I am convinced that the safest place in the world is in the center of God’s will. You will never find a place more secure than being in the center of God’s will for your life. At the same time, I am also convinced that the center of God’s will; though it is the safest place, it is not always the most pleasant and pain free place. Are you going to pray with me? Many of us have been seduced into believing that as long as our lives are being lived out within the will of God, everything is going to be alright. I’ve found that not to be so. What I’ve discovered is that God is far more concerned about making us holy than He is in making us happy. The God we serve is seeking our holiness and not our happiness. And I think we see that in this scene in Acts chapter 16.
We discover that there is a connection between Paul’s vision in Troas and his visit to Philippi. There is a connection between his vision and his visit. And when you get a chance you should read all of chapter 16. You see, at Troas, Paul has a vision of a ‘man from Macedonia’ crying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.” And the Bible said that they assuredly gathered that the Lord had called them to preach the Gospel in Europe. Now no sooner than they arrive in Macedonia, a woman by the name of Lydia is converted. And the Bible says that this young girl begins to follow Paul and Silas everyday as they made their way to the house of prayer. She’s following them and Luke says that she was a fortune-teller. And she follows Paul and Silas daily saying that these are servants of the most high God. She had the right message; Paul’s concern was that it was coming from the wrong source.
The Bible says that it vexed him in his spirit. And one day he turns and he says to her, to that unclean spirit within her, “In the name of Jesus Christ come out of her!” And the word says that she was delivered that same hour. Now her pimps, who were profiting from her, when they saw that Paul had brought an end to their meal ticket; the Bible says that they captured Paul and Silas and brought them before the magistrate on trumped-up charges. And the word says that the were beaten and thrown in jail. It is the Lord’s way of reminding us that we must remember that when you get delivered, not everybody is going to be happy about it. Are you praying with me? That when the Lord delivers you. That when God sets you free. That when the Lord has delivered you from something that has been holding you not everybody is going to get all excited.
For there they are, beaten, and bloodied, and broken lying in a Philippian jail. And Luke says, “and at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God.” Have you ever wondered, what is so special about midnight? Wilson Pickett said, “I’m gonna wait until the midnight hour.” Maria Mulduar spent her midnights at the oasis. And we know that Gladys Knight take the midnight train to Georgia. What makes midnight so special? Well midnight is the darkest part of the night. It is the deepest part of the night because one second after midnight it is a brand new day; it is officially morning. Paul and Silas find themselves beaten, and bloodied, and broken but at midnight, they’re not whinning and crying. Luke says they prayed and sang praise unto God.
All of us who have lived any time at all know what it means and how it feels to have a midnight crisis in our lives. Those times when we find ourselves in situations that are beyond our control. We find ourselves caught up in things we cannot handle on our own. We’ve all been faced with some midnight experience! Be it sickness, suffering or sorrow. Be it troubles, trials, or tribulations; we’ve all had our midnights! Not only have we had our midnights but we’ve shared in the midnights of other people. We know how it feels to be there with other people when they are experiencing their midnights. Now if you haven’t face nor experienced midnight, keep going to bed at night. Keep getting up in the morning. Everybody in here this morning is either in a midnight experience, on their way out of one, or heading to one. We all will be faced with midnight.
Now one of the things reminds about midnight; is the midnight hour reminds us that often times God does some of His best work when we think it’s too late. When we’ve given it all up as lost. God has a way of showing up. Even in our midnights. Paul and Silas were aware of that; and so, STANDING FIRM IN THEIR FAITH, Luke says that they prayed and sang praises unto God.
Now it does not surprise us that they prayed at midnight. You would be surprised if they had not prayed at midnight. Because those of us who have had to face a midnight, know that the midnight hour of crisis is a time of prayer. Have I got a witness? If you haven’t prayed in a long time, you’ll pray when you are faced with midnight. When you think you know how to pray, you’ll learn how to pray all over again when you are faced with midnight. Midnight is an hour of prayer. So it does not surprise us that they prayed at midnight. What’s remarkable is that Luke says, not only did they pray but that they sang praises unto God.
It’s one thing to pray at midnight. It’s another thing to be able to PRAISE at midnight. See most of us don’t have any problem praying at midnight; our problem is, we haven’t learned how to praise God, at midnight! It’s easy to praise God in pleasant circumstances. When the sun is shining. All is well in your life. Oh, it’s not difficult to shout ‘hallelujah’ and say, ‘the Lord will make a way,’ when all your bills are paid. It’s not difficult to be able to throw your hands up and say, ‘I bless the Lord,’ when you have a reasonable portion of health and strength. When it is well with you and yours. But Luke says, they praised God at midnight; they sang praises unto God.
