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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/john-fitzpatrick/paul-and-silas-in-prison/
Certainly, thank each one for coming. If you have a Bible, turn to the book of Acts, please. And we'll read a few verses in there. Acts chapter 16 and verse 17, the last part of the 17th verse of the book of Acts.
Acts chapter 16. Verse 17, the same 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. That's the purpose of the meeting tonight, is to open the unerring and ultimate Word of God and to show you from the Word of God how you can be saved, how you can know the Lord Jesus Christ is your Savior.
So look down verse number 19. And when our masters saw 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 rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them and cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who had received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks.
And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. And 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 bands were loosed.
And the 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 that 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.
And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. Now that's all I want to read, and I know that the Lord will bless the public reading of the word of God. Sometimes when I speak I like to ask questions, so I'll just ask you a little question.
Don't expect you to answer me in the audience or so, but it does happen sometimes. But let me ask you a question. Are you saved tonight? Are you saved the Bible way? Do you know for sure heaven is your home and the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior?
We moved to the land of Phoenix three years ago because where I was living, I couldn't breathe with the grass seed. And I tell people sometimes when I speak there, and sometimes at some of the homeless places, I says, You know, I'm one of the richest ones in the city of Phoenix.
And they look at me, they say, That's quite a statement. I said, It is. And let me tell you how it is. Heaven's my home. My sins are forgiven, and the Lord Jesus Christ is my Savior. And so the purpose of this meeting tonight is by attempt with God's help naturally, to tell the sweet strains of the gospel, how it can be well with your soul, how you can be sure of heaven at the end of life's journey, and know the peace that passes all understanding.
So Paul and Silas, two radical fanaticals on fire for God, were caught under false charges and brought into the prison. And we're told there they're teaching customs which they ought not to teach. Did you ever notice as you read in the Word of God, it's exciting to read.
It's not a dull, dry book. And as you look in the Word of God, you'll find that God in His sovereign ways is working uniquely divinely to bring individuals to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
If you're in this meeting tonight, not in Christ, not well with your soul, never have been born again, it's not by accident. It's not by a mistake. It's not just by chance. But the sovereign God who loves you is interested in your eternal well-being, interested in your soul being saved, and has arranged that you might be in a little gospel meeting tonight to hear words whereby you might be saved.
I find it thrilling all through the journey of life to see how God comes along and brings the gospel. And God comes along and brings the gospel. And God comes along with the Word of God and the message of the gospel.
And so here, unique circumstances with two radical, fanatical preachers on fire for God, I'll say like Scott and Mary, develop it how you want, that all of a sudden, false charges. And they're in prison.
They're in the clinic. And they're beaten. Their backs are bleeding. And they're put in the equivalency of the inner pen. Earlier days, I did more speaking in prisons than now, but it took a lot longer to get in.
It took a lot longer to get out than to get in once you got in. And I've never heard anybody singing hymns like these. And it's at midnight hour. And their backs are beaten. They're in the stocks. It's about the same as the inner penitentiary today.
Hands and feet in stocks. And the midnight hour, they're singing praises to God. I can just picture the scene in the prison of the other prisoners. Mad at them. What do you think you're doing? The jailer wondering what's going on.
Develop it how you want. Got one awake anyway. But that's okay. I'll just consider that praying. And at midnight hour, they're singing praises to God. You know, they're not ashamed of the Lord Jesus. They're not ashamed of why they're there.
They're not saying, I don't belong being here. I didn't do anything wrong. I'm going to go get my lawyer and I'm going to try and get out. And when all the ramifications that goes on, they're singing praises to God.
God arranged that those two men would be in prison to bring the gospel to a jailer. Divine circumstances. I picture the jailer leaving for work. I don't know if he worked eight hours, 10 hours, 24 hours.
I haven't got a clue what the shift was like. I picture him with maybe a little goatskin bag, goatskin bag with a little bit of cheese, a little bit of bread. And he's saying goodbye to the family. And I doubted he ever thought in his mind that when I leave work, I'm going to leave as a saved man.
And God worked in his life to bring words before his years that pricked his heart, that he longed to know Christ as a savior. The prisoners heard them. Their hands are bound. Their feet are bound. Words that were strange to their ears.
And uniquely, divinely, there was an earthquake. I've been in a few earthquakes, nothing serious. I remember one earthquake in Seattle. Mr. Captain Wettering was praying on the Friday night at the conference.
And I looked up and the lights were swinging on a chain and it was kind of shaky. And they asked him, they said, Mr. Van Wettering, he's with the Lord now, how could you pray so well in an earthquake?
He says, I just thought I was having one of my dizzy spells. Well, the jailer wasn't having a dizzy spell. But all of a sudden, as I weave in the word of God, God allowed that earthquake. And you notice as you read the word of God, every word is of particular importance.
It says it was a great earthquake. And I'd like to just stop there for a moment's time and mention if there's never an earthquake in your life by the hand of God, that you're a lost, perishing sinner, you'll never be saved.
