Unshaken
Sermon Downloads
Sermon Transcript
[00:00:00] I thought Pastor Mike was gonna say we were gonna read it like a man, but I guess he just said read it like, I mean it. Same thing. Happy Sunday today. for our special time in the word, I'm hoping that the Holy Spirit will use his living and active and sharp flashing sword of the word to. Cut deeply into each of our anxious and unsatisfied and unrested hearts to impress on each of us by his showering grace that you and I by faith have received in our currently citizens of an unshakeable kingdom that instead of running away or keeping our mouth shut, or tempting ourselves to be embarrassed because we're.
Associated with Christ or following the crowds [00:01:00] who have no hope that you and I this morning, first of all, will show gratitude for our received kingdom, show gratitude to our great God, and that we serve him as we leave this place with acceptable service, and that we revere him with an acceptable fear and awe because the truth is our God is a consuming fire.
Please stand now. Let's read our passage today from God's Word,
acts 16 verses 25 through 34. Luke writes and says, but about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and 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 jailhouse were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's [00:02:00] chains were unfastened.
And when the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul, Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, do not harm yourself for we're all here. And he called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear. He fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, SIRS, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your house. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in the household, and he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds. And immediately he was baptized, he and all his household, and he brought them into his house and set food before them and rejoiced greatly with his whole household because he had believed in God.
Let's pray. Father, we're [00:03:00] enamored with you. We're so grateful that you've called us together into this body. Lord, the. To gather around you, to hear the word, to sing the Word, to pray the word. Father, we pray today that you would bear much fruit by your spirit. Holy Spirit, we welcome you. Work among us, enliven and enlighten us to understand your word.
Lord, help us grow today and help us to love you even more and exalt the name of Jesus Christ. And his name we pray. Amen. Amen. This morning, you may be seated. By the way, this morning, I'm sharing a message that I need to hear. A lot of us like to talk about the deep theological topics of scripture. You know, we read books, we listen to podcasts.
We're watching YouTube videos. [00:04:00] We even blindly volunteer to be part of controversies in someone else's space. We even join sides. We don't even fully understand the issues. Who knows? Maybe we're looking for passion in some way, or maybe we want to cause or, or maybe we're not convinced God's word is enough that Christian fellowship isn't enough to living lives alongside each other isn't enough.
We're looking for something more to satisfy and maybe give comfort to our wishing hearts.
Whatever it is this morning is a time to stop and be transformed by the renewing of our minds today. We rest and receive nourishment for the enrichment of our hearts, and, and we learn from the word the fruits of an unshakeable soul.
So let's start doing that by looking closely at verse 25, [00:05:00] the text says that about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. In the passages leading up to verse 25, Luke, the author of Acts, has been called into Paul's kingdom cause to open people's eyes to the good news of Jesus Christ.
And on the Sabbath, they were sitting by a river. By the way, study rivers in scripture, you'll learn a lot. Rivers are beautiful, just like mountains. anyway, they're sitting by a river. And they were looking for a place to pray outside the city gate of Macedonia by this river. And maybe they didn't have a synagogue there.
And but anyway, while they were sitting down, they started talking to these ladies who'd shown up near them, and they were interested in spiritual things. They had hunger, but they had no teacher. So the Apostle [00:06:00] Paul, he offered his service to his great God from his unshakeable kingdom, heart of gratitude.
He started speaking the word to them like a river and Lydia, a worshiper of God. The, the text doesn't say, but maybe a gentile who had a, maybe a certain level of esteem for Israel's. God was listening with ears to hear that day. Holy Spirit ears. And you and I have had those ears too, haven't we? When we heard and believed Holy Spirit ears, spiritual hearing with hearts open to him, to the truth of his word.
And while Paul was speaking with Lydia, she came to life. She believed that day. It was just like I, I remember from the prophet Ezekiel, he had said in the Old Testament in Ezekiel 47, he said, son of man, these waters go out toward the eastern region and [00:07:00] go down to the aba, and then they go out towards the sea being made to flow out to the sea and the waters of the sea will be healed.
And it will be that every creature, every living creature with swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. Everything will live where the river goes.
Jesus, in John seven, later even cried out to even his own people at one of their feasts, he said, if anyone is thirsty. Let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.
Guys. Paul had become a temple of the living God and dwelt by the triune God himself from his innermost [00:08:00] being after that point was flowing. Rivers of living water. And like Ezekiel prophesied, where that river flows, life happens. Lydia was thirsty in her heart from the depth of her soul. She was in need of healing and she drank deep, the living water flowing from Paul's lips as he spoke the word of God.
