We consider verses 11 to 15, you don't have your own copy with you, it's page 960, 983, excuse me, 983 in the Pew Bible. We ask that everyone would have a copy of God's Word with them as we're about to stand for the reading of that word. So please turn in the copy to Acts chapter 6 thing. Number of visitors here today, so I thought we would bring them off the stage where we are in our study. Paul and Silas had begun what is Paul's second missionary journey. And they have arrived in Derby and then to Lystra where they have picked up Timothy. Timothy was born of a Jewish woman. His father, Greek, he is a believer. Paul really wanted to take Timothy with him on the journey and felt that his witness would be more effective if he was circumcised and so Paul circumcised his Timothy. And then they travel from town to town and church to church delivering the message from the Jerusalem Council to decree about what it takes to be saved. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. And they strengthen these believers in the faith. And then if you were here you would call that last war today, the Holy Spirit actually prohibit it or kept these missionaries from preaching the gospel in the province of Asia, specifically in the regions of Bethinion and Messiah. And then they move on to Trowelast to see what God wants us to do. And while in Trowelast they receive Paul does a vision of a Macedonian man pleading with him to come and help them. As if it is a we need your help and you are the one who can help us. So they immediately board a shift themselves in theapolis and they travel to the Philippines and they stay in the Philippines for a number of days. And that's where our text picks up. It is the Lord's day morning and Paul is preaching to a group of women and God opens the heart of one of these women. She is converted, she is baptized. Her name is Lydia. And we have much to learn from Lydia, everything from God's sovereignty and salvation to the gift of hospitality. And even now as we stand for the reading of God's Word is an errand and insolable, authoritative Word beginning in verse 11 of Acts chapter 16. Therefore, sailing from Trowelast, we ran a straight course to Samafry. And the next day came to theapolis and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. And on the side of day we went out of the city to the river side where Claire was customarily made and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she in her house saw her baptized, she begged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. So she persuaded us. Thus ends the reading of God's Word, all men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. Oh man, please be seated. The English Puritan Richard Sib's priest of great sermon on this text over 350 years ago. The reason I know that is because the man from whom I got a lot of my material from my sermon got most of his material from Richard Sib. So I have this list for you in the introduction of a number of principles taken from the text that Sib sees. As at the very core, at the very nature of what is true conversion. The text book conversion. You'll notice in the introduction there in the outline, it's been first of all that Lydia, though a worshiper of God, was not converted. Secondly, that God alone is able to open the heart. Thirdly, that preparation for grace, talking about sitting under the preaching of God's Word, prayer, singing hymns, being involved in the means of grace, being involved with God's people, these preceded grace. Number four, God uses means to communicate grace. We know that. We refer to them often. I've just said that means of grace. And God uses those means to communicate grace chiefly, the priest's Word. Fifthly, conversion does indeed involve human effort. Before you get through that shape on that one for the most theologically astute, you have to see number five in relation to the context of the entire outline. And it'll make more sense as we make our way through the sermon. But then sixthly, conversion results always, you might add that word, always, in good works. But the reason we're going over the sixth point is to make it clear that this text touches on the very heart of salvation. What must I do to be saved? What about Dr. Der to be born again? So we've seen that in the last few Lord's days, and we'll see them Lord willing, next Lord's day, and then the Lord's day after that. What is it, what is it, what is it, what is, what do I have to do to be born again? And then what is the result of having been born again as if to ask, how do I know if I'm really converted? How can I know if what I have experienced is genuine conversion, which is a good question, particularly in light of the first point, running in the wind at Lydia, though devout, religious, she's unconverted. I want you to note, first of all, in verse 11 and 12, how these missionaries got where they are now, in verse 11, it begins, therefore, sailing from Trolas, we, we being Paul, and Saul, certainly, and most likely, Luke, now remember, in response to the Macedonian vision, what do they do? They ran a straight course to some, some, some, some mocked race. That's why I still hold on these words. I even look them up, and I try to