Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the September 7th sermon from Clifford Baptist Church, 6:35 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst. Today's scripture is Acts, chapter 16, verses 16 through 34. And the Sermon is entitled When Prison is the Punishment delivered today by Pastor Jeffrey Campbell. If you are joining us for the first time, we've been going through a series that has been entitled Our Help in Trouble.
[00:00:22] We have looked in two specific places. When the storms come, we've looked there. And when fire is presented, we've looked there. And today we're going to a place that maybe the majority of you have never ever been before, but you will have more in common with this place than you realize.
[00:00:42] And that is the place that we know as prison. One of the first things that I did, a 21 year old lay supply pastor in the Methodist church, is I found out that somebody that was coming to my church was in prison. Now look, a 21 year old kid. I don't know what to do. Here's all I know. Go see them. So I show up and do everything that I have to do to go visit this person who is in prison.
[00:01:06] And I want you to know, I don't know that it was my visit that made the difference. But here's what I want you to know. God shows up in the places where you think that he's not.
[00:01:15] And sometimes the only way that God shows up is through his people. And if we say no, that's not a place that I'm going or I don't want to go there. God, we limit what God can do with his people and with us. So I just want to give you one piece of advice before I get into this sermon. Never, ever, ever tell God that you're not going to do something because that's probably where he will send you. I didn't want to be a preacher. Look at me, I'm still learning day by day, right?
[00:01:45] Go to God's word. Acts chapter 16. Very familiar story to you. Acts chapter 16. Take your Bibles, go there. And as we think about prison, it is the destination for some of the most hardened criminals. But I will object here that some people get there by accident, by things that they have not done, things that have been put against them, that they are innocent of.
[00:02:09] And some people find their self in prison. And today we're going to see one of those two stories that put somebody there that shouldn't have been there. But it is a place that seems hopeless.
[00:02:21] People are bound by bars and trapped by mistakes, many of them lasting a lifetime that they cannot Undo.
[00:02:30] Prison has been a place where God has showed up and lives have been changed.
[00:02:35] Society locks the prisoner up and throws away the key.
[00:02:40] But yet God shows up in those places. You may say, pastor, today we're not prisoners. Here's all I encourage you to do. Listen to the message today because this story may prove otherwise. When times are hopeless, what do you do, Christians? What do we as believers do? And so today, only by the grace of God, I stand where I stand.
[00:03:04] I'm able to do what I'm do every day only by the grace of God. Only by the grace of God. I'm not behind a prison, bars and shackle today, only by the grace of God. But I want to challenge the church today.
[00:03:20] What happens when prison is the punishment?
[00:03:25] Acts chapter 16 we pick up scripture in Paul's second missionary journey. Just a little history and detail here. He's been through Galatia, modern day Turkey. The Lord changes directions. You can read about this in verse number seven of chapter number 16. I'm not going to take time to do that this morning. But he says, you're not going to go to Asia. I'm going to send you to Europe. I'm going to redirect you to the European continent. Greece in particular is where God will send him. Verse number 14, you meet Lydia, a woman that is believed to be the first convert on the European continent.
[00:04:01] And Paul is being the mouthpiece of God as he not only is Lydia saved, but she is baptized.
[00:04:10] It is a blessing here and I want to show this little bit to you. In Acts chapter 16, we believe that Luke is the writer of the book of Acts. And if you read the entire, especially the beginning of chapter number 16, some of the language says, they, they, they, they, they.
[00:04:27] And then verse number 10, it says this. After he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go to Macedonia. So the writer is included there. We the language changes. Now you say, Geoffrey, that's no, here's what I believe. I believe Luke joins them. Luke is an eyewitness now of what God is doing and what God will do on that European continent as he sees and he is a part of what God is doing doing. So here's what I want to tell you. There's a great start going on in verse number five of chapter number 16. The churches established in the faith, they increased in the number daily.
[00:05:06] All of the churches of today.
[00:05:08] That's our hope and dream, that our churches just continue to add people to the family of God.
