Please bow your heads once more as we go to the Lord to ask His blessing on the public preaching of His Word. Let's pray together. Father, You know that we are weak. We are nothing. We don't know or understand as we ought. If you had not given us your word, we would be completely clueless as to who you are or what you expect, what pleases you and displeases you. We're distracted. We're tempted. We are wayward. We need You to shepherd us. We need You to speak Your Word to us afresh. And we need to receive Your Word implanted and is able to save our souls. Lord, would You make us wise to listen, to not spurn instruction or reproof, Lord, may we not be foolish. May we hear and heed your word as that which is able to save our souls. Help us not to think that we already know everything. Open our ears. Soften our hearts. Open our hearts. Open our eyes, and we might see wonderful things from Your law. And You say that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from Your mouth. So Lord, feed us now, and may we taste and see that You are good. For Jesus' sake, amen. Where is Jesus when we are confused and suffering? If Christ is so good, then why does he let it get so bad for Christians? Is Jesus really in control, or does he have serious competition from the world? We encounter those questions and more in our text for this morning, Acts 16, verses 6-40. And we will see, among many other things, that Jesus still reigns as Lord of Lords to lead the spread of His sovereign salvation. That's the main point of everything that will be said this morning in the sermon. We'll see that Jesus still reigns as Lord of Lords to lead the spread of His sovereign salvation. We're going to structure our time in God's Word this morning by noticing six spheres. Six spheres of Jesus' Lordship over the world and over his mission to save it. We're going to read it piecemeal because it reads piecemeal. Chapter 16, starting in verses 6-10. Acts 16, starting in verse 6. And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, including God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So Jesus still reigns as Lord of Lords to lead the spread of His sovereign salvation. First sphere of His Lordship over the world is He is Lord of the itinerary. He is Lord of the itinerary. In verses 6-10, we don't know why, we don't know how, but the Holy Spirit forbid the apostles from speaking the gospel in Asia. And then the spirit of Jesus forbid them from going into Bithynia, northern Turkey. The reasons and barriers may have been political or geographical. They may have been personal or financial. They may have been weather related or medical. We don't know. I think it's probably a stretch, though, to just assume that Paul didn't have a piece about preaching the gospel in Asia or Bithynia. That's too unclear. What is clear is that God gives Paul the dream of the Macedonian man asking for help in modern-day Greece, Macedonia. And with that, the apostles conclude that God wanted them to go preach the gospel in Macedonia. And you'll notice there, Luke uses the word we. Luke is now with them. More importantly, we should notice the Trinitarian theology of this little paragraph. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, God. All at the same time. And this rules out the heresy of modalism, that God is one person who takes three different forms or modes over time. At first God the Father, then God the Son, then the Holy Spirit consecutively in history. No, Holy Spirit, Jesus, God are all communicating to Paul. Now this does not mean that you and I can tune in to each one of the persons of the Trinity like a radio frequency. But it does mean that God is always three persons in one being. Nor does it mean that we ourselves should be seeking these kinds of dreams and visions. This happened in a special case with an apostle to guide him where he should go the next initial expansion of the Gospel message. Even Paul himself didn't get these dreams all the time. That's why they're so noteworthy even in Scripture. They don't happen all the time even in Scripture. They're uncommon. But the point here in this first little paragraph is that the Lord is sovereign over the itinerary of the gospel. He says no and He says yes. And the apostles, for their part, are obedient to go where the Lord led them by His providence over their circumstances and by His special revelation in Paul's dream. So for us, let's trust God when His providence says no to our plans or redirects us to an unexpected place. Let's not work against Him or move ahead of Him or lag behind Him. Let's follow quickly after Him and let's obey what He reveals to us in the special revelation of Scripture. God has given us 66 books, 1190 chapters of his clear, special revelation to us. How much of it have you read? Have you read all of it? Have you understood all of it? Have you heard all of it preached? Do you know what it all means? Until you do, don't expect a dream. Parents, you know this. You're not going to entrust your children with more knowledge about how the family works or responsibility until they have mastered what you have already told them. what you already think they ought to know. Let's focus on knowing and obeying Scripture and understanding God's providence in our circumstances in light of His truth, His priorities, His promises, His commands and prohibitions in Scripture. You will not understand God's providence in your life unless you do put it into the context of His special revelation to you in Scripture. You will misread everything around you if you don't read and understand God's Word. Paul was guided by the dream as the dream interpreted his providence. And we are guided by Scripture as Scripture interprets our providence and experience of providence. Scripture is to us as the dream was to Paul. You already have 1190 chapters of Jesus talking to you. You want to hear Him? Open up. He's talking to you. You're offended when you're talking to people and they're not listening to you, right? You don't like that, do you? You're talking to your kid, you're talking to an employee, or you're talking to your boss, you're talking to your spouse, and they're not listening to you. You don't like that, do