Reading: chapter 16 verses 11-41
Ill:
Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist;
• Issued a challenge wherever he went:
• He claimed he could be locked in any jail cell in the country,
• And set would set himself free and he would do it quickly and easily.
• He always he kept his promise,
• But on one occasion something went wrong.
Houdini was placed in a prison cell:
• The heavy, metal doors of his cell clanged shut behind him.
• And Houdini set to work by escaping.
• He took from his belt a concealed piece of metal, which was strong and flexible.
• And he started picking the lock.
• But something seemed to be unusual about this lock.
• For 30 minutes he worked and got nowhere.
• An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door.
• By now he was bathed in sweat & panting in exasperation, but he still could not pick the lock.
• Finally, after labouring for 2 hours,
• Harry Houdini collapsed in frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock.
• But when he fell against the door, it swung open!
• It had never been locked at all!
• But in his mind it was locked;
• And that was all it took to keep him from opening the door & walking out of the jail cell.
Each of the characters of this story are imprisoned, trapped:
• But unlike Houdini;
• Not all of them will find the door of escape!
(1). The slave girl is imprisoned in her insanity and by her owners (vs 16).
“Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.
She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling”.
• This slave girl was acting as a medium or a psychic,
• Her powers came from evil, demonic sources.
• This evil spirit used her as a channel and to convey clairvoyant messages,
• As well as interpreting the events of the day and predicting the future for people.
This evil spirit was obviously dominating and ruining her life:
• And even if she found the power to break free of it,
• She was trapped by her owners who were using her to make money.
Verse 17: This girl encounters Paul and his companions and starts following them:
• Wherever Paul and Silas go, she follows them over and over again,
• But the trouble is she keeps calling out, shouting about them.
"These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation."
For Paul this girls shouting was at first irritating, then annoying, then wearisome:
• Here cries were a distraction to the people who Paul was trying to speak with,
• So in verse 18 Paul says to the annoying spirit,
"I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her."
• And with those authoritive and powerful words,
• She is freed from this spirit which has ruined her life.
• She is also free of her owners’;
• Unable to make money from her, they no-longer want her.
Ill:
• Readers Digest reported this true story.
• A helicopter was flying toward Seattle;
• When an electrical malfunction;
• Disabled all the aircraft’s navigation and communications equipment.
• Due to the extreme haze that day,
• The pilot now had no way of determining the course to the airport.
• All he could make out was a tall building nearby,
• So he moved closer to it, and quickly wrote out a large sign reading
• “Where am I?”
• And held it in the chopper’s window.
• Responding quickly,
• The people in the building penned a large sign of their own.
• It read: “You are in a helicopter.”
• The pilot smiled, and within minutes he landed safely at the airport.
After they were on the ground,
• The co-pilot asked how the sign helped him determine their position.
• The pilot replied:
“I knew it had to be the Microsoft building,”,
“Because like any computer company’s help staff, they gave me a technically correct but completely useless answer.”
To the money making owners:
• This girl was technically their property,
• But completely useless for making money.
The story doesn’t tell us what her life is like afterward:
• We don’t know if she is grateful or if she was converted or if she leads a productive life,
• But we can imagine her life was changed for the better!
• She now has mental and spiritual health;
• And she is no longer exploited by her owners.
(2). Paul and Silas are imprisoned as well
(vs 19-23).
“When the owners of the slave girl realised that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place to face the authorities.
20 They brought them before the magistrates……………
…………..After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison”.
Quote:
“When in Rome…do as the Romans do”
Paul on the other hand always did what God wanted him to do:
• Even if it caused him trouble and physical abuse and even prison!
• He did what was right for the girl!
• As a result he was severely beaten and thrown into prison,
• Most of us would be feeling sorry for ourselves… but not Paul.
Verse 25 tells us that they were praying and singing hymns.
Ill:
• I have sang and praised God in prison.
• I’m glad to say as a guest speaker!
• Weirdest experiences was to hear the prisoners sing; “Bless this house O Lord we pray”
• Know the hymn it goes on to say: “Bless these walls so firm and stout,”
• Paul and Silas were praying and praising God;
• And their motives were genuine!
Quote: Charles Haddon Spurgeon who said:
“It’s easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but the skilful singer is he who can sing when there is not a ray of light to read by…. Songs in the night come only from God; they are not in the power of men”.
ill:
• Sometimes we use the expression an “acid test.”
• This term originated during times when gold was widely circulated.
• Nitric acid was applied to an object of gold to see if it was genuine or not.
• If it was fake, the acid decomposed it; if it was genuine, the gold was unaffected.
Quote:
“There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of one candle....”
Paul and Silas:
• Refused to let the darkness of their circumstances;
• Put out the light of Christ in their hearts and minds.
• It may have been midnight in the jail;
• But Paul & Silas had the light of Christ to illuminate them.
• They may have been bound by shackles,
• But their spirits were certainly free!
• Prayer and praise are powerful weapons;
• God responded by sending an earthquake to shake up the prison.
(3). The owners are imprisoned by their own greed (vs 19:
• These owners do not care about the girl’s well-being,
• They are not concerned about exploiting her and making a profit off her.
