The sermon, 'Introduction to Philippians' by Jason Dohm, begins with a reading from Acts 16, detailing Paul's journey through Phrygia, Galatia, and his eventual arrival in Philippi after a vision calling him to Macedonia. Philippi, a Roman colony, was historically significant due to its gold and silver mines and its role as a battleground in the Roman civil war. The city was heavily Romanized, influencing its governance and culture. In Philippi, Paul meets Lydia, the first European convert, and later encounters a slave girl possessed by a spirit of divination. The sermon highlights the expulsion of the spirit and the subsequent imprisonment of Paul and Silas. Despite their imprisonment, their faith remains strong, leading to the conversion of the Philippian jailer. The sermon outlines three key themes from the letter to the Philippians: 'Joy in the Lord in every circumstance', 'Partnership in the Gospel', and 'Growth in Christlikeness'. The sermon concludes with applications encouraging appreciation for the Gospel's arrival in Europe and its simplicity, emphasizing that belief in Jesus is the path to salvation.

Good morning. Our text this morning, which might go into the afternoon, is Acts chapter 16 from verse 6. Now, when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mycea, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mycea, they came down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night.

A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samathrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city in that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days, and on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made, and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us.

She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul and when she and her household were baptized she begged us saying if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord come to my house and stay. So she persuaded us. Now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us who brought her master's much profit by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and us and cried out saying These men are servants of the most high God who proclaimed to us the way of salvation.

And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out of her that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. And they brought them to the magistrates and said, these men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city, and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.

Then the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake, so the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed.

And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice saying, Do yourself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light, ran in and fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? So they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household.

Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them that same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now, when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them, and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers saying, let those men go.

So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul saying, the magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart and go in peace. But Paul said to them, they have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now, do they put us out secretly? No, indeed.

Let them come themselves and get us out. And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out and asked them to depart from the city. So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed." Well after a number of weeks of sickness and vacations, it feels like a mega church this morning.

Welcome to a family integrated mega church, Sovereign Redeemer. This morning we have the pleasure of introducing ourselves to Paul's letter to the Philippians. More precisely, Paul and Timothy's Letter to the Philippians. This week we'll be in the text that was just read, Acts chapter 16. And then next week we'll be reading all four chapters of the letter to the Philippians and beginning our exposition.

We're just going to start with, we're going to take it easy as we enter the letter and just have an exposition of verses 1 and 2 next week. So the roadmap for today is this. I'm going to give you introductory info, information on Philippi, this city that this missionary team comes to. And then second, we're going to look at this missionary team's time in Philippi. What happened?

And what bearing does that have as we begin to study the subsequent letter to the Philippians. So as we go to the text, let's go to the text together in prayer. God, thank you for your Word. Thank you for these particular parts of your Word. Acts chapter 16 where we see how your hand was at work through a missionary team in a city.

And then as we have this letter, that the missionaries write back to their children in the faith to encourage them. God, please, Please teach us things we need to know. Please bless us through your Word. We would not have these words unless you had intended for your people to be built up and encouraged by them. I thank you that you've given us this great deposit, and I pray that all your will would be accomplished through the preaching of your Word.

Pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Information about Philippi. Just a fascinating history. I can only give you a little of what I've read. I wish I could somehow just implant all of what I've read into your brain, but it doesn't work that way.

In the year 356 BC, Philip II of Macedon had his eye on a little city about ten miles inland of the Aegean Sea and the surrounding area. Why? Why would Philip II of Macedon care about this little city? It wasn't the city, it was the gold and silver mines in the surrounding hills. And So, Philippi has these, it wasn't Philippi at the time, this little city, has gold and silver mines surrounding it.

So, Philip of Macedon just annexes the whole area. He conquers the whole area and adds it to his kingdom. When he takes it over, he names it after himself. He's a humble guy. He names this place after himself and it becomes here after Philippi.

He enlarges it and fortifies it because it's going to be the center of operations for gold and silver mines. So he makes it bigger and fortified and he stations military troops there. The mines there after yield him about 1, 000 talents of gold per year. Maybe Something like 75, 000 pounds of gold per year are coming out of those hills. It was a good land acquisition for Philip II of Macedon.

He had a little boy, and his little boy's name was Alexander, who grew up and became the Great. This is the year 356 BC and Philip II of Macedon. About 300 years later in 42 BC, 42 years before the birth of our Lord Jesus, Philippi became the battleground of a Roman civil war. Brutus and Cassius, as representatives of the Roman Senate, had murdered Julius Caesar. It was a power struggle.

Children, if you've never heard the phrase, et tu Brute? Then ask your mom and dad, and If they don't know it, they'll Google it. It has to do with one friend murdering another in a power struggle. These members of the Roman Senate, Cassius and Brutus, murder Julius Caesar. Antony and Octavian, loyalists to Julius Caesar, raise an army.

These two clashing armies in a Roman Civil War meet on the fields outside of Philippi in 42 BC. The loyalists to the murdered Julius Caesar, Antony and Octavian, they win. This is the end of the Roman Empire, meaning that before 42 BC and this battle at Philippi, the Senate really had predominantly had control of Rome. All of Roman rule was predominantly under the Senate. Then there's Julius Caesar, which is sort of an intermediate time, which really becomes a power struggle, which ends in his murder.

