes were Focused on the Lord They saw The living Reigning Exalted Lord Jesus Christ They didn't know Why they were in Prison But they did know Who put them there By his all wise Providence They didn't know Just what God's Purpose was for them There but they knew He had one They weren't there By accident They didn't know What their future Held but they knew That the Lord Jesus Held their future And so they prayed To him And they sang Praises to him Keeping the Lord Front and center Even That night As their bodies Lie bruised And broken Don't let your

[16:46] Troubles make you Lose sight of Jesus Dear believers Rather let your Troubles lead you To him In prayer And praise You know singing Praises and praying Is just the medicine We need In troubles You couldn't have A better prescription I'm in trouble Lord Jesus In the prescription Sing and pray Sing and pray What would you say To the man Who complained Well I'm too sick To take my medicine Will you say Man wake up That's why you need To take the medicine Because you are sick And our troubles Are not reasons To not pray They're rather The very reasons We need to pray And Is anyone in trouble Let him pray James says That's how we Receive mercy And find grace To help us In our time Of need By praying Our troubles Are not reasons

[17:46] To not sing But they're rather Calls from heaven To sing praise To God Anyone can sing When the sun Shining bright But he puts A song in our Hearts In the night And that's what Paul and Silas Were doing Singing praise To God So the next Time you're Up to your Neck And problems And you don't Feel like Singing That's the time You need most To sing That's the time You need most To come And to sing With the saints As we gather To sing the Praises of Jesus Take the medicine For singing Takes our eyes Off of our Problems It takes our Eyes off Of ourselves And it puts It directly On the Lord Jesus Christ It focuses Our attention On him And that's Where we need To be We were not Made to live Without Jesus In view In the midst Of trouble And that's What we see Paul and Silas Doing They've got Jesus in view They're singing To him They're praying To him Isn't that

[18:48] What we find In the Old Testament Psalms The Old Testament Songbook How many Of those Psalms Are midnight Psalms Midnight Songs Forged In the Darkest Troubles And hardships And the Psalmist Sang his Way Out of Discouragement And depression By praising The Lord For who He is What he's Done What he's Promised To do God's Attributes And promises His works And ways Are held Before us In praise That's just The medicine We need And Paul And Silas Are taking it In big doses Around midnight So they're Praying and singing And we're told The other prisoners Were listening You bet They were listening They'd never Heard such As this Singing When suffering Singing When suffering They hadn't They'd heard Cursing From that Inner cell But singing

[19:49] Praying Praises To God Dear Christian The world Is watching To see How Christians Bear suffering Are you Any different From us Is the question As they Watch you Suffer What are They seeing In us This was Prison evangelism From the Inside Wasn't it Paul and Silas Singing Praises To God And praying And then We're told That the Prisoners Were not The only Ones Listening That God Was listening And he Answered With an Amen From heaven He answered By shaking The earth And the Timing in All this Is significant It's when They sang And prayed That heaven Answered With an Earthquake And suddenly This earthquake That was so Violent that it

[20:49] Shook the Foundations Of the Prison It threw Open every Door in The place It loosed Everyone's Chains Perhaps Chains That were Pinned to The wall And it Shook it Loose From the Wall So now They're Free to Go And yet No one Was hurt Showing That God In heaven Listens To his People Praying And singing These Are Men Servants Of the Most High God And he Has just Shaken The earth In vindication Of his Servants Who are Doing his Will And suffering For him Well this Was more Than the Jailer Could sleep Through He wakes Up He sees The prison Doors Open And in His excited State He just Assumes And rightly So right That the Prisoners Have fled I I mean What are They Doing All day Long In their Sells But planning Their Prison break How are we Getting out Of here When can We break And now The doors Are open

