at the gospel service tonight. We welcome you all in the Savior's great name. The hymn 203 is our opening hymn this Sabbath evening. I was sinking deep in sin, sinking to rise no more. overwhelmed by guilt within, mercy I did implore. Then the master of the sea heard my despairing cry. Christ my saviour lifted me, now safe am I. So hymn 203 and we'll stand together to sing please. Overwhelmed by guilt within, the mercy I give, Then the Master of the sea, thereby despairing cried, Christ, my Saviour, lift him, make thy Saviour mine. The love that lives in me The love that lives in me Oh, when no one but Christ could help The love that lives in me Hallelujah The love that lives in me The love that lives in me Oh, when the one, one Christ could help, the one who would help me. Look not but the Jesus complete, they say. He was led to my head's top, I don't think I'm free, wait. He's the master of the state, and billows his dreadful pain. Peter said, there was to be, he said, good day. Abba, lift him, be. Abba, lift him, be. When no one but Christ could help, Abba, lift him, be. Hallelujah, Abba. The love that lives in me, the love that lives in me, a way that no one but Christ can help. When the waves of sorrow roll, or when I am in distress, and Jesus takes my hand and gives every lobster bless, He will every fear dispel, Satisfy every need. All who need His loving heart find rest in Thee. Love lifted me. Love lifted me. When no one but Christ could help the love left in me. Hallelujah! The love left in me. The love left in me. When no one but Christ could help the love left in me. Amen. Let's just seek the Lord together. Pray the Lord will come and touch our hearts tonight in the gathering. Father, we do bow before Thee in the Saviour's name. Very glad that we can come to Thee in prayer. We want to come, Father, to give Thee the deepest thanks of our hearts for all the blessings that we receive from thee day by day. We're all able to say with the psalmist that our cup runneth over. Or we think of the bountiful manner in which you provide for us day by day. We look back upon this week, and we can even further look back upon our whole lives and be able to testify that You've given us every day our daily bread. And we want to praise Thee, Father, for Your goodness to us. The Scriptures tell us the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. And Lord, we can say that our lives have been full of the goodness of the Lord towards us. I want to pray, Father, for this time that You'll take away from our hearts and minds all those things that would distract us and even take our thoughts away from this service and from Your Word. Lord, Your Word tells us that we're not ignorant of Satan's devices. We're conscious. Father, You've taught us in Your Word even of how the devil works. And Lord, we want to pray that we'll not allow the devil to divert our minds tonight. We want to pray, Father, there will be no diversion in this meeting, away from our focus upon this service, and especially our focus, Father, upon the need of souls, those that are still out of Christ. We want to pray that these Gospel meetings on the Sabbath night will be blessed and used of God to the winning of souls. Lord, we pray that you'll come down upon us. We acknowledge freely tonight that we need the power of God to be upon our lives. We need Your power, the outpouring of Your Spirit, Father, to be upon the ministry of this church, upon the meetings that are held. Lord, we need to see an outpouring of Your Spirit in these days in which we live. Our land is in great need of a visitation of God, a great spiritual visitation. Lord, we confess that we need to see revival in the days in which we're found. We're asking Thee, Father, to send to us that mighty revival, the reviving move of the Spirit of God. We ask Thee, Father, to come and open the windows of heaven, pour out upon us a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive. We pray that You'll show to us evidences of the Lord at work, show to us The mercy drops around us falling, but, Lord, it is in earnest tonight for those showers that we would plead. We ask Thee, Father, even tonight as we've been singing about the love of Christ our Savior. Lord, how indifferent we can be to the things that we speak of, the things that we sing. We can come to that place that we take them so much for granted, and, Lord, we want to Ask tonight that even as we consider the greatness of the love of the Savior towards us, we want to pray that that might touch our hearts, Father. We want to pray that the love of Christ will melt our hearts, soften our hearts, even in this service tonight. Remember, Paul could say, the love of Christ constraineth us. And Lord, as we think of your love to us, our prayer is that you might deepen and strengthen even our love for Thee. We pray that You'll draw us farther after Thyself. We want to pray that there'll be some in this service tonight whose hearts will be overwhelmed with the love of Christ for sinners and be drawn by the Spirit, drawn in grace to the cross of Christ, even for salvation. We pray again, Father, for our families. We pray for household salvation as we come to think of the jailer tonight and the promise to him that if he believed, He would be saved in His house. And Lord, we want to plead that promise before Thee for the families of this congregation, for those in the meeting tonight that are concerned, deeply concerned about loved ones that are not right with God. We want to pray, Fathers, we've pleaded with Thee to visit our land. Our prayer is that You'll come and visit our families, O God, answer our cries. We want to pray, Father, that it will please Thee to unite every family in this church in Christ. May every member of every family know the Lord. May every member of every family be right with God, be in fellowship with Thee, and living their lives even in the service of the Master. We ask the Lord to remember our land just at this time. We pray for direction to be given in this land of ours. We think of the days of uncertainty, Father, in which we're found. And