[00:05:14] But I want you to understand this. God is working.
[00:05:17] God is moving Paul.
[00:05:20] God is telling Paul, don't go here, go here. And when he shows up, there's converts and there's baptisms, and we see God working through all of that.
[00:05:30] But things are about to change.
[00:05:33] Things are about to change for this missionary team, and we're going to look at that today. Look at Acts, chapter 16. Look at verse.
[00:05:41] Starting with verse number 16 this morning.
[00:05:45] Here's. Here's what it says. And it came to pass as we went to prayer, A certain damsel possessed with the spirit of divination, met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation.
[00:06:08] And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the Spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to. To come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
[00:06:21] Point number one, you're going to get four points today. Point number one is this.
[00:06:25] Prayer proceeds.
[00:06:28] Prayer proceeds.
[00:06:32] When things are going well, it's a grand time.
[00:06:38] And as we see for Paul and this missionary team, things were going better than expected. God was guiding them. They were getting answers of where they needed to go and what they needed to do. But here's what I want you to understand. It will piggyback off of Pastor Nathan's message last week, is this. Before you ever think about anything, pray.
[00:07:00] Pray before their next move. Look at verse number 16. It came to pass as we went to prayer, before they thought about anything, doing anything, ministering in any direction, they prayed for God's help and God's direction. And here's what I want to tell you.
[00:07:20] Do it before. Every day, before you tell your husband or wife you love them in the morning, or roll over and nudge them. It's time to wake up.
[00:07:29] Pray before you go to work.
[00:07:35] Pray before you wake your kids up for school and tell them how much you love them.
[00:07:40] Pray.
[00:07:42] Pray. Because here's what we're gonna learn through this story. Not only is God at work, Satan's at work as well.
[00:07:49] And anything that you and I do, we need to bathe it in prayer. As believers don't do anything without prayer.
[00:07:57] And so that was the mindset of this missionary team. Before we make a move, Paul says this. Before we did anything, we. We went to prayer. Prayer precedes their day. And, oh, did they need the help of God because they met this young girl who was possessed with an evil spirit. Now, listen to me. Church. Demon possession in Jesus day was very real. Things have not changed in 2025. Demon possession is real today. There will be some people that call me out for that. But it is true. Satan has not stopped working in this way. And what we see is this young girl who is possessed by a demon. And as she is possessed, she begins to tell the fortunes of all those in the community. Her body has been taken over by an evil and convicting spirit. Her life has been taken over by those who want money off of her condition. I'm going to interject this and say this.
[00:09:01] There is a spiritual realm in today's time.
[00:09:06] Don't you dare mess with it. If you depend on somebody to read your palm, or you depend on the horoscope, or you depend on a Ouija board, you are dabbling in dangerous territory. You are messing with the devil. And that's what I want you to understand.
[00:09:27] That's what this young girl did. She went around trying to predict people's future over the evil that was in her. And I want you to understand this. Satan tempted Adam in the most perfect place in all the earth, in the garden of Eden. Satan was there. And Satan was in a country that Paul went to. And here's what I want you to know. Satan is real and alive in Amherst county today. I don't want to scare you, but here's what I want to tell you. We all need the help of the Lord. And it only can be accomplished through prayer.
[00:10:02] Satan is working everywhere. The gospel is working. That's what I've learned through scripture. That's what I've learned through life. Every time something is going good and something's moving in the right direction and people are getting saved and people are getting baptized, here's the preacher's warning. Watch out, Satan is close by. This demon possessed damsel follows Paul and the group. And she's actually telling the truth. Look at verse number 17. She says this. The same followed Paul and us and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God which show unto us the way of salvation. That's free publicity. And this, this little girl, she was telling the truth. But it got worrisome. It got tiresome for Paul to hear that all the time, and it drew unwanted attention to him. And she does it for multiple days.
