Lessons From Acts – Lesson 26
This is where we stopped last time.
Acts 16:13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
Acts 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
Acts 16:15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
So the gospel was preached, God worked, He opened hearts. Those that believed were then baptized. That forms a local house church.
And they start having services. In verse 16 Paul and Silas are on the way to a prayer meeting. And on the way comes opposition.
This is often normal. The wicked one and his minions hate it when they see people getting saved. Opposition and trouble happened many times on the first missionary journey and it is no different on the second journey.
Acts 16:16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
Human possession by demons is real. And there are people who put making money over anything. Money over truth. Money instead of what is best for others.
Soothsaying is kind of like what we call today fortune telling. And these men were ok with this girl being possessed. Being possessed has to be a kind of living hell. And they wanted her living that hell because they made money on it.
There are plenty of people today who live on this principal. Money over truth and in fact money over everything. Money over the hurt of others.
It is ok to them that people suffer as long as they get the money. I could give a long list of examples, and I know that you could also. Pelosi, Kamala, Zelinsky, Bidens, the Clintons who raised millions and millions for houses in Hatti and they only built a few shacks.
God’s way is infinitely better. Love thy neighbor as thyself.
The masters of this demon possessed girl were doing the opposite. They were only after what they could get. To hell with everyone else. All her pain and suffering of being demon possessed meant nothing to them.
Paul and his team are going to prayer and this woman followed them.
Acts 16:17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
And while what she said was true. Paul and his team are servants of the most high God. And they do show people the way of salvation.
What she said was absolutely true. But we know that she was saying it in some evil way. Maybe with sarcasm. Or mockingly. Why do I think that? For 2 reasons.
1 she is possessed with a demon. A demon would not say that in a serious heartfelt way to point people to the truth of salvation in Jesus.
2 we know from Paul’s reaction. If it was not said in an evil way, then Paul would not react the way he does. Verse 18 says this grieved him.
Here is an example of how it is not only what you say but how you say it. You can say words but in such a way that everyone knows that you are actually meaning the opposite. In some way that is what this woman and her demon was doing.
Acts 16:18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
The sign gifts as we call them are still active on the 2nd missionary journey. The power to cast out demons was used to prove to those watching that the preachers were God’s men who were speaking for God.
The woman is delivered from that living hell but her masters are not happy.
They made a lot of money off of this. This was not sham, charlatan, fortune telling like many do today. This was demon empowered fortune telling. While demon’s do not have God’s ability to know the future they can tell someone your neighbor’s field is going to burn tomorrow and then the demons go out the next day and burn the field.
So it is not seeing the future. It is telling ahead what you are going to make happen.
You do stuff like that over and over and a reputation builds and people believe you can predict the future and so they made a lot of money on it.
Acts 16:19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
Acts 16:20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
Acts 16:21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
Those men don’t care about all that. They are not religious; they were making money off demon possession. They are just out for revenge.
Here is more Biblical documentation of the depth that the sin of man can go.
Everyone in this room are all saved. We all trusted Christ and the Holy Spirit indwells us. And prompts us and guides us to do right and to love people. His great love is living in us and moves thru us.
The more we let Him have his way, the more we grow and the more we get used to caring about people and doing right. We can tend to forget how things were before we got saved.
We read about these wicked men and think how can they do that? How can they watch that woman suffer with a demon and not care, and actually be angry that she is no longer possessed.
This account in the Bible is a powerful reminder to us just how wicked and uncaring that some people can be. And how some will put money over anything.
These men are really bad and they do not give a flip about religious customs. But the people they told do care about it. They did not want Christianity being spread in their town.
Acts 16:22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
Acts 16:23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
Acts 16:24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
In those days being over the prison was a dangerous thing. If the prisoners escaped, they held you personally responsible. And if a high profile prisoner escaped it could be off with your head.
So they were not only put in prison but in the inner prison and that was still not enough they put them in stocks.
And we see something very profound in Paul and Silas’ reaction.
Acts 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
They lived the verse that we have been learning.
In everything give thanks for this is the will of God, in Christ Jesus concerning you.
It is easy when things are good, when you get the bonus, or some other blessing like the weather cooling down.