Lord, we ask Thee to come and intervene in the affairs of this nation of ours. Lord, our cry would be. that this would be a land, again, that honors the book of God, that it would be a land that loves the Lord and loves his word, that is a love for his day. Lord, we think of how your day is desecrated and your law is trampled underfoot. And Lord, we want to plead that you'll be merciful to this land. We do ask that in wrath you would remember mercy. We're conscious, Father, that our land deserves a judgment from God for the wickedness that is all around us. But we ask thee, Lord, to be gracious. We pray, Father, that you'll visit this land again in great blessing. We ask thee, Lord, to turn the hearts of the people again onto yourself. We do pray, Father, for this incoming week We ask for help in the meetings. Remember, the ladies is to gather tomorrow night. Miss McAthea, she will come in your will to speak. We pray that her sister will be used of God. We're mindful of her as she prepares to return to Uganda, even in this incoming week. We pray for the meeting on Wednesday night, and your servant that will come to speak. We pray, give him journeying mercies. We pray for the help of God to be granted in that meeting as well. So, Lord, hear these, the earnest cries of our heart. We just pray now that you'll come down. Our prayer is that heaven will come down, our souls to greet, and glory crown the mercy seat. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. We're turning to read together in the Scriptures, please. We're in the Acts of the Apostles from the 16th chapter. Acts chapter 16. We're going to begin to read at the 19th verse. part of the story of Paul and Silas and their visit to Philippi. These are the details of the story of the jailer. Acts 16 and the 19th verse. Let's hear the Lord's word to our hearts. It says, and when her master saw that the hope of their gains was gone, They caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace, onto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrates, saying, these men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. Having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stalks. And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. And 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 bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been flayed. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, "'Do thyself no harm, for we are all here.' Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, "'What must I do to be saved?' And they said, "'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, "'and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.' "'And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, "'and to all that were in his house. "'And he took them the same hour of the night, "'and washed their stripes, and was baptized. and all his straight way. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. And when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the prison told this, saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now, therefore, depart and go in peace. But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly, on condemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison. And now do they thrust us out privily, nay verily, but let them come themselves and fetch us out. And the sergeants told these words on to the magistrates, and they feared when they heard that they were Romans. And they came and besought them and brought them out and desired them to depart out of the city. And they went out of the prison and entered into the house of Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren They comforted them and departed." And we know the Lord will add His blessing to this reading of His Word. Just to highlight that final verse, the final statement, it says, when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them. You would have imagined after all that Paul and Silas had been through, the beating, the time in prison, it would have been the other way around. that the brethren would have comforted them. But it shows you the caliber, the spiritual caliber of the men, that they were undaunted by all that they had been through. And they came out of prison to comfort the brethren, to comfort the saints of God and Philippi at that time. Well, thank you for your presence. with us at our evening gospel service. We're very glad to see all who are present with us. We want you to know that we're thankful to you for your support, your fellowship, your faithful support of the work of God here in our mile. We thank all that are joining with us on the live stream again tonight. We appreciate you taking the time to share with us in our gospel service this evening. Remember the ladies meeting, or the meeting for the ladies tomorrow night at 8 o'clock. And our sister Miss Noreen McAfee will be along to speak to the ladies at that service. She's going to speak to us about life in Africa. That'll be very interesting for the ladies to hear. Remember that her sister, in the will of the Lord, is returning to Uganda this incoming Thursday, going back for two months or a little over it, and then returning around the end of or the end of July, rather, the take-up meetings, again, deputation meetings in August and September. So please remember, Miss McAfee, we encourage the ladies to come along tomorrow night, a good number to be in attendance, just to encourage our sister as she visits with us. Again, good to avail of the opportunity to hear our sister especially on this special subject. There will be some light refreshment after the service and a little time of fellowship for the ladies as well. Just to highlight as we're thinking of Miss McAfee returning on Thursday, the Reverend Jonathan Crane, Wallace's nephew, the minister of our church and convoy, he and his wife Jane will be traveling out. with Miss McAfee on Thursday. The Reverend Crane's going to supply the pulpit there at Emmanuel for the next four Lord's Days. They will be returning again to Northern Ireland on the 14th of June. So do remember them