Will you give careful attention
to the reading of the Word of God, please, as that reading
is found in the 16th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles,
Acts chapter 16. I shall begin reading with verse
22 and conclude the reading with verse 34. The setting of this portion is
quite clear from the preceding part of the chapter. The Apostle
Paul and his companion Silas, as a result of preaching the
word and casting out a demon from a woman who was able to
be sort of a fortune teller when she was under the influence of
this demon, this caused such a disturbance that the powers
that be took the Apostle and his companion and threw them
into prison. And the narrative begins now
with that action, verse 23, And when they had laid many stripes
upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to
keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, cast
them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. But about midnight, Paul and
Silas were praying and singing hymns unto God, and the prisoners
were listening to them. And suddenly there was a great
earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken,
and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bands
were loosed. And the jailer, being roused
out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and
was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for
we are all here. And he called for lights, and
sprang in, and trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and
Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do
to be saved? And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house. And they spake the word of the
Lord unto him with all that were in his house. And he took them
the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was
baptized he and all his immediately. And he brought them up into his
house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly with all
his house, having believed in God. Because we do have a number of
visitors with us, I will take just a few minutes to review
briefly what we've already discovered in our study of this passage.
We've turned to this passage for a few weeks, basically because
it illustrates so vividly the wonderful truths we've been studying
in great detail from the second chapter of Paul's letter to the
Ephesians. In Ephesians chapter 2, the Apostle
Paul gives perhaps one of the most profound descriptions of
God's work of grace in saving a dead, guilty, and sin-bound
sinner. And we've examined in great detail
that mighty work which God does when he makes new creatures in
Christ, to use the language of Ephesians 2 and verse 10. But
since one picture is worth a thousand words, we've turned to this passage
as a wonderful illustration of how God actually works in making
a new creature. And the conversion of the Philippian
jailer is a graphic picture, a detailed commentary upon the
great truths that we've been studying in Ephesians chapter
2. And I've suggested that perhaps
not the most profitable way, but certainly a profitable way
to study this passage is to focus upon its central teaching, the
teaching that is found in verses 30 and 31, in which we have,
in verse 30, the most important question any man can ever ask. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And verse 31, which is the most
accurate answer ever given to that important question, Last Lord's Day we focused only upon
the question. First of all, we looked at the
person who asked the question. He is described, not by a personal
name, but simply as a Roman jailer. a man who obviously was a careless,
indifferent, blind, dead sinner. Afraid that the Roman powers
would take his life if they discovered that the prisoners were gone,
as he supposed they had left the prison, we find him
ready to kill himself. Utterly unprepared to die, he
faces judgment and God and hell and eternity. Utterly unafraid,
utterly indifferent. The man who asked the question
is a specimen man, is the picture of every man, woman, boy or girl
by nature, who is utterly insensitive to the great issues of his soul's
salvation. Then we considered, secondly,
the factors which led him to ask such a question. from one
who was utterly indifferent to the issue of salvation, what
led him to cry out with great earnestness, Sirs, what must
I do to be saved? And I suggested that the passage,
not my interpretation, not my assumptions, but the word of
God, indicates that three things led him to ask this report, to
ask the question. First of all, the report he had
heard of these men, verses 16 to 18. Secondly, the conduct
of these men under great injustices, verses 19-24. And thirdly, the
manifestation of the power of God is recorded in verses 25-28. And the other facts are brought
into the narrative basically to show us what led to the asking
of this question. He had heard that they were men
of God who taught a way of salvation. He had seen their conduct when
He Himself put them into this torture instrument and threw
them into the inner prison. He saw their patience. He saw
their kindness. He saw their lack of rancor and
bitterness and vindictive. No curses upon their lips. And
then there was this manifestation of the power of God in the earthquake,
and then in the restraint of the prisoners who, though loosed
from their bands, do not flee from the prison, and this threefold
influence of the report of the man, their conduct, and then
the manifestation of divine power leads him to see his real need
and to cry out, What must I do to be saved? And finally, in
our brief review, we looked at the things which this question
revealed. When he said, what must I do
to be saved, what was he revealing? He was revealing that he had
a consciousness of guilt arising from his sin, a consciousness
of danger arising from his guilt, and a consciousness of helplessness
arising from his guilt and his danger. Therefore, he says, what
must I do to be saved? I need the intrusion of a saving
power from without. I need the operation of a power
upon me. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? My friend, have you ever asked
that question? not as a philosophical question, not as a passing fancy,
