We'll find an authorized version in the English
language of the Holy Scriptures before you in
the pew.
Pick it up and turn with me to
the New Testament, to the sixteenth chapter of
the book of Acts.
Acts chapter sixteen.
We'll want to read some verses from this
chapter of God's holy and precious word.
We'll find it on page one hundred and
fifty-five in the New Testament part of
the Bible, the second part.
The book of the Acts of the Holy
Ghost through the apostles at the chapter sixteen.
Verse thirteen, And on the Sabbath we went
out of the city by a riverside, where
prayer was wont to be made.
And we sat down and spake unto the
woman which resorted thither.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller
of purple of the city of Thyatira, which
worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord
opened, that she attended unto the things which
were spoken by God.
And when she was baptized, and her heart
cold, 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.
And it came to pass, as we went
to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with the
spirit of divination met us, which brought her
masters much gain by soothsaying.
The seer followed Paul and us, and cried,
saying, These men are the servants of the
Most High God, which show unto us the
way of salvation.
And this did she many days.
But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to
the spirit, I command thee in the name
of Jesus Christ to come out of her.
And he came out the same hour.
And when her masters saw that the hope
of their gains was gone, they caught Paul
and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace
unto the rulers, and brought them to the
magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly
trouble our city, and teach customs which are
not lawful for us to receive, neither to
observe, being Romans.
And the multitude rose up together against them,
and the magistrates went off their clothes.
And when they had laid many stripes upon
them, they cast them into prison, charging the
jailer to keep them safely.
Who, having received such a charge, thrust them
into the inner prison, and made their feet
fast in the stop at midnight.
Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto
God, and the prisoners heard them.
Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that
the foundations of the prison were shaken, and
immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's
bonds were loosed.
And the first keeper of the prison, awaking
out of his sleep, and seeing the prison
doors open, he drew out his sword and
would have killed himself, supposing the prisoners had
been fled.
But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying,
Do thyself no harm, for we are all
here.
Then he called for a light, and sprang
in, and came trembling, and fell down before
Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and
said, Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy
house shall be saved.
And he took them the same hour of
the night, and washed their stripes, and was
baptized, he and all his street-wings.
And when he had brought them into his
house, he sat meekly before them, and rejoiced,
believing in God with all his house.
The magistrates said, Let those men go, and
the keeper of the prison said, The magistrates
have sent to let you go, therefore depart
and go in peace.
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?
Nay, verily, but let them come themselves, and
bring us up.
And the sergeants told these words unto the
magistrates, and they feared when they heard that
they were Romans, and they came and besought
them, and brought them out, and desired them
to depart out of the city.
And they went out of the prison, and
entered into the house of Lydia, and when
they had seen the brethren, they comforted them,
and departed.
God shall stand with his own divine seal
of approval and blessing upon this reading of
his very own infallible book.
Open your Bible at the sixteenth chapter of
the book of the Acts.
My subject tonight is Earthquaking the Way into
the Evangelization of Europe.
No greater evangelization of any part of the
world started in the quietest of ways as
this great invasion by the gospel preachers into
Europe.
It started with a very quiet woman's prayer
meeting.
It's well they weren't plume of brethren, or
they would have no meeting at all.
But at that meeting there was a business
woman called Lydia, who very quietly opened her
heart to the Lord.
And she was so soundly converted, she opened
her home to the Lord.
And it was from there that they started
their evangelistic drive.
The second incident provoked a storm.
A devil-possessed young woman, filled with an
evil spirit of divination, bantered Paul and Silas
and their friends as they made their way
to the morning woman's prayer meeting each day.
Paul was greatly grieved with the language of
this devil-possessed girl.
And eventually he cast the devil out of
her.
This brought the furies down upon the heads
of Paul and Silas and his fellow workers.
The girl's masters, who had made a lot
of money through her spirit of divination, brought
apostles before the magistrates of the city.
And they hurled fierce and lying accusations against
them.
They made political charges against them, linking them
with rebellion against Caesar's rule.
And branded them as part of the disturbers
coming from the Jewish nation.
The result was the stripping of the preachers
of their clothes.
And when they were naked, they were severely
beaten with many strikes.
And then they were taken to the prison
and cast with great force into the prison.
And the dealer was instructed to deal hardly
with them.
And he thrust them into the inner prison.
