The Jailer and the Key

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank

you for his precious gift to us. Help us today

as we focus on the jailer and the key to

find the key to life in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.

The title of the message today is The Jailer and

the Key. Have you ever felt locked out in life

like you couldn't find your way? Anybody? I put my

hands up. And you needed a key to open a

door so you can understand something better. Or you needed

a key so you could walk through and have a

relationship that God wanted you to have with Him. But

you didn't know how to be saved. You weren't sure

how to find your way. So the message today focuses

on the key. Because Paul healed the demon girl by

casting out a spirit of divination, Paul's whole evangelistic team

in Acts 16 at the city of Philippi suddenly found

themselves in a mighty heap of big trouble. When you

share God's Word with Jesus, don't expect an easy road

in your life. The Bible is clear. You can have

trouble because trouble will come looking for you. It's an

evidence that you're a faithful Christian. Like the devil business

of modern Hollywood in America... Or Bollywood in India? Or Disney?

Let me ask you a question. Go back to those slides. Hollywood, Bollywood, Disney.

Do you think Jesus is going to be proud of

people watching the stuff that these things produce? If Christ

was coming in the clouds of heaven, and you're watching

a Disney film with spiritualism in it, if you're focusing

on one of these Marvel Avengers movies, Where you have

the gods, the demon gods of the past now as superheroes.

Do you think that Christ would be very blessed by

our children and us glued to that as the clouds

open up and we're ready to go home to glory?

What do you think? Is that compatible with a life

that is ready for the coming of Christ? It isn't,

is it? And so as Jesus comes, as we live

on the eve of the advent of Christ, I'm going

to be very frank with you. I was up last

night praying, praying a good hunk of the night, praying

a good hunk of the night for our families, our children,

our relationships. Because I can tell you right now, let's pause. Andrew,

move that receiver away from the others. Just move it

further out. Because this is an audio transmission. Just move

it physically further away and see if it goes away.

Thank you. Now, if I were to put my energy

on betting that we must be fully committed to Jesus

to be ready for the coming of the Lord, am

I right or wrong? Come on, engage me. Can there

be compromise in our life as we live on the

eve of the advent of Jesus Christ? Yes or no? Now,

I'm not talking about perfectionistic brow-beating that makes people feel awful.

I'm talking about having it right in our private life,

our personal life, our church life, so that we honor

God with integrity. And you see, this slave owner... The

slave owner, I'm going to switch mics. Okay, so just

give me this one here. Is that all right? Just

switch me out. I'll just have to use the handheld

mic today. Okay, right there. I'll work with you. You

don't mind if I hold it in my hand, do you?

He was in the devil business of selling things. because

this girl had a spirit of divination. And he marketed

the devil to calm the weak and the depressed in

the dark trade of the slave girl. And so he

was making money off of this. Does Hollywood and Bollywood

and Disney make monies off of spiritualism? What do you think?

Do they? Absolutely they do. And so we should not

be in the business of feeding these industries and destroying

our souls at the same time. Someone recently... He said,

Pastor Mike, aren't you kind of stiff on that? Shouldn't

we understand what's happening in our culture? Well, yeah, to

a degree. But should we be corrupted by our culture?

Not at all. Friend, a movie is not a cure

for depression, nor is a bout of entertainment able to

heal your soul. What did these merchants of death do

to Paul and his missionary team who didn't buy into

these kind of evil practices? What happened here? In Acts 16.23,

the text says they threw them into prisons. Threw them in.

And they commanded the jailer to keep them there in prison.

And the jailer in Paul's day was a Roman soldier

with obligations. If he didn't do a good job of

keeping them in prison, if he slept at his post,

it was Roman law he was to be executed for sleeping.

If any prisoner got away, he was in trouble. A

high level of discipline was required of soldiers in Rome.

Would that the same level of discipline was required for

ministers of the gospel today in the church. I've been

in ministerial settings where I've heard pastors talking about how

they saw that movie, this movie. They went to this thing,

that thing. And I ask the question, how can they

stand and preach to God's people to be ready for

the coming of the Lord when their own lives are corrupted?