Can I just mention that again? If God doesn't work in your life to awaken of your need and your danger and the disaster and the dilemma before you, that I'm a lost, perishing sinner and I need desperately God's so great salvation, you'll never come to know him, whom to know is life eternal.
The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. Have you ever had that earthquake in your life? When God spoke and you realized deep inside, I'm not right with God. Maybe you realize what is being read in the word of God, I don't have.
Maybe what the preacher is proclaiming before you is, I haven't got it. Well, I want to mention before you tonight that you can live without Christ, but you can't die without Christ and never make heaven.
The message before you tonight is very, very important. We're in a little village of Old Crow and Stephen Frost, an older First Nations man, asked me to come over to his house and pray with him. He says, my daughter's not well, Jacqueline.
Went over on Monday, explained the gospel. Went over on Tuesday and explained the gospel with him. And on Friday, Jackie left this scene for eternity. And I went over in my mind, was I clear enough? I went over in my mind, was I bold enough?
I went over in my mind the words that were spoken because in three days, that young lady full of cancer left this scene for the great beyond. And if she didn't know Christ as her Savior, it would be better she was never born.
And that's why there's an urgency in this matter tonight. That's why there's an urgency in this matter tonight that you, dear one in the gathering tonight, would take heed that God wants to speak to you.
And God wants to come along like a shaking of an earthquake and awaken you. It says the keeper of the jailer, he awoke, all the doors were open, a prisoner's delight, and the jailer awakes out of his sleep, ready to take his own sword, to take his own life rather than suffer under the hands of the Romans.
You know, there's a lot of people spiritually that are sleeping. And a lot of people that are spiritually blind to God's love and God's grace and God's mercy. And it's going to take God to awaken you.
And you can run from it, you can flee from it, you can resist it, and you can neglect it. And God wants to come along in your life tonight with a 9 -1 -1 condition before you that you need God's so great salvation.
And as you weave in the unerring, unalterable word of God, it says, today if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. The lady at the bank the other day, when I cashed the check, she says, is there anything else I could do for you?
I says, there is. Well, she says, what would you like? I says, I would like a free copy of every type of currency in the bank. She says, you come back tomorrow. I says, yeah, you're a sharp cookie because tomorrow never comes.
You know, there's a lot of people that want to put off getting saved to another day and to another time. And maybe know the message. And maybe there's somebody in the audience tonight you've heard the message before.
And maybe you've put it off. And maybe you've put it off and thought, well, some other time. Let me ask you tonight, what's keeping you from Christ? Because if you die tonight without him, the good book says where I am, there you cannot be.
There's a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. And there's no guarantee for any one of us tomorrow. And the jailer awakes out of his sleep. The jailer's nightmare is before him and he's ready to take his life.
And Paul cries with a loud voice. I don't know how loud it was. I don't know what the acoustics were there. But there's one thing I know that the jailer heard his voice and he calls for a light. And I see him as a big burly man springing in like a cat and he's trembling.
I've watched jailers make men tremble. I've watched policemen make men tremble. And now the jailer is trembling before Paul and Silas. And he does what nobody ever does on the streets. He gets down on his knees because once you're down, the opponent kicks you in your face.
And the jailer in the jailhouse gets down and he's trembling. What must I do to be saved? What must I do to be right with God? What must I do to have my sins forgiven? God was working in the jailer's life and God wants to work in your life tonight to bring you to a point of repentance that I need to be saved.
And my piercing, pulsing problem is not financial. It's not educational. It's not matrimonial. You develop it any way you want. My piercing, pulsing problem is my sins. And my sins are going to keep me from heaven.
And my sins are what I need to have forgiven. And I need the forgiveness of sins. This is the most important issue that's ever going to cross your path. The speaker is not of any importance, but he's a sinner saved by God's maximus grace.
But the message before you is of paramount importance because whether you realize tonight the God that loves you and wants to bless you and wants to snap the chains of sins, wants you to know that you're in harm's way and wants you to know that you can be delivered from the chains of sin and delivered from the chains of bondage.
And so the jailer stopped in his tracks. And it's high time for anyone in this gathering tonight, not in Christ, not saved by his maximus grace, to stop in your tracks and put everything else completely aside.
There is nothing more important, nothing more valuable any way you want to develop it than having God's so great salvation. Let me make a statement tonight. You can't get saved anytime you want. You might say, well, I know the Bible verses and I can quote them.
And you know, you read, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. I want to mention salvations of the Lord. And I want to emphasize that salvation is not man produced. And I want to emphasize that salvation is an illumination from the God of heaven to a lost, perishing sinner, what Christ has done for him personally on the cross of Calvary.
In the little village up north, it's an Anglican religion. If you want to bring him some Bible papers, you better have King James, because they'll tell you that's the only thing that's any good, because that's what they were taught years ago.
