OPEN: In the 1870s, in the Old West, a town called Truckee, California decided to build a jail. This wasn’t just any old jail - this was wonder to behold. The walls were 32 inches thick at the lower level and there were no windows unless one counted the small vents for each cell. The ceilings were plate steel, insulated with dirt, and lined with narrow gauge railroad tracks. And all the doors were riveted steel, and weighed about 200 pounds each.
Nineteen citizens donated $25 each toward construction of the jail and when it was finally built the price-tag was $1,235.
That was a lot of money for that day… and a lot of jail.
But in the Old West, most communities couldn’t afford that nice a jail. Many, in fact got by with a shack that was padlocked, or sometimes even a hole in the ground that was secured with bars on top.
Years ago, one of my friends told me about a trip he took out west where he visited a site where they talked about jails in the Old West (from which I got some of my information for today). While he was there, he was told the tale of a extremely imposing jail that no one escaped from. However, while the walls were imposing… that’s all they were. They were built on the cheap and as a result, if any convict had been determined to escape they could have. They just never tried.
Had someone decided to escape, those walls could not have held them.
APPLY: In the same way, the Bible seems to imply that the Apostles rarely met a jail that could hold them. That’s not to say that they escaped every prison that ever held them. It’s just that if God didn’t want them in jail… no jail that could hold them.
For example, in Acts 12 we’re told King Herod had Peter thrown into prison, but the “night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.
Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him.
Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.”
My point is this: No prison. No jail. No guard or soldier could ever have held any of the Apostles of Christ.
So (if that’s true) why is it that in THIS story in Acts 16, Paul and Silas have this opportunity to escape… but they don’t? The cell doors were opened; the shackles had fallen from their feet. All they had to do to gain their freedom was run for it.
Why didn’t they?
Well, they didn’t because God wanted them there.
Paul and Silas were THERE… in Philippi… in that jail… on that night… because God wanted them there. God didn’t want them leaving that jail because God wanted them to talk to someone. He wanted them to witness to this jailer and his family.
Now that said – I want us to think about WHO this jailer was.
Do you think this jailer was a friend of Paul and Silas’?
No, he wasn’t.
He didn’t go and visit them in their cell before the earthquake.
He didn’t go down to their cell to loosen their chains.
He didn’t go down to their cell to bandage up their wounds or put medicine on their cuts.
He didn’t go down to talk about Jesus or ask them to pray for him.
Paul and Silas were HIS prisoners, not his friends.
And notice what it says in Acts 16:24 - “Having received such a charge, (the jailer) thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.” KJV
The jailer wasn’t told to put them inside the “inner prison”
AND he wasn’t instructed to put their feet in stocks.
So, why would he do that?
Why treat them so roughly?
Because, he doesn’t like them very much.
He regards them as criminals.
I mean – after all – the entire town had condemned these two men.
Obviously, they were guilty.
ILLUS: Over the years I’ve made visits to prisoners in local jails, and one of the themes I keep hearing from them is that the jailers aren’t always very nice to them. Why? Because many of them get cynical over the years. They’ve heard it all before.
And you know what one of the common pleas of prisoners is?
“I’m (innocent). I didn’t do it!”
But most of them are guilty and most of them HAVE done it.
So after awhile, there are jailers that presume: if they’re here, they’re guilty and my job is to make sure they don’t want to come back.
As far as the jailer in Acts 16 is concerned, Paul and Silas are guilty.
In his mind - they deserved what they got and they deserved to be where they were. And if he can help make them a little more uncomfortable… he’s more than happy to oblige.
AND - I’m convinced that Paul and Silas understood all this.
They knew this man had already prejudged them.
They knew he didn’t think much of them.
They knew that if he got his chance, he would probably make their lives miserable if he could.
One of the things that strikes me about the story in Acts 16 - is how unfair it all is.
Paul and Silas were nice men trying to do the will of God.
They had faithfully preached the Gospel… and even freed a woman from demon possession.
But the men who owned the woman possessed by demon possession stirred up the crowd and had dragged Paul and Silas before the city rulers in the marketplace for a kangaroo court.
There, in the marketplace Paul and Silas had their clothes stripped from their bodies and were beaten unmercifully and unjustly. Then, to add insult to injury, they are dragged off to the jail where (we’re told) the jailer “having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.” Acts 16:24 KJV
That wasn’t right.
That should not have happened.
And the jailer was right there being part of the injustice they suffered.
He was just as mean and vindictive as everyone else.
He was part of the cause of their misery.
Paul and Silas would have had every reason to hate and despise him.
But, instead, they witnessed to him!
