"Driven to the Knees"

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Series: Driven to the Knees

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Topics: Matthew, Luke, Faith, Grace, Mark, John, David, Acts

Overview

The Answer Is Always the Same

Think of a math puzzle where, no matter what number you start with, the answer always comes out to five. Life works something like that—except the constant is not a number. Whatever circumstance drives you to your knees, the answer is always Jesus.

In Acts 16:25–34, Paul and Silas sit chained in the inner cell, singing hymns at midnight. An earthquake shakes the foundations, doors fly open, and chains fall off. The jailer, certain his prisoners have escaped, draws his sword to take his own life—until Paul's voice stops him. Trembling, the jailer falls down and asks, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" The reply is plain: "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." That very night he and his family hear the word, are baptized, and rejoice as believers in God.

Scripture is full of people driven to their knees by very different circumstances. The jailer is overwhelmed by the power of God. Peter, after the miraculous catch in Luke 5:8, falls before Jesus crushed by his own sinfulness. The leper in Mark 1:40 kneels because of sickness. The Canaanite mother in Matthew 15:25 kneels for someone she loves. The synagogue leader in Matthew 9:18 kneels because death has entered his home. We can relate. Life buckles our knees too—through bad news from the doctor, through worry for a child or grandchild we cannot rescue, through the silence after a loved one's last breath, through the weight of our own sin measured against God's holiness.

In every case, the answer is the same. To believe in Jesus, as John 20:31 tells us, is to confess that he is the Messiah, the Son of God. And as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, it is to trust what he has done: he died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day. When sin accuses, his blood absolves. When sickness threatens, the Great Physician holds our days. When we ache for another, he is the omnipotent Lord we turn to in prayer. When death enters the room, the last word still belongs to him—and for the Christian, that word is life. So when life drives you to your knees, do not despair on the way down. The answer is waiting, and his name is Jesus.

Transcript

It is my favorite math problem. 0s

Take whatever number you want, whatever number you want. 5s

Double it, then add 10 to it. 10s

Divide it in half, and then take the original number, 16s

and subtract it, and you know what the answer is. 23s

It's five. 29s

It's always five. 32s

Whatever number you start with, you follow that equation, 34s

and you always get five. 40s

Now, can you imagine being a kid, and the teacher says, 44s

we're going to have a quiz on this equation. 48s

And you look at the answer sheet from which you can choose from. 51s

It's like getting a multiple choice question, 55s

where it says what is the answer to this equation? 57s

A5, B5, C5, or D5, right? 60s

It's like a fill in a blank. 65s

What's the answer? 66s

Five. 68s

Two are false. 68s

Is the equation answer five? 69s

True. 72s

The answer is always. 73s

Always. 77s

Five. 80s

The answer. 82s

Is always. 85s

The same. 90s

We're going to study today from the 16th chapter of Acts, 94s

and the point is this. 99s

The answer is always. 103s

The same. 108s

The answer is always. 110s

The same. 114s

Let's refresh our memory here, what we've been studying, 117s

the last several weeks. 119s

You remember Lydia? 121s

Lydia was a seller of purple goods. 123s

Purple in ancient day was very expensive, 126s

clothing to have. 129s

It was expensive to use the dye and color things purple. 130s

So if you wore purple, people would know you spent some money 134s

on that outfit. 138s

She was a lover of purple. 139s

She sold purple clothing. 142s

But as we studied, she would have been a lover of a different color. 145s

White. 151s

Because she was brought to faith. 153s

She and her whole household. 155s

They were all baptized. 157s

And she was clothed in the white, righteous garment of the Lord Jesus Christ. 158s

We went on in the chapter. 166s

We studied about a slave girl who had a demonic spirit 167s

that allowed her to do these fortune-telling and her owners. 172s

They were making a great deal of money off of her. 177s

And that demonic spirit was cast out of her. 181s

She was liberated from that demonic spirit. 184s

Well, that occasion. 189s

The reaction you'll recall. 190s

It was a reaction of anger about the owners of the slave girl. 193s

Because now all of a sudden, they're source of great money had been taken away. 197s

