Southern Christian University
Acts Class
Session 08
James A.
Turner
Hello students.
The first thing we want to do this evening is follow the missionary
journeys of Paul as recorded by Luke beginning with the thirteenth chapter of
the book of Acts. In Acts chapters
thirteen and fourteen, we read about the establishment of the churches of Galatia, and I would like for
you to try to get those churches in mind.
And then we will move from that to show that Paul revisited these
churches again on the second journey and again on his third journey. All three journeys went forth from the home
church at Antioch of Syria which was the first Gentile church. In the first
three verses of Acts thirteen, we read that there were certain prophets and teachers
in the church at Antioch, and they were
ministering to the Lord and fasting when the Lord said, "Separate
me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them." And they fasted and prayed and laid their
hands on them and sent them away. They
went down to Seleucia, the seacoast, and from
there they sailed to the isle of Cyprus. Please watch the video
if possible. If not, look at the map of Pauls journeys in your Bible. They
preached the word in the synagogue at Salamis on the east side of the
island, evidently with no real results because Luke does not record any other
than they preached in the synagogue.
Then they went through the island of Cyprus unto Pathos on the west
side of the island. At Pathos there was
a proconsul by the name of Sergius Paulus.
He was a man of understanding, a prudent man, and he wanted to hear the
teaching of Paul and Barnabas, but Bar
Jesus a false prophet tried to prevent Sergius Paulus from hearing the
gospel. And Paul was filled with the
Holy Spirit and said, thou Son of the devil, thou enemy of
all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord, and told him he would
be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.
So Paul was filled with the Spirit, and used miraculous power and struck
the false prophet blind. And when Sergius Paulus saw
what was done, he believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Then they left the island of Cyprus and sailed up to Perga
of Pamphylia, and there John Mark, their helper or attendant, decided that he
did not want to go any further on that journey, and he went back to his home in
Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas went on up from Perga of Pamphylia
to Antioch of Pisidia. Where they went
into the synagogue of the Jews. They
were given an opportunity by the rulers of the synagogue to speak to the
people. Paul beckoned with his hand and got their attention. After a very brief
introduction about the children of Israel, God choosing them, he
said, of this man's seed (Davids)
God had brought a Savior Jesus, and he taught them about the death, the burial and
resurrection of Christ, the primary facts of the gospel. As they were going out of the synagogue,
there were those who sought him to speak to them again the next Sabbath
day, and we read that there were many
Jews and proselytes that followed them.
Paul and Barnabas must have been very busy that whole week. The next Sabbath day, almost the whole city
came out to hear them and remember that this is Gentile territory, and . The Jews were moved with jealousy because so
many Gentiles had turned out to hear them, and they contradicted the things
that were spoken by Paul.
Paul and Barnabas spake out against them, and
said, It was necessary that the word of God should
first be spoken to you. Seeing that you thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of
eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. I want
to remind you that the gospel, even by Paul going to the Gentiles, was first
carried to the Jews. When he went to a
city, and there was a synagogue there, he went to the synagogue first (Acts 17:1-2). And here is the statement that it
was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you, the Jewish people. There
were some Jews that believed , but the
Jews, as a whole, in that synagogue rejected the word of the Lord. So Paul and Barnabas said, seeing
you thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we
turn to the Gentiles. When people reject the gospel of Christ
today, they do the same thing that those Jews in the synagogue at Antioch of
Pisidia did; they judge themselves unworthy of eternal
life.
When the Gentiles heard that, they were glad, and
Luke says, as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. I want you to go back and give careful attention
to last week's comments on Acts 13:48, as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
So the Jews stirred up trouble against Paul and Barnabas and cast them
out of their borders and they shook off the dust of their feet against them. So Antioch of Pisidia is the first church in
the Roman providence of Galatia. The churches of Galatia that Galatians was
written to were established by Paul and Barnabas on this first journey as
recorded in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Acts. These churches were
Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. From Antioch they went to Iconium, and
there were more good people in the synagogue at Iconium. There were many Jews and Gentiles that
believed. And they were really making
progress and they taught the gospel for many days at Iconium. But then the unbelieving Jews at Antioch of
Pisidia and those unbelieving Jews at Iconium stirred up the rulers of the
Gentiles, and they were ready to stone them, and they left Iconium and went to
Lystra.
