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Acts 16:22-30
(NASV)
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The crowd rose up together against them, and the
chief magistrates tore their robes off them and
proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.
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When they had struck them with many blows, they
threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard
them securely;
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and he, having received such a command, threw them
into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the
stocks.
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But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and
singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were
listening to them;
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and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so
that the foundations of the prison house were shaken;
and immediately all the doors were opened and
everyone's chains were unfastened.
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When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors
opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill
himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
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But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Do
not harm yourself, for we are all here!"
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And he called for lights and rushed in, and
trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and
Silas,
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and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs,
what must I do to be saved?"
What must I do to be saved? This is
the most important question one can ask, for the answer
one receives and accepts will make the difference
between being lost and eternally separated from God, or
having eternal life and fellowship with God.
Fortunately, this question is asked and answered in the
the Word of God, the Bible.
The Apostle Paul and
Silas were thrown in jail in the city of Philippi for
preaching the
gospel. At midnight they sang and prayed
until God broke down all the doors and broke the stocks
which held their feet with a great earthquake. The poor
jailer, frightened and convicted of his sins, came to
these two preachers and asked this question.
"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
To which the preachers said:
"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you
will be saved, you and your household."
(Acts 16:31)
This is God's plan of salvation, which
is the only plan He has given so that sinners can be
saved.
There was hope for this jailer because
he was convicted in his heart of his sinfulness. He saw
himself as he really was: a lost sinner in need of a the
saving power of Jesus Christ. Like the jailer, you are a
sinner. The Bible emphasizes that fact in Isaiah 53:6:
"All of us like sheep have gone
astray, Each of us has turned to his own way;"
And in Romans 3:9-12 it says:
"What then? Are we better than they?
Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews
and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, 'THERE
IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO
UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE
TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE
IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.'"
Romans 3:23 teaches that "all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God". That is why
Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:7, "Do not be amazed
that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'" And a
little later in the same chapter, verse 18, He said that
those who do not believe in Him, God's Son, stand
condemned already.
The Bible makes it abundantly clear
that all are sinners. No matter how good you and those
around you think you are, you are a sinner. The sinner
remains lost and in need of saving until he accepts
Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The first step in
coming to salvation is admitting in your own heart that
you are a sinner, lost, separated from God.
Once you have come to acknowledge the
truth of this, then you are ready to learn God's answer
to your question, "What must I do to be saved?"
You are in a fatal state that has dire
eternal consequences. You are a sinner, alienated from
God, destined for hell, and you cannot save yourself.
The only thing to do is to trust completely in the Lord
Jesus Christ for salvation. Do not trust in Jesus plus
whatever good deeds you may do, religious rituals, water
baptism, Sabbath-keeping, church membership, your faith,
or your repentance. For whatever "righteousness" we can
muster is but filthy rags to God (Isaiah 64:6). Trust in
Him alone. When you do this, you will then have God's
promise of salvation.
Simply believing in the existence of
God, or that Jesus is Savior and Lord is not enough. For
that is no better than the faith of demons. They believe
that and tremble (James 2:19). You can believe that
taking medication prescribed by your doctor will
maintain your life without actually taking it. Mere
intellectual assent to the truth about Jesus is not
sufficient; you are to believe on Him, that is, depend
completely upon Him, trust Him.
None of us, no matter how much good we
may do, deserve salvation. There is nothing you can do
that will make you worthy of it. You cannot be saved by
keeping the Ten Commandments, for the Scripture clearly
shows that you have not kept them.
James 2:10 says: "For whoever keeps
the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has
become guilty of all."
Romans 3:19-20 says: "Now we know that
whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under
the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the
world may become accountable to God; because by the
works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His
sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin."
The same thing is told in Galatians
3:11 which says: "Now that no one is justified by the
Law before God is evident; for, 'THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL
LIVE BY FAITH.'"
1 John 1:8 says, "If we say that we
have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is
not in us."
The Bible clearly teaches repeatedly
that there is no salvation through human goodness, since
no one is righteous or seeks God (Romans 3:10-11). You
are not saved by giving money to the church or to the
poor. You are not saved by volunteering your time to
charitable activities. You are not saved by living a
moral life.
Titus 3:5 says: "He saved us, not on
the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness,
but according to His mercy, by the washing of
regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit."
Ephesians 2:8-9 says: "For by grace
you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of
works, so that no one may boast."
