This is the incident that took
place, and most of you will remember the context. The Apostle Paul
and Silas had come to Philippi and had preached the gospel,
and Lydia was converted. The Lord opened her heart and
saved her. And then Paul and Silas was being followed by this
woman that had a spirit of divination. She began to say in a very loud
voice, these men show unto us the way of salvation. These are
the servants of the Most High God. And Paul was finally so
grieved that he turned and cast the devil out of this woman.
And when these men who owned her were making a lot of money
by her antics, saw that Paul had cast the devils out of her,
they were furious. The hope of their gain was gone.
They'd have to go get a real job. So they got so angry with
the apostle Paul and Silas that they brought them before these
rulers of the city, who without any justification, without any
authority at all, laid many stripes on them, and then took them here
to this jailer and instructed him to hold them fast, to keep
them fast. And he of his own accord, thrushed
them, threw them in the back chambers of the prison. And not
only put them there in the back chamber, but the scripture says
that he put them in stocks. There they were, their backs
were bleeding. They were no doubt in an awful, awful condition.
And instead of washing their backs, or at least leaving them
where they would be more comfortable, he put them in stocks. Bound
them in the stocks. And then at midnight, the apostles
Paul and Silas in verse 25, they were there praying and singing
praises to God. And it says the prisoners heard
them, but it's evident that God also was listening. And He sent
an earthquake, shook the prison. And you know it's a strange thing
what happened. Sometimes when you have an accident
in a car, impact, a shaking, the doors
are basically jammed. You and I have seen them when
they had crashes and they had to cut the doors off. And you
would have thought if the foundations of the prison were shaken, the
doors would have been jammed, they couldn't get out, but the
doors flew open. But not only that, the cuffs,
the stocks were open. Not only the stocks that they
were in, but all the handcuffs were open. Now the earthquake
didn't do that. That was an unseen hand that
did that, not an earthquake. But the prisoners were loose,
the doors were open, and this man, this jailer, he was ready
to kill himself. He took a sword and was ready
to take his own life, to commit suicide. And then Paul hollered
at him and said, Do yourself no harm. We're all here. And then he came trembling, he
sprang in in verse 29, and he came trembling and fell down
before the apostle Paul in silence. And he brought them out and said,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. What
must I do to be saved? What a solemn question that is. I don't know of a question that
you could find in the Scripture that was more solemn than this.
What must I do to be saved? And the question itself reveals
something of this man's condition, that he knew that he was lost. The question itself at least
implies that, doesn't it? Now, somebody might say, this
man was startled that he was confused, he was awakened out
of his sleep, that he was misrepresented or misjudged his condition. He misrepresented the condition
that he was in. He was a confused man. And we
shouldn't believe what he said. But we have two apostles, or
one apostle in this great preacher here, these two men of God, and
they were of sound mind. They were of sound judgment,
and they agreed with this man that he was indeed a lost man. Not only the question he asked
says that, but the answer that they give tells us that they
agreed with him that he was indeed lost, because they said, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. So the question
and the answer reveals that this man was in a state of unbelief. That was his whole problem. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is telling us that he was
not a believer, and therefore that he was lost, that he was
unregenerated, and that he was in this fearful condition. What must I do to be saved? You
know the Lord Jesus often uses this word We've had people to
tell us that we shouldn't use the word lost. I had a man to
tell me one time, you shouldn't use that word lost. I don't know
if he thought it was outdated, if he thought it was too awakened,
that it stirred up questions in a person's mind, but the Lord
Jesus often used this word. The Son of Man is come to seek
and to save that which was lost. That's a Bible concept. That's
a Bible word. And in that famous parable in
Luke chapter 15 that tells us of the lost sheep and the lost
coin and the prodigal son, the lost son, five times in that
parable the Lord uses this very word that this man used. He says
five times, the first time he said, What man of you, having
done a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does not leave the
ninety and nine, and go after that one which was lost until
he finds it? And then the woman that lost
a piece of the coin, the Scripture says she lit a candle and searched
until she has found it, and then she calls together her friends
and her neighbors and says, Rejoice with me, for I have found that
piece which I lost. It's a Bible word. And then you
go on to the son during that same parable, and when he returned
