Introduction
Jason was locked up in prison in the early 1990s to serve a life sentence.
Gang life in prison was so bloody that his unit was nicknamed the “Terror Dome,” and the only way to survive was to stick to your race.
The motto was “kill or be killed,” and Jason quickly climbed the hierarchy of the Aryan Brotherhood, a notorious white supremacist gang.
As the warfare between gangs grew bloodier, Jason’s role as a leader landed him 10 years in segregation, a 23-hour-a-day lockdown with no human contact.
A Muslim and a Christian occupied the cells on either side of Jason, often arguing about their religious views.
God used the situation to spark a desire inside Jason.
He began requesting books on philosophy and theology, and in time, his life was transformed by Jesus.
Jason renounced the Aryan Brotherhood, stopped using smuggled heroin, and signed up for an intensive grad program to study world religions.
He became a chaplain’s assistant and was assigned to the hospice unit.
As Jason sat holding the hands of two prisoners who were taking their final breaths, he didn’t know what to say to them, other than “I love you.”
These are words he’d never said to another man before Christianity.
Eventually, Jason enrolled in World Impact’s Church-Based Seminary classes.
He wanted to understand Christianity that not only addressed life in prison but death in prison.
Jason and a fellow field minister named Jackie, a Black man formerly known as “The Fighter,” now lead classes in the Terror Dome.
Their group—composed of Black, Jewish, White, and Latino men—join in prayer, united in a brotherhood that transcends racially divided gangs.
God is sending the gospel to prison to offer hope even in the darkest situations (https://www.worldimpact.org/our-programs/prison-ministry/).
Today, we will learn about the gospel going to prison when Paul and Silas were incarcerated in Philippi.
Scripture
Let’s read Acts 16:16-40:
16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
19 But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And 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 and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” 36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” 38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. 39 So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. 40 So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.
Lesson
Acts 16:16-40 teaches us that the gospel transforms lives and communities, breaks down barriers, and offers hope even in the darkest situations.
Let’s use the following outline:
1. The Gospel Has Authority Over Demons (16:16-18)
2. The Gospel Sometimes Faces Persecution (16:19-24)
3. The Gospel Responds to Persecution with Praise (16:25)
4. The Gospel Offers Hope to the Hopeless (16:26-34)
5. The Gospel Provides Unity in Diversity (16:35-40)
I. The Gospel Has Authority Over Demons (16:16-18)
First, the gospel has authority over demons.
The Lord led Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke to Philippi through a vision that Paul had of a man who said, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
Philippi was a leading city in the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
On their first Sabbath in Philippi, Paul and his team went to the river to the place of prayer, where they shared the gospel with several women.
One of the women there was named Lydia.
The Lord opened Lydia’s heart, and the gospel transformed her life.
Lydia and her household were baptized.
She then prevailed upon the missionary team and had them stay at her home.
In verses 16-17, Luke tells us, “As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.’ ”
This poor girl was a slave.
Moreover, she had a demonic spirit.
People paid her a lot of money to tell their fortunes, which went to her owners.
It was a deplorable picture.
In verse 18a, Luke said, “And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed.”
Some people have wondered why Paul became annoyed.
After all, was she not giving them free publicity?
She told people, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”
The problem was that in Greek culture, Zeus was called the “Most High God.”
So, people did not understand that Paul and his team were servants of Yahweh and not Zeus.
The salvation that Paul proclaimed was not by Zeus but by Jesus.
So, we read in verse 18b that Paul “turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.”
The demon left the slave girl.
Commentator John Stott notes:
Although Luke does not explicitly refer to either her conversion or her baptism, the fact that her deliverance took place between the conversions of Lydia and the gaoler leads readers to infer that she too became a member of the Philippian church (John R. W. Stott, The Message of Acts: The Spirit, the Church & the World, The Bible Speaks Today [Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994], 265).
We shall have more to say about that shortly.
I want you to note that the gospel has authority over demons.