you? How does that make you feel? We all know the word. I want to feel heard. I want to feel understood. Hey, God's talking to you. He expects to feel heard and understood by you. Are you listening to Him? Do you read His Word? Do you understand it? Are you trying? Are you trying? Or are you just complaining that He's not talking to you in a way that you want? Devote yourself to listening to God's Word in Scripture. This is where you're going to get to know God. In Scripture. This is where you're going to understand what He's doing in Scripture. This is where you're going to understand what He expects from you and how you should prioritize your life from Scripture. He's already told you. Scripture It's priorities, promises, commands, prohibitions. It gives us the criteria for making right decisions between unclear options in our lives. Scripture is our special revelation. We should not expect more special revelation from God if we have not already exhausted the resources of special revelation in Scripture. So He is the Lord of the itinerary and that means He sets the priorities for the mission. He tells you in Scripture what He wants from you. He's going to show you how to interpret His providences in your life by clarifying them from Scripture. Jesus is Lord of the human heart, verses 11-15. So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city in the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days, and on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who had heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. Jesus is Lord of the heart. The apostles are finding their way around modern-day Turkey when the Lord's providence makes it clear to them the only direction to go is west towards Troas and across to Samothrace and Neapolis, which puts them in northeastern Greece, which in the Bible, again, is called Macedonia. They hoof it from Neapolis to Philippi, which is likely a main city of Greece back then. It was a Roman colony, which meant it was resettled with a population of Roman soldiers. It was a military city. As a colony, if you were from Philippi, you were already granted status as a citizen of the Roman Empire. You were special. You had privileges. Philippi was proudly, patriotically Roman. It was full of military veterans and their families. And it was strategically located on a major east-west road in the Roman Empire, the Via Ignatia, which linked Europe with Asia. So Philippi is a city with the privilege of Roman citizenship, the pedigree of military power, and a very strategic position that provided potential for gospel expansion to the east and the west. But Paul, Silas, Luke, and Timothy are not looking for military museums and monuments. This is not a vacation. It's not a tourist destination for them. They're looking for a prayer meeting on the Sabbath where they can find some soft soil for the gospel to take root. And they find a little women's prayer meeting just outside town by a river. Now look, man, if you're a first century Roman and you're reading this, and you're like, okay, impress me. Impress me with the pedigree of Christianity. This is not how you do it. Right? Like, if you want to impress me as a first century man, Roman citizen, how are you going to tell a story? And they found a VA. They found a place that was full of hundreds of military veterans. And the Lord caused a revival among manly men. And they dropped their swords, and everybody melted into tears, and they repented and believed, and they had a church of 400 people immediately. I mean, isn't that kind of how you would think that would go? Not how it goes. And they find a little women's prayer group. I mean, that kind of sounds a little pathetic. Like, really? This is where you're going to start? You can't even find men! I mean, in the first century, if you want to start something, Persuade some men to get after it. It's not where it begins. It begins with a women's prayer meeting by a river. Purple fabrics were high-end materials that usually only rich people could afford. Dealing in purple was big business with wealthy clients, and there's no mention of her husband. Maybe she has one, maybe she doesn't. We don't know. So she's either single, divorced, or widowed, or I don't know. Her husband just isn't in the picture. And she's doing well enough for herself that she has a household of her own with dependents and maybe even servants. Lydia is competent, she's wealthy, and she's an independent woman. When she hears Paul preach, the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. I don't know a whole lot of more heartwarming sentences than that. The Lord Jesus sovereignly moves in her heart to produce not only attention, but agreement. What Paul is saying becomes riveting to her. She responds with such faith and repentance that she gets baptized as a believer in Christ. In fact, her whole household follows her lead. They believe Paul's preaching and get baptized too. Now, it doesn't say all that there, but the clearer instance of the Philippian jailer's whole household getting baptized later in this chapter interprets the less clear instance here. But of course, we don't have time to preach the family conversion of the jailer twice, so we're going to see the implications of that household baptism for this one when we get there. Suffice it to say here, the Lord opened Lydia's heart to believe and to be baptized, probably in the nearby river where they were just meeting, with the implication that the Lord did the same thing for the other members of Lydia's household as well. He opened their hearts too. Maybe using her testimony. So God's opening of Lydia's heart illustrates the doctrine, the necessity, the sovereignty, and the blessing of regeneration, new spiritual life and birth being given As our statement of faith just said, in a manner above our comprehension. We don't understand it. We don't get how it works. I can't explain regeneration to you. If you want that explained to you, you're going to have to go to somebody smarter and more spiritual than me. I don't think the Bible explains how it happens. God does it. It's something He just does in you. He gives you new birth. He gives you new life. Without your permission, without