The Impact of the Gospel

Introduction

In this chapter we see the conversion of three different people. Each of them is from a different background and social status. We see a wealthy woman named Lydia, a crazy demon possessed slave girl and an ex-military man whose lives are all changed by the impact of the gospel. You see as Luke relates the story of the gospel and its spread throughout the world, he isn’t just telling the story of a movement, Luke is telling the story of changed lives. All three of these people needed something they didn’t have. All three of these people needed the power of the gospel in their lives. But to get that they needed to see a demonstration of the power of the gospel in the lives of someone else. God brought Paul and Silas into their lives to live out the truth of the gospel before them.

The greatest testimony to the truth of the gospel of Christ is to be found in Christian people living the life—‘living epistles’.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

It has become a cliche, but the truth is still there that you may be the only bible that some people will ever read. What the world needs today is to see a true demonstration of the power of the gospel in the lives of believers. Today we are going to trace the theme of the impact of the gospel in the lives of believers in our text.

The very first person we meet is found in Acts 16:16 “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:” This girl in someway probably associated with the Temple of Delphi was a fortune teller for hire. The literal Greek wording here is a python spirit because Greek religion taught that the prophetesses of Delphi were overcome by a snake spirit that would cause them to tell the future. Her services weren’t free. People had to pay money, but she was not the one getting that money. This poor girl was a slave to men and to Satan.

Vs 17 she sees Paul and Silas and the demons inside her prompt her to follow them around. She cries out These men are the servants of the most high God which shew unto us the way of salvation. Now was there anything wrong with her message and what she was saying. No. This demon possessed woman was declaring that Jesus is God and Paul is bring the message of salvation. James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”

Vs 18 But Paul is disturbed by what she is doing. Why? Paul knows that the character of the messenger does have an impact on the message. If Adolf Hitler were to get up today and preach Jesus Christ, we would all be skeptical at best. At worst, many would associate Christianity with the atrocities of Adolf Hitler. This demon possessed woman who everyone knows is demon possessed woman can declare the truth and in essence sabotage the message. How many false gospels are there out in the world today? How many false Christians are there out in the world today? The atrocities of the crusades have been leveled at Christianity because of a false version of Christianity. Satan knows that he can discredit the truth of the gospel by linking it with a life that is lived in darkness. How successful has he been in weakening the message of the gospel by getting Christians to live in some way different from the truth of what they believe.

Paul casts that demon out and that is exactly what I would like to see today. I would like to challenge us that if we are ever going to see a powerful expression of the gospel, people getting saved and lives being changed, we must live out the truth of the gospel. To begin, we are going to look at four ways that Paul and Silas showed the truth of the gospel by their lives in Philippi.

They modeled peace in suffering

The jailers are not happy about the loss of income they were getting from this slave girl. In essence, Paul and Silas have saved this girl from human trafficking and the pimps are left high and dry. In the moment that the demon went out from her, her ability to tell the future was gone. When I think of the heart of these men, I am disgusted. They valued Money over salvation and they valued money over the life of this girl.

So they bring up trumped up charges against Paul and Silas. Notice in vs 20-21 the main point of contention is that these Jews are upsetting our Roman customs. When it comes down to it, they had disrupted their profit. The crowd rises up against them, the judges rend their clothes and command them to be beaten.

Paul and Silas at this moment face excruciating pain and suffering for the sake of the gospel. vs 22-24

They are beaten. The word used here seems to indicated they were canned with rods.

They were locked up in a windowless cell in the middle of the prison. They had no light or sight of the outdoors, just the pitch blackness of their cell to keep them company.

They were put into wooden stocks. These stocks were not like the stocks you might see when you go visit Williamsburg or some other colonial site. They didn’t just restrict your movement. Often these stocks were used to contort and hold peoples legs in awkward positions causing them pain and discomfort.

The prison was not walk in the park. The jailer was not some pansy either. This man most likely would have been either ex-military or an ex-slave. But either way, he was a man’s man. Harsh, hard, rough and diligent about his duty. If his job was to make them feel uncomfortable that is what he is going to do and it is he who chooses to put them in prison this way.

The first response that we see from Paul and Silas is not railing, moaning or accusations. Rather it is prayer. Paul and Silas were expressing their trust and dependence on God in the midst of difficult circumstances and because of that they could be at peace.

