Place: I.Hall 23:2:97 Reading: Acts 16: 16-34 FAITH John G. Paton, pioneer missionary to the New Hebrides in the Pacific was making a translation of the Scriptures into the language of the people. For some time he had searched for a word for " faith," as the natives had no word for believe. One day while working on his translation, a native entered his room and, tired out, flung himself down on one chair, resting his feet on another chair and remarking how good it was to " lean his whole weight," on the chairs. Dr. Paton noted the word he had used for " lean his whole weight." Now he had his word for " believe." My... have you believed on Christ? Have you leaned your whole weight on Him? To believe, in the language of the New Testament, is simply to trust. Trust is the word used in the Old Testament: faith is the equivalent in the New Testament and belief is the precursor of both. Belief has to do with the head, trust and faith have to do with the heart! Trusting and believing are the same thing! Now to many people faith is something which seems so unreal, intangible, " airy-fairy." The popular idea of faith is of a certain stubborn optimism, the hope held in the face of trouble that the world is fundamentally friendly and things may get better. " You've got to have faith," says Mrs. Jones to Mrs. Brown but all she really means is " keep your chin up." But my... an attitude of trust divorced from any object of trust is not faith in the Bible sense of the word. By contrast, the historic Roman Catholic idea of faith has been of mere credence. Faith to Rome, is just belief of what the Roman church teaches. Faith, according to Rome, is just trusting the church as a teacher, but according to the Bible, faith means trusting Christ as a Saviour, and that is an altogether different thing! The Bible says: " faith is the substance of things for hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." ( Heb 11:1) " faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." In other words, biblical faith is not " Believe it and it will be true," but " it is true, believe it." Faith ( pistis ) is that act by which one person a sinner, commits himself to another person a Saviour. The Sunday School acrostic expresses it perfectly, FAITH " Forsaking all I trust Him." And those who will not trust Him have no part in Christ! My... there is no other way for a person to be right with God except through faith in Christ. The Bible says: " He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already." ( Jn 3:18) We must have personal faith in Christ, personal dealings with Christ, personal transactions with Christ or we are lost for ever! Now one of the most vivid illustrations of faith in the Bible is the story of the jailor at Philippi! Can you picture this scene? Trumped up charges were laid against Paul and Silas and they were thrown into prison.
Their backs were lacerated, covered in raw and bloody wounds, all around were the outcasts of society! Can you imagine it? Rats, lice, vermin... no sanitation, no running water... the stench would be unbearable. My... if that had been us, we might have wallowed in self-pity, or plotted revenge or cursed our enemies. But victorious gospel power resounded in that inner cell, until the jailor was brought to the place where he cried, " What must I do to be saved?" Have a look at his faith for a moment and notice: (1) HOW HIS FAITH WAS FOSTERED How did he come to have faith in the Lord Jesus? The answer of the missionaries presumes that this man had heard of the Lord Jesus Christ. That would not be surprising. Philippi was not that big a town, and the preaching of Paul and Silas had made a quite a stir! You see his faith was fostered through: (a) THE MEANS OF PREACHING: Now this is not explicit in the passage but it is implicit for when this jailor came in he said " What... saved?" I mean he knew there was something called salvation, he knew that Paul and Silas knew how to be saved. Had they not already witnessed to him? I wonder was it something like this? When they were beating Paul and Silas they would say, " Do you see those wounds, that reminds us of the Lord Jesus, for He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities." ( Is 53:5) " Jailor, do you see these stripes?" " With His stripes we are healed." And when they shoved Paul and Silas into the dungeon they may have said, " Look you are putting us into a dungeon but we'll be here only a little while, jailor there's another dungeon called hell, its prepared for the devil and his angels, and those who don't know the Lord Jesus will suffer eternally in this place." ( Matt 25:41) My... can't you hear them witnessing? As they put those chains on Paul and Silas, they're saying, " We'll only be here for a little but the devil binds men in the chains of sin and only Christ can set them free." " Sir, we know that you are only obeying orders, but we want you to know that God