In Acts 16 we find 3 trophies of grace: Lydia, the demonized slave girl, and the jailer. Can you identify with one of them? All of them show us the wonder of God’s sovereign grace!
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3 Trophies of Grace
Acts 16:11-40
In Ephesians 2:7, Paul tells us why God has shown us His rich mercy and great love to make us alive together with Christ, to raise us up with Him and to seat us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Why did He do all of that? “So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” That’s it! God is going to demonstrate, show, “show off” the surpassing riches of His grace. How is He going to do that? He’s going to bring us forward before the vast host of heaven, and show what we were before Christ, and then what He made us into after He set about to save us. We are trophies of His saving grace. We are Exhibit 1 of the sovereign grace of God. Well, in Acts 16 we get to see three different trophies of grace: Lydia, the demon-possessed slave girl, and the Philippian jailer. As we look at all three, I hope you can yourself in one of them.
1. Lydia: 16:11-15
16:12 – Philippi was only about 10 miles inland from Neapolis. As far we know, this is the first time ever that anyone had penetrated Europe with the gospel! This is groundbreaking. Philippi was a Roman colony. What that means is that it was a miniature Rome. The government sent many retired Army veterans to occupy and fortify this city. Bearing witness in Philippi was the closest thing to preaching in Rome without actually being there.
The Time: “The Sabbath”. Paul was following his custom of presenting the gospel first to the Jews. He met Lydia on a sabbath day.
The Place: “the riverside”. A synagogue would be built if there were at last 10 Jewish men in a city. When there weren’t 10 men, the Jews would find somewhere else to worship and pray. Evidently Paul got wind of the fact that there were some Jewish women who met to pray on the Sabbath down by the riverside outside the city gates.
The Activity: “speaking”. Paul and his team were not street preaching. They were simply engaged in ordinary speaking, ordinary dialogue. We would call this “witnessing.”
The Person: “a woman named Lydia”. Isn’t it interesting that in the vision Paul saw a man who appealed to him to come over and help him, but when he arrived, he found a woman!
Her Hometown: “Thyatira” Thyatira is in Asia, the very region Paul was forbidden to enter. The Lord will not permit Paul to go to Asia, but he will bring him to a women who is from Asia.
Her Occupation: “a seller of purple fabrics”. She was in “sales.” It was her occupation to sell purple fabrics. Purple fabrics were expensive, because the purple dye was made from a rare shellfish. Thyatira was famous for this purple dye. Only the very wealthy could afford to buy these garments. Purple was the color of royalty. Evidently she was doing pretty well for herself. She had moved to Philippi, perhaps as the sales agent for a fabric company in Thyatira. She owns a home that is large enough for 4 missionaries to stay at. She was Upper Class, wealthy.
Her Religion: “a worshiper of God”. This probably means that she was a proselyte to the Jewish faith, a converted Gentile. She believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and worshipped Him.
Her Conversion: What was the means God used to convert her? “The things spoken by Paul”. What would that have been? The gospel of Christ. The good news of what God has done for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel is always the means through which people are saved. What did the Lord do to her so that she would respond to the gospel? He opened her heart! What does that imply? That her heart was closed before. All unconverted people, whether are religious or not, have a closed heart, and no one but the Lord can open it. No one can or will respond to the gospel unless the Lord opens the heart to respond. Notice how careful Luke is all the way through Acts to make sure we understand the sovereign grace of God in salvation. Have you responded to the gospel in faith? If so, it is because the Lord opened your heart! Oh, give Him the glory for that.
Her Baptism: Evidently she was baptized that very day, no doubt in the river they were meeting besides. Every time we read of water baptism in the New Testament, it takes place immediately (Day of Pentecost, Ethiopian eunuch, Saul, Cornelius, Lydia, Jailer). Of course, the person being baptized must know they are a sinner, understand who Christ is and what He has done, and have trusted Christ to save them. But I think we have put too many obstacles between the believer and baptism today. Often today a new believer must attend classes, or undergo a lengthy period of examination before they are admitted for baptism. All of that was completely unheard of in the New Testament. I think it’s pretty cool that we live in a neighborhood which has a clubhouse and pool, so that we can go straight down to the pool after church on Sunday and do baptisms, like we will be doing today!