you even saying it's okay for Him to do it, He just gives it to you. Like you got your physical birth. That was just given to you. You didn't ask your parents, hey, can I be born now? I am ready to be conceived. No one says that. You're not there to say it. That's how regeneration works. The Lord opened her heart so that she would pay attention to the gospel, repent of her sin, repent of her self-reliance, and trust in Christ alone to be reconciled to God and forgiven of our sins. God did that in connection with the proclamation and hearing of biblical truth. Paul was speaking the gospel to them. But just speaking the gospel to someone cannot convert them. It's necessary. It is not sufficient. The Lord had to open their hearts to pay attention, to trust, to repent, to be baptized and identified with the local church. So brothers and sisters, our job is to be faithful in speaking the message of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins. We cannot make people respond to that message. That's above our pay grade. We cannot open hearts. But the Lord Jesus can and does. Jesus is Lord of the human heart and home. So let's pray together that the Lord opens more hearts to respond to His gospel as we speak it to them. Let's pray that the Lord sends us out to them to speak His word to them. Let's pray that the Lord brings them here to us to hear His word and to be saved. Let's gather on Sunday evenings to pray these things together regularly. The reason we pray is to acknowledge our dependence on God and to defer all credit and praise to Him once He answers our prayers. He's already told us through the prophet Isaiah, So what happens when a church sees massive numerical growth and hasn't prayed for it? They're tempted to take at least a little of the glory for themselves. We've got a great preacher. We've got a great music program. We've got a great congregation. We must be real holy. God doesn't share his glory with people like that. He doesn't like that. He likes it when we pray. And when we see him do things, then we say, ah, hey, wait a minute. We ask Jesus to do that for us. And look, it's happening. He must be doing it for us. That honors God. That's what we want. So we pray together as a way of imitating the early church and amplifying our voices so that God hears us all asking the same thing at the same time with the same mind and heart expressed in our amen with each other. Now, friend, if you're a non-Christian here with us, whether you're a visitor or a young adult still living at home with your parents who are Christians, we're praying that the Lord would do just this in your heart, that He would open your heart to pay attention to what's being said about the gospel in this church. We want you to pray that as well. Ask the Lord to open your own heart to respond to the good news that God, your Creator and Judge, has sent Jesus to live a sinless life in your place on your behalf, to endure on your behalf the curse that you deserve for your sins, that we all deserve. The Father raised the Son from the dead to vindicate His sinlessness, to unite us with Him, and when we trust in Him to reconcile us to God, we're forgiven of our sins. We pray that God would give you a heart to turn away from your own way of thinking. That He would turn you away from your own stubbornness, your own assumption that you're right about everything, that you can argue your way into agreeing with yourself. that you would repent of your cobbled together worldview and trust instead in the truth and righteousness of Jesus. Your heart will not open to those truths by itself. The Lord must open your heart to respond like that and He would love to do that for you. We would love if He did it for you. We're praying for you to that end. But again, no one becomes a Christian the way someone becomes, say, Hindu or Muslim or Buddhist. It's not a self-directed, unconstrained choice of your will. Like, ah, I converted to Hinduism yesterday. I decided to do it. It doesn't work like that. It's not merely decisionistic. You can choose other world religions without God opening your heart, but if you try to choose Christianity that way, you'll just become obnoxiously moral and self-righteous. Either in a traditional way or in a progressive way. And you'll think that the difference between you and those who don't believe in Jesus is that you use your free will better than they use theirs. And guess what that's going to make you? An arrogant Christian. Nobody's going to want to be around. But that's not why you and I were saved and they're not saved. It's not because we're better, because we know, because we did something good, because we decided something good. It's because God opened our hearts. What you really need is to be humbled by God's grace atoning for your sins under Jesus' blood. You need an open heart to be convinced that Jesus really is the eternal Son of God, clothed in human flesh, come to die for your sins, to rise from the dead, and to represent you before God in His sinless righteousness. Your sinful heart will never make the first move in admitting those things. You're too stubborn. I don't say that because I know you personally. I say that because that's what the Bible says about the human heart. Remember Genesis 6-5? Every intent of the thought of man's heart was only evil continually. Hey, non-Christian, that's true of you. You don't naturally love God, do you? If you're a non-Christian teen here in this room and your parents dragged you here, Why do you think you're not interested in what I'm saying right now? Because every intent, the thoughts of your heart is only evil continually. And all you got on your mind is getting to the next thing that's going to be exciting and fun and that will satisfy your flesh. That's why regeneration, new spiritual life, must come before repentance and faith. Because guess what? The old human heart, the natural human heart in sin, that doesn't repent. That heart won't repent. And when you believe that about yourself, then you're truly humbled. God, I can't repent. I don't even want to repent. I have no desire to repent. Alright, now you're starting to know yourself. Now you know how desperate you are. Now you know