We turn this morning, please,
to the 16th chapter of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles,
Acts chapter 16. Having completed our studies
in Ephesians 2, 1 through 10, the first paragraph in the second
chapter of that great epistle, we have for the past two Lord's
Day mornings been examining a portion of Acts 16, particularly the
account of the conversion of the man who was given no other
name than the fact that he was a jailer. And so we have identified
him as the Philippian jailer. And I've done this purposely
so that having examined in detail the great statements that the
Apostle Paul makes in Ephesians 2 concerning salvation by grace,
we might see an actual record of how God works in bringing
dead sinners to life, in making them new creatures in Christ
Jesus. The passage, beginning particularly
with verse 19 and concluding with verse 34, I have suggested
can best be approached by focusing upon the two most important issues
in the entire narrative, namely, the question asked in verse 30
and the answer to that question given in verse 31. And so we
entitled our first study, The Most Important Question Ever
Asked, Sirs, What Must I Do To Be Saved? Last week, our second
study, The Most Accurate Answer Ever Given To That Question,
and they answered him saying, Believe on the Lord Jesus and
thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house. Now, according to
this passage, Is there any indication as to whether or not the Philippian
jailer, having asked the question and having received an accurate
answer, did obey the directions of that answer? Having felt and
owned his guilt, having sensed his danger as under the wrath
of God, having nowhere to flee, and having cried out, Sirs, what
must I do to be saved? Having been directed by the Apostle
Paul and his companion Silas to the specific activity of faith,
the exclusive object of that faith, the Lord Jesus, having
been given a sure word of promise, thou shalt be saved, did he engage
in that activity? Did he believe? Did he believe
on the Lord Jesus? Was he indeed and in truth saved? Well, thank God the text answers
that question for us, for the narrative that focuses particularly
upon this man, the Philippian jailer, concludes with this statement
at the end of verse 34, having believed in God. And the tense of the verb believe,
which Luke uses, indicates that the jailer came to a decisive
exercise of faith at a given point in time, and that that
act of faith had now become the disposition of faith. And that's
bound up in the little phrase, having believed in God. The very fact that the Apostle
Paul, that Luke does not say, having believed in the Lord Jesus,
is a tremendous indication that his faith was not a Jesus-only
faith. It was true saving faith which
unites people to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which embraces
Jesus Christ as the way to God, which receives him as the gift
of God and the revelation of the salvation of God. And that's
all bound up in the little phrase, having believed in God. And so the same Holy Spirit,
who gives us enough materials in the passage to ask and answer
the question, why did he get disturbed about his condition?
which also answers for us the question, how can he come out
of that dilemma of fear and dread of danger, giving us the statement
of verse 31, also gives us enough materials to know that this man
did indeed come to faith in Jesus Christ. But now, that raises
another problem. You, if you know your Bible,
know that there are places in Scripture that speak of certain
individuals and certain groups of people who believed. And those
portions use exactly the same word in the original, the general
word for faith, and yet the context or subsequent history of the
individual or individuals involved reveals that they never had true
saving faith. You remember in the parable of
the sower, our Lord, speaking of the stony ground hearers,
says in Luke 8.13, who for a while believed. They had temporary
faith. Well, how do we know that the
faith of the Philippian jailer was not temporary faith? Furthermore,
we read two weeks ago in the book of James, the demons also
believe and they tremble. This is what we might call historical
faith. They believe that Jesus is the
Christ, that he came from God. Well, how do we know that the
Philippian jailer did not have simply historical faith? Also,
we read of certain Jews who believed when they saw the miracles that
Christ performed in John chapter 2, and yet the same passage indicates
that Jesus would not entrust himself to them because he knew
what was in them. They had miraculous faith, but
not saving faith. Well, how do we know that the
faith described in verse 34 is indeed true, vital, saving faith? Faith that is the gift of God.