in your prayers, the Reverend. And Mrs. Baxter returned. They arrived back on Tuesday, passed after a seven-week period in Uganda. They were present at the missionary workshops in Lisbon yesterday. And Mr. Baxter took part in one of the panels and told a few details just of his experiences there. Remember, too, the midweek service this coming Wednesday night at 8. That's going to be an information night. The Reverend Brian McClung, minister for Newton Abbey Church, will be here to speak at that meeting to make a presentation on why charity registration is needed and what is involved in that charity registration. We'll also be giving out the two documents that we're going to be voting upon on the 1st of June. Adopting those two documents, they'll be given out to the Communicant members. Just to highlight, as we said this morning, the meeting is open to those in the congregation who are not Communicant members. You're welcome to come along to hear the presentation as well, but we especially encourage those who are communicant members of the church to be in attendance. There will be a brief meeting of the church committee on Wednesday night after the service as well. In the will of the Lord, I'll be on holiday for a week from this incoming Thursday. Just to highlight again, if there is an emergency in your family, you need pastoral care, do contact one of the elders, and they'll be able to help or make the arrangements that are necessary. Saturday's the next Consider Christ outreach to County Cavan. Want to encourage members of the church to get involved in that contact, either the Reverend Jonathan Crane, the Reverend James Porter, or the Reverend Ray Kerskaden, if you would like to help and go with them this coming Saturday. Next Lord's Day, 22nd of May, The Sunday school, 10.40. Morning worship, 11.30. The Gospel service at half past six. Please remember the half hour of prayer that precedes the Gospel service. The preacher of both services next Sabbath day is Mr. David McCauley. from the Balamony Church, a third-year student at the Whitefield College of the Bible. The offering taken last Lord's Day for Miss McAfee so far has come to 1,019 pounds. We thank all that have given to that offering so generously. And keep in mind, you can still add to that missionary offering if you haven't been able to do so just as yet. The Sunday school outing, will be on Friday the 27th of May, that's Friday week. The bus will be leaving the Orange Hall on the Mall at 6 o'clock. They're going over to Airtastic Trampoline Park at Craig Ivan. And there'll also be a visit to McDonald's. Just to highlight for the parents that if you haven't returned the consent form to our Sunday school superintendent, Mr. Hartley, please do that as soon as possible. Our annual offering for the Whitefield College of the Bible That'll be taken up in two weeks' time, the final Lord's Day of this month. That's Sunday, the 29th of May. Remember, all of the churches take an offering annually to help with the week-to-week, month-to-month running costs of the Whitefield College of the Bible, so please give to that generously. mark the envelope for the Whitfield College and put it on the plate at the door. Children's Day this year is going to be on Sunday the 12th of June, so that's a week later than usual. Generally it's the previous weekend, the first weekend of the month, but it's been changed this year because the previous weekend has the bank holidays for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, and we're anticipating that some people will be away at that time. So please note the change just of the Children's Day to Sunday the 12th of June. Remember the Mission Board's Facebook page. We'd be glad if your help in making that known, at FPMission. Take a little look at it yourself if you're on Facebook. but please share it as widely as possible. Take a look at the literature, especially the latest vision magazine. Take that with you as you go from the service tonight. Continue to pray for Brother Mr. Norman Kerr and also our brother John Watson, seriously ill in hospital just at this time. God willing, I will remember to go down to greet you at the door tonight when the service is over. Finally, just to remind you that there will be a congregational meeting on Wednesday the 1st of June at 8 o'clock. The purpose of that meeting is to adopt Those two documents we mentioned a little earlier that are required for our congregation to register with the Charity Commissioners of Northern Ireland. So we're asking all the community members to note that night. We're asking as many as possible to be present. The list is on the notice board on the porch. Please take time to look at that to make sure your name is there. Speak to us as soon as possible if you have any queries about that. Keep in mind that at that meeting on the 1st of June, we're also planning to vote on as property holding trustees for the congregation here, those elders who have not yet been appointed to that position. So please keep the date in mind, Wednesday the 1st of June at eight, and we encourage as many of our members as possible to be present. We're going to sing together some verses of the hymn 215, William R. Newell's hymn of testimony. Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring not my Lord was crucified, knowing not it was for me, he died on Calvary. We'll sing verses one, two, and four, leaving out the third, and we'll stand together to sing, please. Mary, God, my Lord, was crucified, and holy blood was for me on Calvary. And mercy there was great, and grace was free, and heart, and there was love in my today, and there my burdens are never. I was worried about this dinner. Then I trembled at the thought myself. Then I felt me soul. all the love and Oh, the grace and pride like never, Oh, the mighty love that God gives, and ever more is. The mercy there was great, the grace was great, the power there was only mine. The air I heard and so I met her, Just to mention to you before we come to prayer, There is going to be a small delegation going out to Kenya in this incoming week. On Wednesday of this week, the Chairman of the Mission Board, the Reverend Ian Harris. Remember, Mr. Harris and his wife and family were missionaries in Kenya for a little over eight years. Also, Mr. Alistair Hamilton, the Treasurer of the Mission Board and the Moderator of the Presbytery, the Reverend John Armstrong, Minister of the Dungannon Church. They're all traveling out to Kenya this coming Wednesday for two weeks. They have a very full itinerary of meetings. The two Kenyan pastors that were here over the last couple of weeks, they'll also be traveling back this coming Wednesday. So remember those brethren all as they take their journey. There's going to be a pastor's conference. Remember, that's something that the board is seeking to arrange more and more to help pastors, to give them some ministry, some teaching, some encouragement. So they have a pastor's conference planned. They have some meetings with the missionaries out there, some meetings with the leaders of the Bible Christian Faith Church as well. And they're also going to constitute, you remember the night that Pastor Andrew was here, he told us about the constitution of three of the congregations there in Kenya. So, the moderator, as part of that delegation, will undertake those constitution services. So, that's very encouraging, very significant step for them. So, please, keep all of those brethren in your prayers that they'll have good travel, safe travel, and that the Lord will prosper them, prosper them in their way. It has been highlighted, it was highlighted through the meetings in this past week, the need of laborers, and that's something we need to keep before the Lord. I asked the Lord to send laborers. The great church at Antioch, in Acts 13, that was the burden on their hearts in those opening verses. They had set aside time specifically to pray, that the Lord would show them who to send forth on that great missionary journey. So, please keep that prayer especially before the Lord. So, let's just seek His face together. Our Father, we praise Thee for bringing us together into Thy house on this Lord's Day evening. Bless all that are gathered here. Bless each one with Your presence. Lord, may You draw near. May you be in our midst. Bless us, Father, with your speaking voice. Come and speak in this gathering. Speak to the youngest right up to the oldest. And Lord, our prayer especially is that you might speak tonight in salvation blessing. Speak, Father, to hearts. Bring a soul to Christ. We've read in this passage of how the jailer was converted and his whole house, his whole family, brought to Christ at that time. Lord, may it please Thee to do that on our day, as we look out upon our city and upon our land. We want to ask, Father, that You'll visit homes in salvation, a blessing. Lord, we ask Thee to remember the brethren that will travel this week. Be with them. We pray that You'll go before them. You've assured us when we go into all the world to preach the gospel, lo, I am with thee always. May these brethren know the nearness of the Lord. Miss McAfee as well, the Reverend, and Mrs. Crane also, as they travel. And Lord, our desire is that the missionary work of the Church will advance. We pray, Father, new ground will be taken. We look out upon the regions beyond. Our cry, Father, is that there'll be a revival in the missionary work. We ask for expansion, ascending forth of new workers, We pray for a lengthening of our cords and the strengthening of our stakes. So, Father, hear these prayers and cries and come and bless tonight the preaching of the gospel. Blessed we pray to the saving of the lost. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Open the Scriptures at Acts chapter 16, please. The verse 27 says, in the keeper of the prison, And think especially of that man, he's the one particularly we're going to consider tonight, the keeper of the prison and waking out of his sleep. And seeing the prison doors open, he drew out a sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice saying, do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, remember the words are spoken particularly to the jailer, they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house We're thinking tonight the theme is how the jailer was won to Christ. We considered this morning a similar question, how Paul labored for Christ. So tonight we're going to think of how the jailer was won to Christ. Many years ago, out in Singapore, there was a young man called Jacob Koshe. He was involved in an international smuggling network. They were particularly involved in the trafficking or the selling of drugs. As a result of all of that, he was arrested and he was imprisoned a little over 40 years ago in 1980. Jacob Koshy was a smoker. He wasn't allowed to smoke in the prison in which he was found, but they smuggled tobacco into the cells to him. And what he did was he took the Gideon's Bible that was in the cell. He tore the pages out of the Gideon's Bible, and he rolled the tobacco up in the pages of the Gideon's Bible, and that's how he made the cigarettes that he smoked while he was in prison. One day when he was smoking one of those homemade cigarettes, he fell asleep in the cell. And whenever he awoke from his sleep, There was just a scrap of paper, just a little piece of a page of that Gideon's Bible that remained on the floor. And the words that stared out at him from that little scrap of paper was the words, Saul saw, why persecutest thou me? That really spoke to him. The Lord used it. Just that one little statement from the scriptures, it really came home to his heart with power. He was determined to read the whole story. So he made every effort that he could to get another Bible, to get the whole of God's Word. He had torn so many pages out of the one that he had that he wasn't able to read that Bible. So he got another Bible and he read the whole story of Saul of Tarsus and his conversion to Christ. And he got converted himself. His life was changed and transformed. in the prison cell, he started to witness to the other prisoners, and he always told them that