ACT 16The gospel was now spreading in many directions, through men gifted by the Lord, and working independently of each other; but to Paul was committed the truth of the Church of God, and its administration among the Gentiles. The narrative follows telling how the Holy Spirit led Paul and his companions on in the work. It is there we shall see the workings of the truth by the Spirit.
At Lystra and Derbe was a certain disciple called Timotheus, a son of a Jewess who believed, but his father was a Greek. Timotheus was already well reported of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium. Paul chose him as a suitable companion in the work. He circumcised him, probably to save trouble among the Jews who still wanted to follow the law, and yet this was not even according to law, as we see in Ezra and Nehemiah. He would not submit to them when they wanted Titus to be circumcised. (Gal. 2:3-53But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: 4And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: 5To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. (Galatians 2:3‑5).) And they were careful to instruct the assemblies wherever they went, in the decrees sent out from the apostles at Jerusalem, freeing the Gentiles from law and circumcision, as we saw in the preceding chapter, ever reminding the Judaizing teachers in this way that their leaders at Jerusalem were against putting the Gentiles under law. The Jews at this time did not see fully their own deliverance from the law and ordinances as Paul did. (See Gal. 2:19, 2019For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:19‑20).) So the assemblies were established in the faith, and increased in numbers daily.
In 1 Tim. 1:18; 3:1418This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; (1 Timothy 1:18)
14These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: (1 Timothy 3:14); 2 Tim. 1:6,6Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. (2 Timothy 1:6) we gather that Timotheus was specially fitted, and encouraged, to go on with this work, by prophecy to that effect, Paul conferring on him in this way the gift of God by the putting on of his hands, and with the laying on of the hands of the elder hood. In Paul's second letter, he exhorts him to stir up this gift.
In verse 6 we see that not only are the servants given a general commission to preach the gospel to every creature, but that each servant needs guidance daily for His path, and this guidance is given in such varied ways that the servant's heart is exercised in order that he may go on in his service with the certainty that he is doing the Lord's will. Waiting on the Lord continually is his only right attitude.
Here we find these devoted servants traveling on from place to, place, bearers of God's good news. When they had gone through Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. It was not the Lord's will for them to go there just then. After they were come to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. And passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. Then in a vision of the night a man appeared to Paul, and prayed him, saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." In answer to this Macedonian's earnest appeal, Paul concluded that the Lord wanted them there. And Luke, who had now joined the company, says: "We endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them." They sailed straight for Philippi, the chief city of that part of Macedonia, a colony, and were there abiding certain days. As usual, they began with the Jews. "On the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side." It was not a holiday; the Jews kept their Sabbath, though in a foreign land. There was apparently no synagogue, but it was the place where they usually met for prayer. There they sat down, and spoke unto the women which had assembled.
"A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira"-this shows her Gentile origin, yet she was one who worshiped God; one who feared God; she may have been a proselyte to the Jewish faith. She had her ears opened to hear and to receive the truth spoken by Paul-the first convert spoken of in that city. She at once, with her household, was baptized thus owning the Lord's claims on all she had; and she threw her house open to the Lord's servants, beseeching them: "If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there;" and she constrained us. This was the beginning of the assembly at Philippi. The servants of the Lord were hospitably entertained there-her house was a place of meeting for the brethren. (Ver. 40.)
Verse 16. We have the enemy here trying to spoil the work of the Gospel. A woman possessed with an evil spirit of fortune-telling, who made large sums of money for her owners, followed the apostles, and cried, saying, "These are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation," and this she did many days. An evil spirit will not confess Jesus Christ as Lord; he takes his way to deceive and to seduce; calls them the servants of the most high God, as if the world at present, was owned by God; as if Christ was not rejected; as if the world was not guilty of His death. The enemy here comes as an angel of light to corrupt the truth. (2 Cor. 11: 14.)
But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, "I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out the same hour. Paul had borne with it for many days. He would not unnecessarily raise opposition, but he could not allow the Gospel testimony to become corrupted. And now when the enemy could no longer deceive or seduce through this woman, he used the covetousness of her owners to persecute. The wiles of the serpent are now changed to the roar of the lion. They caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the market place unto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrates, saying, "These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans." And the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them. When they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
The Lord allowed His faithful servants to suffer for His sake and the Gospel. He told them so beforehand. But, "in Me ye have peace." He did not forsake them. God's purposes were being worked out in it, and faith can say, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them which are called according to His purpose." Their sufferings gave character to their testimony. They serve the One whom the world hated, for men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. The Lord will not fail to stand by them, and to comfort their hearts, and to give them the sense of His approval.
