Good morning. I invite your attention to the
Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16. Acts, chapter 16. I am always blessed to be here. You folks have been so hospitable
and gracious to me for so many years. In fact, our relationship
began in 1984 and you've been such dear friends. We were young
once, Bob. My text is found in Acts chapter
16, verse 30. And my text is also my theme,
what must I do to be saved? This was the question from a
Philippian jailer, and he asked it to his prisoners. must I do to be saved? I wish I could hear men and women
asking that question. I wish I could. I wish that there
was a concern from people for salvation. How blessed is that creature
who hears someone say, What must I do to be saved? Now, what kind of man would ask
this question? First of all, observe that this
question is asked from one who is divinely blessed. He was blessed
by God in having sent a gospel preacher to him. Now we know
this because he asked, what must I do to be saved? He asked for
salvation. If he asked for salvation, he
knew his need for salvation. If he knew his need for salvation,
he had heard the gospel. If he'd heard the gospel, there
was a preacher in the neighborhood. And if there was a preacher in
the neighborhood, God had sent him. This man was blessed. This man was blessed to have
a preacher sent to him when God had not permitted others to have
a preacher. In verse 6 of our 16th chapter,
when Paul and Silas had gone through Phrygium, And the region
of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach
the word in Asia. Forbidden. Consider that. The
Holy Spirit forbade them to preach in a certain place. And after
they had come to Messiah, they tried to go into Bithynia, but
the Spirit did not permit them. Have you noticed how few and
far between are churches and pastors preaching the gospel? Have you observed that in many
places there is no one preaching the gospel? People say, well,
shame on you folks for not putting churches there. Have you ever
considered that sometimes God forbids the gospel to be preached
in places? in divine judgment? Have you
ever considered that if you have ever heard the gospel, God was
merciful to you and sent a preacher? This man was blessed. The same
spirit who said to Paul and Silas, do not go to those places, sent
a vision to Paul, a man of Macedonia, and said, come over and help
us. How blessed you are if the Holy
Spirit sends a vision to Christ's minister and says, go to that
place. And that's why we go to places. The Spirit of God calls us and
leads us and shows us we need to go to the place. The vision
appeared to them. You can read about it in verse
number nine. come over to Macedonia and help us. And so after Paul
had seen the vision, he immediately sought to go to Macedonia, concluding
that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to him. So
here he goes. Why? Why did Paul go to Macedonia? Because there's a man there who
needs to hear the gospel. He's a jailer. And so the Lord's
going to send a gospel preacher to him. And so we read in verse
11 that, therefore, sailing from Troas across the Aegean Sea,
we set a straight course to Samothrace. Then we came to Neapolis, meaning
New Town, and from there to Philippi. the foremost city of that part
of Macedonia, and we stayed there for some days. Why did they stay
for a few days? Because the Lord did not tell
them to leave. They were going wherever the
Lord told them to go. They did not go where the Lord
said, do not go. But here they stay a few days.
And it comes time for the Sabbath. And so Paul says evidently to
some people in town, Do you have any Jews in this city, and where
do they meet? Well, they meet down by the river.
So you can read it. They went down to the river and
found some ladies, Jewish ladies. They've come for prayer. Evidently,
they have no rabbi, no speaker, and Paul sat down with them. And evidently, they asked him
to say a word, and he did, and he declared the gospel And a
strange thing happened. Look in verse 14. The Lord opened
the heart of a woman to heed the things spoken by Paul. You will never believe the things
I preach to you until the Lord opens your heart. He'll have
to do it. The Lord opened her heart to
heed the things spoken by Paul. She followed her Lord in baptism.
and then constrained Christ's ministers to stay a few days
with her. So they do. They stay a few days
with her because there's still a man in that city who needs
to hear the gospel. He's a jailer. It just so happens that there
is a woman with the spirit of divination, a fortune teller,
if you will, and she follows these preachers through town.