he was saved as a result of smoking the Bible. It's an unusual title for a word of testimony. But the Lord used his testimony in the prison even to speak to many of those other prisoners as well. That story's an illustration, men and women, that God can work anywhere. God can work in any place, even in the prison cell. That's a great example of the sovereignty of God in salvation. And that, men and women, is what happened in this passage of Scripture that's before us, Acts chapter 16. God did a great work of salvation, and he did that work, that great work, in the prison in Philippi, because the Lord converted the jailer And even more than that, the Lord converted the jailer and his whole family. They all came to Christ at that very night. And we want to take a closer look at the conversion of this man. Can I remind you, as we think of the Philippian jailer, that the verses before us tonight is the record of the first man converted in Europe. It's not the record of the first person converted. There was some ladies converted before him. You read the accounts of their conversion earlier in this 16th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. But this is the record of the first man. converted to Christ in the great continent of Europe in the days of the New Testament church. So let's for a few minutes consider how the jailer was converted, or how the jailer was won to Christ. I can emphasize to you, first of all, the jailer's character. You get a little idea of that in verse 24 of the chapter. Do you notice the words in verse 24, in the middle of the verse, it says, thrust them. Notice it, he thrust them into the inner prison. If we were to ask tonight, what sort of man was this jailer? The answer is he was a hard man, a very hard man. Can I point out, I've highlighted in the introduction, There were other conversions that took place in Philippi as a result of the ministry of the missionary team at this time. There were three noted conversions in Acts chapter 16. There was the tender lady, that was Lydia. There was the tormented girl, remember, the young woman who was demon possessed. And then there's the jailer who we could describe as this tough man. And I remind you, brethren and sisters, he had to be a tough character. Being a jailer, that was no job for a softie. And that word thrust, it is the idea of force. It is the idea of violence being used to throw or to strike. It's actually the same word that is used of Peter and Andrew. Remember Matthew's record of them fishing? It says, casting a net into the sea. So just get that picture in your mind. Think of the force that would be used to throw those nets out over the side of the ship and into the ocean. And that's how these men were treated. That's how Paul and Silas were put into prison. Can you just picture these missionaries being literally thrown into the sail? The treatment would have been rough. the treatment would have been harsh. There was no thought for who these men were. They were the servants of the Most High God, as the girl said earlier in the chapter, in verse 17. There was no thought for what condition that they were in. Remember, they'd been beaten. They were men that were cut and bruised and sore. So if you think of this jailer, remember, here's a tough man. He's a man that had been hardened, he'd been seasoned by years of working in the prison, working in the jail, by years of dealing with the worst of crimes and the worst of criminals. But remember, this man and woman, God saved him. God saved the jailer. God saved the hardest man in Philippi at that particular time. So what a blessing. What a great encouragement that is. Many years ago, D.L. Moody was preaching a way down in the southern states of America in St. Louis. The meetings were receiving great interest. That was a common thing that accompanied the ministry of D.L. Moody. And as a result of that, one of the local newspapers, it was called the Globe Democrat, they would print D.L. Moody's gospel messages. At very least, they would print a summary of his gospel message in the paper day by day. At that particular time, that campaign series of gospel meetings, D.L. Moody preached on the Philippine jailer. He preached on the title, How the Jailer Was Caught. At that time, in one of the prisons in the St. Louis area, there was a notorious prisoner called Valentine Burke. He had been a prisoner sometime before in a place in the United States of America called Philippi. It was in Philippi, Illinois. And when he saw the newspaper, when he saw the heading, when he saw the mention of Philippi, he mistakenly imagined that it was an article all about the jailer in Philippi in Illinois. It was a man that he hated, a man that he despised, and he wanted to read the story of what happened to him. So he started to read the gospel sermon. He didn't read the whole message, but he could never forget the text. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Valentine Burke got converted as a result of reading that message in the newspaper. And whenever his case came to court, he actually got released on a legal technicality. So God intervened for him. So I want you to see, men and women, I want you to be encouraged tonight. God can save the hardest of men. God can save the hardest of sinners. Didn't he save King Manasseh? In the days of the Old Testament, the Bible says of King Manasseh, he shed innocent blood very much. There's men like that on our land tonight that have shed much innocent blood. Well, remember, God can save those hard men. Think of Paul, Saul of Tarsus, the man we considered in our message this morning. It says of of the Apostle Paul in his own converted days, he breathed out slaughter against the church. It shows you how hard he was towards the Christians, the treatment that he gave them, just like a wild animal breathed out slaughter. So be encouraged tonight, brethren, even in the days in which we live. These days that there's a hardness in our land towards the gospel. Be encouraged that God can save the hardest sinner. And we want you to know he can save you too. Can I ask you, will