And she left a dead salt sea, in a sense, had become teeming. With life and her whole household was baptized. God's kingdom is overcoming and unshakeable, and the Book of Revelation talks about God's unshakeable and healing kingdom as well. In Revelation 22, John was shown a river of the water of life, brightest crystal coming from the throne of God and of the lamb in the middle of its street on either side of the river.
Was the tree of life [00:09:00] bearing 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Lydia of Macedonia was healed. She drank from the river of God's word, flowing from the throne again immediately before a passage. Now in the text, another healing.
Took place in chapter 16 verses 16 through 24, with a fortune teller. And just for reference, before we talk about that fortune teller, God's word is clear. In Deuteronomy 18, Moses says There shall not be found among you. Anyone who makes his son or his daughter passed through the fire. One who uses divination, one who practices sooth saying, or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer, or one who is an enchanter or a medium or a spiritist, or one who inquires of the dead.
You know the truth is God wants [00:10:00] his people to listen to his word instead of the words of darkness. Spewing from the mouth of a possessed girl being trafficked by money sucking gold, digging pimps in Philippi, his servant girl sick as it was with someone's income. They charged people money to hear the words of the demonic spirit within her, through fortune telling, but whatever was living inside of her knew.
Of the life-giving power of Paul's river of living water. In Acts 1617, Luke says, following after Paul and us, this girl kept crying out saying, these men are slaves of the most high God who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation. And she screamed this for day after day after day. And finally, Paul was so annoyed with the whole thing that he finally turned around and spoke directly to the spirit and the girl and said, I [00:11:00] command you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Leave her. And it left at that very moment, and when her masters saw that their hope of prophet had left, that their trafficking operation was over, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. Another healing. A young woman set free no longer useful to her evil masters, but now free.
And while she was set free, Paul and Silas Roman citizens falsely accused of creating chaos in the city were taken into custody. And in reality, messing up for, for just taking, messing up someone's trafficking scheme to use our vernacular these days. Ironically, the government in those days had been turning a blind eye to the evil in front of them.
Yet, through that [00:12:00] evil God diverted now the river of living water to flow into a prison where his servants, Paul and Silas, were now praying and singing hymns to their great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It doesn't matter whether river Flows does it wherever that river flows. The river of the Word of God. Life happens
again from verse 25. At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Again, we could spend our morning talking about wonderful theological things. For instance, like how Isaiah 65 speaks of the new heavens, the new Earth, a whole new covenant reality where people can be joyful. You even [00:13:00] rejoice because they know the covenant curses have been removed from them in Christ.
And so now when hard things happen as a result of your or I making a mess, instead of crumbling in sorrow and lamentation, we can rejoice because in Christ there's no more curse, only showers of blessing. Even when I make the mess, our faithful father disciplines me as a son or maybe you as a daughter.
It is for our benefit so that we can share in his holiness. It's good. You and I are citizens of a new Jerusalem, a city of rejoicing. Isaiah 65 says, or think about Paul and Silas's case here in, in Acts 16, two men who weren't making a mess falsely accused half naked, bleeding from beatings thrown into the [00:14:00] dark, cold recesses of an inner prison.
With their feet trapped in stocks, nevertheless. With full confidence and assurance of faith of their right standing before God, knowing they possess rivers of living water, of God's word, that that they have the leaves for healing of the nations, and that the people in that place had to hear those words regardless of their midnight circumstances.
These beautiful men were praying and singing hymns of praise to God and the prisoners. Were attentive. They were listening.
Paul and Silas knew the enemy would pitch a fit in the face of their faithful ministry. They knew it. They weren't surprised. They weren't shocked by their circumstances. They weren't immobilized with fear. They [00:15:00] weren't even worried about a phone call to their attorney. They knew those circumstances come with the territory.
They weren't even worried about their success in ministry. They simply knew the one they served, even in the dark recesses of their inner prison, knowing that every last drop of the wrath of God was drank at the cross of Christ. They were praying and singing hymns of praise to God. Everyone was listening.
I wonder if that's practical for anyone here, including me.
I know we don't need to talk about those deep things, but here's what we do need to talk about this morning. What time is it for you?
What time is it for you?[00:16:00]
Is it midnight?
Where are you this morning? What kind of stalks are your feet stuck in today?
