What Must I Do to Be Saved?
Notes
Transcript
One of the things I have enjoyed about this series on Life’s Most Important Questions is it has forced me to really look at the familiar and learn new things. Today’s question is a case in point. Most of us already know the answer to this question. We don’t need to hear another sermon on it, but we do!
Most modern evangelism focus on what Jesus did, rather than who Jesus is. The answer that Paul and Silas give this man is clearly on who Jesus is — “believe in the Lord Jesus,” rather than what He did. This may seem like a small point, but as you will see, if we do not get who Jesus is right, we will not get what He did right. So, let us listen carefully to our Scripture lesson this morning that contains both this question and its answer.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And 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 wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
The first thing we will discover as we carefully read this passage is that this Philippian jailer was overcome by an overwhelming sense of his sin and misery before God. Therefore, the first thing we must do is this:
We Must Know How Great Our Sin and Misery Are
We Must Know How Great Our Sin and Misery Are
It is not difficult to see why this is a necessary precondition; a person must understand their need for salvation before they will ask for salvation! Why is there so little interest in Christ and the Gospel today? It is because there is no fear of God before their eyes and consequently, they don’t know how great their sin and misery are.
The Philippians jailer in our text was a pagan. He had no knowledge of the One True God or of God’s moral standard found in the Ten Commandments. With this in mind, we need to ask ourselves, “What happened to bring him to the point that he would have even asked this question?” Thankfully, our text tells us: All evening Paul and Silas had been praying and singing hymns to God.
At this point, there is something you need to understand to properly interpret this text. The Greek word “hymns” does not refer to hymns as we understand them, it refers to the Psalms. The words that those in the prison heard sung that evening were the Words of God found in the Psalms! Now what do we find as we read and sing the Psalms? We find this: God is great, He is on the side of those who trust in Him and He will judge all those who are in rebellion against Him and persecute His people! In other words, God to be feared.
Perhaps he heard Paul and Silas sing these words:
Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
before his eyes.
As this psalm comes to a close, he would have heard this:
Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
There the evildoers lie fallen;
they are thrust down, unable to rise.
This is just one example among many, but you get the point: God saves those who trust in Him and judges those who do not.
It pains me to say this, but the reason so few people care about Christ and the Gospel is because we have removed all reference to the wrath of God against sin in our preaching, teaching and worship. The church needs to sing and preach not only of God’s salvation, but His judgement!
In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes this:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Heaven has revealed the message of God’s wrath against sin, but in our arrogance the church in America is attempting to hide it! Is it any wonder so few people are asking the question the Philippian jailer asked! Brothers and sister, we need to know how great our sin and misery are so that we will seek the only solution that works!
Now that we understand why we need to be saved, let us turn to the second thing we must do:
We Must Know How We Can Be Saved
We Must Know How We Can Be Saved
Considering this man’s total ignorance of Scripture, Paul and Silas’ answer is surprisingly short, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” I want to suggest to you that while Paul’s answer may seem short, it was profound. To believe in Jesus as Lord changes everything. This man understood what a lord was and more importantly, what a lord should be. A lord is someone who has power and authority and a good lord is one who uses that power and authority for the good of his subjects.
As this jailer was listening to Paul and Silas sing the Psalms, he was hearing how mighty and powerful God is. He was learning that God is the Lord over all other lords. He was learning that God is a good Lord, who uses His power and authority for the good of His people. He was learning that God is a Mighty Warrior that delivers His people from all their enemies. No wonder this man cried out, “What must I do to be saved?”
Our text says that later that evening, Paul and Silas gave this man more instruction. I am sure that instruction included what Jesus did for us on the cross, but they understood that unless this man believed in Jesus as Lord, the cross would be emptied from its power to save. The Greek word translated “believe” speaks of not only agreeing at certain truths about Jesus are true, but means we also place our personal trust in Jesus as Lord. If Jesus is not the Lord of lords, He is not our Savior. His death of the cross become at best a good moral example. Jesus had to die on the cross as one who was fully human and fully God. If He is not Lord, His blood has no power. This is why you must believe in Jesus as Lord to be saved.
I hope you can see why much of our modern evangelism is so ineffective. We avoid all talk of God’s wrath and judgement against sin and sinner, then we compound this error by not teaching on the necessity of making Jesus our Lord, but there is more here, there is also the joy of salvation. This Philippian jailer and his household experienced true joy, and this brings us to the final lesson this text has to teach us.
We Must Know How to Thank God
We Must Know How to Thank God
We find this in verses 33 and 34:
And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
In the great debates concerning salvation that occurred in the Reformation between Roman Catholics and Protestants, the Protestants responded to the Roman Catholic accusation that the Protestant doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone would destroy all motives towards good works responded by saying, “The faith that saves is never alone.” In other words, true saving faith will always produce good works. We see this reflected in our text when the Philippian jailer washed Paul and Silas’ wounds and fed them, but I want to focus on much more, I want to focus on their joy.
As our Lord, Jesus says a lot about our joy. Three times in John’s gospel we find Jesus saying that the goal of His mission was in order that our joy might be like His, complete and full (John 15:11, John 16: 22 and John 17:13). In The Parable of the Talents (Mt. 25:14-30) speaks of a master inviting his servants to share in his joy. Jesus, of course, expects His hearers to understand that this parable point to the relation He has with His subjects.
There is no greater way of expressing gratitude towards another person than to express genuine joy in their presence. We see the truth of this in our own relationships, as much as we may appreciate the acts of kindness done by our spouse, children or friends, nothing compares to see genuine joy in their eyes when they are around us! This is why the salvation is by grace through faith, not works (Eph 2:8-9). The cross is designed to maximize Christ’s glory and our joy! This is indeed Good News!
I now want to return to good works, you might think I moved on to another topic when I started speaking of joy, but this is not so. In the context of loving gratitude, obedience and faithfulness to our Lord is a joy! In believing in Jesus as Lord, we place Him in the position that the only proper way to relate to Him is to obey Him. Once again, this is so simple, we often fail to see how profound it is. This simple answer Paul and Silas give is life changing, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household!” The joy of salvation begins the moment we make Jesus our Lord and Savior. This man’s household was transformed into one of obedience, joy and good works.
What about you and your household, are you experiencing the joy of God’s salvation? If not, perhaps you need to return to the basics—is Jesus your Lord?