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Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 
16. We're in the second missionary 
journey and still in the city of Philippi. I want to read verses 
16 to 34 and then we'll look at this passage in detail. So 
beginning in Acts 16 at verse 16. Now it happened as we went 
to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit 
of divination met us. who brought her masters much 
profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us 
and cried out, saying, These men are the servants of the Most 
High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation. 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 Christ 
to come out of her. And he came out that very hour. 
But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, 
they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace 
to the authorities. And they brought them to the 
magistrates and said, These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble 
our city, and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, 
being Romans, to receive or observe. Then the multitude rose up together 
against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded 
them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes 
on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer 
to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, 
he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the 
stocks. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing 
hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly 
there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the 
prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and 
everyone's chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, 
awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing 
the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill 
himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, Do yourself 
no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light, 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? So they 
said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, 
you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the 
Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them 
the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and immediately 
he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them 
into his house, he set food before them, and he rejoiced, having 
believed in God with all his household." Amen. Let us pray. Thank you, Father, for this wonderful 
passage of Holy Scripture. Thank you for these missionary 
journeys that we are able to track and trace with. We thank 
you for the way that you sent forth your glorious gospel. You 
didn't send the civil magistrate. You didn't send families. You 
sent the church, and we rejoice in that. And we pray the church 
would continue to embrace this blessed task in proclaiming Christ 
and Him crucified, both here and abroad. We ask that you would 
raise up more men fitted by the Spirit for that work of ministry, 
because we know the harvest is plentiful, but laborers are few. 
So we pray to you, Lord of the harvest, that you would raise 
up men, that you would cause these men to be affected with 
compassion for lost sinners and with a desire for the glory of 
God. And we pray that you, by grace and through the power of 
the Holy Spirit, and through the agency of the church would 
send them forth to make disciples, to plant churches, and to glorify 
our great God. Forgive us again for all of our 
sin and unrighteousness, and fill each one of us now with 
your Holy Spirit. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as I said, we're in the 
second missionary journey. It's found in Acts 1536 all the 
way to Acts 1822, and it took place in AD 49 to 52. It includes Derbe, Lystra, Phrygia, 
and Galatia. Also, God leads Paul to Macedonia, 
starting from Troas. That's where we are presently. 
He goes to Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, and finally Corinth 
before returning to Antioch. So he canvases. a lot of ground. 
Remember that his team is now him and Silas. They also have 
Luke and Timothy along with them. So I want to look at this section 
under two considerations this morning. First, the imprisonment 
of Paul and Silas in verses 16 to 24. And then secondly, the 
conversion of the Philippian jailer in verses 25 to 34. But 
with reference to the imprisonment of Paul and Silas, there are 
two sub-points that we need to consider. First, the exorcism 
of a spirit of divination, and then the imprisonment of the 
missionaries. Notice that the text, in verse 16, it says, as 
we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit 
of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune 
teller." Now, it's interesting because the Greek text indicates 
that she had a python spirit. You might even see that in the 
margin of your Bible. And basically, this refers to 
the serpent or the dragon that guarded the Delphic Oracle. It 
lived at the foot of Mount Parnassus and was slain by Apollo. Later, 
the word came to designate a spirit of divination, as we have here 
in the English versions, then also of ventriloquists, who were 
believed to have such a spirit dwelling in their belly. So it's 
an interesting statement. She was possessed of a python 
spirit. If you look back in the book 
of Leviticus or in Deuteronomy, you see a reference to familiar 
spirit or a spirit of divination, and that's most likely what we're 
talking about. here, the same with the witch at Endor in 1 
Samuel chapter 28. There's three things that Luke 
tells us concerning this particular girl. In the first place, she's 
possessed. She is in a miserable situation. 
She is subject rather to these greedy masters that are upset 
when she's no longer to tell fortunes and make money on their 
behalf. So she is possessed. She is profitable. That angers 
the masters. It is at their instigation that 
Paul and Silas are arrested by the civil magistrate. And the 
girl was a proclaimer. If you notice what she is saying, 
it is quite intriguing. Verse 17 says, This girl followed 
Paul and us, and cried out, saying, These men are the servants of 
the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation. This 
and this she did for many days. Why would she speak the truth? 
Why would she declare what it is that Paul and Silas were about? I've looked at the commentaries, 
and none of them were very satisfied, except for one particular man 
named John Stock. And he makes this observation. 
He says, nor is it strange that the evil spirit should have cried 
out in recognition of God's messengers. For Luke has documented the same 
thing during the public ministry of Jesus, Luke 4, Luke 8. But 
why should a demon engage in evangelism? It's a very good 
question, and I think he's on the right track with his answer. 