[21:50] The chains Are free And this Man assumes They're gone And so he Drew his sword And was about To kill Himself Roman law Required that The The jailer Would have To suffer Whatever Punishments His prisoners Had coming To them If he Let them Escape Under his Watch So in Utter Despair He's He's ready To end His life Don't we Have here A contrast Between the Way the World Handles Problems And the Way that God's People Handle Problems Paul and Silas Sing and Pray And the World draws Their sword To end It all Sadly This man Has no Heavenly Father to Run to No Reigning Lord Who Listens With Attentiveness To his Prayers He has Nothing But his Own Resources And they Ran out

[22:51] In this Time of Great Need Well Suicide Was common It was Accepted Among the Romans Indeed Just ten Years Earlier Brutus And Cassius Had committed Suicide Right there In Philippi When they Were defeated In battle And it's Becoming More Common And accepted In our Own land It's the Third cause Of death In young People Between 15 And 24 Years of Age In our Country So how Do young People in That age Group die In our Country Well Some die From accidents Some die From homicide And then Thirdly From suicide So life Becomes so Hopeless And painful That death Is viewed As an Improvement As a Way out Of their Despair And pain Oh What a What a Trick Of the Devil For

[23:52] Unbelievers That he Holds in Captivity To think To suggest To their Their minds That this Is the Way out When all It does Is lands Them into An eternal Hell Well People need The Lord This man Needs the Lord The jailer Has his Sword drawn And he's Ready to Run himself Through And he Almost Jumped Into Hell But he Hears a Shout From the New Prisoner Paul Do not Harm Yourself We're All Here And again I think That's as Much as A miracle As the Earthquake Itself That they Were All There And I Think The timing Of the Whole Thing Hearing These These Suffering Men Singing Praises Having Heard That they Were Servants Of The Most High God And Now Singing Praises To The Most And God Answers With This Earthquake That's So Terrible And Violent And Yet None Of Us Are Harmed

[24:52] It Caused Them To Freeze In Fear Of This Great God And There They Were And Paul Says Don't Harm Yourself That's The Sound Of The Gospel You Know The Gospel Is The Cry Don't Harm Yourself It Comes To Bring!

[25:15] Lights Rushes In And Falls Trembling Before Paul And Silas Isn't That Something The Jailer Now Down On The Ground Before His Two Prisoners And He Brought Them Out At Once And Put The Question To Them You See All The Preparation Is Now Complete You See This Was Our First Point And We're Almost Half Way Through The Whole Passage And It's All About The Preparation God Getting This Man To The Place Where He Will Ask The Most Important Question Anyone Could Ever!

[25:48] The End Of His Rope And He's Standing Before Two Men Who Have Traveled A Thousand Miles Who Can Give Him The Right Answer Well The Question As Sirs What Must I Do To Be Saved Verse 30 Here's A Man Who Knows He's Lost And He Needs To Be Saved He's He's Servants Of The Most High God Who Are Telling You The Way To Be Saved They May Have Even Witnessed To Him As They Put Them As He Put Them Into The Stocks That Night And Now The Most High God Is Weighed In With A Bone Chilling Earthquake And Paul Says In Romans One That Even The Consciences Of Pagan Sinners Tell Them That They Deserve God's Wrath And Judgment For Their Sins And This Man Sees Himself As A Condemned Sinner There Is Something In The Earthquake That Awakens

[26:49] His Conscience To His Dread Condition Before The God Who Is Most High And When Everything's Going Fine Men Have Little Concern About Being Saved There Is No Interest In This Question Many Don't Even Consider That They Are Lost But God Shook This Man To Show Him How Lost He Was And Show Him How He Could Not Deal With The Problem Himself What A Kindness In God To Bring Us To Our Senses To See Our Greatest Need To Be Saved Now Unconverted Friends I Wonder If You Realize That Satan Works Over Time To Keep You Preoccupied With Other Questions Other Things Big Things Little Trivial Things Anything To Distract You And To Keep You From Considering The Most Important Thing How Can I Be Saved You See