Then after this battle, Rome is governed by the Caesars. And so it goes from being a republic governed by the Senate predominantly, to an empire governed by emperors. And one of the leaders in this battle, Octavian, ends up defeating Antony and becomes Augustus Caesar. So when we're in the time of Christ and we hear about Augustus Caesar. That is Octavian from the battle of Philippi.

That is really where the empire was won for him and the subsequent battle with Antony. Subsequently, After this great battle in 42 BC, many Roman veterans, many retired Roman soldiers, settled in Philippi. The city becomes a colony. It's so Romanized by being settled by all these Roman veterans, that it becomes a colony, which means that it is under the direct government of Rome. So it is far from Rome, but there is no regional government in the Roman Empire that has control of Philippi.

It is directly governed by Rome, and that comes with many special rights and privileges. Being tried as a Roman is one of those. Being born a Roman citizen is one of those. Being able to own personal property is one of those. And there are other rights and privileges.

So if you're a city in the Roman Empire, you want to be a colony. And if you're a colony, you want to stay a colony because of the rights and privileges. That is going to factor into the history that we see of Christians in Philippi, just as it did as we've already seen with Christians in Thessalonica. Philippi like Thessalonica is on the Ignatian Way. Do you remember that?

The Ignatian Way is an east-west highway across the Roman Empire. It was originally built about 200 BC in order to get Roman troops across the empire fast. So that was the reason for the Ignatian Way or the Via Ignatia being built a couple of hundred years before Christ. But now it's not only used for troop movements, but also used for commerce. So Philippi is a stop, like on I-95.

It's like a town on I-95. Lots of commerce up and down this highway, which in this case would be east to west. Here's what Peter O'Brien says, and I'll be quoting him throughout Philippians, because I've got this commentary from the New International Greek Testament commentary, highly recommended and Peter O'Brien has written it, so I'm sure I'll be quoting him in the weeks to come. Here's what he says, Philippi itself was modeled on the mother city, Rome. It was laid out in similar patterns.

The style and architecture were copied extensively, and the coins produced in the city bore Roman inscriptions. The Latin language was used, and its citizens wore Roman dress. So you can imagine this city that has been largely repopulated by Roman veterans, retired Roman soldiers, and they've turned this into a little Rome in some ways. Some cities have a little Italy, and Philippi was a little Rome in that same sense. Same customs, same language, same layout, same architecture.

So this is a Roman city through and through, and it's reflected in them being a colony. What was religion like at the time of Paul? It was like Thessalonica. You remember Thessalonica? Which means it was a mess.

The religious life in Philippi was a mess. You had the imperial cult, you had priests of the deified Julius. That's what they called these priests. The priests of the deified Julius, and priests of the deified Augustus, and priests of the deified Claudius, who was the emperor at the time when Paul was in Philippi. And you had the Greek gods who were known by the names of their Latin counterparts.

So there's the Greek pantheon of gods. Who's the head of the Greek Pantheon? Zeus. Well the Romans had all the same Gods, but they called them different names. And so the Greek Zeus would be the Roman Jupiter and so on and so forth.

They really had the same gods with the same legends, but they called them by different names. So the Greek gods were there in Philippi. The Egyptian gods were there and more. So here's the summary. No more than merrier.

Bring your God. Your God will need to be approved by the Roman Empire, but in principle all Gods are welcome. It will have to be approved and go through the paperwork to make sure that you're not seditious and going to cause rebellion because of the worship of your God. But in principle all gods are welcome. Just don't go getting exclusive.

Just like that's Leneke. Bring your God, do the paperwork, prove that you're not going to cause an uprising through the worship of this God, and just the more gods the merrier, just don't try to make exclusive claims. And They would fit in well here in 2016 in the United States of America. Here comes Paul and team to Philippi. What year?

49 or 50 AD. Of course, the account is in Acts 16, which we'll be studying today. 49 or 50 AD, just like Thessalonica, right? They're going to go from Philippi immediately to Thessalonica. So this is all very, very closely related to what we've already been studying for months and months.

And now we have this letter. They're there personally in 49 or 50 AD, and now we have this letter. When was the letter written? Probably towards the end of Paul's two years imprisonment at Rome. Which is recorded in Acts 28.

So If you go to Acts 28, you're going to find Paul in prison again in Rome. He's already been in prison for two years at Caesarea. He appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar he went. He spends two more years imprisoned at Rome, and that's the end of the account of Acts in Acts 28. This is probably around the year 62 AD.

He's physically there in 49 or 50, and now it's very likely that he's writing this letter around 62 AD. So you're talking a dozen years later. This is not like Thessalonians, where they were there in Thessalonica, they were chased out of town, and probably within a year, both letters have been written. This is very different from a timing standpoint. It's a dozen years later.

Why do we think it's Rome? Two reasons. One, Paul speaks of imprisonment. In Acts chapter 16, our text today, we're going to see him in prison. He's in prison again when he writes this letter and he speaks of his imprisonment in the letter to the Philippians.

And so this is classified as one of the prison epistles. What are they? Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. All of those letters mention his imprisonment. So all of those letters.