And she says, these men declared to us the way of God. But she's
doing it for profit. She's doing it to bring monetary
gain to her masters. And Paul just turned around and
rebuked the spirit. Did not rebuke the lady. He rebuked
the spirit and said, come out of her. And the spirit did. So
therefore now, this woman is of no use to her masters. She
no longer has that spirit of fortune telling. And so these
people in religion, now that their means of making a living
is gone, they have the gospel preachers arrested. They take
the men before the magistrates and here are the ministers of
the gospel and stripped of their clothing and beaten with rods. and thrown into a prison. The jailer is brought evidently
to the courtroom. He hears the charges that are
made against the preachers. The prisoners are delivered into
his care. He takes them, and the Bible
says he thrusts them roughly into the inner prison and then
goes home. evidently sleeping on the compound.
He probably is a retiree from the military. Jailers usually
were hard, austere, seasoned men. He's probably on pension
now, and he's keeping the jail there in Philippi. He probably
is sleeping on the compound. And that night, Paul and Silas
are singing praises to God, reading the scriptures and singing the
psalms and hymns. He's heard. He cannot help but
hear at least some of what they're saying. He's on the compound,
but finally he goes to sleep. Paul and Silas, there in that
inner cell of that jail, Singing praise to that not remember remember
they've been beaten and their backs are sore and they're bloodied
But they're singing praise to God Be enough to make you want
to quit wouldn't it Not these men Because there is
someone who needs to hear the gospel and So they're going to
preach it there from prison. I And they did. And guess what happens? This
man is blessed by God to be awakened from his sleep by an act of God. Look in verse 26. Suddenly there was a great earthquake. What is an earthquake? Well, governments and insurance
companies call them acts of God. At least they're still allowed
to say so thus far. An act of God. Why is that? Because
we do not know how else to explain it. It's an act of God. And it
is. It is. An earthquake. God sent this. There is an earthquake,
it is an act of God, and this man is awakened from his physical
sleep. Not only is he awakened from
his physical sleep, he's awakened from his spiritual sleep because
he's dead in trespasses and in sins. And any time you are awakened
from your physical sleep, it is an act of God. It is an earthquake
in your spirit and this man has been awakened and the new birth
has come upon him. He's been awakened, folks. God
has done a work, a work of grace and quaked this man in his very
soul and spirit. He's awakened. Furthermore, he
was blessed by God to have his prison opened and his feet unshackled. Again, look in verse 26. And
immediately all the doors, now I emphasize to you, all the doors
were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. Everyone's. Every door in that place was
opened. Not only the doors to the cells
in that jail, but also the door in the house of that jailer. Everyone's chains were loosed.
Not only the physical chains on the prisoners, but the spiritual
chains on the jailer. He's in chains. He's in chains
as much as anyone else in there. They're wearing physical chains.
He's wearing spiritual chains. And in act of God, they're gone. They're broken. Every man's chains
were loosed. All the doors were opened. Christ
now has fulfilled his promise to come and to proclaim liberty
to the captives, except that the captive here is not in the
prison. He's in the warden's house. to
proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison
to those who were bound to set at liberty those who are oppressed.
Folks, our Lord did that to the jailer, opened his doors and
released his chains. This man was blessed by God to
realize that he was worthy of death. And you are blessed if
you ever come to see that you are worthy of death. He considered
himself worthy of physical death because under Roman law, if you
ever let a prisoner escape, because you were responsible, you paid
with your life. Some of you perhaps have been
in the military and you may know that in time of war, that military
policeman, if he's ever given responsibility over A POW, a
prison of war, it is solemn. You better not let that man get
away. And here is this man, and he
realizes that under Roman law, if his prisoner gets loose, he
pays with his life. You can read that in Acts chapter
12, when Peter was brought out of prison. Take him out and kill
him. You've got gospel preachers in
that prison, folks. They're dangerous criminals. Let him go and you'll pay with
your life. So he draws his sword. He knows he's worthy of death. Furthermore, this man has been
blessed to see the sword of God's wrath aimed at his very heart. He's worthy of death. not only
from the hand of his government, but from the hand of God. If
he's been awakened, he knows he's a sinner. If he knows he's
a sinner, he knows he deserves to die. And seeing the sword
of divine wrath aimed at his very heart, he draws his own
sword and is about to fall upon it. He's blessed, furthermore,
to be kept from death by God's preachers, blessed to be kept
from self-destruction. Paul, look in verse 28, called
with a loud voice saying, do yourself no harm. I'm going to
tell you something, folks. If a preacher of religion is
arrested and put in prison He probably would be delighted if
his jailer would commit suicide and kill himself. A preacher
in religion would take pleasure in that, but not God's preacher.
