Sunday, September 1, 2024 AM

The Corruption of Magistrates in Acts 16

Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank You for gathering us together today. We thank You for the provision of Your Word, provision of Your Holy Spirit, the gift of Your Son, Jesus Christ.

We thank You that this morning, You were the one who made us enjoy the rising sun, gave us breath to breathe, gave us opportunity, ability to gather here this morning. We give You the praise. Thank You for this time that You have arranged and what You have already provided for us.

And I pray that as we examine Your Word, as we look at it carefully, that You would help us to submit ourselves to Your truth. As You, our Heavenly Father, speak to us of Your Son by Your Holy Spirit, I pray that there would be an amen in our hearts of Your Word from heaven.

And we pray these things for the sake of Jesus Christ, the one with whom You are well pleased.

Amen.

I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Acts 16, Acts chapter 16. And we'll be reading a couple of portions from this chapter. In the heart of this passage, verses 20 through 40, we have the famous story of Paul and Silas in prison, singing hymns, an earthquake at midnight, and the Philippian jailer saved by the grace of God.

But before we get to that amazing passage, I want to talk about the two passages that are on the front end and the back end of that text, which is going to be Acts chapter 16, verses 20 through 24, and then also verses 35 through 40.

Last week, we talked about why demons are so annoying. This morning, we're going to talk about why magistrates are so corrupt, which is the very next focus in this text in Acts. The first nine chapters of Acts show us the continued fallout from corrupt magistrates, the ones who were involved in the unjust, brutal murder of Jesus of Nazareth.

We find that there's still hostility from the Sanhedrin, from the ruling authorities, because in chapter 1, the disciples are all still hiding in the upper room. And then they have got to decide how to replace Judas, which, of course, we remember he was a traitor who helped the corrupt magistrates to locate, arrest, and kill Jesus.

When Peter preached his famous Pentecost sermon, he pointed at the Jews and said, you crucified the Lord of glory. You crucified the Prince of Peace. And he did so by the hands of the Romans. We find Peter and John preaching in the temple, and in Acts 4, they are arrested, and they are put on trial, and they are threatened, ordered by the Sanhedrin, the magistrates who had the authority over them, you are not allowed to preach in the name of Jesus anymore.

And they said, well, whether we should obey God or man, we'll let you figure out that equation. In chapter 5, they're arrested again. All the disciples are arrested again, and this time they are beaten, and they counted it joy that they should suffer for the cause of Jesus Christ.

And, of course, Stephen is arrested in chapter 6, and he is murdered in chapter 7 by the Jews who did so without proper authority from the Romans. And then we find Saul breathing threats and murder and tracking down members of the church, and the church being scattered to the four winds as they flee this persecution.

So time and again, we find the magistrates, whether the Sanhedrin or the Romans, we find local authorities and imperial authorities acting in corrupt ways and being co-opted in the persecution of the saints.

And, of course, we saw the same thing in chapters 13 and 14 as Paul went to the region of Galatia, and there preached the gospel, and the Jews would stir up the magistrates from city to city and pursue Paul until finally they stoned him and left him for dead.

This is the theme throughout Acts, and, of course, we've already begun to see different passages where clearly Christ is building His church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it, and Jesus Christ triumphs again and again in the preaching of the gospel over the corruption and the tyranny of the magistrates.

Well, this is another passage that also picks up this theme, and I think with some practical helps for all of us. So I invite you to stand, if you're able, and let us read Acts 16 20 -24 and 35 -40. This is the word of the Lord.

And they brought them to the magistrates and said, These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city, and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe. Then the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.

And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Verse 35,.

And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, Let those men go. So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now, therefore, depart and go in peace.

But Paul said to them, They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison, and now do they put us out secretly? No, indeed, let them come themselves and get us out. And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans.

And they came and pleaded with them and brought them out and asked them to depart from the city. So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Paul and Silas, led by the vision of the Lord, they crossed the Aegean Sea and they come to Philippi and begin to preach the gospel there.

And there was a young girl who began to follow them. She was demon-possessed and she began to say over and over again, These men are of the Most High God and they're proclaiming to you a way of salvation.

