Keep sharing good news without ads.
Reading Acts 16:25-32 where Paul and Silas in prison are able to leave when an earthquake opens the jail doors, but they remain and share the gospel with the jailer. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Paul and Silas are asked this question by a jailer, "'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'. And their answer is so simple, even for us, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.
Here once again is Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Acts, we come back to chapter 16. Paul and Silas have been sharing the gospel in Philippi. Now they've been arrested and thrown in prison. And we're picking up the story there in verse 25.
I'll read through verse 40. Hear the word of the Lord. 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 jail house were shaken.
And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. And when the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, do not harm yourself for we are 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 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 his household. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds.
And immediately he was baptized, he and his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them and rejoice greatly with his whole household because he had believed in God. Now, when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen saying, release those men.
And the jailer reported these words to Paul saying, the chief magistrates have sent to release you, therefore come out now and go in peace. But Paul said to them, having beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, they have thrown us into prison and now they are sending us away secretly?
No, indeed, but let them come themselves and bring us out. And the policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans and they came and appealed to them.
And when they had brought them out, they kept requesting them to leave the city. And they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia. And when they saw the brothers, they encouraged them and left.
So what we're gonna be reading about today is that time of Paul and Silas in prison, the earthquake happening, the jailer about to commit suicide when Paul calls out and saves his life, then shares the gospel with him and saves his very soul.
Tomorrow, we'll finish up reading the narrative talking about his whole household being baptized. And then the magistrates trying to get Paul and Silas to leave their city. So coming back up to verse 25, about midnight, it's Paul and Silas have been put into the inner prison and they've been fastened in the stocks.
They were praying and singing hymns of praise to God and the prisoners were listening to them. You know, when we read from the apostle Paul in Philippians chapter four, verse four, rejoice in the Lord always.
I will say it again, rejoice. This is a man who truly exemplified that in his life. Here he was a Roman citizen exercising his freedoms there in a Roman colony. And he has been arrested, falsely accused, beaten in public, not given a fair trial, thrown into prison, fastened into stocks.
He's in about the most miserable place that a Roman citizen could be in. And yet he's not groaning about it. He's not banging on the doors. He's not saying, hey, we're Roman citizens. You come and give us a fair trial.
He's not bellyaching over it. He's not renouncing his faith. He's not deciding, well, this was all a big mistake. That is not Paul's attitude. He is fastened in the stocks and he is singing praises to God.
He is rejoicing even in the midst of his hardship. You know, there in Philippians chapter four, as you go on to read, he says to the Philippians, I know what it's like to be in want and I know what it's like to have plenty.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And so these words that Paul shares with the Philippians when he writes to them, they all knew of what he went through when he was there in Philippi.
They all knew it. And here was a man wrongly accused, beaten, thrown in prison, was still gonna sing praises to God. And even the prisoners were listening to them. Now, what kind of hymns would Paul have been singing?
Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God. Well, the easy answer, of course, is that they were singing the Psalms from the Psalter. We don't know what the music would have sounded like during that time because the music has not been preserved.
It wasn't annotated in any way. There wasn't written pieces of music that can show to us what the Psalms sung, sounded like in the early church. But it's also likely that there were other hymns that were written in the time of the early church.
In fact, you can go to the letter to the Philippians and see evidence of that. Philippians chapter four, sorry, chapter two, verses six through 11 is called the Carmen Christi, which means hymn of Christ.
And when you look at it in its original language, in the Greek, in which it was written, there are stanzas there. It has a flow that looks like song lyrics. It doesn't really come out that way in a lot of English translations, but when you're looking in the earliest manuscripts, it appears to be song lyrics that Paul is quoting.
So it would have been this truth about Christ that was written in such a way that becomes a hymn or a song that the church would sing together as part of the praise songs that churches sing together, just like we do today.
So they were doing in the first century in the early church as well. So that Carmen Christi, that hymn of Christ goes, have the mind of Christ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore, God is highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father.
So those verses six through 11 are referred to as the hymn of Christ. You have this wonderful, beautiful song that talks about his incarnation, his death, his resurrection, his exaltation, and that all who believe in him will have everlasting life.
Every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. These could very well be lyrics to an early hymn that was sung in the early church.
There are some other places, Ephesians chapter five, Paul quotes lyrics that don't come from the Psalms or any of the prophets. And so it looks like a modern hymn or that Paul was quoting a hymn that was sung in the church in that day.