Faith that illustrates the truth of Ephesians 2, verses 8 through
10. Well, we know it because the
very nature of saving faith is such that it always works by
love. Galatians 5 and verse 6. Whenever
there is saving faith that appropriates Jesus Christ as the only Savior
from sin, That faith always becomes productive of many other graces. It is a faith which works by
love. And the Spirit of God has given
to us in this passage some clear indications that the faith of
the Philippian jailer was not defective faith, notional faith,
miraculous faith, or temporary faith, but it was indeed true
saving faith. And we know that because it was
faith that worked by love. It was faith, the leading grace,
which brings us into vital union with Christ, but which always
brings other graces in its trade. It is never alone. And so our
study this morning will focus on the certain indications that
the answer to his question was embraced. Having looked at the
most important question ever asked, the most accurate answer
ever given to the question, now this morning, our third and final
study in the passage, the most certain indications that this
answer was embraced. And I'm using the word certain
as synonymous with unquestionable. Now, notice verse 31. Look carefully
at your Bibles. Here we have the record of the
answer of Paul and Silas. They said, Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house. The paragraph closes, verse 34c,
describing the jailer as having believed in God. Here's the direction
in verse 31, Believe on the Lord Jesus. Here is the record of
verse 34, having believed, and what you have between verse 31
and the end of verse 34 are the indisputable evidences of the
faith that was exercised. This is not a section of works.
It is a section describing the holy fruits of saving faith. What then are the certain indications
that the jailer exercised true faith in Jesus Christ? Well,
the first one is what I am calling the radical reordering of all
of life's priorities. And for you children, the word
radical just means it's very basic, very fundamental. Reordering
means changing things around like you do sometimes with your
room. Priorities means what you think is important and what you
think is worth doing. So I've given you an easy, simple
definition of those rather large words. The radical reordering
of life's priorities. Look at the passage. Verse 32,
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. Now when you have some acquaintance
with the whole narrative, this is absolutely amazing. Here's
a man who, a short while before, was sound asleep. His priorities
were such that only one thing mattered. He had to get his 40
wins. He knew that servants of God
were there in the prison. Even the prisoners had sense
enough to stay awake and listen to the singing and praying of
these men. Here he is, a blind, dead, helpless,
condemned sinner, on his way to the eternal pit. Two choice
servants of God are in close enough proximity that he could
be questioning them about the way of salvation, He could at
least be listening to the truth that is being expounded in their
praying and in their singing of psalms and hymns unto God,
but to him only one thing matters at midnight, that sleep. Shortly
thereafter, we behold him trembling at the thought that the Roman
government might take hold of him if the prisoners escape.
Only one thing matters, the preservation of his honor. Only one thing
matters, getting out of his present mess. His priorities were very
clearly indicated in the previous narrative. But now, even though
it's later on toward morning, for they were singing hymns at
midnight when the earthquake occurred, we find this same man
forgetting sleep. forgetting his own personal conveniences,
apparently, according to the narrative, even for a time forgetting
about the prisoners. The silence of Luke here is eloquent.
The man who a few minutes before is ordering all of his priorities
in terms of where the prisoners may be, in or out of the prison,
now forgets the prisoners. forgets his sleep, forgets even
the niceties of what you do to your family at the unearthly
hour of one or two in the morning, and he has a transformation in
the whole area of life's priorities. Hearing the Word of God takes
the place of sleep. Caring for the servants of God
takes the place of caring for himself. Providing for his family
the bread of life takes precedence over every other concerned with
reference to that family, and therefore the passage is setting
before us a clear indication of the genuineness of this man's
faith. Having believed in God, there
was the radical reordering of all of life's priorities in the
light of that new world into which his faith ushered him. You see, while a sleeping sinner,
the world of God, sin, heaven, hell, Christ, the Spirit, holiness,
the soul, the spiritual needs of his family, all of this was
unreal and distant to the jailer. Now that's a very real world.
The scripture says, in God we live and move and have our being.
The world of God, of guilt, of sin, of heaven and hell, that's
a real world. But it's the spiritual world.
