I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to a very familiar passage of
Scripture, Acts 16. Acts 16. I've spoken on this passage of
Scripture here numerous times. We've mentioned it often, but
my heart was drawn to Consider it again. I've entitled this
message, what must I do to be saved? The scripture bears out that
the Lord of glory, we're going to be looking at starting around
verse 16 of chapter 16, but the Lord had a vessel of his mercy. that was located in a city called
Philippi. And this vessel of his mercy
had a job. He was a jailer. He was a man
like all men and women born into this world. He was a spiritually
dead sinner, lost in trespasses and sins. But the Lord in his
infinite mercy and compassion was pleased to not leave this
sinner to himself to die in his sins. The Lord had ordained that
this jailer was going to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ preached to him because we know that the gospel is the
power of God unto salvation. So according to the good pleasure
of the Lord, God sent two preachers that were going to preach to
this jailer. But the way that the Lord ordained
for this meeting to take place was really amazing. While these
two preachers were in Philippi preaching the gospel. They'd
been preaching. Paul had gone down and he was
preaching on the edge of a river there with some women. They were
meeting to have a prayer meeting. And one of the women there was
named Lydia. Do you remember her? Let's look
at Lydia. She said she worshipped God.
She worshipped God the only way she knew how to worship God.
But she didn't know God. She was religious. Scripture
says the Lord opened her heart and she attended to the words
that were spoken by the Apostle Paul. But while they were there
in that area preaching, the scripture says that Paul had an encounter
with a young woman who was following him, and she was possessed of
an unclean spirit. Let's look at verses 16 to 18.
Came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with
a spirit of divination met us, which brought her master as much
gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us,
cried saying, these men, are the servants of the Most High
God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she
many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned
and said to the Spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ
to come out of her. And he came out the same hour."
Now you know that was an amazing thing. Was anything that that woman
said wrong in what she said? Was there anything wrong with
it? Not one thing. This is what she said. These
men are the servants of the Most High God, which show unto us
the way of salvation. Anything wrong with that? Nope.
Why did Paul rebuke that spirit that was in her? Because he would
not have everybody else Number one, she wasn't speaking out
of love for Paul, out of love for God. Paul the Apostle, moved
by the Spirit of God, was not going to have the people think
that this woman was associated with him. Next thing she would have done,
they would have said, well Paul, you know, Paul went along with
it, so obviously whatever she's doing is okay. He rebuked the
Spirit. But now, after that spirit was
rebuked and this young lady now, she was a money maker is what
she was for a group of spiritual hucksters and losing her meant
that these religious fellows now were out of some money. And these servants of God now
were unjustly arrested, falsely accused of being troublemakers. They were going to be beaten
and cast into prison as common criminals. Look at verses 19
to 24. When our masters saw that the hope of their gains were
gone, they caught Paul and Silas, drew them into the marketplace
unto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrates, saying,
These men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city. They teach
customs which are not lawful for us to perceive. neither to
observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up to
gather against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes,
and commanded to beat them. 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,
thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the
stocks." Now, when they, those two preachers. They were taken
unjustly. They were preaching the gospel,
faithful to the calling of the Lord, making sure that that woman
that was taken with the spirit of divination wasn't associated
with them. And people got mad, threw them
in jail, and the scripture says that while they were in jail,
People would have been treated like they were. They'd been beaten,
put in stocks. Most of them would have probably
been looking for a little time of relief, a little rest from
the trials of the day. And here's what the Scripture
says happened. Verse 25, And at midnight Paul
and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard
them. praising and thanking the Lord
for His mercy, even in bondage of prison. These guys were in
bondage, but they were bond slaves to the Lord. They had some shackles
hanging on to them, and they were in the most part, but these
are servants of the Most High God, and they were in subjection
to the Lord. Now, here they were, praising
God, thanking the Lord. You know, do you think that they
knew that the Lord had one of his own associated with that
prison? Do you think they knew that?