[27:49] The Reality Is Apart From Jesus Christ You're Not Prepared To Live Or To Die The Word Has Gone Out From The Court Room Of Heaven That He Does Not Leave The Guilty Unpunished Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out The Wages Of Sin Is Death Because Of These Things The Wrath Of God Is Coming And There Is A Conscience God's Warning Bell In The Heart That Says It Is So Death Would Take You To Hell Where You'd Suffer Forever Under God's Wrath And Some Of You Are Just One Breath Away From That Eternal Reality And Yet You Sleep At Night You Get In Your Car And Drive On The Highways You Go Here And There Doing This And That Oblivious To Your Danger Great Mercy To Be Awakened To His Danger It Was Grace That Taught My Heart To Fear And Then Grace My Fears Relief So So God's The Director Of Events!

[28:49] In Your Life I Wonder If He's Been Preparing You I Wonder If He's Been Arranging Things In Your Life To Bring! You To An End! He's In This Place Of How God Brought People To An End Of Themselves Making You Aware Of Your Sin Your Condemnation Your Need To Be To Be Saved My Message This Morning Is Don't Harm Yourself Don't Harm Yourself Jesus Is Ready To Save You This Morning Well There's Good News For You And It's Found In The Answer Given What Must I Do To Be Saved And Paul Says Believe In The Lord Jesus And You Will Be Saved You And Your Household Now There's A Command Here And A Promise The Command Is Believe In The Lord Jesus Now How Different This Answer Is From So Many Answers Being Given Today Consider What The Jailer Might Have Heard If He Had Visited Different Churches And Religious

[29:49] Leaders In Our Day And Ask The Question Men What Must I Do To Be Saved Oh Mr. Jailer You Need To Clean Your Life Up A Bit You You You've Been Using Some Pretty Nasty Words You Need To Stop Swearing You Need To Treat Your Prisoners With With At Dignity And Live By The Golden Rule And Just Try Your Best And God Will Understand Many With That Message For The Jailer!

[30:21] Or Others Just Say What Do You Mean Be Saved Don't You Realize That God Loves Us All He Sent His Son And He Died For Us All So All Our Sins Are For For All All The Children Of God And And There's No Need To Be Saved We Are Saved We've All Been Saved Take It Easy Or The One Who Would Say Well Now Mr.

[30:48] Jailer You're Religious Aren't You Don't You Worship The Gods You Know That If You're Sincere In Your Religion That All Religions Lead To Heaven How Good For The Jailer That He Had Paul And Silas Before Him To Answer The Question Rather Than Some Of The People Of Our Own Day And Even Most In Philippi Where He Lived Because They Answered Believe In The Lord Jesus Christ And You Will Be Saved There's The Truth There's The Saving Gospel Notice First of All That Salvation Is In A Living Person The Lord Jesus It's Not In A Plan Of Salvation Let's Not Depersonalize It To Say That That It's Just A Plan Of No!

[31:36] Salvation Is In A Person A Person His Name Is The Lord It's Not In Your Own Self Effort You Can Never Do Enough To Save Yourself It's Not In Adopting A Creed Holding To Certain Beliefs It's Not In Joining A Church Or Going Through A Ritual Of Baptism No It's By Trusting In A Living Person Jesus Christ He Who Is God The Everlasting God The Second Person Of The Godhead Who 2000 Years!