It's the world that is not seen with the physical eyes. And a
dead sinner lives as though that real world did not exist. And
the only world that exists to him is the world of sight, of
touch, the world of sound, the world of sensual pleasure, of
personal honor, of personal ease, of sensuous gratification. That's
the world in which the jailer lived. All of his priorities
were ordered by that world. The moment he believed on the
Lord Jesus, he was brought into that other world of spiritual
reality. that world concerning which Paul
spoke in 2nd Corinthians 4 18 when he said we look not on the
things that are seen but on the things that are not seen for
the things that are seen are temporal but the things that
are not seen are eternal again the apostle Paul says in 2nd
Corinthians 5 7 for we walk by faith and not by sight and every
person who has ever been saved by faith in Jesus Christ then
begins to walk by the same principle of faith, and that will always
mean a radical reordering of life's priorities in the light
of that new world. As with the jailer, so with you. If you have asked his question,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved? If you have heard the answer
given, believe on the Lord Jesus. If you have obeyed that answer,
the living proof of the reality of your faith is to be found
in this. There has been a radical reordering
of life's priorities. And if there's been no radical
reordering of life's priorities, it's because you have not believed
in God. Has the jailer professed to believe?
and then go on concerned about nothing but his sleep, his physical
needs, nothing but the prisoner's temporal concerns, nothing but
the provision for his family's temporal needs and not their
spiritual needs. We would have every reason to
conclude that his faith was not true saving faith. It was not
the faith of God's elect. It is not the faith that is the
gift of God. Now, it is not a perfect reordering.
Nor is it an unassailed reordering of life's priorities, but a fundamental,
a radical reordering of life's priorities is an inevitable attendant
of saving faith. Now, young men, boys, girls,
men and women, ask yourself the question, has my professed faith
in the Lord Jesus resulted in the radical reordering of life's
priorities? Or has it not? If not, you have
reason to question if that faith is genuine. But in the second
place, we see the fruit of his faith in what I'm calling an
immediate thirst for more knowledge of the object of his faith. Look
at verse 32. Having been told that his answer
was to be found in the Lord Jesus and in believing upon that Lord
Jesus, Verse 32 says, and they spake the word of the Lord unto
him with all that were in his house. What an earthly hour for
a preaching session. Somewhere after twelve o'clock
and somewhere before morning, gathering the household and this
man taking the lead even allowing what we would call the common
acts of Christian kindness to wait. Get the picture now. These
men had been beaten by Romans. And unlike the Jews who had the
regulations, it must be fewer than 40 stripes, there was no
such regulation placed upon the Roman victors. Can you picture
what they looked like? Their backs laid open, a mass
of dried blood. large wells. They were probably
a pretty gory sight to look at. But so thirsty is this jailer
for more knowledge of the object of faith, that he takes these
men into his house, he doesn't see their unkempt appearance,
he doesn't see their welts and their wounds and their dried
blood upon them. All he knows is, these are men
who teach the Word of God, who can tell me more of the blessed
object of faith, the only one who can deliver me from this
state of danger and death and bondage. And so the Word of the
Lord is preached unto this man and to all. that were in his
house. It was the word of the Lord in
that it came from the Lord. It was the word of the Lord in
that it focused upon the Lord Jesus in the virtue of his work
and in the glory of his person. And you see, this is always one
of the first fruits of saving faith. There is this immediate
thirst for more knowledge of the object of that faith. False
faith is always content with as much knowledge as the individual
thinks is necessary to be safe. And once it has that much, it
wants no more. You got it? False faith only
wants as much knowledge as the person thinks is necessary to
be safe. And once they have that minimal
knowledge, they say, that's good. Taken care of. I know enough
about Jesus. He bled. He died. He rose. I trust him.
I'm all fixed up. Saving faith is never content
with that. Having brought us to taste that
the Lord is good. There is then born in the spiritual
stomach of the newborn soul this appetite as newborn babes longing
for the sincere milk of the Word. This is the uniform testimony
of the Word of God, you remember, in the day of Pentecost? Peter's
preaching, and the scripture says that those that gladly received
the word were baptized, and they continued steadfastly in the
apostles' doctrine. They continued. They wanted to
know more of the object of their faith. Listen to the words of
the Lord Jesus in John 8, 32. Ye are my disciples if If what? If ye continue in my
word, then are ye my disciples indeed. And this whole notion
that once you've got people to make their decision, then you've
got to immediately get them enrolled in a follow-up program, and you've
got to motivate them to read the word of God and motivate
them. My friends, it's sheer nonsense! Now, you may have to guide the
hunger. You may have to provide some
system of Bible study. Granted, I'm not knocking that.
