Oh say! Friend! It's so good of you to invite us into your home for Bible study. We know how many choices of programs you have-- and you have chosen ours! We are glad and we're thankful. And we pray we will both be blessed.
I was reading the book of Acts recently. Just reading it for the pleasure of it. That is exciting reading, isn't it? How long has it been since you just read the book of Acts-- I mean just read it for the joy of reading it? Well, it's the only inspired history that we have of the beginning and the early days of the Lord's church. Oh sure! Others have written about it, of course they have, many others, but not like Luke wrote; the author of Acts wrote about it. He was guided by the Holy Spirit in what he wrote.
It's the gripping story how, in spite of all the persecutions heaped on them, the early Christians just kept on preaching and teaching God’s word. They just simply would not be stopped! Jesus said the word of God is the seed of the kingdom. And anyone who knows anything about sowing and reaping knows that (1) you reap what you sow; you sow wheat and you reap wheat, of course; number (2) you reap in proportion to how much you sow, and (3) you reap after you sow. So, they grew! And grew! And grew, because they preached the word! It's been said-- even by secular historians that Christianity was the fastest growing movement of any kind in all of the history of man. And, it would be that way today, if we persistently preached the word, preached the word of God as they did!
Well, that's what we are doing here, and that's what our program is about today. It will be available to you, free, of course, like all of the others--in transcript form-- also on CD or audio cassette tapes. Stay tuned and we'll give you our address and toll-free telephone number later in the program. But right now Ken Helterbrand will be leading us as we sing.
We are reading through the book of Acts, chapter 16 at verse 25 beginning, and we will read through verse 34. “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, Do yourself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? So they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.” And now let us go to God in prayer. We thank You, our Father, from the depths of our hearts for this passage of scripture that reveals to us the real answer to what people must do to be saved. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
"What must I do to be saved?" I sense a measure of urgency in that, don't you? It reminds me of an old hymn I learned in my childhood when my mother was taking me to Sunday School in the rural school house. The chorus said, "Throw out the life-line! Throw out the life-line; someone is drifting away. Throw out the life-line! Throw out the life-line; someone is sinking today!
It's still in most of our hymn books, but we don't sing it as much as we once did. In fact, I can't even remember when I heard it last. I wonder why. Perhaps when we find an answer to that, we'll have the solution to the problem of "church growth" that we're hearing so much about today. Imagine, if you can, standing on the deck of "Old Ship of Zion"-- the church-- and seeing souls all around us who are "drifting" away from God, "sinking" in sin-- and we simply lounge in a deck chair, reading a book. How could a Christian be so calloused? It is the church's business to throw out that life-line, and the church that doesn't do it is sure to stagnate-- and eventually die! The Christian, who can turn a deaf ear to that plaintive cry, would do well to examine himself to see if he is in the faith as we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 5.
Some time ago one of our television viewers wrote us saying, "Please send me information on how to be saved." Perhaps you are saying the same thing, "Please send me information on how to be saved." That's the chief purpose of this ministry. And we are going to use the passage we read awhile ago as our text-- verse by verse we will work our way through it to see how to be saved.
First a little background. The apostle Paul along with Silas as a co-worker, well, they on their way often called Paul's second missionary journey. And he visited some of the churches that he established on his first tour so that they were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily (Acts 16 and 4). And in keeping with his world vision for Christ, according to Romans 15:20, he wanted to go into Asia and then to Bithynia, but he was restrained by the Holy Spirit. He came to the seaport town of Troas where he had a vision of preaching the gospel over in Europe. It had never been done before. Paul liked to preach where Christ had never been preached (Romans 15:20). So, he quickly rose and boarded the ship to cross the Aegean Sea to the Macedonian city of Neapolis and from there to Philippi.
On the Sabbath day he found some Jewish women worshiping out by the riverside. He preached Christ to them and one of them in particular by the name of Lydia, a business woman, and her family were baptized. Paul and Silas, and Luke was with them by this time; they kept on teaching the people. Their ministry caused such an uproar that Paul and Silas were arrested, were mercilessly beaten with many stripes and then thrown in jail. And this is where our text begins.