At Lystra Paul healed a man who had been
impotent from his mother's womb. And the
priest of Jupiter brought oxen and garlands and was going to worship them as
gods. Paul and Barnabas rent their
garments, which showed their great alarm about their attempt to worship them, and
said, we are of like passion as you are. We want you to know that you are to turn from
these idol gods and worship the true God, and they restrained them from
worshiping them. Then after that the
Jews came from, Antioch and Iconium, and
stirred up trouble for them at Lystra, and they stoned Paul and dragged him out
of the city for dead. And as I
mentioned, I still wonder if this was the time that Paul was caught up into
paradise that he speaks of in II Corinthians 12:1-7, and heard
unspeakable things. He said, whether in
the body or out of the body I know not.
But anyway while the disciples were watching, he
got up and they went from Lystra to Derbe and established a church at
Derbe. And then they turned around and
retraced themselves. They went back to
Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. We read that they were further teaching the
disciples and exhorting them that it would be through many
tribulations that they would enter into the kingdom of God, meaning the eternal kingdom of God. When they obeyed the gospel, they became a
part of the earthly kingdom of God, but it would be through
many tribulations that they would enter into the eternal kingdom of God. At each church they fasted and prayed, and
then they appointed elders in each one of the churches. Then they went down from Antioch to Pamphylia again, and
then they sailed back and went back to the home church at Antioch, Antioch of Syria. So the first missionary journey begins there
in Acts thirteen, about verse three and it goes down to 14:26. We will read, "And
thence they sailed to Antioch
from whence they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which
they had fulfilled. And when they
were come, and had gathered the church together."
It looks like they must have gotten back home sometime during the week
rather than the first day of the week.
So they gathered the church together.
"They rehearsed all things that God had
done with them, and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." Now the same way that God opened a door of
faith to the Gentiles on this first missionary journey is the same way that he
opened the heart of Lydia that we will be
studying about tonight. "And
it says and they tarried no little time, verse twenty-eight,
with the disciples." Please mark in your
Bible at chapter thirteen, chapters thirteen and fourteen, the first journey,
and the establishment of the churches of Galatia: Antioch of Pisidia,
Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.
Then during that time in between, the first
journey and the second journey, there were certain brethren that went up to
this Gentile church and told them that they would have to be circumcised and
keep the law of Moses in order to be saved.
Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension with them, and the Holy Spirit
guided Paul and Barnabas to go to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles
and elders about the matter, and they took Titus with them being
brought on their way by the church at Antioch. Keep in mind that Acts
chapter fifteen and Galatians 2:1-10 are parallel
accounts concerning that meeting at Jerusalem. Galatians 2:1-10 shows that Paul and
Barnabas had a private meeting with those who were reputed to be pillars in the
church at Jerusalem: Cephas, James, and John. They did not add anything to them, but they
gave them the right hand of fellowship, that they should go to the Gentiles
like they were going to the Jews, but they did request that they remember the
poor in Jerusalem, which thing Paul said
I was very zealous to do.
Do you remember the conclusion of the conference
at Jerusalem that the apostles and elders were guided by the Holy Spirit wrote a
letter to those brethren in the church at Antioch, telling them that they had
not sent forth those false teachers, and that it was necessary for them to just
refrain from those four things: from the pollution
of idols, and fornication, and things strangled, and from
blood. The church at Jerusalem also sent two of their
members to tell them by word of mouth, Judas and Silas. Paul and Barnabas delivered the letter from
the church at Jerusalem, and Judas and Silas were
prophets, and they also talked to the brethren.
They exhorted these brethren and stayed for sometime, and then they were
dismissed to go back home. Luke does not
tell us why, but, anyway, Silas did not go back home.