I have looked at this passage several times of the years and it did not occur to me until this week that when you think about this passage; and Paul and Silas, hearing the Macedonian call, leave Troas and come to Macedonia to Europe and bring the Gospel into Europe for the very first time. And no sooner than they’re there, they are beaten and thrown into jail and at midnight they prayed and sang praises unto God. The Lord reminded me that first Gospel Concert in Europe didn’t take place in a concert hall. Didn’t happen in a church or a chapel. But it happenend in a Philippian jail. Because Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. Now, as I was doing the exegetical analysis on this particular passage of scripture several questions came to mind.
The first question is, how were they able to sing at midnight? They were able to sing because they were assured that their God was able. But they did not know what God was going to do in this situation. And yet they stood firm in their faith. Praying and praising the Lord. No, it’s not difficult to pray at midnight. But how do you praise God at midnight? These men, their backs are bruised, broken, and bloodied. And they’re not cursing. They’re not singing the blues but they are singing praises unto God. Amen goes right there. They were able to sing praises because Paul turned his pain into a pulpit. And only FAITH in the Lord Jesus Christ will enable you to turn your pain into a pulpit. And maybe I ought to raise the question this morning; what kind of sermons do you preach from your scars? When life has bruised you? When life has bloodied you? When life has broken you? What kind of sermons do you preach then? It’s easy to preach a good sermon when everything is alright. But what kind of sermons do you preach after life has scared you?
They were able to praise God. They were able to have joy. Because their joy was not in their circumstances; their joy was in the Lord Jesus. And that is because Paul was not living under his circumstances, he was living ABOVE his circumstances. And I want you to know that if your joy is in the Lord Jesus, you can have joy in spite of everything that is going on around you. That’s why we say, “This joy I have...” Yes, you need a prayer for the midnight hour but you also need a song that will pierce the darkness. And in a dark, damp, dungeon they prayed and sang praises unto God.
When you think about it, some of the sweetest songs of the Christian faith were composed in the darkness. Fannie Crosby came down with a fever, a few month after her birth, that left her completely blind. But she later testified that with the loss of physical sight and moving around in darkness, God turned a light on in her soul. That though she was in darkness, she sat down one day and she penned the words: “Blessed assurance. Jesus is mine. Oh, what a fore taste of glory divine. Heir of salvation. I’ve been purchased of God. Born in His spirit and washed in His blood.” She penned the words: “Jesus keep me near the cross.” Why? Because she learned how to sing in her darkness.
They didn’t escape from the prison. Their faith allowed them to escape within the prison. And when you’ve got faith in God, you don’t have to escape out of everything. You can learn to escape in the midst of some things. That’s the blessing of the believer. That’s the blessing that the Child of God has. Without pills to pick them up. Without any alcohol to drown their troubles away. Without a party, or a television set, or a radio they escaped in the midst of the prison.
And what the Lord is saying to you today is that He is not going to remove all the pain out of your life. There are times when you can’t escape from your pain but if you trust in the Lord. If you stand firm in your faith. You can learn to escape in your pain. You can learn how to have joy in sorrow. Hope in the midst of despair. Light in the midst of your darkness. You may not be able to escape from it but God, by faith can allow you to escape in the midst of it.
Which leads me to my second question, what songs do you sing? For at midnight, they prayed and sing praises unto God and Luke says, “and the prisoners heard them.” Which says that they had an unseen audience. They were singing for their own comfort. They were unaware that the other prisoners were listening. Which says to us, that all of us must be aware that we have an unseen audience. Uh, on the other side of the wall. In that house across the street. In that room or office next to you. There is somebody listening to the song you are singing. Not necessarily that the words that are falling from your lips but by the life that you live. Deacon Foreman, every now and again will call me and say, “Pastor, what ya doing?” And that is an indication to me that he has seen me out in the city but I haven’t seen him. And I think God that I am always trying to do the right thing because I would hate to get that call and I am acting a fool. Amen. We all have an unseen audience.
There is somebody who is taking their cue for life from you. There is somebody who is getting their view of Jesus from you. So, you must be aware of your unconscious influence. You see we pay close attention to that conscious influence we have. That is why we show up and look a certain way in public. You don’t go out the house looking the same way you did when you woke up in the morning. That’s why you don’t say and you don’t act certain ways in public like you do in private because you are concerned about your conscious influence. That’s why there are some little things about yourself that you keep tucked away. There are some sides of you that you don’t want other folk to see. But you’ve got to be aware that you have an unconscious influence. And that unconscious influence is compounded when you get to church. That’s why little children go home and practice shouting like the saw sister-so-and-so. That’s why that little boy gets back home and gets a brush or a comb in is hand and looks in the mirror and starts mimicking the pastor.