One of my favorite Christian bands of all time, even today, is a band named Sailor and one of their songs that has spoken to me so often at times, even literally at midnight. In fact, their song, I, bless your name, has spoken so passionately and so deeply to me. At times it was, it was my side or of my precursor for Carlena and I naming one of our children, Silas,
straight out of Act 16, say, sailor Sings and says in prisoners chains with bleeding stripes. [00:17:00] Paul and Silas prayed that night. And in their pain began to sing, their chains were loose and they were free. And then it goes on to say, some midnight hour. If you should find your in a prison and your mind, reach out and pray.
Defy those chains and they will fall in Jesus' name.
I don't want to get caught in the theological weeds this morning. I just wanna know one simple thing. What time is it for you?
Is it midnight? Do you have a stylist with you?
Listen, your father loves you. With an everlasting love. You're no longer a trafficked slave like the servant girl. You've been brought into the household of God himself, the perfect father, the faithful and good husband. And when you [00:18:00] trusted in his son Jesus, you were plucked from common use, made holy and set apart for his special purpose, and now you're his.
And you're, we're put into kingdom ministry, right? Where you're at, even in the darkest part of your midnight hour this morning. What if, what if you defy those chains by faith?
This is the part I need to hear.
What if you defy those chains just by faith?
Did you know, like Paul and Silas knew that in his. Wonderful new covenant life that you and I have been saved to the, the same one that Isaiah and [00:19:00] Ezekiel and the other prophets and all the Old Testament talks about. Did you know that in Christ, in his new covenant that you're already free?
The chains fall off because Jesus Christ is Lord, and you're a son or a daughter in his unshakeable kingdom.
The other prisoners are listening.
They need to know this too.
Back to our text, Paul and Silas sitting in prison, praying in hi, praying and singing hymns in verse 26. Suddenly there came a great earthquake so that the foundations of the jailhouse were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened.
Here's another non theological [00:20:00] question for you this morning. What would freedom mean to you?
Maybe this morning? It would mean that you're free from the penalty of your sin, that you no longer have a debt to God because Jesus paid it all. And by faith alone, you've appropriated that payment. Maybe that's what it would mean. Freedom. Maybe. Freedom means that you no longer have to worry about what other people think of you
because Jesus bought and paid for you. And your only true comfort in life and in death is that you are not your own, but you belong body and soul in life and in death to your faithful savior, Jesus Christ.
Your chains are loose and you're free. [00:21:00] Maybe you've been hurt by people who said they loved you. But instead, they've thrown you away with their deafening silence
chains of addiction, chains of grief, chains of a critical spirit, chains of bitterness, chains of past abuse. Oh, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness. You see, there's light for a look at the savior. And life more abundant and free.
Back to verse 26, there came a great earthquake so that the foundations of the jailhouse were shaken all over scripture. When God shakes things, it's to bring down what opposes him and lift up what [00:22:00] belongs to him. Judgment for the rebellious deliverance for the faithful. It's never chaos. It's always God's controlled, omnipotent, sovereign hand.
Paul and Silas knew this. They remained unshaken even with their feet fastened in the stocks. In their simple, faithful service to God, being convinced in their own mind that he who promised is faithful led to the freedom of everyone else in chains.
Honestly, we've heard the story this morning. In this particular case, all they did the complicated and scary ministry that they did was pray and sing hymns.
Some of us here are deathly afraid of what God's gonna make us do. Maybe something [00:23:00] really hard. I don't wanna live in the, you know, with, in the Congo, with deathly insects, or I don't, I'm afraid to speak about Christ to my coworker. We all have fears,
but what if it's simpler than the Congo? What if it's just you develop a habit of praying and singing hymns to God when you're in distress or you're hurting.
What if you develop a habit of praying and seeming singing hymns to God when you're confused? What if you develop a treat deeper trust in him? Exercising great faith even at midnight. When you can't see, or even when you mess things up and sin against him.
What if, while you're praying, [00:24:00] singing hymns and maybe confessing your sins to God, what if your kids hear?
What if your wife hears.
What if at midnight you're in a prison? In your own mind, what if God hears?
Listen to Psalm 1 0 7, verse 10, probably describing Israel, but certainly applicable to all God's loved ones. It says there were those who inhabited darkness in the shadow of death. Prisoners in affliction and irons because they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the council of the most high.
So he subdued their heart with labor. They stumbled and there was none to help. Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble. He [00:25:00] saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness in the shadow of death and broke their bands apart. Let them give thanks to Yahweh for his loving kindness and for his wondrous deeds through the sons of men, for he has shattered the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.
