Acts 16:16-31 – The Condition of My Heart – Bible study

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. Lets consider that with three main thoughts this morning. I. \#Acts 16:13-15\ Notice the Tender Heart A. The womans 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 womans 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, Childrens 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 doesnt 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 Godnot 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 doesnt 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 mans 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 mans 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 believepreaching, 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. Id 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.