And she just kept on annoying Paul and distracting from the clarity of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the point that Paul, annoyed, rebuked the demon and she was delivered. And this caused a great deal of consternation in those who owned her and who were trafficking her.

And so they stir up the crowds in our passage and get Paul and Silas into a lot of hot water. Throughout the history of the Christian church, we've seen an opposition. Opposition in the lists. The joust between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman.

Often expressed in terms of the lance of tyranny against the lance of the gospel. And this repeated collision throughout history is sounded again and again. Whether the persecution of the church by the Sanhedrin in the book of Acts or the persecution of Nero against the Christians that we read about in Revelation or the history of the Diocletian persecution or Julian the Apostate who persecuted the church.

The Muslim onslaught that killed the Christians. The Spanish Inquisition that was trying to root out those who were against the Pope. We think of the Hussites and the Lawlords who lost their lives in the fight for the freedom to worship Christ as they saw was biblical.

We think of the last stand of the Protestants at Magdeburg and we think of Latimer and Ridley being burned to death under the reign of Bloody Mary. We think of even more recent persecution and current persecution of the saints and how often the persecution is expressed in the form of a magistrate somewhere, somehow, using the force of the state against the saints.

And this repeated tilting of tyranny and truth. The lance of corruption against the lance of the gospel. Again and again we see this collision, but be encouraged. Be encouraged. Jesus Christ has an excellent record in the lists.

How many magistrates have come and gone? How many despots have come and gone? And yet the kingdom of Christ remains and expands in the face of hostility. The corruption of man-fearing cannot and should not unseat the confidence of God-fearers.

The corruption of man-fearing cannot and must not unseat the confidence of God-fearers. We must meet the folly of man-fearing tyrants with the wisdom of God-fearing truth. We are to recognize corrupt magistrates, to point out their corruption, to call it what it is and to recognize this corruption not because suddenly we become uncomfortable, as if our discomfort is the arbiter of what is true and right, but we are to recognize and expose corrupt magistrates by responding in wisdom and in truth.

We are so often tempted to despair when Christians and Christianity and Christian principles and Christian goals are targeted by tyranny. We so quickly move into the mindset of, well, this is Vietnam, everything's going bad, that's the plan, where's the chopper?

Is that the mentality of the apostles? Is it the mentality of the Church? Is it what Paul instructed the Christians? Is it how Christ has been building His Church for nearly 2 ,000 years? We overcome tyranny in Christ by the wisdom that He supplies and by the wisdom that He compels from us.

Recognizing Corrupt Magistrates by Their Man-Fearing Tyranny

First of all, we are to recognize corrupt magistrates by their man-fearing tyranny. This is what Paul and Silas do. We are to recognize corrupt magistrates by their man-fearing tyranny. Luke, recording this history for Theophilus, is showcasing the corruption of the magistrates in Philippi line by line.

Look what happened.

Can you believe this? This is a Roman colony. You see what there's going on? Luke is highlighting the corruption of the government officials. We are to see corrupt magistrates for what they do. See them for what they do, not what they represent,.

Not what they say,.

But what they do. This is what we are shown here in this text. We are not to amen their fearful condemnations and agreement because we fear their capricious cruelty. We are to call the magistrates out for their corruption because we have a higher commitment, we have a higher confidence than any magistrate.

This is the present tense description of our Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 1, 5 and 6. Jesus Christ is the faithful witness. He is the firstborn from the dead and He is the ruler over the kings of the earth.

Present tense now. This is who He is. And He is the one who has loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. And He has made us kings and priests to His God and Father. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

Present tense. This is the confidence that we have and that our Christian forebearers have had when facing generations of tyranny. Notice, first of all, that corrupt magistrates use identity politics.

Verses 20 and 21. And they brought them to the magistrates and said, these men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city. And they teach customs which are not lawful for us being Romans to receive or observe.

Do you hear it? They're Jews.

We're Romans.

They're bad.

We're good.

