Father, it is a marvelous thing, as we say so often, to worship You, to be worshipers in spirit and in truth. And yet, Father, I trust that we've been reminded this morning that to worship You in that way is to be brought low. Not brought to despair. or to a sense of uselessness or worthlessness, but brought low in the sense that we recognize the greatness of our God, the greatness of this salvation. Brought low in recognizing that you have condescended to meet us in our infirmity, in our enmity, in our folly and self-deception, to meet us in our lostness, to lift us up, to exercise the power of the universe, the power of the Triune God on behalf of helpless souls. Father, we are humbled at your mercy. And we pray that as we come again to this great account of the ministry at Philippi, that we would be reminded that you have made much of us by making much of your Son. And Father, I pray that you would address our natural mindedness that we are so readily inclined to view you and to view your heart towards us and to view your purposes and even the fulfillment of your good pleasure through the grid of our own expectations. Forgive us. Father, bring us low that we would be lifted up for the glory of Christ in whose name we pray. Amen. We do come to the end of our consideration of the Philippian ministry today, finishing Acts chapter 16. And recall again that this represents the first point of ministry to the nations in the sense that Philippi was a Roman provincial city. predominantly Gentile, if not, certainly would not have been entirely Gentile, but even as we'll see today, predominantly Gentile. The Spirit had led these men, as we were reminded this morning, to the city of Philippi. The Spirit had led these men to this place and to this time and to these individuals, and Luke constructs his account of Philippi around three individuals. And I've said on at least a couple of different occasions that these three individuals epitomize the work of God at Philippi in different sorts of ways. The distinction, the diversity, the power of the Spirit, the effectual work of the Spirit in the lives of very different people. And so we've treated this account in that way. This is our third and today we will be considering the jailer and his household, their salvation. But I want to just kind of put the whole of the context together in a couple brief summary observations for you. The first is to note the line of connection that Luke paints in the way he constructs his narrative, his account. We've seen how In these three individuals, the interaction of the missionaries with them is grounded in a line of connection, providentially, between the three of them. Paul was moved, we don't know exactly why, but moved to go down to the river seeking worshipers at a place of prayer. There he found Lydia. And whether on that particular Sabbath or a subsequent Sabbath, that ministry at the river also led him to encounter this slave girl who had a demonic spirit. And in turn, Paul's interaction with her, the deliverance that came to her, through or at least connected with the deliverance that came to Lydia also leads to this Philippian jailer and his household coming into the purview of Paul and the other men. So that you have God connecting providentially these circumstances of ministry. They are not isolated. They are not remote from each other. The one very naturally leads into the next. I also want you to know the circumstances of this particular account, especially today as we look at the Philippian jailer, the circumstances of his salvation and that of his household. What seems on the face of it to be a very unfortunate and even life-threatening circumstance. A man who is, or two men who are falsely accused, accosted and presented before magistrates, beaten brutally, imprisoned even in a torturous way. It's through that circumstance that salvation comes to the house of the jailer and the jailer himself. A very different circumstance than perhaps we would expect. I want you also to note regarding this account that it really presents a marvelous irony that it is in the imprisonment of two men who are already free in Christ. It is the imprisoning of two free men that brings about the liberation of individuals who physically are free and yet are very much enslaved. Enslaved to sin and death. God uses a physical imprisonment of men who are free in Christ to bring that real freedom to men who are very much imprisoned, even though free in this life, free in this world. Unshackled by chains and prison cells and yet very much enslaved. Then I want you to know just finally a parallel, and there are many more, but at least a couple parallels that tie these three individuals together. You have the salvation of a person, a certain individual, being the conduit for the word of the gospel and salvation to extend to an entire household. You see that with Lydia. We will see the same thing with this jailer. It is initially the contact of these men with one individual that leads to the salvation of their entire house. But there is also a connection between the jailer and the slave girl in that both of them are very much bound by the powers of darkness, though in a different way. She demonically possessed him, bound in a worldview and an understanding and a way of life. that speaks very powerfully to the enslavement of the human heart. Well, I'd like then to read this context with you, and I'd like to pick this up at verse 16, and then read through the rest of the chapter. And it happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl, having a spirit of divination, met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. And following after Paul and I, she kept crying out, saying, these men are bond servants of the most high God who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation. And she continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed and turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out