God Saves a Toughened Heart
Series: Acts
Chuck Sligh
May 7, 2017
TEXT: Turn in your Bibles to Acts 16
NOTE: A PowerPoint or ProPresenter 6 slide presentation is available for this sermon upon request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
Adapted from a sermon by Jerry Shirley on SermonCentral.com.
INTRODUCTION
Is there someone you know who needs Christ, and you would call them “a tough case”? Have you ever been discouraged, thinking, “Oh, they’ll never come to Christ; they’re too hardened”? My sermon is titled “God Saves a Toughened Heart,” but a good subtitle might be: “Jesus CAN save the hard cases.”
The last time we saw Paul and Silas, a slave girl was delivered from demonic possession. She had psychic abilities—supernatural powers that were not from God, but from the demonic realm. Her masters were making a lot of money off her, and when the demons were cast out of her and she became a follower of Christ, they got upset.
So, they trumped up false charges against Paul and Silas…and this resulted in one of the most well-known conversions recorded in the New Testament. Notice three points with me today:
I. FIRST, WE SEE PERSECUTION – Verse 22-24 – “And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. 23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.”
How many here thought that when you were saved, all your problems would end? If so, you’ve learned that believers are not exempt from the troubles all people face in life.
In fact, you’ve probably noticed that once you were saved you have some new problems. Peter said in 1 Peter 4:12 – “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you [speaking of opposition and persecution], as though some strange thing happened unto you.”
Before you came to faith in Christ, you were never persecuted or ridiculed for your beliefs or excluded because you were a Christian. After coming to Christ, some form of rejection and exclusion, if not actual persecution is to be expected if you’re truly living godly.
Well, Paul and Silas here in chapter 16 are experiencing just such troubles—not because they’re OUT OF God’s will…but because they’re IN God’s will!—not for doing the WRONG thing…but the RIGHT thing!
Now I want you to notice three things they did to Paul and Silas:
1) First, they beat them. – verse 23 begins by saying that they laid stripes on them.
It’s easy for us to just read right over today, but what does it really mean? Each Roman province had a group of civil servants called “lictors.” They were brutal policemen—the strong arm of the Roman government—and they were commanded by the magistrates. Each carried a rod like a policeman’s night stick, and if a magistrate commanded a lictor to beat someone, he’d beat him half to death. That’s what happened to Paul and Silas.
2) Second, they cast them into prison – The second part of verse 23 says that after they had laid many stripes on Paul and Silas, “…they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely.”
Now just eliminate from your mind the images you have of today’s prisons, with recreational rooms, air conditioning, an exercise ground and so on. They were nothing like that at all.…
a) Historians describe prisons as large stone-walled holes in the ground, above a sewer with a trap door to drop the bodies of the numerous people who died in prison from disease, starvation or exposure and a hole in floor for toiletry needs.
b) There were no individual cells; rather a typical prison was a large holding cell for all the prisoners awaiting trial or execution, with an “inner prison” where certain prisoners were put in stocks, which we’ll talk about in a moment.
c) Prisoners in the common room were chained together, sleeping on the cold stone floor, having no blankets or coats to protect from the cold, no ventilation and no privacy.
d) All you had was the clothes on your back, and a big problem was rats and bedbugs and other insidious insects that inflicted you incessantly.
e) The ancient Roman historian Sallust described the Mamertine Prison in Rome this way, “Its appearance is disgusting and vile by reason of the filth, the darkness and the stench.”
You can only imagine how horrific it was to be in a Roman prison.
3) Verse 24 tells us one more thing they did to Paul and Silas: They were put in stocks. – “…who, having received such a charge, cast them into the inner prison, and secured their feet to the stocks.”
The stocks, reserved for the inner prison, were intended for one purpose only…TO INDUCE PAIN. They would spread the prisoner’s legs as far as possible, until the hips were almost out of joint, and then their legs would be locked in that position. Leg cramps would inevitably result. Ever had leg cramps?—They’re bad enough without being put in stocks, but you can walk it off. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t walk it off.
So, by this point Paul and Silas have raw, bloodied, bruised backs and they’re undergoing a form of torture in prison…all for preaching the Word of God!