Instead of being depressed and discouraged, as we might suppose anyone would be under those circumstances, verse 25 tells us that at midnight, Paul and Silas were singing hymns of praise to God and the other prisoners were listening to them; when suddenly, a great earthquake shook the very foundations of the prison house! And all the doors were flung ajar and every prisoner's bands were loosed! Verses 27 and 28 tell us that the jailor, thinking that his prisoners had surely fled, and knowing that he would have to give account for that, and maybe it would cost him his life, was about to commit suicide. "But Paul cried with a loud voice, Do yourself no harm: for we are all here." "Then the jailor called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, he fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
What ever possessed the man to ask about being saved? Why did it ever occur to him that he was unsaved? Well, according to verse 18, Paul and Silas had been preaching and teaching Jesus Christ in the city for "many days." Their ministry had caused the uproar that resulted in their imprisonment. And surely this jailor, into whose special keeping these men had been committed, must have known something about what they were saying and what they were preaching. The gospel of Jesus Christ always confronts a person with his sins. It just does, friend. I have people say to me, "You shouldn't talk about sin. People don't want to hear that their behavior is sinful. Then they won't listen to you if you do talk about it." But, friend, any message that does not confront a person with his sin is not the gospel of Jesus Christ! It can't be, because the very heart and substance of the gospel of Christ, is His death for our sin, His burial in the grave, His resurrection also (1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 1 to 3). Well, there's much more to it, of course; that would be the story of His incarnation, His sinless life, His church, His coming again, and other things, but any message that doesn't declare His death for our sins, just isn't the good news or the gospel of Christ.
And the jailor must have heard enough of their preaching, or enough talk around town about their preaching, to have been aware of the error of his way. He hadn't heard enough to know how to be saved, but he had heard enough to know that he was lost! Unsaved! And so, "he called for a light; he ran in, and fell down before Paul and Silas...and said the urgent appeal, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
Now, Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was inspired of God, so if we can determine from this passage what Paul told this man to do, and what he did with the teaching of Paul and Silas, well, we'll have a sufficient answer for our television viewer, won’t we; this person who asked for such information-- and for ourselves and for you, maybe, wouldn't you say? So now, what happened? Well, the next verse (verse 31) says "And they [that would be Paul and Silas] said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, and your household."
Now, verse 32 makes sense: "Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house." You see "faith comes by hearing the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Under these very adverse circumstances, Paul and Silas taught this man and his family what the Bible says now about Jesus Christ. What all they said, we don't know, because the passage doesn't tell us. They could have told him about our Lord's miraculous conception and virgin birth, His growing up in Nazareth, His baptism of John in the Jordan, beginning of His earthly ministry in Galilee. Certainly they would have told him about our Lord's crucifixion, His burial in Joseph's tomb, and His glorious resurrection three days later. They must have told him that the words "Jesus" and "saved" come from the same root word in the Hebrew tongue and that Jesus Christ is Savior; and that salvation is of the Lord, as in Jonah 2 and 9. Oh, they surely told him, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4 and 12). Well, they must have told him that while all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23), "the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men," Jew and Gentile alike; they would be included (Titus 2:11). And because of that he and his family could be saved, too, if they would believe that.
They had to have said something about baptism, because the next verse says-- verse 33 says, "He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes. And immediately (the old King James Version says "the same hour of the night") he and his family, all of them, were baptized." What is the significance of his taking Paul and Silas and washing their stripes? What stripes? Well, you remember-- awhile ago we talked about it, we learned that the day before this earthquake, Paul and Silas had caused such a stir with their ministry that they were arrested, they were beaten with many stripes and they were thrown in jail? Well, this jailor had shown no mercy on these two men. He had made their feet fast in the stocks and kept them in the "inner prison" where it was damp and cold and miserable and uncomfortable. But the jailor cared for none of those things. By this midnight hour the blood in those stripes would have dried and formed crusts. Fever would have risen in their muscles, and their bruised and lacerated backs would have been swollen.