He says, perhaps the ulterior motive was to discredit the gospel 
by associating it in people's minds with the occult. So in 
other words, she has this Python spirit, though she is speaking 
accurately, nevertheless, what it would end up happening, or 
what could end up happening, is that persons would think that 
Christ and this Python spirit were somehow joined together, 
or somehow in cahoots. I think that is a good expression, 
or explanation, or comment rather, on why it is she does what she 
did. But she was possessed, she was 
profitable, and she was a proclaimer of the truth of God's word. Now, 
notice the response of the Apostle Paul. Verse 18 is intriguing, 
and this she did for many days, and then it says, but Paul, greatly 
annoyed. Now, when we read that, we might 
think, where's his compassion? Where's his heart? Why is he 
annoyed? The word simply means to feel burdened as the result 
of someone's provocative activity, to be greatly disturbed or annoyed. So it's not just annoyed, there 
was a disturbance, there was a grief, there was a reality 
in his own heart considering this particular woman. Later 
on in the city of Athens, we see that Paul undergoes a perplexity 
of spirit, a paroxysm, as he looks at the city given over 
to idols. So he is a compassionate man, 
he is a gracious man, he is a godly man, and now he takes efforts 
to release her from this particular demon. So notice he's not only 
annoyed or grieved, but then he commands the spirit, according 
to verse 18, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come 
out of her. Paul does not have this authority 
or this ability by virtue of Paul being Paul. He is an apostle 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is exercising authority consistent 
with our sovereign Lord. It's not Paul that has the ability 
to exercise demon spirits, but rather it is Christ who uses 
the agency of the apostle Paul. And then notice when he says 
this, the demon comes out rather immediately. There wasn't extra 
sessions necessary. There was no homework assigned. 
There was no, tell me about how it was when you were three, and 
we'll rework your whole sort of upbringing to try and deal 
with these demon spirits. No, he casts out this demon in 
the name of the Lord Jesus, and the demon comes out. And then 
notice, with reference to her masters in verse 19, but when 
her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized 
Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. The profit was gone. It came 
out. It's the same verb used in verses 
18 and 19. The spirit comes out, but their 
hope of profit as well comes out. It is vacated. There is 
no longer an income stream connected to this young girl. And so they 
are upset about this. F.F. Bruce says when Paul exercised 
the spirit that possessed her, he exercised their means of income. She could no longer tell fortunes. 
And this incensed them, this aroused them to anger, this got 
them upset at this present situation. So they seize Paul and Silas, 
not Luke and Timothy. The charge that they're going 
to lay is that these are Jews and they're troubling this city. 
So they don't seize Luke and Timothy. Timothy was a half Jew 
or, you know, he was considered Jew, but he was half Jewish. 
And then Luke most likely was a Gentile. but they seized Paul 
and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace, which is literally 
the Agora. It was the place where society 
basically fleshed itself out. And there were the governing 
authorities. Now notice the imprisonment of these missionaries in verses 
20 to 24. Note the accusation stated. It's intriguing, these 
wretched masters. I mean, think about these men. 
This poor girl is possessed with a python spirit, and these men 
see a way to capitalize upon it. They're horrible specimens 
of human beings. They are treacherous men in terms 
of civil society. It's these kinds of men that 
we ought to be on the lookout for, because they're about abusing 
others. But notice the nature of their 
accusations. They are Jews who trouble the 
city. Notice that they don't mention it's because of Paul, 
this Christian missionary preacher, who exercised this spirit of 
divination, that no longer do we have resources that were coming 
our way. They don't mention that. They 
calculate it in a way that these Jews will trouble this city. 
It's the city that's in parable. It's the city of Philippi that 
is threatened by this team of four men that go from place to 
place, starting at the riverside, to preach the gospel to women. 
Yeah, they're the big menaces in society. Nothing much has 
changed in terms of the civil government and in terms of the 
majority response to Christianity. We are seen as the menaces and 
the troublers. Remember when Elijah the prophet 
comes to Ahab. Ahab has the gall, the Jews call 
it chutzpah, to actually call Elijah the troubler of Israel. It was Ahab who co-opted Baal 
worship and brought it into the very center. a land that the 
Lord Most High had given them. It is topsy-turvy in terms of 
calling things one thing that isn't true. These men being Jews 
exceedingly trouble our city. And then notice what they go 
on to say. They teach unlawful things to Romans. Again, they're 
a menace to society. Now, within the Roman Empire, 
you could be a practicing Jew. I don't think the Empire liked 
it, but they weren't gonna mess with them for the most part. 
Initially, Christianity was viewed as a subset of Judaism, and so 
for the most part, Christianity was left alone. But it's at this 
point, and as we move forward, and as we read in the reading 
this morning, in terms of Felix, that governor, we see that increasingly 
the Roman Empire became hostile toward Christianity. There's 
a definitive work on the Roman law at this particular time by 
a fellow named Sherwin White. And he makes this observation. 
He says, officially, the Roman citizen may not practice any 
alien cult that has not received the public sanction of the state. 