Probably not. But they knew that their imprisonment
was not by accident. They knew that, thanking the
Lord. They knew that the Lord worketh
all things. after the counsel of His own
will. And they didn't despise or doubt the Lord's good hand. Rather, they praised Him, thanked
Him for it, humbling themselves under the mighty hand of God
that the Lord might exalt them in due time. Here they were casting
all of their care upon the Lord because they knew He cared for
them. They knew that. And the prisoners
heard them. They heard them praising God. Whatever they were saying, I
can tell you this, they were thankful, consistent. And when the time of God's good
pleasure arrived to call that vessel of His mercy, this is
the reason that Paul and Silas was in that prison. God had a
sheep there, had one of His own there. that he everlastingly
loved. That Philippian jailer, he didn't
have a clue. He was going on his happy way,
covering his bases, had them in the innermost part of the
jail, you know, locked them up. And when it came time, the scripture
says in verse 26, and suddenly, there was a great earthquake,
so that the foundation of the prison Foundations were shaken
and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bands
were loosed. Now, this earthquake, it just
shook that building. And everybody that was in that
jail, all locked up, doors were closed, barred, All the doors
opened up. All the shackles fell off. And
he woke up that jailer too. Here was grace before grace. Almighty God just disrupting
everything that was going on. And here's the Lord. He's preparing
to wake up spiritually. this vessel of his mercy. He's going to wake him up to
his spiritual need. But first thing he did is woke
him up out of his sleep. It says, verse 27, and the keeper
of the prison, awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison
doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself,
supposing that the prisoners had been fled. He knew the consequences
of letting prisoner's escape. He had a fear and it was a justified
fear for his life. You know when Peter was delivered
by an angel of the Lord in Acts chapter 12, here's what the Word
of God says happened to those that were set as to watchers,
to guards, to watch over Peter. This is what it says, Acts 12,
19. And when Herod had sought for
him, that is for Peter, and found him not, he examined the keepers
and commanded them that they should be put to death. What
was the penalty for letting a prisoner escape? You're going to die. Well, this jailer, he knew. He saw those prison doors open. When he saw those doors open,
what do you think he thought? They're gone. They're gone. You
know, what do you think, naturally speaking, what do you think a
prisoner is going to do if the doors fly open? I'm out of here. Well,
according to the good pleasure of God, Paul the apostle seeing
what was taking place. Verse 28 says, But Paul cried
with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all
here. The Lord providentially protected
that jailer, that vessel of his mercy From those, even in authority,
he powerfully kept everyone there. Nobody moved. We're all here. Don't do yourself no harm. Do
thyself no harm. And let me ask you this. Truly,
when it comes right down to it, is this not the cry of a faithful
preacher to hell-deserving sinners? Preachers earnestly preaching
the gospel to everyone, telling everyone, do thyself no harm.
Come to Christ. Do thyself no harm. Why will
you die? Why will you die? It's in Ezekiel.
Now this jailer, made sensitive to the wonder and the marvel
of what is taking place, sensitive to the seriousness of the matter,
seriousness of his need. He shows some respect. Now, and
here's evidence of something that the Lord has done for him.
Before, what was his attitude toward Paul and Silas? They're
criminals. That's been proven as far as
he's concerned. They went before the magistrates, the magistrates
beat them. The magistrates told us, you
put these guys in jail, You make sure that they stay there. Put
them in the innermost part, darkest part. Lock them up. They're not getting away. Well,
scripture says in verse 29, He called for a light and sprang
in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas. Here he's doing what he's doing
because the Lord has shown him something. Something has happened.
Here's a man that God Almighty is dealing with. And he comes
down and he falls down before him and he asks him in verse
30. He brought him out and he said, Sirs, what must I do to
be saved. This sinner wasn't concerned
anymore with having to deal with the local authorities. He was
moved by reverence and fear of God. And he asked in the best
way he could. This is what the Saul of Tarsus
asked. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus
of Nazareth whom you're persecuting. Now what do you ask? Lord, what
would you have me do? What would you have me to do?
I know, I know, there's no doubt in this mind,
my mind, your mind, you that know Him. I know that every believer
knows that There's nothing that any man, any woman in themselves
can do in order to merit their salvation or require salvation
by their works. But the Apostle Paul didn't tell
him. He said, well, there's nothing
you can do. No, he didn't. But we know that. I know that.
You know that. But he answered him. He answered him. He answered. The Lord answered Saul of Tarsus.
Lord, what would you have me to do? He said, go into a city. It will be shown you. The Lord
answered him. And here the apostle Paul answered
him. Sirs, and again, he's asking
the only way he knows how. What do I do? Well, I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble here. What must
I do to be saved? That's my concern. He didn't
ask them, how did y'all not, why did y'all not go? Why didn't
y'all run? Didn't you see you had a moment?