that you really are at God's mercy. The good news is God gives new hearts. He loves doing that. It's his best gift. Notice, too, Lydia's hospitality. Conversion creates commitment to costly community. You see how this happens almost immediately with Lydia. She's converted. She turns from her sin and selfishness to Christ and the gospel. And immediately, she wants the apostles to stick around for a meal. And if you call yourself a Christian, and you're indifferent to being with other Christians, or you think that's an imposition on your time and energy, I'm not sure what you mean by calling yourself a Christian. For Lydia, to be a Christian means, hey man, I just got a whole new family, and I want to be with them. Is that true of you? Now, I know we're all on the spectrum of introverted and extroverted. I like to refer to myself as an introvert with high inclusion needs. If you're an introvert, I'm with you, man. I get it. I recharge sometimes because I'm alone. I like to read a book. I'm kind of bookish. I get it. But if you don't love being with God's people, under God's Word, singing His praises, hearing His Word preached, prayed, sung, and read together, if that's not strengthening to you... Jesus loves being with His people. He can't get enough of us. But if you find yourself easily getting enough of Him and His people, that says more about you than about God's people. The Lord is the Lord of the human heart. Third, Jesus is Lord of the oppressor. He is Lord even of the oppressor. Verses 16-18, as we're going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling. That word owners is her lords. She followed Paul and us crying out, These men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to you the way of salvation. A demon possessed girl saying that stuff. And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, a wonderfully human description of Paul, turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out that very hour. So verse 16 is either a flashback from before the prayer meeting or it might indicate that the Riverside meeting was just an appetizer to the main meeting that was going to happen somewhere else. Either way, Paul and his three friends are on their way to the prayer meeting when they're suddenly met by a slave girl who has an evil spirit that acts as a medium or a fortune teller. She's not free. She has lords over her. Her owners are literally her lords, which contrasts and competes with the Lord who opened Lydia's heart. So now you've got two lords, a heavenly Lord and an earthly Lord. These men are acting as overlords, using this girl as a cash cow, and they are making a fortune from this girl telling people their fortunes. They're oppressing her just as much as the evil spirit is oppressing her. But it's what this girl tells people about Paul and the others that's surprising. These men are servants of the Most High God. It reminds you of how the demons acknowledge Jesus as the Son of the Most High God in Mark 2, Mark 1. But she wouldn't stop. Day after day. I mean, this is like a week, two weeks. It's many days. Can you imagine? You're trying to do evangelism in this city. And this girl's following you around for a week or two. These men are servants of the Most High God, proclaiming to you salvation, a message of salvation. Like, yes, we are. Yes, yes, yes. Thank you. That'll be all. Right? Like, I'm ready to preach. Now, can I preach a sermon? Instead of the demon preaching one? Paul gets so annoyed that he turns to command the Spirit in the name of Jesus to come out. It comes out right then and there. The Lord Jesus is Lord over the oppressor, both the spiritual and the human oppressor. Jesus is Lord over all overlords. He has power to free people who are oppressed by evil spirits and evil human leaders. Even the evil spirits know this and cannot help preaching it. You notice that the demons are not contradicting the identities of the apostles. They're confessing their identities. They're right. They're telling the truth. They recognize the apostles as official representatives of Jesus as Lord of the oppressor, and they blurt out the apostles' identity in the saving message they preach. So if you're a skeptic of Christianity, just let that sink in. I mean, read the Bible on its own merits. Just read it. Right there. Just take that for what it's worth. Demons recognize the authority of Jesus' apostles. Not just the authority of Jesus, but the authority of Jesus' apostles. Demons recognize, ah, these guys are the real deal. These guys are legit. They're servants of the Most High God. You shouldn't doubt them. They are who they say they are. Look, non-Christian. Look, skeptic. Who's too smart for your own good. Demons have better theology than you do. A demon believes truth better than you believe the truth. That's what the Bible says about you. You are too smart for your own good. You're getting wrapped around your own axle. A demon has sorted out the authority of the apostles to write scripture. You haven't sorted that out yet, have you? Jesus' demonic enemies vouch for the apostles as trustworthy representatives of Jesus and his message. These men proclaim to you salvation, said a demon. And that same demon says the same thing to you today through this scripture. This demon is preaching to you, skeptic. Even the demons are evangelizing you. Now I realize that you can tell yourself, well, the apostles are the ones who wrote Acts 16, so they control the narrative. Okay, you tell yourself that all you want. But what do the apostles get from it? I mean, do you really think this is some kind of Marxist power play for them? Look at what they get for it in verses 19 to 24. They get bruised and bloodied. So much for, oh, I want power. They get imprisoned. So if you're doubting, based on the apostles' self-promoting interest, I think the Bible is just telling you that you're dead wrong. There was nothing in it for them, not in this life. More seriously, if you doubt the apostles because you think they're biased, then you're actually under the thumb of falsehood and oppression just as much as a slave girl is. If a demon testifying to the honesty of the apostles and the salvation in Jesus isn't good enough for