Now, there might come a time when you have the opportunity to witness to someone like that. Someone who doesn’t really like you. Someone who doesn’t want to be around you. Maybe someone who has hurt you or someone you care for. Perhaps they’re mean spirited and harsh.
Whatever the reason, you don’t like them.
And you’d just as soon not witness to them.
They’re not the kind of people you want in church with you.
You don’t want to talk to them about Christ because – frankly - they don’t deserve Christ. What they deserve is (pause) well (pause) to go to hell.
Think about that for a moment.
Is there someone that you know that makes you feel that way?
Someone you’re really not comfortable talking about Jesus with?
Consider what would happen if God did the same thing to you and me.
· Romans 3:23 says “…all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”
Notice what that says. YOU. ME. We’ve all sinned against God. We’ve done things that have hurt Him. We’ve said, done or thought things that alienate us from Him.
· Colossians 1:21 says “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.”
Before we became Christians, Colossians says you and I were God’s ENEMIES.
· Ephesians 2:1-3 goes even farther and says it this way: “As for you, (before you became Christians) you were dead in your transgressions and sins... All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”
We were objects of wrath!!
In other words… if you and I got what we DESERVED, we’d ALL go to hell.
BUT God so loved the world (you and I) He gave His only begotten Son.
And what happened to his ONLY BEGOTTEN SON? (He was crucified)
God paid a terrible price so that you and I could move out of the camp of enemies and objects of wrath into the family of God, becoming His friends and His family.
But at one point, we were enemies… we were objects of wrath.
Paul KNEW this, because he had been an enemy of Jesus.
It was Paul who had been part of the death of the first Christian martyr to die for his faith (Stephen). Paul is thought to have even been one of the ringleaders of that crowd, holding the cloaks of those who threw stones at Stephen’s defenseless body until he died. But, Paul was just getting started. For some time after that, Paul persecuted the church. He went “from house to house, he dragged off men and women” and had them (Pause) thrown into prison (Acts 8:3).
(Pause) Just like this jailer had thrown him into this jail.
And yet, God had saved him.
Now it was Paul’s chance to repay God’s kindness to him… and to witness to this jailer. To offer to this man the salvation God had so freely given to him.
And if we are given an opportunity to witness to people who’ve not been nice to us, it becomes OUR CHANCE to repay God for His kindness in saving us as well. It’s our opportunity to show God “we get it.” To show God that we understand that Jesus died for ALL mankind… even the ones we don’t like. And in that action we can bring honor to our God.
Paul repaid God by witnessing to someone who didn’t like him and had mistreated him. If we want to follow in his footsteps in this, how can we accomplish it – when the person we’re trying to witness to doesn’t particularly like us?
Well, first we need to make it OBVIOUS who we belonged to.
Paul and Silas were beaten, thrown into an inner prison and fastened in stocks.
But about Midnight… what do they end up doing? (praying and singing hymns)
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25
They were worshipping God, right there in that jail.
And everybody heard them.
Everybody in that jail knew these two men belonged to Jesus… because even in jail they worshiped Him.
When we think of worshipping, we think of the things we do here on Sunday Mornings. And so, when we think worship… we think “CHURCH BUILDING”.
But the early church didn’t have church buildings.
They didn’t have choir lofts and pulpits and worship bands.
They didn’t have glass doors and greeting centers.
And so, when they worshipped… they worshipped everywhere.
Mostly in homes, sometimes out in the public square, sometimes down at the riverside. But occasionally… even in prison.
And when they worshipped, they witnessed.
People SAW how much Jesus meant to them.
Every act of worship should be viewed as a witnessing tool.
Singing, praying, studying our Bibles.
For example, when Paul wrote the Corinthian church, he told them “… whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup (take communion), you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:26
Every time we gather here and take of communion, and a visitor comes in to join us, we declare to that visitor that we believe that Jesus died for our sins. EVERY SUNDAY we declare that and witness to Christ’s faithfulness on the cross.
So, it’s worth realizing that we need to proclaim God OUTSIDE these walls.
We need to be obvious.
We need to be bold.
To be unashamed.
To be unapologetic.
ILLUS: A woman told of taking her children out to a restaurant. Her 6-year-old son asked if he could say grace. And he prayed this prayer:
"God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And Liberty and justice for all! Amen!"
There was a lot of laughter from other customers... but nearby a woman remarked,
"That’s what’s wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how to pray. Asking God for ice-cream! Why, I never!"
The boy heard this and burst into tears and asked her, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?"
As she held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job… an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at the boy and said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer."
The boy brightened up: "Really?"
"Cross my heart," the man replied. Then in a theatrical whisper he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."
