Acts 16:19 - 33----
When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
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 baptized. 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.
That’s a lot of problems, isn’t it? Paul and Silas were just going about doing the Lord’s work and problems came to them. They were busy doing everything right and a whole boat-load of problems showed up for them. Big problems. And they got worse, too!
The Bible doesn’t say that being a Christian will make your life easy. The Bible never says that following Jesus will make your whole life happy and fun. No where does it say that being a Christian means that you have no more pains, problems or concerns. No. You may get more problems. But you have the joy of the Lord to go through the problems and overcome them.
Look at what Paul and Silas did. They were beaten and thrown in jail. They didn’t feel good. They ached. They could have felt discouraged. They could have said, “Oh, look! All our efforts are getting us no where!” But instead, they were tied up in prison—but singing and praying and praising God. In the middle of all their problems and pain and suffering and discouragement, they rejoiced.
What about us? What about you? What do we do when problems come? Can we praise God even in the midst of the troubles? I would venture a guess that few of us have had it nearly as rough as Paul and Silas did.
But noticed that there is never a place that is not opportune to pray! They prayed not in a church, but in a dungeon! We can pray and praise God anywhere! In the Psalms we read that David said “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.” (Ps 63:6) We should be quick to go to praising God. We should be quick to retreat to that great rest of prayer.
Notice also that there is never a time when it is not good to pray! They prayed, not at the typical hours of prayer time. No, they prayed at midnight. They couldn’t sleep so they prayed! Rest did not come so they praise the Lord and Maker of Heaven and earth! We should be so quick too—ready to pray and worship at all times.
Paul later wrote: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Always be joyful!
Pray continually!
Give thanks in all circumstances.
Paul and Silas prayed and sang loudly! All the other prisoners heard them and listened.
But, you say, “That’s hard to do. I can’t!”
Well, you’re partly right! You can’t. But God can. Paul also wrote that “I can do all things through Christ who strengths me.” It is God who gives strength.
If you do not have that strength, you need to call upon God. Cry out to Him.
Let’s look at the next important part of this passage. The jailor is scared. Of course, there was a big earthquake! Of course, he’s thinking that all the prisoners have escaped and he’s in big trouble. But he also has been listening to Paul and Silas. In fact everyone in the prison was listening to these men. They were very vocal about it. The jailor, too, was listening. He was used to hearing moans and groans. He probably heard his share of shouting and cursing and swearing. But he had never heard prayer and singing from his jail before.
The jailor knew that these men were in big trouble. He knew that they were in pain. But what he couldn’t figure out was why they were still joyful. Joyful and rejoicing? He knew that he had no such joy. He knew that he had no such hope and only a very dismal future.
So as soon as the jailor had a big trial and a big scare, he ran to these men and begged them: “What must I do to be saved!?”
This is what we all need to ask. What must I do to be saved? I need salvation. I have no joy, no hope, no future. What must I do to be saved? And then being saved, I will have great joy and great hope!
And the answer is as simple today as it was then. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved!”
This is what the angels announced at that first Christmas. Remember? We just sang ‘Angels we have heard on high….’ These angels said that “For unto you is born this day a Savior who is Christ the Lord!”
Paul said: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
You will be saved because Jesus is the Savior!
You will be saved because Jesus is the Christ—He is the One that God promised to send.
You will be saved because Jesus is the Lord!—He is God! He is completely able to save you. All you need to do is believe on Him. Trust Him. Cry out to Him. Pray to Him and say, “I am a sinner. Have mercy on me. Save me, oh Lord Jesus Christ.” —And He Will!
So call upon Him and ask Him for salvation. Call upon Him and ask for strength. He is able. This is Jesus who came into the world on that first Christmas about 200 years ago. This Jesus came to save sinners. Knowing that should make you happy! That should give you great cause for rejoicing. Jesus loves me! Jesus saved me!
And then rejoicing comes easy. Praising Gods comes easy! Praying to this wonderful Lord Jesus Christ comes easy since it is such a joy to talk to Him.
And wouldn’t it make you kind of excited? Like you have to tell someone else? Like it is the most important thing that has ever happened to you and you just have to tell someone? That also is part of this rejoicing. That is what Paul and Silas were doing too.
That’s why we’re going to sing, “Go Tell It on the Mountains”! Because the shepherds went and saw Jesus and they were so excited that they had to go tell everyone else about it.
We should go tell everyone else about this Jesus too, if we have believed on Him—then He has saved us!