And so they were really angry about this. 204s

Really angry about it. 206s

And Paul and Silas wind up in a prison. 208s

And what was their reaction? 213s

It was one of praise. 216s

We're there. 219s

They were in the innermost part of the prison. 220s

They were being tortured. 223s

And yet they were singing hymns and praising God. 226s

We pick up this morning with the next part of the story. 232s

So look on the please, at verse 25 of chapter 16. 239s

Bob Midnight, Paul and Silas were praying, singing hymns to God, 244s

and the prisoners were listening to them. 248s

Suddenly, there was an earthquake so violent 252s

that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately. 256s

All the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfassant. 262s

When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, 268s

he drew his sword and was about to kill himself since he 272s

suppose that the prisoners had escaped. 276s

In ancient day, if you were a jailer and a prisoner escaped, 280s

it cost you your life. 287s

The jailer knew that. 290s

So he was simply going to execute himself. 292s

But verse 28, 298s

Paul shouted in a loud voice, 301s

do not harm yourself for we are all here. 303s

The jailer called for lights and rushing in. 308s

He fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas. 311s

Then he brought them outside and said, 316s

Sir's, what must I do to be saved? 319s

Look again at 29. 326s

The jailer called for lights rushing in. 328s

He fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas. 331s

Sir's, what must I do to be saved? 339s

The jailer is driven to his knees. 345s

The Bible gives us several different examples of people being driven to their knees. 356s

Can you relate? 368s

Well, I hear that jailer is driven to his knees 368s

because he is experienced the awesome power of Almighty God. 374s

The truthfulness of the message that Paul and Silas were proclaiming 380s

is verified here by this expression of God's power 386s

and it forces him to his knees and his trembling. 391s

Or, let's turn over to Luke the 5th chapter. 402s

That's page 54. 406s

Luke chapter 5, verse 8. 408s

Luke chapter 5, verse 8. 413s

Here the situation is that they've been fishing, 423s

haven't caught a thing. 428s

Jesus tells them to cast out deep and they bring in such a boatload of fish 430s

that the other boat has to come and help them. 435s

And notice the reaction in verse 8 of chapter 5. 438s

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees 443s

saying, go away from me Lord for I am a sinful man. 449s

Can you relate? 458s

Can you relate being driven to your knees 461s

because of the reality of your own sinfulness? 465s

When you compare your sinful life to the perfect holy life of God, 470s

the appropriate reaction is to drop to your knees 482s

with the awareness of your own sinfulness. 486s

Or, let's go to Mark chapter 1, verse 40. 494s

That's page 31. 500s

Mark chapter 1, verse 40. 503s

Here the Scripture tells us, 513s

a leper came to him, Jesus begging him and kneeling, he said to him, 517s

if you choose, you can make me clean. 525s

Here is one who is driven to his knees because of sickness. 532s

Can you relate? 540s

Holding it together? 545s

While the doctor says, I'm sorry, but I have bad news. 547s

And holding it together in that office until you get to your car 555s

and behind the tinted windows, the floodgate opens. 562s

And you get home and you fall on your knees because of what you've heard. 569s

You ever had that? 581s

Where sickness drives you to your knees? 584s

Or, let's go to Matthew 15th chapter, page 15. 593s

Matthew chapter 15. 600s

We'll pick up in verse 22. 604s

Just then a canonite woman from that region came out and started shouting, 612s

have mercy on me, Lord, son of David, my daughter is tormented by a demon. 618s

Verse 25, please. 626s

But she came and knelt before him saying, Lord, help me. 629s

Has the need of the other driven you to your knees? 638s

Has the need for your child or your grandchild or your neighbor or your work associate? 647s