And I go to a home and I start quoting John 3, 16, and the man can quote it. I said, where'd you learn that? Oh, he says the preacher man taught us that in Sunday school years ago. And then I begin to explain the verse to him.
And it's just like talking to a blank wall. You see, it's possible to know the verse, possible to know the words of the Lord Jesus, possible to know that he died on the cross and never know him as your own savior.
So I want you in the opening part of the meeting and the closing part of the meeting to go over the ground tonight. What are you really resting in? That it's well with your soul. It's not religion. It's not learning verses good to do.
It's not saying prayers can be valuable to do if you want to develop it that way, but it takes God to work. And the jailer was stopped in his tracks and realized, I need what these men have. I need what they have, and I want what they have, and I don't care what anybody thinks of me.
I'm going to make a fool of myself. I'm going to kneel down in front of all the prisoners in front of these two, and I'm going to add trouble before them. And I'm going to ask them, what do I have to do to be saved?
He forgot about trying to get them back inside the prison or say, thanks for staying and keeping my line. He forgot all about the responsibilities, all about the prisoners. You might say, I don't care what anybody thinks.
I'll kneel down in front of these men and I'll ask them a question because that question is a burden on my mind. That question is a burden on my heart. These two men, these two radical fanaticals, they're really, and I need what they have.
And the piercing, pulsing question was, sirs, never heard a jailer call a man sir in my life. Maybe they do in Canada. God bless you. What must I do to be saved? That's sweet words to any preacher. That's sweet words to any Christian what had been working here is what we pray that God is working in your life, that they're awakened.
And you know, if you're not awakened, you'll never make heaven. If you're not awakened about your sin and about your danger, you'll never want to be saved and you'll never be saved. This is not a sign on the dotted line thing or a raise your hand thing.
This is what must I do to be saved? And Paul and Silas, I would have loved to been a little fly on the wall and wonder how they said it and wonder how they proclaimed it loud. But the two of them said at the same time, did you ever begin to say something to somebody and they say the same thing to you?
I had the oddest experience many years ago with a friend in Long Island, New York, and I picked him up to call him. And he picked up the phone to call me at the same time. And I don't know how it worked, but neither of our phones rang.
And hello? Hello? John, is that you? Yeah. Jim, is that you? Yeah. I said, never rang. It's never rang at my house either. But he said, I went to call you and you called me and we're all together here.
What must I do to be saved? Well, what did they tell him? It wasn't write your rituals. It wasn't baptism. It wasn't clean up your path or anything. They said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And notice the verse after that. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord. You see, this is not a formula. Because sometimes people think, well, if I just believe and if I just believe hard enough, I'll get it.
I remember a young lady up in the terrace assembly in British Columbia. She said, Mr. Fitzpatrick, can I talk with you? Certainly. She says, when will I know that I believed enough that I'm saved? My heart sank.
It is not how hard you believe, it is not how much you believe, but who the faith and trust is. And they preached unto him Jesus. They opened the holy scriptures to him, able to make wise unto salvation.
What would they have told him? They would have told him about the Lord Jesus. They would have told him how he died on the cross, laid down his life on the cross, shed his own precious blood on the cross as a substitute that they might be saved.
They would have told him that he rose again. The gospel message is that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he rose again the third day. I remember a dear sister in Fresno. She came up to Mr. Paisley.
She says, Mr. Paisley, I've grown up in the Christian home. I'm not saved. I know the verses inside out and upside down and I can't seem to get it. She says, I'm trying to believe and I know the verse says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
He says, why don't you put the word trust in instead and see what happens. And she says, I quoted that verse in my mind as I got out of the car in the two-car garage and began walking to the door of the kitchen and I got saved.
I took God at his word that on the cross he paid for my sins. How did you get saved? It's the same Savior. It's the same place called Calvary. Has there ever been that time in your life when it dawned on your soul as a guilty vile sinner?
It was for me. It was all for me. The Savior died. God loves you tonight. Wants to bless you. Longs that you might have sins forgiven. Longs that you might have peace and you might have pardon. Who's a pardoning God like thee?
Who has grace so rich and free? And he gives us glimpses in the word of God of others that have come to know him. Whom to know is like eternal. I want to tell you kindly tonight that you're in harm's way.
I want to tell you kindly tonight there's a heaven to gain and there's a hell to shun. And there's only one that can save and only one mediator and there's only one way. And the word of God's not complicated.
It's nothing to figure out. Therefore being justified by faith, taking God at his word, we can have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. So just like the jailer that night, you can be the same.
Trust, rest, rely on what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross at Calvary and you'll be saved. You'll have everlasting life. Trust you think it over very carefully and ponder the path of your feet because there's heaven to gain, there's hell to shun.
And you know the Christian life is not dull and dry. I'd like to see you really haven't begun to live until you have Christ as your savior. So we encourage you tonight, we have preached in the Lord's name that you might be reconciled to Christ.