Do you realize you lost y'all time? That's not what he asked
them. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? This is the question. This is the question. What must
I do to be saved? And Paul answered, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen, in these closing
moments, I just want to make a few comments and I pray that
the Lord bless them because I know, I know this. I have no ability
to be able to impart life. I don't. I don't have it. I'm here. to proclaim the Word
of God. And I know this, if the Lord's
pleased to bless it, to the salvation of a sinner, to the encouragement
of his people, it's going to be the Lord. I know that. But
I'm going to try to be as simple as I can. And I'm going to just
say, What is it that Paul said? What did he say? Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. What does that mean? Tell me exactly what it means. Salvation is a person. Salvation is a person. I know how we think. It's an
event. It's the state of being. That's
right. There's no doubt about it. Salvation
is in a person, for salvation is a person. You know what Simeon
said? He held the Lord Jesus, that
baby. Mary brought him in there. Lord, receive thy servant. Mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. He was looking at a baby. And
by the Spirit of God's revelation, he knew who that was. Believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ is to trust Him alone for salvation. What does that mean? That means
we don't trust, we don't trust in our faith. We don't trust in a time past. Well, I was saved, I remember.
It was July the 4th. around four o'clock in the afternoon.
And I was there and I remembered how to... You're looking back to a point
in time now. That's what you're looking at.
Salvation is not in our baptism. I was baptized. I was baptized. I remember. It's not in our faithfulness
to attend services. It's not in our faithfulness
to read our Bibles or to continue in prayer. All of these proceed
as evidences in a believer of salvation. These are all evidences,
but these evidences of life are found to be in a believer because
God has given them life and God has given them faith to believe
on Him and to trust nothing else, nothing else. I don't trust anything
else. I can't trust in my feelings.
There's times I feel so unfaithful. I feel so, do I know the Lord? Do I, let me ask you something. Here's an honest confession.
Do I truly believe what I'm preaching? Do I truly believe this? Lord,
I believe, help my non-belief. Lord, help me to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ is to cleave to, adhere to, trust and rely
on him alone. If I know Him, I know Him by
grace alone apart from anything else. I have no confidence in
my flesh. I have no confidence in my ability
to maintain, to establish or maintain salvation. I have nothing
but Him. To believe Him, to believe on
Him is by the grace of God. But before I can believe on Him, Scripture reveals that I have
got to hear about Him. Now listen, I'm telling you,
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, hold your place and turn
to Romans 10. To believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ is not to hear. It's not to hear about this Jesus
that people are talking about that died for everybody's sins.
Scripture refutes that. That's not true. The Lord said
in John 10, 15, I lay down my life for these sheep. And some
Pharisees said, how long are you going to make us to doubt?
Tell us plainly. He said, I told you plainly and you don't believe.
You believe not because you're not of my sheep. I know that
God has a sheep, but to hear about a Jesus that died for everybody
when the Lord said, I didn't, I didn't. Now who am I going
to believe? Who am I going to believe? A man that lies? John 10, 15, I laid down my life
for the sheep, for the sheep. The Lord said in John 17 verse
9 concerning the world. He said, I don't pray for the
world. I pray for those that the Father has given me out of
the world. Now who am I going to believe?
I'm going to believe God. I'm going to believe God. If
somebody asks me, does Jesus love everybody? I'll say, according
to the Word of God, no. How do you know? Because the
Lord said, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. God's angry
with the wicked every day. Now what do we do? Here's what
we do. One of two things. We either
believe Him or we don't believe Him. That's pretty simple. Now what
am I going to do? By the grace of God, I'm going
to believe Him. I'm going to believe Him. Now here's the thing. For me to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, I've got to hear about him. I gotta hear about
who he is. If I ask you, how many of you
here know and love and appreciate John Van Lankendonk? You say, well, I don't know him.