Wasn't it Jesus who came to set you free then live free.
It might be that God will use you to help other people's chains fall off because the other prisoners are listening.
Speaking of that, look down at verse 27. Back in your Bibles, it says, when the jailer awoke and saw the prisoners' doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. Supposing that the prisoners had escaped, [00:26:00] and I know we're. Avoiding deep theological things today, but just notice the parallels between the jailer and the leadership of Israel and Jesus today and Jesus' day.
They were asleep while God was working. They weren't paying attention to what he was doing. The older order of things was collapsing below their feet. They were about to lose their job because the new covenant freedom was on the way. And just like the jailer, the leaders of Israel needed to wake up and see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Like here in this prison, Paul said in Galatians four that the Jerusalem of his day was in bondage with her children, and unfortunately, the corrupted system had priests in charge of keeping people's cha legs and chains.
They even became worried that everyone would believe in Jesus. You might remember from John [00:27:00] 11 after Lazarus, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered and the Sanhedrin together, and we're saying, what are we doing for this man is doing many signs. If we let him go on like this, they all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.
In jailer terms, they were worried everyone would escape from the prison. And they would lose their job as jailers. And I'm sure they wouldn't have called themselves that, of course. But, and unlike with us, who merely get fired in our American jobs, this jailer, this real jailer's life was tied to his job performance.
But yet. Similar to the jailer before the end in 80 70, many of the priests like the jailer did actually wake up. Fortunately Li listen to Acts six, it says in the word of God, kept on spreading like a river, by the way. And the number of disciples continued to multiply greatly in [00:28:00] Jerusalem and great. Many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
Their chains fell off. They were free too.
Back to our passage again, the jailer, he didn't know what was happening, but he did know his next performance evaluation was gonna be really bad and even probably end and his death. So he drew his own sword to kill himself. But the Apostle Paul was for life, not for death. Verse 28, Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, do not harm yourselves, for we are all here.
And he called for lights and rushed in a quickening ray. The dungeon flamed with light. My words, actually, Charles Wesley's words and trembling with fear. He filled down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, SIRS, what must I do to be saved?[00:29:00]
It's irresistible. When God opens someone's eyes to the grace of Christ, like all of us, we run to him for salvation. I suspect that Pastor Mike probably has a Sherman in our future about this very thing. Paul and Silas spoke one simple truth into that jailer's, trembling heart. Verse 31 and they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your house
for the jailer or anyone else in his household, for that matter, to be saved. To live. They only needed one thing to believe in Jesus. It's simple.
The circumstances that God had brought about and the jailer had brought him. To this point, his circumstances [00:30:00] ordained by God had brought him here. The parallel circumstances that brought Paul and Silas into the jail to bring in that river of living water, difficult as they were, were intended by God to save the jailer's soul.
I don't know if it's the same for you, but I spend a lot of time wondering why this or that is happening. Wonder, what I really need to ask is how is God intending to use me in this circumstance?
If you like me, you want out and you have a lot of words to say on your way out. Paul and Silas didn't worry about that. They sat right there in the midst of darkness at midnight, chained up, bleeding, [00:31:00] singing hymns and praying, and the everyone else heard what they were doing.
They didn't have to come up with some fancy scheme or method designed to trick the jailer into somehow crying out for salvation. It's, it's not that complicated guys. God does that like Paul and Silas, you and I simply tell 'em the truth. That's what we do. Even in our midnight hour, even when we're seemingly the one in prison, even if it's in our own mind, we might even be speaking to our own anxious heart, something like this.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. In fact, your wives and kids, your dad, your mom, your cousins are all invited to you and your whole household. Believe and live.[00:32:00]
Paul and Silas, they were so faithful to this changed man. Verse 32 says, they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his household. I remember when I came to Christ, it was so drastic, and in fact, I didn't even really know what had happened. I didn't call it coming to Christ. I didn't know that I was born again.
And yes, I described it. I described it at at that way. When Jesus crosses your path, it's something that happens to you. For my own testimony, it's just that I instantly had new desires and new affections and, and like the jailer, I immediately wanted more of God's word. A newborn baby believer longs for the pure milk of the word you.
That's how you can tell somebody's come to Christ. [00:33:00] They're, they're, show me what this means. I, I need to note, please explain this to me. That's a really obvious sign. A born again Christian wants the Bible. A born again Christian wants to hear God's word preached. A born again Christian wants to go to a Bible study because a born again Christian loves the word of God.
