Praise from the Prison

Introduction:

If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of Acts chapter 16.

We will be completing our study of chapter 16 this week, but if your new with us let me catch you up.

Paul and Silas have been commissioned by the church at Antioch and by the Spirit of God to take the message of Jesus to Gentile cities who have yet to hear the name of Jesus.

God’s Spirit has clearly and unmistakably guided them to the city of Philippi where they have been preaching the good news of salvation in Jesus.

In verses 16-24, we saw a clash of spiritual and cultural forces.

Paul confronted a demon-possessed slave girl who was making her masters money through fortune telling.

When Paul cast out the demonic spirit, the slave girl could no longer make her master’s money, and the city quickly turned on Paul and Silas.

They were accused of disturbing the city and advocating customs not lawful for Romans.

The crowd attacked them, tore their garments, beat them with rods, and threw them into inner maximum security prison with feet fastened to the stocks.

Its important that we pause before reading any further to remind ourselves of the historical reality of this.

Randy and Sarah recently visited one of the possible prison sites in ancient Philippi where Paul and Silas could have been kept.

Its a real place. This is a picture that Randy and Sara took of the possible site of Paul’s imprisonment in Philippi.

This is real life. I’m afraid that in our digital, media, entertainment age…, we can be lulled to spiritual sleep without tasting the reality of texts like this.

Paul and Silas were real people who were really publicly humiliated,

They felt each strike of rods on their back,

and they were thrown into a Philippian jail.

just imagine trying to sleep amidst the darkness, and the stench, and the hard rocky ground that you are chained to.

Christians throughout the ages have endured such things.

but in this case…, at about midnight a shocking sound could be heard echoing from their cell.

Acts 16:25–40 ESV

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 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. 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. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 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?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. 35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” 36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” 38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. 39 So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. 40 So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.

Lets Pray

Imagine being a prisoner in Philippi that night.

you have heard the treatment of Paul and Silas

perhaps you saw their wounds and the trail of blood from where they drug these men past you and into their cell.

Maybe your already wondering what these men could have done to have deserved such treatment.

as darkness came you hear the groans and the grimaces as raw wounds rub against the rocky surfaces.

But around midnight, in the pitch black darkness, you begin to hear a sound unfamiliar to the prison.

You hear Singing.

Not just any singing, the singing of hymns - songs of praise to God.

In the midst of the darkness, these men still have something to sing about.

What do you think began to run through minds and hearts of these listeners?

Certainly questions would arise...

Who are they singing to?

How can they worship in circumstances like these?

What is their source of hope and joy and thanksgiving?

how can you sing a song of praise from a prison?

Singing at such a time as this is only possible if there are some joyful, wonderful, glorious truths that remain the same whether you are in a prison or on a luxury vacation.

Paul and Silas had an unchanging reality that they could rejoice in regardless of circumstance.

Their future was secure.

If this prison and this situation should lead to their death…, they would be with Jesus very soon.

There was a confidence in their eternity so much so that it brought joy into their present.

What a wonderful hope and confidence we have as Christians…

Our future is so bright it actually shines into our present darkness.

As Paul later puts it. ..

Romans 8:18 ESV

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Our faith in future glory brings the shine of that glory into our present.

Paul and Silas knew their future was sure…, and so can we….

but they also knew that their present situation was not wasted.

Paul and Silas understood that God had sovereignly directed them to Philippi for a reason.

They knew they had been pursuing the will of the Lord, and that means this imprisonment was a part of the plan.

When God’s Spirit spoke to Paul in a dream and directed him to travel to Macedonia, this imprisonment was a part of the plan.

They had to trust in God’s providence, and that peaceful trust in providence led to praise.

What do I mean when I say “providence”?

I mean God’s sovereign orchestration of events to accomplish his purposes.

Providence is God’s powerful directing of all things to accomplish what he plans for the good of his people and for his ultimate glory.

No enemy plan can overcome God’s plan.

Therefore, the prison was part of the plan.

They just weren’t sure how yet…, so they praised the God they could trust even in moments like this.

#1 God’s Providence Frees us to Praise in the Prison

We actually get to see Paul flesh out this mindset several times throughout his letters.

Here is Paul writing back to the Philippians about a different imprisonment later in his ministry:

Philippians 1:12–14 ESV

12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Do you see life through this lens?