Is that valid? Now look, we all struggle. We all

have cultural pulls. But we should exhort one another to

be faithful and godly. and to get our lives right

because Christ is coming, I believe, in our generation. So

with it, the same level of discipline was required for

ministers of the gospel today in the church. Why? Because

we are soldiers of the cross and God will not

agree with a dereliction of duty when Jesus is our leader.

Before they threw Paul and Silas into prison, they beat

them up so they would have nothing to sing about

and nothing to praise God about. And then they were

locked up for the gospel. That's a pretty rough deal.

Here you are, Lydia's baptized in Acts 16. Paul casts

the demon out of the slave girl. And when all

this great victory occurs, they get beat up and thrown

in jail. Before they threw Paul and Silas into prison,

they had to endure that. Now after the jailer was

told to keep them there, secure, they locked Paul and

Silas down with fetters. The Greek word would suggest iron chains.

So what is the right response to persecution and violence

when you are a Christian locked up in chains for

Jesus Christ? If that happened to you, would you feel

like getting real sad? Like, oh no, I just had

my life come to an end. Has anyone here ever

been in jail? Well, you can raise your hand. You have?

You've been in jail? We've got some convicts here today,

I must admit. Well, I was arrested once for throwing

a smoke bomb as a kid at a hospital. We

talked our way out of it, actually, that night. They

let us go, but bad thing. Now, Acts 16.25. Let's

take our Bibles and look at the verse here. Acts 16.25.

But about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing

hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, Paul,

the evangelist, and Silas, his team partner, became song leaders

in prison. When you can't preach to the mocking crows

in the crowds, friends, You can sing to the jailbirds

in prison. When you can't make a difference, you can sing.

You can show joy in the midst of adversity. The

Bible says in the Greek language that most translations agree

they sang hymns to God. How many of you have

a favorite hymn that's close to your heart? What is it?

Speak loudly. What is it? Yes. What? Day by day?

Another favorite hymn that speaks to your heart. Amazing grace?

When I survey the wondrous cross. Is that the one? Okay,

another one. Favorite hymn? What? Praise Him. I have to

get you up here to sing that one. But that

sounds good. Isn't it good when we can get together

and we can sing praises to God Hymns can rise

to God, and the music isn't coming at us like

it's a theatrical performance, but we're all together worshiping God.

Isn't that the way to do it? And so there

they were, Paul and Silas, and we don't know who

else was in prison with them, singing hymns to God.

The Greek word for hymns means songs of praise. Friends,

God is not blessed when we sing mournful, gloomy songs

to God. He is impressed when we glorify Him with

joy in the midst of adversity. Our witness is harmed

when mournful music dominates our singing. Music that is slow,

minor key, driven in congregational worship. If that's the theme,

now there are times we have minor key music, I

get it. But if that's the bulwark of it, imagine

God sitting on His throne Sabbath rolls around. He wants

to hear us praise Him. And we get up here

and say, Praise Him, praise Him, all the little children.

you know he just goes I mean I think he

would say oh my goodness holy spirit get down there

and help that church Gabriel get a bunch of angels

down there prod them have joy smiles on their faces

We come to church to praise God because God is

worthy of praise. Now, praise does not negate reverence. The

right kind of praise is reverent worship for God. Now,

our witness is harmed when mournful music dominates our singing,

music that is slow, minor key, driven in congregational worship,

music that is sweetheart kind of music to God. I mean,

God doesn't want to sit on the throne. And hear

people sing to him like he's our sweetheart. And there's

music that does that. It's the genre of the sweetheart

kind of romantic. And then it becomes worship. God's not

interested in that. He wants music that honors him for

his character, his power, his majesty, his humility. Rock and

roll music finding its way in the church doesn't work.

We don't sing songs in church because we like the songs.