but out of deep awareness of your guilt, deep awareness of
your own danger, a deep awareness of your own helplessness. Have
you ever honestly and earnestly asked the question, sirs, what
must I do to be saved? If you haven't, you're like the
jailer before this threefold utterly insensitive to the world
of spiritual reality, but it doesn't change the fact that
you are in a state of guilt, that you are in a posture of
great danger, for this very moment the wrath of Almighty God hangs
over your head. You are totally insensitive to
it. But blessed be God, many of us
have asked that question. Blessed be God, some of you are
asking that question today. Which leads us then to verse
31, the most accurate answer ever given to the most important
question ever asked. And what was the answer of the
apostle and his companion? For the text says, and they said,
they were absolutely agreed, Paul and Silas, Believe on the
Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house. Now granted, As one has said,
this verse is only the text of Paul's discourse. It is evident
that he unfolded its meaning and instructed the jailer fully
in the truth since verse 32 tells us, and they spake the word of
the Lord unto him with all that were in his house. In other words,
the whole discourse of Paul and Silas is not recorded. But the
substance of the discourse is, the essence, or better, the quintessence
The boiled-down essence of the discourse is given to us in this
wonderful text, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved. In a few pregnant words, we have
a summary of the gospel, a complete directory to the anxious question
of every person who says, What must I do to be saved? And my purpose this morning is
simply to expound that answer. But before we do, I'm going to
do something that I rarely do. And for the sake of you visitors,
I feel I ought to say this. We very rarely dabble in what
the text does not say. Because the task of a preacher
is to open up what the text does say. But I believe it will underscore
all the more vividly what the text does say if we'll try to
project ourselves into that situation. And the moment after the Philippian
jailer asks the question, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? We
substitute Paul and Silas with some of the current religious
instructors. Let's drag them into the jail
and say, one by one, give this man an answer. He's asked the
most important, the most profound, the most vital question any fallen
son of Adam can ask. What must I do to be saved? Sir, what is your answer? Let's
bring in, first of all, Mr. Modernist, or Mr. Liberal Preacher. And Mr. Liberal Preacher hears
the question, what must I do to be saved? And you know what
his answer is? He says, now Mr. Jailer Man, you've obviously
got some tremendous hang-ups. And I'd like to take out my appointment
book and begin to establish a series of counseling sessions with you
to get you over these terrible hang-ups which are obviously
bringing you into a state of terrible emotional disturbance.
Why, look at you! You're trembling! It's obvious
that you're emotionally disturbed. I mean, you're carrying on in
a totally irrational way. Here it is the middle of the
night. The prisoners are standing there with their chains free.
You're not even concerned about the prisoners. You're not concerned
about this ungodly hour to discuss religious questions. Sir, you've
got terrible problems and I would like to establish that Monday
morning, first thing, you come to my office at nine o'clock
and I'll go to work on getting rid of this guilt complex that
has obviously been pushed upon you by some false teaching that
has made you think that there's something really wrong. You see, Mr. Jailer Man, there
is no such thing as a need for salvation. Your question reveals
a total misconception of who you are and your present situation. That's the answer of Mr. Liberal
or Mr. Modernist. Well, then we say,
that doesn't sound like verse 31. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. So let's bring in Mr. Decisionist.
He hears the question, what must I do to be saved? And he says,
well, bow your head, close your eyes, and pray after me this
little prayer. What you need to do is make a
decision. And the way you make a decision is to pray the sinner's
prayer after me. Bow your head. Pray after me. O God, O God, be merciful to
me. That's how Mr. Decisionist would have dealt
with it. Well, we're not satisfied that that's verse 31. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Didn't tell
him to make a decision. He told him to believe on the
Lord Jesus. And he didn't run into a little
rigmarole that was supposed to be the inevitable and necessary
expression of how you believe on the Lord Jesus. Well, let's
bring in Mr. Easy Believist. He hears the
question, what must I do to be saved? And he says, Mr. Jailer
man, all you need to do is believe that Jesus Christ died on the
cross for sinners. Accept Jesus as your personal
savior. He died for all sinners. Now just thank him that he died
in your end. But you see, that doesn't sound like verse 31.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't say accept the fact
of the atonement. He didn't say accept the reality
of his death upon the cross. He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Well, let's run out Mr.
Easy Believest and bring in Mr. Sacramentalist. He hears the
question, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And he says, well,
it's quite obvious. Grace is stored up in the sacraments.
You need to get to the baptismal font, or to the baptismal tank,
or to the baptismal jug. Whether you're an aspersionist
who sprinkles, an effusionist who pours, or an immersionist
who dumps them, you've got to get to the water. Drops, cups,
or buckets, you've got to get to the water. Mr. Sacramentalist
would say, you must get to the water and as soon as possible,
get to the bread and to the wine. You must begin to partake of
the sacraments. Well, you see, that doesn't seem
like the answer of verse 31, does it, children? Children,
what is he saying? He does not say, get to the water,
get to the bread, get to the wine, get to the sacraments.