have them in, in little ways that you can read them, and I still have difficulty. In fact, he said to me that it's, that it's really buzz now to not be able to pronounce words, because George Bush can't pronounce words very well. So, I know you mean it is a compliment, but, family race, how's that? About 125 miles journey, an island in the Aegean sea. And the next day, verse 11 continues, the next day came to Neapolis, less than other 10 miles, the support city on the continent of Europe, and inverse well, from there to Philippine, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. It's a colony, the cause has been part of the Roman Empire since 167 BC, following the war, the Roman veterans, the Roman war veterans settled there in Philippine, making it a Roman colony. So now, at the reading of the writing of this, the citizens there in Philippine enjoyed Roman citizenship. They found themselves under the Roman law, they lived under the Roman law, they were governed by a Roman type of constitution, but that's not really what's most important, isn't it? For us to understand anyway, the charge of the year 2001, what's the most important thing is that there was a thriving, wonderful, strong church in Philippine. And Paul had a strong affection for this church. He loved the church in Philippine, and we know that because of the things that he said in his epistle to them. Well, this is the beginning of their relationship. Once there, once arriving in Philippine, Paul and Silas sought out what he referred to as a place of prayer, look at verse 13. And on the Sabbath day, we went out of the city to the Riverside, where, this is the New King James, where prayer was customarily made. The NIV, the NISB, and the Revive Center version all translated place of prayer, which is important because when it tells us that they went to find a place of prayer, that says to us, there was no synagogue, because we know in our state that they made a B line to the synagogue. When they first entered the city, where was the synagogue? They would go there to preach the work, but there is no synagogue in Philippine, which tells us that there was not a strong Jewish presence in Philippine, because it took a minimum of 10 Jewish male heads of families to warrant a synagogue in the city. So there weren't even 10 Jewish male heads of families in Philippine, so they had to the Riverside to the place of prayer, in other words, to the place of worship. The verse 13 continues, we sat down and spoke to the women who met there, verse 14, now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart and he's the same spoken by Paul. She's from Thyatira, she's from the city of, in the Western Asia minor. She's a business woman. She sells purple fabric. Children, there's a question in your children's bulletin, why is the bulletin the color that it is? Lydia sold purple fabric, okay? But not just any purple fabric, it was very expensive purple fabric because the purple dot was so rare. It was so hard to come back. There were emperors that bought the fabric, the merchants like Lydia. The private citizens would wear purple as a status symbol, so we would therefore conclude that Lydia belonged to the class of wealthy merchants. She owned the large house. She was the worshipper of God. And flying as she was a God-fearer. The God-fear being one of those Gentiles who had converted the Judaism. We assume, because of her teniveness, because she was there, because she wanted to hear God's word, that she was indeed devout. She was sincere, she was religious, and yet she remained unconverted. She wasn't saying, she wasn't a believer, and you've got to think about it. You have to let that sink in, if you can understand the text, you have to kind of like she is religious. But she's not a Christian. I mean, she is devout, but she's not converted. She is a sincere woman. She is sincere in her worship of the living God, but she's not a believer. Here's this worshiper of God. It's one who loves the church. She's in attendance at the church. She loves the songs, the hymns that they would sing. She supports the church with her money, no doubt. Yet, she remains unconverted. It does happen, you know. And that happens a lot. The people who are religious, they even love the church. They may love the church, because this is the place where they were raised. It may be a place that they worship for 50 or more years. A lot of people who come to find out that their religion is counterfeit. I wonder if I look at my own ministry, if I've not been, certainly I have since been involved mainly with more convergence of those who thought they were religions. Only to find out it was hypocrisy. Had people say that, you know, the church was full of hypocrites. The church is full of hypocrites. They were hypocrites. They were saints. What does she need? What is she lack? What in the world could a religious woman possibly lack? And there are those, even in main line denominations today, even in evangelical churches, who we refer to as collegians, because they believe that there's really nothing that literally lacks. She doesn't lack anything in herself. She can choose God. She's our cynical agent. She can go halfway. She can meet God. If she