Where you can't do anything, you can't change the situation. 654s

You just feel absolutely stuck. 658s

Has it driven you to your knees in your concern for the other? 661s

Or how about Matthew 9, page 8? 673s

Matthew chapter 9, verse 18. 677s

There we read that while Jesus was saying these things to them suddenly, a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him saying, 687s

My daughter has just died but come and lay your hand on her and she will live. 697s

In driven to your knees, when you receive word, that you loved one has died, 709s

and the silence of death fills the room and your knees buckle and you fall to your knees. 720s

See the Bible gives all of these examples of what can drive us to the knees, 738s

the expression of the power of God where we stand in awe and we simply fall to our knees. 744s

The awareness of our own sinfulness in comparison with the holiness of God, 752s

and we fall to our knees seeking absolute. 758s

The word in which it comes from the doctor that says, this isn't good. 763s

And the sickness drives us to the knees, the needs of the other person that you so wish you could just take upon yourself but you can't. 771s

And those needs of the other person just drive you to your knees, the word that comes through the phone call in the middle of the night, 785s

or when you were by the bedside of your loved one and death comes and you are driven to your knees. 794s

Life drives us to our knees. 803s

It drives us to the knees. 808s

It makes our knees buckle where we can't stand and we find ourselves in no other place than on our knees. 812s

And on our knees what is the answer? 824s

What's the answer? 836s

Look with me please, at verse 31 of our text. 840s

Right after jailer calls for lights. 847s

Right after he falls down on his knees and he's trembling. 851s

Right after he says, in verse 30, 858s

Sur us what must I do to be saved? 861s

Verse 31 says, they answered, 867s

believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. 873s

There's two aspects of believe here, isn't there? 884s

One aspect is believe who Jesus claims to be. 888s

John tells us in John 20. 893s

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book, 896s

but these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, 903s

and that through believing you may have life in his name. 911s

So there's an aspect of believing where we acknowledge that Jesus is who he says he is, the Son of God, 915s

the other aspect of believing that we see is that indeed what he did is true. 923s

Paul writes in first Corinthians 15. 932s

I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received. 934s

That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. 941s

The jailer is driven to his knees and the answer 954s

Jesus. 964s

Look at verse 32. 968s

They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 972s

At that same hour of the night he took them wash their wounds, then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. 977s

He brought them up into the house, set food before them, and he and his and his entire house rejoiced that he had become a believer in God. 986s

The jailer is driven to his knees and the answer for him is Jesus. 1003s

We are driven to our knees because of the reality of our sin. 1018s

We want grace. 1023s

We need that word of absolute and what is it that we hear? 1025s

That Jesus Christ has borne our sin on the cross. 1030s

He has paid the sin that we are covered in his blood that the tomb is empty, that the sacrifice has been accepted, 1034s

that the word of absolute has been one through the cross of Jesus Christ. 1043s

And in the reality of our own sinfulness that forces us to our knees, the answer. 1052s

It's Jesus. 1063s

Jesus. 1065s

The doctor says, I'm afraid it's not good news and we fall on our knees the moment we walk in through our front doors of our home. 1070s

We are driven to our knees and we are reminded through his word that the last word belongs to the great physician, 1081s

the Lord Jesus Christ, that God is the one that holds our days, that everything passes before his almighty throne. 1090s

And that if God wills healing, there will be healing this side of heaven. 1099s

And what we hear as we are driven to the knees, we hear of the answer and his name is Jesus. 1107s

When we hurt for the need of the others, when we want to take that upon ourselves, if only we could, when we hear of that hurt and we are driven to the knee, we are reminded of the one that we turn to in prayer, the one who is indeed omnipotent and sovereign. 1121s

We hear a new the answer. 1142s

Jesus. 1148s

And when death comes, and what is heard is the whimper or the whale, amidst the quietness of the moment, 1153s

the eyes are lifted to the promises of God and the truth, pierces the moment that the last word belongs to God and the last word for the Christian is life. 1167s

Life through the answer. 1190s

Jesus. 1197s

The answer is always. 1201s

Jesus. 1209s

It's always. 1213s