Naturally, the mother bought her kids ice cream at the end of the meal. Her son stared at his for a moment and then picked up his sundae and without a word, walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes; and my soul is good already."
Now that little boy “proclaimed God”
He “worshipped God” in his prayer.
And in his worship – he witnessed.
We need to realize that worship is NOT something we do just here in this building. Worship is something that we must learn to do beyond these walls… because –
When we worship – we witness.
So the first thing Paul and Silas did was - they made it OBVIOUS who they belonged to. Everybody in the Prison KNEW they loved Jesus and belonged to him.
The next thing they did was to make it obvious that they cared for the jailer.
Someone once said: “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
When the earthquake shook that jail… it shook that jailer’s world as well. When he woke up, he saw that all the prison doors are open and he was convinced that his life is over. If the prisoners escaped – he would pay with his life. And so he decided to avoid the horror execution by taking his own life.
Paul sees this… and he could have let the jailer take his own life.
I mean why should he be concerned?
Why should he be concerned?
This jailer had hurt them. He’d been mean to them.
Paul didn’t owe this guy anything.
Why should Paul care?
But Paul did care.
He SHOUTS out: "Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!" Acts 16:28
He knows why this man is afraid.
He knows his life is in the balance.
And, knowing that, he reaches out to him.
That’s where we need to watch for that kind of opportunity to share Jesus.
It helps to realize that this is the kind of person the rest of the world turns it’s back on. The world tends to look for the companionship of those who are successful, who have it all together. Who are attractive and connected.
But when a person’s life is falling apart they often go elsewhere.
But Jesus taught us to reach out the hurting and wounded.
When they’ve lost their job.
Lost their marriage.
Lost their home.
Lost a loved one.
These are times when people need the message of hope from God.
And that’s why it’s so critical that we step up when people are down.
ILLUS: In our first service, one of the ladies shared with me that she’d done all this, but the person she was trying to reach out to wasn’t budging. They refused to be interested in Christ. I thought about that for a moment and then I noted: “Did you realize that Paul and Silas didn’t seek this man out. He sought them. He asked them ‘what must I do to be saved.’”
Why?
Why did the jailer seek them out?
Because God worked behind the scenes to soften his heart.
Think about it.
The jail is shaken by an earthquake that opened the prison doors and loosed the shackles of the prisoners… at exactly the moment everyone is paying attention to Paul and Silas worshiping God.
Do you really think that was a “coincidence?”
I don’t think so.
It wouldn’t take a genius to connect the dots and associate the God of these men with the earthquake that shook their world.
But that doesn’t entirely explain the sudden interest in this jailer’s salvation.
Why would he so suddenly ask what he must do to be saved?
Because God was at work softening his heart.
Jesus said “I will send (the Holy Spirit) to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” John 16:7b-8
The Spirit’s job is to convince men of their sin, of their need for righteousness and the fact that there is a coming judgment. When we witness to people about Christ, it isn’t all about us. God is at work behind the scenes convincing them of their need for salvation.
He prepares the hearts of those who we can witness to.
And if we;re watchful – if we’re paying attention – we can find God at work… and reach out to those who need Jesus.
So, what do we tell people who as “what must I do to be saved?”
We tell them the same thing Paul did:
"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved— you and your household." Acts 16:31
That’s what Paul and Silas told the jailer… then, they went home with the jailer and explained to him and his family what it meant to believe in Jesus.
1. They would have taught this jailer and his family that they needed to believe Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.
2. They would have taught them that they needed to believe that they were sinners and that only Jesus could remove that sin.
3. They would have taught them that they needed to believe that Jesus had to be the Master of their lives.
4. And they would have taught them that they needed to be buried with Jesus in the waters of baptism.
As Acts 16:33 says “At that hour of the night… he and all his family were baptized.”
But before you can tell people about Jesus - especially someone who doesn’t like you - you need to do two things: be obvious about who you belong to and make obvious that you care for them as individuals.
CLOSE: A young factory worker noticed one day that a valuable tool was missing from his toolbox. Later he recognized it in the toolbox of a fellow employee.
The young man was the only Christian in the shop and he wanted to have a good testimony for Christ. So he went home and prayed about the matter. The next day he went to the man and said, "I see you have one of my tools, but you may keep it if you need it." Then he went on with his work and put the incident out of his mind.
During the next 2 weeks, the person who had taken the tool tried to soothe his conscience. First he offered the young man something of equal value, then he offered to help, him on some home projects, and finally he slipped some money into his coat pocket.
Ultimately, they became friends, and the one-time tool thief started coming to church his new Christian friend… and eventually made the decision to become a Christian.
All because of a Christian factory worker was willing to make it obvious he trusted God… and show he cared.