you, I don't think anything will be. What would convince you? It's just as Jesus said. I mean, Jesus said this. If you don't believe Moses and the prophets, then you won't believe even if someone returns from the dead. Look, you can get saved from reading Leviticus. I know someone who did. So skeptic, your unbelief is not about evidence. And it's not about logic. It's not about reason. It's not about science. It's about your own bias. You're the biased one. You're biased towards your own sin and smarts and self-righteousness. You just think you're better. If all you're doing is looking for excuses not to repent, your sinful heart's going to find plenty because your sinful heart is biased towards itself, isn't it? But if you're looking for a reason to believe, all you've got to do is read Scripture and ask God to give you an open heart. And what happened to Lydia can happen for you, no matter how skeptical you are. And Christian, we do not need to fear evil spirits. They are real, and they also know what side their bread is buttered on. They recognize you for who you are in Christ. That's all they can do. You are in Christ. Christ is in you. They hate Jesus. They hate you for being in Jesus, but they are powerless to take you from Jesus. So, don't be intimidated by them. Jesus is their Lord, too, and they know it. They know it. Since Jesus is Lord of the oppressor, we should pray that Jesus will free more people from the oppressions of substance abuse and pornography. From slavery to sexual sins, both heterosexual and homosexual. From marital strife. From argumentativeness. From stubbornness. The power of these sins over people is real. It is strong. It is often even identifying. But Jesus' power is greater than the power of all of these sins. Jesus is enough. Jesus is stronger than the oppressive power of the most enslaving sin. So let's pray that Jesus will release people from the oppression of substance abuse, abusive relationships, addictions, delusions, and worldviews that enslave them and send them to hell. Let's pray that he frees them from the idolatry of greed and power. Friends, Jesus is enough. In one moment, this girl went from being oppressed to being freed. Sinner, that could be you today. Right now. Whatever you're into, whatever you're under, whatever sin or addiction or lust or evil power that has you under its thumb, Jesus is Lord. He has authority and power to free you from it, and He is enough for you. He is powerful enough, merciful enough, patient enough, authoritative enough, compassionate enough, wise enough, kind enough. Fourth, Jesus is Lord of our pain and persecution. He is Lord of our pain and persecution. Verses 19-24. But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, These men are Jews. They're disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice. So when this girl's overlords see that the demon came out, What do they see? They see money slipping through their hands. Ah! My 401K. My steady paycheck. My cash cow. I see money flowing out of this woman. I can't get it back. Demon's out. Check's out. No more money. Well. They're not taking that sitting down, are they? Cash cow's out of milk. And so they say, citizens arrest. Lay hands on that man. Stop them. So they lay hands on Paul and Silas. They drag them into the public marketplace to face the rulers and they bring false charges against them. It's a kangaroo court. Listen to the charge of the so-called prosecution. This is basically mob justice at Jules Osco. Basically, that's what they are. They're the parking lot of a grocery store. It's in the marketplace. This is just how they did it. Like, ah, let's get a mob together and get these guys out of here. They said, these men are Jews. That's their opening line. That's the opening statement of the prosecution. These men are Jews. It's totally racist. This is lowball. So they're using ethnic prejudice in a Roman town right off the bat. And they're disturbing our city. Really, they're disturbing your city. How, pray tell, are they disturbing your city, friend? By attending a prayer meeting? By the river outside the city wall? Is that how they're disturbing your city? Are they casting out a demon? Is that disturbing the city? Are these guys really doing their civic duty? I don't think so. They're upset that Paul put an end to their hustle. They're not concerned citizens, they're out-of-work shysters. And they're advocating customs that are not lawful for us, as Romans, to accept. Us versus them. Insider versus outsider. Native versus visitor. There's the clincher. It's empty, but it's a clincher in a Roman colony. These guys are Jews, not Romans, they say. They're playing to the gallery, and it works. The whole crowd, immediately, that's when the whole crowd joins in. Oh, they're Jews and they're doing stuff that's not good for us as Romans to do? Let's get them! A riot is all it takes for the magistrates to give Paul and Silas an official beat down. False arrest, corrupt prosecution, mob justice, police brutality, wrongful imprisonment. That's how it went down. They get handed over to the jailer who's told, keep them securely. The jailer puts them not just in the outer prison but in the inner prison cell as secure as it gets and he secures their feet in the stocks. No getting out of there. Right? So this is the low point. This is the now what moment for Paul and Philippi. What do we do now? What's going to happen now? Where's Jesus now? I thought we were on the right side of things. And if we're reading this honestly, we might be tempted to ask that too. Well, my goodness, if Jesus is Lord, then where in the world is He at this very moment? If Jesus is Lord, then why couldn't He have kept the apostles out of prison? Right? We kind of say that. We look at this moment and we're like, if Jesus is so in control, if Jesus is so sovereign, why did He just not let this happen? We kind of say it with a little attitude, don't we? We kind of say it like a 17-year-old kid. Why don't you just not let it happen? You're so sovereign. Right? Like we just think we know everything. I mean, where is the Lord Jesus when Paul and Silas are getting beaten to a pulp? Where is He? Where is the Lord Jesus when His best