He says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we bring on
Mr. Neo-Orthodox. which is just a
dressed-up form of liberalism. And he hears the man say, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? And his answer is, Well, you
see, I have wonderful news for you. You've been saved all along
and you just didn't know it. Every man who fell in Adam is
redeemed in Christ. You're already saved. And my
gospel is simply to tell you it's already done. Well, then
we run him out and say, That doesn't sound like verse 31 either.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And
we bring in Mr. Work's righteousness. And he
says, oh, you would be saved? Well, you must, first of all,
make a new start. You must clean up your life,
get rid of all that cursing, get rid of all that swearing,
get rid of those cigars in your pocket, and get rid of that jug
of booze that's back there in your little quarters. You've
got to clean up and straighten up, and you've got to join the
church, and you've got to start living right and going to prayer
meetings and passing out tracts. You've got to do, do, do, do,
do. Furthermore, if it was another Mr. Works righteousness, he'd
say you'd have to believe in the coming Kingdom of Jehovah
and start spending X number of hours a week passing out the
Awake magazine and selling it and making proselytes for the
Kingdom of Jehovah. If he was a Mormon, he would
tell him that he'd have to be baptized and start the performance
of good works and believe in the prophetic office and in the
continual priesthood and blah, blah, blah, on and on. But it
would not be verse 31. Mr. Work's righteousness feels
verse 31 is terribly inadequate. But then we come along to Mr.
Charismatic, and he hears the question, what must I do to be
saved? He says, well, if you want to
get started, you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But
that's just preliminary. And go beyond that and seek the
baptism until you know you've had it when you speak in unknown
tongues. dissatisfied that that's not
verse thirty one along comes Mr. Hyper Calvinist and he says
now look what must I do to be saved now there's your problem
Mr. Jailer man you know what your
problem is it in the little word do see your problem is you think
you can do something You're dead, Mr. Jailer Man. Don't you know
the Bible says you have been made alive who were dead? Dead
men can't do a thing, Mr. Jailer Man. You're blind. You
are morally and spiritually unable to do a thing. And Mr. Jailer
Man, your problem is you think you can do something. Do nothing.
Sit and wait for God to do something. Sit and wait for the Spirit to
do something. And I say Mr. Hyper-Calvinist
answer doesn't jive with verse 31. So we take all these false physicians
and we say, we respect you as men. We will not treat you like
dogs or beasts or animals. But when a man is asking this
vital question, what must I do to be saved? There is no answer
that is balm for a bleeding, broken heart but the answer of
verse 31. And away with the answer of Mr.
Liberal. Away with the answer of Mr. Decisionist,
Mr. Easy Believer, Mr. Sacramentalist,
Mr. Neo-Orthodox, Mr. Works Righteousness,
Mr. Charismatic, and Mr. Hyper-Calvinist. Away with all such false positions. You say, Pastor Martin, there
you go, being negative. My friend, listen! This is a
matter of the soul's salvation! To give an inquiring soul the
wrong answer is to give poison to a sick man and hurry him to
an untimely grave. Thank God in five to seven minutes
we've disposed of the chaff. We've thrown out the bones. Let's
come to the wheat and to the meat of the text. What is the
most accurate answer ever given to this most important question?
Look at it. Look at it. And they said unto
him, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,
thou and thy house. Three things in the text. The
first is this. The answer is this. The specific
activity commanded. What is it? Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Here, the apostle and his companion
command the jailer to engage in a specific activity. And it
is an heiress imperative, bringing into focus the tremendous necessity
of immediate, decisive faith in Jesus Christ. They tell him,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, granted, according to verse
32, What it meant to believe was no doubt fleshed out in much
greater detail. They spake the word of the Lord
unto him with all that were in his house. He was not led to
open profession after verse 31. Just giving a summary of the
gospel, he was led to open profession after the full explanation of
the gospel in verse 32. Granted, at this point the apostle
emphasized the necessity of repentance. His own testimony, Acts 20, 21
and 26, 20, is that he always preached repentance with faith.
