OFFENDING THE HOLINESS OF GOD

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

“And the keeper of the prison..called for a light..and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas..and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? ” Acts 16:27-30.

Our scripture above holds, without doubt, the most important question a man or woman could ever ask of God or man!
Before we explore Paul’s answer to the terrified jailor it must be noted that the jailor’s question contains many pre-supposed positions which had been held by that seeker of salvation.

In order to understand what was transpiring here, and what dilemma had overtaken the man, we need to know that he was not seeking an escape from the earthquake which had just shaken the his jail (for he had already escaped injury) his concern was for his spiritual welfare, not his physical wellbeing!

His escape from death had highlighted a fact that all human beings must face sooner or later:

What happens when I die? Is it, on the one hand, as the late Kerry Packer declared some years before his passing.. “Folks, I have some good news and some bad news. There is no hell, but the bad news is, there is no Heaven either! I’ve been there and I’m here to tell you, there’s nothing there!”

Or is it on the other hand, as Jesus declared, (and His Apostles taught) “In my Father’s house there are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2.

Folks, I do not know your response, but I surely know this, that as for me and my family, we prefer to trust the word of the One who gave Himself for me and for you! Not the one who lived and died for himself!

As with the jailor of old, we too must arrive at some firmly held positions before we can ask that same question.. ”What must I do to be saved?”

Firstly, one must be convinced that he is in need of salvation! In other words, he must believe that he is a sinner, and that there is a Holy, Supreme Being who is the Judge of all men and women! And secondly, that he, the enquirer, and all other human beings must one day stand before this Almighty God to be judged according to his own sins. It naturally follows that if a person continually refuses to believe in God, that question will never pass his lips.

Thirdly, before that question can be posed, he must also be convinced that it is possible to be saved from God’s eternal wrath and judgment! Else, there be no point in asking the question in the first place!

These three pre-disposed positions which were held by the jailor, and anyone else who has ever reached that position of inquiry, can only have been brought to that place by the workings of the Holy Spirit! No human agency, friend or relative, preacher or teacher, can ever bring a sinner to this position! It is a work entrusted only to God Himself! The Holy Spirit, having convinced the sinner of his sin, is now able also to convince him of the righteousness of Christ Jesus, the Lord, and the coming judgment of God. The apostle John has some very important implications for us and we should look again at its precious text.. “And when He (the Holy Spirit) is come, He will reprove (convince) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin because they believe not on Me; Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; Of Judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” John 16:8-11

Beloved, the Lord Jesus Himself teaches here that God’s Wrath and Judgment will one day fall upon the devil (whom He addresses as “the prince of this world”) and all who bow their knee and follow him. Some may angrily protest here with.. “I most certainly do not follow the devil - I do no conscious harm to anyone.” “Quite so”, God might reply, “but neither did you bend you knee to My Only Begotten Son, whom you have rejected!” Dear reader, to reject or ignore God’s offer of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ is to bow your knee to the devil and follow him as the prince of this world!

Again, our Lord teaches in this scripture that the Holy Spirit, in his work of convincing those who inhabit this world of their sin, can immediately declare the righteousness of Christ, because Christ was to go to His Father in Heaven. Make no mistake about this… Only the righteous can enter Heaven and one is only made righteous by believing in the righteousness of Christ Jesus! Because He is righteous, those who receive Him are also made righteous in God’s eyes!

This is where Jesus makes His very strongest point...The sins of this world remain... “Because they believe not on Me!”

As a consequence, the Bible declares that all men and women are unrighteous before God, but all have been offered the opportunity to gain salvation through Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:22-25).

Dear reader, if you grasp nothing else today, please understand this -

No Church can save you! Not the Pentecostals, not the Catholics, not the Baptists nor the Anglicans! No Sacrament or Ordinance, no “good work” is sufficient to save your eternal soul, for Jesus declared...“Ye must be born again”, and that by the sovereign work of the Spirit of God.  See John 3:3-8.

Beloved the world cannot have it both ways! Jesus cannot be a “good man” who went about doing good works, as many say, but at the same time be a deceiver who lied about His divinity and man’s need of the new birth!

The Bible, and His words, must be fully believed and fully received, or cast away as a fraud!

And so, we may now examine Paul’s answer to the desperate jailor’s question in our opening text.. “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Dear friends, along with our dear brother Paul, let all who have experienced that blessed assuredness of their own salvation, shout with certain delight: “Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:31.

Friends, conversions in secret are generally no conversions at all, except perhaps where one’s life is at risk, for believing on the name of the Lord Jesus demands nothing less than a public confession of one’s saving faith in Christ.     Rod Rowland

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