Do you see closed doors, bad diagnoses, bad break ups, financial difficulty, relational strife, and disappointments as actual opportunities for the Sovereign God of Glory to shape you and use you beyond your comprehension?

What if we did view our lives this way?

If we did…, we would sing.

thats the proper response.

Singing is a gift.

It puts our prayers to music.

It gives our words a proper an emotion that is deeper than the words alone could express.

Singing is joy and thanksgiving and grief and our need expressed to God.

We are a praising people.

When we gather together on Sunday mornings we all sing even though we all are coming from different kinds of weeks where we have endured different kinds of hardships.

Some of us were in the hospital, some of us were in depression, some of us were overjoyed with family and friends and time off work, some of us were grieving….

but all of us who believe in the Lord Jesus…. all of us can sing this morning because there are some unchangeably true things that we get to sing about this morning.

Paul and Silas sang.

and the prisoners were listening.

That is often the case.

non-christians are always curious to watch how Christians are going to handle the prisons of this life, the dark moments of life, and the disappointments.

They want to know whether the Christian God is worthy of praise even in the darkness.

Paul and Silas were showing that he is worthy of praise.

And then God showed off his power.

Acts 16:26–27 ESV

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. 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.

So God has worked miraculously.

He has shaken the foundations of the prison so that all the prisoners were freed to escape.

let me pause here briefly and just say, God could have done this at any time.

He is all powerful.

He didn’t have to wait to midnight.

He could have shaken the ground before any rod landed on the back of Paul or Silas, but that was not the plan. God’s providence is at work.

When the jailer awakes and sees that the prison doors are open he knows that his life is over.

Either the prisoners will kill him, or his superior’s will publicly shame him and kill him for failing to keep the prisoners safe.

Notice the difference between the jailer and Paul and Silas.

Paul and Silas sing in the darkness….,

the jailer has no God to trust in and thinks he has no other options,

and he decides to take his own life…

Those are two very different responses to life threatening difficulties.

The jailer’s in a darker place, then Paul and Silas were…

until God interrupts him with the voice of Paul

Acts 16:28–29 ESV

28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.

Now here is the question that should flood the reader’s mind….

Why in the world did Paul not run out of the doors that God had opened?

More than that, why didn’t the other prisoners run away?

This was their opportunity to escape,

it was obviously God who opened the doors,

Most of us would have jetted the moment the prison doors opened, but Paul had eyes to see that God was doing something in the prison.

The primary goal was not get out of prison.

The primary goal was to witness to those in the prison.

And that afforded a certain kind of patience to Paul and Silas and even the prisoners who are now enthralled at this difficulty defying God.

#2 God’s Providence Frees Us to Be Present and Patient in the Prison

Paul and Silas are not running out of the prison as fast as they can.

They are calm, collected, and they are operating with eternal perspective.

I think God’s providence frees us not only to praise in the prison, but it frees us to have a supernatural degree of patience in the prison… because we know God is there and he is working.

I think too often we try to sprint into the new season, the different circumstance, the change of setting, and in doing so we run right past the jailer of the prison not realizing that he may have been the reason for the season we are in.

Trust in God’s providence allows us embrace patience and presence in the moment of God’s mission that he has placed us.

Paul and Silas stay, and the jailer comes trembling before them with the right question.

Acts 16:29–30 ESV

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?”

Now thats the right question.

Thats the question everyone needs to ask at some point in their lives.

What must I do to be saved from this earthquake causing God that you sing to even in the prison?

How can I be one of his people?

How can I have what Paul and Silas have?

The answer shouldn’t surprise us because its consistent with everything the book of Acts has emphasized thus far.

Here is the answer:

Acts 16:31 ESV

31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Question: How can someone be saved?

Answer: Believe in the Lord Jesus…

Trust that Jesus is Lord - that is that he is leader, ruler, of the universe and of your life.

Believe that he defeated the grave, and paid the price for your sin.

There are no steps of penance in this answer,

there are no actions that this jailer needs to perform to secure his salvation…

Only faith alone.

Thats the gospel for him and thats the gospel truth for his family as well.

The jailer does just that, and then look at the transformation to follow.

Acts 16:32–34 ESV

32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

#3 God’s Providence Frees People From a Spiritual Prison

This jailer was on the brink of suicide because he fears punishment and shame from his superiors…

He was in real shackles.

Enslaved to the demand for honor in his society that he would rather die than face the consequences of lost prisoners on his watch.

Sin is a slaver master.

