Acts 16:16-31
The Condition of My Heart
This historical account takes place at Philippi \\#12\\. In fact,
this section of Scripture is often referred to as the "conversion of
the Philippian jailer." The book in our New Testament, Philippians,
was written to the people in this same place.
There are several different vantage points from which to view this
event. I want to view in from the view it by looking at the hearts
of several of the people involved.
There is just one gospel and one Holy Spirit who gives understanding
of the gospel, but there are many different reactions to the gospel.
That tells me that among the things that account for different
reactions, one must be the condition of the heart. That is not just
my supposition. Jesus gave a parable referred to as the Parable of
the Sower. It is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It describes
the same seed being planted in different kinds of soil and with each
different kind of soil, a totally different reaction to the seed
occurred.
There are many things in this world which are beyond our control, but
the one thing that is totally within our control is the condition of
our hearts. Let’s consider that with three main thoughts this
morning.
I. \\#Acts 16:13-15\\ Notice the Tender Heart
A. The woman’s name is Lydia.
1. We really know very little about her.
2. She was probably a Jewess.
a. \\#Acts 16:13\\ She is named among the women who went
to pray on the Sabbath.
b. Paul stopped first to present the gospel to these
people. It is a stated fact that Paul always began
by sharing the gospel with the Jews first.
c. \\#Acts 16:14\\ She was already a worshipper of God.
While the word could refer to any god, when it is
used in our Bible like this, it is a reference to
the Lord God.
B. \\#Acts 16:14\\ Unlike so many other Jews, this woman’s heart
was tender.
1. When she heard that Jesus was the Messiah, she immediately
considered and totally accepted Him as her Messiah and
Savior.
a. \\#Acts 16:14\\ "The Lord opened her heart" - That was
her salvation.
b. \\#Acts 16:15\\ She was soon baptized, probably right
then.
c. \\#Acts 16:15\\ At which time, she opened her home to
Paul and his company.
2. How rare it is to find a heart so well cultivated and
tender that all it needs is to have the seed dropped
into it!
C. What makes a hard tender?
1. I would say no rocks of doubt had been planted.
a. Unfortunately, that is what happened to most of the
Jews.
b. On the day of Pentecost, they had no preconceived
notions about Jesus NOT BEING their Messiah.
c. They just listened to the evidence and 3,000 were
saved.
d. Then the Jewish leaders began to doubt. Not due to
any evidence, but due to the hate of their hate.
2. That is why we have ministries like VBS, Children’s
Church, Rainbow Bible Club, and Young Believers.
a. We go out knocking on doors because we need to win
the God doubters and haters.
b. If we can reach them with the gospel when they are
tender, we can save not only a soul but a life.
II. \\#Acts 16:16-19\\ Notice the Tough Hearts - There are several.
A. \\#Acts 16:16\\ Demon-possessed woman
Acts 16:16 And it came to pass, as we went to
prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit
of divination met us, which brought her masters
much gain by soothsaying:
1. No name is given but we are told that this woman was
possessed with a demon.
a. What makes this woman different from others in the
Bible is that it doesn’t look like she was an
unwilling host!
b. The Bible does not describe her as a suffering,
tormented soul. She may have been, but the Bible
does not indicate that.
c. Indeed, she had learned to use her wicked spiritual
condition to earn someone some money.
2. This woman was obviously very cold-hearted toward the
things of God.
a. \\#Acts 16:18\\ She followed Paul and his company
around for "many days." That shows determination.
(1) Paul had to preach during that time.
(2) Paul probably did miracles during that time.
(3) Neither seemed to have any effect on this woman.
b. \\#Acts 16:17\\ She announced Paul, but she did it in
a mocking matter.
(1) Obviously she knew who Paul and Jesus were. It
appears the demon revealed that to her.
(2) After a while, Paul had had enough.
(3) \\#18\\ Paul cast the demon out.
3. Through all of this. her heart was cold, hard, unmoving.
a. Even after the demon was cast out of her, there is no
indication that she came to the Lord.
b. Neither is there any indication she was grateful for
her freedom.
