Acts

[0:00] Would you turn with me again to the Acts of the Apostles and to the 16th chapter and some words you will find in the 14th verse.

[0:15] And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, and she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul, Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened.

[0:55] I must confess to you this evening that this was not the subject that I had originally intended to speak from.

[1:13] I say this because I felt a strong inclination to turn to this. I would not suggest that this was necessarily inspiration.

[1:28] But nonetheless, I can only tell you that turning over the pages of my Bible during the interval between the afternoon service and this present service, turning over to find another part of the scriptures I had intended to speak from, this particular text caught my eye, arrested my attention, and I felt unable to depart from it.

[1:58] And so, with the Lord's help, I want to seek to deal with this passage of scripture, and particularly with this very remarkable expression concerning this woman, whose heart the Lord opened.

[2:16] the Lord opened. I would also like to remind you of this. The events described in this chapter are very important as far as we are concerned as Europeans, and it is well to remember that this account here of the apostles passing for the first time into Europe is something which has affected our whole civilization, our whole way of life down through the centuries.

[2:57] The moment that the apostle Paul and his companion set foot upon the continent of Europe, something was about to happen which I say has affected the whole history of that continent and of the world.

[3:17] Indeed, the civilization that we still know something of today, though Christendom itself is fast being undermined, yet still it all hangs upon this remarkable occasion when, for the first time, the Holy Spirit directed the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ to preach the gospel in Europe.

[3:46] So that this is what we are looking at.

[4:16] Our own continent, so to speak. And this is the first European to hear and to receive the word of God.

[4:27] Well, that's one aspect of it, of interest, I suppose, and certainly historically important. But there is another aspect of it, which I must now touch on, relevant to this expression, whose heart the Lord opened.

[4:44] The Christian faith, the true Christian faith, is very relevant to the heart, whose heart the Lord opened.

[4:58] This word heart, this word heart, concerns the very innermost part of our being, the very depth of our nature, the very centre of our desires and our affections.

[5:12] the heart of man I know in this instance it happens to be a woman but the same thing applies here the heart of man whose heart the Lord opened and this I affirm as I look at this first European convert as I read of this account of her conversion how her heart was changed and opened by the Lord I say this is the gospel this is salvation this is what God in Christ does for a poor sinner opens the heart may I just remind you for a moment now of a few things that the Bible says about the human heart certainly it is a hard heart certainly it is a proud heart it is a heart of stone a stony heart that is in relationship to God and to Christ and to his word whose heart the Lord opened it summed up well in the language

[6:22] I think of Jeremiah when he speaks of the human heart as being deceitful above all things and desperately wicked deceitful above all things and desperately wicked such is the human heart now perhaps I spent rather long time this afternoon in considering the subject of man who is a worm perhaps I spent rather long time then in saying things about our condition and state by nature the condition of fallen humanity apart from the grace of God but it is necessary I feel in approaching this subject this evening again to stress where we stand apart from grace and apart from the work of the Holy Spirit our heart is not right before God our affections are not set on things above our desire is toward our self our desire is toward the things of this life deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it now I've said a word or two about Europe and the dramatic event that takes place here in this chapter remarkable indeed and I've also said a word or two about the condition of the human heart but mercifully there is one who can change all this he changed Lydia's heart and he's changed countless thousands of hearts

[8:04] European Asian and all over the world since and I believe he's done it in the same way and by the same means and who can tell he might in his mercy open a heart tonight who can tell God is sovereign God is rich in mercy have you an open heart is your heart opened as Lydia's was oh my friends if you have an open heart you're favoured indeed if you have not an open heart you're in a solemn place at this moment now then let us look then at this subject more closely the first thing that I want you to notice is the wonderful way in which the Lord directs Paul to this particular woman and to this particular place the preaching of the gospel is not haphazard I know there is the parable of the sower

[9:07] I know there is to be a scattering abroad of the good seed of God's word this I'm sure is relevant to the preaching of the gospel but over all is the sovereignty of God the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his I stand in your pulpit before you this evening as an unashamed Calvinist I believe in what we call the doctrines of grace predestination election effectual calling total depravity and so on these I believe are fundamental scriptural Christian doctrines it is true they have been rejected for the most part by the professing church today and relegated and laid aside but that does not for one moment change the revealed word and will of God when I view the opening of this dear woman's heart by God then I see an act which was appointed in eternity past whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son and whom he did predestinate them he also called

[10:39] I know my sheep and them known are mine my sheep hear my voice and they follow me as we trace out the footsteps of the apostle Paul on his way to this city of Philippi we may marvel at the overruling sovereignty of God one does not for one moment pretend to have had some of the great experiences that some preachers and ministers of the gospel have had but one can say this and I hope in truth there have been those times when a way has been hedged up when a door has been shut and one has wondered why and then there has been an opening up in a totally different direction and ultimately one has had to prove this was the will of God he knows where to send the messenger he knows where to send his servant he knows the way that we take and it is the way of salvation so notice this then please that here are these who are ministering the word this notable servant of God the apostle

