a chapter that highlights and brings to our attention the fact that wherever the gospel comes in power and is received in faith, it will always bring benefit. It will always bring blessing to the people that receive that gospel, and indeed to the wider community. Think of Paul here, coming to Philippi, and he preaches the gospel. What happens? There's a young girl who is possessed by an evil spirit, and she's set free. And there's an instance of individual blessing, individual benefit. This young girl has been under the power of evil, the power of Satan, for many a day, and now she's set free. There's an example of individual benefit, individual blessing. But of course, it goes beyond that. It touches society. And you can think of the jailer. When the jailer was converted to Christ, you can see the evidence of an intensified degree of humanity. Because when he receives Paul and Silas at the first, they have been beaten, their backs are wounded, there's the open sore, the skin, the flesh has been broken, they're bleeding, and he receives them and he thrusts them into the inner prison. But notice how he reacts after he has been converted. Verse 33, He took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, washed their wounds. And that indicates a degree of humanity where previously there had been none. He just thrust them in without any care, without any concern at all, thrust them into the inner prison. And now, He is washing their stripes. He Himself is tending to the wounds of these men. There's a benefit. Society is benefited by the Gospel. But think of the jailer himself. It was this Gospel that prevented suicide. When the great earthquake came, in the aftermath of the earthquake, the jailer thought that all the prisoners surely would have fled. The prison doors had been broken open, and he thought the prisoners would have fled, and therefore he thought that his life was no longer worth living because he had received that charge to keep them securely. And now he thought he had failed in that. So he's in the depths of despair and he thinks the only solution is to take his own life. But Paul says, do thyself no harm. And as a result, where there has been despair, now there comes hope. And the gospel brings this benefit on this occasion whereby suicide was prevented. The gospel, wherever it comes in power, wherever it is received in faith, always brings benefit to society. And you can think of the situation in the jail. The jailer thinks that these men will escape, all the prisoners will escape. But look what happens. None of them, none of them, run away. None of them flee in the aftermath of the earthquake. And why is that? It's because of the influence of the servants of the Lord, the Apostle Paul and Silas. the messengers of the gospel. They have a restraining influence on the people round about them. There are so many instances here that convey to us the fact that the gospel will always bring benefit where it comes in power and where it is received by faith. And yet, we find that that is not the view that is taken universally. People do not view the gospel to be a benefit to society. And that's exactly what we find here in this occasion when the young girl is set free from demon possession. There is great anger. There's great wrath. And Paul and Silas are brought to the magistrates in verse 20. And look at this. These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city. And I want you to see the two different opinions of the Gospel. When Paul came to Philippi, he did so with the conviction that the message he was bringing to them would help them. And that indeed is what he saw in the vision. The man of Macedonia said, come over and help us. Verse number 9. Come over and help us. This gospel will be a help to us. This gospel will be a benefit, a blessing to us." And that's how Paul viewed it. It will always bring benefit to society, wherever it is received in faith. But there were people in Philippi who did not view it the same way. They said, these men do exceedingly trouble our city. This gospel is the cause of trouble. And consequently, they take the laws of the city that were designed for the well-being of the city, and they abuse those laws in order to suppress the gospel. and Paul and Silas are thrown into prison. They are treated on this occasion unjustly, unfairly. wrongly accused and wrongly treated. They have been beaten. They have been thrown into prison without trial, without the opportunity to defend themselves against the accusations that have been leveled against them. They have been treated unfairly. And that's exactly how the apostle viewed it. If you turn over to 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians is viewed as the first letter that the Apostle Paul wrote in the chronology of his letter writing. And he wrote this letter just a few weeks after he had been in Thessalonica. And this is what he says to them. He says there in verse number 8, "'For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God is spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything For they themselves show us of what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for a Son from heaven, whom ye raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. For yourselves, brethren," chapter 2, verse 1, for yourselves, brethren, know, our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain. But even after that we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. Notice what he says. He's talking about the time previous when they were in Philippi, and he says, we were shamefully entreated. We received shameful treatment. We were treated unfairly. We were treated unjustly. This is how the apostle viewed it. And therefore, it should come as no surprise when the cause of Christ, the cause of the gospel, meets with unjust and unfair treatment in this world. It came to Paul, and it would also continue in the church at Philippi. If you turn to Philippians chapter 1, Philippians chapter 1 and verse 29, he says to the church at Philippi, For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which ye saw in me. Having the same conflict which ye saw in me. What is he referring to? He's referring to that initial time when he came to Philippi at the first, when he was thrown into prison, when he was treated shamefully. And now he says to the very same church, to the church at Philippi that grew out of that testimony, he says, you have the same conflict that you saw me having in your own city. It carries on. It continues. And very often, the Lord's people meet with unjust, unfair treatment, so that the very laws of the land can be overturned and abused in order to suppress the gospel. And we see that in every generation. We see it even in our own day and generation. You can see how the Parliament has sought to abuse its authority, abuse the