Our Bibles this evening to Acts
chapter 16. Acts chapter 16 and let's begin our
reading tonight in verse 25. And at midnight Paul and Silas
prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard
them. We recognize that Paul and Silas
were in a prison, or in the prison, in Philippi. They had been beaten,
they had been put in stocks, and put into the lowest part
of the prison. And they were singing praises. Isn't it amazing that in the
book of Acts we read of the early believers who counted it joy
to suffer for Christ. And now we live in a day when
believers will do everything we can not to suffer for Christ. They counted it a privilege,
a joy. Paul and Silas in the worst of
conditions. Can you imagine what a jail,
what a prison would have been like at that time? And here are these two servants
of the Lord, faithful servants of God, anointed servants of
God. And they were directed. You know,
sometimes people say, well, if you're in God's will, everything
will go well. And they're talking about everything
going well for the flesh. Well, Paul and Silas were in
God's will. They were exactly where God had
directed them. Come over. He saw that vision,
that man of Macedonia. Come over and help us. And they knew that they were
being directed to Philippi or to Macedonia. And Philippi was
the chief city of Macedonia. And there they were preaching
the gospel. Why? Because God had sent them
there and because God had people there. His people. people whom
He had chosen, whom He had chosen and their names had been written
in the book of life from before the foundation of the world.
He had people there that Christ had redeemed by His precious
blood at the cross. And these men were there proclaiming
the gospel of Jesus Christ. And for that, they were persecuted. They were beaten. They were put
into the prison. But the Scripture here says that
at midnight, while they were praying and singing praises unto
God, and the other prisoners in the prison heard them, suddenly
there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the
prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors
were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed. 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. I've mentioned this before to
you, but men who had this position, this job, were usually retired
Roman soldiers when they became too old to continue As a soldier,
they would get one of these positions to be the goaler, to be the prison
superintendent or warden or guard. They were hardened men for the
most part. They were calloused. They were
not your typical Sunday school teacher or anything like that. These were hardened men that
had this position. And when he awoke and saw that
the doors of the prison were all open, he assumed that all
the prisoners had escaped. And he knew that he was responsible
for those prisoners, for keeping them, and he would be executed
himself for allowing them to escape. He drew out his sword. He's right at the point of suicide,
of destroying himself. He's right at that point. I just
wonder how many of God's people will we meet in heaven who were
right at the point of destroying themselves when the Lord came
to them as he did to this man. Remember that thief on the cross?
I remember reading this years ago, just a few hours, very,
very few hours before he would die and go out into eternity. And he said, Lord, remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom. And our Lord said, today thou
shalt be with me in paradise. Matthew Henry, I believe it was,
who wrote years ago, there was two thieves. One was saved that
no one should despair. One was lost. that no one should
presume." Isn't that a good statement? One was saved. One was taken. One was called by God's grace. One God allowed to continue in
his sin and go out into eternity lost. Well, just at the point
he was going to destroy himself, Paul cried with a loud voice,
saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then this man,
this jailer, he called for a light and sprang in, came running in,
trembling, fell down before Paul and Silas. And he brought them
out, brought them out of the prison cell and said, Sirs, what
must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. And they
spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in
his house. This is the most important question
any of us will ever ask. This is the most important question
any of us will ever face. What must I do to be saved? And their answer was, do. I mean,
I'm paraphrasing, but do. It's already been done. The work's
finished. He cried upon the cross. It is
finished. What must I do to be saved? No,
no. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. We hear the word saved. I know
you young people, you hear the preacher talk about being saved
and hear that word. What does it mean to be saved? Well, the word really means to
be delivered, deliverance. If you can imagine a prisoner,
Now, in this case, the prisoners were saved. And the man who's
going to be saved, he was outside the cell. But if you can imagine
in a cell, a man in a cell, and his hands are handcuffed behind
him, and there's bars all around him, he needs to be saved. He needs to be delivered. He cannot deliver himself. He cannot free himself. He needs a savior, a savior. I met a man yesterday. I think
I had met him the year before. And when I spoke to him, I said,
I believe I've seen you before. And he said, no, unless you've
been in jail. And I said, I've been in jail.
I was there preaching, but I've never been in jail as a prisoner. He was joking. He was joking. That's not a joking matter, is
it? To be in prison, to be in a cell, to be incarcerated, needing
deliverance. But the picture of man, lost
man, is really more desperate than that. I mean, that may be
a good picture with his hands behind his back, handcuffed,
and bars in front of him, and he needs someone that will deliver
him. He needs a Savior. But the truth
of the matter is, he's not only in the cell, his hands handcuffed
behind him, but he's dead. He's dead. He needs a Savior. Savior from what? Well, the scripture
says, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sins. He shall save His people. He
has a people in this world that He came to save. And the only
way that He may be entitled to the title Savior is that He save
His people. not try to save them, not do
the best that he can, not give it his best shot, but he must
save his people for him to be called a Redeemer. He must redeem his people. If he doesn't redeem his people,
then he's not worthy of the name Redeemer. We know that the Lord
Jesus Christ, when He shed His blood, He shed His blood on purpose
for a particular people. Those whom God had given Him
and those that He came to save. His people. And He has accomplished
their salvation. Now this man, he needed to be
saved. And they said unto him, After
he asked that question, what must I do to be saved? Believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved and thy house. Should they believe, they
must believe also to be saved. This is not household salvation
where the father is saved and that automatically means the
children are somehow in a covenant. No. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy children, if they believe. A child is not saved because
his parents are saved. It's a blessing to have saved
parents, there's no question about that, who will bring you
under the sound of the gospel, who will live before you the
gospel. We sang that hymn just a moment
ago, saved, saved. And the last line was when poor
and needy and all alone, in love he said to me, come unto me and
I'll lead you home to live with me eternally. Saved by his power
divine. Saved by His grace alone. Life now is sweet and my joy
is complete for I'm saved. Saved. What must I do to be saved? Believe. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now I want to make this,
that word saved, salvation, that's a big word, isn't it? There's
a lot of truth connected with that word saved. But I want to
mention to us tonight hurriedly five things that are true of
every person who is saved. Every person who believes on
the Lord Jesus Christ and is saved. Number one, a saved person
has all his or her sins pardoned. A saved person. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. A saved person has
all his sins pardoned. Look back to Acts chapter 13. When Paul and Barnabas this time
were in a city by the name of Antioch and they were invited
to speak in the synagogue and concluding his message In verses
38 and 39, the apostle Paul said, ìBe it known unto you, therefore,
men, brethren, that through this man,î what man is he talking
about? Heís talking about the God-man.