How many of us when we are hurting show the peace of God? I think most of us are like men when we have a little cold. Wives, can you recognize this. Husband has a little headache so he lays on the couch. He bemoans the pain and says something like “I’m dying.” Men don’t we ham it up sometimes. But I think most Christians are so focused on the pain and suffering that they don’t think to look to the savior for relief. We let it change our attitudes towards life. We lash out at people. We complain and grumble. We crawl into our holes and isolate ourselves.

They modeled joy in persecution

Not only did they express peace in suffering, but they showed joy in persecution. Notice that Paul and Silas sang praises unto God while they were being persecuted for their faith. I don’t know what song it was that they sang, but I know this. Paul and Silas were consumed with the beauty of God. They didn’t allow their circumstances to change how they saw God.

So many times when we are hurting we are tempted to think harsh thoughts about God. To think that God is unjust, mean, cruel. We can allow our image of God to change into that of a God who only wishes us to be sad, miserable and steal our joy from us. Our words can become like those of the author of Lamentations 3:18-20 “And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.” This is all we can think about.

Paul and Silas realized that sometimes singing when we don’t feel like it can lift our spirits and is an expression of our dependence on God. When the world has you down, when life keeps on kicking you, you can choose to sit there and wallow in the persecution. To complain about how people are treating you or you can choose to get up off the ground. Sometimes finding joy in hard times requires a choice. Paul and Silas choose to praise. They sang. I don’t know how good either of them were at singing, but you know what I don’t think they cared one way or the other. There is something about singing that lifts our hearts to God in an expression of love. Why do we have singing services? Why not just recite some poem? Because music moves the heart and not just the mind.

Not only did Paul and Silas know that sometimes we need to just choose not to be overcome by misery; they knew that God is the only true source of joy. The world tries to find joy and happiness in all kinds of things. They fill their lives with drink, food, video games, entertainment, amusements and comforts trying to bring joy into their lives, but they must continually be looking for more because their is not lasting joy in those things. Christians have been duped into believing the same lie. We think that joy and happiness come from entertainment and pursuing earthly pleasures. True Joy can only be found in a love relationship with God. Christians have lost their joy because they have lost their first love. When we truly delight in, love and find joy in something that joy always works itself out as praise.

I think of the man who just bought a new sports car. He is so excited about that car it is all he does in every free moment that he has. He will wash and wax it at every opportunity. He will take car of it work on it if it needs fixing, but it will also be all he can every talk about for some time. You see his joy expresses itself in praise.

We don’t praise because we are not finding out delight, joy and satisfaction in God.

They modeled forgiveness in the face of cruelty

God performs a great miracle to free Paul and Silas. Vs 26-28 This great miraculous earthquake is strong enough it breaks open the doors and yanks everyones restraints free. They all have an opportunity to flee. How many of us would have fled at the first opportunity?

The guard in despair reaches for his sword to kill himself. You see in this shame culture; he is never going to live this down. He will be the one blamed for the loss of the prisoners even though it was an act of God. In Roman culture, if a prisoner escaped, the penalty was often the death of the jailer. He knew he was a dead man. There was no escaping this. He had no hope. Many in our world have found themselves in a similar situation: without hope in this world.

Paul and Silas could have fled the moment the prison was broken. They had no reason to be concerned about this man. After all this man was the man who had treated them like trash earlier. He tortured and beat them. He locked them up in the worst parts of the prison. He was hard and cruel, but Paul and Silas show concern, compassion and forgiveness in the face of cruelty. If God were to free you from a prison, wouldn’t you have taken it as a sign that it was God’s will for you to run away? Paul and Silas knew what the punishment would have been if the prisoners had fled. They are moved with compassion to stay, they are concerned about his life and his soul, but more than this, they show forgiveness. Eph 4:32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

They modeled commitment to the gospel

Paul and Silas not only showed forth these saving virtues that are the natural products of the gospel, but they showed forth a commitment to the gospel. They did all of this, they endured persecution, pain and cruelty because they were passionate about getting the gospel to these people. They didn’t flee when they could because they knew someone needed to hear the gospel.

When the Philippian jailer asked What must I do to be saved? their answer was to point him to Jesus Christ. We see the gospel or the good news in this two verse interaction in the following statements vs 30-31.