It can be readily seen in God's Word
that no one deserves saving and no one can save himself.
Salvation must be by grace or no one would be able to
receive it. In fact, it takes blood to pay for sin, for
Scripture says:
"Without shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness." (Hebrews 9:22)
"For while we were still helpless, at
the right time Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans
5:6)
"All of us like sheep have gone
astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the
LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him."
(Isaiah 53:6)
The Apostle Peter declares that
sinners are bought by the blood of Christ:
"You were not redeemed with perishable
things like silver or gold from your futile way of life
inherited from your forefathers, with precious blood, as
of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of
Christ." (1 Peter 1:18-19)
Every animal sacrifice offered in Old
Testament times on the altar illustrated this: that man,
a guilty sinner, must have his sins paid for by the
shedding of blood of an innocent. Jesus was the Lamb of
God. He died for sinners just like you, securing
salvation for them as a gift.
"For the wages of sin is death, but
the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord." (Romans 6:23)
Church membership will not save you.
Water baptism will not save you. Reforming your behavior
will not save you. Engaging in religious activities will
not save you. The observance of certain days or other
rules and regulations will not save you or keep you
saved.
The Bible plainly teaches that "all
people everywhere should repent" (Acts 17:30), and
again, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish"
(Luke 13:3, 5). This was the preaching of John the
Baptist, of Jesus, of Peter and of Paul, that men should
repent. Repentance is an integral part of salvation.
Repentance does not mean being sorry
you were caught. It is not just being sorry for your
sin. Repentance is not "fire insurance", or taking an
action to get away from God's wrath.
To repent literally means to have a
change of mind toward God and toward sin. It means
agreeing with God regarding the truth of your own
sinfulness. Repentance means not excusing your sins or
seeking to justify yourself, but admitting, like David
in Psalms 51:4: "Against You, You only, I have sinned
and done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are
justified when You speak And blameless when You judge."
Repentance means to earnestly turn from your sins, with
all your heart, and trust in Jesus Christ alone to save
you. The jailer repented when he turned from sin to
believe in Jesus Christ.
While God desires that you to have a
penitent, broken heart over your sins, no amount of
emotion or lack thereof will make you right with God.
You should be sorry for your sins and ashamed of them.
However, Scripture teaches that "the sorrow that is
according to the will of God produces a repentance
without regret, leading to salvation." (2 Corinthians
7:10) -- the right kind of sorrow leads to immediate
repentance, but mourning is not itself repentance.
The jailer's sorrow for his sin led to
genuine repentance, which moved him by faith to accept
the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. He was
saved at that moment, and his whole family was saved the
same way. So salvation is a gift that is granted by God
at the moment a person turns to Jesus Christ in
repentance and total trust.
Being saved by faith apart from works
seems so easy, and it is. Many believe it is too easy
and erroneously seek to add to God's plan of salvation.
Godly living comes as the result of accepting Christ as
Savior and Lord. Do not depend, then, on what you do,
but on what Jesus did and promises to do for you.
Must one who accepts Christ by faith
have a change of heart? Most definitely. But that is
God's part, not yours. In order to have this change of
heart you need to be born again. When Jesus talked to
Nicodemus in John 3, He told him that the only way one
could be saved that person had to be born again. Being
born again changes your heart and mind, making you a new
creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The change in your heart is according
to God's work in your life, not your efforts. Your are
to simply believe on Him. And even this ability to
believe, to trust, to have faith, comes as a gift from
Him. Salvation from start to finish is of the Lord, and
not according to your own merit, abilities, or power.
After you are saved,
you will get a peace and joy that transcends all
understanding and circumstances in life. Instead of
living a life in opposition to God, you desire to serve
Him by obeying His command to be baptized, reading His
Word, sharing the great news of the
gospel with the unsaved, and otherwise living
a life that is pleasing to God. This brings about
continual fellowship with the Lord, and provides joy in
the Christian life. And you can thank God that salvation
is settled once and for all.
Everyone who is saved ought to
publicly confess Christ. Matthew 10:32 and Romans 10:9
plainly teach that God will claim as His child any of us
who claim Christ as Savior and Lord. We simply confess
with the mouth what we have already trusted in our
hearts. Concerning this Romans 10:10 says:
"For with the heart a person
believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the
mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
To claim Christ as your Savior and
Lord simply means that you trust in Him from your heart.