at that very moment. But when her master saw. That their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. And when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, these men are throwing our city into confusion being Jews, and they are proclaiming customs, which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe being Romans. And the crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off of them, off of Paul and Silas, and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, Not the limitation of the 39 lashes, the 40 blows minus one that the Jews kept. They threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely. And having received that command, he threw them into the inner prison, the most secured place, most likely the dungeon, and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying, singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there came a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. And when the jailer had been roused out of sleep and had seen the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, Do yourself no harm, for we are all here. And he called for lights and rushed in, trembling with fear, to see whether that was the case. And when he saw what had happened, and they were all there, he fell down before Paul and Silas. And after he had brought them out of the prison, he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with this whole household. And when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, Release those men. And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent to release you. Now, therefore, come out and go in peace. But Paul said to them, they have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans and have thrown us into prison. And now they would send us away secretly. No, indeed, let them come themselves and bring us out. And the policemen reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. And they came and appealed to them. And when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. And they went out of the prison, entered the house of Lydia. And when they had greeted the brethren, when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed. I want to treat this context then under three larger heads with obviously some parts under those. But the first is the spirit's work of preparation. leading up to the salvation of the jailer and his household. And then secondly, the salvation of the jailer and his household. And then finally, the spirit's work of vindication as the ministry of Philippi comes to a close. How does the spirit prepare for the salvation of this jailer? The spirit doesn't always work in the way that we think he should. We tend to have in our minds the way things are going to play themselves out. I'll go to this person. I'll say this. God will open his heart. God will do this. God will do that. We see in the instance of these three individuals a different work of God in each instance, the same outcome, but a different way in which God does his work. The sensitivity of these men, even the sensitivity that would lead them to the follow the spirit to Philippi is the same sensitivity, whether they discerned it at the time or not. Luke wants us to see how the spirit was moving and doing his work in a manifold set of ways. In this instance, it was actually the deliverance of the slave girl that set the stage for the jailer coming into the picture. Who would have known? God had a divine appointment with the jailer and his household. But who would have known that it would come about in this way? Who could have expected that God would work in this way? He not only used this event of this young woman's deliverance, but more specifically, he used the greedy rage of her owners. The spirit did not make them wrathful. The spirit did not make them furious over the loss of their income. But he worked in that and used that to accomplish his goal. When these men discovered, and we don't know exactly how they discovered it, because again, it's not important to the story. But when they realized that she was no longer able to act as a soothsayer, that she was no longer able to do this work that was bringing them much profit, they were furious. And they were determined to get retribution against these men who had effectively stolen their property. She was still their slave, but she was no longer of any use to them. In fact, she was worse than useless. She was now a liability. She couldn't make them any money, but they had to take care of her. They had to feed her. They had to support her. She became a liability. And they could not recover her back to themselves, but they were going to seek to make the men pay who had stolen their means of gaining wealth. their means of obtaining an income. So they go and they find Paul and Silas. We don't know where Luke was, we don't know where Timothy was, but obviously Silas was there with Paul when they found him and they immediately seized him and they took him into the Agora. It would be like the public center of a Roman city. This is typical in the Roman, Greco-Roman city structures. You had a central square that was the site of public activity. Merchandising. It was a merchant square. It was a marketplace. But you also had public affairs handled in that place. So they take Paul and Silas to this place in a public square where there would be civil authorities available. And they bring their charges concerning these two men. And I want you to note that the charges that they bring have nothing to do with the actual offense. They don't say these men cast a demon out of our slave girl. They don't say that. What did they say? These men are throwing our city into an uproar because they are Jews. Well, what specifically is the problem with them being Jewish? They are promoting customs and practices that are foreign to us being Romans and that are, in fact, even unlawful for us to engage in. They were being falsely