home, the father says of him, My son was dead, and is alive
again, he was lost, and now he is found. And he says again to
the son, that self-righteous son who stayed home, he says,
should we not rejoice and make merry? For your brother which
was dead is alive, and your brother which was lost is found again. So that is a word that is used. It is a concept that is taught
in the Scriptures. And what is that? What does it
mean to be lost? Let me just tell you these three
things. And I think the question, the
question here itself, what must I do to be saved, reveals his
lost condition. And it's a fearful condition. To be lost means that one is
in a state of unbelief. He does not believe God. There
is no saving faith in his heart, never has believed the Lord,
and at present does not believe Him. And therefore, since he
is in a state of unbelief, he is subject to perish. Listen
to what the Master said. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of God, the Son of Man,
be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have life eternal. If those who believe shall not
perish, then those who believe not are ready to perish. They
are in a state where they are ready to perish. And Isaiah chapter
27 verse 13 says this, It shall come to pass that the great trumpet
shall be blown, and those shall come which were ready to perish. ready to perish. What is it to
be lost? It means that lost person is
ready to perish. Ready to perish. Until a person
comes to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he has no scriptural
grounds to be anything but fearful. Because until we believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, we're lost. We're lost. And secondly, what
does it mean to be lost? It means we are condemned. It
means we are guilty before God. Listen to this in John 3.18.
He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. To be lost means that we stand
guilty before God. David said, Lord, if you should
mark iniquity, who can stand? Nobody can stand before God.
None of us here can stand before God. He's holy. He's just. He's right. And if He marks our
iniquity, then we're guilty. And we cannot stand before Him. I think sometimes if you've ever
been in a courtroom, if you feel the same way I do about being
in a courtroom, there's something about being in a courtroom. I
can even watch these trials on TV, and it makes me very anxious. And I have sat there, and the
judge looked at me and said, Mr. Crabtree, you're guilty.
If you've never had a judge to tell you that, it's a fearful
thing. And we've said, and watched just
on TV, when they bring in the verdict and the judge looks at
the jury and he says, he says, have you reached a verdict? And
that foreman stands up and he says, we of the jury find the
defendant guilty. I mean, that's a solemn thing.
I've seen them scream out. I've seen them pass out. Guilty. What does it mean to be lost?
It means God declares us guilty. We are condemned before God in
a state of unbelief. What does it mean to be lost?
Thirdly, it means the wrath of God is upon that person. I can't get around that. I have
some very dear friends that can't see this, but I cannot not see
it. Here it is, listen to this in
John chapter 3 and verse 36. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. The wrath of God. That word,
abideth, means it rests there. It is ever hanging over his head. Somebody said that God is either
a man's best friend or he is the man's worst enemy. And without
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, God's wrath is upon that individual. To be an unbeliever, to be lost,
means that we are condemned, that we are ready to perish under
the wrath of God. And that's the most dreadful
and the most fearful condition one could be in. And therefore,
this is a solemn question. What must I do to be saved? And you know, if there's a remedy
for such a condition, if there's an answer to this question, and
it's a truthful answer, then that's got to be one of the most
blessed answers that a person could ever imagine. Can a lost
man be saved? Can I, a lost individual, be
saved? And if somebody can tell you
how to be saved from a perishing state, from being guilty before
God, and delivered from the wrath of God, brothers and sisters,
that's got to be one of the most blessed answers that a miserable
sinner could ever hear. What must I do? Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. But notice the nature. That's
what it is to be lost, and it means a lot more than that. I
realize that, but there are three things it means to be lost. But
notice the nature of this lost state, this lost condition. A person may be lost and in this
condition and not be conscious of it. It is most fearful that a
person can be in this condition, but what makes it even more fearful
A man or a woman may be in this condition and not even be conscious
of it. And we see that here in verse
27 with this man. Paul and Silas was here in this
prison, and at midnight they were praying and they were singing
praises to God. They were worshiping. You can
imagine what they were saying in the prayer. You can imagine
what they were singing. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound, that saved a wretch like me." And these prisoners, the
Holy Spirit said, heard them. They were listening to them.