And he made their feet fast in the
stone.
Nothing dunched them.
The apostles prayed and sang praises to God.
And then the lid was blown off the
whole situation.
There was a great earthquake.
It wasn't a small rumble of the earth.
It was a great.
Every part of the prison rocked under the
grasp of that earthquake.
The very foundations of the prison were shaken.
And all the binding chains and stops that
were on the prisoners were all smashed.
This great earthquake made the extraordinary way for
the evangelization and conversion of the whole of
Europe to the Christian faith.
The quietness of the prayer meetings.
The queerness of that devil-possessed woman.
The quaking of the earth.
All welded together brought about a series of
happenings which led to the fire of revival
being kindled in Philippi.
What a kindling!
And what a fire!
We are here tonight in part of Europe.
And we are having the gospel preached because
of this incident.
I want to take seven looks tonight at
the jailer.
I want you to look with me at
this jailer before the prisoners were committed to
his charge.
For his conversion is a remarkable instance of
divine grace.
Prison jailers under Caesar's rule were hard men.
They were bitter men.
They were drunken men.
And they were wicked men.
They were mostly the scum of mankind who
took great delight in the torture and suffering
of the prisoners that they were in charge
of.
The world of the Caesars was a wicked
world.
It was a tough world.
It was a hard world.
It was a vengeful world.
It was a sinful world.
It was an unloving world.
And it was an unkind world.
No doubt, the character of his day and
the character of the office he held had
taken a country produced in the jailer.
But secondly, let us look at the jailer
when the prisoners were committed to his charge.
The character of this jailer is seen in
the brief description of his activity when these
special prisoners were committed to his custody.
Silas and Paul were in a dreadful condition
when they were handed over.
Their clothes had been torn off them by
the magistrates.
They had been very severely and cruelly beaten.
Their backs were covered with stripes that ran
red with their blood.
And then they were cast into prison.
The meaning of the word was they were
thrown into prison with no respect for their
penance.
That word portrays the brute force that was
used to cast them into the prison.
The jailer was sternly ordered to keep them
safely.
How did he respond?
With more cruel handling.
He thrust them.
And that word thrust suggests he manhandled them
into the inner self.
He pushed them down on the ground.
And he took the chains from the stocks
and fastened them in the stock.
Let us look thirdly at the jailer when
the prisoners were thus sick.
He didn't think of their bleeding bodies.
He didn't think of their tattered garments.
He did not worry about the bitterness of
their plight.
He didn't care that they were hungry.
And he didn't take time to listen to
their prayers and their singing.
There is no mention that he even heard
at any time their prayers or singing.
The other prisoners heard them but he closed
his ears to all such things.
Instead, he had a supper.
He went to his bed.
He had not even one thought for the
badly abused prisoners in the inner self.
He was in no way disturbed.
How do I know?
Because when he put his head on the
pillow, he went to sleep.
He heard nothing.
He was asleep.
But let's take a fourth look at the
jailer.
The jailer was awakened.
Suddenly, his peaceful sleep was disturbed.
And when he opened his eyes, the whole
prison was rocking from side to side.
Every door was off its hinges.
Every prisoner was loose.
Because the law was under Caesar that if
a jailer lost, then he immediately forfeited.
Do you know that those famous characters in
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Brutus and Cassius, both committed
suicide in this very city, the city of
Philippi.
And here is this man, and he is
standing within an inch of hell.
He has the sword, he has the sword
at his breast, ready to plunge it in.
Paul recognized what was going to happen.
And with all the thunder that his voice
could muster, he cried out to the jailer,
Do thyself no harm, we are all here.
So the jailer was kept eternity.
And he was about by his own hand.
Let's take a fifth look at the jailer.
Notice the jailer's three times he is on
the record, and only three times that he
spoke.
First of all, he called for a light.
Secondly, he called for spiritual light to become
a Christian and to be saved.
And last of all, he told Paul of
the light of his own deliverance.
He said, the magistrates have sent to let
you go, now therefore depart and go in
peace.
Let's take a sixth look at the jailer.
He cries for salvation.
What must I do to be saved?
The jailer was not an ignorant man.
The scenes at Philippi every day were known
to him.
It was his business to know what was
happening in the city.
And if there was unrest, what his duties
would be if that unrest broke out.