It was after the Jerusalem conference, and they
are still at Antioch, that Paul said to
Barnabas, Let us return now and visit the
brethren in every city where we proclaimed the word and see how they fare (Acts 15:45). Barnabas was ready to do that, but he wanted
to take John Mark with them. Paul did not
want to carry him because he turned around and went not with them to the
work. And the contention became so sharp
that they separated. And Barnabas chose
John Mark, and went the same direction as they had gone on the first journey,
they sailed to the isle of Cyprus. Paul chose Silas and went by land back to
these same churches. And we read that as
he went through Syria and Cilicia, he was confirming the brethren
in those churches. Evidently while Paul
was at Tarsus, he must have done a
lot of missionary work in this area. Let
us read from Acts 15:39, "And
there arose a sharp contention, so that they parted asunder one from the other: And Barnabas took Mark with him, and sailed
away unto Cyprus;
but Paul chose Silas, and went forth, being commended by the brethren to the
grace of God. And he went through Syria
and Cilicia,
confirming the churches." See, this light
yellow is Syria and this little darker
area is Cilicia. And so there were already churches in this
area. And as they went through, they
were confirming those churches. So you
need to write by verse forty, the beginning of the second journey.
So Paul and Silas go by land back to these churches. The first church, of course, would be
Derbe. And we read in Acts 16:1, "Then
came he also to Derbe and to Lystra."
Which
means that they must have stayed some time at Derbe strengthening that church,
and then they went to Lystra. At Lystra
a young man by the name of Timothy that Paul had converted on that first
journey, was well recommended by the brethren at Lystra and at Iconium. Paul decided to take him as another companion
on this second journey. So it starts out
with Silas, and then at Lystra Timothy is added. Timothys mother was a Jew, but his father
was a Greek, and Timothy had not been circumcised. To avoid trouble over the matter of
circumcision, Paul just saw that it would be a wise thing to have Timothy
circumcised. Of course, it would be
sometime then before they could leave on the journey, but then they go to
Iconium, and then to Antioch of Pisidia.
And then Paul wanted to go into Asia. He probably wanted to go to Ephesus then, but he was
forbidden by the Holy Spirit to go there.
And he wanted to go into Bithynia, and he was forbidden
by the Holy Spirit to go there. And Luke
says passing by Mysia they came to Troas, where Paul received a vision in the
night, a man standing over in Macedonia, saying, come over and help us.
And it is that point that Luke joins the
company, so now there are four in that company.
We know that Luke joins the
company by him saying, We
assuredly gathered that God had called us forth to preach the gospel in Macedonia. Acts 16:10, "When
we had seen the vision, straightway we sought to go forth into Macedonia,
concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel unto them. Setting sail from Troas, we
made a straight course to Samothrace. From Troas to Samothrace was an island here, and
then they went to Philippi. And at Philippi they went down by the
riverside where they thought that a prayer service was going to be held, and
they talked to the women that had resorted thither. And that is where we will begin with our
lesson tonight. But we will go ahead and
trace briefly the churches that they established in Macedonia and Achaia. The first church established was the church
at Philippi. Luke stayed at Philippi until the end of the
third journey when they were ready to leave Corinth to carry the bounty of
those Gentile churches to Jerusalem. And then he joined the company again. After
establishing the church at Philippi, Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in
prison at Philippi, and after that they
left the city. And Luke tells us that
they, and by the pronouns, you can tell whether Luke is with them or
whether he is not with them, they passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia. There must not have been a synagogue in
either of those cities, and they came to Thessalonica. And as Paul's custom was, he went into the
synagogue at Thessalonica. There were
only a few Jews that believed in that synagogue, but there were many devout
Gentiles that believed. And again those
unbelieving Jews were stirred up trouble, and the brethren had to send Paul and
Silas away by night.
They went to Berea, and that is the
synagogue where Luke says that, these were
more noble than they in Thessalonica, in that they received the word of God with
all readiness of mind, and they searched the scriptures daily to see whether or
not those things were so, therefore, many of them believed. And anytime people start searching the
scriptures with that good attitude, you can expect conversions. They were doing a great work at Berea when Jews from
Thessalonica came and stirred up trouble against them. Paul went next to Athens, which resulted in the
establishment of a small group of Christian,
and then he went to Corinth. So three churches were
established on the second journey in Macedonia: Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea, and three churches in
Achaia or Greece: Athens, Cenchrea, and Corinth. And on the return part of this second
journey, Paul does go to Ephesus. He went into the synagogue and spoke in the
synagogue of the Jews at Ephesus. They wanted him to stay longer, but it was
not his will to do so, and he told them that, if
it was the Lords will,
that he would return to them. And then
he went back to the home church, at Antioch of Syria. The second journey ends with Acts18:22. Please look at chapter 18:22, "And
when he had landed at Cesarea, and went up, and saluted the church (Jerusalem as usually regarded) and
went down to Antioch." So verse twenty-two of Acts eighteen is the
end of the second journey, and verse twenty-three is the beginning of the third
journey. "And
having spent some time there, he departed, and went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia
in order, establishing all the disciples."
