And the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul (Acts 16:14).

This reminds me of the time when Jesus opened the minds of His disciples so that they could understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). Now, Lydia was "a worshiper of God," which means that she was not some ignorant heathen. She was likely a devout Jew since she honored the Sabbath and gathered with other women to pray (Acts 16:13). There may have not been enough men in the area to form a formal synagogue. But even this God-fearing woman had to have her heart "opened" by God for her to believe.

Friends, would you say that God was being unjust? How was it that God only opened Lydia's heart and not the hearts of the other ladies gathered at that place of prayer? Again, there were many Jews that persecuted Christians. How was it that God only intervened supernaturally in Paul's life?

Since God chooses one and not another for His ministry purposes, why do we belabor the truth that God chooses one and not another in salvation? Remember what Jesus told the Jews of his hometown:

I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian (Luke 4:25-27).

At that time, the Jews were furious with Him, even enough to kill Him. How could Jesus insult His own people, even His own neighbors, with such a declaration of God's sovereignty over men?

Some of you may also get angry with me for declaring to you God's sovereign choice in salvation. How could I disrespect human "free will," which people everywhere know is the essential gateway to salvation? 

I think many of us forget that we were once dust. Perhaps our nationalistic sense of self-determination has slipped into our theology to color our understanding of salvation, so that along with free gift, we presume free will. Adam became a living being only because God breathed into him the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). Mankind only has dignity because God created us in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27). What is more, no one can be saved except through Christ (John 14:6). And no one can come to Christ unless God first chooses him to do so (John 6:44).

As unsettling as this perspective is to our pride. I believe such a view of God's sovereign election gives the best representation of the whole counsel of Scripture. In other words, it is true whether you want to accept it or not. But I believe if we accept it wholeheartedly, we will truly honor God as He ought to be honored. What is more, we will no longer witness out of fear and desperation but out of confidence, conviction, obedience and peace.

Finally, our own salvation will not be subject to the anxiety that a theology of "free will" necessarily carries, for it is only consistent to believe that if free will is necessary to get saved, then free will is necessary to stay saved. But if you believe that God has saved you by His sovereign election, you can be confident that you will never lose your salvation, "for He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it" (Philippians 1:6). 

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were annoyed by a fortune teller who kept shouting for days, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved" while they were preaching in Philipi.  Paul drove out the evil spirit out of her, which led them to severe flogging and imprisonment.  Paul and Silas, however, prayed and sang hymns to God in the midst of the suffering in jail, and God showed His presence through miracle there.  The guard who witnessed it came to know the Lord together with his household in the end!  This story told me this morning about God's loving providence to save His people.  We could easily focus on the sufferings of the saints and question why they had to go through that since they were faithfully preaching the gospel.  God, however, was glorified by his people's faithfulness to Him and called others into the light!  God's ordering of things is hidden many times from us, and it may not be His will for us to know!  God's wisdom is not to know the hidden things of God but to know that it is futile to try to disclose them.  What is demanded of us is FAITHFULNESS to Him by firmly believing that His love endures forever for us! 

As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,”he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women (Acts 17:2-4).

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men (Acts 17:11-12).

So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection... Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. (Acts 17:17-18,34).

Paul's habit was to go the synagogues first before going elsewhere. Why? He wanted to preach the Gospel to the Jews first. Jesus came to His own people first. It is because the Jews rejected the Gospel that he then focused on reaching the Gentiles. Thus, he writes in Romans 1:16,

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Notice that those that searched the Scriptures were more persuaded than those that did not. Paul reasoned with the Jews from the Scriptures. And while Paul did many signs and wonders to authenticate the message, it was primarily through the message of the Scriptures that people were persuaded and saved. Even among the Gentiles Paul preached the Scriptures, albeit with a larger context than he did for the Jews, who already knew the Scriptures. You will find this to be so in the forthcoming chapters as well.