But the whole mentality that says the reason we have all these
thousands of converts who don't belong in the knowledge of Christ
is because they are not being sufficiently motivated, that's
a denial of this principle. The motivation comes with the
new life. Do you motivate a newborn baby
to be hungry? There is hunger inherent in life.
And so would the flippant jailer. Having had Christ set before
him in the proclamation, there is this immediate thirst to know
more of the object of his faith. As with the jailer, so with you.
If you have asked his question, what must I do to be saved? If
you have embraced the answer given to him, believe on the
Lord Jesus. The second great fruit of faith
will be That thirst for more knowledge of the object of faith. And you notice I did not say
just the thirst for more knowledge of the Bible. Thirst for more
knowledge of the object of faith. The needy soul has found its
rest in Christ, and it knows instinctively that it grows no
more or no less than it grows in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Second Peter, Chapter 3. May
I press the question upon your conscience? You say you've been
disturbed and you've asked the question, what must I do to be
saved? Do you profess to have heard and embrace the answer,
believe on the Lord Jesus? Then I press the question upon
your conscience. Is there thirst for more knowledge
of the object of faith? Not an even thirst? Not a thirst
that at times is not lesser or greater than at other times.
Not a thirst that is equally vehement and equally consistent. I am not speaking of anything
that denies all of the legitimate ups and downs and windings in
the Christian life. But I'm asking, is there thirst
for the knowledge of Christ? Is there? What are you here for
this morning? Well, I heard some things about
this church and heard some things about you, so I come to see.
Is that what you're here for? Are you here because you long
to see something of the glory of Christ reflected from His
Word and in the midst of His people? That's the second great
fruit of this man's faith. Then there is a third fruit.
Look at the text. It's what I'm calling his immediate
desire to share this knowledge with others. and they spake the
word of the Lord unto him with all that were in his house." Here's the man who, if he found
any of the other members of the household, servants, if he had
a wife, doesn't say he did, but if he did, a wife, if he had
any children, doesn't say he did, but if he did, whoever was
involved in his household, Whether they were awakened by the earthquake,
we don't know. Whether he went back and shook
them and said, look, I've just heard some wonderful news. I've
asked the most important question a man can ever ask. I've had
the answer. One thing is obvious, that as
the head of the house, and he's the leading figure in all these
references to the household, even the grammar is emphatic.
You have singular verbs referring to him, and then it will say,
with all the house. They're included, but he's the
leading figure in the whole thrust, then, of this passage is that
this man was instrumental in bringing that household under
the sound of the Word of God. He took the initiative to bring
the family within the orbit of the saving influence of God.
Remember what the promise was. Mr. Jailer Man, verse 31, believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved and also your house. Mr. Geleman, you do not exhaust
the saving merit of Christ. If you believe, you'll be saved,
and there is a salvation adequate for every member of your household.
If they will believe, they should be saved. And just on the basis
of that knowledge, that there was grace sufficient in his newfound
Savior for every member of his household, he says, I must get
them within the orbit of that message which was effectual to
my salvation. And so he gathers them not to
have his little infants baptized, nor to have his wife and servants
baptized. He gathers them to hear the word
of the living God. And what is this but an evidence
of his immediate desire to share the knowledge of Christ with
others? And this is always one of the
first fruits of faith. The psalmist said, I believe,
therefore have I spoken. If thou shalt confess with thine
mouth and believe in thine heart, God ties the two together. And
when there is the believing embrace of Christ, There will be the
desire to share the knowledge of Christ with others. As with
him, so with you. Now, this does not mean that
you will go home and arouse your family at an ungodly hour to
prove something. I should say an unearthly hour,
not an ungodly, an unearthly hour. Nor does it mean that if
someone comes staggering to your doorstep, all beaten and bloody,
you're going to say, preach to me for a while, because I've
got to do what he did. No, no. No, no, get the principle. The
principle is here. Now, this desire was governed
by his opportunity and by his unusual circumstances. Your desire. will be governed by your opportunities,
by your circumstances, by your personality, by many, many different
things. And we are not setting forth
some new legalism that says if you haven't passed out ten tracts
by the time you're ten days old in the Lord, you're not a Christian.