II. The Gospel Sometimes Faces Persecution (16:19-24)
Second, the gospel sometimes faces persecution.
Instead of rejoicing that the slave girl was delivered of her demon, her owners were enraged when they saw that their hope of gain was gone.
We see a clear illustration of how the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils (see 1 Timothy 6:10).
The slave owners seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
Timothy and Luke were not dragged before the rulers, perhaps because Timothy was half-Gentile and Luke was a full Gentile.
In verse 20b-21, we read of the slave owners’ charge against Paul and Silas: “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”
The slave owners charged that Paul and Silas were practicing a religion that was not approved by the Roman state.
Rome seldom enforced that rule, but the magistrates had to rule on it now that it was brought up.
Moreover, the charges appealed to the anti-Jewish sentiment (“These men are Jews”) and the racial pride (“us as Romans”).
The crowd in the marketplace joined the attack.
So, the magistrates had to act quickly.
They tore the garments off Paul and Silas and gave orders to beat them with rods.
It was a severe flogging, the first of three such beatings that Paul received as an apostle of the gospel (see 2 Corinthians 11:23, 25).
In verses 23-24, Luke tells us, “And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.”
Paul and Silas were persecuted because they were followers of Jesus.
They were persecuted because they shared the good news of new life in Jesus.
Open Doors is an international organization dedicated to supporting persecuted Christians worldwide. According to Open Doors:
• 380 million Christians around the world suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith.
• 4,476 Christians were murdered for their faith last year.
• 4,744 Christians were imprisoned for their faith in Jesus last year.
• 1 in 7 Christians is persecuted worldwide (https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/).
We don’t realize how easy it is in this country.
There are Christians all around the world today who face persecution.
So, how do Christians respond to persecution?
III. The Gospel Responds to Persecution with Praise (16:25)
Third, the gospel responds to persecution with praise.
You have seen movies in which slaves are stripped to the waist and then beaten with rods.
We are not told how many times Paul and Silas were beaten, nor how badly they were beaten.
It was bad enough that later we are told that their wounds were washed.
I have to be frank and say that if I had received such a beating, I would want to lie down and be left alone in my misery.
Not Paul and Silas!
In verse 25, Luke tells us, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”
That is astonishing!
They were praising God.
John MacArthur asks, "How could the two missionaries praise God under such conditions?”
Here is his answer:
They understood what many Christians seem to forget—praising God does not depend on circumstances. “Rejoice in the Lord always,” wrote Paul to the Philippian church (Phil. 4:4; cf. 1 Thess. 5:16, 18). Christians do not rejoice in their circumstances; not even Paul did that. He knew what it was to experience affliction so severe that he was “burdened excessively” and “despaired even of life” (2 Cor. 1:8). Christians rejoice in the glorious truth that the sovereign God controls every circumstance of life (John F. MacArthur Jr., Acts, vol. 2, MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody Press, 1994], 105).
Dmitri Ripken was arrested for leading a house church and was imprisoned for 17 years, 600 miles from his family and surrounded by 1,500 hardened criminals.
Despite the harsh conditions, Dmitri maintained his faith and praised God daily.
Every morning, Dmitri stood at attention in his tiny cell, facing eastward, and sang a hymn of praise to God.
His fellow prisoners mocked and jeered, but Dmitri remained steadfast.
He also wrote Bible verses and songs on scraps of paper and stuck them to the walls of his cell as an act of worship.
Though the guards punished him severely, Dmitri continued his practice of singing and praising God.
Eventually, Dmitri's guards began to despair.
They said, “We've tried everything, and nothing stops you from singing those stupid songs.”
The communist officials explained their intent to execute him.
“In 15 minutes, you will be tied to that post. In 20 minutes, you're going to be shot dead. We're done with you.”
Then, the jailers dragged him out of the prison cell towards the execution yard.
As they reached the door of the execution yard, the most astonishing thing happened.