Therefore, those that would be witnesses for Christ, it is important that we study and preach the Scriptures. Yes, our personal testimonies serve a purpose in our witness; however, people are not saved by our personal experience. They are saved by the message of the Bible, even the Good News of Jesus Christ. Even though we do not need to be "experts" to be witnesses, we need to be constantly growing in our understanding of God's Word, so that we may not lead anyone astray but always provide a reliably true witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Paul and Silas were beaten and then imprisoned for sharing the Gospel in the town of Philippi. Paul was on his second missionary Journey extending further this time into several cities within the region of Macedonia (today Greece).

(Acts 16:25-31)

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, "Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!"

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household

I loved this story because it reflects the heart of true worship. One of the difficult parts of being a Christian is suffering for being obedient to God. Our sense of fairness suggests that good works should lead to Gods blessings. Here Paul and Silas are imprisoned for faithfully sharing the message of Christ. But rather than complain about the unfairness, they worship God while in the midst of their trial - they sing hymns. Despite their dire circumstances they trust in God and they are still a great witness for Christ. Verse 25 says that the prisoners were listening and then the prison gates flew open and everyone's chains come loose. We read that the jailer was so moved by Pauls compassion that he wanted to know what he must do to be saved! He wanted the joy and peace that Paul and Silas had.

What a powerful witness they were for God!. Its easy as Christians to standup for God and praise his name when all is well, but what kind of witness are we when things go bad? Our message is so much more powerful when we can stand for God in good times and bad.

Yujin adds... Brother Bill, you mention that the jailer "was so moved by Paul's compassion that he wanted to know what he must do to be saved." But is this correct? Are you referring to their telling the jailer not to harm himself? Was this compassion? Was he not more impressed with their boldness in not fleeing and their power in being able to open the prison doors? After all, the text says that the jailer "fell trembling" before Paul and Silas. This does not suggest being moved with compassion so much as being shaken with fear. I imagine this jailer was familiar with the Paul's message, even enough to know that he needed to be saved. The jailer was prepared to take his own life for a presumed dereliction of duty; however, now he had a new lease on life and a new cause for living. It would be for the Lord. 

Friends, someone asked a great question:

What does Paul mean in Acts 17:30?  God overlooked the people's ignorance before Christ? 

I responded:

Let me see if I can rephrase the question: In what sense did God overlook the people's ignorance such that now He commands people everywhere to repent.

Is it that He gave them a pass and did not judge them? That cannot be the case since He did judge them. However, they were ignorant with respect to the "command to repent." They were oblivious with respect to the hope of the Messiah. In other words, they were judged for their sins apart from any knowledge of repentance or revealed hope of salvation. This is what Paul presached in Lystra: "In the past, he let all nations go their own way" (Acts 14:16). What is this way? It is the way of sinful depravity apart from the knowledge of God's grace. It is the way by which these nations and their inhabitants would suffer death and eternal separation from God. But now, God no longer overlooked the nations. No longer would He simply allow them to remain in their "ignorance." Now He made known to all peoples (not necessarily every person) the message of salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. It is not that all will be saved, nor even that all will hear; however, the message would go out throughout the world such that some people of every race would hear the Gospel and there would be people from every race saved.

As an additional thought, look at Acts 3:17-20, where the same idea of "ignorance" is conveyed. But there, it is not referring to the nations but rather the people of Israel, who crucified Jesus. Paul said that they did it in ignorance because they did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah, for God's Word had to be fulfilled. He does not excuse them, but it does explain what happened. This recalls the words of Jesus on the cross, where He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). It begs the question, if anyone truly knew God or Jesus Christ, if they understood eternal life and eternal salvation, would they still reject it?

Every one of us suffers a kind of "ignorance," but the enlightenment by God through new birth by the Holy Spirit is our salvation. Praise God that He no longer overlooks our ignorance, allowing us to self-destruct in our sins, but in the course of time has made the way of salvation knowable to us and by the activity of the Holy Spirit enabled us to repent and believe and so inherit eternal life.