Without relationship with the one true God we are in real bondage to the situations, sorrows, and hopelessness of this life.

But the gospel of Jesus Christ offers freedom from that life.

Once the jailer hears the gospel of Jesus Christ and believes,

he is free now to show true compassion…, he invites these prisoners to his home,

he washes their wounds,

he provides them with a meal,

he is free from the fear of what his superiors will do to him or the public shame that his failure might bring… he is free to be baptized as an act of obedience to Jesus’ command.

And verse 34 says….

Acts 16:34 ESV

34 …..he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

he free to rejoice.

he goes from a moment of possible suicide, to an unshakeable joy, he and his whole household.

Thats what the providence of God is working to accomplish in hearts and minds all over the world.

Its not just a message of forgiveness,

Its not just a message of eternal life later,

Its a message of abundant life now…, freedom to rejoice, freedom to rejoice regardless of earthly circumstance.

The gospel that saves… is also a gospel that transforms.

Don’t be fooled by these stories of persecution, and suffering for the cause of Christ.

Their suffering does not mean that they were miserable all the time… in fact the opposite is true.

If your following the church’s Bible reading plan you would have read these words from Paul earlier this week.

2 Corinthians 6:4–10 ESV

4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.

in God’s providence we are freed to live that kind of life…. a joyful one and a courageous one in the face of opposition.

The last scene of the this story takes a strange turn.

Acts 16:35–39 ESV

35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” 36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” 38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. 39 So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

You would think that the jailer would smuggle away Paul and Silas to safety at this point, but thats not the case.

Paul and Silas actually go back to their cells intentionally.

Not only do they go back to their cells, but when the magistrates seek to release them in the morning, they double down on not leaving.

In fact, they demand that the magistrates come escort them out publicly.

What is going on here?

Philippi is a very Roman colony.

And by very Roman, I mean culturally.

All the other cities Paul visits are Roman as well, but Philippi is the only city that Luke designates explicitly as being a Roman colony.

With that Roman culture comes particular rules of honor and shame in which being a legitimately born Roman citizen earned someone particular rights.

Roman citizenship could be bought by a large some of money, or you could be born into it, but only about 1/3 or so of the population of people had it.

One of the benefits of Roman citizenship was protection when traveling from city to city. Citizens could not be beaten or prosecuted in anyway without fair trial in Roman courts.

Paul was a Roman citizen, which means the magistrates had publicly shamed, and beaten uncondemned a Roman citizen.

Paul wanted these city leaders to recognize what they had done publicly,

he wants them to fear retribution,

and to think twice before they persecuted the Christian community later down the road.

He is making an investment in the future of the Philippian church.

He is taking a diplomatic stand against the church’s opposition.

And again, notice the difference between the magistrates and the apostles.

Acts 16:38 ESV

38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.

The magistrates are afraid, while Paul and Silas remain steadfast and courageous.

Here is our last truth.

#4 God’s Providence Frees Us From the Fear of Man

This is a remarkable move for Paul and Silas to take their stand against the magistrates by remaining in the prison until they are escorted out…,

but what is even more remarkable is the fact that it got to this point at all.

Once Paul acknowledges his Roman citizenship to the magistrates, you recognize that he could have pulled this card at any moment.

He could have stopped the beating of rods in the moment by appealing to his citizenship.

He allowed the beating and the imprisonment to proceed though he had the power to stop it.

And in a moment you realize, that this trial, this tribulation, this suffering, was willingly endured for the sake of the Philippian church.

He wanted to pave a way for protection for them…, by enduring the injustice of the Philippian magistrates.

He also wanted to model for them what it looked like to endure for the cause of Christ. If he had claimed Roman citizenship and escaped the persecution, how would the new church in Philippi know how to endure.

You actually hear Paul’s motives coming out in his letter to the Philippians.

Philippians 1:27–30 ESV

27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

#4 God’s Providence Frees Us from the Fear of Man

It is a freeing thing to know where you stand with God, and that he is for you and not against you.

by his grace, through faith, you are one of God’s children, and though the prison may be dark.., his providence is working out all the details for your eternal good.

Romans 8:28–38 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

Are you free to walk in this truth this morning?

Free to praise in the prison

Free to be patient and present

Free from the spiritual prison and free to help others like the jailer experience new life

Free from the fear of man

How do we experience this freedom?

This salvation?

the answer remains the same.

Acts 16:30–31 ESV

30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Lets Pray