And we have these largely in sequence in the New Testament. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and then Philemon, all prison epistles. Secondly, internal to the letter of Philippians, our authors speak of the palace guard in chapter 113 and those who are of Caesar's household in 422. So technically this could refer to Caesarea, his prison time in Caesarea, but it's much more likely that it was Rome in 62. And the timing difference doesn't matter that much anyway.

Think of it as Rome. Historically most scholars have, and the arguments for somewhere else other than writing from Rome during that time frame. It caused more problems than they solved according to all that I've read in the last few weeks. The immediate occasion for the letter is the sending back of Epaphroditus. So we're going to meet Epaphroditus in Philippians chapter 2, the end of that chapter.

The Philippians sent him to Paul with things that would be a help to him, and probably financial support was part of that. Paul is under house arrest in Rome, and The Philippians love Paul, and so they send Epaphroditus as their messenger to be an encouragement to Paul and in very practical ways. We are going to find that Epaphroditus almost dies during his visit. This caused the Philippians great concern. Of course, like if we sent a messenger, if I almost die in Malawi, I hope people here will be concerned.

I know one row will be. And so the occasion for the letter is Epaphroditus being sent back by Paul and Timothy with the letter to the Philippian Church. And This is wonderful because Paul and Timothy undoubtedly are helped to know the condition of the church and the needs of the church in their writing of the letter. Do you get that? In other words, the Philippians church sends a messenger to Paul and Timothy.

And you know that when Epaphroditus gets there, Paul and Timothy want to know about the condition of this church. And They want to know about the condition of this church. And they want to know about the needs of this church. You can bet your life that the letter that goes back in the other direction reflects what they've learned about the true condition of the church and the needs of the church. Makes the letter particularly precious.

There are three great themes in the letter. I'm going to give them to you now, and then I'm going to prove them, that they are the three great themes, I hope, in the coming months. Number one, theme number one of Philippians. Joy in the Lord in every circumstance. Joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy is all over Philippians.

We'll be hitting it practically every week. Joy in the Lord. How can this be? It's a prison epistle because God can give you a joy in the middle of your imprisonment. That's how.

We see it in Acts chapter 16. We see Paul and Silas praying and singing in prison. Their joy wasn't dampened even by a thorough beating in Acts 16. And that's a great way to launch into the letter of Philippians, because Paul is in prison again, and it doesn't matter. He's talking joy in every section of the letter.

That's great theme number one. Joy in the Lord in every circumstance. In the Lord being a key phrase. Just not slapping a happy face on any old circumstance of life. A joy that is rooted in God so you can't be separated from it because God is everywhere, even in prison.

By the way, this is not in my notes, but I'll chase a rabbit here. I'm visiting Matthew Jackson once a month in prison. And I can tell you, I look him in the eye once a month, and he's scheduled to be there for longer than a decade. He has joy. He has a joy that is rooted in God.

God is with him in prison. I can see the joy of the Lord on his face. I can hear the joy rooted in God in His voice when I go. Great theme number two. Partnership in the Gospel.

We are given a front row seat to a precious partnership in and for the Gospel in this letter of the Philippians. Paul and his missionary team visits Philippi, and then there are subsequent visits to Philippi in the coming years. Almost surely, it talks about multiple times in Acts, after Acts 16, it talks about Paul going back through Macedonia and encouraging the believers there. It is impossible for me to believe that Philippi isn't included in that. It's impossible.

Paul visited Philippi again subsequent to Acts chapter 16. And the Philippians sent financial support to Paul and his brethren when they were in Thessalonica. And We find out in the book of Philippians that multiple times they have been providing financial support. The whole letter going back is because they did it again twelve years later. The Philippians have been supporting Paul, and they've been praying for Paul, and they've been sending support for Paul for a dozen years.

Paul has continued to love them, continue to visit them, continue to write letters to them, and they have continued to reach out to Paul and fund his missionary efforts and send him people to encourage him. This is a precious partnership in the Gospel. That's the second great theme. The third great theme and final and most important is growth in Christlikeness. He's teaching the Philippians how to make progress in the faith.

It's to fix your eyes on Jesus and see what He's like and try to be like that. See, this is very simple. This is very simple. If you want to know how to live, think, speak in order to please God, you better get very, very, very familiar with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Because no one has ever lived and thought and spoken and done in a way that please God like the Lord Jesus Christ.

He did it perfectly. If you want to grow in the faith, you study Jesus and then you try to do that. You cry out to God, God please help me be conformed a little more today into that image of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the letter to the Philippians, the ESV speaks of what they call the magnificent Hymn of Christ. And what are they talking about?

Chapter 2, verses 5-11. About the incarnation, about Jesus taking on the form of the servant. And Paul says, Paul and Timothy say, have the same mind. Jesus humbled himself, have the same mind. Work to become more like Jesus.

I love that the ESV Study Bible calls it the magnificent hymn of Christ. It is that. Now to our text, Acts chapter 16. That's A little information on Philippi and the letter to the Philippians. Now Acts 16.

Let's look again at verses 6-10 in which we have the Macedonian call. If you're taking notes on the handout, The blank is Macedonian. The Macedonian Call. Acts chapter 16, beginning of verse 6. Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.

