A.What must you do to be saved?This is perhaps the most important question you will ever ask, but the world is divided about the answer.
1.Some say salvation is not needed because they don’t believe in God.
2.Some say God saves everyone, so you don’t need to do anything.
3.Some say you just need to be a good person to be saved.
4.Some say you only need to believe in Jesus.
5.Some give other answers.
B.To find a simple answer from the Bible, let us consider a passage where the question is asked directly, which is Acts 16:16-34.
II.PAUL AND SILAS AND THE SALVATION OF THE PHILLIPIAN JAILER
A.In the city of Philippi, Paul cast a spirit out of a servant girl (Acts 16:16-18).
1.Philippi was an important city in the territory of Macedonia.
a.Named for King Philip II (father of Alexander the Great) in 356 B.C., Philippi had been made into a Roman colony by Augustus in 30 B.C., which meant that it governed itself and its citizens were granted the privileges of Roman citizenship.
b.Philippi was a military outpost for Rome, and most of its citizens were retired soldiers.There were so few Jews in the city that there was not even a synagogue (Acts 16:13).
2.At the Jewish place of prayer in Philippi, the spirit within the servant girl recognized Paul and Silas and declared day after day that they were servants of God.Compare this with occasions when demons and spirits recognized Jesus or His apostles (Matt. 8:29; Mark 5:7; Acts 19:15).
3.When Paul became annoyed by the girl, he cast the spirit out of her instantly by the authority of Christ.Jesus had similarly cast out demons on many occasions during His ministry on earth.
B.As a result of this miracle, Paul and Silas were accused of leading an insurrection, beaten, and imprisoned (Acts 16:16-24).
1.The servant girl’s masters had made a fortune from her misfortune by a fortunetelling business.When Paul cast the spirit out of the girl, their business was ruined and their profits were lost.
2.When the girl’s masters brought Paul and Silas before the authorities, they did not accuse them of ruining their business but of teaching unlawful customs to the Romans.This was a false charge.
3.The beatings and imprisonment ordered by the magistrates were illegal because Paul was a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37).Roman law required that all citizens accused of crimes received trials.
C.Around midnight, an earthquake shook the jail, the prison doors were opened, and the chains that bound the prisoners were unfastened (Acts 16:25-26).
1.The fact that Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God around midnight while bound in a dark prison shows their devotion to God and the comfort of their faith (consider 2Cor. 1:3-7).
2.The miraculous freeing of God’s servants is a frequent occurrence in the book of Acts (the apostles in Acts 5:17-20, Peter in Acts 12:6-11).It shows that these could not be held except by the allowance of God.Consider Paul’s discussion in Philippians 1:12-30.
3.Not only were Paul and Silas released from their bonds, but so were the other prisoners.
D.When the jailer prepared to kill himself, Paul saved not only his life but also his soul (Acts 16:27-34).
1.Roman soldiers charged with guarding prisoners were held accountable with their own lives (see Acts 12:19).When it seemed in the darkness that the prisoners had escaped, the Philippian jailer prepared to take his own life with a sword.However, Paul intervened and saved him.
2.Consider the jailer’s actions after Paul prevented him from killing himself.
a.After lights were brought in, the jailer fell down before Paul and Silas trembling with fear.It is evident that he understood that a powerful miracle had occurred and that the presence of Paul and Silas was the reason.
b.The jailer did not attempt to secure the jail or put the chains back on the prisoners.Not only must he have known this would be futile but also he was afraid.
c.He brought Paul and Silas out of the jail and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
i.Some have suggested that the jailer wanted to know how to be saved from the Romans who would punish him for this prison break.However, no prisoners had escaped, so this could not be the intention of his question.Moreover, he had voluntarily brought Paul and Silas out of the prison.
ii.There is no reason to suppose that the jailer was asking for anything other than instructions for how he might receive the salvation of his soul by God.
3.Paul and Silas told the jailer what he must do to be saved.
a.Consider what Paul and Silas said: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
i.On the surface, belief in Christ appears to be mere mental acceptance of Him, but mental acceptance without tangible evidence is ineffective.In other words, "faith without works is dead, being by itself” (Jas. 2:17).
ii.To understand the full meaning of this message, we must consider the whole context that follows.
b.Consider what Paul and Silas did not say.
i.They did not tell the jailer to accept Jesus into his heart as his personal Savior.This kind of ambiguous advice is often given today, but it lacks the clear and direct force of gospel preaching as demonstrated in the Scriptures.
ii.They did not command the jailer to say "the sinner’s prayer.”In the Scriptures, no such advice is given to sinners for salvation, and nowhere do the Scriptures indicate that salvation comes to sinners by prayer only (see the example of Cornelius in Acts 10).
iii.How can we know they didn’t say these things?By deductive reasoning, we know they didn’t say these because no one in the Scriptures ever said these.
c.Consider what Paul and Silas did.
i.They spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.
ii.Why does the Scripture not tell us exactly what they said?It is probably because the previous chapters of the book of Acts already record what was taught on such occasions (Acts 2:22-39; 3:12-26; 10:28-43; 13:16-41).
d.Consider what the jailer did.
i.In the same hour of the night, he washed the wounds of Paul and Silas.This was a deed appropriate to repentance, which was in keeping with the word of the Lord that Paul taught to the Gentiles (Acts 26:20).
ii.He was immediately baptized with all his household.It is evident that he and his household were instructed in the word of the Lord that baptism was needed for salvation and the forgiveness of sins (Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38).
iii.After he had done these things, he gave food to Paul and Silas and rejoiced that he had "believed in God with his whole household.”To be specific, he had believed the word of the Lord concerning Christ, repentance, and baptism.
III.CONCLUSION – WHAT MUST YOU DO TO BE SAVED?
A.You must believe in the Lord Jesus.
1.From the example of the Philippian jailer, we learn that belief in Jesus is more than mental acceptance.It truly is a change of heart and a change of life.
2.For this reason, Jesus described belief as a work, saying, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:29).
B.To believe, first you must hear the word of the Lord.
1.The necessary sequence of events leading to salvation is described in Romans 10:14 – "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”The summary of this is given in Romans 10:17 – "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
2.The same word of the Lord that led the jailer to salvation also leads us to salvation today.The message has not changed, and it will not change until the Lord returns (Gal. 1:6-9).
C.After you hear the word of the Lord, you must follow the Lord’s directions.
1.Just as the word of the Lord directed the jailer to believe, repent, and be baptized, so also it directs you today.
2.Jesus becomes "to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation” (Heb. 5:9).Quite simply, what you must do to be saved is to believe and obey the Lord Jesus.Have you done so?