Some people say, well, I don't like hymns. You ever

hear someone say that? I don't like to hear hymns.

And you know what my answer to that is? You're unconverted.

It's not very hard to figure. If you can't find

joy in hymnody, you're not a converted person. God has

songs that have made a difference throughout the history of

the Christian church that are meant to transform us. Music

that is meant to help us seeing what angels would sing,

to honor God and His character, and to have a

nobility in our worship that He Himself will recognize. So

we sing Christian hymns because they honor God. He likes them,

the attitude behind them, and we are changed by solid

messages that are sound and not off, the kind of

songs that angels can sing. People can be won to

Jesus by the right kind of Christian music and hymns.

And people can be deceived by the wrong kind of

music that is worldly and sensual and out of control. Now,

in the book of Revelation, chapter 18, the Bible directly

Revelation 18 · chapter mention

addresses end-time worship and music that God does not accept.

He says, the sound of the grindstone or the millstone

shall be heard in you no more. Prophetically, he's talking

about heavy rock forms will no longer be heard because

Babylon has fallen. But then he says, he uses the

highfalutin music of classics which is also not acceptable for

hymnody and worship, that will not be heard in you anymore.

So we can veer by being so intellectual in our

music that we just have music that is meant to

make people think that we're experts at it. And we

can then have music that just makes God feel awful

because the sense of his presence is violated. Sister White

calls it a den of noise. Or we can have

joyful hymns that we sing together that glorifies God in

the Holy Spirit. Now, which one would you choose, you think,

for church? Wouldn't the middle one make the most sense?

That's what they're doing. They're singing hymns in prison. And

so choose your music well to the glory of God.

In Acts 16, 25, Luke is careful to record that

the prisoners were listening to them. At this point, God

joined in with some bass and percussion. that was well

suited for the happy occasion of getting out of jail.

There is a time for explosive, powerful music. I think

of our hymnal, one that says, We have this hope

that burns within our hearts. You ever hear that one?

Come on, have you heard it? Wouldn't it be great

to sing that song? I don't have it on the screen.

I think we'd sing it right now if we could.

One of these Sabbaths, we could have a full Sabbath

of doing nothing but singing songs. Since we can't bring

some fancy group in here, we'll just have one solid

congregational song, maybe a little testimony in the middle. But powerful,

explosive deliverance. So look at Acts 16, 26. Here it happens.

And 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 fetters were unfastened. Now, when

you sing the right way, when your heart is right

with God, you may be in prison, but you can

suddenly be freed by the power of God. Something can

shake you up that can align you with God. Normal

earthquakes don't loosen chains. The doors were opened. The Bible

says the chains fell off. When Daniel's three friends were

in the fiery furnace, you read the storyline, they go

in there, the Lord Jesus is in there with them

as the Son of God. Nebuchadnezzar recognizes that. And in

the fiery furnace, suddenly, I see one like the Son

of God, and the soldiers that threw them in there

are burned by the fire. They can't get close to

the glory of God. But Nebuchadnezzar, who's being converted, is

drawn to the door and he doesn't burn up like

the others did. And when he comes to the door...

And they finally come out. The Bible says the only

thing that was burned was the bonds that had held them.

So you're going through trouble. I'm going through trouble. We

get assaults in our life. The devil comes after us.