Not God's preacher. Do yourself no harm. We are diligent
to obey our master's requirement to love your enemies and bless
those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you.
We are diligent to obey our Master's requirements to deliver those
who are drawn toward death and hold back those stumbling toward
the slaughter. Proverbs 24, verse 11. Paul and
Silas look up and they see that man and he's about to fall on
his sword. And they said, no, no, no! Do
yourself no harm. Furthermore, He was blessed by
God to learn from God's preachers that they do not run from adverse
conditions. They did not run. Paul and Silas
said, we are all here. We have not left. We are all
here. But sir, your prison doors are
open. Yeah. Your chains are released. Yes, they are. You couldn't have
fled. Yes, we could. Why did you not? We endure all things for the
elect's sake. And we believe there is an elect
man in this compound this night. And so we did not leave. We're
here. We're here, Mr. Jailer. You need
a gospel preacher. Here we are. God is saving his
elect from spiritual perils. And he enables his preachers
to endure physical perils in order to bring them to Christ. If remaining in jail will result
in the saving one of God's elect, then let us do it. Let us do
it. That's Paul and Silas speaking.
We're here. We're here. We have not fled. Furthermore, observe that this
question is from one who uses all means employable by him. Look in verse 29. He called for
illumination. This man wants to have illumination. He called for a light. He needed
physical light to dispel the darkness, the physical darkness
around him. But he needed spiritual light
in order to see the means of salvation God would put in front
of him. He will take advantage of every
means that he can in order to have spiritual enablement
with regard to his salvation. He called for a light and he
found that light. He found that light in Jesus
Christ who says, I have come as a light to the world. I tell
you, sinner, in your darkness, if you call for light, Christ
will come. He will. You call for light in
your darkness, you will receive the best light there is. Jesus
Christ himself will come and show you illumination, show you
the way of salvation. He says, I am the light of the
world, and he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but
have the light of life, and the jailer is proof. The jailer is
proof. Furthermore, he hastened for
salvation. Look in verse 29 again. He ran
in. Ran in. He wasted no time. He's heard some good news. Do
yourself no harm. We're here. He's heard some good
news. When Jesus walked into Jericho,
he's looking for Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus has climbed up
into a tree because he's short of stature. He's unable to see
Jesus. Jesus walked up to the tree where
Zacchaeus was. And what did he say? Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down. Make haste. All sinners. If you ever come to Christ, do
not dawdle along the way. Come to Christ and come now,
come as quickly as you can. This man ran in. Listen, folks,
this is good news. He finally has heard some good
news and he's going to run in. He ran in just so excited. He ran in. He did not procrastinate. He did not dawdle along the way.
And then furthermore, look again in verse 29, he humbled himself
in God's sight. Then he fell down trembling before
Paul and Silas. He had with steady hand before
time shackled his prisoners. Come here, prisoner. Put these
on. And with steady hand had shackled
his prisoners. But now, with trembling body,
he bows before them. He with this act was not revering
them, else they would have told him to stand up. God's preachers
will not be worshipped. We will not be adored, respected,
yes, but not worshipped. But here is a man who has finally
come to learn, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and
he will lift you up. I'm going to tell you this, my
friend. The Lord will never lift you
up in salvation until you are abased in your depravity and
realize it. This man humbled himself in God's
sight. And he did it before ministers
of the gospel. And consider something else.
He treated God's ministers with respect in verse number 30. And
he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now, when he was still in his
lost condition, he had treated them with great disrespect. He
earlier had thrust them into the inner prison. Now he kindly
ushers them out. He formally addressed them as
prisoners, and now he kindly addresses them as sirs. He formally barked orders at
them, and now he implores that they tell him what he must do. He said, let me tell you what
you're going to do. when he took them into prison. And now he
says, you tell me what to do. What must I do? What must I do? Furthermore, consider that he
manifested godly sorrow in verse 30 when he said, what must I
do to be saved? Here is that godly sorrow that
produces repentance, leading to salvation and not to be regretted. Oh, what diligence it produced
in you. What clearing of yourselves,
what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal,
what vindication. What must I do to be saved? Here,
sirs, is a blank check. You fill in the amount, I'll
pay it. Here, sirs, is a to-do list. You fill it in and I'll
do it. What must I do? Anything. Everything. You tell me, I'll
do it. I'll do it. Observe that this question is
from one who realizes that his idols can do nothing to save
him. Now, he is assumedly a Roman citizen. He knew all the gods
of Rome. I could recite some of their
names to you, but these gods are as worthless as their names,
so what's the use? He lived in a Greek place, and
he was familiar with the gods of the Greeks around him. The
gods of the Greeks were the same as the gods of the Romans, only
had different names, and just as worthless. This man probably
had worshiped one, two, three, four, maybe a dozen, maybe many
of them. They had many, a god for this and a god for that.