Now let’s get personal for a minute: When was the last time that you actually suffered for your faith?—I mean really! What have you endured for the Word of God or the work of God?
Some people think they’re suffering for Jesus if they just teach a kid’s class or serve in the nursery once a month. We don’t know what suffering is!
If this story does anything at all for us, it ought to challenge each of us to take more seriously our role to serve God. And it ought to keep us from the pettiness and squabbling over things that don’t amount to a hill of beans.
It’s amazing what people get upset about and fuss and fight about and the silly reasons churches split instead of focusing on serving God and others.
JOKE – Did you hear about the man stranded on a deserted island for years? Finally, one day a boat comes and rescues him.
A sailor asks, “What are those three huts you have here?”
“Well, that’s my house there.”
“What’s that next hut?” asks the sailor.
“I built that hut to be my church.”
“What about the other hut?”
“Oh, that’s where I used to go to church!”
Well, we’ve never had a church split at Grace, but Satan will always be at the door to cause one if we get our eyes off the main tasks God has given us: to worship and love God with all our hearts, souls and minds; to reach the lost with the Gospel; to serve God and one another; to disciple and teach believers the things of God; and to train up our children and lead them to Christ and to follow Jesus.
Those are the things Paul and Silas suffered for.
II. NOTE SECOND THAT WE SEE PRAISE IN OUR TEXT – Verse 25 – “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”
Isn’t that amazing? In this situation, what would the ordinary Christian be doing—deep in that prison, in those awful conditions, in painful stocks, after trying to serve God?—Why, he’d be COMPLAINING of course! We’d be grumbling to God…“Lord, can’t you take care of us any better than this? If you really love us, why did you allow us go to jail? Is this what we get for doing serving you so faithfully?”
Or we’d be complaining to each other: Picture Silas saying “Hey Paul, whose bright idea was this anyway? I thought you knew God’s will!” Picture Paul answering, “Silas, I’m so sorry. I thought God would be more kind to us than this. He’s really let us down!”
That’s not what we see in our text: They’re not complaining; they’re SINGING AND PRAISING GOD; it was a Christian music fest!
And look WHEN these things took place at the beginning of verse 25—at MIDNIGHT! That represents the darkest part of the night, when the situation is the bleakest and the darkest!
Ever been to the midnight hour in your life?—at the end of your rope? I’ve walked with some of you in the midnight hour of marital problems, illness, loss of loved ones, a big disappointment at work, betrayal. Do you have a song in that hour?
I’ve been on both sides of that street. ANYONE can sing when the sun shines brightly on the mountaintop, but when problems mount in the midnight hour…THAT’S when our faith is real!
Job said in “…Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night.” (Job 35:10)
The Psalmist said, “Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me….” (Ps. 42:8).
There’s no better testimony we can have than to have a song at midnight in our lives!
The end of verse 25 says, “and the prisoners heard them.” It’s amazing how the Holy Spirit stuck that phrase in here. While they were all in the big holding cell, Paul and Silas were in the inner prison, in stocks, in pain, and in suffering. The prisoners in the holding cell expected to hear moans and groans and complaints and curses. What they heard were prayers to God and songs of praise.
The word “heard” in this verse means they listened attentively; they gave ear to it; it made an impression on them! I guess it would! These prisoners are cursing God and each other, and then they hear prayer and singing…and later in this passage we see they all have a chance to escape—but THEY DON’T DO IT! These guys would rather stay around with these two happy preachers full of praise and joy than GO FREE!
You know what—“Some people are a blessing WHEREVER they go; and some people are a blessing WHENEVER they go.”—Amen? Oh, how I wish that God’s people would be so filled with praise that people wouldn’t want to go away from them, even in the worst of circumstances. God help us to get out of our petty problems, and out of our moaning and groaning and learn to be OVERCOMERS and people who bless the Lord and bless others and are a blessing WHEREVER they go. God help us to people who continue to serve God and work and labor for others even in the midnight hours of life because they have a song of faith in their hearts.
We’ve see the persecution and the praise…
III. CONSIDER LASTLY THAT WE SEE POWER IN OUR TEXT– Verses 26-28 – “And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.”