So there were also songs that were sung by the church, unique hymns that were written by the church and sung by them in the first century. This is one of the reasons, by the way, why I'm not an exclusive psalmist.
So it's common, especially among more reformed churches to be exclusive psalmody, meaning that the church is not going to sing anything except the words that come from the Psalms. It's a good idea for us to sing the Psalms.
And our church, we do as well. We have a specific Psalm of the month that we will learn. It could be to a piece of music that's familiar to us, or it could be a unique or an original written piece of music.
And the Psalm is set to that music. So we will sing that Psalm every Sunday for the month. That's our Psalm of the month. And then there will be other Psalms that will get thrown in there as well. So it's good for a church to practice psalmody.
Not enough churches do. There's far more singing of Bethel and Elevation and Hillsong tunes than there is of actually singing the Psalms in most churches today. However, another reason why I'm not an exclusive psalmist is because if we were singing only the Psalms, you would never sing the name of Jesus Christ.
And remember there in Philippians 2, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It's just a beautiful thing to sing the name of Jesus. So it could be Psalms and it could be modern hymns that Paul and Silas were singing, modern in their time anyway, as they were fastened in the stocks.
But we see them praising God in the midst of this rough circumstance, which they're nursing their wounds even. Their bodies still ache from the fact that they just received a public beating. You know, when they get set free and the jailer takes them to his home, he treats their wounds.
So they're in pain as they're laying in this jail cell. If they even can lay, the way that they're fastened into stocks like this, but the prisoners are listening to them. So Paul and Silas are ministering even to those prisoners who are around them through these songs that they sing.
And then verse 26, and suddenly there came a great earthquake so that the foundations of the jail house were shaken and immediately all the doors were open and everyone's chains were unfastened. Well, here we go.
The prisoners have been set free. Paul and Silas can now go. It looks like God has set them free. Remember previously we read about Peter being imprisoned by Herod and an angel of the Lord coming to Peter in his prison cell and then getting him out.
He's freed from the guards. He walks right through the doors. He's sent outside and then the angel disappears. And Peter goes to where the church is gathered and praying. So this is the same kind of thing that's going on here with Paul and Silas.
The doors are open. Maybe God is letting them go. But not only do Paul and Silas not leave and they're not leaving saves a man's life, but none of the other prisoners have left either. Hearing the songs that Paul and Silas sang has so touched their hearts that they're even willing to remain there with Paul and Silas.
Verse 27, when the jailer awoke and saw that the prison doors were open, prison doors open by this earthquake, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
If a prisoner escaped under a guard's watch, it would be his life. Going back again to that story of Peter being released from prison, what did Herod do with all those guards who didn't know what had happened to Peter?
He had them all killed. And so this jailer knows if all these prisoners are gone, well then I'm gonna be killed. That's the consequence for a jailer losing prisoners. So not to bring shame upon himself and on his family, he decides he's going to take his own life supposing that all these prisoners have escaped.
But Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, do not harm yourself for we are still here. You know, I just preached this past Sunday from Romans chapter 12. As a matter of fact, we finished up Romans 12 on Sunday.
The sermons that air on the Sunday episodes of the podcast, they are, they're like three weeks back or something like that. So I've finished up Romans 12. We're getting to the end of Romans 12 on the sermons that will air on Sunday.
But I am done preaching Romans 12 now having just finished those last three verses on Sunday. And it's those last three verses that say this, beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.
For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink for by so doing you will heat burning coals on his head.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. And once again, the apostle Paul, who wrote those words there to the Romans at the end of chapter 12, here he is loving his enemy by not leaving his jail cell and even ensuring that all the other prisoners would remain as well.
And Paul cries out and says, do not harm yourself. We are all here. And the jailer called for lights and he rushed in and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Now, anybody who fell before Peter, Peter would say, get up, don't worship me.
That most likely does happen here, even though it isn't said in the narrative. Paul and Silas aren't accepting worship from the jailer. They didn't accept worship from those who thought that Paul and Barnabas were gods.
So they're not gonna accept worship from this jailer either, but the jailer brings them out. Now, oftentimes when you see this story depicted, you see them still in the darkness and the jailer is down on a knee.
Like if somebody's painted something or they've done some artistic depiction of this, the jailer's kneeling before them. He's got a torch in his hand because they're all still there in the jail. And he says, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
But when does the jailer ask him that? It's actually after he brings them out. So he falls down, trembling with fear before Paul and Silas. He's trembling before them because these men just saved his life.