[32:08] Ago Came And Laid Down His Life For Us Became A Man Born Of A Virgin Obeyed The Law Perfectly Died A Death To Atone For Sin For All Who Would Trust In Him Rose Again Ascended To Heaven Is Coming Again In Power And Great Glory Yes That's The Person In Whom Salvation Is Found Hebrews Tells Us That The Lord Jesus Is Able To Save Completely Those Who Come Unto God Through Him Because He's A Living Person He Always Lives To Make Intercession For Us And So We Come To Him He Himself Is The Answer To Man's Great Need He Himself Is Our Salvation Salvation Is Found In No One Else For There's No Other Name Under Heaven Given To Man By Which We Must Be Saved So Salvation Is In The Lord Jesus Just

[33:09] As Salvation From God's Flood Was Experienced In One Place The Ark So Salvation From God's Wrath Is Experienced In One Place It Is In The Person Of The Lord Jesus Are You In Him Now How Would The Jailer Know All Of This You Say Well Because Verse 32 Tells Us They Spoke The Word Of The Lord To Him And To All The Others In The Home They Said More Than Just Believe In The Lord Jesus Christ And You Will Be Saved They Told Him Who The Lord Jesus Is They Told Told Him What He Had Done For Sinners They Told Him That He Must Repent And Believe On Him They Preached The Whole Message Of The Gospel And It Was All About Jesus That's His Greatest Need Secondly We See That Salvation Requires A Personal Response!

[34:03] Of Faith Simply Put He Was Told If You Are To Be Saved! Then You Must Believe In Christ Now This Believing In Jesus Is More Than Merely Believing The Historical Facts About Him And His Life That He Lived And Died And Rose And Ascended In His Coming That's In But You Must Believe Yes Who He Claimed To Be What He's Done But That Alone Will Not Save You It's Not A Historical Faith Facts That's Not The Faith That Saves That's The Faith That Demons Have They Believe All That Stuff They Know It's True They're On The Other Side The Unseen Side They Know That He Is God's Great Son No Believing Means Trusting In Christ To Save You It Means Taking Him At His Word It Means Receiving Him And His Great Salvation Calling On Him To Save You Committing Yourself In That Sweet

[35:03] Surrender Of Faith To The Lord Jesus Let Me Illustrate It This Way You're Upstairs In A House Fire And The Fire Is Consuming The Place And And It's Already Consumed The The Stairway And Now You're On The Window Shelf And You're Hanging On To The To The Window Pane And There's A Strong Man Down Below Calling To You Just Fall And I'll Catch You Just Fall And I'll Catch You Now You may Believe He's Strong Enough To Catch You You May Believe He's Kind Enough And Wouldn't Trick You You May Know He Saved Others You This

[36:20] Is What I Want For My Life I've Got It All Planned Out You've Got To Let Go Of That And Trust Jesus With Your Life All Your Righteousness That You Think I'm Good Enough That God Will Accept Me If I Just Do A few More Things I Might Be To Be Accepted You've Got To Let Go Of All Those!

[36:36] You've Got To Come With Nothing Good To Save For Yourself But But Lord Here Comes Another Sinner And You Fall Into His Saving Arms Trusting Him To Do What He Promised To Do To Save All Who Come To Him Faith Looks Away From Self And Looks To Christ Just As The Serpent Was Lifted Up In The Wild And Whoever Looked Lived!

[37:07] So Christ Has Been! Lifted up At Calvary As Our Sacrifice For Sin That Whoever Looks To Him Whoever Believes In Him Will Not Perish But Have Everlasting Life That's The Faith That's Required For Salvation There's A Command And The Command Is Believe What A Gracious Command Fall Into The Arms Of Jesus What A Kind Command For Sinners And Then There's A Promise Attached!

[37:39] Believe In The Lord Jesus And You Will Be Saved You And Your Household In Other Words Salvation Is Promised To All Who Believe And You Will Be Saved At Once This You You You Mean Just Like That On The Spot Yes Just Like That You Will Pass From Death Into Life From Guilty To Forgiven From Condemned To Accepted And Righteous In His Sight From Under God's Wrath To Under His Eternal!