But look at the change of heart in this jailor. He's concerned now. He believes what they have said about Jesus Christ, and he wants to wash that dried blood out of those fevered stripes. Don't you know the cool water felt good to Paul and Silas? Oh, what a relief! In the language of the Bible, this jailor had repented and was bringing forth meet for repentance. He'd had a charge, a change of heart I should say, which manifested itself in a change of behavior toward his prisoners. And he and all his family were immediately baptized.
When I was a child going to church with my mother, we heard the preacher in her church preach about this jailor many times, but he would get only to verse 31 which says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." And he would end his sermon there, and appeal to the people. "Only believe, only believe, just believe in the Lord,” he would say, “and be saved, just believe." And more often than not, we would sing the song, "Only trust Him, Only trust Him, He will save you now." But, my friend, you can see now what I saw then: the story doesn't end in verse 31; it continues on into verses 33 and 34, which tell us he repented. And he was baptized, he and all of his family. And he "rejoiced, believing in God with all of his household."
Well, forasmuch as He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world, "God commands all men everywhere to repent." "The Lord is...longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3 and 9). Any plan of salvation that does not include repentance is a false one, friend. It is impotent; it cannot save! In Acts 2, describing the events of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit led the apostle Peter to say to the people who asked for information about how to be saved, "Repent,” he said, “and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." That is verse 38. So, this man was told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He repented!
And, he was also baptized immediately, the same hour of the night, which was past midnight. Why is it so important-- or urgent that he had to be baptized immediately-- the same hour of the night? Didn't he know the discomfort that Paul and Silas were experiencing? It would be difficult for them to baptize him. Couldn't he have waited for a more convenient time-- until they felt more comfortable? The urgency of baptism is seen in its purpose, friend. As we've just noted, Peter declared it was "for (or unto) the remission of sins." And after he and his family had been baptized they returned to his house where he set food before them, all of them, and they "rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." All of his household or family were old enough to believe and be baptized. End of story! Oh! It's so important to get the whole story. Let's pray. Holy Father, we are thankful that You have recorded for us the whole story of the conversion of this man so that we might see in it the answer to our question, “What must I do to be saved?” In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen!
My friend, God knowing my heart, the purpose of this message has been to give you the information you need about how to be saved. It has not been my purpose to find an easy or convenient way for you. Nor has it been my purpose to make the way more difficult by requiring you to conform to any church tradition or catechism or creed. I've tried to tell you as simply as I can in the time that I have in one message-- verse by verse right straight from the Scriptures-- what God's word says in response to the very human question, "What must I do to be saved?"
There are other ways of salvation that are being offered nowadays. I call them "bargain-basement" plans. I don't mean to be unkind by saying that. Over the years men have taught salvation by works; others by faith only, or by grace alone. Then came the "Great Revival" days with another substitute way. I think it was Charles G. Finney who is usually credited with the "mourner's bench" system of salvation. He called it "The Anxious Seat." Billy Sunday called it "the sawdust trail." With the advent of television evangelism came "The Sinner's Prayer," in which you repeat kind of like a parrot repeats what he's heard, something to the effect that you realize you are a sinner, and you "invite Jesus into your heart," whatever that means, and you are saved. Well, sounds easy, doesn't it? But, there's nothing in the Bible about any of that. In a matter as serious as this is you don't want some sort of a convenient, marked-down, cheap, discounted kind of a deal, now do you? You want Scripture-based information and that's what we have given you today.
If you would like someone to come by your house and study these things in more detail, we'd love to send someone by-- but we must have your invitation first. We are not here to exploit you. We don't want to take advantage of you in any way and we don't want you ever to think that we have exploited you. But oh, how we would love to study the subject of salvation in Jesus Christ with you in your home. Call or write us and give us that invitation.
If you don't want to do that, but you would like to study the matter more, and you want to enroll in our free Bible correspondence course, why not enroll now. Printed copies and audio cassette tapes of this program are also available-- free of course-- for the asking. Our address is In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. Let us hear from you this week, will you? We plan to be back next Sunday. Hope you will too. God bless you now. We love you.
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