servants are getting falsely accused, publicly humiliated, wrongly imprisoned? Where is He? It's very easy to see Jesus open in Lydia's heart and saving the slave girl, but where is Jesus now? Well, Jesus is right there ruling in the midst of it. He's with them. He's with them. Jesus is in and with Paul and Silas as they are suffering. He is reproducing his own suffering, death and resurrection in their suffering so that they can join Jesus in the glory of his resurrection. Jesus is in the thick of it, comforting them in the fellowship of his sufferings. Why do you think that they're singing in the prison? Whose spirit is motivating that? He's conforming their suffering to His suffering, conforming their resurrection to His resurrection. After all, does not this scene sound at least somewhat familiar from Jesus' own life? Jesus Himself was falsely accused of blasphemy. He was stripped. Jesus was beaten to a pulp. Even crucified, dead, and buried. And remember what the ruler said to the soldiers about his tomb? Matthew 27, 65. Keep it as secure as you can. Same word. So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. And we see what good that did. Same thing here. Secure the prisoners. And he even secures their feet in the wooden cuffs. The imprisonment of Paul and Silas is the apostolic equivalent of Jesus being placed in the tomb. Jesus is conforming the apostles' experience to his own. They continue Jesus' suffering ministry. The Christian life is a cross-shaped life. You wonder what's going on in your own life? You thought it was all going to be a bed of roses when you became a Christian. And now you're suffering, and now you've got more problems than you had before you became a Christian. It's harder now, isn't it? Why is that? Because Jesus is making you like himself. That's why. And the only way he does that is by ushering you into the fellowship of his sufferings. We all want to say, I want to know Jesus. I want to get closer to Jesus. I don't want to be dry. I want to be so alive in Christ. I want to be on fire for Jesus. You know how you get like that? You know how you get close to Jesus? You suffer with Him. That's how he draws you. Because the only way your self-reliant heart is going to cry out to him is if things get bad enough and he brings you to an end of yourself. Right? How often have you been very consistent in your quiet times when everything's going your way? But, if Paul and Silas are in the tomb, as it were, that must mean there's a resurrection coming. We just gotta wait for it. Jesus is Lord of our pain, of our persecution, and of our experience of injustice. As Lord of lords, he allows lesser lords to gain a temporary upper hand over us, only to get the final upper hand over them, himself. to get glory over them, just as He did, remember, over Pharaoh. Look. It's not a big deal when the number one team in the league beats up on the number 32 team in the league, right? That's not a big deal. That's not a big win. You're supposed to win that game. It's a big deal when the number one team wins with a team that's tied for them for number one. That's a big win. If UConn had gotten to the national championship game and they beat Kennesaw State in the national championship, so what? But they beat another number one seed. That was a big deal. And you don't want to beat the other team at not full strength. You want to beat them at full strength. That's what Jesus is doing here. He's beating the opponent at full strength. Jesus permits His spokesman to be falsely imprisoned, permits it, allows it, brings it about, causes it, oversees it, rules it, ordains it, whatever verb you want to use, yes. Jesus is Lord of it, Lord over it, in control of it, and the human agents who carry it out against God's servants. He's in control of them too. Jesus spots His opponent a hundred points and still beats him in regulation. Friends, when God takes you through a personal low like this, especially when it's suffering for the name of Jesus, it doesn't always mean you did something wrong. Jesus may well be simply conforming your life and suffering to the image of His Son. Joseph went to prison, falsely accused, only to rise to Pharaoh's right hand. Moses was in the back of the wilderness 40 years before he led Israel. Ruth is left desolate and bitter, only to be redeemed and even included in the Messianic lineage. David had so many low points and betrayals, there are too many to count. Daniel was in the furnace in the lion's den only to be delivered as a trophy of God's grace. Mordecai feared the gallows only to see Haman hung on them. If none of those illustrations make sense to you, you need to read your Old Testament. Jesus hung on the cross and lay in the tomb, only to be raised from the dead, ascended to God's right hand, and installed as King of kings and Lord of lords. Paul and Silas were falsely accused, brutally beaten, wrongfully imprisoned, only to be... Well, now we're getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we? And now it's your turn, Christian. It's our turn. Suffering, then glory. That's the only way it works in the Christian life. You follow a suffering Christ, so when it is your turn to suffer for Jesus, remember He suffered for you first. He was the one falsely accused, unjustly beaten, wrongly executed, so that His innocent blood might cover your sinful soul. And now He's going to use your sufferings for your loyalty to Him in order to sanctify your heart, to be more like His, to conform your life to His life, to reflect both His suffering and His glory in your suffering. This is an inescapable part of being Christ-like. But it's only a stop along the way. And He will be with you through it all to overcome your enemies. You don't have to sulk your way through your suffering. You can sing your way through it. Which brings us to our fifth point, the fifth sphere of Jesus' Lordship over the world and His mission to save it. He is Lord of the prison. Verses 25 to 34. He's about to kill himself. The jailer called for the lights, rushed in, trembling with fear. He fell down before Paul and Silas, and then he brought them out and said, And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. And he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into this house and set food before him. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. It's the middle of the night. Paul and Silas are still in the center of the cell block. All the other prisoners surrounding them. It's dark, dank. They're praying and singing hymns to God. And everybody's listening to them in the prison. Out of nowhere, huge earthquake shakes the prison foundation. All the cell doors swing open, just like Lydia's heart. All the prisoners' cuffs come loose. The earthquake breaks all the secure bonds that the worldly lords had fastened on the apostles. Well, the prison guard finally wakes up outside the cell blocks. As soon as he sees what's what, he knows he's cooked. You lose prisoners, you lose your head. And here, all the prison doors are open. So, he's about to take his life. Because he assumes all the prisoners have taken off. This is gonna be an honor killing. But the way the story reads, Paul sees him from outside, calls out to the jailer, don't do yourself any harm, we're all still here. Now wait a minute. Are you kidding me? They're all still there? We're all still here, even the people not named Paul and Silas, even the non-Christian bad dudes? Even the gangbangers? Even the murderers and the thieves? Why? How? What in the world is keeping the other prisoners around? As far as I can tell, the only thing that would keep them around is that they heard Paul praying and hymning God. Something about those hymns clicked in their hearts. It's hard to be certain, but what other explanation would there be? If an earthquake hit Rikers or Attica, And all the cell doors swung open. You don't think most of the guys there doing a bullet for assault or a nickel for armed robbery wouldn't be in the wind in like 10 minutes? That's not to mention the guys doing 25 to life. Why are they all, all still there? You ever wonder? You wonder if those guys got saved on a hymn and a prayer. Well, the prison guard hears Paul's voice, and that's the sweetest music he's ever heard. So from outside, he asks for the torches to be lit so he can see his way in. He wastes no time, rushes in, falls at the apostles' feet, utter gratitude and relief, leads them both outside, looks at... and look at what he calls them. Lords. Lords. Here he is, master of the prison. He's calling the apostolic prisoners Lords. The Lord of Lords has turned the tables. What's more, he asked them, what must I do to be saved? Pretty ironic. Paul and Silas were the prisoners, but it's the guard who needs to be saved. Even though he's going to keep his job, keep his head. But where's the jailer getting that language, saved? He probably got it from the circulating story of the slave girl running around yelling about Paul and Silas, proclaiming the way of salvation. That's why they're in the clinic in the first place. He at least heard the hymns of salvation Paul was singing. The earthquake confirmed the evangel for this guy. Paul's answer comes back, believe on who? The Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your house. Believe on the Lord who opened Lydia's heart. Believe on the Lord who freed the servant girl from her overlords. Believe on the Lord who Paul is about to preach to the jailer's family. And Paul spoke to him the word of the Lord with all those who came to his house. Still the middle of the night, Jailer takes the apostles to wash their wounds from the public beating they endured and then, in a very fitting stroke of reciprocity, they baptize him. He washes them, they baptize him. And they all rejoice that he had believed at his house at the midnight feast. Now look again at what just happened to the Jailer. Jesus first saves him from committing suicide and then Jesus saves him from the power and penalty of his sins. the jailer had experienced a mini death and resurrection right here himself. Suicidal one moment, saved the next, celebrating with his family. Jesus is not only Lord of the prison, he is Lord of the Lord of the prison. And Jesus is Lord of the conditions for baptism as well. These household baptism passages are often used by our dear Presbyterian friends to justify baptizing the infants of believing parents. See, they say, he believed and his whole household was baptized. That's how they use it. But that's not the whole of it. Yes, He does believe, and yes, they are baptized, but they are baptized on the same condition that He is baptized. Not simply because He believed on their behalf, but because they believe for themselves. What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your house. You and your house what? It's not just you believe on the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved, whether they believe or not. After all, would that include his wife? His adult servants? Can you as an adult be saved by a family member's faith? No. The meaning is, believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, and the same condition and conclusion goes for your household as well. Your household will be saved if they believe as you do. The whole thing applies to the household too. If your household believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll be saved like you. They spoke to him the word of the Lord together with all those in the house. They spoke the word to others in the house. Are they speaking the word to infants and baptizing infants on the basis of speaking the word to infants? That's certainly not clear from the context. Even if it were, infants cannot understand the gospel or believe it to be saved. This is not proxy faith of parents on behalf of their infants. Why is everybody in the house rejoicing that the jailer believed in the first place, if they didn't also believe? Why is that such good news to everybody, if they didn't follow him in belief? Jesus laid out the conditions for baptism very clearly in the Great Commission in Matthew 28. Go, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them. Baptize the disciples. You make disciples, then you baptize disciples. You baptize them, not them and their unbelieving children in hopes that their unbelieving children will accept their baptism. We should love our Presbyterian friends, but we should