When you have received Him, you have done everything
necessary to be saved. Remember, Acts 16:31 says,
"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved". The
Bible teaches in numerous places that salvation is
promised to those who believe. Carefully read the
following Scriptures and see that this is taught over
and over again.
"But as many as received Him, to them
He gave the right to become children of God, even to
those who believe in His name." (John 1:12)
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so
that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but
have eternal life." (John 3:14-16)
"He who believes in Him is not judged;
he who does not believe has been judged already, because
he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son
of God." (John 3:18)
"He who believes in the Son has
eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not
see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John
3:36)
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who
hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal
life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed
out of death into life." (John 5:24)
"For this is the will of My Father,
that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him
will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up
on the last day." (John 6:40)
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who
believes has eternal life." (John 6:47)
"Of Him all the prophets bear witness
that through His name everyone who believes in Him
receives forgiveness of sins." (Acts 10:43)
"And through Him everyone who believes
is freed from all things, from which you could not be
freed through the Law of Moses." (Acts 13:39)
"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you
will be saved." (Acts 16:30-31)
Trust in Jesus today, while you can.
Have the kind of trusting faith in Him that an infant
has in its mother while being cradled in her arms.
If you had committed a crime and were
thrown in jail, probably the first thing you would do is
hire a lawyer in whom you had confidence and trust him
with the entire matter of your defense. According to the
Bible, before accepting Christ as Savior and Lord, you
are a criminal in God's sight, abiding in His wrath and
destined for hell. But God has provided an Advocate to
defend you. Jesus is that Advocate, for the Bible says:
"My little children, I am writing
these things to you so that you may not sin. And if
anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation
for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those
of the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2)
Jesus will not only be your lawyer to
defend your case; He has already paid the penalty and
you may safely trust Him to have you immediately
pardoned and justified before God! Why not simply trust
completely in Jesus as your lawyer? He is the best
advocate anyone could ever have, and no bill will come
to you. His rates are free!
Consider your eternal destiny. Will it
be a joyful life beyond imagination in heaven with God,
or misery beyond description in hell? Jesus holds out
His hands to you in invitation. No matter where you have
been or what you have done, come to Him and He will
welcome you with open arms. Do not harden your heart in
refusal; do not say, "Tomorrow I will come to Him."
Tomorrow may never come.
"Do not boast about tomorrow, for you
do not know what a day may bring forth." (Proverbs 27:1)
"Behold, now is 'THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,'
behold, now is 'THE DAY OF SALVATION.'" (2 Corinthians
6:2)
"TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT
HARDEN YOUR HEARTS." (Hebrews 3:7-8)
God has given you life to this moment,
but there is no promise of another opportunity tomorrow.
Please accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior today, right
now!
One who trusts Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior should publicly claim Him before men. "For
with the heart a person believes, resulting in
righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses,
resulting in salvation." (Romans 10:10)
After trusting Jesus Christ you should
join a well-balanced, Bible-believing church and be
baptized. It is my hope that you will find such a church
and attend it faithfully.
Summary
You are not saved by your good deeds.
You are not saved by being a a member of a church. You
are not saved by being sincere. You are not saved by
your intelligence.
What must you do? You must believe in
Jesus alone; you must trust Him alone; you must accept
Jesus' sacrifice for your sins alone and nothing that
you do in any way.
Though there are no rules or steps to
becoming a Christian, the following is a Biblical
summarization of what you need to know and do:
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You must recognize your sinfulness before God:
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through
one man, and death through sin, and in this way death
came to all men, because all sinned". (Romans 5:12)
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You must recognize that your sin has caused a
separation between you and God:
"But your iniquities have separated you from your
God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that
He will not hear." (Isaiah 59:2)
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You must believe that Jesus is the only way to
God:
"I am the way, the truth, and the Life, and no one
comes to the Father but by Me." (John 14:6)
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You must ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins
because He has the authority to forgive you of your
sins:
"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to me'".
(Matthew 28:18) Jesus told you to ask Him for your
requests: "You may ask me for anything in my name, and
I will do it". (John 14:14) Jesus is the one who
forgives sins: "'But that you may know that the Son of
Man has authority on earth to forgive sins -- He said
to the paralytic, 'I tell you, get up, take your mat
and go home'." (Mark 2:10-11)
You must receive Jesus. John 1:12 says, "Yet to all
who received Him, to those who believed in His name,
He gave the right to become children of God."
