2023-01-15 God's Power On Display

GOD'S POWER ON DISPLAY (Acts 16:25-34) Date: ____________________ Read Acts 16:25-34 - A cartoon shows two high ranking military men walking down a hallway. One carries what looks like a bolt of lightning in his hand. He says, "I had no idea we had this kind of technology and power!" That would be good power to have! BUT - we do! The unlimited power of Almighty God is the foundation of all Xn faith. Paul speaks in Eph 1:19 of the "immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe." Note: the power is immeasurable, but unleashed by our faith. It's not always on display in spectacular miracles. God is not an exhibitionist. And that wouldn't grow our faith. But, behind the scenes, mostly unseen, God's power is in constant motion for our good and His glory. It's there; it's real; it's never-failing. To help us get that, God has occasionally done spectacular, like our text today. What a display! But we must realize we live and minister with that same bolt of lightning in our own hands - power that is unleashed by faith. This is the awesome God we serve on full display for our motivation and encouragement. I. God's Power Over Human Nature God's power was certainly displayed in that earthquake, right? But there's something even more amazing here. Imagine being thrown into this dank dungeon after being beaten within an inch of your life. Your back is raw flesh - unwashed and untended. Your legs are splayed out in the stocks adding to the torture. All for the sake of Christ. How would you react? Pray for rescue? And question, "Why did I ever take this on - and why didn't God protect me? All I've done, I did for him. How could He let this happen?" But look at Paul and Silas: "Praying and singing hymns to God." At the risk of stating the obvious, may I say - that is not normal! Are they even sane? What's going on? What we are seeing here is God's power over human nature. P&S aren't supermen. They're just like us. Human nature would never go to such a place on its own. Only the power of God could take it there. And look: "The prisoners were listening to them." They'd never seen this before -- an incredible testament to God's greatness - even more than the earthquake. To P&S, God was worth everything, even being in jail! Perhaps Nehemiah 8:10b came to mind: "The joy of the Lord is your strength." Their joy spoke volumes to the sustaining power of God in their lives. Paul later wrote in II Cor 9:8: "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." That's an amazing promise. We have all the grace at all times under all circumstances to get us through. That's as rock solid as a promise can get. If and when you need grace - you'll have it. P&S hurt just as much as you or I would. They're not supermen! Paul says in Eph 6:18: "praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel." He feared like us; he suffered like us; he was human like us. But he believed in the power of God to overcome human nature. And he believed he'd have grace when he needed it. And God's grace is sufficient for you, too. Whether He's asking you to overcome some besetting sin - some fear of being mocked for Jesus' sake - some fear of a ministry calling, His grace is sufficient. Corrie Ten Boom's Dutch family hid Jews during WWII resulting in her imprisonment, survival and later life as spokeswoman for God's grace. As a little girl she was taken to visit the home of a man who had died. That caused her to fear that her parents would die someday. Her father comforted her: "When we go to Amsterdam, when do I give you your train ticket?" Corrie replied, "Just before we get on the train." Her father replied, "That's right, Corrie. Just as your heavenly Father will give you exactly what you need when we die - He'll give it to you just when you need it." Grace doesn't mean no sorrow or suffering. But it means He'll be there with what we need when we need it. The old hymn is true: "He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, / He sendeth more strength when the labors increase; / To added afflictions he addeth His mercy, / To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace." He can do that because He has power over human nature. II. God's Power Over Circumstances 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. In Philippi, the first sacred music concert brought down the house. The power of God was changing circumstances in Europe. It dramatically delivered P&S from jail; it delivered the jailer and his family from sin. God has power over all circumstances. Peter's case showed no jail can hold someone that God has determined to release. God has power over any circumstance. Nothing is too great for Him to overcome. God has parted seas, rolled up flowing rivers, brought water out of rocks, lit fires in water trenches, held the sun in its place, and destroyed vast armies just for starters. Nothing in life is beyond His control. So, if God fails to intervene in any difficulty we've prayed diligently about, that means there's a very good reason for it. It's not for lack of power on His part. It may be a severe mercy, but it is a mercy nevertheless when He does not change something that's in our best long-term interest. Never. We must look for the God behind the circumstance to find joy and blessing. Whatever God has left in our life is for our wholeness. Always! Malcolm Muggeridge wrote, "I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my 75 years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction." So, if God has all power over circumstances and if He is good, then whatever He allows to continue in my life must be for my good in some way. We largely forget God in the good times - begin to make our own plans, credit ourselves for our success, and get caught up in trivialities. So, as C. S. Lewis wrote, "Pain is God's megaphone. He whispers to us in our pleasure, but shouts to us in our pain." And a lot of times, we need the pain to hear Him. III. God's Power Over Sin This brings us to the heart of the passage - a glorious picture of what it means to be freed from the bonds of sin. 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. Losing prisoners was not only the most disgraceful thing that could happen to a Roman jailer, it was a capital offense. Had the prisoners been gone, the jailer's life wouldn't have been worth a plug nickel. And the only way he might regain a modicum of honor for his family was by killing himself. His reaction is totally expected. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." No prisoners escaped. Everyone stayed. Why? We're not told. Perhaps they were in shock; perhaps they were afraid; perhaps they'd gotten a hint of the gospel and wanted to know more - but to the jailer, it was a miracle. This hard man was completely undone. 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?" The props have been completely knocked out from under this man. He suddenly sees himself for who he is - a sinner, condemned unclean. Someone has said, "A person must know they are lost before they can be saved." This man is ready. Some claim he just wanted his life saved. But that question was already settled. The prisoners were there. It was fear of ultimate judgment from a higher authority that drove his anguish. Could these men help? He no doubt knew the slave girl; knew what P&S had been preaching and had heard their unearthly faith-based singing in his own jail. He wanted what they had. "What must I do to be saved?" That is the ultimate question everyone must ask. Paul and Silas had a ready answer: "What must I do to be saved?" "Do nothing. Nothing. It's already done. All you can do is believe it. 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.' You must put your trust in Him alone." Familiarity has caused the impact of this message to be lost on us. Paul says, "How are you saved? You believe in a guy the Romans executed in Palestine 20 years ago." Does that make sense? It does if you know the rest of the story. So, 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house." They explained Jesus was God come in human flesh. They told of His miracles and perfect life, and then how He died, willingly to pay sin's penalty for all who trust Him. They told how He rose again proving His power over sin and death, and how God, based on Jesus' atoning sacrifice, could now forgive anyone who came to Him by faith. And I bet Paul ended with II Cor 5:21: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." God's power over sin and death has been clearly demonstrated. It remains for us to believe it and believe into Him. God's power was on full display in Jesus' death for us. Creating a billion-galaxy universe is nothing by comparison. Psa 19:1: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." The universe? A little art project to Him - a small token of His creativity. But providing salvation? Isa 52:10: "The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of the Lord." He rolled up His sleeves and dug deep to save us. It's no small thing when Paul says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." It's the hardest thing God ever did. But when Jesus cried from the cross, "Tetelesthai - it is finished," that was it. Nothing for us to do but believe it, make it our own. Mel Trotter -- barber by profession, drunkard by choice. So perverted he once stole the shoes off his dead daughter and pawned them for money to buy booze. But one night he stumbled into Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago, heard the same message as the Philippian jailer and gave his life to Jesus, lock, stock and barrel. He began to minister to others in bondage to alcohol, eventually founding 60 missions from Boston to San Francisco. God overpowered sin in his life, the jailer's life, Paul's life, and He'll do for you, too. We have only to repent and believe to activate the greatest power in of all. IV. God's Power Over Lives Genuine saving faith changes life. It is as inevitable as night following day. No change can only mean the profession wasn't real. In the NT, the first sign of saving faith is obedience to the Great Commission -- baptism. So it was with the 3,000 at Pentecost, the Samaritans in Acts 8, the Ethiopian eunuch, Cornelius and his household, Lydia and now the jailer. Think of it. Yesterday, his only goal was to please the local rulers by putting P&S under max security and torture. When escape seemed certain, he was ready to kill himself - now, before the whole world, he declares his faith in and id with Jesus thru baptism. But that's just the start. He washed the wounds he had willfully neglected before. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them." So, he's now fellowshipping with the prisoners! 34b) "And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God." "Believed" = perf tense, past action with continuing results. People who think salvation is about praying a prayer, punching their ticket and then living however they want haven't got a clue. Gospel faith makes you compassionate, committed to ministry and community and gives you joy. That's the real thing! It happens in a second but continues for a lifetime. Faith unleashes God's power in the lives of true believers. They are converted to a whole new world. Conc - I don't know where you are in your spiritual journey - but I can tell you this. God has the power to change whatever needs changing in you to make you like Jesus. The best thing we can ever do is trust Him completely whatever the circumstances of the moment look like. Because Jesus died and rose again, God has the power to forgive, cleanse and transform all who come to Him in faith. And He does it today just as in Paul's time. Pat Summerall was an ex-footballer who became one of the most popular announcers in history. But during off-hours he sought pleasure wherever he could find it thru womanizing and the bottle. It got so bad that friends and his CBS management intervened and sent him to the Betty Ford Center in 1992 hoping he would find sobriety. Instead, he found a God - a God he'd had no interest in before. Long story short - reference to a higher power caused him to begin to read the Bible. He found a Jesus he'd never heard of before and was led to Christ by a local Baptist pastor. At his baptism he testified: "My reliance on the bottle had been replaced by a healthier thirst - one for knowledge of God's Word. I'd abandoned the hedonistic lifestyle for one of physical and spiritual transformation. I had left one life for another." Only God can cause that - and He will for all who believe. Let's pray. DONE 7