Christ as Preeminent

Introduction

Good morning church. It is always such a blessing to be in the house of the Lord together.

PRAY

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Acts 16:25-40 (READ).

The title and main point of my sermon and the text this morning is “Christ as Preeminent”.

Colossians 1:15-20 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

The preeminent, all sustaining, all authoritative, exalted, sovereign Lord of all is at the very center of the account that we’re studying today.

There are at least 2 “macro” or large/overarching points with this statement. There are several “micro” or smaller points as well. Should God will it, we will cover these in our time together.

But first, I want to read an excerpt from John Foxe’s “Voices of the Martyrs”. (READ 297-299).

I red that, not because it perfectly lines up with the account of Paul and Silas, but the essence of both of these accounts are the same.

Two separate missionary groups, years apart from each other, were given eyes to see Christ for who He truly is: PREEMINENT, top of the top, ruler of all. They were satisfied in Christ and believed that Him and His Gospel were worth suffering for.

My hope is that we all catch that this morning. That Christ is to be cherished. That we would surrender ALL for Him and His precious Gospel.

That every single one of us would leave here more convinced than ever that Jesus and His sheep are worth laying down our lives for.

Exposition

Context- Last week pastor Tommy preached on Paul commanding a demon out of a slave girl. This of course got Paul and Silas into prison because they messed with her owners way of making a dollar.

Subsequently, they dragged Paul and Silas before the magistrates, falsely accused them, and incited a violent riot against them, leading to their beating with rods and being stripped of their clothes. This led to them being thrown into prison.

And just so we’re clear on what these men went through exactly, Acts 16:22-23 “The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.”

They were BRUTALLY beaten. Falsely.

25-26- Read verse 25. There’s only 1 way that this happens: seeing Christ as being preeminent, fully satisfied in Him.

Still horribly bruised, perhaps nursing open wounds. Yet, Paul and Silas chose to worship God, not forsake Him.

Paul’s mindset can perhaps be seen in Philippians 3:8-11, where he’s writing back to the church in Philippi, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

This is all familiar to Peter and the apostles in Acts 5:41 “Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.”

In both chapter 5 and 16, both Peter and the apostles and Paul and Silas consider it worthy to suffer for the cause of Christ.

Paul and Silas’ hymns and prayers to God was the overflow of their hearts content in God. Are you satisfied in the Lord? Not just positionally, but functionally in your day to day life?

Now, you and I are not Paul and Silas. However, these two followers of Christ before us provide a wonderful example of satisfaction in the preeminent Christ in the face of suffering.

In all honesty church, I know myself and I know how I react sometimes. Even to the slightest inconveniences. In preparing for this sermon I’ve had to ask God to lead me in seeing Him as I ought: my portion.

Psalm 73:25-26 “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

May we all ask the Lord to grant us the grace to see Him as we ought, as He deserves to be seen: our everything.

As they pray and sing, the other prisoners are listening to them.

Then all of a sudden an earthquake occurs, shaking the entire prison and freeing all the prisoners! Remember, this is all taking place at midnight! This is a working of the only true God, ending Paul and Silas’ suffering within the prison.

Displaying that the One who walked on water and commanded the wind and the waves is also in control of the foundations of the earth.

27-32- Due to all of the commotion, the jailer wakes up to find the prison doors open. This leads the jailer to make the quick and unfortunate decision to end his life in order to avoid the cruel punishment of the Roman government for losing a whole jail filled with prisoners.

But, the text informs us that Paul not only lets the jailer know that they’re still there, but sees the jailers sword drawn, about to impale himself, and cries out loudly with compassion for the jailer to not harm himself, assuring him that no one has left.

Paul could have just as easily escaped scott-free! The earthquake literally unfastened his chains. But, Paul was not motivated by his own physical freedom. He was moved by compassion for the jailer and wanted to see him truly set free with the Gospel!

Paul viewed the Gospel and subsequently the souls of men so precious, that he hung around to get the jailer the Gospel.

Paul communicates this in his later letter to the church in Colossae in Colossians 1:24-26 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.”

He of course is writing specifically to the Colossian Christians here, but Paul’s heart here is apparent throughout all his ministry, rejoicing in his suffering for Christ and the church!

Do we view Christ, His Gospel, and the souls of mankind this way? Are we willing to give up our earthly comforts for the Gospel to go forth? These are the questions we should all be asking ourselves.

After Paul cries out to the jailer, the jailer rushes in trembling in fear before Paul and Silas. He comes in asking these men what he must do to be saved. We are not told how he comes exactly to this conclusion that he must be saved or what he even means in asking such a question.

Regardless of what the jailer may have meant by this honest question, what we know is that Luke records this jailer at the end of his rope, contemplating suicide and in need of saving.

Paul and Silas respond with the only true answer to this question: believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved! This is the Gospel! That Jesus Christ died for sinners, taking on the full punishment that they deserved for their sin. Through His death, burial, and resurrection, Christ has purchased our salvation. The only proper response according to the Scriptures to this Gospel is to believe in Christ and in His finished work!

This is the same Gospel proclaimed throughout all the book of Acts and the entire New Testament. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. By no other means can salvation come!

Now, notice in verse 31 how Paul and Silas say something a bit interesting here. They say to the jailer to believe in Jesus Christ and he will be saved, him and his household.

A surface level reading of this text could lead one to believe that Paul and Silas were telling the jailer that if just he believed, he would be saved AND his household, just because of his own individual belief in Christ.

But, verse 32 gives us a more robust look at what is happening here. Acts 16:32 “And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.”

Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to the jailer AND his household. What is being said in verse 31 is if the jailer and those in his household believe in Jesus Christ, they will be saved.