Granted, he explained who the Lord Jesus was. Granted, all
of that I'm fully aware of. But when you boil it all down,
what was the answer to that burning question? It was an answer in
which the jailer was commanded to engage in a specific activity,
namely faith. You remember on one occasion
a group of people came to the Lord Jesus, and they asked this
question. I read now from John 6 and verse
28. They said therefore unto him,
What must we do? that we may work the works of
God. Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he
hath sent. You see what our Lord did? When
they said, what shall we do? He said, there is but one activity
that will bring you into the favor of God, and that activity
is the activity of faith that terminates upon the only object
of true faith, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're back
then to the truth of Ephesians 2, you see. By grace are ye saved
through the instrumentality of faith. Faith is that singular
and unique spiritual exercise in which we go out of ourselves
to another, in which we give up all hope in ourselves and
rest wholly upon another. And that's why the apostle and
Silas said to the Philippian jailer, not believe in But they
used the preposition epi, which means upon. I am preaching epi,
upon this platform. I'm resting the entire weight
of my body and all of its activity upon the platform. My Bible is
resting epi, upon the pulpit. It is there as an object being
supported by another object. They said, Mr. Jailer man, if
you're ever to be saved, The singular, specific activity in
which you must engage is faith. You must believe. And this specific
activity was commanded. And then the second element in
the text is this. Not only the specific activity
commanded, but the exclusive object of faith declared. What
did they say? Mr. Jailer man, if you could
say, just believe, but believe something and believe it sincerely
and believe it from the heart, but just believe. I get so sick
of that Eastern Airlines ad because it's full of heresy. You gotta
believe. And I keep saying, gotta believe what? That nuts are apples? And that peaches are dogs? You
gotta believe what? They just show you a collage
of everything that Eastern Airlines is going to do, and then they
say, you gotta believe, you gotta believe what? And you know, the
only reason that's considered such a clever ad is it fits the
mentality of our day. Just believe something. But that's
not what the apostle and his companion said. Look at it. As
surely as they commanded this specific activity of faith, they
set forth and declared the exclusive object of that faith, belief
upon, not himself, Not in his own faith, not in his own works,
not in his own vows, not in his own ability to do anything, but
they said, Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, some of you
have newer translations that simply say, The Lord Jesus. Some
of you have the old authorized version that says, Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, it's obvious who is meant. And there's very little
significance in the difference. It's just a problem that some
of what are considered the better manuscripts do not have the word
Christ. In verse 31, some of the older
manuscripts do, and so the newer translations feeling that the
greater weight of evidence is simply for the terms Lord Jesus
omit the word Christ. That's a simple explanation of
the difference. But now, what does this involve?
When they directed him to this exclusive object of faith, what
were they telling him? Let me suggest two things. Number
one... They say, Mr. Jailer Man, you
must receive the truths bound up in this title of the only
Savior. He is the Lord Jesus. And Mr. Jailer Man, if you're
ever to be saved, you must be acquainted with and have absolute
confidence in the facts revealed about that person in his name. And no doubt, that's what they
opened up to him. As we have it in verse 32, they
spake unto him the word of the Lord. They declared to him all
of the glorious truths bound up in the title, the Lord Jesus. Let me take then just the two
aspects as they are given in the 1901 edition. Jesus. Mr. Jailer man, do you want to be
saved? Well, you must not just have faith in something, somewhere,
somehow, but there must be faith that rests upon Jesus of Nazareth. And you'll remember, if you have
any acquaintance with your Bible, that that's the name that was
given to him in his incarnation. When Joseph was troubled about
the fact that his engaged beloved Mary was pregnant and wondered
just what to do, the angel came and said, Look, here's the explanation. She's with child of the Holy
Ghost, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For He, the One who
is incarnate, the God-Man, Emmanuel, Jesus, shall save His people
from their sins. It is the name describing the
incarnate God, the Man, Christ Jesus. It was Jesus of Nazareth,
according to the language of the New Testament, who went about
doing good, healing the sick, raising the dead. It was Jesus
who was crucified, raised, and seated. And the emphasis in the
apostolic preaching is that Jesus of Nazareth, who lived, who walked,
who healed, who performed miracles, who died and was raised from
the grave, that this Jesus was the only Savior of sinners. But
the apostle says, Mr. Jailer man, you must not only
believe the facts bound up in the life history of Jesus of
Nazareth, you must recognize in him the one who's been constituted
Lord. Now this is the name given to
him peculiarly after his exaltation, following his death, his crucifixion,
and his passing into the heavens. You remember in Acts 2 and verse
36, Peter says, having raised him, Almighty God has constituted
this Jesus both Lord and Christ. Now to this Roman, The term Lord
applied to anyone in a place of leadership had tremendous
connotations. Now, I'm fully aware that in
the original, the word Sirs is the word kurios. The word used
in a relationship of common greeting was a word of respect, the same
way you might say to someone who was your superior, What do
you want, sir? Pardon me, sir? But when used
as an official title of one who had peculiar office and responsibility,
this was the term used of Caesar. Many times the jailer had heard
the confession, Caesar is Lord. What did that mean to a Roman?
It meant that Caesar was the seat of all the authority in
the Roman Empire. Caesar held the reins of that
entire empire. He said, Mr. Jailer man, do you
want to be saved? then you must engage in this
singular activity, faith, directed to this exclusive object, Jesus
of Nazareth, who has been constituted the Lord and Sovereign of the
universe. And then secondly, to believe
on this object not only means to receive the truth bound up
in that title, but the jailer must throw the entire weight
of his person into the arm of this Lord Jesus for deliverance
from sin, death, and hell. You see, there is no faith without
knowledge. But knowledge alone is not of
the essence of saving faith. I come back to the little preposition.
