Jump Start # 1571

Acts 16:30 “and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Our verse today are the words of a frightened Roman jailer. Things happened that night that he had never seen before. He’d seen tough guys before. He’d seen prisoners cursing him. He’d seen prisoners offering him the world as a bribe to release them. But on this night, he had never seen what took place.

Paul and Silas had been beaten and arrested and brought to the prison for preaching Christ. They were put in the inner prison and their feet shackled. I expect they were bloody. They had been beaten with rods. It would have been the grace of God had they not had a few broken bones. That traumatic experience would be hard to recover from. At midnight, in prison, chained, these two begin singing praises to God and were praying. They weren’t whispering, because the text tells us that the other prisoners were listening. What a night it had been.

Then suddenly a great earthquake shook the area. It was so severe that the chains became unfastened. The doors of the prison were shaken open. Dust, debris and possibly falling rocks cluttered the walkways in the prison. This was a prisoner’s dream come true. It’s dark. The chains are unfastened and the prison doors are opened. Run! But they don’t. No one runs. They all remain. This was a most unusual night.

The guard, fearing the worst, pulls out his sword and is ready to take his own life. He isn’t trying to capture run-a-ways. He isn’t trying to keep some in their cells. It’s over for him. The officials will see his dead body and assume the escaped prisoners killed him. He’ll die defending his post, at least it will look that way. But Paul shouted to the guard to not hurt himself. He reports that everyone is still present. No one has escaped. No one has run-a-way. There was no need to kill himself.

It is here, that the fearful guard, falling at the feet of Paul and Silas, asks, “What must I do to be saved?” One of the greatest questions in all the Bible. A question that we ought to ask ourselves. It is here that we see three things.

1. First, it is impressive that the guard even asked that question. There is no indication that Paul had preached to him. There is no indication that there had been a series of Bible lessons before this. Of all things to ask, why this? He must have heard the singing and praying, like the other prisoners heard. Singing and praying coming from beaten and sore preachers. They weren’t mad. They weren’t blaming. They weren’t cussing. They weren’t threatening. They were praising the God that they believed in. Then the earthquake. Then the report that everyone is still in their place. A pagan Roman must have thought that the gods were protecting Paul and Silas. He must have thought that the gods were on their side. But he heard enough through songs and prayers to ask for forgiveness.

What does this tell you about the power of singing and praying? Those are not “fillers” to get to the more important things. Preaching is not the only way to open hearts and get people thinking. This tells us that we need to step up our singing. Some don’t sing. Some mumble. Some use the time to do other things. Paul and Silas sang and their audience, those in that prison, were moved to a respectful obedience.

2. The jailer understood that there was something that he had to do. What must I do, was his question. He didn’t ask, what must God do? He didn’t ask, what must you do? What must I do? He knew that he had a responsibility to God. To say, “there is nothing to do,” beats all logic, even from this pagan. He knew more than many religious folks today. Some, with a Bible in their hands, would answer this jailer, “You don’t do anything. God does it all.” That wasn’t the answer that the apostle gave. We have a responsibility to God. Three times in Acts the expression of “doing something” for salvation is used. Paul first heard it himself when he was blind on the Damascus road. He was told to go into the city and it would be told what you must do. There it is. There was something he had to do.

3. Paul answered the jailer. He didn’t set up a time to get together and have a month of Bible classes. There is a place for that, but there is also a place for giving an honest answer to an honest question, here and now. Paul told the jailer to believe in Jesus. Paul then told him about Jesus. That very hour, now past midnight, early in the morning, the jailer was baptized. He didn’t wait for a special Sunday to do this. He wasn’t told that baptism isn’t necessary. Believe and be baptized—that’s what Jesus said. That’s what Peter said. That’s the consistent message all through the book of Acts.

What about someone who says, “I don’t want to be baptized?” Then he’s not ready nor really serious about being saved. This pagan jailer was so scared that he would have done anything that the Lord told him. Had Paul said, “Climb a wall.” He would have climbed a wall. Had Paul said, it will cost you some money. He would have gotten the money somehow. He wanted to be saved and he was ready to do anything the Lord said. When it came to hearing the story of Jesus and forgiveness through faith and baptism, he was ready to do it. This is the point that Lydia came to in the same chapter. This is the place that Cornelius came to in the tenth chapter. This is where the Corinthians came to in the eighteenth chapter. This is the where the Pentecost audience came to in the second chapter. Over and over and over in Acts, it’s the same message. In prisons. Down by river banks. In large crowds. In small settings. The message of Jesus is taught, and faith in that Jesus begins. They were told to be baptized for forgiveness and they did. They always did. They did it then. They did in that setting.

Three simple things. A question was asked. A person understood his responsibility. The question was answered. And there we stand right in this story. We may be standing with the jailer and need to ask that question for ourselves. What must I do to be saved? We may never have thought about our responsibilities toward God. We may be standing in the shadows of Paul and Silas. We need to be able to answer questions like these. They didn’t run and find their preacher. They answered the jailer. They didn’t switch the subject. They didn’t say, “I really don’t know.” They knew. They didn’t care what others thought. An honest question was asked and it was answered honestly and Biblically.

Too many dance around this subject. It makes too many uncomfortable. They want to think that a person is earning their salvation? Did the jailer earn his? Did God owe him anything? Did God have to forgive him? No. Some like to come up with terms like “water salvation” to dismiss what happened in those early morning hours. His salvation was in Jesus Christ. His faith led him to do what Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Without faith, he would have never listened. Without faith he would have never continued the conversation. His faith wasn’t a feeling. It was based upon what Paul had told him about Jesus.

God’s people today need to be able to do what Paul did. Often there isn’t time to run and get a CD of a sermon. Often there isn’t time to get a class booklet, a tract, a pamphlet or even a Bible. Tell me now. Tell me what must I do to be saved? Can you do that? Can you do that with confidence?

What an unusual night long ago in Philippi. It might have ended with a dead guard and escaped prisoners. Instead, it ended with a new Christian and group of listeners that were touched and impressed. Paul could have focused upon his wounds and cried “woe is me.” He didn’t. Your next trip to the hospital may be the occasion where others around you are listening, watching and even having their hearts opened by what you say and do. This wasn’t a planned event. This just happened. Often, it’s those “happening occasions,” that do more good than a month of sermons.

The jailer’s life was saved. The jailer’s soul was saved.

Roger