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You must turn away from your sin
"In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now
he commands all people everywhere to repent" (Acts
17:30); and to "produce fruit in keeping with
repentance" (Matthew 3:8).
If you want to be saved you must accept Jesus as
your Savior. Pray to Him and ask Him to forgive you of
your sins and come into your heart. He will because He
loves you.
Salvation is only a prayer of faith away.
If you believe these things, you can
pray a prayer like the one below, to receive Jesus into
your life, keeping in mind that merely saying a prayer
in itself does not save you, for prayer is not like a
magic charm or incantation. Only faith in Jesus Christ
alone saves.
"Father in heaven, I come to you
confessing that I am a sinner, completely lost and
without hope. I repent of my sinful ways and ask for
Your forgiveness. I believe in my heart that Christ
Jesus is the Son of God, that He completely paid for
all of my sins by His death on the cross, and that You
raised Him from the dead. I confess that Jesus is my
Savior and Lord. I trust in Him, and Him alone, for my
salvation. I believe that through His shed blood I
have eternal life. I will pray, study, meditate and
live by Your Word the rest of my life. Father, I ask
that You fill me with the Holy Spirit. Please come
into my heart and save and sanctify my soul. I love
you, Lord, and offer myself to You completely and
without reservation. In the precious name of Jesus I
pray. Amen."
If you prayed a prayer like this and
meant it with all your heart, YOU ARE SAVED! You have
been "born again" spiritually as a child of God. Your
sins have been washed away and you are a person with a
new nature.
After receiving salvation, you should
join a Christ-centered church that preaches the
gospel and be baptized. You should also pray
and read your Bible daily, and regularly assemble with
fellow Christians at your church.
Suggestions for Christian Growth:
Spiritual growth results from trusting
Jesus Christ. "The righteous man shall live by faith"
(Galatians 3:11). A life of faith will enable you to
trust God increasingly with every detail of your life,
and to practice the following:
Go to
God in prayer daily. (John 15:7)
Read
God's Word daily (Acts 17:11); begin with the Gospel
of John.
Obey
God moment by moment. (John 14:21)
Witness
for Christ by your life and words. (Matthew 4:19; John
15:8)
Trust
God for every detail of your life. (1 Peter 5:7)
Holy
Spirit -- allow Him to control and empower your daily
life and witness.
(Galatians 5:16-17; Acts 1:8)
God's Word instructs us not to forsake
"the assembling of ourselves together." (Hebrews 10:25)
Several logs burn brightly together; but put one aside
on the cold hearth and the fire goes out. So it is with
your relationship with other Christians.
If you do not belong to a church, do
not wait to be invited. Take the initiative; call the
pastor of a nearby church where Christ is honored and
His Word is preached. Start this week, and make plans to
attend regularly.
In the course of your new life in
Jesus Christ, you will continually struggle with sin.
Sometimes you will, in a moment of weakness, succumb to
temptation and sin. Please do not lose hope or be
discouraged. Know that you are not alone and that other
Christians go through these struggles. The Apostle Paul
faced the same thing in his walk with Christ. Of his
life he said,
"For I know that nothing good dwells
in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is
present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For
the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the
very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the
very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing
it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the
principle that evil is present in me, the one who
wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law
of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in
the members of my body, waging war against the law of
my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin
which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who
will set me free from the body of this death?" (Romans
7:18-24)
But Paul does not leave it there. He
goes on to say,
"Thanks be to God through Jesus
Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself
with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the
other, with my flesh the law of sin."
While you will always struggle with
sin until the day the Lord comes to take you home to
heaven, do not lose heart. If you turn to the Lord in
repentance and confess your sins, He will forgive you
and make you clean again. 1 John 1:9 says,
"If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
As a new child of God you can be
assured of salvation. Salvation is not a "maybe" or an
"I hope to be". It is a sure thing that is based on the
promises of God's Word. The Apostle John said:
"And the testimony is this, that God
has given us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not
have the Son of God does not have the life. These
things I have written to you who believe in the name
of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have
eternal life." (1 John 5:11-13)
Also as a new child of God you can
share the same assurance that the Apostle Paul had:
"For I am confident of this very
thing, that He who began a good work in you will
perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 1:6)
If this is the first time you have prayed this
prayer, please
contact us so that we can be in touch with you
and send you some support material. We would love
to hear from you, and give you the support that you
need. If you live in the Cleveland area, please
come to the next Sunday morning service and ask to
meet with one of our pastors who would be happy to
talk with you. |