charged. That was not even the crime. Well, why would they bring those charges? Again, they're in a public place. This is a Roman provincial city. If there was a synagogue in that city, there was a very minimal Jewish presence. It was a Roman provincial city. And these men understood that if they were going to gain the retribution they sought, they couldn't get their slave back in her usefulness. But if they were going to gain the retribution they sought, they wanted to be sure that they brought charges that would stick and that the authorities would act upon. If they came and said, this slave girl of ours had a demon, which they probably didn't think and wouldn't have even believed. And these men cast it out. That would have seemed like an absurdity. So they brought charges that they thought would stick. And specifically, they brought charges that they knew would inflame the people that were present in the marketplace. We don't know exactly how they managed to rally this whole crowd into this episode. But most likely, what was being spread throughout the ranks of these people, the word that was moving through the crowd, is that these two men who are Jews are guilty of sedition. These men are trying to undermine our Roman culture and our Roman law. They are standing against our Roman customs, our Roman traditions, and they are trying to incite people to follow after religious practices that are against the law for us as Romans. Under Roman authority, people could only practice religious activities that were sanctioned by the state. Now, Rome did allow Jews to continue to practice their Judaism, at least for a season, because they saw them as entirely separate religiously from Rome. But generally, they established a very broad arena of religious practice, but it all had to be sanctioned by Rome. The Jews could not practice their Judaism except under Roman permission. And so the charge is that these individuals are seeking to subvert the authority and even the customs associated with our being Roman. They devised their charges very well, because if they were unable to prevail with the magistrates, they had every expectation that they would prevail with the crowd. And once they had the crowd on their side, the threat of a riot would force the hand of these magistrates. And that's what happened. This was very likely going to get out of hand. And so what did the magistrates do publicly in front of the crowd? They have these men stripped down and they order that they be beaten. And they did that to appease not so much these men, the masters that brought the charges, but to appease the crowd. Because this was going to get out of hand very quickly. They're beaten with many blows. But that's then the magistrates decide probably because they wanted to be sure that their action would be seen by the crowd and regarded as a as a serious treatment of the problem. But also probably they were afraid of future problems. So they took them and they had them in prison. Took them out of circulation. So they're handed over to men who are to take them and have them put into the Philippian prison, the Roman provincial prison and bound securely. So they were taken into the innermost part of the prison, as I said, probably the dungeon. And there they were thrown into that area and their feet were locked in stocks. Not comfortable felt lined soft wood stocks to kind of clip around their ankles, but rough wood stocks that would spread their legs apart and hold them in a position that would bring cramping and pain. A torturous position. They're already battered and bloodied. Beaten with rods if you've ever been hit with a heavy stick once you remember it but to be beaten many many many times and Now that be locked in stocks in a filthy dungeon with your legs Spread like that where they will begin to cramp up and seize and there'll be no way for you to find a remedy This is all the work of God and towards the salvation of the jailer. Now, Luke records for us that imprisoned in that way, in the middle of the night, they are praying, and the text really says, praying in the context of singing praises to God. They're not just singing hymns or songs that they know, but their singing is actually prayer. In the middle of the night, in that circumstance, they are lifting their voices to God, praising Him. Think about that. Falsely accused, accosted by these men on the street, dragged before the authorities, having these trumped-up charges brought against you, beaten to the point of barely being conscious, bloodied, battered, and then dragged and thrown in a stinking, filthy cell. Not the nice prison cells that we have now, but a dungeon where people are chained and confined, and they take care of their bodily functions where they sit because they have no latrine, they have no choice. And their legs cramping as their legs are spread apart in rough wooden stalks. and they're praising God. I remember one of my earliest memories of the Bible being young was this passage and thinking, come on, nobody does that. If you did do that, it would be kind of a hypocritical thing. Surely Luke is just trying to make a point. Nobody would really do this. And the truth is viewed from a natural standpoint What we would have expected these men to be in a frame of mind concerning what we would have expected from them is to be utterly disheartened, to be angry, to be resentful, to be finding fault with God. All that Paul had done was deliver a girl from her demonic possession and probably have her come to faith. But God had done the work. God delivered her from that demon. It was the power of God's gospel, the power of His Spirit at work. God had done it. Why were they suffering? Is this the way God rewards faithfulness? He had brought them to Philippi He had brought these providences to bear. All that they had done is be faithful with the stewardship entrusted to them. They were called to proclaim the gospel and honor