Let's beat them up. Really, really high-level thinking on display here. Think about the situation. The child-enslaving demon traitors, now that their prophets are gone, now that the demon has been cast out of this girl, they, according to the text, they violently assault Paul and Silas.

They drag them forcibly in front of a crowd to gain attention of the magistrates. They accuse them of, wait for it, being Jews and teaching Jewish things. These guys are Jews and they say Jewish stuff.

Now, why were they angry? They were angry because this girl that they had enslaved, because she was demon-possessed and part of the occult, they were using her and profiting from her and now they can't do that and that's why they're upset.

But that's not the charge that they bring. They say, no, these are Jews and they say Jewish stuff and we're Romans and that's bad. And that was a very effective strategy. As we talked about the historical context, Claudius, the emperor of Rome, has exiled all of the Jews from the city of Rome because they wouldn't be quiet and stop making a fuss about some Christus.

So the Jews are going nuts and trying to get the Romans' attention, as they always were doing, to persecute the Christians in their city. Claudius had enough of it and saying, you are disturbing the peace, get out of here.

And so all of the Jews were kicked out, including the Christians who were Jews, among whom Priscilla and Aquila, we'll meet later, were among those who were swept away out of Rome and then later end up somewhere where they could be elsewhere useful for the ministry.

Philippi is a Roman colony. Do you know what the greatest desire of a Roman colony is? To be very Roman. They want to be as Roman as Roman. When you're in Rome, you do as the Romans do and so they want to be Roman all the way through.

They have a Roman set of government. They have the strategoi. They have the two men who are ruling just like they do in Rome. And they want peace and order just like they do in Rome. And they don't want no Jews in their city, just like in Rome, which is why when Paul and Silas come to Philippi, there's no synagogue in the city.

There's just a group of women outside of the city on the Sabbath praying by the river. So it's a very effective strategy, given the historical and cultural context, for these men to accuse Paul and Silas of being Jews and saying Jewish stuff and that's not compatible with us Romans.

And what they do is they get the entire crowd stirred up. The language of identity politics is the language of fleshly division. Fleshly division. Let's just figure out some way to classify people in large groups and make sure that they're always at each other's throats.

It is the language of fleshly division. There is such a thing as righteous division,.

Spiritual division.

There is a difference between the spawn of Satan and the seed of the woman, isn't there? Jesus made a distinction in Genesis 3 .15 that rattles and echoes down throughout all of eternity. There's a difference between heaven and hell.

There's a difference between the saved and the lost. There is a distinction. There is a division, but it's not a fleshly division. This is the language that justifies actions of corruption and tyranny.

Now, the Jewish religion as it was expressed in that day, Second Temple Judaism, centered around the Temple of Herod, was problematic. Jesus said, woe, woe, woe, you teachers. You travel across land and sea to make a proselyte and you make him twice the son of hell as you are.

Their teaching was problematic. They prayed upon the widows and they prayed upon the poor and they were dishonest and they were manipulative and their whole philosophy and worldview was problematic and they didn't mind having a little bit of sorcery as we found in chapter 13 where Paul and Silas found Elemas,.

The Jewish sorcerer,.

Trying to shut down the procouncil on the island of Cyprus from hearing the gospel. All of that was problematic. It was problematic that the Jews were trying to start riots in the city of Rome. That was problematic.

That wasn't right. But you know, Paul and Silas were 100 Jews, but they weren't Jews. And you know, when you're all in a rage, you just don't have time for distinctions like that. Aquila, Priscilla, Paul, Silas, Peter, James, John, Barnabas, John Mark, all Jews and Christians following Christ, not ascribing to Second Temple Judaism, not getting involved in the manipulation of the Roman imperial magistrates or the Sanhedrin.

They're not involved in that. And so just because somebody has some sort of ethnic or family connection doesn't mean that everybody is exactly the same. That's what we're told. That's the assumption that's made all the time.

What do we find with Paul and Silas? They're accused of being Jews. Therefore, they're bad. No distinction, no qualification, no explanation. Who has time for that? I'm mad. At least that's the way it went with those who were accusing them.

Now, notice secondly, another element of man-fearing tyranny, Vox Populi, the voice of the people. Verse 22. Then the multitude rose up together against them, against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.