But this gentleman wasn't listening. He was sound asleep. It took
an earthquake to wake this man up. He was lost, and he slept
while these preachers prayed. and while they sing praises to
God. And that's the nature of this
lost condition. A man may be lost and not be
conscious of it, even sleep while men worship and preach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. A man may say, if I was in such
a bad condition as you've described, and my case was that desperate,
surely my heart would be alarmed. Surely my conscience would arouse
and awaken me, but that's the nature of this condition. It's
like a cancer that's slowly and secretly eating away at a vital
organ, and a man doesn't know it until it's too late for the
remedy. That's what it's like. The heart
is not alarmed because the heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked. The heart depresses any thought
of being lost. If it ever begins to think in
that direction, that I'm lost, what does it do? It depresses
that thought. It shifts that thought to some
worldly thing, a worldly pleasure, or some worldly desire. And the
devil himself, hating the soul and desires that it should continue
in this dreadful state, deceives the soul and blinds the mind. Listen to what the Apostle Paul
says. If our gospel be hid, it's hid to those who are lost. They're lost, but their lost
condition is hid to them as well as the gospel is hid from them.
And how is it hid in whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of God." How many people, brothers and sisters, live in
this world, and they are lost, and they do not give a thought
to it. The onion used to say there are
people that live in this world, and their own hearts have so
deceived them. as to their lost condition. And Satan has so blinded
their eyes that he'll take the fire of hell to awaken them. The first time in their life
that they realize that they're lost when the fire of hell awakens
them. And then, and not until then,
they will awake and begin to cry, have mercy upon me. You
as a man, we see that end. And that's the nature of this
lost condition. The natural man won't face the
reality of it. It's too dreadful to think about.
Who will awaken himself, knowing what it means to be lost, and
say, Oh, my soul, I'm ready to perish. Oh, my soul, I'm guilty
before God. Oh, my soul, I'm under God's
wrath. Who will awaken to that? It takes
God to awaken a man. I know he don't send earthquake,
somebody waiting for God to come down with a hammer or with a
club and awaken them? It don't happen that way. But
if God doesn't awaken a man, he'll sleep the sleep of death
until he perishes under God's wrath. That's just the nature.
That's how deceitful sin is. And what makes this lost state
even more dreadful is this. If one dies in this state, there
is no remedy. There is no ransom. I am lost. Well, if we die there, there
is no remedy. To be dead in sins does not render
our case hopeless. All of us were dead in sins at
one time. You have be quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. But this death leads to another
death from which there is no deliverance. The second death. Death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire. That's the second death. And
there's no ransom from that death. There's no deliverance from that
death. And that's what makes this lost condition so fearful. There is no more hope for those
who die in their sins than there is for devils. They suffer the
same eternal ruin in the same lake of fire. This is why our
Lord Jesus, when speaking of this lost state that men are
in by nature, He says, what would a man give in exchange for his
soul? If a man gained the whole world,
and loses his soul. That's the loss. That's the ultimate
end. He's lost everything if he loses
himself. If he loses himself, he loses
God. He has no more claims on God.
He's lost God. He's lost Christ. He's lost heaven. He's lost the company of angels
and saints. He's lost himself. And throughout
eternity, he'll never gain himself back, never gain God back. What
would a man give in exchange for his soul? That's why it's
so dreadful to be lost. It's what a man stands to lose. Well, if this question reveals
a fearful state and condition, The answer reveals the most blessed
and glorious good news that any miserable sinner could ever hear.
