Will It Take An Earthquake?

Introduction

Good evening and welcome back!

Tonight we are going to turn our attention over to the New Testament and Paul’s Travels, looking at Acts 16:25-34.

We all know that in the news today we see all kinds of natural disasters taking place, whether it be a Pandemic, Hurricane, Flood, Tsunami, or an earthquake.

And it doesn’t seem to really matter what part of the world we are in.

These things are taking place all over the world.

Tonight though, we are going to be looking at an earthquake that took place in the Bible.

This is also one of my favorite passages of scripture, in fact we are going to be looking at the passage of scripture that was taught to me when I made the decision to make Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

And we are going to be picking up in the middle of Paul's second missionary journey.

On this journey he is accompanied by Silas and probably Timothy as well as Luke, who is recording the events that we read about in the book of Acts.

They are traveling from town to town preaching the gospel and they eventually ended up in Phillipi.

And things pick up when they reach Phillipi.

They make contact with the a group of believers led by Lydia and stay with her for sometime preaching the gospel.

Day after day and would go down to the riverbank every day to pray and there was a slave girl, who was demon possessed would follow them each day taunting them shouting "These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you you to be saved."

She was mocking them and causing a great disturbance.

One day, Paul finally grows so tired of this that he commands the demon, in the name of Jesus, to leave the little girl and the demon left her immediately.

This, however, caused some problems for Paul and Silas.

While possessed by the demon, the girl could tell the future and was making a lot of money for her masters, but now that was all over with.

So, her masters become so angry they drag Paul and Silas to the magistrates claiming that Paul and Silas are causing a great disturbance, and telling the Romans that Paul and Silas are actually breaking the law by teaching them "customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice."

This causes an uproar in the town and a mob formed against Paul and Silas and the city officials ordered that Paul and Silas be stripped, beaten, and thrown in prison for the mob, like it was their fault.

And the jailer was ordered to take them and make sure they didn't escape, so he shackled their feet and put them in the inner dungeon of the jail.

This is where we pick up in Acts 16, starting in verse 25 . . .

Scripture Focus

Acts 16:25–34 NIV - Anglicised

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptised. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.

Let’s Break It Down!

So, before we really get into the main points of the Scripture, let’s break this down just a bit.

Again, starting in verse 25 . . .

Acts 16:25–26 NIV - Anglicised

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.

So, here we are and we find Paul and Silas in the jail at midnight, after they had been stripped, beaten, and shackled and they were praying and singing praises to God.

Not only were they singing and praising God at midnight, but they were doing this so loudly that the prisoners could hear them.

And in most instances, whether you are in prison or not, you want to be asleep at midnight, and here are these two guys keeping everybody awake.

And in most instance, you would be annoyed by it, but not here.

The Bible just says that the other prisoners were listening to them.

Almost as if their prayers and singing of hymns was soothing to the other prisoners.

Which is really a basic function of prayer and of singing of hymns.

It is a connection with God that brings peace to a troubled soul.

That’s why we do it in Church.

And I know that in some instances we have turned it into a ritual, but it really needs to be a connection between us and God.

It needs to bring peace to our troubled souls.

Which is exactly what is going on here.

Then though, the Bible says that "suddenly" in the middle of their praising and singing, "There was a great earthquake,"

And this earthquake was so great and so strong that the "foundations of the prison were shaken."

So it shook the whole building from the foundation up.

After this earthquake took place and NOT BECAUSE OF THE EARTHQUAKE—that is an important point.

This is a miracle that took place SUBSEQUENT TO THE EARTHQUAKE, all the doors of the prison were opened and every ones bonds were loosed.

So essentially all the prisoners were free to escape.

Now, if there was a great earthquake and then all of the doors of the Lincoln County Jail opened up, what do we think would happen?

They’d be gone!

They would be rounding up prisoners for weeks.

Not here though, something different takes place . . .

Acts 16:27–28 NIV - Anglicised

The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

From all the commotion the jailer or the "keeper of the prison" was woke up and he saw that al the prison doors were open and all the prisoners were loose.

When he saw this and saw all of the prison doors were open, he assumed that all of the prisoners were gone.

And he also knew that he would be put to death as punishment for allowing them all to escape so he drew his sword and was going to kill himself.

But just as he was about to kill himself, Paul cried out to him "don’t harm yourself! We are all here!"

Not a single prisoner left.

They had all stayed there in the prison even though they could have ran to freedom.

And the only explanation for that is that the power of the Holy Spirit compelled them to stay.