The child-enslaving demon profiteers know what will get the crowd stirred up. They know how to get the crowd stirred up and they know that if they control the crowd, they control the magistrates. If they can get enough people angry, if they can get enough people scared, if they can get enough people anxious, then they're going to get the magistrates to say whatever they want them to say.

They're that easy to control, and already we see why magistrates are so corrupt. When magistrates of any sort fear man, they are always corrupt. The only way for a magistrate to be not corrupt is for him to fear God.

To fear God. So they stir up the people. They know, therefore, they've got the magistrates in their pockets. Now, Philippi wants to be very Roman. They have a Roman governing system. They have Roman culture.

They have Roman peace, and they think they have Roman justice, but once the people get all upset, justice goes straight out the window. Get enough people scared, and the ethics completely come to the fore that actually what is considered right and just is whatever placates the most upset people.

Why is it that way? The corruption, this tyranny, it's all about fearing men. Fearing men. And verses 23 -24. Another element of man-fearing tyranny. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.

Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. So a third element of man-fearing tyranny is lawfare's poison. Identity politics, the voice of the people, and lawfare.

You thought this was recent stuff? Solomon says there's nothing new under the sun. This is how corrupt tyrants always operate. Who's going to bring a legal case against the legal authorities?

Good luck.

Which means that the legal authorities get to do what they want and are rarely held accountable, and if they are, it takes so long that it breaks the heart of those who have to go through it to enforce it.

That's lawfare's poison. So they beat them with rods. Their officers, called the lictors, held the bundled rods, the fascis, that showed that these Roman magistrates.

Were in charge,.

And they beat them with these rods. We note in the text that there was an accusation. We note in the text that there was a verdict. We note in the text that there was a sentencing and an imprisonment.

What we don't note in the text is any kind of allowed defense or evidence. So much for Roman justice. It just disappeared. Why did justice disappear? Because a whole bunch of people were afraid and upset.

That's all it took.

It just went away. This is, of course, what has been happening for a long time. I think of what happened in 2020 and 2021. Why is it that Canadian pastors like James Coates and Tim Stevens were arrested for preaching the gospel on Sundays and thrown into maximum security prisoners with warrants that weren't legitimate?

Were they ever given a chance to defend themselves, or were the trials delayed and delayed and delayed and delayed indefinitely by those who did not want to be charged? Who remembers the Kentucky governor telling Christians that when you think of communion, you should just think of it spiritually in your heads and not take it physically?

And then sent his highway patrolmen to ticket people sitting in their cars, parking spaces apart, with masks on, inside their cars, with their windows up, and to give them tickets from the highway patrol.

Anybody remember that? Do you know the most embarrassing thing about lawfare is that people remember. I mention these things. These are simple things, but all of the threats and all of these so-called actions according to the law don't hold up to the state's own laws.

They broke Canadian law to persecute the Christian pastors. They broke state laws to persecute Christians, broke federal law to persecute Christians.

Over and over again.

And why, without evidence, without trial, were the rights of citizens ignored and Christians persecuted? Because a whole lot of people were afraid and upset. And it's all it took for justice to just simply disappear.

Lawfare is poison. It's a capricious tyranny born from fear, and it poisons the society no matter who it's used against. And finally, the last element of this man-fearing tyranny is cowardly patterns, verses 35 and 36.

After the night in prison, after the beating,.

Verse 35,.

When it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, let those men go. So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, the magistrates have sent to let you go. Now, therefore, depart and go in peace.

After making a very public showing to placate the mob, the magistrates would very much like the results to simply go away. Let's pretend like everything's okay and it never happened. Public capitulation to angry crowds is as cowardly as private cover-ups of abuse and corruption.

One plus one equals the cowardly two-step. So, how did Jesus handle these kinds of things? Luke chapter 13, Luke chapter 13, verse 31, on that very day, Pharisees, some Pharisees came, saying to him,.

Get out,.

Depart from here, for Herod wants to kill you.

Okay?

