Acts 16:16-40 - Homiletics

Truth and falsehood.

The domains of truth and falsehood are in their own nature entirely distinct. This cannot be more emphatically expressed than in the inspired words which speak of God as the God of truth, and of Satan as the father of lies. The two realms are not only distinct, but contrary the one to the other. No greater injury has been done to the cause of truth than by the employment of weapons of falsehood in its defense. And, on the other hand, the most effective weapons used in defense of falsehood have been those which were taken from the armory of truth. The section before us exhibits a remarkable example of the champions of truth and falsehood, and of the characteristic weapons of each. To take first the case of the masters of the soothsaying girl. With them it was a simple matter of gain. What their Pythoness taught, what direction her soothsaying took, whether her divination supported Judaism, or heathenism, or Christianity, was all one to them, so that their own gains were great. They were good friends and well-wishers to Paul and Silas as long as their own profits were consistent with the spread of the gospel. But when the damsel was silenced, and the silver stream of the rewards of divination was dried up, their anger knew no bounds. With the keen fury of disappointed avarice they turn against those whom before they seemed to honor and respect. But how shall they wreak their vengeance against these "servants of the most high God"? It would not do to speak the simple truth and say, "These men who ' show unto us the way of salvation,' have robbed us of our gains in the name of Jesus Christ. Help us to punish them." It would not do to say, "The only fault we have to find with them and their teaching is that we are no longer able to delude simple people, and cheat them out of their money." And so they look about for some nobler, and thereby more effective plea. "Are we not Romans? Is not Rome the mistress of the world? Is not Philippi a Roman colony? Is it fitting that the imperial majesty of the city should be despised and insulted here in the midst of the fasces of the lictors, and in the very presence of the praetor? Or again, Is not law the very bond which binds the world together? Is not law that which all good men honor and obey? Are not the noble Roman people a law-abiding people? And shall a few ignoble and despicable Jews dare to teach customs and persuade men to observe laws contrary to the laws of Rome, and contrary to the duty of Roman citizens? Out upon such lawless insolence! In the name of the majesty of Rome, rise up, ye people, and put these intruders down. In the name of holy law, rise up, ye magistrates, and chastise these presumptuous offenders against the law! Vindicate the fair fame of Philippi, and silence these blasphemers against the truth!" So spake these lying champions of their own sordid interests; and with the weapons of righteousness wielded by their unrighteous hands, they gained a short-lived victory. And now for the champions of truth. Paul and Silas, as they are portrayed in the simple, lucid narrative of the Acts of the Apostles, stand before us as two men of transparent integrity, living for one object—the presentation of truth to the minds of men for their present and eternal good. We cannot detect in them one single selfish purpose—neither the love of gain, nor the love of power, nor the love of praise, nor the love of ease. What we can detect—it stares us in the face—is an intense love of God, an entire devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, an unquenchable charity for the souls of their fellow-men, both Jews and Gentiles, and a calm, steady hope of the appearing and kingdom of their unseen Lord. We see also a sense of duty urging them to every step they take, and prompting every word they speak. Well, they preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. They convince, they convert, they receive their converts into the Church of God, all the while leading lives of blameless purity, quietness, and order. Then they are seized, they are ignominiously beaten with many stripes, they are dragged off to prison, their feet are made fast in the stocks, and they are left alone in the dark. But it was no darkness to them. In the exercises of prayer and praise the light of Heaven illuminated their souls. The gospel which they believed and preached was no less precious in its promises, its hopes, its power, its present light and joy, in that inner dungeon, than it had been by the water-side or in the crowded synagogues of Antioch. The Master whom they served was no less glorious, no less worthy of all their love and all their service, than he had ever been. They knew that his truth would endure from generation to generation. They were not moved from their steadfastness. Then came their wonderful deliverance. And how did they use it? In preaching the same truth to their jailor, in repeating it to the house of Lydia, in carrying it forth from city to city, and being never silent, but continuing to bear witness to the truth as long as their life endured. And are they silent now? I trow not. The truth has not changed; but in heaven it is seen more fully, in more unclouded lustre, in fuller proportions of breadth, and length, and height, and depth; and they that know it there have fuller powers of thought and speech with which to magnify it than the most gifted of them possessed on earth.