BIBLICAL OBEDIENCE IS COSTLY | Acts 16:16-24

All right, if you have your Bible or an

app, let's open it up. We're going to

find ourselves back in the book of Acts

this morning.

Acts chapter 16. If you have been with

Acts 16 · chapter mention

us over the past couple of years, we

have been diving into the history of the

New Testament church. We find this

written to us in the book of Acts. And

this morning finds us at sermon number

54. And we're going to continue walking

and processing and and learning how God

has moved and worked through the birth

and beginning of the New Testament

church. And we're going to continue to

discover that how God worked then, God

continues to work today. And I've said

this time and time again as we've dived

into the book of Acts. You and I, this

local church, our brothers and sisters

across town, our brothers and sisters

across the state, across the nation,

across the world, churches, we are a

continuation of what God began here on

the day of Pentecost

when the Holy Spirit indwelled believers

and they began to prophesy and they

began to enact miracles and and God

began to advance his kingdom through his

sons and his daughters. And I've often

reminded us of this. The book of Acts

has no official ending. There's no

official conclusion to the book of Acts.

And I believe that's done on purpose

because you and I are a continuation

of what God has done in the past and

what God continues to do today.

>> And so, we're going to continue to

unpack how God moves through his sons

and his daughters. We're going to

continue to look at the story and life

of some key characters that we've been

introduced to throughout this series.

People like Peter, people like Luke.

Luke, as a matter of fact, is the author

of the book of Acts. Luke also authored

another book in the New Testament.

Anyone know what it is?

The Gospel of Luke. And [snorts] the

book of Acts is a continuation. And

here's why it's so incredible the

connection that we make here in the

Gospel of Luke. Luke shares with us the

life, death, and ministry, the

ascension, and the hope of his return of

Jesus.

He points the arrow to Jesus. And then

he writes the book of Acts. And the book

of Acts is written so that we would know

once we discover who Christ is, we would

know what Christ expects of us.

Which is why we see these key

characters, people like Barnabas, Paul

and Silas. We're going to read about

those two specifically here in just a

moment. How they were obedient to the

call of God to be used by God to advance

his kingdom. And that paradigm is still

how God operates today.

God chooses to use a gathered people to

call us out of death in our sin and

resurrect us to life everlasting in him,

empowered and indwelled by the ministry

of the Holy Spirit so that we would move

forward with the gospel of Jesus.

And so we find ourselves in Acts chapter

Acts 16 · chapter mention

16 this morning. We'll begin in verse

16, read on through verse 24. Now, if

you remember

earlier in this chapter,

Paul receives a vision.

It's called the Macedonian call.

In this vision, he is told to go to the

Macedonian region because God's going to

use him. God's going to make a

tremendous impact for the gospel. And as

a matter of fact, Paul had attempted to

go to different areas in different

directions. And every time he attempted

to do so, the door closed. Has that ever

happened to you before? You thought this

was the path you were supposed to be on,

and something happened and that door

closed. And so you tried another

direction, that door closed, and maybe

you find yourself in that moment right

now.

Paul receives a vision. He's told to go

to the Macedonian region.

We find that people are saved because of

his obedience. You remember the story of

Lydia and how he meets her on the shore

of a river.

She gets saved. Her family gets saved.

She becomes a huge proponent for the

gospel, a massive influence in that

community. And Paul and Silas and all

the believers in Jesus, things seem to

be going well.

But what do we do when things don't go

well?

What do we do when difficulties

arise?

What do we do when we are obeying God

and we are doing what God has called us

to do? We are being who God has called

us to be and things still don't go our

way. Anyone ever been there before?

This is where Acts 16 speaks. Beginning

in verse 16, it'll be up on the screen.

Here's what Luke writes

once

as we were on our way to prayer. We'll

come back to this in just a moment, but

this is key because I want us to

understand that the context of

everything that follows rises out of

Paul, Silas, and the other believers

walking in obedience, doing what they're

called to do, being who they're called

to be. And everything that follows rises

out of that. On our way to prayer, a

slave girl met us who had a spirit by

which she predicted the future. Some of

your translations might appropriately

translate that a demon. She had a demon

by which she predicted the future. Now,

let me just hit the pause button. The

devil and his demons are not omnisient.