If I'm lost and I'm told of the way that I can be saved, then
that's a glorious thing. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust the Lord Jesus. Rely upon
Him. Depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ. and you shall be saved." Well,
there is such a thing as salvation. There is such a thing as salvation
for a lost man. But this salvation is in another
person, in a person apart from you and I, in a person outside
ourselves, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by Him that we must be
saved. And who is he? Well, the apostle
describes him here as the Lord. That's the first way he describes
him. We must be saved. And we must
believe. And who must we believe on? The
Lord. The Lord. We've heard this, Brother
Lyman. You've talked about it. About
people saying that you can have Jesus as your Savior. And somewhere
later on, you can have Him as your Lord. But Paul begins with
Lord, even before Jesus. Believe on the Lord. Who is the Lord? Pharaoh said,
that I should obey Him. Well, He's God. He's the Lord
of glory. He's the Supreme One. The Lord
saideth upon His throne, let all the earth keep silent before
Him. The Lord saideth King forever.
He's the Lord of glory. He's the Lord of hosts. He is
the Lord. Bow down to the Lord. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no salvation if He is
not Lord. Jonah said salvation is of who? The Lord. The Lord. If He is
not Lord, He cannot save anybody. Believe on the Lord. All who
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That was one
of my problems when I was coming to the Lord. I didn't want to
bow to him as Lord. And secondly, the Apostle said
this, and we all love this, Believe on Jesus. I love that name. I love it. It's a name of reverence. It was a name heaven gave him.
The angel was sent from God, and he told Joseph and he told
Mary, and he was careful to say this, I'm sent from God. And
He comes to tell them, to announce to them His name. What all those
prophets and righteous men and kings desire to know throughout
all the Old Testament, what's the name of God's Son? His incarnate
Son. What name is heaven going to
give Him? Well, when He came to this world, the Father sent
Gabriel the angel and said, call His name Jesus. That's the Son
of God in our humanity. That's the name that was given
Him in His humiliation. Jesus Christ in our likeness. As our representative, He went
about doing good and healing all that was oppressed. And God
looked upon Him in our humanity. You know what humanity should
be? You know what God meant humanity to be? You know what real humanity
is? Look at the Son of God in His
humanity. That's what God meant humanity
to be, and that's what humanity will be when God's finished with
it. Just like His Son. He was a real man. You know,
since the fall of Adam, Jesus Christ has been the only real
man. A full man, a complete man that God could look upon Him
and say, I'm well pleased in Him. And Jesus of Nazareth, the
Son of Mary in our humanity, went to the cross. And there's
where He bore our sins. There's where He paid our penalty. He paid our debt in full for
us. And I tell you, when I see God
in human flesh, humbling Himself and being obedient to death,
suffering in my place, in my stead, I can believe on Him,
can't you? I can trust Him. That's Jesus,
the Son of God in our humanity. Believe on Jesus. Believe on Him. Did you hear
what Jesus said to me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned and now you're free. They're taken away. I took
them away. In your place, I took them away.
I obeyed the law for you in my humanity and in your humanity. And I suffered the penalty of
the law for you. Jesus did that. I believe in
Jesus. Don't you? I believe in Him. He's the Lord. I believe in Him. I bow to Him. And He's Jesus
in our humanity. And Christ, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. This means the anointed of God.
He's Christ, the anointed of God. You know, there was three
offices under the Jewish economy. In all three of these offices,
you had to be anointed. You had to be anointed to be
a priest. You had to be anointed to be a prophet, and you had
to be anointed to be a king. And the Scripture says Jesus
of Nazareth was anointed of God, of the Holy Ghost. God anointed
Him. He anointed Him to be our King. Why is Jesus Christ called the
King? What does the King do? He rules
over us. As King, Christ comes to us and
He conquers us and He subdues our iniquities. He reigns in
His kingdom. As the priest, what does He do?