Gospel Presentation:

The gospel teaches us that we cannot fix ourselves- “What must I” As I counsel men struggling with pornography, one of the truths I am seeing more and more is that if you could have gotten victory over the addiction yourself, you would have already had victory. If we are ever to find victory in any area of our lives, we must first come to the conclusion that we cannot fix ourselves. I don’t know a whole lot about AA and the program but I can agree with their first principle: we must admit that we are powerless to overcome alcohol and that our lives have become unmanageable. You are powerless to overcome sin in your life. You might reform your actions, see a small victory here and there; but sin will find some other way to conquer you and even those victories will be contaminated by selfishness and pride. We are so hopelessly flawed that we cannot fix ourselves. James 2:10 “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

The gospel teaches that there is nothing we can do to gain salvation- “What must I do”- Every religion on the face of the earth tells you, you must do something to earn salvation. You must come to church, offer sacrifices on an altar, pay so much money or have someone pray for you. But the bible teaches, you cannot earn your salvation because it is a free gift to those who trust in Jesus. Eph 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” It doesn’t matter whether you are strong or weak, rich or poor, good or bad; salvation is a free gift. It doesn’t depend on who you are and no one is shut out.

The gospel teaches that salvation only comes by believing or placing our faith in Jesus. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” Placing our faith in Jesus is trusting Him and only Him to saved us. Rom 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

The gospel teaches that we need someone more powerful than us to save us- “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” Jesus is here called lord or the master of the universe. You do not have the power to save yourself, but Jesus does. He is God, He is perfect and He loves you. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you are ever going to be saved from your sinful state, someone who is more powerful than you needs to do it.

The gospel teaches that that man is Jesus Christ-”Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”- The gospel which means “good news” is that Jesus the perfect lamb of God was crucified on a cross for your sins, he was beaten, despised, spit upon and mocked for your sins and he died for your sins. The blood of Jesus Christ is what washes away our sins. Without his death, you would have no hope of salvation. But Jesus didn’t remain dead, he rose from the dead conquering death and hell so we could be set free from the penalty for our sins. So if we turn from our sins and place our trust in Jesus Christ, we will be saved. Not might, Not can be, Not if you just try harder, but we shall be saved.

What was it that made him ask about salvation? vs 29

It wasn’t the earthquake because his first response after the earthquake was to try and kill himself.

It wasn’t the preaching of Paul and Silas though he probably had heard some of their message.

What drew Him to ask about how he could be saved was the fact that Paul and Silas had lived out the gospel before him. It shook him up that they had not run away when they were freed. It shook him that they were so committed to the gospel, they didn’t save their own skins. It shook him so much that they loved him enough not to flee knowing he would die because of this.

We see the evidence of the gospel in His life: vs 34

He washed their wounds- he showed compassion. This hard ex-military manly man, showed gentleness and compassion by washing their wounds.

He was concerned about his family hearing the gospel. The message didn’t just have an impact on him, but it reached his family.

He experienced joy. He was now able to experience the same joy that Paul and Silas experienced in the prison.

Conclusion

The Church doesn’t need a new style of religion, we don’t need a contemporary expression of the Church to impact the world and see people saved. What the Church needs today is a new demonstration of what the Spirit can actually do in our lives. So much of the world rejects Christianity and you know what their number one reason is. They say things like I like the ideals of Christianity but it is just those Christians that I don’t like. We have failed to demonstrate what it actually looks like to be a Christian.

When we are placed in difficult circumstances, do we model the peace of God in our lives or are we an emotional wreck. Is there joy in persecution when people treat us different because of our faith or do we get offended and demand our rights? When others treat us wrong are we able to forgive like Christ did or do we just get bitter and fight with each other? The number of people leaving churches over petty fights and the squabbling between Christians reveals our carnality.

But most of all, the world has yet to see a Christian who is completely committed to the message of the gospel. DL Moody is often attributed with saying but the quote is actually from a private conversation he had with a friend, Henry Varley:

“The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.”

Heads bowed and eyes closed this morning. I am challenged by the thoughts presented in this text. I am challenged that often my life is not the reflection of God that it should be. How many of you like me could raise your hand and say, Pastor Shirk, I am not showing forth the beauty of the gospel in my life? When others look at me, my life doesn’t show the clear difference that the gospel makes in a person’s life.

When others see the beauty of God in my life, they will be drawn to him. If He is lifted up and people see Him in us, men will be drawn to Christ.

If you do not know this Jesus who has the power to transform your life, I ask would you raise your hand so I can pray for you? In a moment the piano is going to play a hymn, this is the moment to do business with God, I beg of you to please come and settle things with God today.