Now he realizes that they're not going to do him any good.
He has worshiped the gods of Rome and of Greece, but now he
says to the gospel preachers, I still need to be saved. What
must I do to be saved? He knew his gods could not help
him. Oh, sinner, listen to me carefully. Listen. You have tried all the
gods of this world, the god of free will, The God of works,
the God of merit, the gods of this and the gods of that, and
the gods of the sect, and the god of a denomination, and the
god of a church, and you've tried about every god there is. Now
do you realize that you still need to be saved? The gods won't
work, folks. What must I do to be saved? He
realized. No God could save him. That is
the God of his neighbors. And here's a question that is
given a gracious answer from God's ministers. He said he asked,
what must I do to be saved? Now, I want you to listen very
carefully. Here's the answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you will be saved. Now, notice this very, very,
very carefully. He asked, what must I do to be
saved? They did not tell him something
to do in order to be saved. Well, they told him to believe.
That is true. That is true. But to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ is not to do something to be saved,
but rather to believe in Him who already has done it. Christ
did it. Christ did it. God's ministers
will point you away from yourself and will point you to Jesus Christ
alone. If there was any hope of salvation
in you, you would have no need of Him. If there was something
you could do for salvation, there would have been no need for Him
to do it all. So therefore, when you ask, what
must I do to be saved? There's nothing you can do to
be saved. Nothing you can do. You can do
this and you can do that and you can do the other. No, no,
no. Will not work. Christ did it all, every bit
of it, did it all. Now trust in him. Trust in him. Believe in Him. That is, seize
from your works. Stop your working. Stop doing
this and stop doing that, but trust Him. Lean on Him. We point you away from yourself.
We point you to that one who was born under the law and fulfilled
it in its every jot and tittle. We point you to one who accomplished
the work of salvation. We point you to one who in his
dying breath shouted in glorious victory, it is finished. What
is finished? The work of salvation. Every
bit of it, it's finished! Now quit looking to yourself
and anything you can do and look to Him. Right now, look to Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Seize trusting in your vain idols. Seize trusting in your futile
obedience to the law. Seize your worthless works of
righteousness. Put your faith and hope and trust
and belief in Jesus Christ. I approach it, that just seems
too simple. Simple? It's the hardest thing
you'll ever do. Hardest thing because it's contrary
to your nature. It's contrary to whom and what
you think you are. You mean to tell me that I don't
have anything to do with my salvation? That's right. He did it all. He did it all. You mean I have
to trust in someone else and not in me? That's right. Trust
in him and him alone. Believe. It's the hardest thing
you'll ever do. And unless God be willing to
give you the faith, you cannot do it. This is the work of God
that you believe on the name of his son. This question is
the most important query an awakened sinner will ever ask. What must
I do to be saved? I wish I could hear that question
this morning. I hope, I pray, that God this
morning might put an earthquake in your soul. I pray that God might awaken
you out of your sleep, open the doors to your prison, and knock the shackles off your
body. Oh, that you might be blessed
to see the sword of divine wrath aimed at your heart. Oh, that
you might come to the very end of yourself and realize there's
nothing you can do. Nothing. And yet you would if
you could. Oh, that you might run to a gospel
preacher and run to no one else. Leave your idols. And if you'll come to a gospel
preacher and ask him, sir, what must I do to be saved? I'll tell
you what he'll say. And I'll say it for him. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Believe. I've been doing that every day
of my life. Since 1975, when the Lord awakened
me, been believing in him every day, been saved every day by
this great Savior, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I
pray that you will.