He represents us before His Father. He gives us access into the Father's
presence. And as the prophet, what does
He do? He teaches us. He teaches us. They shall all
be taught of God. Believe on Jesus Christ, and
you shall be saved. Believe. Believe. What is this? Well, it simply means this, that
you turn to God from yourself, you turn to God from your sin,
and you put all your confidence in Jesus Christ. You trust Jesus
Christ. You rely upon, you depend upon,
The Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, do that and you shall
be saved. You shall be saved. You shall
have eternal life. You shall be saved from death.
You'll have eternal life. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish. Well, that takes care of the
perishing condition, doesn't it? But have everlasting life. That takes care of death. Believe
in Christ and you will not perish. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and you have life. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and the sin is gone. We preach unto you, this man,
and through him, the forgiveness of sin. And I tell you, when
sin is gone, God's wrath is gone. The guilt is gone. Judgment is
gone. And this is through Christ. Listen
to some of these scriptures. I am the door, thy me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved. God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might
be saved. God commendeth his love toward
us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us to
deliver us from the wrath of God. He is able to save to the
uttermost them that comes to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth,
to make intercessions for us. If when we were sinners we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled
we shall be saved by His life. Paul says if His death delivered
us, how much more is His living going to save us? He ever lives
to plead His wounds. And this salvation that is in
the Lord Jesus Christ is not something of chance. It is not
something of uncertainty, but it is sure and it is certain
for everyone who puts their trust in Him. For the Apostle Paul
said here, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you Shall be
saved. That's the most positive word
we've got in all the English language. You shall. It's not
something... You know, when you come to the
gospel, you're not dealing in possibilities. You're not dealing
in probabilities. Well, it's possible. No, it's
more than that. Well, it's probable. No, it's
more than that. When you come to the gospel,
you come to certainties. You come to realities. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. All the promises of God are yea
and amen. Is this not a promise? It's impossible
for God to lie, and this is what He said. He that hath the Son
hath life. Where does He get that life from
the Son? And these things I've written unto you that believe
on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have
eternal life. And I tell you what, this jailer
took these men at their word. They took the Apostle Paul at
his word. He says, here's a man of God.
Here's a man sent from God, and he's given me the message, the
good news. And you know something? He took
God at his word. This man put all his trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He believed Him. Look what he
did in verse 33. Verse 32. He took Paul and Silas
into his house, and they spake unto him the word of the Lord
unto 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. Straightway. And when he had
brought them into his house, he set meat before them, rejoicing
and believing in God with all his house." Now, that's the gospel. That's good news. What was it
Old Brother Tyndale said about it? This good news, the gospel
is good news, that it makes the heart leap for gladness. and makes him rejoice in the
low bottom of his soul. That's what the gospel does.
That's what it did to this man. Here you have a man that was
lost. He was really lost. He said he
was lost. The apostles said he was lost.
The Lord Jesus said he was lost. And I think he said that because
the Spirit of God told him he was lost. And a man that was
ready to kill himself in a moment's time, he could have been suffering
the torments of hell. But instead, here he is rejoicing
in the low bottom of his soul. And what was it? It was the gospel. It was the gospel. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Brothers, we
may go wrong. talking about experiences and
what we have to know and what we have to feel. But I tell you
this much, there is one thing that will put us straight. Get
this in our hearts, that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, heart
faith, a heart dependence upon Him will save our souls. If we are straight there, we
can be wrong about some other thing. But if we are straight
there, All will be well. All will be well. Believe on
the Lord Jesus. I don't know if I've ever believed
on Him before. Then make certain of that, would you? Give your
soul no rest until you make certain of that. Don't be like this,
dear man. Don't sleep. Don't let your heart
deceive you. If you haven't believed in the
Lord Jesus Christ before, then believe now. Believe now. Lord bless His Word.