Believe upon the Lord Jesus. You must understand, Mr. Jailerman,
that your deliverance from sin and guilt and danger and death
and hell is bound up in the historical activity of the incarnate God. You must have knowledge of Jesus
of Nazareth, for faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the
word of God. You must know that he's not just
the man of Galilee. He's not just the carpenter who
walks the shores of some Palestinian village. You must know, Mr. Jailer Man, that he is the Lord
who sits upon the throne, holding the reins of human government
in his hands. All power has been given unto
him in heaven and in earth. But, Mr. Jailer Man, you can
know all those things and go to hell. You must believe upon
the Lord Jesus. Notice he didn't say simply believe
in, though that term is used somewhere, believe in, believe
ice, but believe upon. He didn't say believe in his
death, believe in his resurrection, believe in his love, believe
in his mercy. No, no. He directed him to the
object of faith as none other than the person of Christ. In
other words, he's saying, Mr. Jailer man, throw the entire
weight of your personality. I don't know what else to call
it, but that upon this person who is proclaimed to you in the
gospel. I've often quoted, and I shall
quote until my dying day. God giving me breath and strength.
The most accurate description of saving faith I've ever found
anywhere in uninspired literature, that given by dear Professor
Murray in Redemption Accomplished and Applied. What is saving faith?
Saving faith is self-commitment to Christ. Self-commitment. What
makes you you? Mind, body, emotion, soul, capacities,
longings. All that makes you you. You give
that over to whom? To the Lord Jesus. What Jesus? in all the glory of His person
and in all the perfection of His work, as He is so freely
and fully offered to us in the gospel. What does the gospel
say? It says, In this God-man, Jesus of Nazareth, who lived,
who healed, who attested His mission by mighty signs and wonders,
in this God-man, Jesus of Nazareth, who lived and died and was raised
and has been constituted Lord, in that Jesus there is enough
virtue to save billions of sinners. And the virtue that is in that
Savior is available to every man to whom the gospel comes. Now, Mr. Jailer Man, throw the
weight of your soul upon him. Throw yourself into his hands
and say, Jesus, mighty Savior, Lord Jesus, reigning Sovereign,
take me, save me, deliver me, cleanse me, forgive me. The specific
activity to which he was directed was faith. The exclusive object
was declared the Lord Jesus. Now, in the third place, look
at the text. You have a sure promise issued. A specific activity
commanded. An exclusive object declared. And blessed be God for the sure
promise issued. Look at it. Believe on the Lord
Jesus and thou shalt be saved. thou and thy house. Now, the
promise obviously has two prongs to it. There's the individual
aspect, and there is the corporate aspect. Let's look at the promise
in that order. Believe on the Lord Jesus, and
thou shalt be saved, thou. He repeats it again. The thou
is in the verb, but then he repeats it with another word to make
it very evident that they were not somehow deluded in saying,
yes, Mr. Jailer Man, even people such
as yourself, who up to a few minutes ago were dead, indifferent,
careless, profane, ungodly sinners, you can enter the safe state,
Mr. Jailer Man, upon believing. Yes, Mr. Jailer Man, even you,
upon believing, shall be saved. Your guilt You need be oppressed
with it no longer. Your danger, you need be threatened
by it any longer. Your helplessness, Mr. Jailer Man, your deliverance
from the state that has caused your question, terminates upon
your believing. And the moment you believe, you
are saved. Now, brethren, that's the gospel.
The good news that Jesus takes guilty, endangered, helpless
sinners, and the moment they trust Him, He saves them. Believing, you shall be saved. That's the individual promise.
Now look at the corporate aspect. He says, thou and thy house. Now briefly let me assert what
this is not teaching. Is He teaching that the moment
right there outside the prison, if the jailer would embrace the
gospel and the Savior, even without further explanation, that upon
his believing, he'd bring with him into the kingdom all of his
children? Of course not. That would violate every aspect
of biblical teaching relative to the necessity of each man,
each woman, being saved by his or her faith, that faith which
is the gift of God. Well, what is he saying? Well,
I'm More and more convinced that this is what the Apostle was
doing, let me lay the case before you for your consideration. What
he's saying is this, Mr. Jailerman? You've come to see
how bad off you are. A few minutes ago, you were ready
to kill yourself. You figured whatever problems you had, your
worst problems were here on earth, and the best thing to do to get
out of them is to kill yourself. Now, Mr. Jailer, man, you've
come to see that whatever problems you've got down here, they're
kid stuff compared with the problems you've got before God. You've
come to see and to feel that you're a guilty sinner, and that
if you die in that state of sin, you're lost. You're under the
wrath and curse of Almighty God. Now you've cried to me, Mr. Jailer
Man. What must I do to be saved? And we've given you the answer.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Mr. Jailer Man, I've got wonderful
news. You're not so vile and so bad that casting yourself
upon the mighty Savior, you're going to exhaust the saving virtue
that is in Jesus the Christ. Mr. Jailer Man, there's enough
virtue to bring your whole household into the same salvation. And
Mr. Jailer Man, there's enough virtue
to bring every household upon the face of the earth. Mr. Jailer
Man, you're in bad shape. Your conscience is terrified.