Do you realize if you hang in there with Jesus,

the only thing that gets consumed are the bonds that

have bound you. You don't get burned up if you

hang in there with Christ. And so we see their

lives are preserved in the earthquake. They don't die. A

wall doesn't fall on them. But what does fall away

are the fetters that were unfastened. Friend, God wants to

deliver you and to free you from satanic chains and

the cords that have bound you in life. Now I'm

going to tell you, I've spoken about this recently here,

and I'm going to reiterate this. The modern charismatic movement

is a satanic movement. Do you hear me? It's a

satanic movement. Why do I say that? it does not

pass the Holy Spirit test. It does not bring people

to obedience to God's law. It does not bring people

into submission whereby their lives are such that they walk

in humility. Dominion theology, teaching people that we can get dominion,

you focus on the devil, you focus on caste, and

all that kind of thing. And then the lack of

reverence in God's presence. These are not evidences of God's

Holy Spirit. These are evidences of fallen angel spirits. And

so I would admonish you, if you're listening to music

that comes from that genre, if you are interacting in

worship fellowships or listening to preachers who are promoting that,

you are playing with demonic forces in your life. And

you need to separate from it. Because spirits come into

our lives if we interact with the wrong material. Acts 16, 26,

suddenly there was a great earthquake and God spoke with

the earthquake. The text says in verse 26 that everyone's

fetters were unfastened. God set them all free that night,

not just Paul and Silas. And the hymns full of

praise was the key that unlocked the doors and caused

the chains to fall away. King Jehoshaphat defeated an army

with a choir. They went out to war and the

Lord said, just take the choir. Don't go with anyone else.

Just take the choir. I mean, no swords, no spears,

no arrows, no slings. Now, have you ever used a sling?

A sling is like a bullet. Powerful 200 mile per

hour projectile that can kill you. None of that. Just

go with the choir and sing. And God defeated the

enemy army with singing and joyful praise. Now, if you're

struggling in your life, and you may, I have, with discouragement,

And you're saying, oh, I'm so down. I just don't

have any courage. I feel so awful. You ever said

that to yourself? No. Why am I the only one

who struggles around here? I don't feel like you're relevant.

I'm kidding. But have you ever done that? When you

get down, you know, kind of way down, you can

even bend over. My wife wants me to make sure

I get good posture. I said, well, honey, I'm not

as young as I used to be. I work on

my computer. Straighten your neck. Now look. One of the

cures for depression is to get the right neurotransmitters in

your brain that will encourage you. And if you feed

the negative in your life, you're not going to get that.

So when the joy of the Lord is our strength,

the Bible says, practice praising God. And let's do it

right here. It won't hurt us. We're not in jail,

thank goodness, but you might be soon because we're in

the end of time. Let's say to the Lord in

a meaningful way, praise the Lord. Come on, praise the Lord.

And you know, here's another good word that won't hurt you,

reverently said with enthusiasm, hallelujah. And what does that mean?

Praise the Lord. It's just the Hebrew way of saying

the same thing. So the devil comes to you in

life and he's saying, well, your bills can't be paid.

You got this health problem, cancer diagnosis. And what's a

good word to say? Praise the Lord. and when you

praise the lord you enthrone him the bible says on

the praises of israel he's enthroned it's good medicine for

us psychologically and emotionally as well praise the lord my

wife just walked in she didn't hear me say that

but anyway i have to stand straight but i'm looking

down at my manuscript Give me a second. Now, the

Greek word says the fetters were loosened. You have to

break iron, but they loosened. They became jelly. They just

fell off. Now, that wasn't the earthquake. There was a

divine intervention that brought those iron fetters like jelly right

off of them so everybody was set free. Now, friends,

you don't break free in your life from evil forces.

God slips the chains off. When you're focusing on praising

the Lord, giving glory to Him, worshiping Him in a

way that honors Him in your life, and that means

obedience and submission in your life, God slips the chains

off and you are now in the Holy Spirit and

there's joy and peace and love in the Holy Spirit.

No key was needed all that night to loosen those fetters.

This newfound freedom became a good reason for the prisoners

to hang around and sing with Paul and Silas but

it was a death sentence for the jailer if they

did not stay in the prison that night. Thankfully, they

all stayed with Paul. They could have ran out of

the prison, but it was funner to be in the prison.

It was better to be there singing. It was better

to be worshiping and hearing the Word of God than

getting away. Acts 16.27 When the jailer woke and saw

that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword

and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners

had escaped. And all the prisoners could have run out,

sure enough. It was easy to run. But they stayed

in jail with Paul and Silas. And why? Why would

they do that? Because they found that they were free

when they were worshiping God. And they would rather be

in jail free than running for their lives thinking they're free.