He had no doubt heard of the testimony
of the devil possessed girl, who said about
Paul and Silas, these are the servants of
the most high.
He must have been very impressed by the
majesty and the grace of Paul and Silas.
Other prisoners cursed their persecutors and damned the
magistrate, but these two men showed patience and
love and respect.
Their testimony was the testimony of 1 Corinthians
4 verses 12 and 13.
Being reviled, we bless.
Being persecuted, we suffer.
Being defamed, we entreat.
We are made as a filth of all
things unto thee.
Almighty God was at work in the jailer's
mind, in the jailer's conscience and in the
jailers.
It was Charles Wesley who wrote the lines.
What but the power which wakes the dead
could reach a stubborn jailer's heart, in cruelty
and rapine bred, who took the ancient murderer's
part, could make a hardened, roughened field and
shake him over the mouth of hell.
He was standing with a sword to commit
suicide, but the Holy Spirit conquered him.
The jailer was within an inch of hell,
but amazing grace intervened.
He had retired.
He had gone to sleep.
It seemed that all would be the same
on the morrow, the old routine.
But no, he was awakened.
What an awakening he had.
Every timber of the prison shook.
All the doors by tremendous force were torn
open.
The chains of the prisoners were all smashed.
The whole earth moved.
It was a great earthquake.
No wonder he cried in terror, What must
I do to be saved?
But let us take another look at the
jailer as his prayer.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved and thy house.
This was the contempt.
There followed hereafter a full and blessed exposition
of that gospel.
And Paul spoke the word to all
in his house.
Prisoners included, but to all in his house.
Note what happened.
This man was suddenly, miraculously, gloriously comforted.
He became a believing Christian.
Verse 34, it says, he believed in God.
Faith is the first fundamental.
Notice, he was immediately a humble.
A man that is proud, a woman that
is proud cannot be a Christian.
Christianity brings with it humiliation.
What did he do?
He did the work of a servant.
He did not call one of his underlings
to watch this.
He watched them.
He was a ready Christian.
He heard, he believed, he was baptized, he
served, and he rejoiced.
He heard, he believed, he was baptized, he
served, and he was a practical Christian.
These men were hungry, and he set meat
before them.
But most of all, he was a rejoicing
Christian.
He rejoiced with all his house, family, and
all his prisoners.
Think of it.
The whole prison population, and the jailer's family,
and himself, all gloriously rejoicing.
What a feast!
What praises!
What prayers!
He believed to the saving of his own
soul.
And the others believed to the saving of
theirs.
What must I do?
The answer was simple.
Believe!
It's so simple that fools think it's out
of date.
But it's not.
That was the answer then, and it's the
answer this night.
How can I be saved?
Believe!
That is still the answer.
That will always be the answer.
That answer will always be fresh, new, and
sweet, and it will always work.
Anyone who believes will be saved.
No wit or art of man will ever
find a crack or a flaw in that
definition.
That definition is God's definition of how you
can be saved.
It doesn't say, join the church.
It doesn't even say, be baptized.
It says, believe.
What is believing?
Believing is receiving.
But as many as received him, to them
give he the power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe.
It's faith that makes.
It's life that proves you are a Christian.
He that hath the trials conquered confirmed
that you are a Christian.
And death crowns you with eternal peace as
you pass.
Notice seven things.
There was a sudden shaking.
There was an alarmed awakening.
There was unwanted quaggering.
There was earnest seeking.
There was faithful speaking.
There was decision making.
And there was believing and a joyous partaking.
As they sat down to meet, they rejoiced.
What must I do to be saved?
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved.
Unsaved man.
Unsaved woman.
Unsaved boy.
Unsaved girl.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear Christian man.
Dear Christian woman.
Dear Christian boy.
Dear Christian girl.
Keep on believing.
And if you keep on believing, you will
have joy.
Wonderful joy.
For Jesus has come into your heart to
stay forever.
May God bless His holy word.
Father, we pray that thou wouldst write thy
word upon every one here.
And may no soul step out into the
darkness of the shadow of death.
But may every one of them step into
the light of believing in Jesus Christ.
Take our thanks for thy holy word.
The simplicity of the gospel.
The actuality of being saved.
And to know we are saved and partakers
of everlasting life.
May men and women partake this night for
Jesus' sake.
And everybody say, Amen.