The question is rung from your heart. What must I do to be saved? But Mr. Jailer Man, no matter
how bad you are, Our Savior is mighty to save. He's able to
save you. He's able to save your house.
And in the language of Acts 2, which I believe is a parallel
to this, He's able to save all that are afar off, even as many
as the Lord our God shall call unto Him. Oh, that's good news. Furthermore, I think what he's
saying is this, Mr. Jailer Man. I can appreciate,
I can appreciate what you feel when you begin to see your sin,
as is true of everyone, when you begin to sense something
of how horrible it is to break the laws of a holy God, to trample
underfoot the mercy of God, to live insensitive to the salvation
of God. There comes the conviction of
the publican that you are the sinner. No one's case is as bad
as yours. No one's sins rise as high to
heaven as your sins do. But you see what he's saying?
Say, Mr. Jailer man, There is but one salvation. You do not
need the Savior because you are an especially bad sinner. And
there's another way to be saved for people who haven't gone quite
as far as you've gone. Mr. Jailer Man? there in your
household, maybe you have a sweet loving wife, maybe you've got
a disobedient son, maybe you've got an ideal son or daughter,
whatever it is, Mr. Gentleman, look, when we say
to you, in answer to your question, what must I do to be saved, and
we point you to one activity, faith, to one object, the Lord
Jesus, not only will you not exhaust His saving virtue, this
is the same salvation that is available and applicable to everyone
in your household. Your case is not so singular
that you need think you have some special need and therefore
you cannot come. This is the sure word of promise.
Believing you shall be saved. your household believing, they
too shall be wonderfully saved. Now, having expounded the word
of promise and having dealt with each word in the promise, having
looked at the commandment to believe in the object. Now, what
are the vital lessons that we ought to deduce from this text?
And it's one of those that you could just sit down in and and
grace for a long time. But let me suggest, as time permits,
that there are three very vital, practical, needful lessons in
the text. And the first one is this. Here
in the answer of the apostle and his companion is a clear,
indisputable warrant for proclaiming Christ as a willing and able
Savior to the vilest of sinners without distinction. Here is
a warrant that is indisputable for proclaiming Christ as a willing
and an able Savior to the vilest of sinners without distraction.
Will you notice? Look at the text again. When
the jailer cried, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They were fully conscious that
just a few short minutes, or at the most an hour or so before,
that this man demonstrated a character totally devoid of the grace of
God. And when he came saying, what
must I do? They did not sit him down and
say, well, let's see if you've been under conviction long enough
to make your question sincere. Let's see how deep the plow work
of the law has gone in your heart before we give you the remedy.
Let's see if you're an earnest seeking sinner before we give
you the remedy. None of that! The moment the
question was answered, what must I do to be saved? They proclaimed to him a willing
and able and an accessible Savior without discrimination and without
distinction. What was the present condition
of his family? You see, some people see this and say, oh,
but wait a minute. The jailer was trembling. The jailer was
obviously disturbed. When I see people trembling,
what about his household? Were they trembling? What do
you know about his household? Not a thing, and probably neither
did the apostle nor Silas. And they said, we have the same
gospel for your household. Regardless of how deep or shallow
their conviction is, believing they shall be saved. Eleven of
hyperism is working in any of you. May God purge it out with
this passage. Purge it right out of you! Here is warrant to say to any
sinner, believing, you're saved. As Bridges says in a masterful
brief statement on this, as a guilty sinner you're invited. As a willing
sinner you're welcomed. As a believing sinner you're
assured. of salvation. That's it. That's the gospel.
As a guilty sinner, you're invited. Not a guilty sinner who has gone
for one month, two months, or ten months under deep exercise
of soul about your lostness. No, no. You're welcomed as a
guilty sinner without qualification. And as a willing sinner, I mean,
you're invited as a guilty sinner. As a willing sinner, you're welcome.