Because we know left entirely up to human nature that at least one of them would have taken off.

I mean we think of things in prison terms of our prisons today.

They were nothing compared to the harshness of a Roman prison.

But instead of making a run for it, they every single one stayed there.

So . . .

Acts 16:29–32 NIV - Anglicised

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.

So, hearing Paul announce that everyone was still there, the jailer called for a light and went into the dungeon of the prison and saw for himself that all the prisoners were still there.

At this point he was trembling and went from the strong, authoritative jailer who had complete control over Paul and Silas to falling on his knees in front of them and asking the key question:

What must I do to be saved?

This is the most important question that any of us could ask.

He asked the question and received his answer, "they replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved," and not only do you have the opportunity to be saved but also, "your household" or anyone you have contact with and/or care about.

After this the Bible says that they "spoke to him the word of the Lord and all that were in his house."

So they shared the gospel with him and his entire family.

And so moved by this . . .

Acts 16:33–34 NIV - Anglicised

At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptised. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.

They didn't waste any time.

That very night at the midnight hour he took Paul and Silas, cleaned their wounds and after hearing the gospel, he and his family accepted Christ and were baptized.

They then returned to the jailer's house and ate and rejoiced in fellowship as believers together.

What’s The Point?

And that is an amazing story of how God took an impossible situation and turned it into a great testimony.

And even though the focus is on the jailer and his family’s salvation, I often wonder about those other prisoners.

How many of them too were saved because of what happened that night?

We will never know, but you can bet that at least a few were.

Which is why our testimony and how we conduct ourselves is so vital and so important to our walk.

It could make or break someone else’s relationship with Christ.

But outside of that, what are the main points of this passage?

What is Paul really getting at?

First, Paul and Silas were up at midnight praying and singing praises to God.

They had just been beaten and thrown in prison and instead of wallowing in self pity they were praising God in their present situation.

Which begs the question, what is our present situation?

We may be here today and may not deserve to be going through what we are going through, or it may just be consequences of our actions. I don’t know.

But the fact remains, we are in the situation we are in and that is not going to change.

So, what are we doing with our time?

Are we praising and serving God or are we wallowing in self-pity?

Second, Paul and Silas did not care who heard or saw who their God was.

They were praising and praying to God that the other prisoners could hear them.

They knew that God was more powerful than any devil that tormented their cell mates.

They allowed their praise and worship to be an example and a witness to the others.

Can we say the same thing?

Third, God responds to their praise and worship with two miracles.

The first miracle is the earthquake.

This earthquake was out of the blue in the middle of the night.

God used this earthquake to get everyone's attention.

First he got Paul and Silas' attention, then the other prisoners, and finally the Philippian Jailer.

How many earthquakes is God going to have to allow in our lives to get our attention?

The second miracle is the opening of the prison doors and loosing of the bonds.

This happened after their attention was caught.

What was the purpose of this?

I believe it was to show everyone that God was in control.

It was to show everyone there that it did not matter that they were in the prison, that God was even able to go into the prison and deliver them from their bondage, even in a place that is overrun by devils and demons.

God is everywhere and God is in control.

Fourth, God came through in the jailer's darkest hour.

The jailer was so distressed that the spirit of suicide was on him and he was about to kill himself and God delivered him from that in an instant.

This is a miracle in itself.

Here we have a jail full of prisoners that are free to walk out the door but not a single one leave, the presence of God is so strong that they are more concerned about God than they are about the flesh.

Do we trust God to deliver us?

Fifth, seeing who his deliverer is, the jailer cries out to God.

He realizes in that instant, in the presence of God that he is lost and bound for an eternity in hell and he doesn't resist but asks the most important question any of will ever ask, "What must I do to be saved?"

Are you here today and have that question?

Do you want to know what you must do to be saved?

Sixth, the answer to the question is simple, "believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved."

It is a simple act of faith.

We confess with our mouth's and believe with our hearts.

And I know that on a Sunday night, most everyone has received Christ, but you never know.

Is there anyone here that wants to do that?

You have realized that you are living a lie and you need to make it right?

Right now is the time, this is the place?

We have to make a change.

Our souls are going to live forever somewhere and we make the choice where.

And finally, seventh, when we choose Jesus it opens the door for not only us, but for our whole family, our friends, our cell mates, anyone we come into contact with.

We then serve as a witness to the world of the saving power of Jesus,

Do you want to be that witness?

That is what we need to think about tonight.

Let’s pray . . .