Christ. And that's all that they had done. Is this the way God rewards faithfulness? You see, our natural minds would say, if this is what it means, to be rewarded by God for faithfulness. I don't want it. Luke doesn't tell us how this dynamic played out. He doesn't tell us specifically what Paul and Silas were thinking, or how they had come to this conclusion, because he really doesn't need to. The overall context is showing us that these men understood the providence of God, and they understood that God was at work in this. They didn't know what he was doing, but they knew he brought them to Philippi. They knew the Spirit had led them there. They knew the Spirit had done this work. in bringing them to the river, in saving Lydia and then her household, in bringing them into contact with the slave girl. It was the Spirit's power that had delivered her. It was God's working of these things out that had led to their imprisonment. They were walking by faith and not by sight. They were able to look past the what, the why, When do we get out of here? What comes next? How could this have happened to us? They were able to look beyond that, as Paul would later say in his epistle to Timothy, I don't lose heart because I know whom I have believed. There wasn't hypocrisy on their part. They weren't trying to drum up some sort of a response to see if God would pay attention to them while they were seething inside. They were sincerely, authentically praising God in their circumstances because they knew whom they had believed. They knew that God was with them in this and that God had a purpose for it that would ultimately glorify his son and bring fruit to his gospel. They didn't know what it was, but they knew their God. The worst possible situation is going to bear astounding fruit. They were able to regard this with the eyes of faith, with the mind of Christ, rather than a natural mind. Remember the statement I made several weeks to you all ago. Again, something that John Piper commonly says as a test to people's understanding of the Christian life and what faith is really all about. He says, do you believe, do you feel, do you sense in your inner person, whatever you say theologically, do you sense, do you actually feel inside of you that God loves you more when he makes much of his son than when he makes much of you. Do you sense that God's love for you? Do you sense the greatness or that you have the sense of God's love more when he makes much of his son in order that in that way he would make much of you as opposed to when he makes much of you? And for 99.9% of the church, it's the latter. It's your best life now. God doesn't want this to happen in your life. Surely God would never cause this to be in your life because this is painful. This is difficult. God would have a silk pillow for you. Your best life now. Ministries make hundreds of millions of dollars pandering that idea that people already believe. that God makes much of them when he makes much of them. Not that he makes much of them when he makes much of his son and through that saving work in his son lifts them up. Paul and Silas understood how God's love actually works. Well, they don't know what's coming. They know their God. God knows what's coming. And while they're engaged in this recitation of prayer in song and the other prisoners listening, all of a sudden the foundations of the prison start shaking. A great earthquake comes. And as that earthquake comes, the doors begin to open and the shackles around the prisoners begin to come loose. Now, we could say, oh, yeah, if there's a big enough earthquake, it's going to open doors. It's going to tear apart the door jams and doors will open. But Luke is very careful to say every door in the prison opened. And every fetter on every prisoner came loose. What would have been startling and even terrifying to these prisoners ultimately caused them to be dumbfounded. And I think that's why you see them not running out when the doors are open. Paul and Silas had just been singing praises to this God that they don't know. that these prisoners don't know, but they've been listening to this rehearsal of the greatness of God, the great saving works of God, this rehearsal of the gospel in song and prayer to God. And now this event happens. Surely their minds would have been directed to that God. Luke doesn't tell us that any of them came to faith, but they certainly connected those two things together. Well, the same earthquake wakes up the jailer. And he comes rushing over and when he sees all the doors opened, he immediately pulls his short sword that they would carry on the side of their garment and is preparing to kill himself. Well, why would he do that? Because Rome held a guard accountable for those under his care. It was life for life. If it was a capital crime, a capital charge that a prisoner had and you let him go, it would be your life. And surely there were men in that prison who were in that category. He knew that the loss of these prisoners was going to cost him his life and he would rather take it himself. Commit suicide. But somehow in all of this confusion, Paul sees this jailer and he sees what he's about to do and he cries out to him. Don't do that. We're all here. No one is left. We're all here. This man is, first he's shaken in his sleep. He's thrown out of his bed. He rushes to the jail. He sees the doors open. He panics. He thinks everybody's gone. He's going to kill himself. Then all of a sudden Paul says, no, we're all here. And it's just too much for him. He falls on the ground in front of these men. He's overcome. He leads them out of the prison and he says, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved? We don't know what Paul and Silas had spoken to him when they when he brought them out. We know that he will go on. They will that there will be the proclamation of the gospel to him in his household. But the spirit was at work in that man and the time of his salvation had come. The same power that had shaken the foundations of the prison and loosened its fetters had shaken this man to his very core and loosened the fetters of his heart. He was about to be set free. Luke recounts the answer that Paul and Silas gave in a very straightforward way. Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You. You. For all that you are, you will be saved. You and your household. Obviously, Luke, obviously Paul and Silas said more than this to the jailer. There's no way, as you've heard me say, a Roman jailer would need a much greater explanation than simply that. But this is the very gist of what the gospel was. The answer to the question of how do I be saved, how can I be saved, is through faith in this one Jesus Christ. And that's why Luke gives us that part, because that's really the essence of the answer that they would have given. This man then takes them from the prison to his house. And there again, the Word of God is proclaimed, just as had happened at Lydia's house. It's proclaimed to this man's house as well. And he and his house are saved and baptized that night. And I want you to see as kind of a summary of this. Luke paints this in a very sharp study in contrast. This is an incredible study in contrast. only a short, first with respect to the jailer, then with respect to the jailer in relation to the other two individuals, Liddy and the slave girl. With respect to the jailer himself, only a few hours ago, at this point in time, very short time ago, Paul and Silas had been locked down in shackles in a torturous condition, sitting in a jail cell. They had been locked up by this man who reveled in their suffering. Only a matter of a couple of hours, this man who had locked them down, who had put their feet in the stocks, a man who handled prisoners all the time, them locked down in a filthy, stinking dungeon, they are now sitting at the table of this man in his house. Who would have known? Who could have guessed that it would happen that way? This man was clearly a very callous and brutal individual. He would not have become the warden, so to speak, of a Roman provincial jail. Often these men were retired military soldiers. But a hardened, brutal man who had to manage Very dangerous, hardened criminals. And now he's got these men sitting at his table and like a nursing mother, he's tenderly washing their wounds and bandaging them. What an incredible change, instantly, in this man. This one who had celebrated the brutality of putting their feet in the stocks now had them sitting there and he was setting food in front of them. And more than that, he is of one mind and heart with them. He's rejoicing together with Paul and Silas in the Lord that they now share in common. Though only a couple of hours ago, he knew nothing about the God of Israel or this crucified Jew. a radical transformation of his life in an instant. This study in contrast is to again highlight the power, the work of the spirit. And you see it also in the relation of this man to Lydia and the slave girl. Each of those individuals, again, together they epitomize this work of the spirit at Philippi, and specifically the fact that the Spirit is able to overcome every obstacle to Christ and His Gospel. In Lydia's case, the obstacle is the self-righteousness of a pious life. She was a God-fearing Gentile. She was very much like the Pharisee who had brought the Gospel to her at the riverside. very much like Paul himself. Yes, she was a worshipper of the living God. She was a worshipper of the God of Israel, but in accordance with a natural mind, as had been the case with Paul. She was a worshipper of the God of Israel, but a worshipper of the God of Israel in the flesh, a worshipper with a natural mind. In that way, her piety was blasphemy in the same way as it was for Paul. The spirit had to overcome that powerful obstacle of self-righteousness that takes perhaps its most powerful form in the hearts and minds of the religious and the pious, the devout. The slave girl did not have that same obstacle in the same way. In her case, it wasn't just a darkened mind that the Spirit had to overcome. It was the darkness of demonic possession. It was the triumph of the Spirit of God over Satan and his dominions, his minions. It was the triumph of the Spirit over the forces of darkness, not just a darkened mind. In the case of the jailer, It was neither of those two. He wasn't a possessed man. It was not a demonic situation with him. And it certainly wasn't an issue of self-righteousness in terms of religious piety and religious devotion. And yet he was equally enslaved in a way that the spirit had to overcome a monumental obstacle. This man would have been hardened and brutal. The brutality of Rome was legend, legendary. And a man who would oversee a provincial prison had to be tougher, more callous, more brutal than the men that he was managing and overseeing. This was a guy who was capable of intimidating and controlling even the most hardened criminal, and yet he was no match for the Spirit of God. He was no match for the Spirit of God. He was enslaved, not to a self-righteous mind, but he was enslaved to the procedure of the King. The use of everything in our lives to our own advantage. This was a man who had attained to his position and authority by doing whatever was necessary, by being brutal. He distinguished himself in his brutality, in his hardness, in his callousness. And he doubtless used that advantage to his own profit. This was a man who was enslaved to his own self benefit through the things that were available to him. His life reflected the ethic of Rome itself. The Romans recognized and respected power. And they celebrated men who would use their power to their own ends. They celebrated those who would use power to exalt and glorify themselves. And this man lived in that worldview. This man was a part of that ethic. His worldview