If you're anything like me, you're a

skeptic by nature. And so you read a

verse like that or you read a passage

like that and you wonder, does the devil

and his demons really have the ability

to tell the future? I mean, the

scripture says right here that they

predicted the future. The answer is no,

they don't. But the devil and his demons

have been around since Genesis 3.

They've been around for a very long

time. They've studied the rhythms and

the patterns of human nature and say

they they know how humanity operates and

they can be pretty good predictors

of what will take place of how humans

will behave especially those who are

influenced being molded formed and

changed by that very sin nature. It

continues, "She made a large profit for

her owners by fortuneelling."

So this girl was enslaved twice.

She's enslaved by this demon, but she's

also enslaved by owners. Verse 17. As

she followed Paul and us, she cried out,

"These men who are proclaiming to you a

way of salvation are the servants of the

most high God." Isn't it incredible that

even the demons recognize truth?

They reject it. They rebel against it.

There's a full out assault on truth and

holiness and righteousness,

but they understand it. Verse 18, she

did this for many days, and Paul was

greatly annoyed.

I think a more appropriate translation

would be distressed.

Paul wasn't annoyed in the sense that,

"Ooh, get away from me. You're just

making me frustrated." He was distressed

for what this girl was going through,

for the pain and slavery she was

enduring at the hands of darkness and at

the hands of humans. Verse 18 continues,

"Turning to the spirit, he said, I

command you

in the name of Jesus Christ to come out

of her." And it came out right away.

when her owners realized that their hope

of profit was gone. Isn't that

incredible? There's no celebration that

this girl has been freed from demonic

oppression.

There's anger that their paycheck is

gone.

So what did they do? They seized Paul

and Silas, dragged them into the

marketplace to the authorities. Bringing

them before the chief magistrates, they

said, "These men are seriously

disturbing our city. They are Jews and

promoting customs that are not legal for

us as Romans to adopt a practice." The

crowd joined in the attack against them.

And the chief magistrates stripped off

their clothes and ordered them to be

beaten with rods.

After they had severely fgged them, they

threw them in jail. ordering the jailer

to guard them carefully. Verse 24,

receiving such an order, he put them

into the inner prison and secured their

feet in the stocks. And all God's people

said, "Lord, bless your word. Holy

Spirit, would you stir our hearts this

morning?"

This is a peculiar and interesting

passage passage. Oftentimes

we run into passages that we might even

label difficult such as this because we

see God's people doing what they are

supposed to be doing and in the midst of

that they still undergo suffering,

trial, and opposition.

As I was studying this this week, I was

reminded of the story of William Bordon.

If you've been around church long

enough, you've undoubtedly heard this

illustration and this story before, but

but I think it's appropriate for where

we're going in this passage. William

Bordon was the heir to the Bordon

estate.

A millionaire, a rich man, a wealthy man

just by virtue of being born to the

Bordon family.

He was a graduate of Princeton

University.

And rather than going into the family

business and operating as a wealthy man

as many board family members were

operating in, he chose to then go in the

ministry.

He felt the Lord was calling him to

China to go and minister to the people

groups over there. In preparation to go

to China, he goes to Egypt to learn the

customs, the language, and the culture.

By every means and every definition, he

was sold out to the ministry and the

advancement of the gospel of Jesus

Christ.

While he's in Egypt, he contracts spen

spinal menitis

and he dies.

He never finds himself making it to

China.

We hear stories like that

and maybe you become confused. Maybe

some questions arise

and you begin to think, why would

something like that happen to an

individual who chooses to be obedient to

God's call?

And maybe you find yourself in a

situation where you're walking in

obedience and yet there's roadblock

after roadblock, closed door after

closed door, difficulty after

difficulty. And we hear stories like

that. We read passages like that. And

there's something about it that deeply

troubles us because in our minds, we

don't expect obedience to work out that

way.

But what I really want to unpack this

morning

is the idea. Here's the big idea of our

sermon this morning is that obedience

doesn't promise an easy road.

Obedience never promised an easy road.

Jesus never promised an easy road.

