We are going to switch gears a little bit from some of the things that we have been doing because it's nice to have a series of lessons and it's nice to have themed lessons, and then every now and then it's nice to have a lesson that seems like it's out of the middle of nowhere. And that's what we're going to do. But since it can be found in the text of our Bibles and it's going to be beneficial to us, that's something that we can take part in. So we're going to look at this story of conversion. I don't often use the word "story" because the connotation might indicate to some that it is going to be something of a fictional nature, not something that is a fact, not something that is a real event.
But if you turn in your New Testaments to Acts chapter 16, what we're going to look at is the account of the conversions that take place in that particular chapter. I'm sure you're very familiar with the account of the Philippian jailer.
We're going to take our time getting into that particular idea because we want to begin about verse 11, and we're going to briefly read the account that leads up to the Philippian jailer.
- Acts 16:11-15
Two Stories of Conversion
Lydia's Conversion and Background
So we'll stop there for just a moment to consider some pertinent things about this particular account. First of all, concerning this lady named Lydia. We know very little about her. In fact, everything that we know about her, we just read. There's not much else to say from an inspired standpoint. The place that she lives in, we also know very little about, but it's not the only time in scripture you read about the city of Thyatira.
- Revelation 2:18-29
Thyatira is a place that is known. It is a place that is verified as of now that Paul is there. There's going to be a congregation of the Lord's people that's established there. What we read in Acts chapter 16 is the beginning of that particular church's establishment.
Paul's custom was, when he would go into a new city, he would go to the synagogue and he would teach the Jews first, and he would give the Jews every chance to believe and obey, to come to the same confidence of the truth of God's word that Paul himself possessed. And inevitably with each place, each synagogue that he would go into, some would hear and believe and many would hear and they would cast him out of the city. They would drive him out, sometimes violently, sometimes with threats against his life. But there was no synagogue here in Philippi for him to go to. There was no synagogue in this Roman colony. And we understand from reading secular history and some of the Old Testament that there were certain requirements for there to be a Jewish synagogue in a particular place. They had to have a certain number of Jews, in particular male Jews, residing in that area to have a synagogue established and built, and they didn't have one.
So Paul, understanding this, goes to the riverside where people would go away from the city so they could be with themselves and pray together. And those that were with Paul and his company—and Luke includes himself in this endeavor—go there and they find this woman who's willing to hear the gospel and she is converted because of the words of Paul. He spoke the things of the gospel, which leads to salvation.
The Reason for Paul’s Imprisonment
- Acts 16:16-18
We can't really talk about Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail unless we talk about the reason for them being there. So we need to talk about this damsel, in which the word "damsel" is really just a Greek word meaning a young girl. We don't know anything. We don't even know this girl's name. We don't know how old she is. We don't know the circumstances of the demon possessing her.
All we know is in the first century, demon possession was a real thing. It was something that was not controllable by the person that was being possessed. This young girl is possessed by a demon that she did not want. She has very little, if any, control over her body. She's able to soothsay, able to give fortune to people, to tell them of experiences that they will see or feel or hear later on. And in doing so, she provides her masters an income. They're using her in ways that they ought not to use her. And we would call this ill-gotten gains and rightfully so.
And she says a particular thing—though it's not her, it's this demon that is possessing her—as Paul and Silas and his group (Luke included) are walking through the streets of Philippi. It says they're on their way to prayer. You could imagine that they're leaving Philippi going back to that same river where Lydia and those other women met, and this young girl says that these are men who will bring about words from God that bring salvation. And they go through the city and she's saying this, and apparently this happens for several days in a row to the point where Paul is grieved.
The text says he's grieved, annoyed greatly at her saying it. Was what she was saying not true? Were Paul and Silas bringing words by which the people there in Philippi could be saved? Yes. They were. The words that she was saying were true. What was the problem? God didn't need the voice of a demon saying that Paul and Silas and Luke and Timothy are there to bring salvation. God doesn't need that. God doesn't want his truth being proclaimed by the mouth of someone possessing this young girl outside of her desire. And so Paul commands this demon to come out of her, and it comes out that very hour.