The world has shut them in prison, but it cannot shut them out from the throne of grace (Heb. 4:1616Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)). They lift up their hearts in prayer in the holiest of all, and then it changes to praise; the Lord has calmed their hearts, helped them to bear their sufferings, and the unwonted sounds of prayer and praise reach the prisoners' ears. We do not know what words those early Christians used, but we can think it would be praise to the Lord, the gracious Redeemer, who had brought them to Himself, and had given them the grace to be His servants, to tell the wondrous story of the love of Jesus who was sent by God, the Father, to die for sinners on the cross. Think of them, dear Christians, with their feet fast in the stocks, sitting up or lying down on their sore backs in a filthy prison-a wretched picture of misery in men's eyes, and yet their hearts are filled with joy, and their lips with praise. How little of this our easy-going Christianity knows in our day. And how persecution, rightly taken, brings the soul into deeper communion with the Lord. And now we see,
"God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform."
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. And the jailer awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, "Do thyself no harm, for we are all here." The earthquake did no harm; it awoke the jailer out of his sleep, and knowing his life was forfeited if his prisoners had escaped, rather than be dishonored, he would kill himself, when Paul cried out, and saved his life.
What woke up his soul to the knowledge that he was a lost sinner? It was this word of grace, the grace of God in those prisoners for Christ 's sake, who, a little moment ago, were in the presence of God as holy priests, worshiping the Father and the Son; and now as royal priests show out His virtues in their love to their enemy. As Jesus said, "Father, forgive them." And Stephen said, "Lay not this sin to their charge." So now the apostle, in the same grace, shows mercy to the jailer; and his behavior, with the testimony of Christ's love in bringing salvation to lost men, works in his soul, he is aroused, he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" An important question from an anxious sinner, who has no good works to offer, nothing but a full acknowledgment that he is lost. Very likely the preaching of the apostles in the city had reached his ears, and made it known to him, and now his conscience is stirred, he realizes that he is lost, in a lost state, on the broad road that leads to eternal wee. How can he escape?
Yes, there is good news to the lost sinner. "Christ died for the ungodly." "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Christ's heralds can declare it (1 Tim. 2:5, 65For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2:5‑6)), and, like an echo, it comes from the heart of God, through His servants, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." The rejected, crucified, risen and glorified One is the Savior. Believe on Him. And they spoke to him the word of the Lord, with all that were in his house. What a morning of it they had in that house, hearing the good news opened out to them of the wonderful forgiving love of God to sinners, that makes them as believers in the Lord Jesus, saints, children of God, members of the body of Christ, temples of the Holy Ghost.
Then the jailer begins to attend to their wants. He began by washing their sore backs plowed up by the Roman scourge; then he and all his were baptized straightway. He has every one of his household put under the name of Christ, as did Lydia, and in this she was judged faithful to the Lord. They owned His claim on all they had. Then he set food before them as his guests-heavenly messengers on earth-and they had a love feast, and rejoiced with all his house, having believed in God.
When it was day, a message comes to the jailer from the officers, "Let these men go," and he told this saying to Paul, "The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore depart, and go in peace." But Paul replied, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison and now do they thrust us out privately? Nay, verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out." The magistrates had broken the Roman law, and when they heard what Paul said, they feared, on hearing they were Romans, and they came and besought them, and brought them out and desired them to depart out of the city. It was injustice to the prisoners, but more, it was against their own law. Paul does not prosecute the case against them,, but in their terror they become suppliants, and beseech them to go away, and this they do, as it suited them, but they first go to Lydia's house, and see the brethren there, and in their visit minister to their comfort, and then depart, leaving behind them a little assembly gathered to the name of the Lord. (Math. 18:20). Their work for the present is finished in Philippi.
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All our ways are known to the Lord; every turn in the way is noticed by Him. Yesterday's trial He knew. Today's difficulty is under His eye. Tomorrow's care is seen by Him and He says, "Let not your heart be troubled." John 14:11Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (John 14:1).