you come? Will you come to Jesus Christ tonight for salvation? So that's the jailer's character. Think of the jailer's crisis. Verse 26 says, suddenly there was a great earthquake. So that night there was a crisis in this jailer's life. We could sum it up like this. As the prisoners sang, the jail went bang, because there was a mighty earthquake. And that mighty earthquake caused the doors of the prison to open, the foundations of the prison were shaken, and the shackles all fell off the prisoners. What we learn here, men and women, is God sometimes speaks through events. There's times the Lord has to do something dramatic in a person's life to get their attention. He has to do something dramatic to cause them to think about their soul and about things eternal. And that's what the Lord did here in Philippi those many years ago. You think of Amos chapter 4. That familiar passage, especially the 12th verse, prepare to meet thy God. We urge you to do that tonight. That passage tells us that the Lord brought famine upon Israel. He brought disease. He brought drought upon the land. He caused them to experience defeat before their enemies. their crops failed, and even the fire of God fell in certain cities upon the land, just as it had fallen upon Sodom and Gomorrah those many years before. That was a series of unprecedented events. Think for a moment, why did God do that? Well, God was speaking. What he wanted was for the nation to turn, to turn to him. He said over and over in that chapter, still ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord. So he wanted them to turn, he wanted them to repent. So I want you to see, men and women, there's times the Lord speaks through events. Do you remember the story of Jonah the sailors that were in the storm with Jonah? It says the mariners were afraid. It's not an interesting statement. Here were experienced sea men, and yet they were fearful. It was a fearful experience. They were face to face with death and eternity, and the result was they got saved. It says in that passage, then the men feared the Lord exceedingly. These were heathen men, idolaters, and the result of that experience was they feared the Lord. exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. So those men got saved, and there's marks there that accompany salvation in their lives. So being no doubt, the Lord uses events. Can I ask you, men and women, to think personally? Is there an accident that has taken place, maybe in your family circle, a sickness, a death, a sudden death of a loved one? some frightening occurrence. If that has been the case, we want you to see the Lord is at work. The Lord is warning. The Lord is speaking to you. He's speaking to you through those things. He's bringing you, as he did with this jailer, he's bringing you to the very brink, the very edge of eternity, and he's saying to you, you need to repent, and you need to be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Think of those familiar words in Revelation 3 and 20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If you go to somebody's door and you know they're there and you've knocked the door and the door doesn't open, you'll maybe knock a little louder, you'll knock a little harder. Well, the Lord's doing the same thing in your life. By those unusual, out of the ordinary events that are taking place, he's knocking harder and louder on your heart's door. So the jailer's crisis. Think of the third place of the jailer's conclusion. You see it in verse 27. It says, he would have killed himself. See, as a result of what had taken place, the jailer concluded the best thing for him to do is commit suicide to end his life. He couldn't face the shame. He couldn't face the disgrace of what he thought had happened. All the prisoners in his mind had escaped. So he couldn't face the disgrace of all of that. And he thought that the best way out was just to take his life. And maybe you think the same. Maybe you've come to the same conclusion about your life, about your circumstances. Well, if you have, remember the words of Paul. At the words of Paul in verse 28, do thyself no harm. Those are wise words. Those are important words of counsel, men and women. Why should you do yourself no harm? Well, remember for one thing, it's wrong to take your own life. It's a breaking of the sixth commandment. Thou shalt not kill. As well as that, the jailer's conclusion that night was hasty. and it was wrong, completely wrong. Things were not as bad as he first thought. I knew that's often the case with people. They take their own lives. And another reason, very important reason, why you should do yourself no harm is what will happen to you if you commit suicide? If you're unsaved, you'll go out to a lost eternity. You'll go to hell. Remember, Judas did. The Bible says, he hung himself, and he fell from the tree on which he hung himself, and he went out to a lost eternity. The New Testament says of Judas Iscariot, it'd have been better for him if he had never been born. It's very interesting. Two very prominent, two of the best known Roman senators who led the plot against Julius Caesar both committed suicide. And they committed suicide after what is known in secular history as the Second Battle of Philippi. Think of it, we're considering Philippi here in the Word of God tonight. Those two Roman senators were Brutus and Cassius. And where did those men go? They too went to hell, went out to a lost eternity. And so will you. if you take your own life in a non-converted state. R. A. Torrey, in his evangelistic sermons, he has a message called Paths to Perdition. It's a very interesting gospel message. R. A. Torrey says the quickest path to perdition is just to take your own life. So just think of that. If you commit suicide, you'll go straight to hell. straight to a lost eternity. But remember this tonight, men and women, God has been good to you. God has been merciful. You're not in hell. You're still alive. You're still in the land of the living. And you still have an opportunity to be saved. And we want to plead with you, plead with you tonight