very laws of the land in order to impose something that is unrighteous by way of abortion and same-sex marriage. You can see how this is done. It's the same conflict, but it raises the question, how should we respond? How should we react when the church and the cause of Christ meets with this unjust treatment at the hands of the world? Well, Paul's example stands out very clearly. His response is outlined in Acts chapter 16. In the first place, he responded patiently. Roman citizens were protected by the law. They could not be beaten or punished. They could not be imprisoned without, first of all, having a trial, without having the right to defend themselves. And on this occasion, Paul was not given that right. They were accused, and then they were immediately beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The law, the procedure of the law, was not followed. But how does he respond? He responds patiently. He submits to it, and he responds patiently. He doesn't seek to highlight immediately that he's a Roman citizen, and I think there's good reason for that. There's a frenzy that has broken out here. There's a great tumult, and I don't think for one moment that there was an ideal moment or opportunity for Paul to raise the fact that he was a Roman citizen, and he saw that, and so he holds back, and he submits, and he takes it patiently. He responds patiently to the unjust, unfair treatment that he's receiving at the hands of the world. And why does he respond patiently? Because he had learned by experience that the gospel never receives a universal acceptance. He knew from his own theology that the heart of man is wicked, depraved, corrupt, at enmity with God, and therefore, he was not surprised when the world reacted or acted in such a way. And so, he submits patiently. And of course, he has the Lord's Word for it. You remember, as we considered last night, just a part of Paul's conversion. But on that occasion, back in Acts chapter 9, the Lord, speaking to Ananias, He wants Ananias to inform Saul of certain things. In verse 15 of Acts 9, he says to him, Go thy way, for he, that is Saul, is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And so, the Lord has spoken to him, and the Lord has said, Paul, you're going to go forth from this point as a minister of the gospel, a preacher of the gospel, but you're going to suffer. This gospel isn't going to be universally accepted and received with open arms. And you will face unjust treatment. You will be treated unfairly. And now, in Philippi, that's happening. The law, the procedure of the law, has not been followed, and he's dealt with unfairly, and yet he responds with patience. But not only did he respond patiently, he responded prudently, with wisdom. He did not initially raise the fact that he was a Roman citizen, and that wasn't because he hesitated to do so. He raised that matter the following day. And he highlights the fact that he was a Roman citizen and therefore entitled to the privileges and the protection of the law that every Roman citizen was entitled to. But in his case, he had not been granted those privileges. He holds off before he mentions that. And even whenever the magistrate sent word to release him and the jailer says, you're free to go, Paul says, no, hold on a minute. You go and tell those men to come themselves. You go and tell them to come and bring the message themselves. In verse number 37, but Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly, uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison. And now do they thrust us out privily or secretly? not so, nay, verily, but let them come themselves and fetch us out." And here you can see the wisdom. You can see the skill of the apostle. He did not mention his Roman citizenship the night before in the midst of the great frenzy and the tumult. He knew that it would not have had the greatest effect. He holds back. and he waits until that moment when this information will have the greatest effect. And look at verse 38, the sergeants told these words unto the magistrates, and they feared. They feared when they heard that they were Romans. And the effect now in the hearts and minds of the magistrates only serves to highlight the prudence and the wisdom and the skill that the Apostle Paul manifests on this occasion. He's been treated unfairly. He has a case. He has the weight of the law behind him. The magistrates have acted unlawfully towards him as a Roman citizen. And Paul holds back until that moment when that information will be most effective, and the magistrates fear. And the result was, in verse 39, that they did come. They came personally. And they besought them, entreating him, pleading with him. not commanding them, not issuing a directive or a decree, because they realize they've been in the wrong. They realize that they're now standing on thin ice, that they're in a state of jeopardy. their very lives are at risk because of their unjust treatment. You can see the wisdom that Paul manifests, holding back, waiting that decisive moment, that most effective moment, when he's able to say, You have condemned us and beaten us as Romans, without justification. And so, you can see here that he responds patiently, he responds prudently, but he also responds prayerfully. And you find that when he's in the prison cell. In verse 25, at midnight, Paul and Silas pray it and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. This is how he responds. When he meets with unjust, unfair treatment, he brings it to the Lord in prayer. He brings it before the Lord. And you can see here the great comfort that that gave to him in the midst of this situation where he's been wrongfully treated and shamefully treated, he brings it before the Lord. He brings the matter before the Lord. And as a result, You can see the confidence that they have, because they begin singing praises—praises unto God. They're singing with confidence, because they know that God has heard them, that God will answer prayer, God will intervene. He's the judge of all the earth. and a judge of all the earth does what is right. And so they have this great confidence in response to their prayers, knowing that the Lord has heard their cry. This is how Paul responded. And when we meet with this treatment, this shameful treatment, this unfair, unjust treatment, when we see the world framing mischief by a law, as the psalmist said, using the very law. Remember Daniel and how they tried to frame laws that would ensnare Daniel, that would bring him down, and it seemed as if at first it had succeeded. When the church meets with this unjust treatment, our response should be that of patience and prudence and prayer. And when we respond in such a way, then we will see the Lord intervene and the Lord manifest His great power in defense and in deliverance of His people and His cause.