were to show a little place, then God will meet her halfway and then cause her to be born again. If there's nothing she lacks, all she has to do is make a decision. If she would just make a decision for Christ, if she has that in herself, then she will be saved. Well, you need to know that with that thinking, that theological understanding of salvation, if you could somehow choose God, a person dead in your sin, a person blind to the truth, with a closed mind, the gospel, to believe that you could actually, before the Holy Spirit regenerates you, before the Holy Spirit causes you to be born again and brings you to life, that you could do anything to attain salvation, was declared parathy in the counsel of Ephesus. Do you know that that goes again, the very intent of this text to say that you could do something before God would open your heart? And yet people still claim, what does she lack the answer? What does she lack? She lacks regeneration. She lacks being born again. That's the point. She lacks being made a new creation so that she can put faith in Christ and that faith is a gift to her from God. She blinds the spiritual thing and she will remain blind to spiritual things until the Holy Spirit opens her eyes. She is dead in her sin, Lydia is dead in her sin and she will remain dead in her sin until or unless the Holy Spirit quickens her spirit and raises her to life. She is passive in that. How does they work of the Holy Spirit in an individual's life that he moves in and quickens that individual her mind is closed and remains closed? Not until she makes a decision, until the Holy Spirit makes the decision to move into her life and save herself. The first Corinthians 2, if you're just whited down, you may have time to return because of time I need to move one more quickly. The first Corinthians 2 verse 14, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God but they are foolishness to him nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. John 6, 44, no one can condemn Jesus unless the father who sent me wrongs him. I will raise him up at the last day and then verse 65 of John 6 and he said, therefore I have said to you that no one can condemn me unless it has been granted to him by my father. If you've not dealt with that, you need to deal with that. This is not just doctrine, it's not just theology. This is where you say, well, doctrine theology are very practical. You need to deal with texts like this, deal with litany, deal with what's happening in her conversion. And if you do that, you're dealing with yourself. You're dealing with your own soul. You come to the point where you say, I could never. I would never have been saved as the Holy Spirit had not regenerated my heart first. No matter how moral, no matter how religious, no matter how devout or how sincere you would remain in your sin and unbeliever had the Holy Spirit not moved in your life first and saved you and caused you to be born again.
Well, what then is a man to do? What's litany of this? Is there nothing she can do? Well, to say that litany does nothing in and of herself to be regenerated, that is like for a statement. Again, I say, she's passive in her regeneration. She's passive in being born again, but to say that there's nothing she can do in her regeneration is not to say that she can do nothing. She can place herself in sits herself in situations where she is around the means of life. She can place herself under the preaching of God's work, fetching has done. She can put herself in certain situations like worship, she can listen to the gospel method which is the power of God into salvation.
And not only is that exactly what she does, as a result of having done that, she is saved. There's so much fatalism today. There's nothing I can really do anyway. I don't understand the Bible. I never understand what the preacher is talking about. My mind is well stay home. Everything is so confusing to me. My mind is well stay home. I can get my religion on the golf course. How many times have you heard that? I can get my religion. I can worship God in the dearest hand. Sure you can. I can worship God. Blessing my think and I hope we do. But it's different than sitting in worship with God's people and standing to read His Word, singing Him together, sitting under the preaching of the gospel message. But it's fatalism to say, I know I don't know Christ, but I know I'm not converted. I'll just say, Homer, if I do come to get ground point with my wife, I'll just turn the preacher off. That's pretty much. That's not ready. This is an example to when she was unconverted, but she placed herself in a situation where she knew that God was at work and she listened. You can do that. I urge you to do that. I plead with you. If you know you're not converted, if you're wondering if you are, that you come, that you put yourself under the preaching and around the means of grace and around other Christians, other people who are believers, and listen to what is being said, come to a church like this where we stand for the reading of the Word, and listen to what is being read and in the home it's all on your knees and ask God to make you clear to you, ask God to open your heart. Like you did, Lydia, because