But customarily, he might do so as long as his cult did not 
otherwise offend against the laws and usages of Roman life, 
i.e. so long as it did not involve 
political or social crime. See, these men are introducing 
the idea that these men, Paul and Silas, were guilty of political 
and social crimes. They are Jews and they're troubling 
our fair city. Now guess who the multitude sides 
with? Is it a surprise that the multitude 
says, we believe these men who profited off of a young girl 
who was possessed with a python spirit? There's nothing new under 
the sun. I could see the same sort of 
thing play out in any nation under heaven right now, where 
Christians were targeted for destruction. The multitudes typically 
side with the God-hating rebels. And if we have not accepted that 
yet, we're gonna be sorely disenchanted as we view the evening news, 
or as we read Voice of the Martyrs, or as we see what's actually 
happening in the world. I mean, look at these reports. 
from these little villages where there's simple Christian folk 
that are being targeted for destruction because they're jeopardizing 
our city. Brethren, the preaching of the 
gospel does not jeopardize anyone's city. The preaching of the gospel 
is a blessing for anyone's city. But in this instance, the multitudes 
certainly are prevailed upon by these men. Notice in verse 
22, then the multitude rose up together against them, not the 
masters, these wretched men that made their money based on this 
poor girl that was possessed with a python spirit. That's 
not who they rise up together against. They rise up together 
against Paul and Silas. The persecution of the church 
is a reality. The persecution of the church 
continues unabated. The persecution of the church 
will continue until the eschaton, and we need to understand that, 
And we need to be like Paul, wise as serpents, harmless as 
doves, but there is a great deal of wisdom that is necessary for 
churches, for church men in our present evil age. If we don't 
have the wisdom of the apostle Paul, not that I think we'll 
ever have that degree, but we'll see how he navigates through 
the various places that he goes through and the various assaults 
on his liberty that he receives. But in this instance, the multitudes 
gather against them. And then notice what we read. 
The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates 
tore off their clothes. Not the magistrates' clothes. 
Some based on Matthew 26 and Jesus before the high priest 
when he rends his garment. That's not what happens. The 
magistrates don't tear off their own clothes. They tear off the 
clothes of Paul and Silas. These Christian missionaries 
that just did a great deed in casting out this demon from the 
slave girl. They did a wonderful thing. They 
should have been should have been heralded as heroes in the 
city of Philippi, but here they're delivered up to the magistrates. 
The magistrates tear off their clothes and command them to be 
beaten with rods. Now, notice they were stripped 
and beaten, and they were beaten with rods, and they received 
many stripes. Many stripes. Deuteronomy 25.3 
is the passage in the Bible that forbids giving corporal punishment 
in excess of 40 stripes. In other words, Deuteronomy 25.3 
that deals with corporal punishment and the one punishing the person 
is not to exceed 40 stripes. Do you think the Romans cared 
one bit about Deuteronomy 25.3? Do you think they gave one care 
whatsoever about Yahweh's prohibition in terms of how much you could 
actually punish a person? No, they didn't. They received 
many stripes. Paul speaks of this in 2 Corinthians 
11, 25. He speaks of it in 1 Thessalonians 2, 2. He was severely mistreated 
in the city of Philippi, and that's what's happening before 
our eyes. And now after having been beaten with rods, and they 
had laid many stripes on them, notice in verse 23, they threw 
them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 
Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison 
and fastened their feet in the stocks." The inner prison may 
sound like a dungeon, it may sound like solitary confinement. 
It probably wasn't, though it could have possibly been, but 
it was just deep into the prison such that they could not escape. 
In other words, They were treated like public enemies. They were 
treated like menaces. They were treated like a threat 
to the city of Philippi. You could worship a pantheon. 
You could capitalize on a slave girl. You could be that kind 
of a person that victimizes others and makes money at it, but be 
a preacher of the Christian gospel? That's when you cross the line. 
That's when you have stepped over, and that's when the government 
needs to crack down. Again, brethren, this is simply 
what's happening in many other countries today. This kind of 
oppression, this kind of persecution, this kind of targeting the people 
of God. And yet are we praying for the 
persecuted church? Do we take Hebrews 13 seriously? Is it something that occupies 
a place in our prayer closet and at the family altar? We need 
to be considerate with reference to those who are in chains because 
we're one with them in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now 
let's move on to the conversion of this jailer. Notice the jailer 
in verse 24, having received such a charge, he, the jailer, 
put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the 
stocks. I want to look at three things 
here. First, the jailer's problem. Secondly, the missionary's preaching. 
And thirdly, the jailer's response. But notice, before we look at 
the problem, what would you be doing if you were Paul and Silas 
at this point? If I had an attorney, I'd be 
calling him. I don't happen to have one, but 
if I did, I would be. If there was no due process, 
these wretched men that had capitalized on this poor girl who had the 
Python spirit, they simply say, these are Jews troubling our 
city. They are teaching customs to 
us Romans that it's not lawful to teach. that the multitudes 
respond immediately against them, turn them over to the magistrates. 
Again, no due process, no calling on the defendant to give his 
particular position. Are these things true? Did you 
really do that? They don't do that. They simply 
strip the man and they beat the man and then they throw the man 
into prison. Again, if I had an attorney, 
I would be calling him. Where is my one phone call? Look 
at what Paul and Silas are doing according to verse 25. But at 
midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to 
God, and the prisoners were listening to them. They had been stripped 
of every right. They had been stripped of every 
privilege. They had been stripped of everything, including their 
clothes. They now bear on their bodies 
the brand marks of Jesus. So what do they do? They pray 
to God and they sing praises to God. In all things rejoice, 
that's what these men evidence, and that shows us the glory of 
Christ. That though you are robbed of 
due process, though you are robbed of your clothing, though you 
do receive many stripes at the hand of wicked magistrates, they 
can never take from you the Lord Jesus. And so what these men 
do is indicative of that gracious soul that has been conquered 
by the grace of God Most High. They pray to God and they sing 
hymns to God. Tertullian, one of the fathers, 
says, the legs feel nothing in the stocks when the heart is 
in heaven. And Stott says, not groans, but 
songs came from their mouths. Instead of cursing men, they 
blessed God. Now as I read that, I have to 
check my own heart because I'm going to confess to you right 
now, it would rise up in my heart to curse them. It would rise 
up in my heart to curse those masters. It would rise up in 
my heart to curse those multitudes. And it would rise up in my heart 
to curse those magistrates. And even the jailer who threw 
me into the inner prison and put my feet in the stocks. But 
that's not what these men did. These men received affliction. 