And, of course, this would be the region where they had established
those churches on that first journey, and so Paul revisited them again on the
third journey.
And then it looks like Luke purposely puts in
there about Apollos coming to Ephesus during that time
between the time that Paul had gone there on the return part of the second
journey. He told them then that if it
was the will of the Lord, he would return.
It was and after Paul had revisited those churches established on the
first journey he returned to Ephesus. Acts 18:24-28, Luke must have
put those verses in to show why the disciples needed to be baptized again that
we read about in Acts 19:1-7. They had been
baptized by Apollos with the baptism of John after John's baptism was no
longer valid. John's baptism was
valid until the baptism of the great commission was given by Peter on that
first Pentecost after the ascension of Christ.
Paul stayed at Ephesus, as he speaks of it in
Acts twenty, for three years during which time the people throughout all Asia, both Jews and Greeks,
heard the gospel. Evidently that was the
time when the seven churches of Asia were established that we read about in
chapter two and three of the Revelation..
But I guess that is about as far as we need to go for now. I plan on coming back and reading these verses
at a later date.
So now we begin with the reading as given in
Acts 16:14, "And
a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira,
one that worshipped God, heard us: Whose heart the Lord opened, to give
heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul.
And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us,
saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house,
and abide there. And she constrained us."
Now, there are those who believe in baptizing
infants who try to get infants in the households that we read about in the book
of Acts. And some have tried to get
infants in this household of Lydia. But notice that Lydia's household is a
business household. She was from the
city of Thyatira, and she is engaged in
selling very expensive purple garments that only the very rich, or kings and
governors would wear. The purple dye was
obtained from shellfish, and it was a very tedious process in getting enough
dye to do much dyeing, and so they were very expensive garments. Lydia and her household must
have been the ones whose prayers were answered when Paul received that vision
at Troas, a
man standing over in Macedonia,
saying, come over and help us. And
remember that Luke says that they decided a prayer service was going to be held
by the riverside, and they go there, and speak to the women that resort there
for prayer. And it looks like those
women consisted of Lydia and her business
household. Let us read verse fourteen
again, "And a certain woman named Lydia, a
seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, heard us: Whose heart the Lord opened, to give heed to
the things which were spoken by Paul.
And when she was baptized, and her household." Would not her household be the other women
that made up that business household? If
she had had a husband and children, would she not have said to Paul and
company, come into our house and abide?
"And when she was baptized and her
household, she besought us saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the
Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us."
Evidently they were a little hesitant about
accepting her invitation, but Luke says, "And
she constrained us." She insisted that they stay in her
house. And so those four men then were
given a place to stay. And I would guess
that she provided meals and other things for them as long as they were
there. And when Paul wrote the letter to
this church at Philippi more than ten years later during that first Roman
imprisonment, he thanked God, for
your fellowship in the furtherance of the gospel from the first day even until
now
(Philippians 1:5). Is he not talking about what Lydia did on that first day when
she invited those four men to stay at her house? And evidently in other ways, she assisted
them as long as they stayed there. And
that must have been considerable help in the furtherance of the gospel. Think
of it, free rent, free meals and etc., and Paul thanks God for their fellowship
in the gospel, from the first day even until now.
But going back to the matter of Lord opening the
heart of Lydia, some would tell you
that the Holy Spirit operated in a miraculous way, that in order for people to
be saved, the Holy Spirit has got to operate in some miraculous way to open the
hearts of the people. Well, this is
during the miraculous period of the church all right, and sometimes the Holy
Spirit did have a part. In fact, it had
a part here in that it guided them to go over there by that vision in the
night. And you remember how Paul had
wanted to go to Asia and wanted to go to Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit forbid
them to do that, and so the Holy Spirit had a part in the conversion of Lydia
and her household in that it got these men there to teach them, and how did the
Lord open her heart? By the teaching of
Paul. Whose
heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by the
Lord. The gospel is Gods power to save (Romans 1:16).
