Acts 16:1-40 (January 28, 2024)

Acts 16 and Seven Principles for Conquest

Turning your Bibles to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. We're continuing our series through the book of Acts. You may remember that we have titled this series, this journey through the book of Acts, as Conquer in the Name of Christ.

That's because the book of Acts is a book about conquest. It is a book about the gospel going out into the world through the church and expanding the kingdom of Christ, conquering in the name of Christ.

As we've seen that, we've noticed similarities between the book of Acts and the book of Joshua. The book of Joshua tells the story of the Israelites going in and conquering the land, and here we see that the land is the whole world.

Instead of swords of iron, the sword is the Word of God. They go out preaching the gospel. Well this morning, as we go through Acts 16, I want us to see seven principles for conquest, for conquering in the name of Christ.

We might call this seven principles for mission, or seven principles for advancing the kingdom. Seven principles for conquest, because we want to see the world come to Christ. We want to see northern Greenville County come to Christ.

We want to see those eight out of ten that we pray for every Sunday, we want to see them come to Christ. And so we're going to learn from Acts 16 as we go through this passage, seven principles for that mission.

Do Not Make It Hard for Those Turning to God

For the first one, let's read first five verses, Acts 16, one through five, and the Word of God says this, Then he came to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple there was there named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek.

He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go home with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.

And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily.

Amen. This is the Word of God to us. What we see here is that after separating from Paul and excuse me, after Paul separated from Barnabas and John Mark at the end of Acts 15, we saw that last week, now Paul, he's picked up a new associate in Silas, we saw that at the end of Acts 15, and now here at the beginning of Acts 16, we see he picks up a new young assistant in Timothy.

Now Timothy, his father is Greek, his mother is Jewish, so he's half Greek, half Jewish. We know from other places in the New Testament that his mother and his grandmother were both very devout, but that he had not yet been circumcised tells us that most likely his Greek father had forbidden it.

Now what we see here in these first few verses, it's a little bit odd when taken in context with Acts 15, at least on its surface. You see, Paul had just gone up to Jerusalem to argue at the council in Jerusalem that the Gentiles should not have to become Jewish in order to become Christian.

They did not need to be circumcised, they did not need to be subject to the law of Moses. That's what we saw last week in Acts 15, and Paul's side had prevailed, right? And the Jerusalem council had issued this decree that they did not need to submit themselves to circumcision and the law of Moses, only keep these four requirements that were already revealed in God's Word in Genesis and Leviticus.

They were already applied to them. Yet here Paul has Timothy circumcised in verse 3, and then the very next verse, verse 4, they, including Timothy, go out and deliver to the cities the decrees from the Jerusalem council which said that they didn't need to come under the law of circumcision.

Now, if I'm Timothy, I'm thinking, you know, me, but they, like Paul, you got a little bit of explaining to do here, right? So why? Why does Paul do this and does it contradict with what we saw in Acts 15 and what we see in verse 4?

And the answer is no, because the principle at work is the same. So this is our first principle today, it's the principle that was at work there, and that is do not make it hard for people to turn to God.

Do not make it hard for those turning to God. We read about in Acts 15, 19 where James stands in the council and says, therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God.

We should not trouble them. We should not make it hard for them to turn to God. And so don't make it hard for the Gentiles to turn to God by making them become Jewish in order to become Christian, making them bear the burden, carry the burden of the law that the Jews were not even able to bear and carry.

And Timothy, now remember he's half-Jewish. Also remember this is kind of the in-between time between the resurrection of Christ and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70 when the Old Covenant was officially ended.

So there's kind of this in-between time and he's half-Jewish and so Paul takes him because of the Jews, because he didn't want to make it hard for those Jews to come to Christ by Timothy flaunting his freedom from the law and the customs of Moses.

We see it in verse 3 what his motivation is because of the Jews who are in that region. He wanted to win them to Christ. You see the cross of Christ was already offensive enough. The identity of the Messiah was already offensive enough.

It was already a high hurdle for them to clear. He didn't want to give any unnecessary barrier to the gospel. Paul will later explain his thinking in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, I want to read verses 19 -23 from that chapter which explains his logic here.

Where he says, for though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win them the more. And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win the Jews. To those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those under the law.

