FAITH Saves You-Acts 16

Acts of the Apostles, New Testament, Sermons

Recent Acts sermons: JESUS Saves You (Ac 13:38). HARDSHIPS Saves You (Acts 14:22). GRACE Saves You (Acts 15:11).
In Acts 16 a jailer 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” (Ac 16:30-31). To believe is to have faith. “To Save” [sozein] (Ac 16:30; 27:20, 31) is to rescue from physical danger. Acts 16:31 is one of the central message of Acts (Ac 2:21, 38; 4:12; 5:14; 9:41; 10:43; 11:14, 17; 13:39; 15:11).

  1. Faith rejects/accepts Mark (15:36-40). They agreed with the mission but not the composition of the team.
  2. Faith circumcises Timothy [Lystra] (16:1-5).
  3. Faith submits/is sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s redirection [Troas] (6-10). God’s “No” is just as important as God’s “Go.”
  4. Faith responds to the gospel [Philippi] (11-15). God opened Lydia’s heart and she became a Christian. She opened her home and it became a church.
  5. Faith drives out demons (16-18).
  6. Faith causes an uproar (19-21).
  7. Faith sings after flogging (22-25). Paul and Silas turned a dark dungeon into a holy sanctuary. Paul was not sulking, he was singing; he was not pouting, he was praising.
  8. Faith saves (26-34; 35-40).
  1. Why did Paul take Timothy with him (Ac 16:1-3a; 2 Tim 1:5; 3:15)? Was Paul inconsistent by circumcising him (Ac 16:3-5) after strongly denouncing it for salvation (1 Cor 9:12; Gal 1:6-9; 3:1-5; 5:2-6)? Did Paul violate his rights? How might he have felt? Could he have refused? Why did he agree? What does this show about him (1 Tim 1:2)? Can you do what he did?
  2. Where did the Holy Spirit stop Paul from going to (Ac 16:6-8)? Why (Ac 16:9-10)? What does “help us” mean (Ac 16:9)? Is the Holy Spirit guiding you to send you somewhere? Do you hear God’s voice (1 Ki 19:11-12)? Why does “we” [us] appear for the first time in Acts (Ac 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1-28:16)? Imagine just the 4 of them changing the world as they knew it!
  3. Where did they go from Troas (Ac 16:11-12)? What does “a place of prayer” and “speak[ing] to the women (Ac 16:13) suggest? Who is Lydia and what happened (Ac 16:14-15, 40; 10:2, 22)? How does anyone respond to the gospel and become a Christian (Ac 16:14b; Jn 6:44)?
  4. What do we know about the “female slave” (Ac 16:16-17)? Why would this annoy Paul and what did he do (Ac 16:18)? How was he able to (Ac 3:6, 16; 4:10, 12)? What did her owners and the crowds do and why (Ac 16:19-24)? 
  5. What did Paul and Silas do (Ac 16:25)? How could they (Ac 5:41; Rom 8:18; 2 Cor 4:17; 1 Pet 4:13)? Why didn’t Paul escape when the prison doors opened (Ac 16:26, 28)?  Why was the jailer about to kill himself (Ac 16:27)? Why was he trembling and what did he ask (Ac 16:29-30)?
  6. Is salvation “too easy” (Ac 16:31; Jn 3:14-15)? Is believing intellectual assent (Prov 3:5-6: Jn 14:1)? How comfortable and confident are you to explain to others “the way to be saved” in a meaningful way?
Eternal salvation is offered in the simplest possible way to those who believe in the Lord Jesus (Ac 16:31; 5:14; 9:42; 11:17; 15:11). Such belief involves confession or acknowledgment of Jesus as the exalted Lord [kyrios] (Ac 2:21, 36; Rom 10:9; 1 Cor 12:3; Phil 2:11)–trust and committal, not merely intellectual assent. As with Peter’s preaching to Jews (Ac 2:39), the offer of salvation to Gentiles is for families as well as for individuals [you and your household], just as he did in Israel (Gen 12:2-3; 17:7-14; 18:17-19), when the heads of households turn to Christ and acknowledge him as Lord. [Lydia and the jailer (Ac 16:15, 34; 18:8).]
 
Follow the blueprint of Acts 1:8. From the Palestinian period when the church became anchored in Christ (1:1-8:3), it moved out 1st to Samaria, then to the Ethiopian eunuch, and finally to Cornelius as believers became aware of God’s intentions to bring his salvation to the nations, the whole world of humankind. So through Peter, then Paul, and then James, the Spirit revealed through God’s chosen leaders that the church is God’s army bringing true peace [cf. Pax Romana] to the whole world of sinful humankind, as seen in all of its splendor in this missionary journeys with the gospel moving at breakneck pace from province to province. It cannot be stopped as it moves from Syria to Cilicia and through all of Asia Minor (16:1-10), then by divine fiat [the Macedonian vision] beyond even Paul’s imaginings to Macedonia (16:11-17:15) and then Achaia (17:16-18:17).