couldn't have been farther from the ethic of the kingdom of heaven. Remember how Jesus even had to confront his own disciples when Jesus talked about how there were going to be those how one of one of his disciples would betray him after they got done thinking, is it me? Is it me? Then they started thinking, it's you, it's you, it's you. And that led into the discussion of, OK, Lord, who's going to be the greatest in your kingdom? Who's going to sit at your right? Who's going to be at your left? Who's going to be the greatest? And Jesus effectively said, you're thinking with natural minds, you're thinking like natural men. That's not the nature of my kingdom. In this world, those who have position and authority and status, they think of themselves as benefactors, but they really are overlords. We need only think about governments to understand that. They call themselves benefactors, but they are actually those who use their power and their authority for the gain and the profit and the embellishment of the institution and their own persons. Jesus said, I am among you. Even though I am Lord and master, I have all authority, all power, all resource. I use those things not to my service, but to your service. I am not among you as one who is served, but as one who serves and who gives his life as a ransom. That's the nature of my kingdom. The greatest is the least. The master is the servant. The world doesn't think that way. Our natural minds don't think that way. And that had to be overcome in this man's life. Lydia, the slave girl, this jailer, all of them had insurmountable, insurmountable obstacles to life in Christ, to faith in Christ. But the spirit was sufficient to each of those. The spirit has triumphed repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly at Philippi. But there's one last point of triumph that has to come. It's time now for these men to depart Philippi. But something more has to happen. Paul and Silas have to be released. Well, in a very real sense, they're already released. The prison has been shaken open and they spent that evening at the jailer's house. He could have simply sent them away quietly, but that wasn't the spirit's way. The spirit would triumph in vindication as well. Not just in the salvation of this man and his household, but also in a vindicating of them and of his gospel and of his work in that place. If the jailer would have simply sent them away, that would have been disastrous for him. But it would have also destroyed the testimony of Paul and Silas, sneaking away. In a very real way, once the magistrates understand that they're Romans, you could not lay a hand on a Roman citizen without due process, without a trial. And that's why these magistrates are afraid, because they understand now that these men are Romans and we responded to the crowd. We got afraid and we went ahead and just punished these guys to get the crowd settled down. But they're Romans. We're in serious trouble. The jailer tries to tell them, you need to just go away, and Paul says, no, you go back and you tell these men what they have done to Roman citizens. They come. They tell us to leave. And it wasn't about Paul and Silas saying, ah ha ha, we got you. They didn't press charges. They didn't make an issue out of this. But this was the spirit's vindication. These men were blameless. And that physical blamelessness testified to the integrity of their message and their work. What they had done in that place. It was a kind of physical vindication, physical deliverance that punctuated the testimony of the spirit in that place. Just as. Spiritual obstacles are no obstacle to the spirit of God, neither are circumstances or situations. Nothing is an obstacle to the spirit and his work. They needed to come and release Paul and Silas such that they would be vindicated as innocent and that physical triumph would punctuate the gospel spiritual triumph in that place. Now they could go. Now they could go. So Luke ends this context by saying that they go back to the house of Lydia and they meet with the brethren and then they depart. The spirit who led them to Philippi has established a body of believers there. But this is the first truly entirely Gentile mission. This is the first mission to the nation, so to speak. And the indication, at least the suggestion, is that this church, epitomized in a sense in these three individuals, was a Gentile church. It's not the first time there are Gentiles coming to faith, but this is a Roman city with very few Jews in it, and there's no indication that any Jews were involved in this ministry at all at this point. A Gentile Christian body is formed at Philippi. Consistent with the church everywhere that we've seen in the Book of Acts, though, a composite body but a unified body. The three people who epitomize this work are a wealthy businesswoman from Asia, a young powerless slave girl, probably Greek, and a brutal Roman jailer. There's the church. There's the foundation of the church in Philippi. Couldn't get more composite than that. And yet unified, they go to Lydia's house and they meet with the brethren, the brethren, and they depart. These three central figures epitomize again together, they epitomize the spiritual obstacles raised up against Christ and his gospel and its fruit. And so also the situation with the magistrates shows the power of the spirit to prevail against physical circumstances. You know, things that happen in this world apart from, you know, direct spiritual issues, direct spiritual intervention. Philippi was a trophy of the gospel's triumph. But I want to close just by reminding us again, it was an incredible triumph of the Spirit of God. The Spirit, the Gospel comes into this community where every possible human and spiritual obstacle is raised up to the faith, to people being saved. And yet the Spirit triumphs. He triumphed in a glorious way. And these men leave Philippi with a body of people born