• They certainly are not pleased by the fact she is now mentally whole and well.
• They care only for their wallets! They are imprisoned by their greed.
Ill:
• Leo Tolstoy once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer;
• Who was not satisfied with his lot. He wanted more of everything.
One day he received a novel offer.
• For 1000 rubbles, he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day.
• The only catch in the deal was that he had to be back at his starting point by sundown.
• Early the next morning he started out walking at a fast pace.
• By midday he was very tired, but he kept going, covering more and more ground.
• Well into the afternoon;
• He realized that his greed had taken him far from the starting point.
• He quickened his pace and as the sun began to sink low in the sky,
• And he began to run,
• He knew that if he did not make it back by sundown;
• The opportunity to become an even bigger landholder would be lost.
• As the sun began to sink below the horizon he came within sight of the finish line.
• Gasping for breath, his heart pounding,
• He called upon every bit of strength left in his body
• And he just managed to stagger across the line just before the sun disappeared.
• He immediately collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth.
• And in a few minutes he was dead.
• Afterwards, his servants dug a grave.
• It was not much over six feet long and three feet wide.
• The title of Tolstoy’s story was:
• How Much Land Does a Man Need?
Quote:
• When someone asked J.D. Rockerfeller how much does it take to satisfy a man;
• Her replied “A little bit more than you have”.
Twice in this story (verses 16&19) we are told how the men viewed the girl:
• She was nothing more than a money making machine;
• And they would make sure she stayed that way.
(4). The magistrates are imprisoned by their
tradition, pride and prejudice (vs 20-23).
• The owners of the slave girl win their appeal;
• By playing the race card against Paul & Silas. In verse 20 they say "They are Jews,".
• In verse 21: They appeal to the magistrates sense of tradition and custom.
• "They are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe,"
Ill:
• 1903 the Russian Czar;
• Noticed a sentry posted for no apparent reason on the Kremlin grounds.
• Wanting to know why he was there, he started making inquiries and he discovered;
• That in 1776 Catherine the Great found there the first flower of spring.
• On seeing it she commanded;
• “Post a sentry here, so that no one tramples that flower under foot!”
• For 127 years no-one questioned why a sentry was standing in the middle of no-where,
• Some traditions die-hard.
Quote:
“We need to build on our traditions, and not be buried underneath them!”
The slave-girls owners use both the race tactic and the traditions ploy to get rid of Paul & Silas:
• The magistrates decide to act fast.
• They flex their muscles and have Paul & Silas beaten and thrown in prison.
Eventually verse 39 tells us the magistrates try to appease to Paul and Silas,
• When they learn they are Roman citizens.
• And realise what a mistake they have made (Romans cannot be flogged).
• Once again they are worried and ask them to leave the city.
• They are never truly freed from the things that cause them to be in bondage.
These Romans were also prisoners of their prejudices:
(4). The jailer who was imprisoned by fear
and judgement (verse 27).
“The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped”.
• A Roman guard knew that if a prisoner escaped;
• Then whatever sentence any of the prisoners had will become his sentence.
• This guard evidently doesn’t want to suffer public humiliation and disgrace,
• So he almost commits suicide in verse 27.
Ill:
• Two explorers were on a jungle safari;
• When suddenly a ferocious lion jumped in front of them.
• “Keep calm” the first explorer whispered.
• “Remember what we read in that book on wild animals?
• If you stand perfectly still and look the lion in the eye, he will turn and run.”
• “Sure,” replied and his companion.
• “You’ve read the book, and I’ve read the book.
• But has the lion read the book?”
This Roman guard may have read his “How to run a jail” Manuel:
• But he had not taken the time to look up and look around.
• So in verse 28: Paul cries out to him, "Don’t harm yourself, we are all here,"
• I think the fact no-one escaped is a bigger miracle than the earth quake;
• These prisoners must have known this supernatural event was of God himself!
The jailor falls down before Paul and Silas:
• And in verse 30 asks them the question every preacher loves to hear;
• "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
• The jailor may have shut the prison door on Paul, opened the door of salvation to him,
• For Paul uses this is the perfect opportunity to lead him to Christ:
THE MAN GIVES EVIDENCE OF HIS NEW LIFE IN TWO WAYS:
• First: Verse 33 he is baptized along with the others in his house who trusted Christ!
• Second: He washes Paul and Silas’ wounds.
• Instead of abusing them he is now serving them
• He brings them into his house. He sets food before them.
• He is a changed man.
• He is freed from his fear of judgement and disgrace.
In conclusion:
Question: What are the things that imprison us?
• Fear or what others think,
• Like the jailer or the magistrates?
• Fear that we won’t have enough money,
• Like the owners?
• Fear of the future,
• Like the jailer?
• Fear or people who are different than us,
• Like the magistrates and the owners?
The good news of the gospel is this:
“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”
ill:
Remember the story of Harry Houdini;
• He tried to set himself free but failed miserably.
• But he discovered that by leaning against the door it will open.
• If we will cease trying all our own efforts;
• And lean wholly upon Christ the door top freedom will open!