These men received hardship. These men received heartache. 
And instead of lashing out at those around them, their hearts 
soar into heaven. They don't curse men, but rather 
they bless God. Now notice what happens. There's 
this earthquake that occurs in verse 26. It's beautiful. The Geneva Bible comments on 
the prayers of the missionaries. It says, the prayers of the godly 
do shake both heaven and earth. The prayers of the godly do shake 
both heaven and earth. Now, I'm not suggesting that 
every time you pray for deliverance, there will be an earthquake. 
That's not my point. Please don't say that I said 
that, because I didn't say that. But it is a great illustration. 
In this instance, these men pray, and then this earthquake comes, 
with reference to this prison. Notice in verse 26, suddenly 
there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the 
prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and 
everyone's chains were loose. Now, it doesn't say that the 
earthquake came from God. It doesn't say that the earthquake 
was supernatural in character. But the way that it's reported 
certainly indicates that it was so. You could see an earthquake 
decimating a prison, but actually opening each prison cell door, 
and actually loosing each prisoner's chains from their feet. That's 
going a bit far. So what we have is an instance 
of God's response to this particular situation relative to these prisoners, 
Paul and Silas specifically, but to the rest of the prisoners 
as well. We know there's the rest of the prisoners because 
when Luke tells us they were singing hymns of praise to God, 
the other prisoners were listening. And so this jailer now has a 
big problem. He has a fear concerning this 
earthquake that has obtained in his little prison. Verse 27 
says, in the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing 
the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew 
his sword and was about to kill himself. This guy's in a bad 
place, isn't he? This guy's not doing well at 
this particular point. If you go back to chapter 12, 
after Peter is released from prison by an angel of the Lord, 
the prison guards are summarily executed. Why? Because they were 
derelict in their duty. They didn't do their jobs. Later 
on in chapter 27, there's going to be a shipwreck, and the guards 
tasked with protecting the prisoners have a mind to kill all the prisoners. Why? Because if they did not 
and the prisoners escaped, they would be deemed of having been 
derelict of duty. Dereliction of duty at this particular 
time carried a heavy penalty. You paid with your life. But 
also, in light of that, it wasn't necessarily the worst thing in 
Roman society to commit suicide. It is from the Christian worldview, 
it is a violation of the Sixth Commandment. You're not supposed 
to kill, whether others or yourself. It is unlawful. God is the Lord 
and the giver of life. It is God who says when we start, 
it is God who says when we stop. It is up to God in His prerogative, 
according to His sovereignty, when we enter into this world 
and when we exit from this world. But in terms of Roman society, 
Alexander rightly comments, self-destruction was considered by the Romans 
as not only lawful, but a duty or a virtue under certain circumstances. Now that brings us to Paul's 
words to the jailer in verse 28. Paul reassures the jailer. Paul says, don't kill yourself, 
do yourself no harm. We're all here, not just Paul 
and Silas, but all the other prisoners, which again indicates 
it was something of a supernatural act of God. Because if you were 
a prisoner in that particular instance, and the prison was 
shaken, and the door was open, and your chains fell off your 
feet, you would most likely be inclined to leave. You would 
run. Remember, people end up in prison. 
Why? Because they're criminals. If 
they have the opportunity to exercise a crime and escape from 
prison, they're most likely going to do that as well. And so you 
see the concern of the fear of the jailer. But when Paul says 
in verse 28, he calls with a loud voice saying, do yourself no 
harm, for we are all here. He assuages this man's fear. Now that brings us to Paul and 
Silas' dealing specifically with this jailer. This is a very familiar 
passage of Holy Scripture, and it's one that I hope that we 
all have near and dear to our heart. The jailer asks the most 
important question in the world, and the apostle gives the proper 
response. He gives the proper Answer, it 
does us well to consider this sachet. Notice with reference 
to the jailer at verse 29, that he called for a light, ran in, 
and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Why Paul and 
Silas? What did he know about Paul and 
Silas? When he asks the question, what 
must I do to be saved? I don't think it means from my 
superiors. What must I do to be saved from 
my immediate supervisor? What must I do to be saved with 
reference to the Roman Caesar? He's talking about salvation. 
Likely he's been exposed to their preaching up to this point. Likely 
he's heard some of this. Philippi was a foremost city 
in the colony of Macedonia, but it wasn't Los Angeles. it wasn't 
Vancouver. If there was a couple of traveling 
missionaries going from place to place, especially engaging 
and casting out a spirit of divination, a jailer like that likely would 
have been exposed to this whole thing. So he falls down before 
Paul and Silas because Paul and Silas can't answer his question. 