it remains only God can open the heart, John 1, verses 12 and 13, but as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in His name. They were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Could it be more clear? Not because of a decision you made. It's not the will of man. That's very clear in Scripture. It's not the will of man. And to say that it is, it's the love God of His glory. It's the will of God. And yet scores of evangelicals talk about my decision to follow Jesus, my decision to make Him Lord, my decision to respond to the gospel, my decision to live my life for Him. And it's not that. It's God's decision before the foundation of the world. He will who will believe. Romans 9, verse 16, so did it. It is not of Him who will, nor of Him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. It is mercy. It is love. And the response to Nicodemus when he said, what must I do to be said? What must I do to be born again? Jesus said, the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from, or where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. It's God's initiative. And again, it's God's mercy and it's God's love. And how does He do so? Through means. That's why you need to get your friend here. That's why you need to invite your neighbors. Why you need to get your son here, your daughter here. They need to be in worship. They need to be sitting here because God uses means. The chief among the means is preaching his word. It's a chief way that he says, first Peter 1, verses 23 to 25, having been born again. Notice that having been born again, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. Verse 24 is familiar to us. He says, because all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is as the flower of the grass, the grass withers and the flower falls away, but the word of our Lord endures forever. We say it every Lord's day. He goes, honestly, now this is the word which is by which by the gospel was preached to you. What is the result? The result is inevitable. I'm a numeral 3 in verse 15. It's obedience. When she and her household were baptized, she begged to say, if you have judgment to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and say, so supersuited on it.
It's really very simple where there is genuine true conversion. You will see obedience. The reciprocal is true and you know that, where there is an absence of obedience. You can surmise. You can assume that there has not been genuine conversion, because a good tree bears good fruit. Jesus said that in the Sermon of the Mount. Verse 15, very plain and simple. We see and read his life immediately which means a good fruit. She and her household are baptized. That isn't being the moral Christianity. It is a necessary son of salvation. They don't say this, but it's a necessary son of salvation. And out of obedience we are baptized as obedience we are baptized as our children. Because that's the way God has always done it. Secondly, she shows hospitality. She has these people into her home and what she remembers, she invites them in. Because when he used that in just a moment as far as another definition, she invites them in. Ladies and gentlemen, she didn't have time to go home and straighten things up before she invited them over. She invites them over. Come to my house. We said this in the middle of the covenant, but there is a distinction between entertaining and showing hospitality. Entertainment is when I get my house in perfect order, and everything is perfect and people leave the house and they say what a perfect house, what a perfect house, that's entertainment. But that's not necessarily hospitality. Hospitality is opening the home and serving at the table because there is a need. God doesn't command us to entertain. It's a part of our lives. It may be necessary for some of you, but it's not an evil thing. But it's not commanded by God. Hospitality is commanded by God. To have people in the home and the home is a mess. To have them for a meal when the meal is peanut butter and jelly. Hospitality means being humble. It means being self-effacing. Many an opportunity for hospitality has been lost because of pride. Too much pride, too much thought of appearances. So we don't reach out to the friends who need the meal. The friend who simply needs to sit in a home, to be in a home environment. I mean our houses are open all the time and we lose all of our privacy and the home is no longer a safe haven for us. It just means that the converted know that they are welcome visitors into their home because a believer knows that the new much is given, much is required. So I say to you the most effective tool for evangelism. It's not knocking on some of my door and sitting stifly in their living room. It works, but the best tool for evangelism is sitting around your own kitchen table. More informal, more laid back and talking about the things of God. I do want to take this opportunity to make a comment particularly to the youth and I want you to pay attention, children, I'd love for you to put your pencils down if you're drawing pictures. He's in the junior high in high school because my prayer is that we would have a youth group of litigants who welcome