[12:01] Paul and we read that when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia now to hear some people think to speak you would imagine that we have perfect liberty to preach just where we wanted to and when we wanted to but here is the most eminent servant of God that ever walked the face of this earth and he finds he is forbidden forbidden by the spirit to preach the word in certain places there are times when a servant of God knows something of having his mouth stopped and Paul was no exception or again going on a little further after they were come to Mycena they essayed to go into Bithynia but the spirit suffered them not the spirit would not permit it they were forbidden they were not permitted to go to any of these places though they sought to do so the doors were shut and then comes this remarkable vision the Lord stops this way and that way but with equal clarity and plainness when it pleases him he makes the pathway plain so that

[13:34] Paul sees a man of Macedonia a Greek saying come over into Macedonia and help us we do not know who this man was we are told nothing more than that that as the Lord looked in mercy upon the people of that area as he saw in his own eternal purposes his dead elect in those places he presents this vision to Paul come over into Macedonia and help us and then do notice the assurance given after he had seen the vision immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them well I could spend a little longer on this theme alone this aspect of the subject but I think sufficient has now been said to point out the sovereignty of God even as we consider the salvation and the conversion of one woman namely

[14:57] Lydia now may we look for a moment at the place where it took place I like this you know on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made a riverside now this was just a little stream actually I understand it was no great river but just a little stream just a quiet little place where on the Sabbath day this company of women met for prayer Lydia whose heart the Lord opened where was she found she was found in this quiet place she was found among a company that met for prayer let me say this I believe that you are a praying church

[15:58] I'm sure that you are a praying church you may hopefully anticipate that the Lord may open hearts amongst you because I read that it was in the place where prayer was wont to be made that Lydia's heart was open you have had some reward to your prayers during the past year then thank the Lord for it indeed for you have not prayed in vain we at Bath have not seen what we would like to see shall we give up praying no because I am persuaded that the Lord opens hearts where prayer is made the Lord servant then was sovereignly directed but so to speak at the other end of things there was a praying people a few women gathering in an out of the way place on the

[17:01] Sabbath day to lift up their hearts in prayer now concerning Lydia herself may I say this note it it is evident that she was a well-to-do woman a business woman a woman of some means a woman with a household and it is very evident that she was of some substance now I would ask you to bear this in mind here is a true seeker surely here is one who though she was well-to-do was not ashamed to go and meet amongst the people of God reminds me of the hymn you know I love to meet among them now before his righteous feet to bow though vilest of them all it is good to see even those who hold a prominent position in society who in earnestly seeking the Lord and seeking his truth are not ashamed to meet with those who humbly call upon him but let me say something else wasn't it a mercy that she wasn't satisfied with her position it is evident she knew prosperity and that she was a business woman but this did not satisfy the longings of her soul

[18:25] I don't suppose I'm acquainted with the providential circumstances of anyone here this evening so I may speak very freely but my friend the world can get a place in the heart you know it can keep you away from the things of God it can keep you away from the prayer meeting mercifully it did not keep Lydia away and another thought because she was well to do and respectable that didn't make her right in the sight of God because up to this point her heart is not open she was a seller of purple a well to do woman but she needed to have her heart open God may prosper you in business and in the things of this life and you should thank him for it but do not rest short of this an open heart which God alone can perform nor the wealth nor the prosperity of this life will never stand you in good stead in eternity there you must go in as naked as you came into this world we can't take anything with us you know but something else which worshipped

[19:50] God you say did she need her heart to be opened she worshipped God well so did Cornelius and Peter was sent to him and this woman was not completely godless and yet still she needed more than that which leads me to say this chapel going even an acknowledgement of the truth is not sufficient even a form of prayer sincere prayer is not sufficient whose heart the Lord opened here then is a prosperous woman I understand it here is one who was reverent who feared God who worshipped God and yet the Lord as he looks upon her in mercy and as an elect vessel must send his servant sovereignly many many miles through many hardships to meet with her at this particular point and place with one object in view that her heart should be opened because whatever may be said of her circumstances and condition both to the things of this life and the things of God though she be a worshipper or no she has still got a heart that is shut up unto

[21:23] Christ now what means does the Lord use well I've already intimated that he uses his servant he needn't have sent Paul he may if he please work independent of means but he commonly uses the foolishness of preaching and the earthen vessel as we see here Paul said that he concludes assuredly that the Lord had called them to preach the gospel that's what he went to Europe for that's why he came to Macedonia but where to whom to the riverside where prayer was wont to be made amongst these praying women and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither he preached the gospel he sat down and spake to the women which resorted thither it was most informal evidently but none the less sincere how how then does the

[22:38] Lord open hearts he does so by the preaching of the gospel he does so by the testimony of his servants what manner of gospel did Paul preach you're familiar with the scriptures you have read his doctrine you've read some of his sermons that he preached it can be summed up in this I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified if Paul preached he preached of one who was the son of God the word made flesh he preached of one who died upon a cross for sin he preached of one who rose again triumphant from the grave he preached of one who ascended into heaven he preached of one who is now at the right hand of God he preached of one who will come again one day in power and great glory he preached of one alone by whom poor sinners may be justified freely by grace these are the things that