[38:07] Favor There's No Drawn Out Process Of Going Through Penance And Doing Enough Repenting And Feeling Sorry Enough For Your Sin It's It's Not When You Think That You're Strong Enough To Live The Christian Life That You Come To Jesus You Come To Jesus Because You Know You Don't Have The Strength To Live The Christian Life And You Trust Him To Save You And Help You And The Promises You Will Be Saved Certain And Immediate Salvation So Here's The Jailer But I've Never Been To Church Yesterday I was A Cursing Jailer Believe In The Lord Jesus And You Will Be Saved But I've Not Changed My Ways Yet I've Nothing

[39:07] To Bring With Me To Jesus But A Wasted Life Believe In The Lord Jesus And You Will Be Saved But You Know You Don't Know What I've Done The Vilous Defender Who Truly Believes That Moment From Jesus Forgiveness Receives Just Believe And You Will Be Saved You And Your Household In Other Words Mr.

[39:32] Jailer This Isn't A Special Deal Just Cut For You It's Cut For Any Sinner However Old They Are Who If They Will Believe On The Lord Jesus They Will Be Saved Any Children In Your Home Who Believe They Will Be Saved Young People If You Believe You Will Be Saved And Satan Says You're Too Young To Be Saved And God Says Believe In The Lord Jesus And You Will Be Saved And Satan Says You're Too Old And Set In Your Ways To Be Saved And Jesus Says Believe On Me And You Will Be Saved What A Promise For Guilty Condemned Defiled And Defiled Sinners Under God's Wrath Believe On Me And You Will Be Saved Saved From God's Wrath Eternally Well What Was The Jailer's Response Well He Believed And Was Saved Just Putting It Simply He Believed He And His Whole Family Verse 34

[40:33] They All Listened They All Believed They All Were Saved Right There Right Then In The Middle Of The Night They Weren't In A Church Building They Never Walked An Isle They Believed On The Spot And They Were Saved On The Spot Proof What's The Proof How Do We Know This Was True Saving Faith In The Jailer Well Look At The Evidence Remember Last Week We Saw The Same With Lydia Whose Heart The Lord Opened And And She Responded To Paul's Message And Repentance And Faith How Do We Know That This Was True Saving Faith In This Jailer Well Look At The Three Marks The Three Evidences At That Hour This Is We Hours Of The Morning Two Three In The Morning He Washed Their Wounds With Tenderness He Brought Them Out Of The Stinking Prison Right Into His Own House And Set Before Them A Meal That's Real Love For The Followers Of Jesus Through Whom He Had Come To Know Jesus

[41:33] And Then There's His Baptism He And His Family! All Believed And They Were All Baptized When Someone Is Saved They Want To Obey Christ's Command To Be Baptized And They Wanted To Confess Him As Lord And Savior And Tell What He Had Done For Them Are You Trusting In Jesus Then You Ought To Be Baptized That Was The Evidence Of Saving Faith And Thirdly There's His Joy He Was Filled With Joy Because He Had Come To Believe Now He's So Full Of Joy He Can't Contain Himself That's Saving Faith It Produces Joy Joy We Saw It When When The Ethiopian Eunuch Believed On Christ And Was Baptized He Went On His Way Rejoicing We Saw When Philip Proclaimed Christ In Samaria That There Was Great Joy In That City When

[42:35] Your Greatest Problem In Life The Eternal Wrath Of God Has Been Solved And You Are Now His Child Through Faith In Jesus Christ And Heaven Is Yours There's Reason To Rejoice In The Lord Always And That's The Mark Here That This Man Was Really Saved He Had Love For God's People God's Servant He Was Baptized In Obedience To Christ And His Joy Was Overflowing And An Added Joy Was That His Whole Family Had Come To Believe Isn't It A Precious Thing When You See God Save A Whole Family And The Circle Is Unbroken In That Family What A Difference One Hour Made In The Life Of This Man And His Family What A Mercy To See How God Had Transformed The Hearts Of This Man And His Family Who Were Just A Breath!

[43:23] Away From Hell Now Rejoicing In Full And Free Salvation In Christ The!

[43:56] judgment. He said, I heard it once and I trusted in Jesus. Why didn't you?