Friends, there are some, charismatic Pentecostals, who believe that people must speak in tongues to be saved. Although it is clear that not all believers speak in tongues (1 Corinthians 12:29-30), and I have argued elsewhere that the gift of tongues has ceased (1 Corinthians 13:8) and that today's practice is not that gift, there are still some that insist that tongues are a necessary evidence of salvation. From where does their argument arise? It comes from the three instances in the Book of Acts where people are said to speak in tongues following their conversion. I have discussed them in detail before so I will not mention them again here. However, I would like to mention the conspicuous instances of conversion where no tongues are mentioned or even suggested.

There is a very obvious conversion in our reading today. In fact, it is one of those occasions evangelists dream about. The Philippian jailer is on his face and pleading with Paul, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:31) And Paul answers very simply, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Yet, neither here nor later in the jailer's home is there any indication of tongues speaking. They are truly saved, but no tongues.

Another clear instance of conversion, earlier in Acts 8:36-39, the Holy Spirit brings Philip to preach the Gospel to a Ethiopian eunuch. Upon believing, he is baptized in water; however, there is no indication of any tongues-speaking. Furthermore, when Philip was preaching earlier to the Samaritans, they only received the baptism of the Holy Spirit (with the implications of tongues) when Peter and John arrived; however, they were saved under Philip's preaching. The apostles were required for the sign of tongues. Why? To connect this group of believers, namely, the Samaritans, with the first group, namely, the Jews. However, the tongues were not a sign of their conversion.

In fact, tongues-speaking in Acts is always associated with the baptism of the Holy Spirit that links back to the first occasion in Acts 2. In Acts it is always associated with an apostle, primarily Peter (Acts 2, Acts 8 by inference, and Acts 10), but also Paul (Acts 19).

Also, in our present text, when Lydia is converted (Acts 16:14-15), there is again no mention of tongues speaking. If tongues speaking is such an essential part of conversion, why does there seem to be so little effort by Dr. Luke, the author, who is known for recording important details (Luke 1:1-4), to include it more often than he does.

Further, there are numerous other occasions of conversions throughout Paul's missionary journeys; however, with the exception of the disciples of John the Baptist in Acts 19, there is no indication that any of these believers spoke in tongues after conversion. 

Tongues was given as a sign for unbelieving Jews that God was doing a new thing among them (1 Corinthians 14:21-22), that He was unfolding the mystery of Jews and Gentiles becoming one body in Christ. In Acts, the sign demonstrated that God accepted Samaritans, Gentiles, and the disciples of John into the same Christian communiity with the Jews. Thus the purpose of tongues was fulfilled in the first century and in the course of time ceased of itself (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Finally, it is clear that in Acts the tongues speaking was the miraculous ability to speak in human forgeign languages that the speaker had never learned (Acts 2:4-6). We know that this was true for every occasion of tongues in Acts, for they all point back to the first occasion, where such was the case. What goes for tongues today is some kind of repetitive gibberish (aka "angelic tongues" or "ecstatic utterance"), which has no basis in Scripture. If what these charismatic Pentecostals claim is true, namely that the Acts-based tongues speaking is a necessary sign of conversion, then clearly none of them are saved, because none of them speak in the kind of tongues that the Book of Acts records, namely, unlearned foreign languages.

Friends, I hope through today's sharing you can understand the dangers of misinterpreting the Scriptures. Because of this mishandling of the Word, millions of Christians today may be under the delusion that they are unsaved because they do not speak in tongues. And millions more may be preaching that people have to speak in tongues to be truly saved. And again, there may be many, who are truly unsaved but think they are saved because they "speak in tongues."

What is needed in the church today is a healthy dose of Biblical CLARITY. I find no other way to achieve this than for God's people to be daily and diligently in the Word.

Friends, many people, myself included, have wondered about the "will of God" and how they can know it. Many fear missing God's "perfect" will. In today's reading we find the events surrounding Paul's missionary journey being very instructive in this regard.

Notice, when Paul arrived in Derbe and Lystra, he met a certain disciple that he "wanted" to have as his companion in travel (Acts 16:3). The Spirit did not give him a sign. He did not have a vision. But we do learn something about this disciple named Timothy: "He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium" (Acts 16:2). As far as we know, Timothy, who became Paul's dearest and nearest companion, was chosen on this occasion by Paul on the grounds of reputation rather than supernatural revelation.