The gospel seed planted for the 1st time in European soil–the 1st Christian continent. The Judaizers were creating havoc in the churches in Palestine, Syria, Cilicia and Galatia by requiring Gentiles to become Jews, and being encumbered by all the legal restrictions from the Mosaic regulations. If not for the Jerusalem council, the universal mission (Ac 1:8) would be at a standstill. Now Gentiles could freely come to Christ and be saved by faith rather than by the works of the law. It’s a truly world-changing journey to reach the lost unreached peoples of the world, moving at breakneck pace, far beyond what Paul conceived as it moved not just to the rest of Asia Minor but into Europe, taking the team through both Macedonia and Achaia. It set the pattern for the church’s mission for all of history, like the apostle Thomas’ mission to India and China. Paul wanted to go to Ephesus and the province of Asia (Ac 16:6-7), but God wanted to establish the worldwide parameters of the church’s mission, reserving Ephesus for the next journey (Acts 19).
This 2nd journey almost leapfrogs the previous journey in its pace. Paul is proving his dictum: “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known” (Rom 15:20). Churches with little interest in the worldwide mission of God are disobedient or unwilling to listen to the Spirit, for it is impossible to be a Spirit-filled believer and fail to care for the unreached. Though not all are called to be missionaries, all Christians are called to pray, give for God’s mission and in some way be a part of God’s reaching out to all who so desperately need him.
  1. Paul and Barnabas disagree and separate (15:36-41). A huge row [paroxymos (Ac 15:39)]. 2 different leadership styles—Paul: “What can Mark do for the work of God?” Barnabas: “What can the work of God do for Mark?” Paul: The church is not a parking lot, but a launching pad. Barnabas: The church is not a parking lot.
  2. Paul revisits Galatia [South Galatian churches] and takes Timothy with him (16:1-5). Once Paul established the principle that circumcision was not necessary for salvation, he was ready to make concessions in policy (1 Cor 9:12, 22). Though unnecessary for acceptance with God, it was wise/advisable for acceptance by some, for an uncircumcised Jew was untenable to Jews, and Judaism traces descent through the mother. Timothy is mentioned 26x in Paul’s 13 letters, and in 6 he states that the letter is from Paul and Timothy, his true son in the faith (1 Tim 1:2). 
  3. In Troas, Paul is called to Macedonia (16:6-10). Remarkable guidance. God’s “No” is just as important as God’s “Go.” “The steps of a good [righteous] man are ordered by the LORD…” (Ps 37:23, NKJV). “The LORD directs the steps of the godly …” (Ps 37:23, NLT). God’s guidance is like a multifaceted jewel [Kent Hughes]: closed doors, open doors, direct revelation, peace about it, disease, prosperity, poverty, imprisonment [in Paul’s cause (Ac 9:16)], etc, like an unpredictable exciting wild ride. You never know what you’re gonna get. The destination is heaven. David Livingstone wanted to go to China. God sent him to Africa. William Carey wanted to go to Polynesia. God sent him to India. Adoniram Judson wanted to go to India. God sent him to Burma.
  4. Paul ministers in Philippi (16:11-40). The mission [preaching and prison] in Philippi. Salvation comes to Philippi. Macedonian call and response (16:11-17:15).
    1. The conversion of Lydia and her household (16:13-15). A business woman named Lydia. Lydia and her household. God opened Lydia’s heart and she became a Christian (Ac 16:14). She opened her home and it became a church.
    2. The possessed slave girl (16:16-18). An anonymous slave girl/fortune teller [and her masters].
    3. The jailing of Paul and Silas (16:19-34). A jailer and his household. Earthquake and salvation. By “praying and singing hymns to God” (Ac 16:25), Paul and Silas turned the darkest prison into a holy sanctuary.
    4. Publicly vindicated (16:35-40). Freedom and departure. Leaving Philippi peacefully.
References:
  1. Osborne, Grant. Acts. Verse by Verse. 2019. Mission in Macedonia and Achaia, Part 1 (15:36-16:40).
  2. Witherington III, Ben. The Acts of the Apostles. A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. 1998. Macedonian call and response (16:11-17:15).
  3. Stott, John. The Message of Acts. 1990. Through the Bible through the year, Daily reflections from Genesis to Revelation. 2006. The Apostle to the Gentiles (13:1-21:17). 
  4. Peterson, David G. The Acts of the Apostles. The Pillar NT commentary. 2009. The word goes to Europe (16:6-18:22).
  5. Marshall, I. Howard. Acts. Tyndale NT commentaries (TNTC). 1980. 
  6. Wright, N.T. Acts for Everyone, Part 2. Chapters 13-28. 2008.
ChatGPT: In Acts 16, God demonstrated His power, His love and His sovereignty in unexpected places. He used the suffering of Paul and Silas to bring salvation to the jailer and his family. He showed that even in the midst of difficult circumstances, He is in control, and His purposes will be accomplished. This chapter teaches us several lessons.
  1. Opposition and suffering are not signs of failure or abandonment by God. Instead, they can be opportunities for God to work in and through us.
  2. The gospel breaks down barriers and transforms lives, from Lydia, a wealthy merchant, to the jailer, a rough and brutal guard.
  3. It shows us that salvation is a gift of grace that anyone can receive, regardless of their background, status, or sins.

So, let’s be encouraged to trust in God’s plan, even when things do not go as we expect or desire. Let’s also be motivated to share the gospel with those around us, knowing that God can use our words and actions to bring salvation and transformation to others. Finally, let’s be grateful for the gift of salvation that we have received through faith in Jesus Christ, and let us live our lives in a manner worthy of His calling.

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