After they had come to Mycea, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mycea, they came to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel to them.

At the very beginning of the chapter, the first six verses of the chapter, which we didn't read, they come in contact with Timothy, and Paul wants to take him, and so they take him. So Timothy is with them in our text. They want to preach in Asia, which is off to the west. You might think, I think of Asia as China and Japan. Okay, this is Asia Minor.

It's the westernmost tip of Asia, And what's being spoken of is really modern day Turkey. So geographically today you would call it Asia Minor. It's where Ephesus, think of the letters to the churches in Revelations 2 and 3. All those cities are Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. So we want to go west into Asia Minor and preach the Gospel?

The Spirit says no. Ok, we can't go west, we'll go east into Bithynia. The Spirit says no, and so they just keep sort of going on that course between west and east, and they land at Troas. Here's what the ESV Study Bible says about Troas. It says it's the primary Asian harbor for ships destined to Macedonia.

In other words, if you're in Asia Minor, but you want to get to Macedonia, this is the major port you're likely to catch a ship at Troas. If you want to go from Asia Minor to Macedonia, Troas is the place. By the way, it's 14 miles south of the modern excavations of the ancient city of Troy. If you're familiar with Greek mythology, Greek history, there really was an ancient city of Troy, and Troas is very, very near it. So how much of the Greek stories of the Greek wars with Troy are true, I do not know.

But there was a Troy, and it is really near Troas. This was not, I wanted to preach and wake for us, but the Spirit wouldn't let me preach and wake for us, so God sent me to Franklin. Just a few miles up the road. This is 400 miles on foot. This was, I wanted to preach in Wake Forest, But the Spirit wouldn't let me, so I walked to Philadelphia.

So I walked to Philadelphia and caught a boat in Philadelphia, to the place where the Lord really wanted us to preach. So don't be thinking short distances here. We're talking about 400 miles on foot from where they pick up Timothy at the beginning of chapter 6 to Troas, 400 miles by foot. Paul has a vision in the night at Troas, and God is making it clear to them, Macedonia, Europe. Macedonia is in Europe.

And as far as we know from the Bible accounts, the Gospel has never come. The news about the atoning work of Jesus Christ has never come to Europe, as far as we know. It's been years since John Calvin's commentary has been part of my reading on a week by week basis. But I was reading the preface to Philippians in him, and the translator says, everybody agrees, John Calvin's best commentary is on Paul's letters. So I'm not going to be able to resist.

You're going to get some Calvin quotes in the weeks to come, because he'll be one of the commentators that I'll be studying. Here's what the translator says in the preface. So this is not John Calvin, this is the guy who brought the French into English. The translator to the commentary. And when we consider the important place which Europe has held during so many ages in connection with the progress of Christianity, and more especially the high honor assigned to European Christians, as being chiefly instrumental in its diffusion throughout the world, we cannot fail to mark with deep interest the circumstances connected with the first preaching of the Gospel at Philippi." That's a long quote.

What does it mean? So the translator is translating the work of what? A European Christian! John Calvin in Geneva. And he's saying you can't come to Acts 16 and the boat trip from Asia Minor to Macedonia in Europe and not think about where this led.

Let me ask you, How did you get the Gospel? If we connect the chain links back to Jesus and His work on behalf of sinners, for you it's going to go through Europe. The chain links, however many there are, it's going to go back to Paul at Philippi. It is. The good news of Jesus' atoning work on behalf of sinners never was in Europe before this.

At least according to the accounts of the New Testament. So we should just stop and say, there are links in the chain between Jesus and His work for sinners and me hearing about it. And this is one of the links in the chain. We should praise God for the account of the Gospel coming to Philippi, because it's another ocean being crossed in the Gospel coming to you. In the gospel coming to me.

Finally, two important pronouns in these verses. Look at verse 6. Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit. So there's a they, there's a somebody else, there's another group, it's plural, but it's not me, I'm not in there, that's why I'm saying they, It's another group. Now look at verse 10.

Look at verse 10. Now after he had seen the vision, Paul had seen the vision immediately. We sought to go to Macedonia. So there's a change here. And this is a significant change.

There are four we sections in the book of Acts. The book of Acts is extensive. It's 28 chapters. There are four we sections. Luke wrote Acts.

Luke is giving you some pronoun signals about when he is in and they are in person and when he is out taking second person accounts and passing them along to us. This is one of the we sections. Somewhere between Timothy and Macedonia, Luke arrives. Luke is with them in Troas. We, we crossed the sea, came to Macedonia.

Luke was there. Now the next we section starts in 20. So just flip to Acts 20 for a minute. Just flip to Acts 20 for a minute. So it's going to be we all throughout our Acts 16 texts.

Luke is going to be indicating that he is there in Philippi. And then in Acts 17 he drops out of the narrative. It is going to become they again. And This is not going to be any pronoun indications that he is in 17, or 18, or 19. Then we pick up another we section again in Acts chapter 20.

Let's read the first five verses together. Follow along. Acts chapter 20 verse 1, After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia. Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece and stayed three months. And when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to set sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

So this is in Acts chapter 20, we are in Macedonia for the second time. Verse 4, And so Peter of Berea accompanied him to Asia, also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tichicus, and Trophimus of Asia. These men, going ahead, waited for us at Troas, but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread." So where do you leave Luke in the Acts account in Acts chapter 16? Philippi. Where do you pick up Luke in Acts chapter 20 at Philippi?