loves you: Christ has died for your sins and all night long we'll be praying that you'll come to trust in Christ." I know they shared the Word of God with him because finally he came in and said, " Sirs,... saved." My... has someone shared God's way of salvation with you? A workmate! Some believer in the office! Some Christian on the factory floor! Certainly from this pulpit you know God's way of Salvation " You know that you are a sinner: that the devil has bound you in the chains of sin: that you have tried to break them: that God loves you: that Christ has paid the debt of sin: that by faith you can be saved from sin: hell: and judgment! His faith was fostered (a) (b) THE MEANS OF PEOPLE: I mean this jailor had two extraordinary prisoners in his jail. Here were two men who had been falsely accused
( 16:20) cruelly beaten: ( 16:22) and finally imprisoned! There was nothing about their circumstances to make them joyful. The prison was dark: damp and dirty and all around them were the outcasts of society! And yet from the bowels of that miserable, vermin-infested pit there ascended the prayers and praises of God's servants! And the fact that these two men were rejoicing in the midst of their trials led this man to faith in Christ! What about you? Have you not been impressed with the reaction of genuine believers in the midst of their trials? You've seen someone in hospital: at home passing through deep trials yet there has been praise on their lips: peace in their hearts: joy on their faces! My... have you not seen them in the midst of sorrow and bereavement? With hearts breaking, yet they have testified, " The Lord gave... Lord." ( Job 1:21) Has this not spoken to you? Have you not been confronted with the reality of Christianity in the life of someone you know? Have you not confessed that they have something that you have not? Through (a) (b) (c) THE MEANS OF PRESSURE: This man was brought to faith in Christ! For in Philippi Europe's first gospel concert brought down the house! You see God shakes this place in order to shake this person! Does God do the same today? Yes! Sometimes the Lord has to shake us out of our complacency to bring us to faith in Christ! Is there someone here who has lost their job recently? Is there someone here whose business is on the rocks? I wonder my... is the pressure so great on you that you have contemplated suicide? Perhaps God has sent an earthquake to your home recently and a loved one has been taken, all to make you sit up and get life in perspective! My... do you see how this man's faith was fostered? Do you see how he was brought to the place where he cried out, " What must I do to be saved?" Tell me... are you at that place? Then notice: (2) WHERE HIS FAITH WAS FOCUSED His question was sincere and earnest, and he received an answer that has resounded through the ages, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ... saved." ( 16:31) Paul did not suggest a system, no organisation or religion to join, he simply urged faith in Christ! My... its as simple as that. This is the gospel in a nutshell! " Believe... saved." Notice: (a) THE SAVIOUR HAS TO BE PERCEIVED: For you cannot have faith in someone you do not know! Ills: Suppose you were hurt in an accident and folk gathered round you to help you. Your reaction might be, " please don't touch me, leave me alone." But say someone emerged from the crowd and whispered in your ear, " I'm a doctor/nurse," then you would know something that would then make you willing to trust them and trust them you would! Who is this person that we are called
to trust? Well Paul and Silas said: (1) LORD: They meant He is the SOVEREIGN ONE: Lord means boss! My... you cannot be saved unless you are willing to make Him Lord of your life, unless you are willing to step off the throne and enthrone the Lord Jesus. The Bible says you must confess Him as Lord. " If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and believe... saved." ( Rom 10:9) Are you willing to crown Him Lord of your life this...? Backslider... are you willing to put Him on the throne of your life again? But Paul and Silas said: (2) JESUS: They meant He is the SAVING ONE: The name Jesus is His earthly name. It means " Jehovah saves," and it speaks of the one who died on Calvary's Cross and shed his blood for sinners! My... God could not just overlook sin. In order for God to pardon sin, that sin must be paid for, and the Lord Jesus in drops of ruby blood paid the debt for sin at Calvary! But my... they said something else. They said: (c) CHRIST: They meant He is the SUFFICENT ONE: This is the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah which means " God's anointed one," " God's chosen one," " God's sent one." My... there is no other way to be saved. God has only one Christ, one Messiah. The Bible says, " Neither is there salvation... " ( 4:12) My... this church cannot save you, no church can save you, only