[23:58] Paul preached he did not preach morality he did not preach good words he did not preach the so-called social gospel he did not reason at the human level if he reasoned he reasoned from the scriptures affirming and proclaiming that Jesus was the Christ warning teaching and so on speaking of righteousness and of judgment so here then we have the sovereignty of God here we have a woman who though on the face of it she appears to be good and godly needs a work of grace in her heart here we have one who is sent under the good hand of God to perform that work and it is done I say by the preaching of the gospel we sat down and spake unto the women oh the power of

[25:03] God's word because this is what we have here the effect of the preaching of the cross which is to them that perish foolishness but unto them which believe it is the power of God unto salvation a certain woman named Lydia a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira which worshiped God heard us heard us faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God whose heart the Lord opened I want you to consider this for a moment there is a form of preaching which suggests that the sinner must condescend to permit

[26:07] God to save him and that until he is ready to admit Christ and the Holy Spirit God can do nothing with him this is not found in the scriptures but there is another approach to this problem the heart of man and it is this approach that the sinner is dead in trespasses and in sins that in and of himself he does not merit nor can perform that which is right in the sight of a holy God but that salvation is a work of grace from first to last and this is wonderfully brought out here whose heart the Lord opened I heard a very beautiful illustration which I now proceed to tell you

[27:10] I wish I could say who actually made this illustration I cannot it does belong to another it concerned a little girl who walking down the garden one day looked at the rose buds on her mother's rose bushes and asked her mother what they were and her mother said well they're rose buds and very soon when they open we shall have some roses and because she was a little girl and because she couldn't wait for them to open she decided to have a go at the job herself she proceeded therefore to try and open some of these roses well of course it didn't work very well her mother going down the garden a little bit later found some of the buds hopelessly damaged they'd been forced open and of course there were no roses but later they opened they opened beautifully and there were the roses and the child went down the garden again and looked at them and she said well who opened them mummy and the mother said well god opened them and the child pondered this situation for a few moments and then said oh

[28:37] I see mummy I tried to do it from the outside god works from the inside god works from the inside whose heart the lord opened a clean heart and so on all these things are relevant but here

[29:59] I am speaking of an open heart how did it open it opened first by way of reception look at that she attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul she attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul how do you stand in relation to the word of God to the epistles to the doctrines of the gospel and so on is there a willing reception of these things these truths concerning the salvation of your soul and concerning the person of Christ and concerning the kingdom of God and his dear son do you consider the doctrine do you consider the ordinances and the practices laid down in God's word do they affect you we read of the word being written on the heart that heart which receives the word of

[31:03] God is an open heart you see whose heart the Lord opened and she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul have I got an open heart has God done something in my heart by his spirit that nature knows nothing of I may perhaps reflect a little upon my attitude toward God's holy word as to whether I accept it as his word as to whether I receive it as the very truth of God and whether I indeed come under it so there's the receptive side of it but it didn't only receive it did receive Christ it did receive salvation it did receive the blessed truth but look at it another way it was also opened in that which flowed from it firstly in baptism she was obedient an open heart is an obedient heart and when she was baptized and her household

[32:15] I won't dwell on this aspect of the household because time's moving on but simply on this she was baptized now baptism never saved anybody but baptism does bear witness to what has taken place if she had an open heart she was regenerate she was born again she had been brought from death unto life she was risen again with Christ baptism by immersion testifies amongst other things of the wonder of regeneration renewing of the Holy Ghost indeed of the opening of the heart a new heart means a new creature a new creation risen again with Christ baptism then is a very wonderful ordinance because it testifies or should testify of what you have experienced through the grace of

[33:22] God it is not legal obedience but it is a loving act of conformity to the declared will of Christ and she whose heart was open attended to the word and then faith without works being dead she walked in the way of his commandments if ye love me keep my commandments and then something else not only did she obey in that sense but I do like that if ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord come into my house and abide there and she constrained them constrained them whose heart the Lord opened there is an outpouring of love of hospitality of generosity toward these servants of God and it did not merely stay here if you want to know a bit more about

[34:27] Lydia and her associates at Philippine don't forget to read the epistle to the Philippians because this is relevant to this church listen to it I thank my God upon every remembrance of you this woman and others like her the jailer and the poor woman that had the devil and so on always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy he could well do it for the Lord had opened her heart for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ listen beloved friends men getting the waterories and leaves death souls

[36:15] A sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. This woman with her open heart has produced the fruits of righteousness and a sacrifice well-pleasing unto God.

[36:30] But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Here I must leave it because our time is moving on and there are several more hymns yet to be sung.

[36:45] So I just leave you with this thought. Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened. Have I an open heart?

[36:56] Do I receive his word with gladness and attend unto it? Have I followed the ordinances of the gospel and of his house? Do I see in my life those things which in ministering to the saints, those things which bear testimony of a work of grace in my heart?

[37:18] Are these things abounding unto him? May the Lord in his mercy cause us indeed to examine ourselves in the light of these things.

[37:31] We plead indeed that we may, like Lydia, have hearts that he and he alone has opened. Amen.

[37:41] Amen.