Obedience and the life that Christ calls

us to live out, he calls us to trust in

him wherever the road leads.

And if all we ever do is choose to obey

when it's easy or choose to obey when

we're certain that the end of the road

is a good and proper place, then we miss

out on how God moves and works. Now,

now let me just let me just fast forward

to the end of the story. In the big

picture, the end of the road is God's

eternal kingdom forever and ever. So for

his son and for his daughter, no matter

the trial, the suffering and the cost of

obedience now, we will one day be in

God's eternal presence in his eternal

kingdom where Revelation declares will

be a place where sadness is gone,

>> thirst, hunger,

every limit that we've ever faced that

is rebellious and contrary to a greater

affection for the Lord. And what he's

about is gone.

The scripture illustrates that and

paints the picture of the new heaven and

the new earth colliding the final

consummation where Christ gets the glory

and we live out the benefit forever and

ever. Obedience is costly but the

greater cost is a life lived in

rebellion and rejection to Jesus.

So here's what I want to do. I want to

go back to our passage.

I want to pull out some themes that we

see regarding obedience and opposition.

Perhaps maybe answer the question, why

is obedience so costly?

Why do God's people have to endure pain

and suffering? Paul and Silas and the

other believers, they're on their way to

pray. They're on their way to have

church. They're on their way to worship

God and they're [clears throat] faced

with the cost of their obedience.

I think

helping us understand this in a deeper

way is clearly seeing that Paul and

Silas are exactly where God called them

to be. So, let's go back through the

passage. If you're taking notes, here's

the first thing I want us to see. You've

likely picked up on it already.

Obedience will meet you. I'm sorry.

Opposition will meet you in your

obedience.

There needs to be an expectation on the

part of the believer that there is

opposition in the world. Now, I think we

know this practically.

Most likely things that you have faced

in your life up until this point, part

of that has been opposition. Part of

that has been push back. Part of that

has been the result of the brokenness,

the evil, the chaos, and the sinful

nature of the people and the world that

we live in. Opposition is a reality of a

sinful and broken world. What we need to

do is prepare for that with our

spiritual lives.

Which is why over the past couple of

weeks, we've dived into our annual

series called Mythbusters.

where we look at pervasive and

persistent myths in the culture that

people easily believe, embrace, and live

out and ask the question, well, what

does the Bible actually say about those

things?

And are we trusting God's word over what

the world says is true, over what the

world dictates to us, over what the

world influences with? Are we trusting

God's word? So we need to be prepared as

believers that when we are living in

obedience at some point in our life we

will face opposition. And do you know

why Jesus says it this way? He says

don't be surprised when the world hates

you but take comfort in knowing that it

hated me first. What does that tell us?

That tell us that this path that we are

on Jesus is leading the way. And if

Jesus is leading the way, I don't have

to fear when the rock when the road gets

rocky or when there's obstacles, when

there's bumps, because if Jesus has

paved the way for me, then he's made a

way through it.

And so, we have to prepare.

And part of preparing is understanding

opposition is going to meet us in our

obedience. Go with me to verse 16.

Luke says it this way. Once as we were

on our way to prayer,

what are you on your way to?

What have you been pursuing? Where has

God been directing you? And in there,

you've discovered opposition. In there,

you've discovered pain. In there, you've

discovered trial. And I know I'm beating

a dead horse with this, but it is so

worth mentioning because this is

thematic all throughout the Bible. It's

thematic all throughout the Bible

because Christ wants his people, that's

you and I, to be prepared for what is

the reality of walking in faith as his

sons and daughters. And all the more,

the scripture says that as we see the

day drawing near and Christ's eventual

return, the devil knows that he's facing

a losing battle. And one day, Christ

will return. And one day Christ will

annihilate all that is broken and wrong

in the world, the devil and his demons.

They won't rule in hell. They will be

subjected to the suffering and

condemnation of their own rebellion.

They know that day is coming. So what

are they doing in the meantime? They

want to wreak havoc on you.

They want to make it difficult for you.

But but let me just bring this comfort.

Even in the midst of our difficulty,

we're covered by the blood of Jesus. Did

you know that?