[44:12] Why didn't you? What an amazing response. You now know the most important question in life. How can I be saved? You even know now the answer to that most important question. But you know you will not be saved until you respond personally to the Lord Jesus and trust in him and receive him as your savior and Lord. Do so today and enjoy the salvation that this man and family rejoiced in. Well the last point is Christ's servant vindicated because in the morning the magistrate sent word to the jailer, set those men free. It seems that perhaps the earthquake associated with these men awaken the magistrate. We're not sure why the big sudden change in mindset but now they're wanting to get Paul and Silas and his team out of town.

[45:13] We might say, wow how God answered for his servants. Paul, take it. That's a good deal. They're saying go. You're free to go. And Paul says, no.

[45:25] I'm not going. We're staying right here. They beat us publicly without a trial as though we were guilty of anarchy and troublemaking. Even though we're Roman citizens, they threw us into prison without a trial. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly?

[45:41] Privately? No. Let them come down and escort us out of the city themselves. Now why is Paul such a stickler? Why does he just take the deal and go?

[45:51] Well, it wasn't for his own sake. We have seen him suffer greatly personal loss when it's just about him.

[46:03] But now this is about his Savior and his church. It's for the gospel's sake. For the reputation of the gospel in Philippi's sake. For the sake of these few believers that he's about to leave behind and he's going on but they're staying in this godless city.

[46:20] For their sakes. They had been publicly treated as if they were criminals and lawbreakers. That's not the image that Paul wants spreading about the followers of Jesus Christ in Philippi.

[46:33] We are not spreaders of sedition and revolt. We teach our people that they are to obey every authority instituted by God. And so Paul says make them come and escort us out.

[46:47] openly showing their mistreatment of us and that we indeed are innocent. We the followers and ministers of Jesus Christ.

[46:58] So when the magistrates learned that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens whose rights to a fair trial had been violated they were alarmed to say the least. And they came eating humble pie and they asked them to leave and very polite to them and they escort them out of prison publicly sending the clear message to the city of the innocence of these men.

[47:19] For the sake and the witness of Jesus Christ. And all of it reflects Paul's concern that those bearing the name of Jesus Christ should live lives worthy of the gospel.

[47:30] Lives that make the gospel attractive to others. Even in the way that we we deal with other people with governments with commands of government. What he later will write to this same church ten years later he says whatever happens conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.

[47:50] He wants to leave behind a testimony in Philippi that the gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't make anarchists out of people. It makes them the best citizens any city has ever known.

[48:05] And so he forces them to come and to escort them out. And then where do they go? Well, they go to Lydia's house. Why? Because she was showing her love for the saints by having them in her house and that was their headquarters.

[48:19] They met with the brethren there encouraged them and so they left. And what have we learned? That here in the midst of great persecution right here in pagan Philippi the Lord Jesus Christ is saving sinners.

[48:33] He's building his church on pagan Gentile soil. His servants are following his lead. their obeying the Macedonian call that he gave them.

[48:45] They waited on him in their darkest hour in the midst of that cell and heaven acted on their behalf. And Paul can now leave town confident that he who began a good work in them would continue it and carry it on until the day of Christ Jesus.

[49:03] come to the Savior know the peace and joy that comes from believing and go and live and tell what he's done for you.

[49:15] Let's pray. We thank you our Father for this account of another triumph of Jesus Christ over the demons of hell that were holding this city of Philippi in darkness.

[49:35] We thank you for sending the light of the gospel through your messengers and for owning that gospel with authority and power to the saving of this jailer and his family.

[49:48] And then to many others in this city that would join Lydia and form a local church with their own overseers and deacons, a people who would be to the honor and praise of Jesus.

[50:00] Oh, continue to make us to be such a place, such a church. Add to our numbers those that are lost and bring them to believe on the Lord Jesus and to be saved.

[50:13]  For Jesus praise we ask it and in his name. Amen.