Acts 16: Come Out of Your Prison, Freedom Is Found Only in Jesus

Introduction

"Come out of your prison. Tonight the Lord wants you to come out of your prison." At an evangelistic evening at the Assemblée de Dieu de Nice Ariane, Pastor Samuel Mabboux begins by recalling the purpose of the gathering: to talk about one person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God who gave his life for each of us.

His text is the story of Paul and Silas imprisoned in Philippi, in Acts 16. He doesn't know what your prison is called: "an addiction, a health problem, a family problem." So many things can hold us captive. But the God who shook the foundations of that prison can still open the doors and break the chains.

Message Outline

1. Paul and Silas, from Bad to Worse

It all begins because Paul, with the powerful help of the Holy Spirit, set free a woman who was under the grip of a python spirit. That is why the trouble comes.
The crowd rises up, their clothes are torn off, they are beaten with rods, then thrown into the inner prison, "the prison of the prison," with their feet in the stocks (Acts 16:22-24).
The preacher describes the scene: men stripped bare, "their backs bleeding, their skin torn off for speaking about the Lord," with pieces of wood on their feet that almost kept them from moving.
As a teenager, he felt as if everyone was against him. For some people this feeling becomes a reality: it seems that "fate keeps coming after you."
Maybe you come here stuck so tightly that you can no longer move, telling yourself: even if I leave this prison, there are still the stocks, still the jailer, still something that holds me captive.

2. Praying and Singing in the Middle of the Night

"But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them" (Acts 16:25).
No bed, no table, no guitar or piano: probably rats, damp, cold stone, hunger and thirst. They aren't thinking about the next day's trial, they are thinking about God.
"Nothing is more powerful than worship and praise in a trial." Praising God in your prison means believing he is able to reach you right where you are.
Complaining doesn't do much good. The pastor, who chose not to go and protest, says he believes "an hour of prayer is more useful than an hour of protesting," because the problem of our country and of this world is "deeply" spiritual.
After breaking his knee in April 2025, he asked: "Lord, why did you allow this?" The question is legitimate. But a moment comes to say, "You are sovereign," and to praise him in hardship as in abundance.
"That is what worship is: praising God for who he is, and not only for what he gives us." It was when he cried out to the Lord, stuck in his own inner prison, that God revealed himself powerfully to him.

3. God Shakes the Foundations of Your Prison

"Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's chains were loosened" (Acts 16:26). The word "earthquake," the preacher stresses, means a real quake.
Jesus was anointed "to proclaim release to the captives" and to set free those who are oppressed (Luke 4:18).
Like the centurion who said, "just say the word, and my servant will be healed" (Matthew 8:8), one word from God can make the difference and break the chains that have held you for so long.
"Your problems matter to the Lord Jesus," even the small ones, which are small for him but big for you. You don't need to be in palliative care to plead for his grace.
Some prisons are in the head, in the reasoning. The only one who can bring them down is Jesus. Close your door, get on your knees, open your Bible: whoever seeks finds, and to whoever knocks, the door is opened (Matthew 7:7-8).
"The things which are impossible with men are possible with God" (Luke 18:27). We say it, we say amen, but do we fully realize it?

4. Freedom Is Found Only in Jesus

"If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).
True freedom is neither going out to protest nor the right to vote, nor buying what you want and going where you please. You can have all of that and still be chained by your sin, just as Paul and Silas had stocks on their feet.
Sin enslaves. It is a debt, and you are bound to the one you owe.
The pastor takes the example of his apartment: as long as the loan runs, he is bound to the bank. The day he has paid everything off, he will shake the banker's hand with a big smile: "I don't owe you anything anymore." When you are freed from the weight of sin, you are truly free.

5. "Don't Harm Yourself"

The jailer wakes up, sees the doors open, draws his sword and is about to kill himself. Paul cries out with a loud voice: "Don't harm yourself, for we are all here!" (Acts 16:27-28).
The preacher points out the paradox: the prisoners are free, and the free man is a prisoner of what has just happened. You can be locked up and guarded day and night, and be free in Jesus Christ.
He mentions a Romanian pastor locked for years in a 3 m² cell with no window, with his Bible, who praised God every day and felt free. On the other hand, how many people go wherever they want and are prisoners on the inside?
The Lord says it to you tonight: do not harm yourself. "You have hurt yourself enough," through sin and through your choices, "physically, morally, spiritually, psychologically."
The jailer asks for lights (verse 29). In your darkness, ask for the light of Christ too.

6. "What Must I Do to Be Saved?"

It is "the most important question," "the best question in the world" (Acts 16:30). The pastor, who wasn't very good at pop quizzes at school, invites everyone to ask it of the Lord.
The answer is "so simple, so powerful": "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:31).
Many ask for prayer so that their family will be saved. "But my friend, before saving your family, save yourself." If the Lord returns tonight, are you sure of your salvation?
God wants to save you first, then your family through you: the good news of the Gospel is proclaimed in the jailer's house, and everyone is baptized that very day.
In verse 36, it is the jailer who says: "come out, and go in peace." When the situation is so complicated that you no longer even know what to ask for, you can say: "God, it's you." He often acts in ways you never imagined and untangles the knot that seemed impossible to untie.

7. Cry Out to the Lord, He Hears You

"I sought Yahweh, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to him, and were radiant" (Psalm 34:4-5).
"This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. Yahweh's angel encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them" (Psalm 34:6-7). For the preacher, the angel of Yahweh is Jesus in the Old Testament: Jesus came to earth 2,000 years ago, but he has always existed.
There is hope: Jesus died for you, so that you would no longer have to know this prison.
Start to pray, praise and worship God in the middle of your night: "Lord, I want to praise you while I am in my inner prison. I need you, Lord Jesus."
"Don't put it off until next time." If the Lord came now, would you leave with him? Is your life right with him?

Key Takeaways

The Lord wants to bring you out of your prison, whatever its name: addiction, illness, family, anxiety, or a prison in your mind.
Nothing is more powerful than praise in a trial. Praising God for who he is calls for his intervention.
Your problems matter to Jesus, even the small ones. What is impossible for people is possible for God.
True freedom is spiritual: sin enslaves, and only the Son sets you truly free.
"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." First make sure of your own salvation.

Personal Application

What is your prison called today, and have you dared to name it before God?
In the middle of your night, do you complain, or do you pray and sing like Paul and Silas?
Is there a problem you don't dare bring to the Lord because you think it is too small?
In what ways are you still hurting yourself through your choices, when God tells you, "Don't harm yourself"?
If the Lord came back tonight, are you assured of leaving with him?

Verses Quoted

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "come out of your prison" mean in this message on Acts 16?

Samuel Mabboux starts from Paul and Silas thrown into the inner prison of Philippi. He applies this story to everything that can hold us captive: an addiction, a health problem, a family problem, anxieties or prisons in our thoughts. The Lord wants to shake those walls and open the doors.

Why were Paul and Silas singing in prison?

Beaten, chained and not knowing whether they would be condemned the next day, they were thinking about God rather than their fate. For the preacher, nothing is more powerful than praise in a trial: praising God for who he is, and not only for what he gives, calls for his intervention.

What must you do to be saved according to Acts 16?

To the jailer who asks this question, Paul answers: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." Samuel Mabboux calls on everyone to first make sure of their own salvation, before wanting to save their family, their loved ones or the whole world.