>> And there's power in the blood of Jesus.

[snorts] The blood of Jesus, there's

protection. In the blood of Jesus,

there's peace. In the blood of Jesus,

there's comfort,

>> in the midst of trial and pain. That's

the power of our savior. And so, though

you may be on the path of obedience,

obedience oftent times meets opposition.

Now, let me just hit the pause button

because we need to be very careful here.

We can swing the pendulum so far in the

other direction that we think everything

becomes an attack from the devil. And

so, I've been in ministry long enough to

have heard this before. When you get a

flat tire, oh, the devil devil wants to

ruin my day.

Maybe so. Or maybe you just picked up a

nail on the road.

Sometimes if we're not careful, we can

credit the devil and his demons with

more power than they actually have.

Don't give to him what he does not

possess. Scripture never teaches us to

become obsessed with finding a demon

under every bush or finding a demon

behind every difficulty. But scripture

is just as equally clear that we do have

a real enemy and we are in the midst of

a real spiritual conflict. And so we

need to expect opposition. But not just

expect opposition. We need to be

prepared to respond to opposition.

Because here as we get into the latter

passages, what is Paul and Silas going

to do? They're going to respond.

And how do they respond to this

opposition? It's not on the screen, but

I'll read it to you here in verse 18. It

says, "In the name of Jesus,

how are you responding to the call of

your obedience?" How are you responding

to the opposition of your obedience? I

hope and I pray that it's in the name of

Jesus.

You are a temple.

through which God dwells and works.

His spirit is in me. His spirit is in

you. If you have placed your hope, faith

and trust in him.

That means there is a greater power that

rests in you than any power that might

come against you.

So don't be discouraged.

Don't be downtrodden.

Don't get bitter. Don't get upset. Don't

have doubt. And even if you have those

things, don't let those things push you

from God. Let them be the catalyst where

you pursue God with deeper passions

and greater affections. Don't be

discouraged when following Jesus gets

difficult.

If you're pursuing holiness,

men, if your desire is to strengthen

your marriage, if your desire is to

disciple your children or to share the

gospel through whatever avenue or

vocation God has given you, if your

desire is to break sinful patterns or

serve this church through an active and

engaging ministry, or you just want to

overall take your relationship with

Christ seriously, don't be surprised

when opposition rises. is

because the devil will not like it.

But know that Christ is our protector.

Don't confuse opposition with defeat.

The enemy, he'll oppose what Christ is

doing in you.

But there's a greater power in you than

a power that comes against you. Here's

the second thing that I want us to see.

Obedience

will put you at odds with the world.

We're going to see a progression here in

terms of opposition.

We see the spiritual opposition. We face

this. But then there's the physical

opposition, the worldly opposition. And

many of you have discovered this through

the loss of friendships

or division in family. Because as a

child of God, you stand on biblical

truth. And oftent times, standing on

biblical truth puts you in direct

opposition with worldly truth. And that

often times can divide relationships

and affect family.

So obedience to God doesn't just put us

on the path of spiritual opposition. It

puts us in the path of opposition with

the world. What do you mean, Roland?

Let's go to verse 19.

It reads, "When her owners realized that

their hope of profit was gone,

the girl had been healed, the demon had

come had come out of her. The demon had

recognized the power of God. The power

of God was exercised over this

demonically possessed woman. The demon

came out and the owners got angry." So

there's not just spiritual opposition.

Now there's what? Worldly opposition.

And what do the owners do? It says they

seized Paul and Silas.

And this picture that's painted here is

not that they said, "Hey, put your hands

behind your back. We we got to take you

to this trial because you're really not

supposed to be doing this. It's really

affected my bottom line." No. The the

word there is intentional to paint this

picture that it was violent oppression.

dragged them into the marketplace to the

authorities, bringing them before the

chief magistrates. They said, "These men

are seriously disturbing our city."

Isn't that interesting? Is that why the

fellows were mad? No,

they were mad because their bottom line

dropped out. They're not making a profit

anymore. Their pockets are not being

filled.

But they don't take that to magistrates.

They begin to throw additional lies.

They're disturbing us. They're not doing

things that we would do. They're Jews.