And going back to that statement in chapter
fourteen and verse twenty-eight, Paul and Barnabas rehearsed what God had done
with them, and that he had opened a door of faith
to the Gentiles. God had opened a door of
faith unto the Gentiles by the Holy Spirit saying, Separate me, Barnabas and
Saul for the work whereunto I had called them, by sending them forth and then
by their preaching the gospel of Christ
to the Gentiles. And thus a door of
faith had been opened unto the Gentiles.
The miraculous period is over! All of the New Testament has been given
and confirmed (I Corinthians 13:8-10; James 1:25. The childhood age of
the church is over (I Corinthians 13:11-12; Ephesians 4:7-16)! The only way that
a persons heart is opened is by the power of the gospel (Romans 1:16). If a person will not
hear and obey the instruction of the word of God then he, or she, can not be
saved (Romans 1:6, 2:13, 10:12-14, 16: 19, 16:25-26; James 1:25).
Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke stay at Philippi for sometime. And verse sixteen, "And
it came to pass, as we were going to the place of prayer." So notice the pronoun we. All of them were going to the place of
prayer, it looks like on a regular basis, going every day. "That a
certain maid having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much
gain by soothsaying." She had a demon or a
spirit that was bringing her masters gain.
"And the same followed after Paul and
us, crying out saying, These men are servants of the most high God, who
proclaim unto you the way of salvation.
And this she did many days."
Finally Paul got tired of them being associated with one of the devil's
advocates, and he decided to cast out the evil spirit. "But Paul
being sore troubled, turned and said to the spirit, I charge thee in the name
of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And
it came out that very hour. When her
masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone."
When that evil spirit went out of her, their hope of gain was gone. "And they
laid hold on, Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace
before the rulers. And when they had
brought them unto the magistrates, they said, These men, being Jews, do
exceedingly trouble our city. And set
forth customs, which it is not lawful to receive, or to observe, being
Romans." And, of course, this is Gentile
territory. They recognized them as Jews,
and so these men are troublemakers. Do you
see why they did that? Because they cast
out the evil spirit of that damsel that was bringing to them probably a lot of
gain. Anyway, they stirred up the
people. "And
the multitude rose up together against them: And the magistrates rent their garments off
them, and commanded to beat them with rods."
In II Corinthians 11:22-23 Paul mentions some
of the things that he had suffered for the cause of Christ prior to the writing
of Acts. Acts was written in about 62-63 A.D. and II Corinthians around 57
AD. In that list he said that he had
been beaten five times of the Jews forty strips, save one, and of the Gentiles,
he had been beaten with rods three times.
So Paul and Silas are beat with the rods on this occasion. Verse twenty-three, "And
when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging
the jailer to keep them safely." Think of it, they
are both Roman citizens, and they are beaten contrary to the law. It was a great crime for law enforcement
officials to beat Roman citizens without a trial, and here they had no
trial. They were severely beaten. and cast into prison charging the jailer to
keep them safely. "And
upon receiving such a charge, he put them in the inner prison. And made
their feet fast in the stocks."
Acts 16:25, "But
about midnight
Paul and Silas were praying, and singing hymns to God: And the prisoners were listening to
them." Think
about such a thing as that. They had
been terribly beaten and that was done unlawfully, and their stripes had not
been treated, and their feet are made fast in the stocks, and they are in a
very uncomfortable position. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were
praying and singing hymns unto God, and the prisoners were listening to
them. How could they pray and sing after
such treatment as that? They had that peace
of God then, that more than ten years later when Paul wrote to the
church at Philippi, as recorded in Philippians chapter four beginning with
verse four, he said, "Rejoice in the Lord
always: And again I say Rejoice. Let your forbearance be made known
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. In nothing be anxious; but by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto
God. And the peace of God, which
passeth all understanding shall rule your hearts and minds by Christ
Jesus." So Paul and Silas back here had that peace of
God that passes all understanding. And
as he told the Philippians he is assuring us today that we can have the peace
of God that passeth all understanding.
And here they were at midnight praying and singing
hymns unto God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Wouldn't we like to know how they were
praying in that prayer? Their prayer surely
had something to do with what happened!
And wouldn't we like to know what the prisoners were thinking about,
those men praying and singing hymns at midnight.