He doesn't go to the jail cell where the murderer was. He doesn't 
go to the jail cell where the thief was. He doesn't go to the 
jail cell where the robber was. He goes to their cell and he 
falls down before them. See, the world, for the most, 
opposes Christianity until it comes to crisis. until it comes 
to these sorts of situations. Not in every instance, I realize 
a lot of people get crisis and they couldn't think about God 
one bit even more. But with reference to this scenario, 
they fall or he falls before Paul and Silas. And then he asks 
this question. He says, or he brought them out 
and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Again, the jailer 
wanted salvation from sin and damnation, not from punishment 
from his supervisors. That is the wrong, reading of 
the text. The jailer, as I said, was likely 
familiar with the gospel. Verses 12, 17, and 18 give us 
an indication that Paul and Silas were about this for many days 
in the city of Philippi. The jailer knew in his heart 
of hearts what Paul tells us the jailer knew in the heart 
of hearts in Romans chapter one. All men know that God is. Every single one ever created 
at the hand of God knows that God is. In fact, you can turn 
to Romans chapter 1. Notice in Romans 1, verse 18, 
for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness 
and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. Now note verse 19, because what 
may be known of God is manifest in them. There is no true atheist. The psalmist is absolutely correct. 
The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. All men everywhere 
know God exists. How do they know that? Because 
of general revelation, because of what some call natural theology, 
because of days like these. You can't walk around Chilliwack 
today and deny the existence of God. The heavens declare his 
righteousness. The heavens magnify his glory. The heavens set before us the 
majesty of God. But you'll say, but people don't 
believe. Yeah, Paul addresses that. Notice 
what he says at the end of verse 18. They suppress the truth in 
unrighteousness. They hold it down. They will 
not allow creation to magnify the glory of God. They obliterate 
it from their thoughts and their minds. They cleave to ideas like 
evolution. They cleave to theories that 
have no basis in science. I mean, nobody was there. Nobody 
knows that the world is 65 billion years old. This is philosophy. This is not a relation of fact. Fact is not, we think the world 
has been around for billions and billions of years. That is 
a philosophical claim and not a scientific one. Now notice 
what he goes on to say. because what may be known of 
God is manifest in them. Now notice, for God has shown 
it to them. For since the creation of the 
world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood 
by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, 
so that they are without excuse. So they have certain knowledge 
about God. They know that He is. They know 
something of His eternal power and even of His Godhead, His 
glory, His majesty. But notice what else these people 
know, according to verse 32. Verse 32 tells us that who knowing 
the righteous judgment of God, so that not only know that God 
is, They not only know that He has eternal power, they not only 
know something of the Godhead, they don't have a, you know, 
sort of Augustinian, Aquinas view of the Trinity and relations 
and missions and notions and appropriation. They don't have 
all that, but they know that there is this God. But verse 
32, they also know the righteous judgment of God. They know it's 
right with God to punish those who break His law. Knowing the 
righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things 
are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve 
of those who practice that. This jailer is the same. The 
jailer has the same. He is made in the image of God. 
God has revealed Himself to this jailer. This jailer is not asking, 
what must I do to be saved from my immediate supervisor? What 
must I do to be saved from sin, from damnation, and from the 
wrath and fury of a God who is righteous and executing his punishment 
upon those who don't believe? John Owen makes this observation 
in volume six. I don't know if it's connected 
to this text, but if it isn't, it could be. He says, when men 
are under any dreadful providence, thundering, lightnings, tempests, 
in darkness, they tremble. Not so much as what they see 
or hear or feel, as from their secret thoughts that God is nigh, 
and that he is a consuming fire. I think that's how we should 
understand the jailer's question, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now notice the missionaries preaching, 
verse 31. So they said, believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. Notice the instrumentality on 
faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus. Notice 
what they don't say. Do, try harder, work more, reform 
your life, get it together. Don't take future missionaries 
and put them in the inner prison and put their feet in stocks. 
You can't do that and call yourself a Christian. That's not what 
they say. Notice as well that in the clearest place in all 
of scripture, this is the answer that they give. This would have 
been a great place for Paul and Silas to say, pray to the Lord 
for a new heart. That would have been a great 
place for this. This would have been a great place for Paul and 
Silas to say, you've got to do more. You've got to work more. 
You've got to be better. You've got to be more virtuous. 
Know the emphasis is upon believe. Believe, that's the instrumentality 
that connects a needy sinner with our Lord Jesus Christ. Our 
confession says the principal acts of saving faith have immediate 
relation to Christ. Accepting, receiving, and resting 
upon him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life 
by virtue of the covenant of grace. So believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ. So it's not only the instrumentality 
of faith, but it's the object of faith. See, it's not just 
faith that saves you. Faith is only as good as the 
object it's rooted upon. Get it? Sometimes you'll say, 
well, it doesn't matter what you believe in as long as you 
have faith. That is ludicrous. That is folly. That is horrific. Absolutely, positively, it matters 
what you believe on. If you're believing on anything 
other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified and resurrected, you 
will die in your sins. It's not the quality of faith. 