The word of the Lord was given to the jailer and his household. It was not as if the jailer believed for him and his household together. The Heavenly Father only has children, not grandchildren or extended family of HIs children. Just children!

Verses 31 and 32 are the essence of missionary work! It is not enough when witnessing for Christ (as we all should) to merely share our testimony. This has its place, but we must prioritize proclaiming the Gospel message, the word of the Lord!

Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

We’re all called to be everyday missionaries and should be proclaiming God’s word wherever we go. And for those going to El Salvador this Summer, this is your prime example of what you should do with your time. Proclaim the word of the Lord, the Gospel of Christ, and watch the Lord work!

Spurgeon, once preaching on this text, said “Would to God that all preachers (vocational and non) would keep to the word of God, and, above all things, would exalt The Incarnate Word of God. This were infinitely better than to delude men's minds with those "germs of thought," those strikingly new ideas, those metaphysical subtleties, and speculations, and theories, and discoveries of science, falsely so called, which are now-a-days so fashionable.”

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. May we preach the word, Live Oaks.

33-34- The jailer immediately shows hospitality to Paul and Silas, and then proceeds to get baptized upon him believing in the Gospel. His believing family members follow suit.

If I could just briefly touch on this baptism note for a second. It would do us well to understand that some BROTHERS and SISTERS see this verse as one of the examples of infant baptism. It is important to know that Christians do not believe that baptism, infant or believer, saves you. It is not biblical believe that baptism somehow removes you of original sin or saves you in anyway.

Salvation is only by grace alone through faith alone.

Unfortunately there is not enough time to breakdown the different views here. However, this is a good time to clarify for us as a church where we stand. Live Oaks Bible Church, like the good baptist church that we are (kidding), believes in believers baptism. As in, only those who can make a true confession of faith in Christ are to be baptised.

This is of course a second hand issue where brothers and sisters in Christ can follow Jesus together in lock step, but perhaps disagree on this matter. It is possible to believe in infant or believer baptism and still faithfully hold to salvation by grace alone through faith alone.

I just wanted to make it abundantly clear where we stand as a church.

Verse 34 reveals clearly that the jailer and his household were believers.

Think about how the jailer recieved an incredible sermon right before his eyes of what was about to happen in his heart. Just as the earthquake freed Paul and Silas from the prison and their chains, the Gospel penetrated this jailers heart and set him truly free!

Note how the jailer and his household rejoice that they’ve believed in God. Do we still rejoice over this fact? Are we continually grateful for the sovereign Lord resurrecting us from the dead?

This brings us to one of the overarching points in this text. Oh beloved, I hope when we take a step back and look at whats occuring here in this passage, we put together what has happened.

Earlier in chapter 16, Paul and Silas were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to go into Asia and Bithynia and were led by a vision to go minister the Gospel in Macedonia, ending up in the city of Philippi.

Recently, we’ve been studying about how Lydia’s heart was opened to pay attention to Paul preaching the Gospel and she was saved, about Paul commanding a demonic spirit out of a slave girl, and now we read about a jailer and his household coming to faith in Christ.

What else can we conclude here but that our sovereign Lord was after these people! Christ was after Lydia and her household, the slave girl, and the jailer and his household!

This should encourage us as Christ’s witnesses to the world! We must not fall into the temptation of asking the question “well, if God is after people, whats the use in preaching the Gospel and making disciples? Why bother?”

The answer is in the question! God is after people, therefore we share the Gospel and watch Him save! This is our confidence in evangelism and disciple making.

Not that we save people, God does! He is after people in your neighborhood, in your workplace, and in your family. May we preach the Gospel boldly and pray for the Lord to save!

35-40- This last section is interesting and encouraging. The Roman magistrates send to free Paul and Silas. We’re not told why they do this, but they do.

We’re also not told how exactly Paul and Silas are Roman citizens, yet Luke records here that Paul exercises his right as a Roman citizen and has the magistrates come and apologize publicly. Fearfully, the magistrates apologize and ask them to leave the city.

Paul did not exercise his right as a citizen because he enjoyed politics. He did this for the sake of the Gospel, to prove that the slave girls owners were wrong, that the only truly lawful custom and religion is following Jesus Christ the Lord!

It’s not sinful to engage in politics. But, for those of us that feel so compelled to do so, be warned. If your political involvement harms or clouds your witness of Christ and His Gospel, you must repent and reprioritize. Christ and subsequently souls are the priority!

Our second overarching point within the text is rounded off here. Paul and Silas were satisfied in Christ. This motivated them to stick around in prison out of compassion for the jailer, and to exercise their rights as a Roman citizen. They loved Christ, which shaped their actions and love.

We end with Luke recording Paul and Silas visiting Lydia and the brothers, which would have included all the believers at the point in Philippi. It’s generally understood that Lydia’s house was the private meeting space for the Philippian church!

Paul and Silas do not stick around in Philippi out of spite for the Roman government there. They respectfully move on, further contributing to their Gospel witness.

I want to end with two reminders and a challenge for us.

First, be reminded that one of the larger themes at play in our text this morning is God’s sovereign working after Lydia, her household, the slave girl, the jailer and his household, and presumably others in Philippi. May we be encouraged all the more to sacrificially preach the Gospel, confident that the Lord is after people in our lives.

Second, be reminded of Paul and Silas’ satisfaction in Christ. He was their everything, which prompted their surrender and work for the cause of Christ.

Therefore, my challenge for us all today is in the form of a question: What is your desire? Is it Christ? Yourself? Your spouse? Your kids or your family?

Do you desire Christ so much that you have, you would, and you will give up anything and everything for Him, for the Gospel, and for souls?

Please, take some time before rushing out of here and contemplate this thought. If you need prayer, please come to the front and someone will pray with you.

PRAY