To those who are without law, as without law, not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ, that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak.

I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be a partaker of it with you. The principle is do not make it hard for those who are turning to God.

Do not make it hard for those, for people to come to Christ. Now of course there are limits to this, Paul alludes to it there in 1 Corinthians 9 where he says not being without law towards God. James says in verse 19, you know I judge, don't make it, don't trouble those Gentiles who are coming to Christ.

But then the very next verse in verse 20 he says, he lays down some requirements from God's word for them. In other words we don't live like hellions to win the hellions, we live like pagans to win the pagans, but we also don't give unnecessary offense that would distract from the message of the cross.

We don't put anything on top of that. What one must do to be saved is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll see that later in the chapter. Let's continue with verses 6 through 10. Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.

After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia they came to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him saying, come over to Macedonia and help us.

Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. The principle here is follow the Spirit. Follow the Spirit.

They could have tried to force themselves into Asia. They could have stubbornly plowed ahead and gone into Asia, but this was not God's plan. Now it's a little bit startling to read this passage if I'm honest.

Because you have, they were headed to Asia to preach the gospel. That's a good thing, right? Yet the Holy Spirit forbid them to go to Asia to preach the gospel. They tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.

So they ended up in Troas. Now this is the same general area as the ancient city of Troy where Europeans entered Asia to make war in the name of their gods. And now from that same general area, Paul is going to enter Europe from Asia in the name of Christ.

To conquer in the name of Christ the preaching of the Word. He saw this vision of the Macedonian man. Come over and help us. And concluding that the Lord had called them to preach there, they set sail.

What I want you to see here is that God is in control of his mission. He is perfectly preparing people to hear the gospel. He is always working, John 5. He is unfolding his plan. This is the work of God.

And he had determined for Paul to go to Macedonia to take the gospel there. He determines where Paul should go. Here, not there. Europe, not Asia. Macedonia, not Bithynia. So what we see here is that God in the most technical sense of the term, he discriminates.

And then he chooses. You see the Spirit blows where he wishes. So our job is the best that we are able to discern is to follow the Spirit. Now one application for us then is we can't do everything. So we need to do the right things.

You see Paul couldn't be everywhere. He couldn't be in Bithynia and Asia and Macedonia at the same time preaching the gospel. So God sent him to Macedonia where he wanted. Forbid him to go here, said to go here.

He couldn't be everywhere so God led him to the right place. So every ministry that might be good in principle may not be the right thing for us to do in practice. I mean who could be against preaching the word in Asia?

Well, at this moment for Paul and Silas the Holy Spirit was. Now the Holy Spirit would later send Matthias up into Asia to Pontus to preach the gospel there. But he didn't send Paul and Silas there this time.

We can't do everything. We can't be everywhere. So we must do the right things. There are some ministries we are going to sponsor and go all in as a church. There are some ministries some people might want to do and we are going to bless and say that's good we will pray for you.

But we can't do everything. We must do the right things. To do so we must follow the Spirit. On Wednesday night we will talk a little bit about how do we determine, how do we discern the Spirit's work.

How do we discern the Spirit's work so we can follow the Spirit. I invite you to go to Midweek Family Fellowship at 6 .30 on Wednesday as we talk partly about that. Let's continue looking at Principles for Conquest from verses 11 -15.

Therefore, sailing from Troas we ran a straight course to Symethros and the next day came to Neapolis. And from there to Philippi which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days.

And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshipped God.

The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized she begged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.

So she persuaded us. So in Philippi, Paul cannot continue his normal practice of going to the synagogue first because there is no synagogue. And so he goes down to the riverside where he has heard that that is where some Jews and some God-fearers meet for prayer on the Sabbath.

And there he goes and he preaches the word. He preaches the gospel and a certain woman named Lydia who was a God-fearer, she heard them. And the main thing I want us to see from this story is the end of verse 14 where it says, the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.

The Lord opened her heart. That is the principle I want you to remember. Remember it is the Lord who opens the heart. Our doctrine of sin teaches us that sin has corrupted all of us. The Bible says that we are dead in our trespasses and sins.

That our hearts are deceitful and wicked. And that from the hearts springs all sorts of evil. And so left to our own devices and our own sinful hearts, every last one of us would choose evil. Every last one of us would choose sin.