We're not saying that. And don't anyone say that was
asserted from this pulpit. And I think if I ever sat here
when someone did assert it, I'd stand up publicly and rebuke
him for heresy. But what the text does indicate
is that this desire was the fruit of faith. And when you have believed
on the Lord Jesus, that desire to share the knowledge of Christ
will be there. You may be awkward. You may be
timid. You may be limited in the how. Your opportunities may
be very straitened. Granted, my friend, listen, if
you can profess to have believed on the Lord Jesus and live in
a household with an unsaved father, mother, brother, sister, husband
or wife, and have no sob in your spirit, no earnest plea that
God would use your life and God would open opportunities for
your lips. You can live in the midst of
pagan, lost, ungodly neighbors, and there's never any effort
to find how you can communicate the gospel. No brokenness of
spirit, no pleading with God, my friend. Your faith is suspect. I have not said, if you've not
won a soul to Christ, you're not a Christian. I didn't say
that, dear child of God. I did not say that. And anyone
who says that is cruel and unscriptural. What I'm saying is this. If I
could peel off the layers that lie over the deepest recesses
of your heart this morning, and could somehow take what is there
and make it visible, Would there at least be some moisture from
an inner tear of concern for lost sinners amongst whom you
live? Is there something that would
approximate even an honest sigh that you might be used to point
them to the Savior? Well, here the Spirit of God
records that the fruit of the Philippian jailer's faith was
not only this radical reordering of life's priorities, this thirst
for more knowledge of the object of faith, but an immediate desire
to share this knowledge with others. But then there is a further
indication of his faith. Look at the passage. We read
in verse 33, And he took them the same hour of the night and
washed, literally he bathed their stripes Verse 34, he brought
them up into his house and set food before them. Notice the
emphasis, the same hour of the night he bathed their wounds,
their stripes. The same hour of the night, literally,
he set a table before them in the custom of the eastern lands. brought them to the place where
they'd recline upon the couch, and he spread a table before
them, everything that was necessary to provide them with adequate
food. What is this? Let me suggest it is the fourth
fruit of his faith, an active, practical love to his fellow
believers. An active, practical love for
his fellow believers. What were the immediate needs
of Paul and Silas? Their immediate needs were to
be cleansed of the wounds, and then, having been cleansed, to
have their tummies filled with adequate food. What did love
do in the jailer? Love made him sensitive to those
immediate needs and to everything within his sphere of opportunity
that could meet those needs, and forthwith the needs were
met. Here's a beautiful example, an
illustration of 1 John chapter 3. I simply read the passage
for you. 1 John chapter 3, verses 14 and
following. We know that we passed out of
death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth
not abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer. We know that no murderer hath
eternal life abiding in him. Hereby know we love, because
he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's goods,
and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion
from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but indeed in truth.
Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure
our hearts before him. What were the world's goods that
the Philippian jailer had? Water to cleanse the wounds,
towels to dry their bodies, food to fill their tummies, and a
home adequate enough within which to entertain them. And everything
he had was shared with his brethren in terms of their need. He that is begotten of God loveth
him that is begotten of him. As one commentator has beautifully
stated, pagan cruelty and callousness that a few hours before had placed
these men without healing in the torture stocks of the dungeon. Pagan cruelty and callousness
was changed into Christian tenderness and mercy. Faith always unites
us to Christ and thereby brings us into the household of faith.
And Paul said of the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 4, 9, We need
not write to you about love of the brethren, for brethren, ye
yourselves are taught of God to love one another. That's the
fruit of faith. He didn't start loving these
men to be saved. No, no. They had told him, Believe
in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved. And what was part of
that salvation? It was deliverance from the calloused
indifference to others that marks the unregenerate heart. Now here's
a heart touched by the love of God to him in Christ. That love
now expresses itself in seeking the well-being of his brothers
in the Lord Jesus. As with the jailer, so with you.