of the Spirit, united in Christ. But that work did not come except through fire. You see, we want to say, oh, what a glorious thing. They go into this city. They preach the gospel. People come to faith. And a church is born. Praise God. And now we move on to the next glorious ministry. The Spirit triumphed. through the absolute denigration and, in a sense, dying of his ministers in that place. For us as believers, it is so important that we discern God's work and God's success in this world through a renewed mind and with the eyes of faith. Because it isn't what we think it is most of the time. It doesn't work the way we think it works. Turn to 2 Corinthians. Paul talks about all that he went through in the cause of the gospel. This man who was the instrument of God's triumph knew nothing but suffering. You say, didn't he ever have a restful, peaceful day? Yes, he did. But he will show us how the dynamic of God's life, the bringing forth of life, works in those who are the heralds of it, those who are the ministers of it. He says in chapter chapter two of Second Corinthians, And he's talking about all that he went through in the ministry, but even particularly with respect to the Corinthians, he poured himself into those people. He was their father in the faith. And they accused him and they slandered him and they they reviled him. And they separated from him and they tried to cause other men to reject him as well. That was just one piece of all that he had suffered. But he says in verse 14, thanks be to God who always leads us in his triumph in Christ. He always leads us in his triumph in Christ. God always leads us in the triumph that he has secured in Christ, not our triumph. Not our exaltation, not our silk pillow, not everything going the way we think it should. But in all things, we are triumphal or triumphant because we are triumphant in Christ's triumph. He manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. The ministration of the life of Christ. The fragrance of Christ is the testimony of His triumph, not ours. We are a fragrance of Christ to God, in God's estimation. A fragrance of Christ unto God among those who are being saved, but also among those who are perishing. To the one, an aroma from death to death. To the other, an aroma from life. to life. Who is adequate for these things? But we want everybody to be happy and we want to get those who oppose us to be won over and so therefore we manufacture things and we alter the message and we strategize and we become hirelings in order to win things over in a way that works really well for us and for our ministries. No. We are not like many Peddling the Word of God, not for money per se, but the procedure of the King. Peddling the Word of God in a way that benefits me. I build a large church. I get a lot of money. I get the esteem of my colleagues. I get to be on TV. I get to stand in front of God and show what a great work I did for Him. Look at all that I did for you, God. No, but from sincerity, as from God Himself, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. God always leads us in His triumph, but not to the natural mind. To the natural mind, what Paul and Silas encountered, their ministry at Philippi would not have been regarded as God leading us in his triumph. Yes, God is saving people, but where was he? You know, what if he hadn't liberated them from the prison? What if the prison hadn't opened? What if they finished out their days in a prison like Dietrich Bonhoeffer? What if they were executed only weeks before Berlin was liberated, after spending a couple of years in a German jail. Where's the justice in that? God always leads us in His triumph, but that isn't going to be the estimation of the natural mind. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4, and with this I'm done, That the ministration of the gospel is the ministration of death unto life. And that operates at the personal level. It operates also at the ministration level. It operates at the level of our own lives. It operates at the level of our ministration of the gospel. It operates in our lives first in this way, as Paul says in Ephesians 2, when you were dead in your trespasses and sins, he made us alive together with Christ. The ministration of the gospel is from death unto life. And we all say, yay and amen. Once I was this sinner, once I was blind, once I was lost, now I'm saved and now I'm alive and everything's wonderful. But Paul doesn't say that. Yes, he recognizes that this God who caused light to shine out of darkness in the first creation, now in the second creation by the Spirit, is causing the light of the gospel to rise in our darkened hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Yes, he does that. But under what end and in what context so that we can just live our lives in this the best life now, this victorious Christian life where everything goes the way we want and everything is exactly the way we anticipate or God is unfaithful. He says, no, we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power would be of him and not of us. So how does this new life in Christ look? It's a ministry from death to life. He says we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. We are persecuted, but not forsaken. We are struck down, but not destroyed. always caring about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus in order that the life of Jesus would be manifest in our mortal bodies. It's not just being taken from death to life in our new birth. The rest of the Christian life is the working out of death in us in order that life would be formed in us. And ultimately it moves not just to us personally, this dynamic of death unto life doesn't just work in us personally, but it is the whole ministration of the gospel. Paul says that this death working in us that produces life in us is also a death that works in us that life would be produced in you. The prophets spoke with the