We would remain in our unbelief if it were not for God who opens our hearts. We would remain dead in our trespasses and sins if it were not for the Lord who opens hearts. We would remain there unless he opens our hearts to hear.

Unless he takes out our heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh and puts his spirit within us. Ezekiel 36. Now that the Lord opens our hearts, that should one, guide our evangelism. Making us rely on God in prayer.

Making us rely on the power of the gospel to save. Making an appeal to the Lord who opens hearts to do what only he can do. Rather than relying on gimmicks or bribes or compromises which make appeal to the sinful flesh of man.

So it guides our evangelism. It ought to comfort the evangelist. You see the responsibility to save people doesn't rest on your shoulders. You are not God and you don't have to bear the burden of Godhood, the weight of that.

Rather the call to Christians is to be faithful and then leave God things to God. Be faithful. Pray. Rely on prayer. Rely on God in prayer. Call on him to act and save this person. Speak the gospel. Speak it.

Give it to him straight. No compromises. Speak. Be faithful. And then sleep like a baby at night. Because it's the Lord who opens hearts. And that it's the Lord who opens hearts that should humble us and stoke gratitude within us.

You see the reason you are saved is because God opened your heart to hear the gospel. Because God gave you faith. Because God acted for you and God acted in you. This is why you are saved. It should lead to humility for you.

Because we are not better than anybody else. We are not more deserving of God's kindness than anybody else. There is nothing in us that is inherent that makes us more savable. We didn't do anything to merit Christ saving us.

So it should lead to humility but also gratitude. For if the Lord had not opened my heart I would still be in rebellion against him. Still dead in my trespasses and sins and still on my way to hell of my own accord.

And so thank you God for rescuing me. You ever had a moment when you are driving down the road and you looked up at the last millisecond in order to hit the brakes and you avoided what could have been a really bad wreck and you have this gratitude that kind of washes over you as you think about what could have been and how bad it could have been.

It's kind of like that. But to an infinite degree. Praise God that he opens our hearts. Has opened our hearts. Let's continue reading verses 16 -24. Now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us who brought her masters much profit by fortune telling.

This girl followed Paul and us and cried out saying these men are servants of the most high God who proclaim to us the way of salvation. And this she did for many days but Paul greatly annoyed turned and said to the spirit I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.

And he came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone they seized Paul and Silas dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities 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. 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 in the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. What I want you to see here is the principle that spiritual warfare is real. Spiritual warfare is real and often manifests itself physically, temporally, materially.

Because what we have here between Paul and this demon that is in this slave girl we have a power encounter between that demon and the one true and living God. And God always wins that encounter. Now what the demon said was true.

They were servants of the most high God and they did proclaim the way of salvation. But the reason Paul wants to silence this girl is because one such sorcery and divination was forbidden if you read Deuteronomy and relying on demon testimony would undermine reliance on Christ.

So like Jesus in Luke 4 when he cast out the demon who called him the Holy One of God which is true, Paul cast out the demon from this slave girl. And the first thing I would have you notice is that the demon is real.

There are two ditches when it comes to thinking about the demonic. One ditch is to think about it way too much, kind of obsessively seeing every bad thing that happens in the world as being subject to the, or being caused by the direct activity of demons.

Like you kind of glorify it by obsessing over it and that's a ditch people fall into. Another is to ignore the reality of demons altogether which is an error we are prone to in the materialistic and modern west.

But the testimony of scripture is that demons exist, they are active. One manifestation of their activity is the mutilation of the human body. For humans are made in the image of God and so they attack God in effigy by attacking people.

Demons are manifest in deviant sexual activity and they oppose the work of Christ and they oppose the spread of the gospel. This is what we see true in scripture. And so the spiritual warfare manifests itself in the physical world, it's what we see in this passage.

And we also see a connection with money which elsewhere Paul says, the love of is the root of all kinds of evil. And so men use this girl and her demon divinations for profit. They made a lot of money off her.

And so when the demon came out, their hope of profit also came out. And it's the same word there used in verses 18 and 19. The demon went out and the profit went out. And this led to the arrest of Paul and Silas, ostensibly for offending Roman customs but the real reason is because their divination grift was interrupted.