Herod was a king, had a lot of authority, a lot of soldiers. He'd already killed John the Baptist, arrested him, had him beheaded. He'd been given authority by the Roman Empire to govern in this area.

And he doesn't like Jesus of Nazareth, which probably pleased the Pharisees none too much. And they say to him, get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill you.

Verse 32,.

And Jesus said to them, go tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Meaning,.

I'm going to continue my business. Thank you very much. And he's a fox. Remember the fox in the Old Testament who spoiled the vineyard? Go tell that fox who's spoiling my vineyard. Whoa, who's in charge now?

Verse 33,.

Nevertheless I must journey today,.

Tomorrow,.

And the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. Sarcasm alert. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.

How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,.

But you were not willing.

See, your house is left to you desolate. Jerusalem's house is the temple. And guess what? It's empty.

It's desolate.

And assuredly I say to you, you shall not see me until the time comes when you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So when Jesus is confronted with corruption, He calls it what it is and says,.

No,.

There are more important things to do. How did Jesus tell us to respond? Maybe it's okay for Jesus, but, you know, maybe we shouldn't do what Jesus does, as some people sometimes theorize. Matthew 10, verses 16 through 20.

Jesus said, Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. It's not an idealist. It's not rose-colored glasses here. He's saying what it is. I'm sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.

Meaning, corruption and tyranny are going to be just part of the routine.

But,.

When they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. You're not going to overcome them through your wordcraft. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

So who is it who changes the world and transforms the world by the preaching of the Word? Not me. It's the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit brings that change. Holy Spirit brings that power. Even in arenas of controversy and conflict.

How are we to respond? 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 -6 says that all kinds of men need to be prayed for and all kinds of sinners need to be confronted with the Gospel. Pray for all kinds of people because all kinds of people are going to get saved.

What are we supposed to do with corrupt tyrants? When it becomes really obvious that these people are evil and they loathe humanity and they're probably demon possessed and they're just awful, awful people.

What are we supposed to do?

Well,.

One, don't get consumed with anxiety because we know who's on the throne, who's the ruler of all the kings of the earth and who will smash the rebels like a clay pot with a rod of iron. So we're not concerned about the outcome.

We're not concerned about who's in charge. But what are you supposed to do with all that worry and all that anxiety and all that pent up frustration as the news just keeps on pouring in as you doom scroll your way through this political season?

What are you supposed to do? It's real simple. 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 -6. Pray. Make prayers for all kinds of men. And Paul says specifically, pray for kings.

Pray for judges.

Pray for the people who are in charge. Pray for them. Like, well, I really don't know who's in charge.

Pray anyway.

Pray anyway. Pray by any big political name that comes across your screen. Pray for all kinds of people. You know, Paul said that just a couple of verses earlier. He said to Timothy, wage the good warfare.

Pray. The elements of tyranny have often been the opportunities for evangelism. Not only should we recognize corrupt magistrates by their man-fearing tyranny, but we should also rebuke corrupt magistrates by God-fearing truth.

1 Timothy 3 says that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. And so, if anybody is going to be pointing the finger at magistrates anywhere, from the town council to the world leader, and say, thus saith the Lord, it's the church.

Church takes up the word of God, interpreted in the light of Jesus Christ, and say, thou art the man when they are corrupt. And say, thus saith the Lord. Here's how you be a good, righteous magistrate.

That's our job.

So we are to rebuke corrupt magistrates by God-fearing truth. This is exactly what Paul and Silas do in the text. We should not think that we, as the saints, have nothing to do or nothing to say contrary to a burgeoning tyranny, a rising corruption, or a foolish, man-fearing magistrate.

The first thing we can do is complain wisely. You know, complaining is not, in and of itself, wrong. God complained and said He complained against Israel.

Oh, what?

They did not do what He told them to do. And they did not do what they said they would do. And so He complained. And righteously so. Righteously so. Paul complains in our text in a good and wise way. Verse 37.

They told Him, Hey, you can go in peace.

Go away.

But Paul said to them, They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly?

No, indeed.

Let them come themselves.

And get us out.

Let's do this face-to-face, shall we?

Paul says,.