One thousand five hundred hardened criminals stood at attention outside of their cells.
With their arms raised in praise facing the East, they began to sing those heart songs that they heard the man sing all of those years.
And the guards, in sheer terror, let go of Dmitri and jumped away from him.
They asked, “Who are you?”
Dmitri responded, “I am the Son of the Living God, and Jesus is his name” (https://nikripken.com/insanity-god-dmitris-story/).
The gospel responds to persecution with praise.
IV. The Gospel Offers Hope to the Hopeless (16:27-34)
Fourth, the gospel offers hope to the hopeless.
Luke tells us that “suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened”(v. 26).
The jailer woke up.
He saw that the prison doors were open and assumed the prisoners had all escaped.
The jailer, who was likely a retired Roman soldier now living in Philippi, knew that the penalty for escaped prisoners was death.
Rather than face execution, he decided upon suicide.
“But Paul cried with a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here’ ”(v. 28).
Then, Luke said in verses 29-30, “And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ ”
Now, how would you answer that question?
Would you say, “You need to turn a new leaf and do what’s right.”
Or “You need to make sure that your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds.”
Or “You need to go to church and become a member.”
Or “You need to obey God’s laws.”
Notice what Paul and Silas said in verse 31, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
The jailer needed to put his trust alone in the person and work of Jesus.
He needed to believe that Jesus was the only one who lived a sinless life.
He needed to believe that Jesus would pay the penalty for all his sins.
He needed to believe that Jesus’ works, rather than his own, could save him.
You may feel hopeless.
You may want to end your life.
Let me assure you that Jesus offers hope to the hopeless.
John’s godly Christian mother died when he was not quite seven years old.
John’s father remarried, but John never felt close to his stepmother.
At eleven, John left school and joined his father’s ship to begin his life as a seaman.
His early years were one continuous round of rebellion and debauchery.
After serving on several ships and working for some time on the islands and mainland of the West African coast, collecting slaves for sale to visiting traders, John eventually became a captain of his own slave ship.
Needless to say, the capturing, selling, and transporting of black slaves to the plantations in the West Indies and America was a cruel and vicious way of life.
On March 10, 1748, while returning to England from Africa during a particularly stormy voyage when it appeared that all would be lost, John cried out to God.
John felt hopeless, but God heard John’s prayer and answered him.
John eventually believed in the Lord Jesus and was saved (Kenneth W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories [Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1982], 28–29).
John Newton became a pastor and prolific author.
He wrote what is today the most famous English hymn that perfectly captures the truth that the gospel offers hope to the hopeless:
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
The Philippian jailer washed Paul and Silas’ wounds.
He and his family were baptized.
He fed Paul and Silas.
“And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God”(v. 34b).
The gospel offers hope to the hopeless.
V. The Gospel Provides Unity in Diversity (16:35-40)
Fifth, the gospel provides unity in diversity.
I will skip over the narrative of the magistrates wanting to release Paul and Silas and their refusal to leave without the magistrates apologizing.
However, once they left the prison, we read in verse 40, “So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.”
The Philippian Church was forming in Lydia’s house.
Luke mentioned three converts who were among the first members of the Philippian Church.
The first of these members was Lydia, a wealthy merchant from Thyatira.
The second member was a slave delivered of a demon.
And the third member was a Philippian jailer.
In the Philippian Church, there were rich and poor, slaves and free, males and females, Gentiles and Jews.
Friends, the gospel is for all people.
And the church is to have members from every corner of society.
Let us always welcome anyone and everyone into our fellowship.
We certainly have differences.
We support different sports teams.
We prefer different political parties.
We have different views about many things.
But let us all agree that the gospel provides unity in diversity.
Conclusion
What binds us together as one body is not our politics, nationality, heritage, culture, economic status, or anything else.
What binds Christians together is the gospel.
We are one because we are in Christ.
So, let us be thankful for the lessons we can learn from the gospel going to prison. Amen.