If you've believed on the Lord Jesus, then to some degree, there
will be active, practical love expressed for your fellow believers. But then there is another indication
of his faith. Look at verse 33 again. And he took them the same hour
of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized, he
and all his, immediately. What is this? This fruit of faith
is what I'm calling an open confession of Christ in the God-appointed
way. He was baptized immediately. Now, why was he baptized? Was
baptism any part of Paul's answer to the question, what must I
do to be saved? Was it? But according to verse 31, when
he said, What must I do to be saved? Paul did not say, Believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the belief is incomplete without
baptism. He didn't say that. Now, there's
some text of scripture that seemed to say something almost like
that. Seemed to say something almost
like that. Notice the careful wording. But
the text doesn't say that Paul mentioned baptism later. It says
he preached unto him the word of the Lord. Now, how in the
world did the jailer ever get the idea, number one, that he
ought to be baptized at all, and secondly, that it was of
such importance that he ought to take care of it at that unearthly
hour? Did that ever bother you when you read the passage? It's
bothered me. Why was he baptized? Certainly
baptism was no part of his salvation. Yes! It was of such fundamental
concern that the Apostle Paul somewhere included it between
verse 32 and verse 33. Now, my own conviction is when
he preached unto him the word of the Lord, it's at that point
that he declared to him the significance of Christian baptism. It's authority
residing in the Lord Jesus who said, Make disciples and baptize. the significance of it, the truth
of Romans 6, or it could be, look at verse 33, and the same
hour of the night he bathed their stripes. There was enough water
to give these men a bath sufficient to cleanse them from stripes
that pretty much covered the entire major part of their back. Could it be that while he was
tenderly washing the disciples, washing the apostle and his companion
Paul and Silas, that they launched into a dissertation on the significance
of the ceremonial washing of baptism? I don't know. But one
thing is clear. One thing is clear. Just as surely
as he was not deluded into thinking that baptism could save him,
thus making baptism a savior, neither was he so instructed
as to think baptism was the perpetual Cinderella of the church that
really didn't matter. And there's this constant tension.
The church either makes baptism its savior or its Cinderella,
exalting it above its proper place or putting it beneath its
proper place. But a careful reading of the
book of the Acts will reveal that baptism is neither savior
nor Cinderella. It is always joined to preaching
of the Word, to evangelism, and to the institution or constitution
of churches in the various places in the Roman Empire. There is
no baptism that is biblical, baptism apart from preaching.
They that received His Word were baptized. Make disciples, baptizing
them. Take away the conscious understanding
reception of the word from baptism and you have nothing but a superstitious
ordinance. On the other hand, Put so much
emphasis upon the word preached and received that baptism is
no longer an essential element in the life of the church, and
you've come short of the biblical standard. For as surely as the
Lord said, make disciples, He said, they and all such who are
made are to be baptized. And you find the pattern throughout
the book of Acts. Time will not permit a study
of it this morning. Acts 16, 14, and 15. Acts 18,
8, and many other passages that this is the razor's edge with
reference to the subject of baptism. Ah, but someone says, Mr. Martin,
can't you read? It says, excuse me, he and all
his were baptized. There it is. A whole household,
children included. Ah, ah, ah, ah. Wait a minute,
my friend. Look at the passage. Look carefully. Verse 32 says,
they spake the word of the Lord unto him with all that were in
his house. How many of the household sat
under the preaching? How many? All who were capable of it. Now,
if there was a dog there, I doubt the dog was brought in for preaching.
He might have been, but I doubt it. If there was a cat, all that
were in his house. All right. Now, the next reference
to the all in the house is what? Baptism. He and all his were
baptized. And what's the next reference?
Verse 34. He set food before that rejoiced greatly with all
his house. So you have the whole household
hearing preaching, the whole household being baptized and
the whole household rejoicing. Now, when you can get infants,
to hear preaching intelligently and consciously to respond to
that preaching so as to desire obedience to baptism and then
consciously to rejoice in faith, then you get infants in this
household baptism, but not until then. The only way you can get
them there is to put them there. And when you put them there,
you butcher the package. You say you're not very kind. Well,
I think this whole thing needs some rather firm treatment because
There is a semblance of spiritual appreciation that glosses over
the crux of the real heart of this issue with infant baptism.
And the infant baptism issue clouds what baptism truly signifies. And we must be concerned to maintain
the purity of that ordinance. You have here household baptism
because you have household conversion. And if God will convert households,
We too shall practice household baptism. Now, as with the jailer,
so with you. If you believed on the Lord Jesus,
you will desire with him open confession of Christ in the ordinance
he has instituted. And may I state as clearly as
I know how, if you profess to have received the Spirit, That
is, to have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And those two terms
are synonymous in the New Testament. Believing upon the Lord Jesus,
you have been baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ.