Now, there's nowhere in the text that says that in those intervening years, so let me give you some timeline information here, chapter 18, Paul's at Corinth for a year and a half. That is expressly said. Corinth, the year and a half. Acts chapter 19, Paul's at Ephesus for two years. That's expressly said.

So there are multiple years between Philippi in Acts chapter 16 and Philippi in Acts chapter 20. And those are two we, meaning including Luke, texts. You leave them in 16, you pick them up again in 20. So whether or not he was there the whole time or not, I don't know and it doesn't matter, but we know that Luke is very closely tied to Philippi. It is possible that they left him at Philippi and he remained at Philippi and they picked him up at Philippi.

I can't prove that and I don't want to try. It would be speculative, but that's one possibility. In any event, he is closely tied to Philippi. Okay, let's go to the next section. Back to Acts 16, 11-15.

Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course through Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis. And from there to Philippi, by the way, Neapolis is on the coast, Philippi is about 10 miles inland. And from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. And on the Sabbath day, we went out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made.

We sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.

So she persuaded us. Here in this section we have the first convert, Lydia, if you're filling in blanks on the handout, it's convert. The first convert in Macedonia, the first convert in Europe, the first convert in Philippi, was Lydia. Now, what is the first thing that Paul does when he comes to a city? Who is he seeking out?

He is seeking out the Jews. City after city. He comes to the city, he goes to the synagogue. He comes to the city, he goes to the synagogue. He comes to the city, he goes to the synagogue.

He comes to Philippi, he goes to the river. What? He's looking for Jews. In order to form a synagogue during this time, you have to have ten Jewish households. If you don't have ten, you find a river if there's one nearby to meet at.

This is historical, customary information I'm giving you. You got ten households? You form a synagogue? If you don't, you find a nearby river and you meet there. That's what we have here.

They've found a nearby river because there's not enough Jews to form a synagogue in Philippi. There's a Jewish presence, but there's not a very big Jewish presence. The other gods are ruling the day in terms of number of believers in Philippi. It just says that Lydia worshipped God. She's described very much like Cornelius is described.

Cornelius was a Roman centurion in Acts chapter 10. He's not Jewish, but he's a God-fearer. So Lydia is described in a similar way here. My guess is, Lydia is not genealogically Jewish, but she has come into contact with the Old Testament Scriptures, and she believes. That's my guess.

She's not a Jewish, probably. She might be, but my guess is because she's described like Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, she's not. She's a seller of purple from Thyatira. Now by the way, Thyatira is a city in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. One of the letters to the churches in Revelations 2 and 3 written by Jesus to these churches in Asia Minor is to Thyatira, the church at Thyatira.

And it's in the Roman province of Lydia. Lydia is from Lydia. Lydia is from the Roman province of Lydia. Maybe she was named after the geographical area. Maybe it's even a nickname we don't know.

Suggestion is our family is that we begin to call Gary Jersey. Pency? Jersey. She trades in purple wares. Thyatira is famous for that, and purple dye is extracted from a certain shellfish drop by drop.

If that sounds expensive to you, it's because it is. Not from any shellfish, but from a certain shellfish, and you are getting drops. You are not getting a lot of dye out of every shellfish, you are getting drops. So this is really expensive. And this is why royalty wears purple.

Because no one else can afford it. So you can mark yourself as having means by wearing purple. Good call on the shirt today, Jake. I don't think that was planned, but don't put it past him. So Lydia trades in high cost, high margin merchandise.

And We see that in the text. She has an arrangement that is suitable for just at a moment's notice telling a missionary team, come stay with me. If you deem that I'm faithful to the Lord, you have to come stay with me." And her accommodations are ready for that. And the very last verse of this section indicates that the believers, however many they were, Lydia's house was the headquarters. When they get released from prison, they go to Lydia's house and they encourage the Brethren there, because that's where the Brethren are meeting, and then they depart.

This is a woman of means, and that makes sense with a woman who trades in purple merchandise. Verse 14, the second half of it says something very precious, The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. This is how people are born again. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul this is how people are born again ok the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul did Everyone who was there at the riverside, heed the things spoken by Paul. We don't know, but probably not.

Our experience says, many don't, but some do. How is that? The Lord opened her heart to these things. You remember 1 Thessalonians 2.13. This is one of the verses we kept coming back to and kept coming back to and kept coming back to in Thessalonians 1 Thessalonians 2.13.

Let me remind you For this reason we also thank God without ceasing. Because when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God. Which also effectively works in you who believe. That's a single verse. 1 Thessalonians 2.13.

In other words, the authors of 1 Thessalonians, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy say, you recognize that the Word of God was the Word of God, not just more from men. And we thank God for it. God deserves the credit for that. God opened your hearts to see that the Word of God really is the Word of God and not the Word of men. This is exactly the same thing being said again.

The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. Look at how gently the Gospel is received by some. Just notice this. There's nothing that we know that's not respectable about this woman. And she's a God-fearer and she goes to the river.

