Faith in the Middle of Failure
Jeffery Anselmi / General
Proclaim- The Gospel Has Come / Salvation; Failure / Acts 16:25–34
INTRODUCTION
• Sometimes things don’t go as planned.
• Imagine that you are serving God and you seem to be doing a good job of it, then something bad happens to you.
• No matter how faithful you are to God, no matter how much attention to detail you put into your next step, the unexpected can still happen, and you can find yourself far from where you thought you’d be.
• This is the case in Acts 16 for Paul and Silas.
• One day, while they were headed to prayers, a woman possessed by an evil spirit began to make pronouncements about them, so Paul put a stop to it by casting the spirit out.
• However, the girl’s owners, who had been exploiting her demonic possession and supernatural abilities for personal gain, became upset when they realized they had just lost their passive revenue stream.
• They got the city magistrates involved, which led to a mob attacking Paul and Silas.
• After being beaten, they were thrown into jail (Acts 16:16–24).
• It is in that jail that we encounter the next proclamation from the early church.
• Not every important message the church proclaimed happened on a grand stage.
• This isn’t like Peter in front of thousands outside the temple, or before the Sanhedrin, or the Jerusalem Council.
• This proclamation comes in the privacy of prison, but it too has an important and relevant lesson for us today.
• The proclamation has a direct impact on an unlikely person, the Philippian jailer.
• The jailer was doing his job like he always had done, then POW, something unexpected hit him that would forever change his life and the lives of those in his family.
• Paul and Silas’s situation looked like a failure, but these men will need to allow their faith to prevail in the middle of what appears to be a great failure.
• The jailer, when standing at the crossroad of apparent failure, will need to make a choice. Will he allow faith to prevail in the midst of what looked like his greatest failure in life?
› Big Idea of the Message: The first church proclaimed that failure does not negate the fact that salvation is still the ultimate pursuit.
Acts 16:25–28 (CSB)
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose.
27 When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!”
SERMON
I. Life at the crossroads of failure.
• Ever had a bad day at home or in the office?
• Paul and Silas are doing God’s work; as we stated earlier, they even cast a demon out of a young servant girl.
• God is with them; what could happen to them?
• When you dig back earlier in chapter 16, we see that Paul got annoyed, which is where the trouble starts.
Acts 16:16–24 (CSB)
16 Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling.
17 As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.”
18 She did this for many days. Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.
19 When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.
20 Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews
21 and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.”
22 The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods.
23 After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully.
24 Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.
• Here is Paul and Silas.
• Paul casts out a demon, and next thing you know, they were attacked, beaten with rods, then they were put in the inner prison with their feet in stocks!
• Located in the same marketplace was the jail.
• Paul and Barnabas were placed “in the inner cell,” a detail that emphasizes how securely they were being kept.
• The Roman stocks which held their feet had several holes, which allowed the jailer to force their legs into a painful position, resulting in the stretching and cramping of muscles. (COLLEGE PRESS COMMENTARY SERIES)
• What would you do if you were in Paul and Silas’s situation?
• I think I would be pretty upset myself.
• Verse 25 tells us that they were praying and singing hymns at midnight while the prisoners were listening!
• I know these men were in pain, and from the outside, it appeared they have failed; however, these two men allowed their faith to shine in the middle of potential failure!
• Despite their hardship, these men demonstrated the joy and hope of their faith!
› WHOA! CHURCH IS IN SESSION IN THE ROMAN JAIL!
• While this service was taking place, around midnight, something miraculous happens.
• Verse 26 tells us the area was hit with a violent earthquake.
• Earthquakes were not uncommon in this area; however, this one was particularly ferocious caused the doors to open and all the chains to come off the prisoners!
• This is where it gets interesting.
• Now you have a jail full of people who are free!
• What do you do if you are Paul and Silas?
• Logic says that God busted you out of prison; time to get out of town!
• Now, what about the rest of the prisoners? Most were probably in there for legitimate crimes; shouldn’t they take their chances and flee?
• Let’s come back to that for a minute as we look at another person in the story who is about to feel like he failed big time, the jailer!
• Verse 27 tells us the jailer woke up, saw the doors to the prison wide open.
• The jailer drew his sword to take his own life. He knew he was a dead man walking because he thought all of the prisoners had escaped!
• Jailers and guards within the Roman system knew that they were held personally responsible for keeping prisoners secured (Acts 12:19).
• This jailer saw no reason to face his superiors and was ready to commit suicide.
• Paul was able to see the jailer and called out to the jailer to let him know that all prisoners were still in their cells; none had left!
• Now let’s look at this situation again.
• Paul and Silas, servants of the Lord, are in jail for breaking no laws; they spend their time in jail praying and singing.
• A great earthquake hits the area, the jail doors are opened, and the chains fall off!
• What would your first thought be? GOD BROKE ME OUT OF JAIL!
• Why didn’t Paul and Silas see it that way? Why did the other prisoners stay?
• God had a larger purpose at hand.
• God pursues us, and God pursued this jailer; this jailer needed Jesus.
• God must have revealed this to Paul, and therefore they, along with all the other prisoners, stayed put!
• Now what?
Acts 16:29–30 (CSB)
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
30 He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
II. The ultimate question.
• The jailer was terrified. The jailer knew his life was over; he was a dead man walking.
• Taking his life would have been far less painful than what was going to happen to him due to the prisoners escaping the jail!
• The jailer calls for the lights and rushes into the jail.
• Once he saw that Paul was truthful, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
• The events struck this jailer with intense fear; his heart had to be pounding out of his chest.
• Remember when Paul and Silas were praying and singing?
• The jailer's response to Paul shows the jailer must have heard the message before he fell asleep.
• Paul and Silas restrained the prisoners, and everyone remained in their cells.
• Why is this important? Because the actions of the jailer show us that he was faced with a great failure.
• His honor was on the line (in an honor-shame culture), and if the prisoners had escaped, then death was his only response (Acts 16:26–28).
• Have you ever been publicly embarrassed?
• Have you ever messed up in such a way that you cannot see how things can ever be fixed?
• Have you ever felt that hope was lost?
• That nothing could ever be the same again?
• That’s how the jailer felt at that moment when he saw the open cell doors in the jail.
• The jailer responds with the ultimate question. SIRS, WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
• Why did he ask them that question?
• The jailer is in an emotional state: he has just survived an earthquake, his honor has been preserved, his job (and probably identity) is unexpectedly secure, though he had been within a hair of losing them all.
• And at this moment, suddenly, the only thing he cares about is the ultimate thing: his salvation.
• How can he be saved? How can he be delivered?
• In the face of so much temporary turmoil, the jailer wants to know how he can experience something eternal.
• The jailer, who was going to take his life, will lose his old life to Christ!
• Paul and Silas stayed put because doing so opened the door for a soul to be saved.
• DO you see something interesting?
• The jailer escorted Paul and Silas out of that jail.
• God released them, but not in the way they may have thought.
• God can release you from your prison!
• You may not see how, but God can release you!
• What prison are you living in now?
• How tight are the chains, how strong are the doors?
Acts 16:31–34 (CSB)
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house.
33 He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized.
34 He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.
III. The life-changing answer.
• The initial response of Paul is to believe in the Lord Jesus!
• Some people will stop there because, at this point, Paul does not mention confessing Jesus as Lord, repentance, or baptism.
• You have to walk before you run.
• The response of faith includes repentance and baptism. Faith was presented as the means for salvation, with Christ as the object of that faith.
• This language, of course, is very similar to Paul’s language in his letters (see Rom 3:21–31; Eph 2:8–9; Phil 3:8–9). (College Press Commentary Series).
• We know this to be true because verse 32 tells that then Paul spoke the word of the Lord to him as well as the jailer's whole family!
• Once the message was proclaimed, the jailer took care of the wounds Paul and Silas suffered, and right away, the jailer and his family were baptized into Christ!
• I love verse 34!
Acts 16:34 (CSB)
He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.
• WOW!
• What a time to celebrate, the jailer was, and his family was released from their own jail of guilt and shame!
CONCLUSION
• But why did the jailer ask Paul and Silas how to be saved?
• We don’t know for certain, but it’s probably safe to say he asked them because he had just watched them demonstrate their faith in two visible and powerful ways.
• The first was their worship.
• Before the earthquake, but after their imprisonment, “about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25).
• Most likely, so was the jailer.
• Remember, the context of this worship is a mob unexpectedly attacked them; the Scripture says they were beaten multiple times (v. 23) and then thrown into prison where their feet were chained to stocks (v. 24).
• Their response? “Let’s pray to God and worship him by singing songs!”
• One can’t help but wonder if they had black eyes and broken lips and were covered in dried blood as they sang these hymns.
• Yet they lived out their faith in Jesus by giving Him glory even when they were in “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4).
• The example of Paul and Silas in the midst of what looked like failure impacted a man and his family to come to Jesus!
• The way we handle adversity and failure can open the doors for others to see how great our God is as they see how we respond!
• When you are faced with great failure, remember that Jesus loves you and wants you even more!