Imprisonment of Paul and Silas
- Acts 16:19-24
The owners of this particular young girl catch Paul and Silas, and they take them into the marketplace and to where the business of the day would be conducted. And they said these people are troubling us. They called them Jews saying things that's not lawful for us to hear. They're wanting us to do things that's not lawful for us to do, being Romans.
What special piece of information do we find out about Paul right at the end of chapter 16? That he was a Roman citizen, yet he allows himself to be called a Jew. He allows himself to be beaten with his company. He allows himself to be afflicted with many stripes, and yet he had the "get out of jail free card" and he didn't pull it out and use it. He waited until later.
Now, what about this jailer? We don't really know much about the jailer. Most likely he was not active in the army anymore. It was not uncommon for Roman colonies to have retired soldiers to operate their prison systems. But he would've been trained just like a regular soldier at one time. He would've known the discipline. He was entrusted with the keeping of Paul and Silas in particular. And so, he puts them into the innermost part of the prison.
These people aren't going to be seeing the light of day. Remember, they haven't been tried yet. They've just kind of been sentenced, and we'll try them later, but he's in charge of their safekeeping now. There was a law in Roman colonies that if a jailer lost a prisoner, if a prisoner escaped on his watch, then he would suffer the fate that was meant for that prisoner. He could be put to death.
Paul and Silas in Prison: Singing and the Earthquake
- Acts 16:25-34
Paul and Silas are in their particular cell, and there's nothing pretty about it. They probably can't see where they're sitting on the floor, and I'm sure they're not sitting on any furniture. They're going to be on the floor and their hands and their feet are in the stocks. They weren't sitting in recliners, they weren't laying on beds with mattresses. And at midnight, Paul and Silas are singing praises and praying to God.
How in the world could they do that? They've been beaten many times with stripes, most likely their clothes are torn, their bodies are bruised or even lacerated. They could be bleeding and they have not received any treatment for their wounds. And yet here they are at midnight, sitting in uncomfortably awkward positions, chained hand and foot, sitting on the ground, and they have it within themselves to sing and to pray.
Four Reasons Why they Could Praise God from Prison
- 1 Peter 4:16
- Matthew 5:11-12
They are obeying the commands of Jesus himself by singing and praying, even though they're bleeding from their backs, their clothes are torn and they're secured in their cell.
Second, God was going to validate his word. God was going to cause a miracle to take place here. The purpose for miracles was to confirm the word.
- Hebrews 2:3-4
Third, they already saw the light. Paul and Silas weren't concerned about whether or not they died in that prison. It wouldn't have been their first option to die in that particular prison, but they weren't concerned with their physical outcome or their spiritual outcome because they were soldiers of Jesus Christ. And they already had everything going for them.
- 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
- Acts 5:41
And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
Fourthly, sometimes persecution leads to conversion.
The Jailer’s Question and Conversion
The jailer comes in and he sees all the doors open and he's panicked. He's about to take out his own sword and kill himself. But Paul speaks up with a loud voice and says, Do yourself no harm for we are all here. And then the Philippian jailer asks for a light, and he came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
He's asking what must I do so that my soul can be saved? He heard what they were singing and praying, and no doubt the desire of Paul and Silas's heart was that those that could hear them would have an opportunity to get their lives right with God and also be saved.
- Acts 16:31, 32-34
They found the one verse that says all you have to do is believe and you are saved. But that's not what has happened here. Paul tells him the conclusion: believing on Jesus Christ is how your soul will be saved. But there's nowhere that says he currently believed that Jesus Christ was the son of God.
Then verse 32,
"And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." — Acts 16:32-34
He was baptized, and then he is believing, only after he'd heard and repented and his sins were remitted through baptism.
You can't go to a single conversion passage in all the New Testament and find all five acts of salvation, but here we have four of them: hearing the word, believing, repenting, being baptized. The confession is implied.
The Conversion Pattern is the Same Today
A story of conversion and it is the same principles of salvation that are for us today, just as they were for him some 2000 years ago.
Where are you? Are you in a situation where you are wanting to ask the question, what must I do to be saved? We've laid out the pattern, and the pattern has not changed since the inspired message was revealed some 2000 years ago. Are you willing to do the same thing that the Philippian jailer did? The same thing that Lydia did, to have your sins washed away, to become a child of God, to be a part of the kingdom that Jesus said He would establish?
And if we can assist you in any way, we would encourage you to contact us.