Come, all ye that labor, and I will give you rest. As a believing
sinner, you're assured. I see in this text this clear
and disputable warrant for proclaiming Christ as a willing and able
Savior to the vilest of sinners without distinction. But secondly,
here is a clear and unmistakable demonstration of the only means
effectual to the conversion of sinners. Here is a clear and
unmistakable demonstration of the only means effectual to the
conversion of sinners. What was it? The proclamation
of an able, willing, accessible Savior. It was free grace. Here's
the full unfettered preaching of Christ in verse 31. The emerging
of immediate faith, verse 31. the expounding of the essence
of the message, verse 32. This, I say, is the only means
of the conversion of sinners. It's the preaching of the gospel
of free grace, that gospel that focuses upon the able, willing,
and accessible Savior. I speak now particularly to you
men in the work of the ministry, whether formally or informally,
some of you preparing for that awesome office. And you ask the
question, what shall I do if there is no conversion work under
my ministry? Well, you see, the temptation
is to look for some other means, some other method, some other
gimmick. No, no. Keep proclaiming! Keep heralding! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ! In due course, open up the law
of God that men may see why they need to believe. Granted, in
due course expound the true natures of Christ. expound the nature
of vicarious penal substitutionary. Granted, bring in the whole course
of divine truth, but sound this note clearly. Sound this note
often. Sound this note with confidence. It is God's means to bring home
His sheep. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And then thirdly, and this is
the most vital application that I want to make this morning,
this text teaches us or gives to us a clear and undeniable
proof that until you believe you are not safe. Oh, look at
the passage. Until you believe you are not
safe. When the jailer said, sirs, what
must I do to be saved? Did they say, look, that's a
hopeful sign that God may be beginning a work of grace in
you. Cherish your convictions. Attend to the means of grace.
That is not what the text says. There is a subtle form of self-righteousness
in that kind of counsel. Now, the sinner prides himself
that he's no longer a dead sinner. He's an awakened sinner. He's
a seeking sinner. And I've actually seen men strutting
around saying, oh, I'm an awakened sinner. I'm a seeking sinner.
My friend, listen, this text teaches until the sinner believes
he's not safe. When he said, what must I do
to be saved, they did not say, well, the fact you're asking
that question is an indication your property already saved.
That's false counsel. That's not scriptural. They said,
Mr. Jailer man, We cannot see the
hidden springs of the regenerative work of the Spirit of God, and
no one believes more firmly than I that regeneration is unto faith. Neither did the Apostle Paul
show any ignorance of that doctrine. But in our preaching, we do not
probe to the hidden secret workings of the Spirit of God. We deal
with these norms of Scripture. And he says, Mr. Jailer man,
you've asked me a question. What must I do to be saved? My
answer is, until you believe you're not saved, you're not
saved, you're not rescued, you must believe. Now, is it better to be a trembling
sinner than a sleeping sinner? Well, the answer is obvious.
Prior to all these things, he was a sleeping sinner. Sound
asleep, while even the prisoners had enough interest to listen.
And here he was, spiritually asleep, ready to kill himself
and send himself straight to hell. Now, he's no longer a sleeping
sinner, he's an awakened sinner. Remember the illustration last
week about the little lost girl in the cave? Sound asleep, dreaming
about being in her mother's arms. Ten, twenty feet away, there's
a bear, and a few more feet away, there's a den of rattlesnakes
or a nest of rattlesnakes. While she's asleep, she's unaware
of her danger. She awakes, she's aware of her
danger. But listen, listen! Though it's better to be an awakened
sinner than a sleeping sinner, awakened sinners and sleeping
sinners both go to hell unless they believe! Let me use another illustration.
Here are two men dying of starvation. Their body has not had enough
food and drink to sustain its life. One of them has drifted
into a coma. He's totally unaware of his real
situation. The other man's wide awake and
he feels the hunger pangs that cry out of every pore of his
body. Now, which one is in a better condition? You say the man that's
awake enough to cry for food, beg for food, scratch for food,
steal food, do anything to get his food. My friend, he's still
going to starve to death until he gets his food. The man in
the coma, perishing with hunger, and the man wide awake, perishing
with hunger, hunger will both perish until the body absorbs
the necessary nutrients to sustain its life. It's a sad thing to
see sleeping sinners. And I was struck with it this
morning, and I preach against that backdrop. In final preparations
for coming here, I looked out the window. And saw a neighbor
friend of mine who's always working on his house and his garden and
his yard. And I said, Lord, another Sabbath
in which you've given this man opportunity to think of eternity
and heaven in his soul. And all he can think about is
digging up his garden and painting his house and building his sun
porch. Lord, what will it take to awaken him? I saw him as the
jailer in the first part of this passage. It's a terrible thing
to be a sleeping sinner. It's a heartbreaking thing to
live among sleeping sinners who, as it were, are slumbering three-tenths
of an inch from the precipice of hell. It's a terrible thing. If I'm speaking to any sleeping
sinner who prides himself that preaching like this doesn't get
to you, my friend, it ought not to be the occasion of pride.