to do that. Come. to Jesus Christ in salvation. Can I say something to you in the fourth place about the jailer's confusion? Notice the words in verse 30. It says, brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? That word, sirs, literally means lords. Can you see the great change there was in this jailer? It's seen in his language. He now treats these men with respect. Remember, a little while before he was thrusting them into the inner prison, but now he treats them with respect. But he went a little too far in that because he addressed these men as if they were saviors. But Paul and Silas wasted no time in putting him right. They were quick to clear up the confusion in his mind, and they pointed him away from themselves and said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. The message was clear. He's the Lord. He's the Savior. He's the one. that you need to trust in. And men and women, we want to do the same in the service tonight. We want to point you to the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul said to the Corinthians, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord. Remember John's great message, John the Baptist, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And you need to do that tonight. Look away from yourself. Look away from your own works, look away from your religion, all the rituals and ceremonies of it, and look away to Christ for salvation. He says to you tonight, in the great invitation that is given in the prophecy of Isaiah, look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none other. It is clear, men and women, God uses preachers. God used these men here that are before us tonight, Paul and Silas. You think as well of Philip and the eunuch. Whenever Philip met the Ethiopian eunuch in the Gaza wilderness, he said to him, understandest thou what thou readest? And the answer of the eunuch was, how can I? except some man should guide me." So God does use preachers and men and the Lord's people. He uses Christians, but it's only Christ that can save. He is the only mediator between God and men. Can I point out to you tonight, even for the believers in the meeting, that you should address Him as Lord. Some Christians talk about Jesus. Jesus said and Jesus did. That's wrong. That's not scriptural. You should say the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter, in his great sermon on the day of Pentecost, he said this. It's a very significant statement. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. So he is the Lord Jesus Christ. You study in the Word of God the places where the Savior is called Lord. Remember, he was Lord at his birth. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord. He was Lord at his birth. He was lord of his resurrection when he defeated death. The Lord is risen, indeed the word of God records. He's lord of his exaltation. The book of Philippians states, it's not interesting, we're thinking of Philippi, the letter that Paul later wrote to that church. The book of Philippi declares that every knee should bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It's a continual emphasis of the Word of God. The little chorus we sometimes sing, he is Lord, he is Lord, he's risen from the dead, and he is Lord. Never forget that, men and women. And I urge you to address him as such, and I ask you tonight the question, what of you? Is he Lord? Is he Lord of your heart? And is he Lord of your life? The final thing is the jailer's cry. It's interesting in the passage, what's recorded of this man, that we find that the jailer was a man of few words. Maybe you're like that yourself. We only know of three things that this jailer said. There's only three statements of the jailer recorded in the word of God. One has to do with light. It says that he called for a light. The second is to do with liberty. A little later on in the passage, the magistrates have sent to let you go. You have that in verse 36. He's repeating the message of the sergeants that the magistrates had sent to the jail the following morning. And then the third thing that's recorded that this jailer spoke had to do with life, eternal life. He asked, what must I do? to be saved. So here, men and women, is the cry of an earnest soul, the cry of an earnest soul for God's salvation. We could say that this jailer was a Quaker because verse 29 says, he came trembling. Remember, that's where the name Quaker comes from. They were people that trembled at the word. We need to see a little bit more of that in the day in which we're found. And he urged, or the Quakers actually urged others to do the same, to have that same attitude toward the word of God. But this man trembled. That means the jailer was convicted in a sin. He was concerned about his soul, especially in the light of eternity, concerned that he would lose his soul. He began that night to think about eternity. He began to think that if his life had ended just those few moments before, where his soul would have been. And he knows that he needs to settle the matter immediately, that he dares not wait any longer, so he cries out for mercy. He knew something had to be done. Something had to happen. Something needed to take place. He knew that he wouldn't automatically go to heaven. And that's the vital question, men and women. What must I do to be saved?" And the answer was, only believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. This is a summary of the gospel, men and women. Here's what you need to do tonight. Believe on Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Not believe about the Lord Jesus Christ. There's multitudes in our land and across the earth tonight that believe about the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, put your trust in him completely for salvation. The jailer's respect for the preachers, the jailer coming and trembling before them, those things were good, but they didn't save him. What he needed to do was put his faith in Jesus Christ alone. Mr. Moody's colleague and friend, Henry Moorhouse, was staying in a home on one occasion The young lady in the home, the