They're not Romans. They're not like us.

How many of us have ever heard that

before?

Continues. They are promoting customs

that are not legal for us as Romans to

adopt or practice. Now, now watch what

happens.

What does verse 22 say?

the crowd joined in the attack.

So, the motivation

from these slave uh slave owners

was to get the crowd stirred up because

if I can get the crowd stirred up, then

people are like lemmings. They won't ask

questions. If they see the person in

their in their circle doing it, they'll

likely follow as well. That's how the

devil operates.

If he can't get you, he'll get the

people around you

because he knows if he can get the

people around you. If he can if he can

infect your circle of influence, he'll

likely get to you.

Because one of the sad realities of the

culture that we live in in this social

media

enslaved

and indrrenched culture, now now, now

let me just clarify.

Social media in and of itself is not

wrong. It's not evil. There are so many

good things and so many blessings out of

social technology. There have been some

good things. But like with anything, you

put it in the hand of a sinful person,

what will result in it? Sin. And this is

what we see happening. The devil knows

this. That's why sometimes our

algorithms will get us stirred up.

They'll get us angry

rather than being compassionate.

rather than going to the Lord in prayer

and pleading with the Lord and I'm

talking about on our knees, white

knuckle grip, white knuckle grip type of

prayer for the Lord to move and the Lord

to work. So the crowd joins the attack.

The crowd has been stirred up and the

chief magistrates, if it's not already

bad enough that they've been drugged

into the city square and the crowd is

against them, they strip Paul and Silas

naked

to bring further shame upon them

and they're beaten with rods.

Notice that

there's not a celebration

over the fact that this slave girl has

been set free.

There's no celebration that she's no

longer being tormented and oppressed by

darkness.

No, those who are engaged in sin fall

deeper in to sin.

The culture

turns against God.

Even when good things are clearly

witnessed,

the culture turns against the people of

God. Now again, Jesus never promises

that life will be easy.

Jesus says, "The world hates you, but

know that they hated me first." And and

I want us to understand this.

When Jesus says says those things, he's

not just simply offering spiritual

assistance in our life, Jesus is telling

us that he's walked that path

and he's clearing it for us and he's

inviting us to follow him understanding

that yes, there may be a cost,

but in this short window of life,

one day we will be with him for all

eternity in heaven.

forever

and we should continue forward.

You know, following Jesus is going to

oftenimes put us in what we would call

the unpopular

crowd.

Now, I'm not talking about how you vote.

I'm not talking about particulars of

your Christian convictions, though, if

you're convicted, you stand by those.

I'm talking about when we stand on

biblical truth. Jesus is the way, the

truth, and the life. No one comes to the

father except through him.

Jesus was born of a virgin. There's no

two ways around that. It was miraculous

in nature, and it's supposed to be

miraculous in nature. So that the arrow

points to the power of God.

He rose from the grave

demonstrating authority over death and

sin.

We stand on truth. He created them male

and female, husband and wife.

We stand on truth.

That we are fearfully and wonderfully

made. That before our days were

numbered, he knew the number of hairs on

our head. We stand on truth.

And the world will oppose

and the world will fight.

And we may be offended

and we may be hurt, but I want us I want

you to hear me before we go on to the

next one. Offense and hurt should never

be our attitude.

That doesn't deny the reality of the

offense and the hurt. It hurts and I'm

offended, but that shouldn't be our

attitude.

Our attitude should be that of Christ.

So, one thing here's here's a diagnostic

question that we can ask.

Am I living for the approval of the

crowd

or am I living for the approval of

Christ?

That's the diagnostic question. And

here's the last thing that we see.

Obedience doesn't require knowing the

outcome.

Now, I want to know the outcome. Now,

again, big picture, we we we know the

outcome. Book of Revelation,

we know the outcome. You and I will be

in God's kingdom forever and ever. We're

we're living now in God's kingdom as he

moves the gospel forward through you and

I. And one day, we will experience its

fulfillment and the final consummation

of heaven meeting earth, the new heaven

and the new earth. But right now, you

may be on a path. You may be in a

moment. And you don't have to know the

outcome to walk in obedience.