Heís talking about the Lord Jesus Christ who was promised by God
and sent by God, and He has spoken of Him up to this point in His
message, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins,
and by Him, not by your decision, not by your prayer, not by anything
that you may or may not do, but by Him all that believe are justified
from all things from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses. The law of Moses is a perfect
standard of holiness, but it cannot give the holiness that
God requires. I remember when we were, some
of the men were working, building on this building, and one of
the men who knew a whole lot more, and it didn't take a lot
to know more than I did about building. But he said, let's
get us a straight line. David, you may remember this.
Two by four. And you know, you go to the lumber
store and you buy materials, and you pick out the straightest
you can find. But sometimes when you get home,
you realize they're not that straight. Let's find a straight
two by four. And we'll measure with that.
Now that showed us when other pieces of wood were not straight. But it did not make those other
pieces of wood straight. It just showed us that they were
crooked. The law shows us that we're crooked, that we've sinned. But it has
no power to make us straight, has no power to make us holy,
make us right. But by this man. All who believe
are justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Not only are our sins all forgiven,
the man who saved, his sins are forgiven, but God has cast them
into the sea of his forgetfulness, removed them as far as the east
is from the west, and will remember them no more. I don't know if you are like
me, but I tell you, I have some things I sure wish I could forget.
And I'm so thankful that I read in the Scripture that God has
forgotten them. He will not remember them. Number
two, a saved person is reconciled to God. Look with me in Romans
chapter 5. You say, well, what does that
mean? A saved person has his sins pardoned. A saved person
is reconciled unto God. What does that mean? Well, when
we come into this world, we are born with a sinful nature. And we love sin. We will not
come to the light because our deeds are evil. We hate God. We hate the light by nature. There's no exception. There's no difference. We're at enmity. That means that
we are enemies of God. Why? Because of our sin. Notice what the Apostle says
here in Romans 5 and verse 10. For if, when we were enemies,
and we were, we were reconciled to God. by the death of his son. Much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life. What does it mean to be reconciled? It means to be and have peace
with God. Peace with God. That's a wonderful thing, isn't
it? To have peace with God. To go home this evening, lay
your head down on your pillow, and go to sleep, and oh, it's
well. It's well. You have peace with
God. Number three, a saved person
is a child of God. Look in John chapter 1. John
chapter 1, you're familiar with this verse, I know, but let's
read it again. John chapter 1. And verse 12, But to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God. The right to become the son of
God. Even, now notice, even to them
that believe on his name. What did The apostles tell that
jailer, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Well, to as many as believe,
they are given the right to be called the Son of God, which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God. Isn't it wonderful tonight to
know that we are children of God? And as that verse in Romans
tells us, if children, then heirs. Join heirs with Jesus Christ.
Number four. This is true of a saved person. A saved person is clothed with
the perfect robe of Christ's righteousness. Sometime when you or reading
the scripture, turn over to Ezekiel chapter 16 and read about that
infant that is cast out. That's unwashed, no one cared
for, it's just cast out. And the Lord passed by and the
Lord said, it's a time of love. And he said, live. And what do
you then read? How that infant is adorned with
beautiful garments. I know he's speaking about the
nation of Israel primarily, but it is a picture also of every
believer, everyone who is saved. We have a robe of righteousness. And that robe, that perfect robe
was woven by the obedience of Jesus Christ our Lord. Remember
what the father said when his prodigal son came home? He didn't
just say get a robe, did he? He said get the best robe. The
best robe. There may have been a hundred
robes in that closet, I don't know. But there was one that
was the best robe. And that best robe is a picture
of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And this righteousness,
which is imputed unto all who believe, this righteousness is
not only, it is without spot and wrinkle, but it's not only
without spot and wrinkle, it is also lovely and glorious. I believe you mentioned this
earlier in your prayer, that robe of righteousness with which
we are clothed. A saved person is clothed in
the righteousness of Christ. Can't find any spot there. Can't
find any wrinkle there. Not at all. And number five,
a saved person has a home in heaven. A saved person has a
home in heaven. Look at this verse in 2nd Corinthians. I know you're familiar with it,
but 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Where the Apostle said, well I'll read verse 18. of chapter
5. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved... And it will be dissolved. It will. Actually, I believe
the word is this tent. It's a dwelling place. And it's
not a brick house. It's not a stone house. Not even
a stick house. It's a tent. Have you ever camped
out in a tent? Have you ever had a wind come
through during the night and blow your tent down? If you ever
try to put a tent up and the stakes keep falling out, I've
had that happen. A tent may be easily taken down. And that's this body that we
live in, this tent. But we know that if our earthly
house and this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Do? It's already done. The work's finished. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. I pray that
the Lord would bless these words to us here this evening.