daughter, young lady in her teens, she wasn't saved. The parents were concerned. She was being greatly attracted by all of the things of the world at that time. One morning he was sitting in the library in the home reading the scriptures, and the young lady came in, didn't realize that he was there. He took the opportunity to speak to her about the Lord. And he asked her three simple questions. He asked her, first of all, are you saved? She says, I'm not. Thought about it for a moment. She says, I have to reply, no, I'm not saved. Then he asked her, do you want to be saved? She pondered on that and she weighed up in her mind, she told afterwards, she weighed up in her mind if she wasn't saved, what that would mean. But if she got saved, she knew the blessings that she would experience. So she answered positively. She says, I would. I would desire to be a true Christian. And then Moody, or sorry, Morehouse asked her the third question. Do you want to be saved now? And how urgent this matter is, men and women. And I want to ask you tonight as well to ponder those three questions. Are you saved? Do you want to be saved? Do you desire to be saved? And do you want to be saved? Now, men and women, I want to urge you into the kingdom of God tonight. If you do, here's the way to be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's simple. You just have to come and believe. Put your trust in him. But it's also personal. You have to do it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. You have to come yourself and trust him for salvation. Let me just tell you this in closing tonight. You're familiar with the name of Billy Bray. He was what some would describe as a little eccentric, but God saved him. And God used him. He was a Cornish tin miner. And after he came to Christ, before he became a full-time preacher, He took a lot of time witnessing in the area where he lived. You think of the long hours down the shaft every day. When he'd come up from his work in the evenings, he took time to visit the homes in his locality. There was a mountain near to where he lived and the little community there, he went from house to house in the evenings, witnessing to the people and speaking to them about Christ. Quite a few of those people got converted to the fact where they had to build a little church building for them to gather. When the Church of England heard about it, they sent a preacher to look after that little congregation. His name was Reverend Haslam. When he first came and Billy Bray heard him preach, he was concerned, deeply concerned. It was evident to him that the Reverend Haslam wasn't saved, didn't know the Lord, wasn't preaching the gospel. So he went to him, he was a man of courage, and he went to the minister and he told him, You're not converted. You don't know the Lord yourself. You need to come and trust Christ as your Savior. He prayed for him. And a short time later, something marvelous happened. The Reverend Haslam was in the pulpit on the Sabbath day. He was conducting the service. He came to the sermon. He announced his text, those lovely words, the question, what? Think ye of Christ. And that day as he preached the sermon, God did a work on his heart. and he got converted through the preaching of his own sermon, through the preaching of his own message. It's another example of God's sovereignty and salvation. When Billy Bray heard about it, he went to visit the minister, and when he opened the door to him, Billy said, converted. kind sir and he affirmed that he was converted and Billy Bray in true style put his arms around him lifted him off the ground and ran around shouting glory glory the parson's saved glory glory the parson's saved. I want to ask you tonight men and women before we close are you converted? Here's the conversion of the Philippian jailer one of the best known A passage is one of the best-known stories of salvation in all the Word of God. But what of you tonight? Are you saved? Do you know Christ as your Savior? The great expository preacher, Alexander McLaren, ministered for many years in Manchester. When he preached in this passage of Scripture, he summed it up like this. The jailer was a heathen at sunset and a Christian at sunrise. That was the night that changed his life forever, that changed his eternal destiny. And if you're not saved, men and women, let this be the night that your life is changed by the power of the gospel and changed forever. So remember the words, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved. So this is how the jailer, how the Philippian jailer was won to Christ. We're going to sing just a few verses of Charlotte Elliott's Hymn of Invitation. 289, just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee. O Lamb of God, I come. Just the first three verses, the hymn to you at nine, and we'll stand to sing, please. My mother was shed for me, and I'm not yet to come to thee, O Lamb of God. of one dark blood, her name was blood, and thence didst fall, O Lamb of God. Just as I am, though for some part, When planning a plot, like many a thought, My days when we were lit with our own light, Father, we praise Thee for Your Word. We thank You for the power of the Gospel, as the power of God unto salvation. We thank You for what You've recorded in the Scripture of the conversion of the Philippian jailer. And Lord, we know You're the same God, that You have lost none of Your power. The Gospel has still the same power today. And Lord, we ask You to display it, even in our midst tonight, And Lord, we ask that you'll come and display that mighty power in this city and in this land. You've assured us that your word will not return unto you void, but it'll accomplish the thing whereto you've sent it. Be with us now, Father. We just commit ourselves into your care for the week that lies ahead, praying that you'll be with us and guide us. And we ask that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ The love of God the Father, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, will be our abiding portion, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.