Might not understand the word of God. Might be just understanding John three 16 And that's it, but that's enough. You can start there. A born again Christian learns over time to appropriate God's word. In the midnight hour,
Paul and Si, his faithful Silas are an example for us. Amen. Yeah. Speak the word of the Lord. Learn the word so well that it flows like a spirit and Livened River flowing out from your inner most, being[00:34:00]
that you naturally speak the word. And it seems just like normal to you. The Lord will use that to bring hundreds to life. One of the most helpful ways to learn the word is to read it through regularly, like maybe a yearly read through or a chapter a day or something like that. And, and as you repetitively read, you begin to see connections and begin to understand imagery and the beauty of God's covenant structures so that you even understand the Bible.
And the more you read and understand, the more you understand God himself. God criticized Israel because they didn't learn him. But for us in the new Jerusalem, we have the whole council of God. The word compels us to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord. So start today and let that river flow[00:35:00]
back to our text. Look back down at verse 33. And he, it says, the jailer took them, Paul and Silas that very hour of the night and washed their wounds and immediately he was baptized. He and all his household, someone who was born of the spirit changes drastically and keeps changing over time. The jailer's priorities, even his affections, like for instance, for sleep changed in a moment, as the scripture says, in the twinkling of an eye.
And this jailer not only now wanted to hear the word of God, but now even more so, the very prisoners that he once held captive, he was now ministering that to them with tender care. This reminds me of the imagery in Isaiah two. Speaking of the news ion, it says they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Instead of always [00:36:00] having to be prepared for war because of covenant curses and God's judgment coming against the unfaithful city. Now in the new Jerusalem, implements of peace and ministry are the new tools of the kingdom because Jesus rules in our hearts from the inside out now. Hmm. Listen to God's word in Matthew seven.
It says, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, so then you will know them by their fruits. Jesus. It transformed that jailer's life and it was producing good fruit.
That's what he does with people. Because of his conversion, the jailer began to become like Jesus, even like the good Samaritan who, who bandaged up the wounds of that broken man as everyone else walked by [00:37:00] with his new heart For God. He, he didn't only minister to pollen, silas's wounds, but the text says he was also baptized immediately along with his whole household.
Hmm. Pastor Mike has shared many words on baptism from this pulpit. And one specific thing I'd like to mention this morning is that baptism is the proclamation to the world that you're with Christ. Now you identify with Jesus Christ. To put it in the world's terms today, for a believer, it's a public statement, at some level, incriminating those who reject Christ.
If you haven't been baptized, please talk to Pastor Mike or Matt the elder, and they will definitely take care of that with you. Verse 34, he brought them into his house and sit food before them and [00:38:00] rejoiced greatly with his whole household because he had believed in God. You might remember what happened to Lydia after the Lord opened her heart and she was able to see her first response was hospitality.
Look up at verse 15, and in chapter 16 there it says, and when she and her household was had been baptized, she urged us saying, this is Luke talking. In the first person. He urged us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us. Luke said, she talked us into it.
Lydia's fruit was hospitality. Her first fruit right out of the gate. She wanted Christians to be with her. Or what about Luke 19, where Zach EU calls, or Jesus calls Z's name and Z eu, jumps down out of the tree, brings Jesus into his home, gushing with hospitality and generosity, and it was [00:39:00] beautiful. Or again, like the woman wiping Jesus' feet in Luke seven, people who are forgiven, much love, much people who are forgiven.
Much welcome much.
The gospel changes lives.
You know, again, what time is it for you this morning? Is it midnight today?
As you've seen from the text, a lot can happen in that dark hour, but what if you defy your chains today just by faith? Just this one time
I'm asking myself the same question. Just by fate with your feet fastened in the stalks of the dark dungeon cell, [00:40:00] what if today you by an act of your newborn will? What if you exercised faith defying those chains, simply praying and singing hymns to God? Who would hear? Certainly you would, and so would God, maybe others would come along with you.
Here's a closing verse to help you decide from Hebrews 12. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we're so grateful for your word.
Thank you that you nourish our souls. By your spirit, you lift us up, Lord. And today I pray that each would have courage by faith, even if they're in a midnight [00:41:00] hour, Lord, even when it's dark, even when chains seem to be binding them. Lord, I pray that they would defy those by faith, praying, singing hymns to God.
Father, we're grateful for the way that you loved us. You've given us your word to help us understand our, our lives, and to know you in greater ways. Amen. Let's go open to.