But it is not so easy when you are beaten and thrown in prison and have your feet in the stocks. How can they sing praises to God? I have one primary answer. God’s enabling grace.
He can give songs in the night. He can bring thanks and joy to your heart at any time in any situation. He is all powerful. God is not dependent upon circumstances.
Paul and Silas I think obviously were not only willing and open to God moving in their hearts in this dark time, but I think they also asked for it. That is the way things work.
God does not force His grace upon you. You are not a mindless robot. God loves you and has help for you, but you have to want it and ask for it. I believe they did ask in that dark inner prison.
And they had real joy and sang loudly. It says that the prisoners heard them singing praises to God.
Now that is something they did not expect. You don’t typically hear singing praises in one of those horrible prisons. They did not have all the niceties that some of our prisons have.
And of course what Paul and Silas were singing were biblical praises. Most likely they were singing Psalms. The book of Psalms was the song book, the Hymal if you will, of the early church.
So their singing of praises was also witnessing. It was also getting the word of God out. And it made a huge impact.
So all of these prisoners are hearing God’s truth in words being sang. And they are also seeing how God is giving these men strength and joy. And they are thinking about it and then God does an amazing thing.
Acts 16:26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.
An earthquake can open doors. That can happen. But an earthquake does not loose the bands you are chained with. God moved here.
It was a physical illustration of how God is the one who can set your soul truly free. God is the one who can save from the bondage of sin and the permeant prison of hell.
Acts 16:27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
Acts 16:28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
God was very active here working in the hearts of men. No one ran for it.
God was about to do a mighty work in the wardens heart and his family’s. If the prisoners escaped, the warden would have killed himself.
God in His foreknowledge knew that the warden would get saved after he heard how. So God moved in the hearts of the prisoners so they would not leave.
This is an example here of the balance of the sovereignty of God and His power, and the free will of man. Both are true. And nothing is too hard for God. He can and does balance both so that both are true.
God has the foreknowledge and the power to work way ahead. It would have been very easy for God to pre-arrange that prisoners who would refuse to listen to God moving in their hearts to stay would have been sent to a different prison sometime before or not sent to this prison at all.
And it is very easy for God to pre-arrange that only prisoners that would listen would be sent to this specific prison.
We do not have an example here of God forcing men to get saved. God does not force some to go to hell and force some to get saved.
What we have here is an example of the foreknowledge of God and an example of God using His power in the circumstances of life according to His foreknowledge.
God had prisoners there that He foreknew would listen and not run for it. Paul and Silas were obedient to Him and prayed and sang. And then God used that and moved in the hearts of men.
Not only did all of this greatly affect the warden but we see God sending the conviction to the warden’s heart. Conviction of sin and the need to be saved.
Acts 16:29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
Acts 16:30 And brought them out,
To bring them out means he would have had to get them out of the stocks. And it means brought them out of the inner prison.
He brought them to his house. This is not a conflict. It was not unusual for the warden to live on site. Not in a cell, but in a few decent rooms. And that makes sense because his life was at stake if something went really wrong.
He has something critical to ask them and really needs the answer and so he is showing them some care and respect.
Acts 16:30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
He asked the most important question that anyone can ask. The one question that untold millions in hell for eternity wish they would have asked.
Now think on this. How did he know to ask this question?
I believe Paul and Silas were singing scripture. The book of Psalms was their hymnbook. You see many of the Psalms of David titled a Psalm of David to the singers.
And it is true that many of the Psalms point to the coming Jesus. But when the Psalms use the word salvation or saved the context is usually about being saved from your enemies and not about eternal salvation. In most cases.
Remember Paul and Silas both prayed and sang and the prisoners heard them. I believe, because it just fits, that Paul and Silas prayed aloud about salvation, about eternal life, about Jesus and getting saved.
I think they also thanked God aloud for their own salvation.
I believe that in that prison that they prayed aloud about the men there getting saved. I can’t prove it, but it just fits.
Somehow this warden knew to ask this specific question and he knew that these men had the answer to it.
And while he knew to ask this and while he believed they had the answer. There is a false premise in his question.
This is not unusual for people who God is drawing to Himself. They are not saved yet. They have some misconceptions about it all.