Then baptism is not optional. It is commanded. And I give you
but one text to support that assertion. Acts chapter 10, verses
47 and 48. Can any forbid water that these
should not be baptized to have received the Holy Spirit as well
as we? What is the one requisite for
baptism? Having received the Spirit, having
believed the gospel, having embraced the Lord Jesus. Now look at verse
48. And he, Peter, suggested that when they felt led, they
ought to consider baptism. That isn't what the text says.
The text says, and he commanded them to be baptized. I suppose
someone said, well, I just don't see the need. My friends, rejecting apostolic
commandment is equal to rejecting the authority of Jesus Christ.
You hear that? Rejecting apostolic commandments
is equal to rejecting the commandments of Christ. 1 Corinthians 14,
37. If any man seemeth to be spiritual,
let him acknowledge, Paul says, that the things that I say unto
you as an apostle, they are the commandments of the Lord. Therefore,
I call upon some of you who sit here this morning, who have asked
this question, what must I do to be saved? God has not allowed
you to be a sleeping sinner. He's awakened you from your sleep.
You've felt the pangs of a terrified conscience. You've seen, as it
were, the yawning mouth of hell. You've sensed the danger of your
condition. You've cried from your heart,
if not with your lips, what must I do to be saved? And through
the reading of the Word, through the preaching in this place,
through your parents, Sunday school, or a thousand influences,
you've come to see that the answer is to believe. to believe on
the Lord Jesus and believe in you shall be saved and you believed
upon him. My friend, listen, having believed,
this should be one of the inevitable fruits of your faith, that you
will confess Christ in the way He has commanded, and that way
is in the waters of baptism. And then finally, the final evidence
of his faith is indicated in this precious little statement
with which the narrative closes, and he brought them up into his
house and set food before them and rejoiced greatly. And this is a strong word. It
does not mean simply to rejoice. That's vigorous enough, but it's
that word to describe great exaltation, exceedingly rejoice. Now, how
does this fit into the whole picture as one of the fruits
of faith? Well, you know Galatians 5.22, do you not? The fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy. If embracing Christ in faith
is to receive the Spirit, the fruit of that indwelling Spirit
is joy. We read in Romans 15, 13, the
God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Romans 14, 17, the kingdom of
God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost. Now, notice, notice where the
joy is mentioned. After all of the other practical,
ethical and moral fruits of his faith. Someone who says, I believe
and I know I believe, I just feel so good, just feel so good.
My friend, listen. Feeling good, divorced from the
ethical and moral implications of faith, may be the sign that
you've never truly believed. For it was the stony ground hearers
that had joy as their primary characteristic of Christian experience. But joy is mentioned. It's mentioned
after these other five indications of the reality of its faith.
But it is mentioned. Why? Well, remember who this
was. He had been filled with terror.
The Scripture describes him as trembling for fear. He senses
the mouth of hell is yawning. He senses there is no hand to
reach down and rescue him. He senses that his feet are sliding
into the pit. And now he knows, I have been
rescued from the pit. My face has been set to heaven.
An almighty Savior has laid hold of me and will bring me safely
home to glory. With his sins pardoned, with
the knowledge of a reconciled God, with the assurance of glorification
in his presence, who would not rejoice but the man who was ignorant
that these were the blessings of the gospel. And no man ever
heard Paul preach and was still ignorant that these were the
blessings of the gospel. Paul did not hold out some mini-savior. He held out a mighty Savior who
rescued from sin in all of its dimensions unto glory in all
of its dimensions. And so his rejoicing was rooted
in the knowledge of what he now was in Jesus Christ. His joy
was rooted in the knowledge of what had passed by the virtue
of the blood of Christ, what had come by the virtue of the
grace of Christ. And this is one of the characteristics
of a true Christian. First Corinthians 1, 1 Peter
1, 6 and 8 uses this very word. the Christian as one who exceedingly
rejoices. And, of course, his joy was intensified
because not only had the sword of God's anger been turned from
his own neck, but turned from that of his household. Not only
has his guilt been pardoned, his danger and helplessness met
by the mighty work of Christ, but think of his joy to know
that his whole household was also in Jesus Christ. My friend, you cannot believe
on the Lord Jesus with any degree of intelligent faith and not
have some measure of holy joy. Some degree of holy joy that
sins are pardoned, that Christ is yours and that you are his. Now listen carefully. The measure
of your joy will be in direct proportion to the strength of
your faith. And if you have weak faith, you'll have little joy.