We were beaten openly, now we're being sent away secretly. We were beaten and imprisoned, and yet we are uncondemned Romans. What happens in this text is that the beaten prisoner summons the magistrates to a court hearing at the prison, and there charges them with customs unlawful to the Romans, which was the charge that was leveled at him.

You see how wise this is? How effective it is? Man-fearing makes tyrants out of magistrates, while God-fearing makes statesmen out of prisoners. Paul rightly complains they broke their own law. His complaint is true, it is well-reasoned, it is compelling, and it is well-timed.

Wise as serpents, harmless as doves, right on the mark. And so we should complain.

What about?

Not simply whatever is inconvenient to us. No, of course not. But about the tyrant's capriciousness, the tyrant's unjust actions. Let's complain wisely. Let us confront wisely. Verses 38 -39, and the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans.

And then they came, and they pleaded with them, and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city. Jails were, in this day, temporary holding cells for prisoners awaiting sentence. That's what they were there for.

It's all out of order here. Paul and Silas got beaten, thrown in there, without any kind of hearing at all. Not really. But by staying put, even through the earthquake, by staying put, Paul forces the magistrates to be accountable.

They try to let James Coates and Tim Stephens go. Why don't you just go on back? Why don't you leave the prison and just sign off if you're not going to do anything in the meantime? And blah, blah, blah.

And hey, you know, they wanted to go home to their wife and young children, didn't they? Stayed in the prison until it became a national embarrassment. It became an international embarrassment. Forcing the accountability, confronting wisely.

These magistrates, these protectors of child trafficking, demon profiteers, these lapdogs of the rage mob, these indiscriminate haters are cowards and criminals in the cold light of day, and it needs to be said.

It needs to be shown. And they need to be confronted for who they are. Remember the jailer was afraid he was going to lose his life.

Because he thought.

That the prisoners escaped? These magistrates are scared they're going to lose their position and their power because they unjustly condemned these Romans. So they must be confronted and confronted wisely.

Where they stand most clearly and obviously publicly condemned, they must be confronted. And a third approach. Comply wisely. Verse 40. So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.

Notice that Paul and Silas summoned the magistrates to the prison to confront them, but it wasn't to overthrow the buffoons running Philippi. Paul and Silas comply, but they do so in a way that pleases Christ.

Notice that they do not seek revenge. They don't take the law into their own hands and say, you're not deserving. You're so wicked and corrupt. You allow these things to happen in your city. We should just end you.

They don't do that. They also don't flee in fear. They don't hitch up their skirts and run away as fast as they can. They strengthen and encourage the brethren on the way out. Like, yeah, we're leaving.

That was part of Jesus' instructions anyway. When there's a problem and there's a rejection of the gospel and so on, then you wipe the dust off your feet and you move on. More preaching, more places. God be praised for using persecution for the spread of the gospel.

But they comply wisely. They stop by Lydia's house. They strengthen the brethren. They encourage them. They spend time with them. And then they head out. They take this route because our allegiance is to Christ first and foremost.

Christians ought to be known for truth. Christians ought to be known for integrity. Christians ought to be known as the best kind of citizens that the horrible people love to hate. We all should be encouraged to look at Philippi now.

There's a church there. And look, the chief jailer is a follower of Jesus Christ. So there's a Christian serving as one of the magistrates in the city of Philippi when it all shakes out. And wasn't it a great lesson for him to see Paul and Silas confronting the corruption of the magistrates and not letting it pass and discipling thereby the Philippian jailer who's like, oh.

So that's what we're supposed to be about. The great joust has seen many violent collisions in the lists of tyrannical magistrates opposing the gospel and the faithful saints. But in 2 ,000 years of tilting, Christ's score is flawless.

Let's pray. Father, we thank You for the time that You've given us in Your Word. I pray that it has been encouragement to us, helpful to us. I pray that You would help us to wait upon You and trust in You and find the hope and encouragement that You provide.

I pray that we would not be a people of fear, of fearing men and what men may do to us, but teach us in great love and joy to fear You, to think of You first, to think of You most, and our great King Jesus Christ.