The power of faith is knowing as long as

Christ is present and as long as he is

leading me, I don't need to worry about

the outcome because Jesus already knows

it.

Verses 23 and 24, I think, paint a

really good picture.

After they had severely flogged them,

they threw them in jail, ordering the

jailer to guard them carefully.

Receiving such an order, he put them in

the inner prison and secured their feet

in the stocks.

This is incredible. Do you know why this

is incredible?

I'm going to jump ahead to next week's

sermon, but I think it's going to paint

a beautiful picture.

Go to verse 25. This is why this is

incredible. You and I know verse 25.

Paul and Silas didn't know verse 25 when

they were being beaten, when they were

being put in the inner prison. But look

at verse 25. About midnight, Paul and

Silas, what are they doing? Praying and

singing hymns. They're still walking the

path of obedience.

They're not in the ideal situation.

They're not in the ideal place. That

that hinder their obedience. No. Listen,

you might be in some shackles right now.

You might be in this moment. Maybe

you're not in a physical prison, but

you've been maybe in an emotional, a

mental, a spiritual prison right now.

Would you sing praises to God,

Roland? How can you expect me to sing

praises to God in a moment that is

painful? Because I believe, and the

scripture teaches us, when you reorient

your focus and your thinking, and you

look to God, his kingdom, and his

righteousness, Matthew 6:33, then

Matthew 6:33

everything else will be added to you.

Jesus is not saying that so that you

would seek his kingdom and his

righteousness thinking all the blessings

will come your way but so that you would

seek his kingdom and his righteousness

so that in the midst of your shackles

you would get better perspective.

You would experience deeper joy. You

would experience a comfort that comes

from nowhere

else.

Our hope isn't that God will remove

every painful moment. Our hope is that

no painful moment can remove us from

God.

That's the truth. This is where Acts 16

speaks. This is where Acts 16 opens up

our eyes and our heart to who God is and

what he desires. So just remember your

responsibility,

your call, the expectation of your life

is obedience, is faithfulness. God knows

the outcome.

And we don't have to in order to walk in

obedience. We simply need to trust in

him.

And I think this is where it takes a

really good gospel turn.

Because did things go well for Jesus?

No. He was betrayed.

He was whipped. He was scorged. His

beard was ripped from his face.

His face was beat in. The scripture says

beyond recognition,

he was crucified, executed in history's

worst form of death known to man. And he

did it for you and I.

He did it out of obedience to the

father. Paul will say it this way in the

rest of the New Testament that Jesus did

not consider

equality with God as something to be

grasped, but he laid it down. He humbled

himself to the point of death, death on

the cross. He did it for you and I

so that we would know that we know that

he is the one leading. He is the one

guiding. And in my obedience, though it

costs something, Jesus has paid the

ultimate cost. Because at the end, when

this is all said and done, as we get

taste and see moments of worship and

lifting up the name of Jesus, we will

experience its fullness one day in the

presence of our eternal father because

of what Christ has done for his glory

and for our good. Let's pray together.

Lord, we thank you for your word

and we thank you for the moment to just

gather today, open your word and to grow

in it.

Holy Spirit, would you continue to stir

us to greater affection and greater

obedience?

And in moments when opposition meets us

on the path of obedience, would we cling

to your truth? Would we cling to your

hope? Would we trust in your plan so

that in all things you get the glory

and in getting the glory

your church is empowered

and blessed for the mission at hand. All

this we ask in the name of Jesus [music]

Christ our Lord. All God's people said

amen. Would you stand to your feet with

me? Let's sing together. This is our

prayer before the Lord. Let this be your

prayer before the Lord. We're going to

have a time of response. [music] That

means our altar's open.

You can come and have some one-on-one

time with the Lord. If the Holy Spirit's

been stirring you, [music]

maybe there's some sin you need to

repent of. Maybe you want to give thanks

for God's blessing. Maybe you just

[music] need to have a prayer moment.

Dads, if you want to bring your family

and have a moment at the altar with the

Lord, I'll be available. I'd love to

pray with you. Lift up this need before

the Lord or just thank God for the

blessing. This is what this moment is

for. I love you church.

>> [music]