The Word of God, the songs, they made a difference

for them. Galatians 5.1. Now Paul says this. Why do

we come to church? We come to church so well,

I can just have, you know, people can hear me.

I can be important. I can teach a Sabbath school lesson.

We can give money, which isn't bad. Church needs it.

I'm not saying don't do that. But here's what it's

all about. For freedom, Galatians 5.1. What does it say?

Read it with me. For freedom, Christ has set us free.

Stand fast, therefore... And do not submit again to a

yoke of slavery. Freedom is found in obedient, faithful living

for Jesus. It's not found in going your own way,

doing your own thing. And when we find that freedom,

don't let it go. That night, all the prisoners stayed

in prison with Paul and Silas as free men inside

a jail. They were not singing about the jail or

the fetters. They weren't complaining. They weren't moaning about how

bad their life was. They were singing songs like Hail

the Power of Jesus Name, songs of praise to God,

the psalms that David wrote. No jail songs or rock

and roll songs, but Jesus songs. And they were all

there that night with Paul and Silas in jail singing,

and I guarantee you angels were singing too. Acts 16, 28.

But Paul cried with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself,

for we are all here. Acts 16, 28. Just flick

the slide. Okay. I think I put it in there.

There it is. What does it say? What kind of

voice did he cry out with? Allow voice. Do not

harm yourself for we're all here. A megaphone in Greek.

That jailer didn't know anything about the Holy Spirit scriptures.

He didn't know about the seven days of creation or

anything other than the nonsense he had learned from the

pagan religion of the Greeks, and the mystery religion of

the Roman Empire, and from the theater and the rot

of Rome, but suddenly something was happening here. But that

night he knew that this earthquake was not a normal earthquake.

That these two men who chose to stay in prison

had something to say for his troubled heart that was

shaking like the ground. The fear that was in him.

He realized that those songs and the words of these

two men could perhaps save his life. And the jailer

needed to know that personal key that would free him

so he'd be saved. Acts 16, 29 and 30. And

he called for lights and rushed in and trembling, with fear,

he fell down before Paul and Silas. And he brought

them out and said, men, let's read this verse with me. Men,

what does he say? What must I do to be saved?

Is that a good question to ask? If you want

to live, the jailer's question is the single most important

question you can ask in your life. When we come

to church, we ought to be doing something to help

people get saved or we're in the wrong business. Church

ought to help you have eternal life, put you in

connection with Jesus, or we're just playing games around here.

What must I do to be saved? Not what you

do and me. When we ask that question, we often

tend to focus on the word do. We think of

our work, our labor. What is it? I have to do.

And Paul, you know, and Silas heard that and they

didn't discourage the jailer. They moved it from what we

do to who is the answer. The bridge between our

effort and the one who makes up for us because

we can't make it on our own. Paul and Silas

answer the jailer's request and they answer the jailer's need

for Jesus Jesus became the answer that they needed at 1631.

And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus. You might

be saved. Are you paying attention to that verse? What

does it say? Come on. My hearing, as I get

to be older, my hearing is not as good as

it used to be. I got to hear that. Believe

in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Have

you ever struggled with whether or not you can be saved? No,

I have. If you believe in the Lord Jesus, you

will be saved. But is that all? What does it say?

You and your household. I was up most of the

night last night praying for my two sons and my

two grandchildren. I couldn't sleep. I just... want them to

have the prayers and I want them to be right

with God. I want all my family to be right

with God. I was praying for many of you here.

And when I got peace, I went to bed and

I felt refreshed when I got up. But I'm telling you,

this is the hardest thing we can do to believe

that when we put our confidence in Jesus, he will

save us. But friends, that is a life transforming principle.

It changes who you are. It puts you in a

direct path to get to heaven. It transforms your character.