And it is truly an incredible thing that they're all still here and well, even after this tremendous earthquake that broke open all the jail doors. So he brings them out and he asks them, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And it appears as if this question has nothing to do with his own life and the Roman authorities. I mean, all the prisoners are here. So what does this jailer have to be concerned about his life? It's not like the Romans are going to come and kill him.
So when he is saying, sirs, what must I do to be saved? He's asking about the message he knows that they've been preaching. Remember that when the girl that had the spirit of divination was warning people about Paul and Silas, this was back up in verse 17.
She's crying out, these men are slaves of the most high God who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation. So it was understood there were people who knew what Paul and Silas were preaching. They're preaching about salvation.
What is salvation? Salvation from what? And so this jailer asks these two men, knowing something about the message that they've preached, even the message that they've sung about in prison. And he says, what must I do to be saved?
How am I to be saved from the wrath of God? How am I to be saved from the consequences of the wicked things that I have done? And Paul and Silas respond to his question and say, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.
You and your house. The way of salvation is that simple. And I've been saying this over and over as we've been going through Acts. It is very, very clear that the message of salvation preached by the apostles in the book of Acts is a message of faith alone.
It is faith alone in Jesus Christ that saves you. Paul and Silas give no other additions here in verse 31, except to say, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Believe, have faith, trust. Know the one who has died on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for your sins.
He rose from the dead for your justification so that all who believe in him will not perish under the judgment of God. Our sins have been paid for. We have been washed clean. We have been made into sons and daughters of God by faith in Jesus.
Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. I knew a man that loved that verse, loved that promise so much in Acts 1631 that whenever he bought a new Bible, he would have inscribed on the cover, on the front, Acts 1631, I have one of those Bibles that he made.
As a matter of fact, it ended up becoming a gift to my grandmother and it was the last Bible that my grandmother had before she died. And so she would write in that Bible and I still have it. I have the Bible that my grandmother had and it's very cherished to me that I have writing from my grandmother in the notes that she would put down in her last days when she knew she was dying and the things that she was writing as she was studying scripture and meditating on Christ before, just days before she's about to go home and meet him and see him face to face.
And right there engraved on the front of the Bible is just the simple reference, Acts 1631. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. That was enough for my grandmother. It's enough for any Christian, anybody.
Anybody who believes in Jesus will be saved. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his household. So where Paul and Silas say you will be saved, you and your house, well, there's more people that need to be saved than just you.
You've got your entire household. And so because he believes and brings Paul and Silas into his house so that they preach the gospel to them, they believe and likewise they're all saved and the household is baptized.
We'll understand that a little bit more clearly tomorrow when we come back to verse 33. But where Paul and Silas say in verse 31, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your house. They are not saying because you believe in Jesus, your whole house will be saved too, but rather because you believe in Jesus, we can now come and share this with your whole household because they need to hear it too and they also will be saved.
You have come to faith and because you have believed, there are others that you love and cherish who will also be saved just by faith in Jesus Christ. And so they come, speak the word of the Lord with everyone who is in the house and likewise those who are in the household, they believe and are saved.
We'll pick up there tomorrow. We'll pick up in verse 33. But we are reminded once again of the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. We are not saved by our works, it is not by our doing, but because of what God did for us, sending his son to die for us so that all who believe in him will be forgiven their sins and have everlasting life.
That's good news today. That's news worth singing about. No matter what situation or condition your life is in, no matter how hard things are, no matter what opposition may face you today, no matter what adversity, no matter what trials you may go through in any and all things, remember, rejoice.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. And we always have cause for rejoicing because Jesus died for me. Heavenly father, we thank you. We thank you. And I pray that our hearts and our lives would be filled with joy just thinking about and knowing about what you have done for us, sending Jesus to die for our sins.
I pray that we would be a testament to people around us. Our very actions, the way we live our lives, it could be a testimony to somebody else when they see us and think, why is that person so happy all the time?
And they don't have a reason to be that happy. When we're able to tell them about Jesus and knowing that because Jesus has forgiven me of my sins, yes, I'll die one day, but I will live in heaven forever with him in a place where all these things that bother me on this earth will be no more.
I won't even think about them anymore because I will be with Jesus forever. Save us from our sins. Bring us into your kingdom, Lord Jesus. We pray in his name, amen.
Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.
Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study When We Understand The Text.