And look at verse twenty-six, "And
suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison
house were shaken: And immediately all the doors were opened,
and every one's bands were loosed."
Sometimes it is a little hard to tell the difference between God's
working in a miraculous way and in a providential way. You know earthquakes can come without any of
the natural laws of God being violated, but it looks like the fact that not
only did that earthquake come immediately, but the fact that the prison doors
were opened and every man's bands were loosed, there must have been a
miracle involved in it. "And
so the jailer being roused out of sleep." Did
he go to sleep on the job listening to the praying and singing of Paul and
Silas?. "And
so the jailer being roused out of sleep, seeing the prison doors open, drew his
sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had
escaped." We will stop there for
this portion of this ninth Class Session and begin then with verse
twenty-eight. A brief break was taken.
Let us pick up with 16:27, "And
the jailer being roused out of sleep, seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword,
and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had been
escaped." Of course, he was
reasoning that I will not wait for the authorities to put me to death because
the prisoners are escaped, I will do that myself. If Paul had not cried out with a loud voice,
he would have been dead in a matter of seconds.
"Paul cried with a loud voice, saying,
Do thyself no harm: For we are all here." So the prison doors had been jarred open. Every man's bands are loose, but all the
prisoners are still there, and doesn't that sound unusual too? "And he
called for lights (the jailer) "
and sprang in, and trembling with fear, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Does this not indicate that
he knew that they were servants of God? This makes the third time that we have had
that question asked meaning the same thing, Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?
There is not a more important question that an
unredeemed sinner can ask than, What must
I do to be saved?
That question was asked by some of those Jews on Pentecost when Peter told them
that Christ had been raised to the right hand of God exalted, hath poured forth
this which you hear, and this Jesus whom you
have crucified hath become both Lord and Christ. They recognized they were guilty, and they
said, men and brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent,
and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you and your
children, to them that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall
call. So the people on Pentecost were told to repent
and be baptized. Then in Acts the
ninth chapter, when Christ appeared to Saul, Saul asked the question, when he
tells about it as recorded in Acts22:10-16, asking what
must I do And
the Lord told Saul of Tarsus to go on into the city, and there it
shall be told thee what thou must do. And
God sent Ananias to him to restore his sight and to tell him what to do to be
saved. And that is recorded in Acts 22:16. Ananias said to him, "Arise,
and be baptized and washing away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord." And here with the Philippian jailer, he is
told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved thou and thy house. So
three different times the question is asked and three different answers are
given.
How do we account for the three different
answers? The answer is given from the standpoint
of where a person is. On Pentecost they
manifested their faith when they said, men and brethren, what shall we do? But they had not repented and they had not
been baptized, so they were told to repent and be baptized. In regard to Saul of Tarsus, he had seen the
Lord in the way. So there was no question
about his believing, and for three days and for three nights, he had not taken
anything to eat and was praying during that period of time. That surely shows his repentance, and so the
only thing that he lacked was to arise and
be baptized and wash away thy sins. Here
with the Philippian jailer, this man is a Gentile person. Evidently he has never even heard about the
facts of the gospel, and he is told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house.
And, of course, belief here is used in the same way as used in a number
of passages, meaning to believe with that kind of faith that causes one to do
according to Gods instruction.. But
there are a lot of preachers that will use a reference like this out of
context. Paul just said to the jailer, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house, but most of them would not dare read verses
thirty-two through thirty-four because it shows that there is more to it than
that. He did not know what to believe,
so they had to preach the gospel to him.
They had to preach at least the primary facts of the gospel about the
death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ for him to have proper faith,
and to know what to do to be saved. They
had to further teach that the Lord had commanded to believe the primary facts
of the gospel (I Corinthians 15:1-4; John 8:24; Hebrews 11:6) and that he must believe
and he needed to repent (Acts 2:38, 17:30) and he needed to be
baptized for the remission of his sins (Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-7).