Now today, if you want to look for the intersection of money and greed and demonic activity and human activity and human destruction, you could look at some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in our country.

Those who are making billions of dollars off abortion pills, abort to fashion birth control pills, hormone blockers, SSRI drugs, opioids. Saw a documentary the other night. Just devastating human destruction because of these things.

And you see if someone tried to, if someone, you know, tried and managed to put a stop to this, exploitative medical practice, profits would dry up and there would be a fight. Just like there was for Paul and Silas.

And what we see, one thing is there's nothing new under the sun. Paul and Silas, they were thrown into the innermost part of the jail and their feet were fastened in the stocks. It's interesting, the word for stocks is also the word for wood.

In Acts, any other time this word is used, it's used with a cross. We see Paul and Silas, they're sharing in the sufferings of our Lord in the jail. And in so doing, by their faithfulness, they overcome the world.

And the spiritual warfare is real, but this is how we win that warfare. Our faith. Our faithfulness. Verses 25 to 34, let's read about Paul and Silas in jail. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing psalms to God, excuse me, the prisoners were listening to them.

Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing that the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.

But Paul called out with a loud voice saying, do yourself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light, ran in and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved?

And so they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. And then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them that same hour of the night and washed their stripes.

And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now, when he had brought them into his house, he set food before him and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. From this section of the chapter, I want to give you two principles.

Worship Is Warfare

One is that worship is warfare. Paul and Silas are in the prison. They're in the jail. It's dark. It's cold. They're in the innermost part and the feet are in the stocks. And what did they do? Did they complain?

Did they cry out in fear? Did they fuss? Did they blame God? No, they sang. They prayed and they sang. They worshiped. I'm reminded of 2 Chronicles chapter 20 when King Jehoshaphat sent out the choir ahead of the calvary singing, praise the Lord for his mercy endures forever.

And then 2 Chronicles 20, 22 says, now when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Sair who had come against Judah and they were defeated. God acts in response to the worship of his people.

He did it in 2 Chronicles. God acts in response to the worship of his people and he did it for Paul and Silas as he sent an earthquake that could have led to their escape but didn't because they stayed, but it did lead to their deliverance.

We come together, we said it earlier, when we come together in corporate worship, we are approaching God. We are spiritually ascending into the presence of the Lord and saying, Father let it be on earth as it is and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So that God will act in response to the worship of his people. That is our prayer. I believe the Christian church in America needs to recover her martial spirit. Going out to take the world for Jesus Christ and win him glory and part of that martial spirit is recovering the martial songs of the faith.

We see Paul and Silas at midnight singing hymns to God when they are in jail. We need to recover those songs of the faith, the psalms and hymns of the church militant like we sang earlier. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

For a mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. Arise again ye lion hearted saints of early Christendom. Wither is your strength departed, wither gone your martyrdom. Lo, love's light is on them, glory's flame upon them.

And their will to die doth quell, even the prince and Lord of hell. Let God arise in all his might and put the troops of hell to flight. For they take their stand against God's Messiah. They claim they will not keep his binding chains.

The one enthroned in highest heaven higher mocks them to scorn on them derision reigns. We need to have these songs deep within our bones that we could sing if we were burning at the stake or taken off to jail or sitting outside the abortion clinic on May the 4th when our church goes out there adopting that week to pray outside the clinic or to sing to the civil magistrate when they overreach or defy the living God.

There's a few families from our Sunday school class we're going to get together on February the 18th. It's a Sunday evening at 5 o 'clock for a psalm and hymn roar. We don't want it to just be folks from our Sunday school class.

We would love to have anybody who wants to come. We're going to learn some of these psalms. We're going to bring some finger foods to share for dinner and enjoy singing some of these great psalms and hymns.

We'll learn a few of them so that we can sing them on May the 4th when we go out to the abortion clinic. We can sing out there. I hope you'll join us on February 18th, Sunday afternoon, 5 o 'clock. We're going to sing together.

The Gospel Is the Power of God Unto Salvation

The second principle from this section of the chapter is the most important. That is found in verses 30 and 31. He said to them, the jailer, sirs, what must I do to be saved? They said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household.

The principle is the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. I want to say two things here about verse 31. One bound up in the concept of belief is trust.

