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September 28, 2023
Leading verses 30-31: "And he brought them forth, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved: They said: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you and your house shall be saved."
God sent Paul to Philippi to preach the gospel in Europe.
When God opens people's hearts, He comes to dwell in their hearts. Acts 16 gives us the story of how the gospel was planted in Philippi, how God opened their hearts to receive and obey the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
However, this chapter tells us that Paul was both warmly received and met with opposition in Philippi. We can expect both warm welcome and opposition when we tell people about Christ today.
We can imagine here what happens when the work of the gospel collides with the money business or with the prevailing godless culture.
Proclaiming the gospel of Christ will become a challenge to godless society. The Word of God will inevitably come into conflict with the godless culture. When God's Word is preached and the name of Jesus Christ is honored, sooner or later there will be a conflict of interest with the godless culture: there may come either persecution of Christians or a godly renewal of society. Or both, persecution and renewal, can happen at the same time, as it happens today in China or North Korea.
When Christians confront business, education or entertainment companies with the name of Jesus Christ and His Word, unbelieving people will see it as a threat to their interests.
The problem with Christians today is that many Christians have become accustomed to today's culture and have become friends with the godless culture.
School, church, and parents are three important institutions of faith teaching in Germany.
In the past, parents, church, and school taught children that the teaching of the Bible was right and followed it. They believed that they should act as Jesus had taught.
But after World War 2, the teaching of faith among parents, church, and school has changed.
Liberalism has become the driving force of society today. School and church teach many things that are not compatible with the Bible. Parents ignore their duty to raise children in faith.
I have seen the statistics that leaving the church in Germany increased from about the age of 20 after WW2. This shows that many children born after WW2 became unbelievers. This shows that parents, church and school neglected or liberalized their duty of raising children.
Paul proclaimed the message of Jesus Christ even when it met with rejection from his listeners and brought him persecution.
Paul and Silas were falsely accused, beaten and thrown into prison by the city judge (verses 19-24).
What were Paul and Silas doing in prison?
Were they afraid and distressed?
Verse 25 tells us what they were doing:
"Now at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and praising God. And the prisoners listened."
Paul and Silas prayed and praised God even though they ended up bleeding from beatings in a filthy prison! And all the other prisoners listened!
Although there were only two messengers of the gospel there, the Lord, according to His promise, was in their midst as a third person, revealing His gracious presence in an impressive grace.
They trusted in this present God and praised Him. And because of this, prison was like paradise for them.
Although they were beaten bloody and had become prisoners, they realized that the Lord was present with them. That is why they prayed and praised God. They knew that they were safe in the hand of God. They knew that God was accompanying them and would surely give them victory. Therefore, they thanked God and praised Him.
Then a miracle happened: "Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison shook. And immediately they opened all the doors, and from all of them the fetters fell off" (26).
Through this earthquake, Paul and Silas were freed from prison. The two could have escaped if they wanted to. But the two did not escape, but confronted the jailer, saved him from committing suicide, and led him and his family to faith in Jesus Christ (verses 25-34).
A. Shaking the prison (vv. 25-26).
We are always to be aware of God's presence, especially when we find ourselves in a difficult situation.
We believe in the Triune God: God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And God always accompanies us through the Holy Spirit. That is, "God is with us!"
We should always be aware that God is with us through the Holy Spirit, especially when we are in a difficult situation.
I am telling about the wonderful homecoming of Esther, my wife.
She got stomach cancer and fought for a year and two months. When the day of her earthly departure was approaching, she got terrible pain at midnight from Monday to Tuesday, that is, December 9-10, 2019.
Therefore, she cried out three times, "Why, why, why?" After this word, she then said three times, "Daddy, forgive me". I believe that she became aware of the presence of the loving God and asked God to forgive her. After this word, her face became like an angel's face and peacefully fell asleep. After sleeping peacefully, she went to Heavenly Father on December 13, 2019, 4:00 pm. When we recognize God's presence, we know we are in a paradise.
On Esther's farewell day, December 13, a resident of our apartment building named Mrs. Mary came to visit her in sickness. Esther had made many efforts to lead her to faith in Jesus Christ, but in vain, because she was thinking scientifically. But on that farewell day of Esther, she came and told me that she could suddenly believe in the resurrection. That was a miracle of God on Esther's farewell day.
When we find ourselves in a difficult situation in life, we should be aware that the Lord Jesus Christ is present with us. We can then pray to Him and praise Him.
God can work and do His wonderful work even in our difficult situation. There is no impossibility with Him. We should not only look at our difficult situation, but also at God, the almighty, loving God.
We are to trust Him, worship Him and follow His guidance.
And we are to give our testimony of God to the world.
B. Shaking the Gates of Hell (vv. 27-34)
After God had shaken the prison to free Paul and Silas through the earthquake, He shook the gates of hell through Paul and Silas to snatch a soul from eternal punishment. This jailer almost wanted to commit suicide and plunge himself into hell so that the devil would have won another trophy. For the devil knew that the guard who let the prisoner go, regardless of the reason, was executed. But when he learned through Paul that all the prisoners remained, he immediately fell at the feet of Paul and Silas.
He knew that something supernatural had happened. And his heart was ready to accept the saving hand of God through Paul. Surely he had heard the songs Paul and Silas sang in prison of grace and faith. He was amazed at their attitude, their confidence, and their eternal perspective.
Therefore, he asked Paul and Silas:
"What must I do to be saved?" (30).
This question is not only asked by this jailer, but by every human being.
Paul gave the answer to the jailer and also to us, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you and your household will be saved (and blessed)!" (31).
Then the jailer and also all his family members accepted and let them all be baptized. They join Lydia's household as the church in Philippi. The joy that Paul and Silas had in prison spilled over to the jailer's house.
In this world, there are various sources of joy, such as eating, drinking, playing, vacationing, and so on. But salvation from hell is the greatest joy of all. This joy makes many people happy, although they are in a difficult situation.
In May 1941 Maximilian Kolbe was sent to the Auschwitz death camp. He said prayers and sang songs until the Nazis killed him by lethal injection.
Jochen Klepper, a German, wrote the following about Jesus:
God has already established his kingdom,
when we are still deep in battle.
Even death and hell are destroyed.
His word is life, work, victory.
When we think of the grace of salvation from hell, we can thank and sing praises to God everywhere, even if we were in the dungeon.
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