In Romans 10:12-14, where Paul quotes
from the prophet Joel, Joel 2:32, about that time when
God would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, meaning Jews and Gentiles, as
first recorded in Acts 2:17-21. And then verse thirty-two says, "And
it shall be that, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." And then he raises the question, how
shall they call on him whom they have not believed? How shall they believe on him whom they have
not heard? And how shall they hear
without a preacher?" This is showing that the facts and commands of
the gospel must be taught a person before he knows what to believe, before he
can call on the name of the Lord in such a way as to be saved. When Ananias told Saul of Tarsus to arise,
and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord, then
he would be doing what the Lord through Annias told him to do. Actually that
calling on the name of the Lord, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved means then that a
person must learn what to do to be saved, and then he must do it. And so Saul when he was baptized completed
his obedience to the first principles of the gospel and was saved.
But here the Philippian jailer must first be
taught, and verse thirty-two shows that, "And
they spake the word of the Lord unto him, with all that were in his
house." And again there are
those who try to get infants in the jailer's house. But can infants, be rightly spoken of as
having the word spoken unto them? That
infant child cannot believe and obey! "And
they spake the word of the Lord to him, with all that were in his
house." So they were all old
enough to hear and believe the gospel.
Verse thirty-three shows his repentance.
"And he took them the same hour of the
night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his,
immediately." With all the conversions, notice that they
were interested in being baptized like the Philippian jailer here immediately! In the case of the Ethiopian eunuch when they
came to certain water, and the eunuch said, see,
here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? Please remember that Phillip began at Isaiah
53:7 and preached
unto him Jesus.
A preacher or teacher can not preach Jesus to an alien sinner without telling
him that Jesus has commanded water baptism for the remission of sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-7). The Philippian
jailer here was baptized immediately.
The fact that he carries them and washes their stripes shows
repentance. And, of course, it also
shows that he recognized from the teaching that he needed to be baptized..
Acts 16:33, And
he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their strips, and was baptized
he and all his, immediately. And he brought them up into his house
and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly with all of his house,
having believed in God." And so verse
thirty-four implies they had to go out of his house to be baptized, so he brought
them up into his house and set food or a meal before them and rejoiced greatly with
all his house, having believed in God. A
footnote by food in my Bible says, set a table.
Of course, that means that they had a meal together. "And
rejoiced greatly." Why? Again like the Ethiopian eunuch, he knew that
they had done what was necessary to be saved,
he and all in his house, and they had great reason to rejoice. And again
if there were infants in the household, that occurrence took place after midnight, probably one or two
o'clock
in the morning by this time, by the time they spake the word of the Lord to
him, and they are baptized. Do you think
infants would be rejoicing at two o'clock in the morning? Not likely, is it? "And
he brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced
greatly with all in his house, having believed in God. But when it was day, the magistrates sent the
sergeants, saying, Let these men go. And
the jailer reported the words to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent to let
you go: Now therefore come forth, and go in
peace.
Acts 16:37,
But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us publicly uncondemned, men that are
Romans, and have cast us into prison; and, lo, do they now cast us out
privily? Nay verily; but let them come
themselves and bring us out. And the
sergeants reported these words unto the magistrates: And they feared, when they heard that they
were Romans. And they came and
besought them, and when they had brought them out, they asked them to go
away from the city." Notice that it says that when the sergeants
told the magistrates that they were Roman citizens, that those magistrates
feared when they heard they were Romans.
They had committed a crime when
they beat Paul and Silas, Roman citizens
without a trial.. Paul and Silas could
have brought a legal case against these magistrates. But the only thing that they said was, they
have beaten us publicly uncomdemned , and they cast us into prison, and now
they are going to bring us out privily. Nay verily, let them come themselves and
bring us out to show the public that they had not committed any crime, and the
magistrates themselves are releasing them.
We also find Paul on another occasion when he
was about to be beaten, asked the question, is
it lawful to beat a Roman uncondemned? And so
he appealed to his citizenship to some small degree, but never did carry it to
the limit. And surely that shows how
that he was following the way of the Lord.
In Matthew the twelfth chapter, Matthew records the statement from
Isaiah about Jesus, that said, he shall
not strive nor cry aloud, neither shall his voice be heard in the streets, quoting from Isaiah 42:7. I believe that is verse nineteen in Matthew
twelve. Jesus was not a rabble raiser. He did not go out and get the people to rise
up against law enforcement and cause a lot of trouble. He did not lead any sit-down strikes in the
street. And we know that there are those
that claim to be following the Lord today that do such things. That is not the proper thing to do! Christian people can appeal to their
citizenship to avoid certain things and should, but should never carry it to
any extreme. The magistrates did ask
them to leave the city.