spirit of faith. They said, I believe and therefore I speak. And he says, it's with that same spirit of faith that we also believe and speak. We speak to you, Corinthians, fully convinced that the God who raised up Christ from the dead will raise us up together with you and present us with you in that day. Death is at work in us, he says, that life would be at work in you. We are always being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith. Paul said, the ministry is unto my death, but that I would enter more fully into the life of Christ and that the life of Christ would be formed in you. This death that is at work in us, he says, is for your sake. So that the grace of God, which is reaching more and more people, will cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. A very different view of the Christian life and the ministration of the gospel than most people think, isn't it? If I'm faithful, it will go well. If I'm faithful, I'll have my 2.3 children, my white picket fence, my car in the garage, my money in the bank, my food on the table, and everything will be peaceable, and I can put my sign on the front door that says, no solicitors, and go on with my happy life. And then I can know that God is blessing me. I'm having my best life now. And all I'll have when I die is my best life now, glossed up a little bit. I've been able to get God has blessed me so much I can play golf every day and when I die, I'll have my own golf course and God has blessed me so much I can come and go and I can do whatever I want and I don't have to be bothered with this and I don't have to be bothered with that. And that's what heaven will be. I'll have my own house on the hill and I can come out when I feel like it. Paul says, The life of Christ that comes into us is life out of death. But now it starts a process of the outworking of Christ's own dying in us. How did He bring forth life through death? And we carry in ourselves in every day, if we are faithful, the dying of the Lord Jesus. Do we have to be in a Philippian jail? No. No. But do we recognize that the ministration of the gospel, the fruitfulness of the gospel in our lives, as well as in our ministry in this world, is going to cost something? Because it does. It does. Sometimes it brings sickness. Sometimes it brings the loss of loved ones. Sometimes it brings financial downturn. Sometimes it brings death. But whatever it brings, it is the life of God being worked out in us and through us to others by the Spirit who always triumphs. Can he triumph when we're down? Can he triumph when we're in jail? Can he triumph when our car is repossessed? Can he triumph when our child dies of leukemia? Can he triumph when the surgery doesn't go well? Can He triumph when we don't have our best life now? Do we sense that God loves us when He makes much of us in our lives in this world? Or when He makes much of His Son and produces His life in us? That's what Paul says. The God who always leads us in triumph does so by causing our dying to bear the fruit of life for your sake. That God would be glorified. That as we are poured out, you give thanks to God. And God makes much of us in that. Saints, the church is in dire straits, not because they can't pay their bills, not because they've got too many programs, not because they're too institutional, but because they don't even understand what the gospel is. They don't even understand what the Christian life is. They don't even understand what this is all about. When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? There's the million-dollar question. Father, as we come now to the table, I pray that we would be convicted. Lord, we make much of ourselves and we would have you to make much of us. And we make much of ourselves, not in the way that Paul did. Paul said, I am adequate for whatever Christ calls me to. Not that I have any adequacy in myself. That's the whole point. My adequacy is in God. And so I am bold and I don't lose heart. And I know contentment and capacity in any and every circumstance when I have nothing as much as when I have everything. Because I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me. But father, we make much of ourselves by insisting that it look the way we think it ought to look. Why can't I have another baby? I need another baby. Why didn't I get that job? Why is my child sick? Why did my job go away? Why don't people flock to me when I preach the truth to them? Why doesn't it look the way I think it ought to look? Where's my silk pillow? But Father, as we come to the table, we are reminded again that all that we are, all that we have, all that we are becoming, all that you call us to is found in Christ. We have life in Him. We live upon Him. We are sufficient in Him. We have our joy in Him. We have our fullness in Him. Father, deliver us from our natural minds. Do a work in your church in these days. It is no wonder that the world mocks and derides, laughs at, and scorns the Christian church. For the most part, it is laughable. You would be hilarious if it were not so tragic. And Father, there are shepherds leading people astray. But it's time for us to grow up. It's time for us to understand what this work is about. What you have called us to. What it means to bear the fragrance of Christ in every place. And as we come to the table, we come in that way. We don't come confident of our resource. We don't come confident of the way our lives are going to go, confident of the way we've structured things for our retirement. We don't come in that way. We come as those who live upon you, your purpose, your goodness, your grace. And we say, like Job, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. We know whom we have believed. We know upon whom we live. May we come in sincerity and truth, not in the hypocrisy of natural minds. Bless us in this time. Build us up in this most holy faith. For Christ's sake, for his honor in the world. Amen.