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What Must I Do to be Saved?
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Acts 16:25-30 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?”
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Download audio fileBack in the first century the Apostle Paul and Silas were locked up in prison. They’d apparently cast a demon out of a slave girl who until then, had been able to tell fortunes and was making a lot of money for her masters.
So when their income stream was chopped off, they weren’t happy at all! There was a riot, Paul and Silas were dragged before a magistrate, brutally beaten with rods and thrown into prison.
The jailer was given strict instructions to keep them safe, so he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks. That should do it. But …
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?” (Acts 16:25-30)
The Roman guard in charge that night was absolutely petrified. So he asked Paul and Silas – Sirs what must I do to be saved? No doubt, what in large part lay behind that question was the fear that he had, of the punishment that he’d receive because these guys had escaped under his watch.
But Paul and Silas answered quite simply – Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household!
He did … and he was.
When bad things happen in our lives, as they did in the jailer’s life there, we immediately think – How am I going to get out of this one? What do I have to do?
But the simple truth is this: when we believe in Jesus, we will be saved. We are saved. Saved from the sin that will lock us tight in our own hell. Saved from the consequences of the judgement that’s coming our way one day soon.
And when we’re released from that prison, through a simple faith and trust in Jesus, we can have peace and freedom and, by the way God’s protection, right in the middle of our circumstances.
If you read the rest of what happened there in Acts Chapter 16, you’ll discover that not only was the jailer saved, but the protection of God, the blessing of God fell on his life as well.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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