[00:10:55] Paul, realizing he doesn't need this demon's help because he has the Lord's help, commands this demon to come out of the girl. And it does. Now, what many would do today, stand in applause and give praise to God for What he has done, the people of this city are upset. Here's what I want you to know from this first little bit. Prayer needs to precede everything we do. And if we walk in a business meeting as a church, we better pray. If we think about going on a mission trip, we better pray. If you wake up in the morning and you come to worship, please pray before you get here. Don't depend on the preacher for everything.
[00:11:30] Prepare yourself in prayer every day, because you never know what you are gonna face that day. Paul didn't wake up that day on the heels of everything going good, saying, I'm gonna meet Satan today. I'm gonna need your help. God, no. But he did. Things may be going great and good, but one encounter, one moment, it all can change. We need to be aware of what Satan is doing, but we also need to be spiritually aware that we cannot do it without God. Anything you do, you cannot do without God. Point number two. Look at verses 19 through 24. And when our masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers and brought them to the magistrates, saying, these men, being Jews, do exceeding trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them. And the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them.
[00:12:40] And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them in prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks. Point number two.
[00:12:55] Prison is pronounced. Can life get any crazier? Paul has just met a demon possessed girl. Can it get any crazier than that?
[00:13:05] Here's the answer. Yes. When we look at the world, when we watch the news and we sit there and say, can this world get any crazier? Yes. Yes, it can. And what happens to Paul is now what he did that many would label as something good and beneficial. For this little girl realizes that she was a money maker for those in the city.
[00:13:28] When the demon leaves, guess what?
[00:13:31] The money does, too.
[00:13:33] And if you ever want to upset somebody, mess with their pocketbook.
[00:13:38] I got one. Amen. Thank you. Okay, you know where I am. You know where I'm going to. The pocketbook has been affected. And so now they lead a charge against Paul and Silas before the magistrates, and they are trying to convict them of upsetting what is going on in their city. Paul and Silas are. Were outsiders. They were not Roman Citizens. So the laws for them were different from those that were citizens. But because Paul and Silas have caused a disturbance, it's cost some people their livelihood. And now the multitudes rise against him. And the magistrates agree. And what do they do to Paul and Silas? They rip off their shirts and they command them to be beaten. Now, my little Amherst county words of beating doesn't do this justice.
[00:14:29] It's not anything that you've ever imagined. I want to say maybe some of you thought that your parents beat you. No, your parents ain't beat you. Compared to what they did. As they line the biggest men up in the city and they give them the rod of wood and they let him go to town 30 times. Just beat him all across his back, go to his legs, beat him some more.
[00:14:50] Blood begins to spread, and the open wounds are there.
[00:14:54] And these men are all doing it because of Jesus.
[00:14:59] They signed up to take Jesus to a place that had never heard. And this is the way they are received.
[00:15:06] They are beaten.
[00:15:08] When we understand that the clothing is gone and the skin begins to tear and the blood begins to spew. Paul and Silas are beaten harshly.
[00:15:17] Then they are thrown into the inner part of the prison. They are on lockdown, if we can say it like that, or maximum security prison. They are in the inner chamber of this prison.
[00:15:31] They are fastened in shackles or stocks, and they are left there.
[00:15:38] Ministry's fun, right?
[00:15:40] Things were going so good. People get saved. Baptisms were happening.
[00:15:45] And now these men, their life is on the line in that prison cell because of the severity of the beatings, they could surely die.
[00:15:57] They're not being tended to, they're not being fed well.
[00:16:00] They could surely die. But prisons and beatings and death, all of this for just helping out some girl that had a demon. We were introduced to a jailer that has been given the responsibility to make sure that these two don't get out this morning. You may be sitting in a perfectly good sanctuary, looking nice, worshiping God, but you may feel like you're in a place of prison. You may feel like you have received dues, or your situation is somewhat hopeless.
[00:16:34] The bad outweighs the good. The hope that you once had is gone.
[00:16:40] Maybe, maybe, maybe it all is going to end now.
[00:16:45] You realize Satan has shown up. You pinned the blame on his back.