stick with credo-baptism. Credo, C-R-E-D-O, meaning I believe. Meaning that we baptize only those individuals who already believe in Christ, because they believe in Christ. We should not believe in paedo, P-A-E-D-O, baptism. Paedo being the Greek word for infant or child. Presbyterians can be great on the gospel without being great on the relationship of baptism and the gospel. Now we should not expect a supernatural earthquake, but God has given Jesus as Lord over all things for the sake of the church, if He's just one. So we can expect Jesus to give us kind providences, even when we are at the lowest points in the story of our own lives in Christ. And if we trust Christ, even in the low points, then we can pray to Him there, we can sing, even when we're wrongly brutalized and imprisoned. Paul's down and out, but he's not down in the mouth. His mouth is still full of hymns to God, and those hymns influence and maybe even convert the other prisoners. They stay when they could have run, and for that reason, the jailer not only keeps his job, he keeps his head, and he also gets new spiritual life. He washes the apostles' wounds, they baptize him, and the Lord Jesus is revealed, not only as the Lord of the prison, but the Lord of the prison guard, because the Lord Jesus is Lord of all lords, even those outside the prison walls, and that brings us to our sixth and final sphere. Jesus is Lord of all lords. Verses 35 to 40, but when it was day, the magistrates sent the police saying, let those men go. Jailer reported these words to Paul saying, the magistrates are sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace. But Paul said to them, they've beaten us publicly. Uncondemned men who are Roman citizens have thrown us into the prison. They now throw us out secretly. No, let them come themselves and take us out. That's pretty bold. Police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens, so they came and apologized to them. They took them out, asked them to leave the city, so they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. When they'd seen the brothers, they encouraged them and deported. These magistrates, these policemen, they get to the party kind of late, don't they? Release these men, they say, mustering all their authority, and they're like, Spirit of the Lord already beat you to the punch, dude. They're already released. They were out. But they went back in. You notice this? They went back into the prison. And now Paul stands up for himself. Not as a Christian, but a Roman. The lords of the slave girls had referred to him and Silas as Jews. Here, though, he's turning the tables. He's a Roman citizen. Apparently a better Roman citizen than the ones that put him in jail. It was illegal. It was illegal to beat a Roman citizen like this and to imprison a Roman citizen without a fair trial. You couldn't do that. Philippians did both. Paul could press charges, imperial charges for that. That's why the magistrates get sweaty palms in verse 38. Paul could report the Philippian officials to the Roman feds if he wanted. Paul would have won that lawsuit. They know it. Paul and Silas are citizens in good standing. It's the police and magistrates who would stand condemned if Paul pressed charges. So they fall all over themselves, apologizing to them. Just go. Paul's like, not without a police escort. You guys are going to exonerate us. Y'all are walking us out of town. And that's what ends up happening. Again, whatever the particulars, the apostles come out of this smelling like roses. An important phrase, they come out, they went out. Happens twice in verses 39 to 40. The Lord Jesus got the demon out of the girl. The Lord Jesus got the apostles out of jail. Jesus is Lord of lords, whether they're spiritual lords, social lords, economic lords, civic lords. Jesus bests them all. He is Lord of lords. Paul viewed himself not only as a Christian, but as a Roman citizen. He used that citizenship to restore his public reputation and defend his civic protections. And we can do the same with our own civic protections. But ask yourself here, who's been the better Roman citizen in all of chapter 16? Paul or the police and magistrates? It's clear that the Christians are being the better citizens. He's beaten, falsely imprisoned. When the earthquake releases him, his hymns and prayers have such an effect on the other prisoners that nobody makes a run for it. After baptizing the jailer, eating midnight feasts with him, he goes straight back into the prison. And even when he points out the injustice of it all, he doesn't press charges like he could. He just asks for a civil servant escort out of the city to make it clear to everyone who's actually in the wrong. Paul wants the freedom to preach the gospel. And if all he did here were to turn the other cheek in terms of being walked all over, he would not be serving the cause of the gospel well. The government can't just beat down anyone for saying something unpopular or doing things that are inconvenient. But the point is sharper than just freedom of speech. Do Christians preach a gospel that sounds subversive to governments? Yes. The message that Jesus is Lord? Deeply subversive. It calls into question all of our deepest loyalties. But are Christians enemies of the state? No, not at all. Look at how they conduct themselves. Look at how respectful and even submissive Christians are to state authority, even when the state is the one mistreating them. Christian, if you want to plead Act 16 here as a passage for making full use of your civil rights, you go right ahead. That's good. But you better do your civic duties as well as Paul does them here. But of course, Paul can do his civic duty to human lords because he trusts fully in the kingship and care of the Lord of Lords. He trusts that Jesus still reigns today as Lord of Lords to lead the spread of His sovereign salvation. And we can trust the same today, and we should. Let's pray. Father, we thank You that You have given Jesus as Lord over all things for the sake of the church, and that we can trust Him. will be gracious to us, help us to trust Christ that He is in control, and may we sing our way through our sufferings for Jesus' sake. Amen.