The Fruits of His Belief

In this part of the sermon: The first indication of the jailer's true faith is a radical reordering of his life's priorities. Martin contrasts the jailer's previous focus on sleep and self-preservation with…

Explains 'radical' as basic, 'reordering' as changing things around like a room, and 'priorities' as what one thinks is important, making complex theological terms accessible to children.

And for you children, the word radical just means it's very basic, very fundamental. Reordering means changing things around like you do sometimes with your room. Priorities means what you think is important and what you think is worth doing. So I've given you an easy, simple definition of those rather large words.

9:11 - 9:31 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first indication of the jailer's true faith is a radical reordering of his life's priorities. Martin contrasts the jailer's previous focus on sleep and self-preservation with…

Describes the jailer's initial priorities: sleep, avoiding Roman government punishment, and preserving his honor, contrasting them with his later actions to highlight the radical change.

And he brought them up into his house and set food before them and rejoiced greatly with all his house having believed in God. Now when you have some acquaintance with the whole narrative, this is absolutely amazing. Here's a man who a short while before was sound-spoken, his priorities were such that only one thing mattered. He had to get his forty winks.

9:50 - 10:13 Read in full sermon

Driving home: False faith is always content with as much knowledge as the individual thinks is necessary to be saved. And once it has that much, it wants no more.

Pictures the beaten and gory state of Paul and Silas, emphasizing that the jailer's thirst for the Word of God was so intense he overlooked their physical appearance and immediate needs.

men had been beaten by Romans. And unlike the Jews who had the regulations, it must be fewer than 40 stripes, there was no such regulation placed upon the Roman lictors. Can you picture what they looked like? Their backs laid open, a mass of dried blood, large welts. They were probably a pretty gory sight to look at. But so thirsty is this jailer

17:03 - 17:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Press the question upon your conscience: Is there a thirst for more knowledge of the object of faith (Christ)?

Compares the spiritual hunger of a newborn soul for the Word of God to the inherent hunger of a newborn baby, arguing that motivation for spiritual growth comes with new life, not external prompting.

Jesus, who is the Father of all things, says, The reason we have all these thousands of converts who don't belong in the knowledge of Christ is because they are not being sufficiently motivated. That's a denial of this principle. The motivation comes with the new life. Do you motivate a newborn baby to be hungry? There's hunger inherent in life.

20:29 - 20:49 Read in full sermon

The point: If you live among unsaved family or neighbors and have no burden or desire to communicate the gospel, question if your faith is genuine.

Clarifies that the jailer's specific actions (waking family at an unearthly hour, preaching to beaten men) were governed by his unique circumstances, not a prescriptive model for all evangelism, but the underlying desire to share is universal.

this does not mean that you will go home and arouse your family at an ungodly hour to prove something. I should say an unearthly hour, not an ungodly, an unearthly hour. Nor does it mean that if someone comes staggering to your doorstep all beaten and bloody, you're going to say, preach to me for a while because I've got to do what he did. No, no. No, no.

25:41 - 26:02 Read in full sermon

The point: If you live among unsaved family or neighbors and have no burden or desire to communicate the gospel, question if your faith is genuine.

Uses the metaphor of peeling layers off the heart to reveal an 'inner tear of concern' or an 'honest sigh' for lost sinners, illustrating the internal desire to share the gospel even if outward actions are limited.

I have not said, if you've not won a soul to Christ, you're not a Christian. I didn't say that, dear child of God. I did not say that. And anyone who says that is cruel and unscriptural. What I'm saying is this. If I could peel off the layers that lie over

27:44 - 28:03 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have believed on the Lord Jesus, there should be active, practical love expressed for your fellow believers.

Quotes a commentator who beautifully states that the jailer's 'pagan cruelty and callousness' was changed into 'Christian tenderness and mercy,' highlighting the transformative power of faith on his character.

And everything he had was shared with his brethren in terms of their lives. He that is begotten of God loveth him that is begotten of him. As one commentator has beautifully stated, pagan cruelty. Callousness that a few hours before had placed these men without feeling in the torture stocks of the dungeon.

31:33 - 31:56 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And there's this constant tension, the church either makes baptism its savior or its Cinderella, exalting it above its proper place or putting it beneath its proper place.

Uses the metaphor of baptism being either a 'savior' (exalted above its place) or 'Cinderella' (put beneath its place) to describe the constant tension and error in how the church often views baptism.

And there's this constant tension, the church either makes baptism its savior or its Cinderella,

36:00 - 36:08 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have believed on the Lord Jesus, you will desire open confession of Christ in the ordinance He has instituted (baptism).

Uses the absurd image of infants intelligently hearing preaching, consciously responding to baptism, and rejoicing in faith to argue against infant baptism, emphasizing that the household baptism in Acts 16 implies household conversion.

Now, when you can get infants to hear preaching intelligently and consciously to respond to that preaching so as to desire obedience to baptism, and then consciously to rejoice in faith, then you get infants in this household baptism, but not until then. The only way you can get them there is to put them there. And when you put them there, you butcher the passage.

38:46 - 39:08 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have believed on the Lord Jesus, you should confess Christ in the way He has commanded, through baptism.

Describes the jailer's pre-conversion terror with vivid imagery: 'the yawning mouth of hell,' 'no hand to reach down,' 'feet are sliding into the pit,' to emphasize the depth of his fear and the subsequent joy of salvation.

If any man seemeth to be spiritual, let him acknowledge, Paul says, that the things that I say unto you as an apostle, they are the commandments of the Lord. Therefore I call upon some of you who sit here this morning, who've asked this question, what must I do to be saved? God has not allowed you to be a sleeping sinner. He's awakened you from your sleep.

41:35 - 41:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not wait for joy to come as an incentive to believe; believe to have joy.

Uses the analogy of getting things 'backwards' by waiting for joy to come as an incentive to believe, asserting that one must believe first to have joy, not the other way around.

Now you see, some of you got it backwards. You say, Well, I just can't believe the Lord has accepted me till I get more joy. My friend, you ain't going to get no more joy till you believe the promise of the gospel. You don't wait for joy to come as an incentive to believe.

47:18 - 47:33 Read in full sermon

The point: If the holy fruits are absent, seek the Lord, call upon Him, forsake wicked ways, and return to the Lord to establish the root of faith.

Uses the metaphor of trying to 'hang this fruit on a sky hook' to illustrate the futility of trying to produce the fruits of faith without the root of genuine belief in Christ.

I call upon you to take seriously verse 31. If these holy fruits are not there, it's because the root is not there. And you can't go out and produce the fruit on nothing. You can't hang this fruit on a sky hook.

49:29 - 49:41 Read in full sermon