[00:16:50] But because of the situation, you can't quit blaming Satan to get your eyes off of him and look to God. The days, the months, the years ahead will be hard because of some disease, some diagnosis, some depression, some dementia, something that you are dealing with that has you in shackles and in shame.
[00:17:15] You have received a sentence and you don't have the answer and you don't understand why and you don't know.
[00:17:23] What do you do? Look at verses 25 through 28.
[00:17:28] And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God.
[00:17:36] And the prisoners heard them.
[00:17:39] And suddenly there was a great earthquake. So that the foundation of the prison was shaken. And immediately all the doors were open and everyone's bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself. So supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
[00:18:02] But Paul cried with a loud voice saying, do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Point number three. Praise during punishment.
[00:18:15] Praise during punishment.
[00:18:19] Paul and Silas possibly thinking back over the last few days.
[00:18:25] Luke never records them doubting, questioning, anything.
[00:18:29] But here's what I want you to understand. Church.
[00:18:32] The midnight hour is hard.
[00:18:36] The midnight hour is an hour that symbolizes loneliness when nothing is going on, when nobody is around, when you're locked up and you can't do anything. The midnight hour is the quietest hour of the night.
[00:18:51] I worked 16 years of the midnight shift.
[00:18:57] Ask me how I know the midnight hour, the hour when nothing should be going on. Here, Paul and Silas turn to God in prayer and praise. During that midnight hour.
[00:19:14] Why don't they wait for morning?
[00:19:18] Why don't they assess in the morning what's going on? Physically, they can't see really good and they're tired. It's been a long day.
[00:19:28] Why can't we just wait?
[00:19:31] Spurgeon uses these words any fool can sing in the day.
[00:19:38] Amen.
[00:19:40] Anybody can see when it's day, when it's going good and things are going great. Anybody can praise God.
[00:19:48] When things are going right. It's easy to come to church.
[00:19:52] But when the wheels are falling off Christians, it's hard. And I know it.
[00:19:58] I know it.
[00:20:00] It's hard to pray. It's hard to read your Bible. It's hard to worship. It's hard. I've been in the midnight hour.
[00:20:09] But Paul and Silas praise God.
[00:20:14] And here's what I want you to understand.
[00:20:17] If you are in a situation that has you bound and you say, pastor Jeffrey, there is no hope, I would disagree because Jesus is there.
[00:20:31] And by but by the grace of God.
[00:20:36] Paul and Silas prayed and they saying and God was at work in the midnight hour.
[00:20:44] Here's what I want you to see. God does not Sleep. And God does not slumber when the rest of the world sleeping, when the doctors are not on call, when you haven't gotten the answers. God is at work.
[00:20:56] And God has taken over the midnight shift in this prison. And here's what he begins to do. He begins to shake the foundation this prison.
[00:21:08] So much so that the inner part of it begins to crumble and the shackles begin to fall off and the doors begin to open. God is at work in that midnight hour.
[00:21:20] It was not a blessing just for Paul and Silas.
[00:21:24] But I want you to understand verse number 26.
[00:21:27] Look at that with me.
[00:21:30] Suddenly there was a great earthquake. So that the foundation of the prisons were shaken.
[00:21:35] All the doors were open immediately, and everyone's bands were loose.
[00:21:41] Here's what I need you to understand.
[00:21:43] Just like the storms impacted the little ships that were around, the work of God has impacted everybody who was in shackles.
[00:21:54] Everybody is now free. It wasn't just for Paul and Silas. The work of God has now freed, freed and loosed everyone in this prison.
[00:22:05] And here's what I want you to understand.
[00:22:08] Sometimes the Lord puts you in prison because there are other people that need to know about him.
[00:22:15] You don't understand it. You have many questions, but God orders our steps. I'm grateful for that.
[00:22:25] God has freedom everyone in the jail, but they don't leave.
[00:22:32] Notice that as the keeper of the prison awakens in verse number 27, he sees the prison doors open and he just supposes. He thinks they probably ran away, but actually they haven't gone anywhere.