Now, when we read further about Paul's journey, we learn that the Holy Spirit forbade them from preaching further in Asia (Acts 16:6). The Spirit also kept them from going into Bithynia (Acts 16:7). Finally, in Troas, a coastal city, Paul was given a vision of a man from Macedonia, whereby they conclude that God wanted them to preach the Gospel there. In these three events, unlike before, God directly intervened, perhaps verbally, physically, and by vision, to direct Paul and his companions. So, sometimes there was supernatural revelation that guided these early believers in the will of God. Notice that in the absence of such revelation, Paul followed his own instincts and plans. He did not merely stand still and wait for God to prompt him. And following the revelation, he did the same. When he arrived in Macedonia, he went to the most prominent city, which Paul often did so as to have greatest impact (Acts 16:12).

Later, after they come to Philippi, we learn of a woman named Lydia, who became a believer. She begged Paul and his companions to stay in her house. We are told, "So she persuaded us" (Acts 16:15). Here is an occasion when Paul is neither prompted by information, nor by God, but by a God-fearing woman.

Finally, in Acts 17:16, when Paul was in Athens, we learn that "his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols." As a result, he preached the word there. This was not the Holy Spirit but Paul's own spirit within him.

So within a matter of two chapters we see that Paul discerned the will of God for himself in a number of ways: By getting information (by which Timothy was selected), by following the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit (by which he was led to Macedonia), by following his own wisdom (by which he went to the most prominent city in Macedonia), by listening to God-fearing people (by which Lydia persuaded them to stay at her home), and by following his own heart, which was passionate for Christ (by which he preached to the people of Athens).

Therefore, dear friends, don't get hung up on finding the "perfect will" of God for yourselves. Use your own wisdom, research, follow advice, and seek fervently after God in His Word, so that when you listen to your own heart's promptings, it will not lead you astray. Be open to supernatural leading. But remember, when it is truly from God, there will be no mistaking it. God Himself will ensure that you hear His message clearly. And if it is from God, the biblical witness is that it will be clearly supernatural. And also remember, God's perfect will never fails, so don't worry about missing God's perfect will. He is able to make everything work together for the good of those who who love Him and are called by His Name (Romans 8:28). He who began a work in you will be faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6).

As an aside, I encourage you not to listen to everyone who claims to have received supernatural revelation. Neither be amazed nor alarmed. As I listen and read about claims to such in our day, I am less and less persuaded by them. They do not resemble biblical revelations, which already makes them suspect. Most of them arise out of intense personal desire for something, or else, if in the night, they may come from food eaten the day before. Many, myself included, who thought they heard from God, were really hearing their own heart's promptings. When we recall how God led us here, spoke to us there, and performed this sign and that, I have learned that we exercise selective amnesia and only remember the things that we want to remember. We conveniently forget the many times that things did not come according to our claims of prompting. And our success rate for being supernaturally prompted and not being so is at best 50-50, which really argues for no prompting at all. I recently read an article that verified this psychological phenomenon of selective amnesia. For me, if it were not for my wife's detailed memory, I would not have known any better. It is not that God's grace is not always at work in our lives, but we would be wrong to make claims of supernatural revelation when there really was none. By His grace we live and breathe and have our being, and every success is attributable to God's grace, who gives us ability; however, it is quite another thing to claim revelation or direct interventions from God.

Acts 16:18 has Paul exorcising a divining spirit. I got two things from this passage. Paul got annoyed, so the manner this woman was proclaiming their entrance was not appealing. Now we have seen this praise and procession style before and it was not annoying to anyone; I gather this was a sign that this spirit was not of God. It was not, as prescribed in the letter to the Corinthians, loving, orderly, appealing, and dignified. This woman had success (she made her owners wealthy) God knew of this, so this tells me because I may meet someone able to tell the future, this does not mean they are of God! Do the traits, the fruit, reflect the source? We read in Corinthians the value of what I am calling here 'the appealing' traits are higher than speaking in tongues, healing, miracles, etc.