Christ can save you. Ah, you say, " I believe in the plan of salvation I'm saved." No, you're not saved by the PLAN of Salvation, you're saved by the MAN of Salvation and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ! Oh, you say, " Preacher I've got a proper creed," my... a creed cannot save you. Saving faith is not consent to a proposition but commitment to a person, and that person is the Lord Jesus, the Son of God and the Saviour of men! Yes, (a) but that's not enough: (b) THE SAVIOUR HAS TO BE BELIEVED: " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ... saved." ( 16:31) My... its not enough to know the facts about His birth, life, death and resurrection. We must believe! It means " Commit yourself." I know about Christ! I believe about Christ! But now I trust in Christ! Have you ever done that? Ills: A hugh crowd was watching the famous tightrope walker Blondin, cross Niagara Falls one day in 1860. He crossed the falls numerous times, a 1000 foot trip, 160 feet above the raging waters. He asked the crowd if they believed he could carry one person across. All assented! Then he approached one man to get on his back and go with him. The man refused! My... is that a picture of you this...? Do you believe that Christ is able to save you? Yes! Do you believe that Christ is willing to save you? Yes! Do you believe that Christ is the only one who can save you? Yes! But have you trusted Christ to save you? This jailor did, indeed not only did he trust Christ, his whole family trusted Christ! ( 16:34) But was that all? No! F
(3) WHY HIS FAITH WAS FRUITFUL Is it not James who reminds us that " faith if it not works is dead being alone." ( James 2:17) Someone has said that faith is like calories, you can't see them, but you can always see the results. My... genuine faith produces genuine results! This jailors faith in Christ was genuine for did you notice: (a) THE COMPASSION HE MANIFEST: " And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes." ( 16:33) Callousness was changed to concern, brutal language to brotherly love. With his own hands the jailor took the sponge and water and gently washed away the blood and grime and tended his prisoners wounds. They had ministered to his spiritual needs, he was ministering to their physical needs. But is this not what the gospel does? It makes crooked people straight, drunken people sober, profligate people pure. What a change had been wrought in the jailors life! Professing Christian can I ask you... if you were arrested for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you? Think about it: would there be anyone who would take the witness stand and say, " His faith was a living reality to to him?" " He came to my house when I was in need and shared the love of Christ, he came to my home, got on his knees and led me to the Saviour." Are you marked by compassion? (a) But... (b) THE CONFESSION HE MADE: " And he... and was baptised." ( 16:33) Who? The jailor, but he was now a believer! And this clarifies for us who are to be baptised not infants: not adults: not households... but believers for baptism " is an outward expression of an inward experience." Its a public confession that we have believed on Christ as our Saviour, and that by His grace we mean to follow Him all the days of our lives! My... a person is not baptised to make him a Christian but rather to show that he is a Christian! Are you a believer? Have you confessed Christ through believers baptism? Have you publicly, unashamedly through this ordinance told the world that belong to Him? What a beautiful scene there is before us in the closing verse, of this passage where we see a whole household sitting down together to a meal, rejoicing, why? Because they had come to believe in Christ! Have you come to believe in Christ? My... life or death, heaven or hell all hinge on that question. If you believe you are pardoned, justified, accepted, if you don't believe you are perishing daily, every hour bringing you nearer to hell. My... death is sure: judgment is inevitable: hell is an awful reality. Christ alone can save you. Will you come to Him? Ills: C. Elliott was a lady in the 19th century, who realised that in spite of her sincere respectability she was not saved. For a long time she wrestled with the problem, until at last she trusted Christ as her personal Saviour. After her conversion she put her experience into words, words which have
helped many others to make their own personal commitment to Christ! Here are the words Charlotte Elliott wrote: " Just as I am without one plea But thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidst me come to Thee O Lamb of God I come." Each verse ends with these words " I come." For here they were more than poetry, they were reality. They expressed her personal commitment to Christ! Are they real to you? Will you take her words and make them your prayer? " Just as I am Thy love unknown... "