It ought to be the occasion to humble you that you're living
like a beast who has no soul to save, who has no eternity
to gain. And it's always encouraging to
see an awakened sinner, to see a young boy, a girl, a man or
woman begin to say, look, dad, mom, pastor, so and so. I realize I'm lost. I'm not ready
to meet God. Or it's wonderful to see an awakened
sinner, to see somebody getting his eyes open to realize he's
three tenths of an inch from the precipice. to see their spiritual
eyes begin to stand wide open and realize, I'm in a state of
danger. Oh, but listen to me, listen
to me, listen to me, listen to me. This whole community to the
man, to the boy, to the girl, this whole gathered group here
and downstairs in the overflow room, every single individual
could become, if they would become in a moment, everyone an awakened
sinner, literally trembling like the jailer, literally filled
with horror at the thought of hell and judgment. Listen, You'd
still go to hell trembling unless you believe. That's the emphasis
of this text. You're not safe till you believe. Jesus said, He that believeth
not, the wrath of God abideth upon him. John 3 and verse 36. Away with this teaching, that
awakening is regeneration. You have no grounds to believe
a man's regenerate until he's believed. Because that regenerating
work is always unto faith. And when God implants the life,
the life will manifest itself in the embrace of the offered
Savior. Am I speaking to some children
this morning? You've never been able to be like the jailer, a
sleeping sinner. Because your mommy and daddy have faithfully
instructed you in the word of God, heaven, hell, your sin,
Christ, eternity, those have always been real issues to you.
I know what that is. That was my experience. You know
how I used to chafe against it. I just wished I could have reached
into that place in my conscience that had been conditioned by
the training of my home and rip it out so I could have a little
fun in my sin instead of sinning with such misery. I sinned because I didn't have
a new heart, but I couldn't sin with abandonment because I was,
for the most part of my life, an awakened sinner. Am I speaking
to young people, children, Christian parents, visitors, friends? You've
got a saved husband, saved wife. Listen, listen. That awakened
state is the most dangerous one because you will either, from
that state, ask the question that this man asked, what must
I do to be saved? and take seriously the biblical
answer and give yourself no rest until you've believed upon the
Lord Jesus. Or you'll drift off into a subtle
form of self-righteousness and content yourself, well, I'm in
some kind of limbo. I probably won't die and go to
hell because I'm not a careless sinner, but I doubt I'll go to
heaven because I haven't yet believed. My friend, there is
no evangelical limbo. He that believeth not shall be
damned. He that believeth on the Son hath life. You're not
safe until you've believed. And with that, I would close
my exhortation this morning, urging upon you, if you're conscious
of your need, why just continue on conscious of need? Oh, look
at the simplicity of the text. If you're asking the question,
sirs, What must I do to be saved? We do not give you the false
medicine of liberalism and say, well, your problem is that you're
just thinking about things in a wrong way. We do not give you
the answer, the terrible poison of works righteousness telling
you to straighten up and fix your life up and do this and
do that. Nor do we insult you by just telling you to accept
the facts of the gospel. You've believed them, some of
you, all your life. That's an insult to tell you
that that's what you need to do. You already do that. But
what we tell you today in apostolic simplicity is this. Believe on
the Lord Jesus, and we give you the promise, thou shalt be saved. Cast the weight of your whole
person upon that glorious person. And say, O Lord Jesus, this is
the word of your promise. Is it dishonoring to the man
who stands on the shore, seeing a man floundering in the water,
if when he throws to that man the means of rescue, he takes
it as a serious intention of desiring his deliverance and
lays hold upon it and is brought to shore? Is that dishonoring
to the man who is in the place of rescue? You say, of course
not. Anything less than that is a
dishonor to his intentions. Is it dishonoring to the Lord
Jesus to say, O Lord Jesus, I believe when you come to me in the life
preserver of the promise, you do so because you are serious in offering me deliverance. Is
it dishonoring to Christ to lay hold of him? And say, Lord, I
believe it shall be true to me, even as you promised. It is not
humility that causes people to grovel in a state of so-called
awakened conviction for months and years. And they say, well,
I'm too humble to believe the Lord would save me. That's an
insult to the Son of God. It's wicked unbelief that says
he's not sincere when he offers me deliverance. He's not to be
trusted when he says, believing I shall be saved. Away with this
false humility that insults the Redeemer, that mocks his promise. Oh, this morning believe upon
him. I'm loath to close the service.
Because I know something of the subtlety of the human heart and
some of you even now saying yes but yes but stop all the yes
but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Let us pray.