Her Household: Notice that her household was also baptized. A person’s household would include spouse, children, extended family, and servants. Evidently Lydia was not married, so she was the head of this household, and exercised considerable influence over those who lived with her. This is only the first household conversion we are going to see in this chapter. The jailer’s household will also be converted before this message is over. Just a word for you who are heads of households – use your authority and influence in their lives for Christ! Seek to show your family the truth about Jesus Christ! Do it in an attractive and gentle way, but do it. The most unloving thing you can do is to do nothing about their souls. When Lydia and the jailer were converted, their whole households were converted as well. Ask the Lord to make it true in your case.
Her Fruit of Conversion: Hospitality. She urged, and prevailed upon us! You can see here why she was so successful as a businesswoman – “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” What could Paul say to that? If he didn’t stay with her he would be insulting her!
2. A Demon-possessed Slave Girl: 16:16-18
The Location: Where did Paul meet this slave girl? “As we were going to the place of prayer”. The missionary team, evidently, had made a habit of returning to the riverside to continue speaking with other Jewish women about Christ. Once the Lord gives you a convert, it’s a good strategy to seek to bring the gospel to all of the people in that new convert’s social circle to Christ as well. What’s best is for you to train the new convert to share their new faith with the people in their social circle. Perhaps Paul was encouraging Lydia to invite her friends and acquaintances out to the riverside where she would share what the Lord had done for her soul, and Paul would speak the gospel.
The Girl: She was a slave-girl. Evidently she was young, hence the term “girl.” At the same time she was a slave, a piece of property some wealthy investors had purchased in order to get rich. She was being exploited out of greed. As such, these masters would be Occultic Pimps – prostituting her spiritually. And she was doing a good job of making her masters rich – “bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.” The evil spirit(s) that possessed her enabled her to tell the future with enough accuracy to make a lot of money.
Her Message: “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” Initially we are puzzled by this. Why would evil spirits tell the truth about Paul and his team? We know that evil spirits confessed the truth about Jesus when they were in His presence (Mk.1:24). They did the same here in Paul’s presence. But why would Paul get annoyed and cast them out? Aren’t they working in his favor by proclaiming that he is God’s servant and is proclaiming the way of salvation? Actually no. Paul did not want it to appear as if she were his partner in the gospel. This would give the impression that Christianity is a friend of the occult!
Her Deliverance: Notice that Paul spoke to the spirit, not to her. Jesus had taught his disciples, “In My name they will cast out demons” (Mk.16:17). Notice that Paul did not ask, or solicit, or beg. He commanded the spirit to come out, and it did! Notice also that he did it in Jesus’ name. Jesus had the authority and power in Himself to cast out demons. But Paul has that authority only by using Jesus’ name. What was the result in her life? The text doesn’t tell us, but I assume that she also became a follower of Jesus Christ. She had been possessed and enslaved by this evil spirit, and now finally she was free! How did it happen? In Jesus’ name. Jesus freed her. It seems very likely that as a result of her deliverance she would have given her life to Jesus and began to follow Him along with Lydia and her household. Jesus has called out first Lydia and her household, but opening Lydia’s heart. Then He called out this slave girl by freeing her from the tyranny of an evil spirit. But He’s not done yet. There is still another person that He intends to call. The Lord knows who He is and where He’s at – a jailer. What’s the best way to get to this jailer? By sending some of His own people into that prison where they can bear testimony to Him. So that’s exactly what the Lord does.
3. A Jailer: 16:19-40.
THE MISSIONARIES:
The Missionaries’ Arrest and Beating: 19-23. Why were only Paul and Silas seized? Luke and Timothy were both Gentiles. Paul and Silas were the leaders and chief speakers. Anti-semitism was high in this Roman colony. So those who looked Jewish and were the most vocal were targeted in this persecution. Since Paul & Silas were Jews, they assumed they were not Roman citizens, and were offended that they would harass Romans with their strange religion of a crucified Savior. The magistrates and crowd felt free to abuse them because they assumed they were not Roman citizens. There is no fair trial given them. They are assumed guilty, and beaten with rods. The masters’ indictment was pure deceit. They didn’t care in the least about the city being thrown into confusion or the missionaries proclaiming new religious views. They only cared that their investment couldn’t make them any money any more, and they were mad!