I don't know him. Is he a good guy? Is he a bad
guy? Is he a criminal? Is he a judge? Who is he? I don't
know him. How many people believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Here's
what an honest man will say, who is he? That's what Paul asked,
who are you? Romans 10 verse 13, 17. Whosoever shall call upon the
name, the character of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except
they be sent, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things? But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath
believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. You know how you're gonna know
who Jesus Christ is? is by these scriptures being
faithfully proclaimed, telling you this is what the scripture
says. The Lord Jesus, this is who He
is. This is what He has said about Himself. So you tell me
who He is. So here we are, we come together
twice a week and it's the responsibility of a God called pastor to expound
these scriptures and to set forth Christ. You must, I must hear who He
is. And believing on Him is not according
to man's ability or will. The Scripture says all men have
not faith. You tell men, say, well, just
exercise your faith. Well, here's what I'm going to
tell you. I'm going to tell you what God said. All men have not
faith. Well, how do they get it? How
do they get it? Without faith, it's impossible.
Please, God, how do I get it? For unto you it's given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, to entrust and
commit yourself to him, but also to suffer for him. It's given
to you. It's given to you. Lord, let me tell you what, in
my heart, this is why I say, Lord, give me faith to believe
you. Lord, keep me. Lord, don't cast
me out. You said, him that cometh to
you, you would in no wise cast out. Let me tell you what a believer
says. Lord, don't cast me away. David said this, take not thy
spirit from me. Somebody says, well, you know
the Lord's not going to do that. I know that. But I'm going to
tell you something, I'm going to ask. Lord, keep me. Lord,
help me. When the Lord Jesus was being
followed by many of his disciples in John 6, he told them, he said,
it's the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. He said, the words that I speak,
they are spirit and they are life. This is John 6, 63 to 66. They're spirit and they're life.
But he said, but there's some of you that believe not. For
Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believe not
and who should betray him. And he said, therefore, said
I unto you, that no man can come, no man has the ability to come
unto me except it were given unto him of my father. And from
that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him. Would he proclaim his sovereignty? When he said, my
father has the right to call or he has the right to leave
one to himself. And knowing that's so, what's
a believer say? Lord, call me. Somebody said,
well, He's already called you. I know that. Call me again. Lord,
I come. Well, you've already come to
Him. I know that, but He that cometh to me. This is what a
believer does. He believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ, entrusting themselves to Him, casting themselves upon
His mercy, and they come, and they come, and they come. And
they don't ever stop coming. How long are they going to come?
Until God calls them home. That's how long they're coming.
Lord, I come. It was found that a lot of them
that were following the Lord heard Him proclaim His sovereignty,
God's sovereignty. They didn't stay anymore. That's
a hard saying. And they walked no more with
Him. The Scripture sets forth that
all those that the Lord's called, given life, given faith, they
stay. They stay. Why do they stay? Because they're kept by the power
of God through faith, ready to be revealed in the last time. Anyone who says, I believe him,
I trust him, and then they leave, it wasn't true faith. The gifts of God are without
repentance. What does that mean? God doesn't
give faith and take it away from him. That's what he's saying.
He who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ in closing, he desires
no honor for himself. He desires that only the Lord
receive the glory. For the believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ, this is what they say. It's salvation by grace. It's through faith in him alone. Not in him in my works, not in
him in my, no. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Believing on Him settles my heart. Believing on Him, He is my acceptance
with God. He's all of my hope, all of my
peace, all of my comfort. The Scriptures bears out that
all that the Father chose, this is Ephesians 1-4, all that the
Father chose, He chose in Christ before the foundation of the
world, that they should be holy and without blame before Him
in love. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world according to covenant mercy, covenant grace,
He came into this world and bore the guilt, the sins of His people.
That's what He said. I lay down my life for the sheep. And when it pleases God, a time
of love just like it was for that Philippian jailer right
there. When it pleases God, I'll tell you what's going to happen.
The Lord's going to put us under the sound of the gospel. That's
what he's going to do. He came to where that jailer
was. He sent two preachers there. He sent two preachers. Boy, you
talk about grace. The Lord sent a preacher to tell
me the truth. I was in Louisiana just doing just fine. And God
sent a preacher. And I heard the truth. And the
Lord, by His grace, was pleased to bless it. And when He blessed
it, He called me to Himself. It was then I realized, salvation
is of the Lord. All that the Lord has chosen,
Christ redeemed. Time of love comes. Spirit of
God is going to cross the path of that vessel. And He's going
to call them. And guess what? They're coming.
They're coming. They're coming. All that the
Father giveth me shall come. They shall come. And him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. I pray the Lord bless
this. What must I do to be saved? Here was the answer. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. To His glory
and our good. Amen.