It takes you from the kingdom of darkness to the

kingdom of light, and you will be saved. It's a

confidence verse in our Bible. Some people say, well, we've

got to be perfect before we can be accepted. Now,

how many of you have heard the book The Great Controversy?

Is that an inspiring book? It's an inspired book, in fact.

It's chiastic, among other things. She's very clear that in

the time of trouble, I've listened to the whole book

through recently on audio format, just to get it in

my head again. During the time of trouble, we know

we have faults of character, she says. And we live

without a mediator. But the reason for it is because

the mediation of Christ withholds, pushes back evil forces. So

now all evil is coming after us. And what sustains

us is Jesus. And what sustains us in life today

if we walk with Christ is what keeps us during

that time. So if you're focusing on you so much

that you think that you're the center of the universe,

you're wrong. Now there is a preparation for the time

of the end. We are to prepare. And that is

to be in Christ and not fool around with the world.

To get it out. But in Christ, friends, you are safe.

And she's very clear. We must learn the lessons of

faith now so we will not have to learn them

in times of adversity. So if you believe in the

Lord Jesus, does it say you might be saved? What

does it say? You will be saved. So we are

to have confidence, not arrogant confidence, but confidence in the

righteousness of Jesus Christ by faith. That's pretty basic for

the Gospel. Paul and Silas both affirmed the truth of

the Gospel. To the jailer. Friends, God is in the

business of saving you and your family. He doesn't want

you to be lost. When you believe in Jesus Christ

as your personal Savior, He is working to save you

and your family. When you really believe in Him, your

whole family can believe in Him and be saved through

your faith. If you as the leader of the home,

how many fathers do we have here? I want to

see fathers raise your hand. It's okay to be a father.

I have a big hand going up. Do you realize, gentlemen,

God calls on you to be the spiritual leader of

your home. Your faith is what your children need more

than anything. Now, if you're a godly mother, you don't

have a husband in the home, God will be there

with you. I'm not criticizing you at all. But our

children need the strength that comes from their fathers to

align with Jesus. And godly mothers make up for it

when it's not there. And I think we're living in

a time when men are afraid to come together and

stand for Christ and look different and to get it right.

We have a generation of feminized men that's robbed them

of their masculinity. The church needs the masculinity of men

of faith standing for the Lord, working for the Lord.

You realize the church suffers when men don't help support

the church? Deacons, faithful workers, I mean, pastors can't do everything.

Men of God are to sustain the church. And when

your children see you invested in the church, making a

difference in the church, You know, praying to God that

your character is right. Getting your life in line. Guess

what they will do? They'll do the same thing. They'll

monitor their life after you if you don't yell and

scream at them. I've seen fathers just yell and scream. No,

we don't need to do that. But if you model faith,

faith is contagious. Hosea 6, 1 and 2. Come, let

us return to the Lord. For he has torn that

he may heal us. He has stricken and he will

bind us up. After two days he will revive us.

On the third day he will raise us up that

we may live before him. So what did Paul and

Silas do that night to help the jailer and his

family be saved? They promptly spoke the word of God

to that jailer and his family. And the word of

God did its mighty Holy Spirit work in his life

to save him. We're living in a time, some people said,

Pastor Mike, why do we have the kids up there

every week reading the Bible? Why do you think we

have them up here every week reading the Bible? What?

We want them saved. If kids learn to love the

Word of God, to share the Word of God at

an early age, what are they going to do when

they get older? Come on, connect the dots with me.

They'll do the same. So I love, that's my favorite

part of the service. They spoke the word. The Holy

Spirit did it. Look at verse 32, Acts 16. And

they spoke the word of the Lord to him and

to all that were in his house. Not philosophy. Not

highfalutin theology. The word of God. The jailer's family most

likely lived right there in the prison house with the

jailer and the inmates. His household probably included a lot

of prisoners. Most prisoners in the Roman Empire were either

released or quickly executed. Why? Why? They didn't like paying

a lot of bills to have people in prison for years.