It's not the characteristic of faith. It's not even the quantity 
of faith. It's the object of faith. And 
that's what Paul highlights. Belief on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then notice the promise associated 
with this. And you will be saved. Not you 
might be, you could be if you agonize more, but rather believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Just like 
when Paul speaks to that python spirit in that girl who's possessed. Does he need follow-up sessions? 
Does he need to engage in a whole psychoanalytical profile of her 
and a workup and the whole spiel? No, he invokes the name of Jesus 
Christ and it's in that name he casts out the spirit and the 
spirit leaves her. The same is true relative to 
Christianity. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you will be saved. But if that's not enough, let's 
see how gracious and glorious this promise really is. Not only 
you, but also your household. There's everything in this passage 
to encourage sinners to come. There's everything in this passage 
to say to sinners, look unto the Lord Jesus Christ and be 
ye saved. Don't continue to wallow in your 
sin. Don't continue to look for an 
experience. Don't think that you have to have a feeling fit 
for the Savior. No. Come to Christ as you are, 
believing on Him, and you will be saved. Again, the clarity 
of the statement, the virtue of the statement, the beauty 
of the statement. Some might suggest that this is easy believism. I've heard that argument a lot 
about easy believism. Our church has been branded as 
a church that holds to easy believism. Well, brethren, is the contrary 
to make belief as possibly difficult as we can? to rip the scripture 
from its tethers and say, well, Paul said this, but really he 
didn't mean it just like that. He meant, you know, a process, 
or he meant misery, or he meant all of this stuff. Could you 
imagine not going to the apostle Paul's church because you thought 
he taught easy beliefism? This is not easy believism. This 
is the response to the gospel. This is what's supposed to go 
forth from every pulpit, from every preacher, for every season. It is never the case that it's 
due, or work, or labor, or feel, or experience. It's always the 
case. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you will be saved. And not only you, but your household 
too. It is the most glorious offer 
of salvation. And for whatever reason, men 
don't like it. They want to put it in a box. 
They want to dull it out like they're misers. Brethren, we 
are never called to limit the cross. We are called to preach 
it. God Most High is in the business 
of saving sinners. And He, through His inspired 
missionary, gave the best answer to the best question ever. And 
if preachers don't imitate that, they shouldn't be preaching. 
They should not be in pulpits if they will not tell sinners 
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You will be saved. That's good news for all of you 
here. Any here that aren't saved, what do you have to do? Go home 
and get better? Go home and stop this? Go home 
and do that? Wait on the experience? Wait 
on the feeling? Wait to make sure you're elect? 
That's not 1631. The answer is crystal clear. All the men in the world could 
try to complicate this and it will never be complicated. See, 
not complicated isn't easy believism. Not complicated is the way that 
God in grace deals with sinners. It wasn't complicated in Numbers 
21 when Moses cried out to God on behalf of the people that 
were stung by those fiery serpents. And God says, make a brazen serpent, 
put it up in the wilderness, and everyone who looks will be 
saved. What did they do? They looked and they were saved. 
Do you think they scratched their heads and said, well, if I look, 
that might be an easy healing. And I don't want an easy healing. 
They've told me easy healings are bad. It needs to be complicated. 
It needs to be hard. I need to be miserable. What's 
with the misery? This man goes from a suicidal 
jailer to a man worshiping and rejoicing and praising God. Why? Because the answer was so simple. 
The answer was so clear. The answer was so uncomplicated 
that even a Philippian jailer in the first century could get 
his mind wrapped around it. And by God's grace, he believed. 
It's a beautiful sublime passage concerning salvation. But notice 
they amplify the preaching of the word. Verse 32, then they 
spoke the word of the Lord to him. and to all who were in his 
house." Now you have to understand again, God, too, as a Baptist, 
make the obligatory statement concerning a household Baptist. 
Most likely not infants, whoever occupied that household, were 
capable of listening to the reasoning of the Apostle Paul and believing 
it. Because that's what happens according 
to verse four. Excuse me, got to put the glasses 
back on. According to verse 34, having believed in God with all 
his household, Again, there are instances, I know it's hard for 
us to get our minds wrapped around, where there are households that 
are absent of infants. There are households that don't 
necessarily have infants. These household baptisms don't 
always, they're not fodder for infant baptists. Again, go Covenant, 
go Abraham, go whatever, go Colossians 2, 11 and 12. I think you're 
finding more pay dirt there for your argument on infant baptism 
than you will from the household baptisms in the book of Acts. 
They just don't add up. because having believed in God 
with all his household, whoever made up the household of the 
Philippian jailer were able to follow Paul's words, were able 
to believe Paul's words, and thus they were saved by God's 
grace. So they amplify, they highlight, 
they speak the truth of God to this jailer and to his household. So the foray is believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. That's the answer. 
Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you shall be saved. But a Philippian jailer needs 
explanation. He probably wondered why things 
happen the way things happen. He probably wondered about the 
God of creation, the God that is most high and as well this 
one, the Lord Jesus Christ who saves to the uttermost all who 
draw nigh to God through him. So they speak the truth in love 
to this man and to his household. And then notice the jailer's 
response. Verse 33, he expresses kindness. Here was the man that had received 
them, that had took them into an inner prison and fastened 
their feet in the stocks. Here was a man who is now cleaning 
their wounds, and wounds they had, they would have been beaten 
to a pulp. Many stripes with a Roman rod 
does not leave one unaffected by the expulsion of blood. These 
were bloody beaten men and now this man, the jailer, is expressing 
kindness to them. Notice in verse 33, he took them 
the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. Notice 
as well, he is baptized. And immediately he and all his 
family were baptized. Again, the conspicuous pattern. 
Belief on the Lord Jesus Christ and then baptism. But as well, 
the consistent testimony in the book of Acts. I'm not against 
infants. I love infants. Infants are wonderful. Infants are delightful. Infants 
are fun to hold. Infants smell good. Infants are... 
Everything's great about infants. But do we baptize infants? No, not according to the New 
Testament documents. and not according to the Old 
Testament documents either. When it comes to infants, we 
pray to God most high to keep them, to watch over them, and 
should they pass in infancy, that he'll receive them into 
his gracious, merciful arms. But we do that based on his perfections, 
not based on some attempt to advocate for paedo-baptism to 
include them when there's no clear teaching in scripture that 
gives us that evidence. And then notice finally the exercise 
of hospitality in verse 34. Now, when he had brought them 
into his house, he set food before them. Isn't this what Lydia did 
too? Lydia gets saved by the riverside. She hears the thing spoken by 
Paul. The Lord opens her heart to heed the thing spoken by Paul, 
and then she asks them to stay at her house for many days. Why? Because faith God's gift of faith 
lays hold on the Lord Jesus Christ. And once we are justified freely 
by his grace, we enter into the life of sanctification. Sanctification 
is marked by our treatment of others, our care and concern 
for others, our expression of love for others, our hospitality 
toward them. This is a wonderful statement 
concerning the thoroughness of this jailer's conversion. Remember 
in Galatians chapter five, The Apostle says, for in Christ Jesus, 
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working 
through love. Papists and others like them 
twist that statement, but faith working through love, but they 
get it wrong. Our confession at 11.2 is great. Faith thus receiving and resting 
on Christ and His righteousness is the alone instrument of justification. Yet it is not alone in the person 
justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces 
and is no dead faith, but worketh by love. Matron's comments on 
Galatians 5, 6 are excellent. He says, love, according to the 
New Testament, is not the means of salvation. See, it really 
bugs me when people say, well, Christianity is about love to 
God and love to men. Yeah, but we should probably 
qualify that, because you're teaching salvation by law, if 
that's what you say. Christianity is about love to 
God, love to men. There's a lot of sinners out 
there that are pretty ignorant and simple, thinking, well, I'll just love 
God more, and I'll love my fellow man more, and I'll be saved. 
No, that is an expression of a commitment to God through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity in the first and 
foremost place is, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you 
shall be saved. We need to keep justification 
and sanctification in their proper places. They are connected, inextricably 
so, but they are separate. And if we collapse the distinction, 
we end up as papists, we end up as New Perspective on Paul, 
or we end up as Federal Vision or any other host of persons 
that don't like the freeness of God's justifying grace. Machen says, love according to 
the New Testament is not the means of salvation, but it is 
the finest fruit of it. A man is saved by faith, not 
by love, but he is saved by faith in order that he may love. That's the connection. That's 
Paul's emphasis in Galatians 5.6, not a conflation of justification 
and sanctification. And look where the account ends. 
Look at how the text concludes. And he rejoiced, having believed 
in God with all his household. Here was a man that was going 
to destroy himself. Here was a man that was going 
to kill himself. And having killed himself, he 
would have certainly entered into hell itself. Now, by the 
grace of God, he's heard of Jesus. Now, by the grace of God, he's 
believed on Jesus. Now, by the grace of God, he's 
seen his entire family justified freely by God's grace. The inevitable 
response, the reflex activity on the part of those saved, is 
joy. It's thankfulness, it's happiness, 
it's delight. That's what the text says. I 
get it in our religion. And when there are trials and 
afflictions, and our blessed Savior was a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief, there will be dark seasons in the lives 
of God's people. But the entirety of life isn't 
a dark season. We're supposed to actually be 
happy. We're supposed to actually rejoice. 
The apostle will say to the Philippians later when he writes to them, 
rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. And 
this Philippian jailer would have been able to say amen to 
that because he understood all too well what it is to be delivered 
from sin, all too well what it is to be delivered from damnation, 
to be delivered from Satan, to be delivered from the consequences, 
the penalty, the very wrath and fury of God most high. He understood 
deliverance and redemption. And so the reflex action here 
is absolutely positively consistent. He rejoiced, having believed 
in God with all his household. It's a beautiful, wonderful testimony 
of the grace of God, the power of the gospel, and the simplicity 
of gospel preaching. I want to end with a few thoughts. 
First, the church in Philippi begins with a businesswoman, 
begins with a girl who had a Python spirit that had been cast out, 
and it begins with this Philippian jailer. Again, if we were going 
to design a church, I'm not sure that would be sort of the demographic 
we would seek after. Some of you will know that years 
ago, that was quite popular. New churches would come to the 
city or come to a neighborhood before the church was built, 
and they'd go from door to door asking what it is that people 
were looking for with reference to a church. And then they'd 
tailor the church so that that community would be properly served. 