All of the religions of the wicked one teach one thing in common. In some way shape or form there is some kind of works involved.
Look again at what he asked. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? What must I do? That is works. That is what Cain thought, and untold billions after him. They think something must be done. Some kind of work must be required to be saved.
But that is wrong. It is so much simpler. Paul and Silas both give the answer. Verse 31 says and they said.
Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
We know that when the warden gets saved, his family is not automatically saved. We know that every person must ask for themselves, they must believe for themselves. The correct way to understand verse 31 is warden you get saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and that goes for anyone in your house as well.
We know this is true because of the context of the rest of the Bible and we also see it in verse 32.
Acts 16:32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
All those that were in his house also had to hear for themselves.
The warden gets saved and is grateful. He right away, even though it was late at night, cleaned their wounds.
Acts 16:33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
Acts 16:34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Verse 34 clearly says the warden believed in God. Another verse showing that Jesus is God. They said to be saved believe in Jesus and here it says he believed in God. The answer to this is Jesus is God.
And we see that his whole family also got saved. And we see the order of 1st get saved and then get baptized.
Paul and Silas suffered. It was painful. Did you notice that the jailer washed their wounds after he was saved. They were whipped no doubt with whips that were not serialized and then without doctoring put in the stocks.
The masters of a demon possessed woman got revenge and yet God worked it out for good. There will be a truth presented in the Bible in a short simple verse and then often somewhere else in the Bible is an example of what that truth looks like lived out.
This is an example of Romans 8:28
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Paul and Silas were on a mission to see people saved. And every time someone got saved it brought them joy and rejoicing. That is good for your spiritual walk with God.
And Paul and Silas loved God and they were called according to God’s purpose and they were actively doing it.
I have seen people try to claim Romas 8:28 but they are not walking with God. And they wonder why things are not working out for good. The verse does not say all things work together for good to everyone that is saved.
It does not say that. There a condition in the verse. You have to be called according to his purpose.
Not only are there examples in the Bible on the positive side. In this case Paul and Silas who where in the will of God.
But there are also examples in the Bible on the opposite side. An example of Romans 8:28 not applying to a saved man is Lot. The N.T. calls him just Lot. He was justified by faith.
Hard things happened in his life. And none of it worked together for good to him. Romans 8:28 says all things work together for good to them. Not to others and not to 2 generations after them. But to them.
Lot did not walk with God. He was not called according to God’s purpose. And Lot loved sin more than he loved God.
Lot had to leave Sodom and his son’s in laws and other daughters burned in the fire because they would not listen. Lot’s wife looked back and God turned her into a pillar of salt. Lot asked to stay in a little town but left in fear.
Lot then hid in a cave with two of his daughters. They get him drunk and bear him two sons.
But didn’t good come to Lot from those sons. Nope. Both of those sons became the fathers of two wicked nations that troubled Israel for generations.
Nothing good ever came to Lot out of all of it. All things did not work together for good to Lot. Lot believed and so Lot will be in heaven, but he will have no rewards for how he lived this life.
So in the Bible we have examples of Romans 8:28 working for those who love God and are called according to His purpose and we have examples in the Bible of Romans 8:28 not working to someone who does not love God and is not called according to his purpose.
Lot was only following Lot’s purpose.
What a difference with Paul and Silas. God was working things out for them because they loved God and were in God’s will for their lives.
Acts 16:35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, Let those men go.
Acts 16:36 And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace.
Acts 16:37 But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
Acts 16:38 And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans.
Acts 16:39 And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.
The offence of the magistrates was committed openly and publicly. So it was only right that they come in the daylight for all to see and fetch them out publicly.
And after that the magistrates told them to get out of town.
And they did, but they were not in a hurry about it. Something important had to be done first.
Acts 16:40 And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.
The brethren were in Lydia’s house. This new house church had heard and seen what happened to Paul. They knew they were whipped and thrown in prison.
These new believers needed to see and hear how God worked it out for good. They needed to hear what God did and how a man and his entire family got saved and baptized.
This report from Paul and Silas would have no doubt taught them and increased their faith. Paul would leave town as instructed but not before he comforted the new believers and showed them that God worked it all out for good.