They either killed you or let you go. They would

banish you or punish you, but they wouldn't do the

stuff in between. In any case, the children, the wife,

and who knows who else was in his family, was

right there in the prison. These unnamed people followed the

jailer into the kingdom of God by receiving the word

of the Lord through faith. There was a revival that

broke out in that prison. Conversions and evangelistic meetings. Families

were saved. I don't know where they got the water,

but they went probably right down to the river with

the jailer leading all the convicts right out of the prison.

Right down to the river where Lydia had been baptized.

The prayer spot. And there Paul baptized them all with Silas.

And God took over this garrison city with the powerful

news of the Gospel of Jesus. The devil hates the

preaching of the Word of God. He would like to

have us do anything but proclaim God's word. He'll do

anything he can to prevent people from coming to Jesus

Christ through the preaching and teaching of the Bible. I'm 63.

I'll be 64 next year. It works that way, doesn't it? Okay.

And I'm a little older. I feel a little older.

So I have to go exercising more to stay feeling younger.

But as I'm getting older, I'm going to tell you

what I don't have time for. I don't want to

read books that waste my time. I've read plenty of

theology in my lifetime. I've read books on philosophy and history.

But guess what book's becoming my anchor point more and

more that gets all of my attention? Greek, Hebrew, English.

It's the Bible. Because that is the book that will

save my family, save our church, and get us out

of here. We are to be a Bible-believing generation on

the eve of the coming of Jesus, or we'll be

a lost generation. And there's some wonderful books that God

has inspired that help us get to heaven. They're called

The Spirit of Prophecy. I'm not talking about people who

take Sister White's writings and hit you over the head

with it. I'm talking about books like Desire of Ages,

Steps to Christ, Christ Object Lessons, Thoughts from the Mount

of Blessings, The Great Controversy, The Conflict of the Ages series,

the book Education, Ministry of Healing. These are Gospel-centered, Bible-based,

amazing documents that will explode your knowledge of the Bible.

And that they have done for me. And I don't

apologize for that. You know, some smart philosopher king who

wants to run them down doesn't have a clue how

off he is. Those books have helped me. My father

died hearing the last chapter of The Desire of Ages.

Because to my father and yours, and you read that chapter,

you know why he chose that chapter before he died.

He went to sleep in Jesus hearing that. You want

to live forever? Let these books in the Bible work

for you. Okay. Verse 33 and 34. And he took

them that same hour of the night. So they went

right out of the prison. Washed their wounds. Because they

had been beat up pretty bad. And he was baptized

at once with all his family. And then he brought

them up into his house and set food before them.

And he rejoiced with all his household. that he had

believed in God. So what were they doing in prison?

Paul and Silas? Help me. Praising God in what way? Hymns.

So after he's baptized, what does he do after his baptism?

They rejoiced with all his household because he had believed

in God. He's doing the same thing. Romans 8.1 There

is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in

Christ Jesus. who do not walk according to the flesh,

but according to the Spirit. Now, is that an important

verse in our Bible? What does it mean there's no condemnation?

You're hard on yourself. Is God hard on you if

you've been baptized into Christ? No. If you're hard on you,

you're disobedient. Because God's not out to be hard on you.

God's out to help you, to encourage you, to lift you.

And this is one of those anchor point verses in

the Bible. There is therefore now no condemnation to those

who are in Christ Jesus. We are walking in the

new life because the Holy Spirit is changing us. We're

not saved by the Holy Spirit. We're saved by Jesus.

Freedom from condemnation gives us Holy Spirit joy in life.

If we come to church because we feel we have

to prove something to God, we have to earn our

way to heaven. We can't have the joy of acceptance

to grow. We die to sin, but we rise out

of the waters of baptism to new life, justified by

faith in Jesus Christ. And say this with me, Christ

our righteousness. Can you say that with me boldly? Christ

our righteousness. In the gift of Jesus, do you realize

that you have a right now righteousness that's good enough

for the judgment day and it's good enough for every

day of your life? Now, what's the Bible basis for that?