It's probably a sunny day on the river. It's a pleasant day of worship. And the good news about the atoning work of Jesus Christ comes to her and the Lord opens her heart and she believes it. Not only she believes it, but her household believes it and they're baptized. It's this gentle coming into the Kingdom of God.

On the same day that the sermon was preached, the Lord has opened their hearts, she receives the Gospel, she is convinced that she is a sinner, She does need the work of Jesus Christ, so she embraces that. She comes into the kingdom with her household and they're baptized. It's just this gentle picture of coming into the kingdom of God. It's not like that with everyone, but it is like that with some. It was like that with Lydia the same day.

A pleasant day by the river. Verse 15 says that she and her household were baptized. That's all we know. We don't know the makeup, how many in her household, who they were, what their profile was. Just she and her household were baptized.

That's all we're told. So, should Men share the gospel with women. Well that depends. Do women need the gospel? Paul thought they should.

To Paul, being there at the riverside with the women, it would be unthinkable that they would have the good news and keep it to themselves, and not speak to these women of Jesus and His work for sinners. I think there is something here for us. We have to be careful that in wisely avoiding the obvious pitfalls, are they not obvious pitfalls? Of the interactions between men and women. Do there have to be safeguards there?

Absolutely. But in our carefulness to wisely avoid the obvious pitfalls. We can't create an environment where men can't share the gospel with women, lest we be so unlike this missionary team. I think we see what happens here and we don't want to say, I'm uncomfortable with this, we want to say, Amen! People coming into the kingdom, the gospel being shared with sinners.

Finally in verse 15, she opens her home to these messengers of the good news. Just let me read verse 15 again. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. So she persuaded us. Of course she persuaded them.

I mean, she's being manipulative a little. If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come stay with me. If you don't think I'm faithful to the Lord, I guess you can stay somewhere else. She really wants them to come and stay. I don't really think she's being manipulative.

But it's funny the way she says it. It's precious the way she says it. Alright, the next section. Verses 16-24, follow along. Now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with the spirit of divination met us, who brought her master's much profit by fortune telling.

This girl followed Paul and us and cried out saying, These men are servants of the Most High God who proclaimed to us the way of salvation. And this she did for many days. But Paul greatly annoyed, turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour. But when her master saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. And they brought them to the magistrates and said, These men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city.

And they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans to receive or observe. Then the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks." In this section we have the demon possessed servant girl. If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's demon possessed.

The demon possessed servant girl. So a girl is following the missionary team and she's crying out, these men are servants of the Most High God who have proclaimed to us the way of salvation. At men's Bible study I said, I would kind of like to have somebody following me saying, this is a servant of the most high God who proclaims to us the way of salvation. That doesn't sound so bad to me. So far so good, right?

I mean she's saying something that is completely true, right? But let's think about this. Do we want the Gospel associated with the works of the devil? This is a fortune teller. This is a person who through being possessed by a demon, foretells the future for money.

You want the Gospel hooked to that horse? No! You do not want an ongoing association of the works of the devil with the Gospel no matter how true it is. In other words, would we welcome a witches for Jesus movement? Just ask yourself that question.

Witches for Jesus! Hooray! No, I don't think we would want an ongoing association with the witches and the Gospel. And neither did Jesus, by the way. This is very much like some of the accounts from the Gospels, where demon-possessed people are saying true things, and Jesus casts the demon out.

This is just like that. The Gospel does not belong hooked to, with an ongoing association with the works of the devil. So Paul casts out the evil spirit, and he creates a disruption in revenue. Oh. We see this multiple times in Acts where the Gospel coming to a place creates a disruption of revenue.

The preaching of the Gospel has been tolerated up to that point, but when you disrupt revenue you're asking for problems. You're asking for trouble. They preach the Gospel faithfully and they've done the works of Jesus faithfully, and they've asked for trouble in doing that. Because revenue has been disrupted. So her masters drag Paul and Silas, or Paul and Silvanus as we know them from 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

They drag them before the magistrate and they say, These Jews! And you're reading about the prejudice against the Jews right there in Acts chapter 16. This is right about the time where Claudius expels all the Jews from Rome. This is the same time period where the Emperor Claudius says, all Jews out of Rome. Now you have Philippi, which is in a way a little Rome.

It's laid out by Rome. They speak Latin. It's the same religious atmosphere. They worship the Caesars. And Claudius, The Caesar, the deified Claudius, who has priests in Philippi, has just expelled the Jews from Rome.

This all fits together. The Acts 16 account all fits together nicely. Of course, to the people in the empire, Christians are just a subset of Jews. They're just all Jews. Some believe this, some believe that, but they're all under that banner.

The multitude clamors for something to be done. Paul and Silas are stripped and beaten. The text says many stripes and then they're turned over to the jailer in verse 23. The text says to keep them securely. So into the inner prison you go, this is high security prison, feet in the stocks, inner prison.

Next section, 25-40. This is not a careful exposition of Acts chapter 16. We're doing 35 verses, I think. So if we were preaching through Acts, this is three or four Sundays. We're just here to see the missionary team in Philippi so we can start studying their letter to the Philippians next time.

Acts 16, 25-34. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. The keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing that the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. Paul called with a loud voice saying, Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.

Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? So they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

And It took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them and he rejoiced having believed in God with all his household." Here in this section we have the Philippian jailer. If you're filling in blanks on the handout, jailer. What a wonderful account from Scripture.

Why about to commit suicide? Why about to commit suicide? That seems like a drastic step. In Acts chapter 12, Peter has similarly had his chains come off, and an angel has actually escorted him out of the prison. Here's what we read after that in Acts chapter 12 verse 19, But when Herod had searched for Peter and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death.

When an angel escorts Peter out of the prison in Acts chapter 12, the consequence for the guards is that they are put to death. That's the deal. If you are entrusted with prisoners and they get away, it's your life for theirs. That's why later in Acts, when they are shipwrecked and the ship is going down, the Centurions are just going to kill all the prisoners. If any of The prisoners swim to shore and get away, they're dead.

That ends up not happening, but that is the plan of the Centurions. Kill the prisoners and then we'll swim for it. This is the reason why. It's your life for theirs if you're a Roman guard and the prisoner gets away. This Philippian jailer doesn't want the humiliation and doesn't want to be publicly executed and so he's seconds away from killing himself.

When Paul says, President accounted for all of us. Verse 30, we have the most important question. Look at verse 30. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Many people, maybe most people in the history of the world have lived and died and never seriously entertained that question.

Not feeling their desperate condition, Being in a desperate condition but just never feeling it. They've lived their whole lives and died never seriously entertaining the most important question, what must I do to be saved? Then in verse 31 we get the answer to the most important question. So they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

And then we see this in verse 32. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. In other words, That is the gospel boiled down to the irreducible. If you have the gospel in a pot, and you heat it up and you boil everything out, so there's just that one irreducible part, because everything else has evaporated away, that's it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

But verse 32 says, then He unfolded that to them. In other words, there really is more to know than just saying to someone, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He unfolded the Gospel to them. Now, I want to give you three texts that I believe unfold what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If this is the most important question, and if this is the answer to the most important question, then we should make sure that we rightly understand it, right?

Of course. The first verse is what Jesus says in John chapter 20, verse 31. John is talking about his gospel account. And here's what he says in John 20 verse 31. But these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." So this is exactly what we are talking about here.

Believing unto life. Saving belief. That believing you may have life in His name. So that is the subject of John 20, 31. That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ.

Now that one is loaded. I think it's Gary who says Christ is in His last name. It's not Jesus Christ, it's in His last name. That is His title. There's lots loaded into that title.

It has to do with the promises of God made throughout the Old Testament and the fulfillment in the man Jesus Christ in the new. In other words, you have to believe in the Christ. Not your own invention that you stick the label Jesus to. No, it is the Jesus that was promised in the Old Testament as the Redeemer and the Savior. That's the Jesus you have to believe in.

Not an invention of your own mind that you say, that's Jesus, I believe in that Jesus that I invented. That's not the same thing. The Son of God. That's all wrapped up in Jesus being the Christ. Here's the second verse, two verses that I would bring us to.

1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4. Paul writes, For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. So twice in these two verses you have Jesus according to the Scriptures. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

That's the Jesus to be believed in. The Jesus who dies for sins. This is what the faith is being placed in. Jesus who died for sins, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. The Jesus who must be believed in is the Jesus who satisfied God and because he satisfied God was raised from the dead and exalted.

That is the Jesus to be believed in. That is the Jesus in whom belief in saves. Finally, Acts 20 verse 21. Paul is talking about his gospel. He says, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is Paul's Gospel. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Now repentance and faith aren't exactly the same thing, but they always travel together. It is just belief that saves. Saving belief is always, always 100.000 percent of the time accompanied by repentance.

What is repentance? It is a change of mind that results in a change of life. You change your mind. You used to think one thing about yourself, but you change your mind and begin agreeing with God. You used to think one thing about God, and you change your mind and you begin to agree with God.

And it makes you turn around and go the other direction. In other words, if you just think you've changed your mind, but there's no change of direction, you've betrayed the fact that your mind never changed at all. So think of repentance that way. It's a change of mind that results in a change of direction, a radical change of direction. And that always comes with true belief.

Now there are counterfeits. There's fake belief. James talks about saving faith and dead faith. So there are counterfeits to these things that people point to and say, I'm saved because I have this. And James says, the demons have that.

And they're not saved. Repentance, a true change of mind, and you can tell it's true because it has resulted in something, a turning around and going in the other direction, always accompanies true belief. So belief doesn't make us righteous, but it is how we grab a hold of righteousness. In other words, the belief itself isn't what makes you acceptable to God. It's Jesus' work.

And this is how you lay hold of Jesus' work. And as we're memorizing in our recitation passage for this quarter, even the belief is a gift. For by grace you are saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So the belief doesn't make us acceptable in itself. It is the way you lay hold of Christ and His work.

And it's Christ's acceptability that makes us righteous. Cornelius believes, and all his household believes, and they are baptized. Now, what did we say of Lydia? Look at how gently the Gospel is received by some. Like by the riverside on a sunny day.

The same day you hear the sermon, you're brought in, your family believes too, you are already a respectable tradeswoman. Here we would have to say, look at how violently the Gospel comes to others. Seconds away from taking his own life, committing suicide, and ending his life, and being eternally separated from God. Seconds away from that. The family, seconds away from being bereaved and having a father lying there in a pool of his own blood.