But remember, this joy was not something alien to faith. It
was the fruit of faith. That's why Paul says in Romans
15, 13, the God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in
believing. Now, you see, some of you got
it backwards. You say, well, I just can't believe the Lord
has accepted me till I get more joy. My friend, you ain't going
to get no more joy till you believe the promise of the gospel. You
don't wait for joy to come as an incentive to believe. You
believe to have joy. Now don't get the two mixed up.
The God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Why did he have such abounding
joy? Because he had such vigorous
faith. He believed on the Lord Jesus, plus nothing. He wasn't
looking within for the ground of his peace and his joy. He
was looking without in the almightiness and in the adequacy of the Savior.
As some of you are never going to know abounding joy until you
get your eyes off yourself and get them on the Savior. And as
you behold His ability to save the vilest, the weakest of sinners,
to keep the most vacillating of sinners, to preserve by His
grace the most stumbling, weak, faltering of sinners, it is casting
oneself upon the almightiness of the Savior. that brings holy
joy in its train. Well, I submit to you, these
are the indications that he truly believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Are these things the fruit of
your professed faith in the Savior? You see, the problem in evangelicalism
today, among many problems, is not so much And men are not preaching,
believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved. We don't
want to change that. That's the most accurate answer ever given
to the question, what must I do? My friend, we must ask a further
question. What is the fruit of true faith? What is the fruit
of true faith? These are the fruits, and if
the fruits are not there, you do not believe on the Lord Jesus.
And if you do not believe in the Lord Jesus, what are you
to do? Go out and radically reorder all your priorities? Start loving?
No, no, no, my friend. You've got to make the tree good
and then it's fruit good. I do not call upon you to reproduce
verses 32 to 34. I call upon you to take seriously
verse 31. If these holy fruits are not
there, it's because the root is not there. And you can't go
out and produce the fruit on nothing. You can't hang this
fruit on a sky hook. You've got to make the tree good.
And how is the tree made good? only by vital union with Jesus
Christ. And so I call upon you to seek
the Lord while he may be found, to call upon him while he's near,
to forsake your wicked ways and to return unto the Lord and child
of God, who's been able to say, thank you, Lord. I see that fruit. Lord, I see that. I see that. But who's also said, oh, God,
there needs to be so much more. Oh, child of God, listen. The
fruit will be born in direct proportion to the strength of
your faith. Don't forget that. You're not
going to produce more joy by working on your joy. You're not
going to produce more love to the brethren by simply trying
to crank up more love to the brethren. Feed more upon Christ. Believe more strongly upon Christ. Put more confidence in Christ. And then these holy fruits will
follow in their train. I call upon some of you who believe
but have not been baptized. I trust God will speak to you.
I call upon some of you who, because of well-meaning tradition,
have believed in the error that the application of water to an
unconscious infant is Christian baptism. Oh, I do not demean
the sincerity and the godliness of parents who baptize their
infants. I do not do so. Many have done
it with holy trembling in the presence of God. taking upon
themselves the awesome responsibility of rearing their children after
the pattern of the Word of God. Any here who were baptized as
infants, I do not say one slurring word about your dear parents.
And I'd say these things with no tongue in cheek. I mean them
sincerely. But listen, call no man master. Call no man master. The fact that your mother and
father were sincere, does that negate The Word of God which
clearly teaches that baptism is to be the conscious witness
of the disciple to his Lord. Ah, but my friend, listen, I
plead with you. Don't get angry. Don't get upset. Don't be hurt. Search the scriptures. Search the scriptures to see
whether these things are so. Well, we leave the Philippian
jailer. I trust that God will make these studies of rich profit
to us. You've been very patient this
morning. I know it's been hot. If you're hot, I'm three times
as hot working up here. But I trust amidst the heaviness
of the weather, the Lord has been pleased to at least give
some measure of buoyancy to our hearts through the preaching
of his own truth. Let us pray.