The Missionaries’ Imprisonment: 24. This jailer was probably a retired army officer who was used to following owners. They wanted these men to be guarded securely, so he made sure it was so. He “threw” them into the inner prison. The inner prison would be that portion of the prison which had no windows, so there would be no light or fresh air. As such, it would be putrid and difficult to breathe, and pitch darkness. They were thrown in with bleeding and lacerated backs and legs. Then their feet were fastened in the stocks. The jailer was taking no chance on them escaping!
The Missionaries’ Response to Suffering: 25. So, what do you do if you get beaten and thrown into prison for preaching the gospel? You sing and pray! Listen, the devil may be able to inflict great suffering upon you for being obedient to Jesus Christ, but he can never take away your song! It doesn’t matter what they do to you, you can always pray. God is always with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Notice that the “prisoners were listening.” That’s an important little side note. God wants his men on the inside of this prison so they can rescue some perishing sinners. You can be sure that when you go through suffering, others are watching and listening. And when you respond in faith, worship, and praise to God in the midst of suffering, others sit up and take notice.
GOD:
God’s Response: 26. Have you ever played chess and were losing badly, but all of a sudden you are able to take your opponent’s Queen, and then you go on to win the game? That’s what is happening here. The devil has been allowed to do his thing. He’s got God’s men arrested, beaten, and thrown in prison. But now it’s God’s move. So what does He do? He answers the prayers of His men, and decides to cause an earthquake. But this is no ordinary earthquake. It is an earthquake that causes all the doors to open and all the chains to come unfastened, yet the building doesn’t come tumbling down and kill anyone. Now how do you engineer an earthquake that will do that? Only God can. So, God has got His men where He wants them, has brought about this supernatural earthquake. The scene has been set for His great work of conversion upon this calloused jailer.
THE JAILER:
The Jailer Attempts Suicide: 27-28. He saw the prison doors opened and instantly assumed that everyone had escaped. The penalty for allowing your prisoners to escape was death. So, rather than wait and endure a shameful execution, he figured he would just get it done quickly and immediately. Instead of escaping while he had the chance, Paul stayed. Why? Because he was more concerned about this jailer’s soul than with his personal safety. This jailer was not ready to enter eternity, so Paul stayed to bring him the truth.
The Jailer Asks The Most Important Question: 29-30. He rushes in to the inner prison where Paul and Silas were, trembling with fear and falls down before them, and asks them “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Now some believe that this jailer is afraid that he’s going to face capital punishment on the next day by his superiors. However, that explanation doesn’t make sense for a number of reasons. 1) No one had escaped. 2) Paul’s answer shows that he understood this man to be talking about spiritual salvation, not physical salvation. Believing on Jesus Christ would do nothing to protect him from being executed. 3) Why would he fall down before Paul and Silas? They had no power to shield him from physical danger.
Notice that this jailer has undergone a great change. Before he had harshly thrown them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. Now he addresses them with the respect (sirs).
As soon as the fear of physical death is removed by seeing all the prisoners present, another greater fear appears before him. He is fearful of standing before a holy God in his sins. The Spirit of God has brought him to the place where he knows he is sinful and lost, and must stand before God to be sentenced to heaven or hell. Remember, that the slave girl had been screaming for many days that Paul & Silas were bond-servants of God and proclaiming the way of salvation. No doubt the jailer knew of her testimony. The jailer had seen how these men had responded in kindness to his harsh and cruel treatment of them. He was also greatly struck by the earthquake, believing it to be a sign from God that His people were being persecuted unjustly. All of this led to a deep conviction of sin. The jailer’s question must precede every genuine case of conversion. A man must know he’s lost before he can be saved. It is premature to tell a man how to be saved, until he can honestly say, “I deserve to go to hell.” In the NT, the only people told to believe on Christ were convicted sinners.