Acts 16:40, "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." Think of what
all has happened to them, and they go to the house of Lydia, which shows that they
are still staying at Lydia's house, and they
comfort the brethren and departed. But
from the standpoint of what Luke has said, the only two cases of conversion
that we read about are the two household conversions. Lydia and her household was a business
household, but the jailer's household was a family household, but there were no
infants in that family household. Reckon
what percentage of houses today do not have any infants or real small children
in the household? So Luke stays behind
at Philippi. We know that to be the case
because he starts using the pronoun they.
"Now when they." That includes at least Paul and Silas, and it
may be that Timothy joined them real soon. But Luke stays behind at the church
at Philippi and stays there until a
number of years later until on the end of that third journey, and they are
carrying that bounty of the Gentile churches to Jerusalem, and he joins the
company again.
Chapter
Seventeen
"Now when they
had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to
Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews."
And as I mentioned awhile ago, I would guess the reason they passed
through Amphipolis and Apollonia, is that there were not synagogue in those
cities, but they probably received news that there was a synagogue in
Thessalonica. If not when they got there,
they found out there was one there.
"Where was a synagogue of the Jews: And Paul, as his custom was, went in
unto them, and for three sabbath days reasoned with them from the scriptures." Of course, that would be the Old Testament
scriptures. He would be taking some of
those prophecies concerning Christ and how that he would suffer on the cross,
and use them and show how they had been fulfilled. He could have used from the
book of Psalms and from Isaiah fifty-three and many, many others about Christ
and how he was the chief cornerstone that the builders rejected. There are just numerous Old Testament
references from the prophets that he could have used that would be included in
what he did here when verse three says, opening and alleging for three Sabbath
days and reasoning with them from the
scriptures. "Opening
and alleging that it behooved that Christ must suffer, and rise again from the
dead; and that this Jesus, whom I proclaim unto you, is Christ." Again those are the facts of the gospel that
must be preached to alien sinners.
Acts 17:4, "And
some of them were persuaded." Notice
carefully that statement. That refers to
the Jews in the synagogue at Thessalonica.
Some of them, and that does not give the impression that a big
percentage of them believed. "And
some of them were persuaded and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout
Greeks a great multitude." So see the
difference in the reading there. Some of
the Jews believed, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude. The devout Greeks would be those that were
worshiping with the Jews in the synagogue.
"And of the chief women, not a few." And those again would be Greek women. This is Gentile territory, and they were
probably wives of some of the civil officials.
"And of the chief women, not a
few." And the Jews being moved with
jealousy." Again, note how those unbelieving Jews tried to prevent the
preaching of the gospel. "But
the Jews being moved with jealousy, took unto them certain vile fellows of the
rabble, and gathering a crowd." Now, see
that is the kind of things they do. They
took unto them fellows of rabble. "Gathering
a crowd, and set the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, they
sought to bring them forth to the people.
And when they found them not, they dragged Jason and certain brethren
before the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside
down are come hither also; whom Jason hath received: And these all act contrary to the decrees of
Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." Well, they are Jews, and they are under Roman
authority. Do you think that they were very
concerned about the decrees of Caesar? They did not want Paul and Silas to be
preaching the gospel. They were not
teaching that Jesus was an earthly king, but a king of an eternal kingdom. "And
they troubled the multitude and the rulers of the city, and when they heard
these things." Of course, those were false charges, and you
can see why the people might be troubled
by such charges.
Acts 17:9, "And
when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them
go." So verse nine, in modern day terms, would
mean they had to put up bond to be released.
But when they had taken the security from them to guarantee that they
would -- that Jason would not have them in his house any longer. And Paul and Silas were in danger as shown by
verse ten. "And
the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea." Does not that strongly indicate that they
recognized that their lives were in danger, that those unbelieving Jews would
kill them if they got a good opportunity?
And so the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea.
Now, let me talk a little bit about that they
stayed there more than three Sabbath days.
If we did not have anything but what is recorded here in these nine
verses, it might be that we would conclude that Paul just stayed at
Thessalonica for three Sabbath days. But
notice that they are staying in the house of Jason, and when they assaulted it,
they are looking for Paul and Silas, and they were not there. That gives time for the