4. Her coldness makes me think that SHE was against God—not
just the demon but she herself!
a. Learn a lesson - Some people do not WANT to be freed
from their demons.
b. Their demons give them powers or abilities.
c. With these, they become powerful, wealthy, prominent,
famous.
d. They would rather have these things and their demons
than to be free without their demons.
B. \\#Acts 16:19\\ There was her master.
Acts 16:19 And when her masters saw that the
hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul
and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace
unto the rulers,
1. The Bible tells us what moved this man to do something.
a. Simply put, it was the fact that once the demon was
cast out of the woman, his ability to make money with
her was gone.
b. Knowing what moved him, we see what did not.
(1) This man was never moved that the woman was
possessed by a demon in the first place.
(2) This man was not moved by the things the demon
did to this woman. There is no such thing as
a "friendly" demon.
(3) This man was not moved that Paul and his band
came into the city to preach.
(4) This man was not moved that Lydia and others who
did not profit him were saved.
(5) This man was not moved that the woman herself had
been freed from her demonic oppression.
(6) No. None of these things moved the man. Only
the fact that he would no longer make money off
the woman.
2. This is a cold, hard-hearted man.
a. Miracles were happening around him, but he did not
care.
b. People were being freed from oppressive demoniac
control, but he did not care.
c. The only thing that moved this man was money. His
heart was filled with GREED.
3. There is no indication that this financial master was
possessed with a demon, but his heart seems just as hard
and cold as the woman who is possessed.
4. We are living in a cold, heard-hearted world just like
Philippi.
a. Today, even living, birthed babies are being
slaughter. That tells me there was never a question
of whether an unborn baby was a baby. It has always
been about killing the consequences of sinful
behavior.
b. Immorality and perversion is accepted, promoted, and
given special legal privilege.
c. A wicked, brutal, merciless religion like Islam is
deemed purer than the gospel of Jesus Christ.
d. After losing a 50 year drug war, our nation is now
legalizing the drugs we once tried to eradicate.
e. To be honest, I am cannot tell when it is just evil
filling the human heart or when it is the devil
filling it.
5. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned. Maybe it doesn’t
matter as much what your heart is filled with. The fact
that it is fully occupied may mean you simply have no
more room for God.
III. \\#Acts 16:22-34\\ Note the Transformed Heart
A. The strange thing here is that you would have thought this
man’s heart might be the toughest of all.
1. He had a tough job which required him to do some very
distasteful things.
a. Roman may have been experimenting with human rights,
but they were a long way from liberty.
b. These are those who took the cross and perfected it as
a torturous, killing method.
c. These are those who flayed men alive, burned them
alive, feed the alive to lions, and pitted them
against one another in the arena.
d. That is this man worked for.
(1) He took their scourged victims and kept them.
(2) he probably scourged some himself.
(3) This man’s eyes and ears had long since closed to
cries of suffering and human need.
2. I would expect his appearance to match his work (that is,
he would not appear very friendly).
B. Neither was this man was not easily converted.
1. It is just as likely that he would have rejected the Lord
as accept Him, perhaps even more so.
2. Yet something moved him to accept Jesus.
3. What was it?
a. It was not JUST the message.
(1) It was midnight when God sent the earthquake and
Paul and Silas had been praying, singing, and—
I believe—preaching, but this man was asleep.
(2) The message had not thus bothered him.
b. It was not JUST the God of the message.
(1) No doubt, God was there and no one comes to
salvation without God being there.
(2) But God had been there all night and still he lay
asleep.
c. I’d have to say a large part was the messengers of the
God.
(1) Not to start with.
(a) Paul and Silas has been beaten and
imprisoned for no crime at all.
(b) They had preached, prayed, and sung.
(c) Still the man was asleep.
(2) But when he awoke to find these men still there—
and more, they cared enough for him to stop him
from killing himself!
(a) They cared for him when he had not cared for
them.
(b) That seems to have done something to him.
4. I tell you that we have no idea what effect we have on
others.
5. For a light to influence a lost person….
a. Our light must be bright enough for them to see it.
b. We must be close enough to the lost for them to see
our light.
c. Our light must stand up to their inspection.
What kind of heart do you have? We must guard the condition of our
hearts.
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