[00:22:51] I want you to see something miraculous, something supernatural has happened in. In this place. God has showed up in places where doors and chains held his people. But God was not finished with Paul and Silas. And today you may need to hear, God is not finished with you yet.
[00:23:12] No matter the work of the magistrates, no matter what the multitudes said, God knew something different.
[00:23:23] He was there.
[00:23:26] And as we are introduced to this Philippian jailer, the keeper of the prison, now he is accountable.
[00:23:36] And I hope you can see that in Scripture, the weight of the prisoners is on his shoulder. The weight of keeping them in prison is his responsibility.
[00:23:47] And he takes on that responsibility in such a way that when the earthquake happens, he realizes everyone must have left the prison doors are open.
[00:24:01] Guess what that means. From me, that means this. They're going to kill me. So this jailer's thought process is this. If they're going to kill me, why don't I just do it myself?
[00:24:13] And he draws that sword, thinking the prisoners are gone.
[00:24:18] Ready to take matters into his own hands, Paul reassures him that everyone was there and that he needed to put that sword down.
[00:24:30] Don't harm yourself. Here's what Paul says. We are all here, and I want you. I don't know about you. Maybe there's somebody in your life that comes to mind right now that. That has threatened that or has talked about that, or you're concerned about that. Here's what I want you to take from this scripture. You just need to let those people know that you are there for them.
[00:24:52] They need somebody, and you could be that somebody. And what I want you to see.
[00:24:58] God put Paul and Silas in that prison for this one man as they ask him not to kill himself, not to take his own life.
[00:25:08] We understand this, that God works in mysterious ways.
[00:25:14] His ways are not ours. His thoughts are not ours. According to Isaiah, casting out a demon gets them beaten.
[00:25:24] Casting out a demon helping somebody out gets them thrown in jail.
[00:25:28] While they're thrown in jail, they still praise God because God can work in a jail cell, right?
[00:25:35] They praise God and God shakes the foundation. And now they are face to face with the man who's responsible for their lives.
[00:25:44] Before I move on, I shudder to think how many times I've had the opportunity to witness.
[00:25:52] And didn't I pray God will forgive me. There's one more point. As this story ends, look at verse 29.
[00:26:00] Then he called for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
[00:26:13] They spake unto him the word of the Lord. And all that were in his house took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized. He and all his straightway. And when they had brought them and to his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
[00:26:32] And when it was day, the magistrate sent the sergeant saying, let those men go.
[00:26:39] The fourth point today I want you to see is a pardoned people.
[00:26:44] The man with the most power on the midnight shift is now powerless. He comes to Paul and Silas, ask a very important and simple question. What must I do to be saved?
[00:26:56] It's a question that he pondered during the midnight shift about what has happened, what he saw, what he heard. And here's what I want you to know, Church. It is a question that you and I must ponder together today as we all look at this Question we see how the gospel attracts the work and attracts the work of Satan, attracts the hopeless situations. The work of the gospel attracts the people who need it and believers. Our lives need to attract them as well.
[00:27:24] Paul and Silas are examples of faith, of healing and praying and praising. But now, with the attention of the jailer, the question of his heart is this. How can I be saved?
[00:27:38] Maybe today that's the question of somebody here, somebody watching Livestream Here is the answer to that question.
[00:27:44] Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:27:48] You must have faith in Jesus. It's not just a mental knowledge. A mental assent is a heart change, a heart turn toward God.
[00:28:00] Paul would later write to the Ephesians and say this. For by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast for this jailer, the Holy Spirit used Paul to talk this man into surrendering the sword.
[00:28:19] So he didn't kill himself, but also surrender his life that he may have it for eternity. What does this old jailer boy do? He doesn't wait till morning, does he? He gets saved. He goes home. He begins to minister to there the gospel is spread. There his house is saved. He begins to take the people who he beat, who he was part of beating. And he began to wash those scars, those marks.
[00:28:49] He begins to clean them up far before the morning light ever happens. The family is saved and the jailer has washed the prisoner's stripes and begins to minister. In that way he feeds Paul and Silas and he rejoices in what God is doing. And in verse number 35, day breaks. And here's what the magistrate says. Let them go. Let them go. There are two sets of prisoners in this story.
[00:29:16] I hope you picked up on that. Who are the pardoned people?
[00:29:21] Paul and Silas are the pardoned people because the punishment in prison has displayed the glory of the Lord and now they have been set free by the work of God. But there is a jailer and his family that are pardoned people because they have been set free from prison and the punishment of. Of sin. And it all would have never happened without faithful men like Paul and Silas.
[00:29:47] And here's the reality.
[00:29:49] This old Philippian jailer was mere seconds, listen to me. Mere seconds from ending his life. If Paul would not have spoke up, if he would have finished what he started, he would have died a lost man and ended up in hell.
[00:30:07] But because he didn't follow through and because he listened to what the Holy Spirit was saying, praise God that he will spend Eternity with Jesus instead of without.
[00:30:18] I'm done.
[00:30:19] But it's God. Some of you are on the midnight shift. Some of you understand what that midnight hour looks like. You're in trouble one way or another.
[00:30:26] I'm not saying you're physically in prison, but maybe you are bound by something.
[00:30:32] Maybe it's something of your doing. Maybe you're completely innocent, something of somebody else's doing. But you're bound. You're bound in your own mind. You're bound in your own heart. And maybe there's somebody in this room that says, thought. Maybe it's best I just end it all.
[00:30:46] That's not the answer. That is not the answer. Here's what I beg you. If you've ever thought that, or if you're thinking that right now, please come see me. I want to get you some help. Far above me, mental health is serious. But maybe you're in the midnight hour. Something binds you. You're a prisoner to something. Even though you're walking around like. Like you're free. Maybe you're a prisoner believer to some sin that has you bound. Come today and be set free. Maybe today you're here and you've never trusted in Jesus, just like this jailer. Here's the question of the day for you.
[00:31:23] What must I do to be saved? And here's what you need to do. I don't want to give you a bunch of steps. Here's what you need to do to be saved. You need to put your faith in Jesus Christ and you need to say, I'm sorry, I'm a sinner. I'm guilty of that sin. I understand you took the punishment on a old rugged cross for me.
[00:31:42] I want to live for you. Jesus, forgive me. Set me free from that sin and I will live for you for the rest of my life. Today, through the shed blood and through the resurrection of Jesus, you can have eternal life just like the jailer. My question today is for the one who feels like they're trapped and there's no way out.
[00:32:04] Here's what you need to understand.
[00:32:07] God still works and he will.
[00:32:13] Will you pray? Will you praise him? Will you. Will you turn to him and depend on him to set you free.
[00:32:22] Let's pray. Father God. Lord, thank you for the blessing of this day, Lord. Only you know what is going on in this room.
[00:32:31] Only you know what's going on in the hearts and the minds of the people.
[00:32:35] Lord, I'm not here to twist arms. I'm just here to yield to your Holy Spirit's work and God, I pray, Lord, that you will begin a work in this church through times of trouble to show us that you are still our hope and our help.
[00:32:49] And if there's somebody here today that feels like everything is hopeless and they're helpless, Lord, I pray they see the work of Jesus.
[00:32:57] God, we just simply submit this time of invitation to you, God, pray that you work in the lives of your people.
[00:33:05] That we will be real and truthful and willing to go even if it means prison, knowing that you will work in the hardest of places.
[00:33:15] God, use us. We pray as a people of God, make us stronger in you, stronger in our faith as we yield to you today to use our lives, whatever that looks like, to be a hope and a help to the people in our community and our families. Thank you for what you're going to do in Jesus name. You've been listening to Truth for the Journey from Clifford Baptist Church. You're always welcome to visit Clifford Baptist Church for Sunday School at 9:45, worship at 11aM and Wednesday evening worship at 7pM Join us again next Sunday for Truth for the Journey.