Now, at one level, people say, well, that's good. You're not 
going to offend anybody. You're going to do things that On another 
hand, that's horrible. We're never supposed to survey 
people to see what they want in church. We're supposed to 
obey God when he tells us what we're supposed to do in church. 
Have we lost that concept along the way? Oh yeah, we got to give 
the people what they want. No, we have to obey God That's 
absolutely crucial. The church in Philippi began 
with simple folk, under simple means, and God Most High blessed 
it. Notice as well in the text the 
power of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord, the exorcism 
of that spirit from that girl. Could you imagine the joy that 
she had? Luke doesn't get into her. He 
doesn't tell us about sort of the consequences of her having 
met the Apostle Paul, but it had to have been a happy occasion, 
had to have been a happy day, had to have been wonderful when 
she went home to her parents, no longer bound by this python 
spirit. But the power of the gospel is 
seen not only in the exorcism of the spirit, but in the salvation 
of a slave girl, and in the salvation of the Philippian jailer, and 
of his household, the salvation of Lydia, a woman who was a worshiper 
of God, but was nevertheless dead in her trespasses and sins. 
The Lord Most High has given us a gospel that is powerful. Paul the Apostle says, I'm not 
ashamed of it, for it is the power of God unto salvation for 
everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greeks. Thirdly, the persecution of the 
missionaries. The persecution was obviously 
instigated by wretched men. Certainly the marketplace full 
of sinners jumped right on board with them, and then the magistrates 
confirmed or affirmed them. There is going to be persecution. You see it in the reading from 
John chapter 3. That's not why I read it. I'm going to end this 
morning on Numbers 21. But in John 3, Jesus tells us 
that the darkness doesn't want to come to the light. Why? Because 
the darkness doesn't want its evil deeds exposed. And that's 
why there's such opposition to the preaching of Christ and Him 
crucified. A fourth observation that I think 
jumps out of the text, and it does throughout these missionary 
journeys, is the courage of the missionaries. The courage and 
the bravery of the missionaries. Brethren, look at what they were 
subject to. Look at what they underwent. 
And instead, in verse 25, instead of them whining and moaning and 
crying and calling for their legal counsel, They are praying 
to God and they are singing hymns of praise to God. They're not 
groaning against men, but rather they're blessing the Lord Most 
High for His wonderful grace and His wonderful mercy and His 
loving kindness. I think the lesson is, is that 
when we step out in faith and we exercise under God a holy 
boldness or courage, The Lord sustains, the Lord blesses, the 
Lord doesn't leave us, nor does he forsake us. He is a good father 
and he is in it with us. And then finally, the gospel. It's a beautiful statement, as 
I said. And if it is the case that any 
man or men cannot preach, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and 
you shall be saved. And it's my encouragement that 
those men go find other colleagues. Numbers 21, verse four. I just 
want to end on this because, again, I think it displays for 
us the simplicity of the gospel. Numbers 21, verse 4, Then they 
journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around 
the land of Edom. And the soul of the people became 
very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against 
God and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out 
of Egypt to die in the wilderness? It's amazing. Men would rather 
die as slaves than live as free men. I still don't get it. I 
feel like there's even some of that in me. I've been brought 
up on a civil state where it's cradle to grave and you get fearful. Brethren, we ought to fear God. 
We ought to fear Him. Why have you brought us up out 
of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water 
and our soul loathes this worthless bread. So the Lord sent fiery 
serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many 
of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to 
Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the 
Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he take 
away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people. 
Then the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent, set it 
on a pole, and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when 
he looks at it, shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, 
put it on a pole, and so it was. If a serpent had bitten anyone, 
when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. There might 
be those of us today that would go back in time and say, well, 
that's not, that's too easy. They got to agonize. They got 
to feel their sin. They got to know what that venom 
is like. They have to sufficiently taste 
the misery involved in their having been bit. This is too 
simple. statement in John 3, just as 
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must also 
the Son of Man be lifted up. What's his point? Look at and 
live. That's his point. Look and live. If you haven't, look and live. 
If you have, rejoice. Rejoice and rejoice because of 
God's grace. Let us pray. Father, we thank 
you for your word. We thank you for the simple gospel 
of Jesus Christ our Lord. We thank you that you don't command 
us to do more, to think harder, to try harder, to perfect our 
merit before you. You call us to look to the one 
you sent into this world, sinners to save. You call us to believe 
on Him who lived in obedience to your law, who died as a sacrifice 
and a substitute on the cross, and who was raised the third 
day. God, thank you. We praise you. We give glory 
to you for this wonderful gospel, this good news. And I pray that 
this word would go forth throughout the earth today, and people from 
every tribe, tongue, people, and nation would look unto Jesus 
and be saved. As you say through the prophet, 
look to me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for I 
am God and there is no other. May this be highlighted throughout 
preaching today, and may sinners everywhere come to the Lord Jesus 
Christ. And we pray in His most blessed 
name. Amen.