God must’ve heard their singing and started tappin’ his foot, and SHOOK UP A LITTLE EARTHQUAKE—Amen?
And everyone there knew it was God who did it—Paul and Silas, the prisoners, and the jailer—they all knew God was behind it. Sometimes when something happens that only can only be attributable to God’s working, we say: “It was a ‘God thing.’” Well, this was a “God thing.”
And look what happened next in verses 29-30 – “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
That is THE most important question you can ever ask!
And the answer is incredibly simple in verse 31 – “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” The answer to the most important question in life is gloriously simple—and simply glorious!
The fact that the jailer asked how to be saved tells me that Paul had already been witnessing to him. I have a feeling he didn’t stop preaching when he was arrested. I suspect that while this hardened soldier was beating Paul and Silas and doing job as a lictor, Paul was witnessing, witnessing, witnessing to him about Jesus. Paul wasn’t wrapped up in himself or his problems or his issues. He was imbued with a spirit of evangelism that was unrelenting. We find every excuse in the book to NOT witness, but the Paul and Silas looked for every excuse they could find TO tell someone about Jesus.
And that’s why this hard case—this mean, toughened Roman soldier—came to trust Christ. See, the hard cases admire a Christianity that’s REAL. One reason I believe many hard cases don’t come to Christ is that they don’t see anything in the person witnessing to them that speaks of real, committed, genuine, heartfelt, sold-out Christianity. They just see wimps, or gripers, or half-hearted believers, or—Lord help us!—hypocrites. But THIS hard case saw REAL CHRISTIANITY in Paul and Silas, and then the demonstration of God’s power pulled him into a relationship with Christ. Even today, the hard cases get serious when they’re flat on their back—and then they look up!
Look at verses 32-36 – “And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. 35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. 36 And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace.”
The jailer got baptized, started doing good works, tried to make restitution, and told his household about his faith in Christ. He had been responsible for those stripes on Paul and Silas’s backs, and now he’s washing them. He had deprived them of food, and is now feeding them. He immediately was baptized, and his transformation was so real and impressive that all his family followed right in his steps to follow Christ!
You see, when you REALLY get saved, you REALLY get changed! Praise God, NOBODY’S so hard that God can’t soften and save him or her!
CONCLUSION
Let me make a few quick personal applications of this message to us today before we close:
1) If you are a Christ-follower, are you a thankful, praiseful person?
The Bible says that we’re to be the “salt of the earth.” Salt creates thirst. I’m afraid that some of us are such gripers and complainers that instead of being salt that creates a THIRST in people to know Jesus, we’re like vinegar—REPELLING people AWAY from Christ.
God help us to manifest the fruit of the Spirt in our lives: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, self-control.”
If we posted your Facebook page on the screen for the last month, which characterization would be most true of you: complaining? discontent, gloomy, ungrateful, or loving, joyful, peaceful, longsuffering, gentle, good, meek, faithful and self-controlled?
2) Second, are you a Christian who is an unstoppable witness?
Do you take the opportunities the Lord gives you to share Jesus with others? God help us to love the lost and be like Paul who couldn’t shut up about His Lord!
3) Finally, are you even a Christian?
Maybe you’re not one of the hard cases. You’re like the lady we studied two weeks ago—good, moral, upright Dorcas —who needed to be saved just as much as the demon-possessed girl we saw last week.
Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
There is NO ONE here who does not need to be saved by God’s grace. Or maybe you ARE one of the hard cases. If so, Jesus is the answer for your heart, no matter how bad you’ve been in the past.
Illus. – The story’s told of a soldier in a battlefield hospital who lay dying. A chaplain knelt beside him and told him he wasn’t going to make it and asked if he could do anything for him. This soldier had led a wicked life and had hurt a lot of people deeply.
He said, “Sir, there’s nothing anybody can do for me right now. What I need is somebody who can “undo” some things for me.”
Is that what you need?—Dear friend, JESUS IS THE ANSWER! I don’t care how many sins you’ve done: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…” It doesn’t matter who you’ve hurt: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…” It matters not how many of God’s commandments you have transgressed: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…” Jesus died on the cross to give you new life and save you from judgment and hell. Come to Him TODAY.