In other words, it's not just intellectually assenting to certain facts. Even the demons knew the facts. But it's trusting in the person of Christ to whom those facts, of whom those facts are true. Charles Spurgeon illustrated the concept like this.

He said, picture a house that's on fire. There's a little girl upstairs. She's leaning out of the window and a fireman calls her and says, jump into my arms. I'll save you. She assesses the situation.

She knows the danger behind her. She can see that he's a strong man capable of catching her. She knows that he's a trained fireman. He's been trained for situations like this. All of her intellectual assessments are correct.

But she's not yet saved from the flames until she trusts that man such that she lets go of the windowsill and drops into his arms. Only then has she trusted. Only then will she be saved from the fire.

Believe in Christ. Jump into his arms and be saved from the flames. Secondly, see the simplicity of the gospel. See the simplicity of the gospel offer. Believe and be saved. We think it should be much more complicated, don't we?

We all think this ought to be, we all have to do more. Like Naaman, the leper in 2 Kings chapter 5. He went to the prophet's house expecting some elaborate and dramatic healing. And Elisha didn't even come to greet him.

He sent a servant out and said, go wash in the Jordan River seven times. And Naaman left enraged because that didn't seem right. We got better water back where I came from. If it were widely proclaimed that if you marched by foot from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean carrying a wooden cross, that you'd be guaranteed eternal life if you did that, I have no doubt they'd have to put walking lanes on I -40 headed west.

But you tell people, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, and people just keep on moving. We think it ought to be more complicated, but there is power in the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

He took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived in your place, perfect obedience. He died in your place as a perfect sacrifice. He was raised so that you too could be raised to new and everlasting life.

He rules as king from heaven right now. And he will one day return and will judge the world in righteousness. Believe on this Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Do not turn away from him today, but turn to him and live.

Use All Available Lawful Means

And then lastly, at the end of the chapter, I'll summarize. The authorities tried to release Paul and Silas quietly and to get them just to go on their way. But Paul's a Roman citizen. Now they didn't know that when they started mistreating him, but they didn't care to find out either.

They have treated him shamefully. He shames them for how they have treated him as a Roman citizen, such that they were afraid. So they went to Paul and Silas, they pleaded with them, they asked them to leave the city.

And they did after visiting and strengthening the brother. But here, in Paul invoking his Roman citizenship, we see one final principle, and that is use of all available lawful means. Use all available lawful means to conquer in the name of Christ.

Paul used his Roman citizenship. This was especially important in Philippi because when he leaves, who's staying? Well, there's still a church there. So him holding the authorities to account for their mistreatment was a way to help those whom he would leave behind so that the authorities would not abuse their authority against the church that remained.

In other words, Paul asserted his rights as a Roman citizen. He did it partly for himself, but also he did it on behalf of others. He asserted his rights on behalf of others. Now we've been given a great gift in our nation, that we have a heritage of law and legal practice that is rooted in the Christian faith.

Things like due process, things like innocent until proven guilty, freedom of association, freedom to worship, to believe the truth, to speak the truth, laws against slander, laws against libel, and so much more.

It's all rooted in the Christian faith. It would not be righteous or holy for us to surrender those rights. Rather, we must assert them. We assert them for the protection of others, for our neighbors, and we assert them for the protection of those who will come after us, our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, because once they're lost, they're gone.

So I know of some Christians who are involved in a couple of nasty lawsuits against their city government. For violating their rights as citizens. Now why did they get involved in a legal fight with their city government?

Well the reason was, because if they didn't, then the city would continue to overreach more and more. More people would be harmed in the process. The church's position would be weakened in the community, which would weaken the kingdom's impact there for a time.

And so, like Paul, making use of what was given to him, they've made use of what was given to him, and I would encourage us, use all lawful means. Make use of what God has given to you, for the sake of your neighbor, for the sake of the kingdom, and for the sake of the gospel.

So that others may hear the good news, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved. Let's pray. Our Father, we have heard your word. We have seen your example in it. Father, I pray that we would go out and live in such a way to advance the kingdom of Christ, for the glory of Christ.

And Father, if there are any here in this room today who are persisting in unbelief, and persisting in not trusting Christ, they're still holding on to the windowsill. Lord, I pray that they would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ right now, and be saved.

We ask all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen.