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Acts 16:23-31  PAUL AND SILAS AND THE PHILIPPIAN JAILOR

Introduction:  

	In our previous text the Apostle Paul and Silas at Philippi were arrested 
and falsely accused.  In our text today even without a trial they are beaten and 
cast into jail.  They are then set free from jail by a great earthquake.  The 
result is that they witnessed to the jailor and he got saved.    

I.  Paul and Silas beaten

	V. 23, “And when they had laid many stripes upon them...”  The beating of 
Paul and Silas took place at the command of the Roman magistrates. Apparently 
the beating was ordered by the magistrates chiefly for the purpose of pleasing 
the owners of the slave woman out of whom Paul had cast a demon spirit and the 
crowd of onlookers .  The actual beating was then administered by Roman soldiers 
who were under the command of those officials.    
	According to secular records, the Romans did not beat their prisoners with 
a whip as the Jews did.  Rather they beat them with a rod.  The victim was 
beaten across the back with a reed or rod.  Another way that punishment 
administered under Roman custom differed from that under Jewish custom was that 
the Jews limited the number of blows to forty stripes save one, making thirty-
nine stripes.  However, the Romans had no set limit to the number of stripes 
which could be administered.  The number of stripes was left to the discretion 
of the Roman soldier in charge of the beating.  We are not told how many stripes 
Paul and Silas received.  Luke just says that they had many stripes laid upon 
them.  We can be sure that it was a cruel and vicious beating.  

II.  Paul and Silas imprisoned

	(V. 23),  “...they cast [them] into prison, charging the jailor to keep 
them safely.”  The jailor who was in charge of the prisoners was given a special 
charge by the Roman magistrates.  He was order to keep these two prisoners 
safely.  Now the magistrates did not mean that the jailor should protect them 
from other prisoners in the jail.  Rather, the magistrates were saying in 
effect, “You had better make sure that these two do not escape from your jail.”  
	V. 24, “Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner 
prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.”  Having been charged by the 
Roman officials that he should make sure that these two prisoners do not escape, 
the jailor, locked them up in the innermost cell.  That is, even if they should 
somehow manage to get out of the cell they were in, they were still locked 
tightly within the outer cell.  In addition to being locked within the innermost 
cell, Paul and Silas had their feet locked in stocks.  I understand that this 
means that their legs were spread far apart and their feet were locked in 
separate stocks.  Each foot had its own individual stock in which it was locked.  
To remain in this position for a prolonged period of time was a painful 
experience.  The tendons were stretched and after an extended period of time the 
muscles would cramp.  There was very little shifting that they would be able to 
do to seek relief.  

III.  Paul and Silas singing praises to God at midnight

	V. 25, “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto 
God...”  Even at midnight Paul and Silas were wide awake.  I think you can 
understand why.  They were in a great deal of pain.  Their legs were hurting 
from being in the stocks.  Their muscles cramped and ached.  Their backs were 
hurting from the beating they had taken from the Roman soldiers.  There was just 
no way they could get relief from their pain.   There was no way they could get 
relief from their hurting legs or from their hurting backs.  
	So what do you do when you are locked in jail and much in pain at the hour 
of midnight?  They had a prayer meeting.  As strange as it may seem, they had a 
very joyous prayer meeting.  In spite of being in jail and in spite of being in 
pain they had a very joyous prayer meeting.  They prayed and they sang hymns.  
Luke does not mention it, but they may have quoted a few of the Old Testament 
Scriptures that brought them special comfort at this time.  In song they 
expressed praise to God for His wondrous goodness.  As marvelous as it was, they 
were not just trying to keep their spirits up.  Their spirits were already up.  
They were genuinely happy in the Lord.  They counted it a joy to serve the Lord.  
They counted it a joy to suffer for Him who had suffered so much greater agony 
for them.  They were genuinely worshipping and praising God for His goodness to 
them.  
	(V. 25), “...and the prisoners heard them.”  Luke says that the other 
prisoners who were in jail with them heard them.  They heard Paul and Silas 
singing and praying and praising God.  I guess they did; they had no choice!  I 
can imagine that they had all been asleep and they were awakened from their 
sleep by what they at first must have considered to be two crazy nuts in the 
inner cell singing and praying and praising their God in the middle of the night 
--- in jail.  
	At first I think the other prisoners must have been annoyed.  But I also 
think that in a short time their annoyance changed to wonder.  They were amazed 
that these two men were having such a wonderful time.  They must have thought, 
“These two fellows must have a wonderful God for them to be so happy under such 
terrible conditions.  Their wonderful God must be the reason that they are so 
happy.     
	Now let me call to your attention that Luke says nothing about the jailor 
hearing Paul and Silas.  But in verse 26 we will see clear evidence that he does 
hear and that he, too, heard them singing and praying and praising God.  He must 
not have been very much impressed at first, because he went right back to sleep.  
But after the earthquake their singing and praying and praising God would take 
on new meaning to him and he, too, would be very much impressed.  He would be 
impressed with these two men and he would be impressed with the God which they 
worshipped.    

IV.  The earthquake

	V. 26, “And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations 
of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every 
one's bands were loosed.”  Luke lets us know that this was not just a little 
tremor which would do no more than rattle the vessels on the shelves and make a 
few items fall off the tables and then be all over.  This was a major 
earthquake.  It did not destroy this particular building which they were in, but 
it shook the prison so hard that the locked doors were unlocked and stood wide 
open and the bands which held the arms or legs of the prisoners were all loosed.  
	Let me say to you that there was more at work here in this event than just 
the forces of nature causing an earthquake in the city of Philippi.  The power 
of Almighty God was at work unlocking the doors of that prison and setting His 
preachers free.  
	We may wonder at first:  Why would God allow His preachers to be arrested, 
falsely accused and unjustly sentenced to prison?  Why would He allow them to be 
beaten with rods until their backs were a bloody mess?  Why would He allow them 
to suffer the pain and humiliation of having their legs in the stocks?  The 
answer is that God was interested in the salvation of the soul of this jailor 
and the members of his household and the best way that He could get this 
jailor’s attention was by first allowing His preachers to suffer.  It should not 
seem at all unreasonable to us that the God who would allow His own Son to 
suffer on the cross that lost souls might be saved, would also allow two of His 
preachers to suffer in order to get the full attention of this jailor that he 
and his family might be saved.  

V.  The jailor’s attempt to commit suicide

  	V. 27, “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, 
supposing that the prisoners had been fled.”  The jailor jumped to a hasty 
conclusion.  It is not usually a good idea to jump to a hasty conclusion.  I 
suspect that each of us can remember that we have made hasty mistakes that 
proved to be very costly.  Maybe you bought some expensive item on impulse and 
it turned out to be the wrong thing to do.  The thing which the jailor wrongly 
concluded was that all of his prisoners had escaped. 	
	The jailor then jumped to another hasty conclusion.  He concluded that the 
best thing he could do was to commit suicide.  He drew out his sword, turned the 
point toward his throat or his heart and was about to fall upon it.  You can 
easily see that he was about to make a very drastic mistake.  He may have felt 
that he could not bear to live and face the shame and disgrace of having his 
prisoners all escape.  He may have feared the torture that he would almost 
surely face at the hands of the Roman officials for allowing his prisoners to 
escape. 
	 But whatever his reasons, to commit suicide would have been a very 
serious mistake.  The number one thing that would make this such a huge mistake 
is that he had not yet been saved.  He was still lost and on the broad road that 
leads to everlasting suffering.  To borrow an old expression that you are 
familiar with, he would have been jumping out of the frying pan into the fire!  
He would have gone right straight into the fires of hell just like the rich man 
did in Luke chapter 16.  When that rich man died, he lifted up his eyes from the 
pits of hell and he cried out to Father Abraham and said, “I am in torment in 
these flames.”  That is exactly what would have happened to this jailor if he 
had died at this time.    
	V. 28, “But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for 
we are all here.”  I am not certain how the Apostle Paul knew what the jailor 
was about to do, but he knew.  Perhaps there was still a light burning in the 
building somewhere that enabled Paul to see him.  Perhaps the moon was shining 
in through a window.  But wherever the light came from Paul saw and Paul acted 
quickly.  Just about the time the man got the point of his sword to his body and 
was about to fall upon it, he heard a loud voice from the inner cell.  He heard 
Paul cry out,  “Do thyself no harm!  We are all here!”

VII.  The question and the answer
  
	V. 29, “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and 
fell down before Paul and Silas.”  The jailor called for a light.  Evidently he 
had an assistant working for him who was there in the building with him at the 
time.  A light was brought to him.  Instead of using the light to see how to re-
lock the cell door or to see how to place their feet back in stocks he fell down 
before them.   
	Did you notice that Luke does not tell us what the jailor said to them 
while he was down before them?  I do not know what he said or even if he said 
anything.  He may have just looked at them in the light of the lamp.  
	V. 30, “And brought them out...”  Whatever he may have said --- or 
whatever else he may have thought --- he felt gratitude toward for saving his 
life.  He knew that Paul had risked his own life in order to save his life.  If 
Paul had allowed him to fall on that sword he could have walked right out of 
that prison.  The doors were all opened.  Not one locked door stood in his way.  
But by crying out he took a chance that he might remain in a Roman prison.  He 
might even be sentenced to another beating --- or to death.  So he felt 
gratitude and he brought them out of their cell.  
	It was then that the jailor asked a question which revealed that he had 
been listening to their prayers and to their singing of the hymns.  (V. 30),  
“...and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  This verse is a classic.  This 
question is the most important question that a human being can ask.  It is so 
vital that every man, woman, boy and girl ask this question.  Have you ever 
asked this question about your own soul?  If not, will you ask that question 
right now?  
	I want you first to direct that question, not to me, but to God.  Will you 
right now ask God to show you what you need to do to go to heaven?  I want you 
to direct question to God and I want you to look to God for the answer to that 
question.  I want you to know that it is not so important what Baptists say or 
what Methodists say or what some other group may say.  It is not even so 
important what I may say.  What is important is what God has to say in answer to 
this question.  
	Yet I do ask that you allow me to read to you and to point out to you the 
answer that the Apostle Paul and Silas gave to that man.  V. 31, “And they said, 
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ...”  Now note carefully the answer that was 
given to that jailor and --- through the Bible --- is given to you.  The answer 
was not, “Be baptized.”  The answer was not, “Join the church.”  The answer was 
not, “Keep the Ten Commandments.”  The answer was not, “Turn over a new leaf.”  
The answer was not, “Do the best you can.”  The answer was, “Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ.”  That is the answer.  That is what God requires.  
	The word, believe, is used here to carry the idea of  “trust.”  Trust the 
Lord Jesus Christ.  Believe that He can save you.  Believe that He is willing to 
save you.  Ask Him to save you and TRUST HIM to save you.  Will you do that?
	Listen now to the promise that God had the Apostle Paul to give that man.  
(V. 31), “...and thou shalt be saved...”  God has promised that if you believe 
in Jesus, if you ask Him to save you, if you trust Him to save you, you will be 
saved.  If you trust Jesus to save you He will save you.  That is the promise 
that God gave through the Apostle Paul.  
	Note also what else Paul said to the jailor.  (V. 31), “...and thy house.”  
Now Paul did not mean that if the jailor believed that all the members of his 
household would be saved.  Each individual must believe in Jesus in order to be 
saved.  In John 3:36 we are told that if one does not believe he does not have 
everlasting life and as long as he is an unbeliever he will not have everlasting 
life.  What Paul was saying is this.  He was saying, “You believe in Christ and 
you  will be saved.  Let some member of your household believe and that person 
will be saved.”  

Conclusion:  

	I am confident that you already believe about Jesus.  You already believe 
that He was born, that He lived, that He was crucified and that He arose from 
the dead.  At least, I assume that you believe those things.  You do, don’t you?
	But what I am going to ask you to do now goes beyond that.  I am going to 
ask you to believe in Jesus in the sense of trusting Him to take care of your 
eternal destiny.  I am going to ask you to trust Jesus to cleanse you of all 
your sin.  I am asking you to trust Jesus to keep you out of the fires of hell.  
I am going to ask you to trust Jesus to make sure that you go to heaven when you 
die.  First, ask Him to take you to heaven.  Do that right now.  Now trust Him 
to do it.  Trust Him to take you to heaven.