The Gospel came to them very tumultuously. It was the same day that they heard the Gospel. Tumult! Can you imagine more tumult of that? How do you even make up a story that has more tumult or violence than that?

Here's what I think we take away from this. We have no right to think that everyone's salvation experience is the same. Lydia had better not despise Cornelius because it took him being seconds from suicide to bring him into the kingdom through the Gospel. Now, Lydia can look and say, he's just doing that because life circumstances broke him and he wants out of the life circumstances. That would be one way for Lydia, a respectable merchant, to view that.

And conversely, Cornelius better not look at Lydia and say, well of course she came to the Gospel. She's had a silver Spoon in her mouth her whole life. Look at the size of that house. I just at a moment's notice, just, hey, let's have the missionary team live with us for a month. The Gospel comes to people in radically different ways.

And we should be very careful of suspecting each other's testimonies because of how the Gospel came into our lives. These are two people who might have a temptation to despise how the gospel came into the other's life. Finally, verses 35 through 40. And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, Let those men go. So the keeper of the prison reported these things to Paul saying, the magistrates have sent to let you go, now therefore depart and go in peace.

But Paul said to them, they have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now they put us out secretly? No indeed. Let them come themselves and get us out." And the officers told these words to the magistrates and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. Then they came and pleaded with them, and brought them out and asked them to depart from the city.

So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed. In these verses we have released with honors. There's everything but the high school marching band here to escort them out with honors. If you're filling in blanks it's honors. Why do I say this?

Because the magistrates who had the day before stripped them down and had them beaten with many stripes now are in a position where they need the favor of these men. Why is that? Well, because if you're a city in the Roman Empire you want to be a colony and if you are a colony you want to stay a colony and it's no way to stay a colony to be beating uncondemned Roman citizens. So there's a lot at stake here, They've really messed up. Now why insist on this?

Does it change the outcome? Hardly. They were being let go. What is the outcome? They're let go.

Why make them come and get you out? Here's what the ESV study Bible says, and I think they hit the nail on the head. He, Paul, insisted on public vindication, lest the people of Philippi continue to believe that he was a troublemaker and a law breaker, ideas that would have presented barriers to the Gospel in Philippi for years to come. Ok, so it's been said, those Jews, they're seditious, they're fomenting rebellion, and that's why they were beaten and put in prison. Now, if they just leave quietly, that's the last anyone has heard of it.

And it does have implications for the spread of the Gospel in Philippi. So Paul goes on record, though I was beaten, I was never condemned for these crimes, and I was not guilty of these crimes. So that the Gospel would not be encumbered by that perception ongoing. And they're asked to depart and they do depart. So on to the letter of the Philippians.

I have three applications. Three. Number one. Don't spies small beginnings. There's nothing over-awing that happens in terms of an outpouring of the Spirit and mass conversions.

There might have been more converts, but all we know about is Lydia and her household, and Cornelius and his household. There's probably more, but that's all we have visibility to. Can you call this a church at this point? It's a gathering of believers. They don't have much to commend them.

But a dozen years on, and next week when we get to the introduction, they'll be writing to the saints with their elders and their deacons. They would be writing to a fully formed church that has really moved along. Don't despise small beginnings. God uses faithfulness and he grows it incrementally. Sometimes he pours out the Spirit like in Acts chapter 2 and there's three thousand added in a day.

Has any of us ever seen anything like that? No, but we have seen God at work nonetheless. God is only working if there is an outpouring of the Spirit that brings in 3, 000 in a day. I think not. I think God is working through small incremental progress in His Kingdom and sometimes He is pleased to pour out His Spirit and do something so much further than that.

But what we see in Philippi is the start of many small works that become mighty in God over time. Number two, Praise God for the gospel coming to Europe. This is the gospel coming to Europe. This is the gospel coming to our ancestors. This is the Gospel coming to us through many links in the chain.

Praise God for it. We should come to this text and say, God, you passed over so many sinners for so many centuries, but now here we are with the Gospel. Thank you for sending the Gospel to Philippi and then to the next length and so that I have it. Number three, children especially. Children this one is particularly for you.

So If you didn't have an attention span that fit this long sermon, come back for this one. We're right at the very end, children especially. Marvel at the wondrous simplicity of the Gospel. Just marvel at it. What must you do to be saved?

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You don't have to work your way in, good thing, because you couldn't. You believe on Jesus. And through that belief you lay hold of His work, which is enough to make you acceptable. His work.

Who will ever be able to say the demands of the gospel were just too much? I would have gone down that track, but it just looked like too hard of a track for me. No, Jesus says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Take my yoke upon you. The demands of the Gospel are so slight.

Does that mean salvation is a small thing? No, that means somebody else did the work. Somebody else paid the price. The demands are light on us because they were heavy on Jesus and He fulfilled them all. No one will ever say the demands of the Gospel were just too much.

And that will add to the condemnation of the condemned. That the Gospel was so simple that all that was required was believing on the name of Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. God, thank you for the wondrous simplicity of the Gospel. Now, may our hearts be opened to receive it and to cling to it with all our might. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.