The Jailer Believes: Here is the gospel in a nutshell. There are 3 great themes here – Faith, Jesus, and Salvation. Paul’s answer is not, “Get baptized and join the church” or “confess agreement with the great creeds and confessions of the church.” It is believe! When a man is convicted of his sins he desperately wants to do something. The only thing for him to do is to believe. That is what we are to tell people. To believe is to rest upon, and cling to, and trust in Another. Who is that? The Lord Jesus. This faith includes repentance, because he is to believe in the Jesus as his Lord, his Master and King. In other words, saving faith includes submission to the authority of Jesus as Lord. And your household. This doesn’t mean that if you become a Christian, you have the promise that all of your family will also become Christians. It means that the promise of salvation is also for your household. If your household believe in the Lord Jesus, they shall be saved as well. This is proved by the fact that Paul & Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. They took the time to explain and instruct the jailer and his family about all the doctrines of the gospel.
The Jailer Is Converted: He experiences a Great Change. Before he had only lived for himself. Now, all he thinks about is God and his prisoners. Before he had roughly treated these men and did nothing to apply medicine or bandages. Now he washes their wounds. Before he didn’t even ask if they were hungry. Now he brings them into his own house, and sets food before them. Whereas before he was filled with suicidal fear, now he rejoices greatly with all his household. Whereas before he believed in nothing but what he could see, now he believes in Christ with his whole household. Now he professes his faith by getting baptized with his whole household that very hour! Talk about immediate baptism. Look at the good fruit he is already bearing in the first day of his salvation! Conversion involves a Great Change. If you have professed faith in Christ but have not experienced a Change, you may not really believe after all.
Application: Jesus May Allow You to Suffer to Accomplish His Plan: Are you willing to go to prison, be beaten, and suffer, in order to see a jailer come to Christ? If you are, you are the kind of person He can use. I believe God allowed Paul and Silas to be arrested, beaten, and thrown in prison in order to reach this jailer and his household for Christ. Are you willing to suffer in order to see others saved? I’m sure that Paul and Silas have no regrets!
Conclusion:
So, what truths can we glean from these 3 trophies of grace?
- Jesus Will Build His Church: He’s alive and well on planet earth! He will call out a people for His name, and the fury of hell won’t be able to stop Him. We can bank on it. His sovereign purposes will be accomplished. That gives us great hope as we step out to preach His gospel. The Lord has a people, and they will be made willing in the day of His power! The Lord will open their hearts to respond to the gospel.
- Jesus Builds His Church as We Preach His Gospel: Yes, we see here Jesus building His church, but He did it through the spoken word of the gospel. Paul spoke to Lydia and the jailer of Christ. If we want to be used of God in His work of building the church, we must be about proclaiming His message. How are you doing in this regard? I want to encourage you to be intentional about sharing the gospel with others.
- The Gospel Can Conquer Every Kind of Person: Who did it triumph over in Philippi? A wealthy businesswoman, a poor slave girl, and a middle-class jailer. Lydia was Jewish, the slave girl and jailer were pagans. Yet all found deliverance in Jesus Christ.
Who do you identify with?
Is it Lydia, the wealthy businesswoman? You are not in great financial need. You have a good job, a nice home and car. Your kids go to good schools. Yet, before you came to Christ, your heart was empty. You had all the material things, but there was a deep void in your soul. When you came to Christ, you found that emptiness in your heart filled with Jesus Christ. He called you to Himself and gave you true love, peace, and joy and purpose in life. If that is you, then glorify Him, because He opened your heart to respond to the gospel!
Is it the demonized slave girl? Did you come from a dark past where you were in bondage to Satan? Were you into the occult? In absolute bondage to drugs, alcohol, illicit sex? Did you need an almighty God to deliver and free you? If that was you, then glorify Him! Gal.5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”
Is it the Jailer? Did you come out of a background in the military or law enforcement? Were you raised to respect and submit to authority? Were you saved out of a pagan lifestyle? Did you have no knowledge of God or of Jesus? Glorify God! He found you and gave you a brand new life in Him!
God saved three different people, all from three very different backgrounds. There is no one beyond the reach of His power and grace today! Do not despair of your son or daughter or friend or neighbor that you love. He is mighty save!
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