The word says that the prisoners heard them. So the Lord is telling you and I. That our task in life is to be a witness to other people. Who are in the same prison house that we are in. What gave the prisoners a listening ear is that the men who were singing were not on the other side of the prison bars but were behind bars just like they were. What caused them to listen is that the men had chains on just like they did. What caused them to listen is that the men had been beaten and thrown in jail and yet at midnight; they heard praying and singing praises unto God. What are folk hearing from you in the midst of your suffering? What kind of witness are you being in the midst of your pain?
And Luke says, “And suddenly, there was a great earthquake.” Luke says that God shook the foundation of the jail until all of the doors burst wide open. And every man’s chains fell off. And Luke calls it a great earthquake. That doesn’t appear to be much of an earthquake. The roof didn’t cave in. The walls didn’t fall in. The doors just opened. Every man’s chains fell off. That doesn’t appear to be much of an earthquake. I mean when I think about an earthquake; I think about walls falling in! Roof caving in! Buildings being shook to crumble! But Luke calls it a great earthquake and all that happens was that the doors fell open and the chains fell off. Doesn’t seem like much of an earthquake; so it has to be something more than doors opening up and chains falling off.
What made it a great earthquake was not the doors and the chains falling off. What made it a great earthquake is that the prisoners were released and yet restrained. The doors opened. The chains fell off. And nobody left. That’s what made it a great earthquake. I mean, if you are in jail and you’ve got shackles on. And all of a sudden there is a rumbling and the shackles fall off and the doors fly open. Your first...What you...Reason says, get the hell on out of there! I mean that’s what you do. You’re locked up. You’re in chains. The doors fly open. The chains fall off. Get up and run!
The jailer just knew that everybody was gone. When he saw the doors open. Drew his sword to take his own life. Because the price and penalty for losing a prisoner, for losing a jailed person was that your life must be taken. And rather than going through all the drama he decided to kill himself. But to his surprise, Paul says, “do thyself no harm; we are all here.” And it was at that time that the jailer realized that there was a greater power at work in that jail house. That there was something a stir in there. Much greater than the earthquake that shook the jail house. It was greater power that kept every man in his cell. And the jailer cried out, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
What an earthquake. An earthquake that not only shook the jail house; but more importantly, it shook the jailer. God didn’t just shake up the jail house. God shook up the jailer! And what did it take to shake up the jailer? It took an earthquake. So my final question is, what else is God going to have to shake up in your life to get your attention? What earthquake does He have to send your house before He gets your attention? Is it more sickness? Is it more pain? Is it more suffering? It took an earthquake to get that man’s attention. He realized that there was grater power at work. And he says, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Save from what? The earthquake was over. The trimmers had stopped. The after-shock was over. All of the prisoners were in place. Saved from what? He was literally saying to Paul and Silas, “How can a man like me be saved?” And that’s the great question many people are asking. How can a person like me be saved? After all the wrong and evil I’ve done. How can God save somebody like me? Well there are those of us here this morning who can stand up and testify for you. If God can save people like us. God can save anybody! He saves from the utmost to the gutter-most!
And Paul, who was one of the greatest theologians this world has ever known, didn’t give this man a lecture on the doctrine of Salvation. He didn’t go into long discourse on how a person gets saved. He doesn’t tell this man to settle down, there’s no need to be alarmed. Because he didn’t want the man to miss the urgency of the hour. And I would to God that I would preach enough to get you to see the urgency of this hour. If you’re here today and you’re unsaved, this might be your last chance to get right with God. If you’re here this morning and you’re out of fellowship with the church, this may well be your last chance. Don’t let this moment...pass you by! “Pass me not out gentle Savior...”
Paul didn’t tell this man be good and you can be saved. Because some of us are trying to operate on the goodness princepal. We are living in what John Bunion called that Town of Morality. We believe that if we are just good enough we can make it into Heaven. But what does Paul say to this man? Paul says, “Believe! On the Lord Jesus Christ. And thou shall be saved!” He says to the man, what you’ve got to do is believe.
After experieincing this great earthquake. Seeing this jail shaken. After being shaken himself. Crying, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Their response is, “Believe on the name of the Lord. Jesus Christ. And thou. Shalt be saved.” Notice Paul didn’t tell him. That you need to understand. But he said. You need to believe. But too many us. Want to understand first. Before we’ll believe. What want it to make sense. Before we’ll say yes. And I’ve said this before. You are not saved head first. But you are saved heart first. For Romans. Chapter 10. Verse 9 says. That if thou shalt believe in thine heart. That God has raised Jesus. From the dead. Thou shalt be. Saved.