people into our church and people would feel comfortable coming to our youth group. I feel that that's not the case. Hospitality and show and listen to this now. Hospitality is obedience. I've said that. Hospitality is a result of being a Christian. Hospitality means I accept you. It doesn't matter what school you go to. It doesn't matter what clothes you wear. It doesn't matter what country you're from. It doesn't matter if your friends are black. It doesn't matter if you go to a private school or a public school. Hospitality says, I accept you. And I will thank you into my life. I'll sit with you in the lunch room. Even though most of the people in our class don't like you and they'll laugh at me and they'll think, well, I can't be friends with you anymore, I will still come and sit by you because I'm a Christian. And that's what Christians do. Do you know what the opposite of that is? Children in junior high and high school? Do you know what the opposite of hospitality is? Exclusion. Do you know what the reputation of Trinity youth group has been in the past? Exclusion. I'm sorry to say that. But it's true. Not for everybody. Not everybody. There's some very sweet children. I was crossed my desk now too many times to hear that we explained that people don't feel comfortable when they come to the youth group. You know, I'm actually didn't talk to Blake about this before today. I will talk to him about this week. And I'm tend to come down to the youth group saying the week or so and have this discussion with you. Exclusion is sin. If you say, I'm better than you, you don't deserve to be in my group. It is sin. And I'm saying younger kids, younger children, our second, third grade for what it is because you're doing it as well. We have little girls that are leading other little girls out of the click. And I'm telling you it ends today. I feel it is a mockery of me to stand here and praise to you and talk about our being a family. And then to have mothers allow their little daughters to exploit somebody in their son's school class from being in something that they should have done. That's wrong. It is a sin. And I say with love that it ends today. We cannot act like we're better than everybody else in the gummy. They'll never come. They'll never want to be a part of our fellowship. Well, we end up with a junior high and high school students who go to other youth groups because they say, well, that's where I'll go and be lost. And I'll be accepted. That breaks my heart. And I would hope it would never be set of furniture that somebody would say, well, I'll go to another church where they will accept me. Never. And I'm telling you parents, they learn it from you. That's where they're getting it from. If you allow your daughters to do it, you might as well be encouraging them to do it. We're raising litigants. We're not raising dad your time. Okay. You may be raising it. That's fine. Socially, whatever you do out there in society, but this is the church. And we draw the line. And we want litigants. If you don't want that, you should find another. I mean that because we want litigants who will open their hearts and say, I don't care where you go to school. I love you just like you are. Come spend the night with us this Friday night. We want you to be a part of our group. Okay. It starts today. It starts today. Now let me just say very quickly in closing that this is a text book conversion. Lydia has put herself in the means of grace. God's means of grace. Paul has preached the words in her. God has opened her heart. And she has responded. In fact, after the decision, but that decision that site is given through her by God, she's baptized. And then she begins to start. So let me ask you in closing, how does your own conversion story measure up? Have you experienced new burns? Have you been born again? Have the Holy Spirit caused you to be born again? Have you been made alive? Have you turned from your sins to Jesus as Lord and Savior? And then is that thing demonstrated in your life? And the closing comment is really what the choir said in the call to worship. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. We all need to do that today as we pray together. Father, we thank you for what you've given us in our church, and we thank you that we are a family. We thank you that you have given much to Trinity Church, and we pray that to whom much is given, much is required, and we know that. We thank you for the various schools that we attend, and it's a good part of having some pride about where I go to school and my teams, and all this sort of thing, that we pray, Father, that you would make us one, starting with me, starting with my family, my children, and then all of these parents, I pray to your God that you make us one, that our children would not see us being experienced, so please do that in our hearts, God. And thank you, dear God, for blessing us with such sweet children, and kind children, ones who do want to reach out to others, make us that way, Father. And may you open people's hearts right here in our sanctuary every Lord's day regenerates another heart week after week after week, and will give you praise and glory for some Jesus name we pray. Amen.