Romans 3, Romans 10, but Daniel 9, 24. The great

time prophecy of the 70 weeks says that when Jesus

would come to atone for sin at the end of

the four and nine year prophecy, He would bring in

everlasting righteousness. A right now righteousness that's good enough for

the judgment day and good enough for every day of

your life. Paul says in Romans 3, by works of

the flesh shall no one be justified in his sight.

No one gets righteous by trying hard. He says, but,

he says, but now a righteousness has appeared, has been manifested,

apart from the law, although the law and the prophets

bear witness to it, the righteousness that comes through faith

in Jesus Christ. And he calls it God's righteousness. I

can't get to heaven with my righteousness. It's not good enough.

But I can get to heaven, you can get to

heaven with God's righteousness. That jailer discovered that when he

was baptized. Because when he was baptized into Jesus, he

received the righteousness of Christ as a gift. And that

kind of right righteousness produces a right reason for obedience,

a right now acceptance with God, and a really right

reason to worship God. One day... The whole world will

be illumined with the glory of God. Friends, the message

we have prophetically will not stay with us. God will

raise up voices all over this world that will proclaim

the fourth angel's message in conjunction with the third. the

movement that we enjoy will enter a time of persecution

we will lose this building we will lose our right

to property our right to buy and sell we will

be reduced to poverty and it is at that time

you will know who follows God and does not and

there are two different groups in Adventism today There's Laodicean

Christianity and there's Philadelphian Christianity. I did an AI review

of something I knew to be true to see if

AI got it right as well. I asked it in

the writings of Ellen White if she ever in any

place indicates that Laodicea is saved and she does not.

You hear me? She actually indicates that if we remain

in a lukewarm state in our Christian experience Laodicean Christianity

becomes an aspect of the synagogue of Satan that opposes

those that are saved. So is it safe to be

a lukewarm Christian at the time of the end? It's

the most evil state we can be in. But when

she describes people who are saved, she goes to the

church of Philadelphia, which means the church of brotherly love.

Not virtue signalers. Not people talking about how good they are.

People who love people. And it says you have but

a little power and you have not denied my name.

His law. Obedient Christians who don't feel like they're strong,

abiding in Christ and making a difference. It says to

the church of Philadelphia, I've laid before you an open

door which no man can shut. Opportunities to service and

make a difference. If I had to choose between Laodicea

and Philadelphia, which one do you think I will choose?

Say it loud. Philadelphia. Which one do you choose today? Philadelphia. Philadelphia. Friends,

may the love of God reach us just like it

did the Philippian jailer. We will throw our crowns at

Jesus' feet because he is worthy. We will be all

right there because at his feet there is power in

the blood of Jesus. Power is what we need, but

not ours. Jesus is the key that opens the door

to God. Dear Heavenly Father, as we bow our heads...

We've heard a story that's true. It really happened. And Father,

it can happen here too. It's very likely somebody here

has been discouraged. And they need to open the door,

let Jesus be the key, to get them off that

stuff and start praising God for the good things in

their life. If you're that person, raise your hand to

God right now and say, it's me. I need you.

And Father, there are others here who need to renew

their life to you And I'm going to raise my

hand because I want to renew it every chance I get.

Thank you for Jesus. And Lord, there's probably someone here

that needs to be baptized into Christ like the Philippian jailer.

They need to come to me or Elder Mervin or

John Dom. We can help them get ready for baptism

like this dear couple from Wisconsin last week. If you're

that person, I'm not going to embarrass you here. Everybody's

eyes are closed. Raise your hand to God I'm not looking.

God sees. But then act upon that and reach out

to me or to John or Elder Mervin so we

can help you quickly get ready. And Father, save your people.

Save us. We're weak people. We're not superstar perfected kind

of people. We are people that have to struggle in life.

So Lord, we want to be Philadelphians that do not

deny your name. Give us Jesus and bless your people

with the assurance of a right now righteousness good enough

for the judgment day in Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen.