“What Must I Do To Be Saved?

Introduction: Ephesians 2:8-10 as a Compendium of Salvation by Grace

0:03 For many weeks, our attention these Lord's Day mornings has been riveted on a very vital passage of the Word of God, Ephesians chapter 2, particularly verses 8 through 10, a portion of Scripture which I have called a compendium of salvation by grace. Some of you will remember, if you have elephant's memories to think back that far, that when we introduced that study, I said that these verses, perhaps more than any other collection of verses in all of Scripture, set forth all of the leading lines of biblical truth concerning salvation by grace more succinctly, more comprehensively than any others. Well, that conviction has only deepened after a lengthy study of that portion of the Word of God. If you want to know what it means to be saved, delivered from sin and its consequences by the grace of God, then I commend to you a careful analysis of Ephesians 2, verses 8 through 10. And with the completion of our study in those verses, we of course completed our study in the first paragraph in Ephesians 2, the great contrast between what the Ephesians were before the coming of the grace of God and what they were after the coming of the grace of God.

1:27 We're going to leave Ephesians for a while. At least. We're going to leave Ephesians for several weeks before taking up the second paragraph. And my concern is that having looked at the doctrine, having carefully analyzed all of the phrases and clauses in the statements of the Apostle concerning salvation by grace, that we should in the next few weeks look at a wonderful illustration of how God does what He describes in Ephesians 2, 8 through 10.

The Narrative Context: Paul and Silas in Philippi (Acts 16:11-24)

1:55 In other words, we've looked at the theory as it is. Carefully set before us by the Apostle, now we want to turn to a living demonstration of the work of God making a new creature, making a new creation, creating someone in union with Christ unto good works. We've often heard it said that one word, one picture is worth a thousand words. Well, whether that's true or not, I believe there's an element of truth in it to see the truth set forth in words.

2:29 And words demonstrated in vivid description perhaps will help enforce the lesson to us. And so what we'll do for the next couple of Lord's Days is study a passage which is a vivid illustration of Ephesians 2, 8 to 10 in operation. And that portion is found in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 16. What I propose to do is to give a brief summary of verses 11 through 18 and then read verses 19 through 30.

3:01 Verse 11 of Acts 16 tells us of Paul and his companion entering into Philippi, and that's the proper pronunciation as I reminded you in the adult class, not Philippi as I've said for years, but Philippi, a city of Macedonia. And there the Apostle finds a woman's prayer meeting. And as he preaches to the women, God is pleased to touch the heart of at least one of them and then her household. Then we have this strange account in verses.

3:33 16 to 18 of this demon-possessed woman who constantly troubles the Apostle and his companion until Paul casts out this demon. Well, this created quite a stir. And now we pick up the narrative in verse 19. And when her masters, the masters of the demon-possessed girl, saw that the hope of their gain was gone, she was a soothsayer, and they made money by her, and now the commercialism has ceased because the demon power is gone from her.

4:03 Well, this upset them. You see, the economics of the whole thing they considered was not quite fair. And so what do they do? They laid hold on Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.

4:16 And notice the graphic language. They laid hold. They dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them unto the magistrates, they said, These men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city.

4:30 What they should have said is they exceedingly trouble our pocketbook. Now, this was false witness, even as with our Lord. But they trouble our city. They appear, you see, to be very loyal citizens, when they're just mercenaries who are crying out because their pockets have been pinched.

4:45 But they say they exceedingly trouble our city, set forth customs which it is not lawful for us to receive or to observe, being Romans. They are political insurrectionists. They're a threat to the stability of our society. Let's get rid of them.

5:00 And the multitude rose up together against them. The magistrates. The magistrates rent their garments off them and commanded to beat them with rods. And unlike the Jews, who would only beat a certain limit, the Romans had no such rule.

5:13 And we read this in a phrase and say, beat them with rods, that's that. But they were probably men who were gory to look at when they were done with welts and open wounds upon their backs. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, notice again the vigor of the language, they cast them into the prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. Who, having received such a charge, cast them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks.

5:41 And many of the Roman prisons had three basic divisions, an outer court that was light and airy, the inner court that had bars to keep the prisoners, and then the inner dungeon where criminals condemned to die would be kept. And these stocks were not like the New England stocks just to keep a man incarcerated and make him a public spectacle. They were actually arranged so that they stretched the legs. They stretched the legs apart and were not only for confinement but also for torture.

6:07 So here's the picture. They've been illegally and brutally apprehended. They've been dragged before a puppet court. They've been beaten until their bodies are a mass of welts and open wounds.

The Midnight Miracle and the Jailer's Desperation (Acts 16:25-29)

6:19 They are rudely cast into the inner dungeon. They are put upon a stretch rack to intensify the suffering. And then the wonder of wonders, verse 25, but about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing. The original is not quite conveyed accurately there.

6:37 They were praying, singing hymns. In other words, their prayer was constituted in the singing of these hymns of praise unto God. And the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken.

6:57 And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bands were loosed and the jailer being robbed. He was roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. The picture being that wherever he was sleeping, whether in his own house and some of his associates aroused him or whether the earthquake did and he came running, he came to the outer court where there was some degree of light. And he sees the doors wide open, but he cannot see into the inner chamber where the prisoners are.

7:28 And he thinks that with the open doors, the prisoners are all gone and he's about to kill himself. He's about to kill himself. Because he knew it was only a matter of time before the Roman government would do the job for him. For a prisoner who was charged, or for a jailer who was charged to keep prisoners, did so at the expense of his own life if the prisoners escaped.

7:46 So here's the picture now. He's about to kill himself, supposing the prisoners have gone. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. And he called for lights and sprang in, you see, from the outer court.

8:03 And he called for lights and sprang in, you see, from the outer court. And he called for lights and sprang in, you see, from the outer court. And he called for lights and sprang in, you see, from the outer court. And trembling for fear fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

The Most Important Question and Its Answer (Acts 16:30-31)

8:14 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house. And they spake the word of the Lord unto him with 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 immediately.

8:35 And He brought them up into His house and set food before them and rejoiced greatly with all His house, having believed in God. Now this is an amazing passage. And yet I confess, in 22 or 23 years of preaching, I've never expounded this entire section. Often I've quoted verses 30 and 31, made reference to the passage, but what a joy it has been to dig into it for the first time.

9:04 And what I wish to do so that we don't get lost in irrelevant or at least in secondary details, not irrelevant if God has included them, I want us to focus our attention for today and possibly one or two more Lord's Days on what I'm calling the most important question a man ever asked and the most accurate answer that was ever given to that question. The question is in verse 30. The question serves, what must I do to be saved? The most important question a man ever asked and the most accurate answer ever given to that question, verse 31.

The Person Who Asked the Question: The Jailer's Character

9:46 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. This morning, just the question. The most important question ever asked. Now all of us have asked many questions in the course of our own life history.

10:04 Some of us who are parents know what it's like when our children reach the why age. For some, it's two, two and a half, three, four. But it seems they have more questions than a cat has lives times 242 million. I mean, they just, why this?

10:19 Why that? Why the other? How? Why?

10:22 Why? How? Why, Mommy? Why, Daddy?

10:24 Until you feel if you hear it one more time, you're going to ask some very serious questions too. How does an airplane fly? Why can't I fly? Who am I?

10:35 Where do babies come from? What happens when you die? Am I going to die? And then a little bit later, start asking questions like, how do you know, Mom, when you're really in love?

10:45 How do you know, Dad, if she's the right girl? Questions that get a little more serious. But still, questions that all of us have asked at one time or another or may be asking here this morning. Some of them are very silly questions.

10:59 Some of them are tremendously important questions. But may I say, if we take all of the questions asked, by every man, woman, boy or girl in this place, and put them all together in one bundle, they can begin to add up to the weight and importance of the question that is asked in the text of Scripture before us. Where did I come from? Where do I go?

11:22 What is death? Why this? Why the other? None of these questions can even begin to compete with this question in terms of being the most important question any man, has ever asked.

11:38 Now we want to analyze that question and we'll do so along three lines this morning. First of all, just a word about the person who asked the question. Secondly, the factors which led him to ask it. And thirdly, the real content of the question.

11:52 First of all, who asked the question recorded in verse 30? Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Well, the man is given no name. All we are told about him in verse 23, when he comes into the picture, is that he is a jailer.

12:10 Literally, a keeper of the chained ones. He's a jailer. Obviously, a Roman. And because a Roman, most likely a pagan, a worshipper of false gods.

12:25 And we know very little about his character, except, given this responsibility, he was probably a man who had proven himself trustworthy, capable of assuming great responsibility, and a great responsibility. There's some indication that he had developed the hardness that jail keepers often develop. The word used in verse 24, he cast them into prison is a flexible word. Sometimes it can simply mean to bring something without any violence, or it can actually mean to throw something.

12:53 And in this case, it could well be that having received a charge, he not only fulfilled his duty to take them into the inner dungeon and make them secure, but he also fulfilled his duty to take them into the inner dungeon and make them secure, but he did so with the roughness common to men who become hardened to human suffering. But apart from those little things, nothing is really told us about his character until, until we find the statement in verse 27, and the jailer being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. And that statement is the most telling statement about the character of the person who asked the question. If the man was in the area where the other prisoners were, if he had a cot outside of the actual prison cells, then he showed a total spirit of indifference to some, to the phenomena that was keeping the other prisoners awake at midnight. When they saw these fellow prisoners brought in, all beaten and bruised and bloodied, they said, well, they are bruised and bloody, and they are put into the inner dungeon and placed in a form of torture, and they are singing praises to God. These other prisoners, they just can't buy this business.

14:20 What in the world is going on? They are all ears. Now, if he was close enough to hear that, the Scripture records for us the fact that he was sound asleep during all of this. But we don't know if he was in that area.

14:34 He may have been home, he may have been some distance away, he may have had some of his hirelings or not hirelings, but men who worked under him taking care of them. But one thing is evident. When all of the situation comes to his awareness that the prison doors are open, that the prisoners are probably gone, his reflex response is to take his sword and to kill himself. Why?

14:55 Well, for the simple reason as we've already hinted, and this is established in Acts 12, 4 and verse 19 as well, that a Roman soldier charged with keeping a prisoner was a prisoner of the Roman prison. He was conscious that if the prisoner escaped, his own life as a jailer would be forfeited. And this is exactly what happened upon the escape of Peter. And those soldiers that were charged to keep Peter were slain when Peter escaped and could not be brought back into prison.

15:28 And so his first thought is upon this discovery of the open prison, I, as a Roman jailer, will forfeit my life rather than allow the Roman authorities to do so, because there was some thinking in the Roman mentality of the nobility of suicide. He draws his sword and is about to kill himself. Now what does that tell us about his character? It tells us that this jailer, up to this point in the narrative, was able to face death, the world to come, Almighty God, judgment, the fact of the hell that awaited him with a total spirit or spirit of total indifference and insensitivity.

16:12 At this point he is fearful of one thing, those that can destroy the body. And Jesus said in Matthew 10, 28, don't fear those who can destroy the body, and after this have no more that they can do. Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. At this point this man, this jailer, this keeper was totally devoid of any of that true fear of God.

16:41 He was totally devoid of any sensibility about the world to come. All he is concerned about is the world that now is and the problems that will come to him as a result of his present circumstances. And he thinks that by ending his life he will end the complex of his problems. And I say that this jailer then is typical of a human being by nature.

17:09 Whatever things make us different in terms of nationality, temperament, occupation, et cetera, at the core of what we really are we are all the same. We are spiritually dead and therefore insensitive to the greatest issues of true importance. We may be upset by a thousand things. Our popularity or the lack of the same, our money or the lack of the same as you get upset and uptight about your report cards and your tests and all of these other things that pertain to your school life, the approval or the disapproval of friends.

17:50 But the real issue that every creature of God ought most to be concerned about our relationship to God. Whether or not we are prepared to stand before him. Whether or not we are fit to enter the world to come. Whether or not we are stupid as this poor jailer was at the point that we find him in the narrative.

18:16 If we are left at the point that we find him then it were better for us that we had never been born. If we are never brought to ask his question rooted in the things that provoked him to ask it. If we are simply like the jailer when we first meet him all of his concerns are answered by the question of this life. It were better for us that we had never been born.

Factors Provoking the Question: Report, Conduct, and Power of God

18:46 Now having said just a few things about the man who asked the question notice in the second place the factors which provoked him to ask the question. And Luke of course is not writing a detailed account such as would be demanded in a criminal court. So the details are sketchy but there is enough in the passage to point in the direction of the question of what provoked this careless indifferent man who is wrapped up in this world what provoked him to ask the question sirs what must I do to be saved. Well I would suggest three things combined to provoke him to ask the question.

19:26 Number one the report he had probably heard about these men. Look back to verse sixteen in the chapter. It came to pass that a certain maid having a spirit of divination met us who brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same following after Paul and us cried out saying these men are servants of the most high God who proclaim unto you the way of salvation and this she did for many days.

19:58 Now can you imagine the public disturbance this would create. Whenever Paul and his companions are going to the appointed court this demon possessed girl follows behind them crying out notice not just whispering but crying out these men are servants of the most high God these men proclaim a way of salvation. Well that's not just a happening you know that occurs every day like the rising and setting of the sun and the scripture tells us this went on for many days and the jailer probably had heard the report concerning these men who had come to Philippi who were proclaiming a way of salvation. They were servants of the most high God they were not parroting all of the pronouncements of pagan religion. They professed to be servants of the most high God they were proclaiming the way of salvation. Keep that in mind now as we try to wrestle with the question what factors provoked him to ask the question.

21:12 The report of these men which in all probability was heard especially after the demon was cast out of the woman and it created such a stir. But then secondly the conduct of the men under great injustices could not but have impressed this man verses 19 to 24 when the master in the hope of their gain was gone they laid hold on Paul and Silas dragged him to the marketplace brought them to the magistrates then they beat them and then this man at that point comes into the picture whether he actually saw the beating we do not know but one thing we do know when they handed the prisoners over to him as he had had prisoners handed over to him many times with their bodies beaten and bruised and bloody he had had no doubt fully expected what he in most cases would have heard the cursings the foul revilings of the captive to the captors but nothing of this comes from the lips of these men these servants of the most high who proclaim a way of salvation who have done nothing but deliver this girl from the terrible commercialism of her owners and the bondage to an evil spirit they come before him in bruised and their mouths are not full of cursing and bitterness their mouths are full of no invectives there is nothing

22:41 in terms of what he was used to now you just can't take those things even if you are a hardened old Roman jailkeeper and not begin to wonder what in God's name makes these men tick there is something different about them and furthermore whether he was there to actually see it whether the report was brought back to him something of the conduct of these men as they were cast into the inner prison and sing hymns of praise to God at midnight so that's the second thing that contributed to his asking the question the report about these men verses 16 to 18 the conduct of the men under great injustice but then most of all it was the manifestation of the power of God recorded in verses 25 to 28 but about midnight as they sang and prayed suddenly verse 26 there was not an earthquake alone but a great earthquake not so that the superstructure of the prison house shook but the very foundation stones shake it's one thing to have the roof creak a little bit when there's a strong wind that's hairy enough but when that which is underneath it begins to quake then it's really getting spooky and the scripture is careful to record it was a great earthquake and the very foundations of the prison house are shaken and immediately all the doors are open and everyone's hands were loosed and the jailer being roused out of sleep

24:10 and seeing the prison doors open probably roused by the earthquake drew his sword and was about to kill himself and then Paul says we're all here let me suggest this was a singular manifestation of the power of God in two worlds the external world and in the moral the internal world the manifestation of the power of God in the external world is very clear the earthquake the dropping off of the chains from these men whether the chains in their sockets in the walls were loosed and they still had them about their arms or whether God performed another miracle and actually caused them to be loosed from their hands we cannot say from the language it simply says their bands were loosed I think in all probability with the shaking and the loosening of that whole structure the chains fell off from the walls they were in that sense free men but with some of the chains we cannot say about them but we cannot absolutize the scripture is general in its description but here was a manifestation of the power of God that bore no human explanation this was no form of trickery this was no form of magic no sleight of hand the rumbling of the very foundations of the prison house the throwing open of the doors no human being could do this here is a manifestation of the presence and power of the God who is my God the God of Paul and Silas but then there is

25:39 an internal miracle in the moral world with the prison doors wide open Paul was able to say sir do thyself no harm we are all here well what in the world is holding them there if the prison doors are open and their bands are loosed what is keeping those prisoners from running out and I believe that jailer got the message the God who shakes a Roman prison is the God who can restrain men's hearts from doing the thing that is most natural and native to those hearts when prison doors are thrown open and the guard is not present that is the time for the prisoners to split but almighty God did an internal moral miracle in restraining them from what would be natural to them and when the jailer man sees this there is this confluence this coming together of a man and a woman both holy and holy and holy laying for the death of a man it is nature that brings all of those that are beyond the limits and if he was truly without the power of God he would never be able to change his life to the kingdom

27:07 to the entrance of his jail and he sees their conduct in the face of this injustice done to them then it begins to burrow itself a bit deeper. Servants of the Most High God proclaiming a way of salvation by the way they act is reflective of something different. Conscience begins to be stirred and yet he's still able to go off to sleep while the prisoners listen and he snores. But then the shaking of the foundation and he sees a manifestation of the power of the God who is Most High.

27:43 And then he sees that moral miracle of restraining the hearts and now the issue bears down upon him and breaks into the realm where he can no longer treat it with indifference. He can no longer hold it as a detached occasional thought that there might be a Most High God there might be a way of salvation these may be servants of the Most High God. All of it comes to sharp focus and the issues of God and sin and wrath and judgment are the one burning reality. And what does he do?

Application: God's Means of Awakening Conscience

28:17 He comes now before his very captives and kneeling before them cries out Sirs! What must I do to be saved? These I suggest are the factors which provoked him to ask the question. Let me say by way of application as with that jailer so with us.

28:36 A sovereign God does and can use a thousand means to awaken a slumbering conscience and to bring men to see and to feel the real issues of true importance. The last time we saw the jailer he was concerned about nothing but the world that now is. And because of the circumstances that were breaking in upon him in that world he wanted to escape it into another world. Now he says I'm not ready to enter that other world I need to know the way of salvation.

29:13 Now God's dealings with him were both what we would call placid and quiet and also vigorous and dramatic. There was the report about the men. There was the sight of their conduct. Then there was the earthquake and the restraining power of God.

29:30 Now listen carefully. God has a thousand instruments to bring men to this same place. With some He uses the gentle gradual influence of a Christian home where the conscience of a boy or girl is made sensitive almost from the dawning of consciousness that there is the most high God with whom they have to do. That there is a holy law.

29:53 That there is judgment. That there is a real hell of outer darkness. There is a glorious heaven to be gained. So that though God never uses an earthquake and God never uses the dramatic.

30:07 Brings that child by degrees to the place where the issues of the world to come. The issues of the relationship of the soul to God are the all consuming issues. With some God uses dramatic strokes. There are Christian parents of Christian children have seen those children with all those influences just as indifferent and careless as the jailer until God broke in with some dramatic intervention. Sickness.

30:37 Death of an intimate loved one. The frustration of a lifetime ambition. God has a thousand instruments to awaken the conscience and to bring the person to the place. And it's not important to ask what instruments have been used but to ask rather have I been brought to the place where I've asked that question in all earnestness.

What the Question Reveals: Guilt, Danger, and Helplessness

31:06 Have I been brought to the place where one issue has burned its way into the depths of my being. What must I do to be saved. The sensual the earthly the temporal though legitimate and though perfectly right in itself is no longer the beginning the middle and the end of my concern. I'm concerned about the most high. I'm concerned about the way of salvation. Well having looked at the man who asked the question what provoked him to ask it now in the third place and this is the heart of our study this morning. What things does the question reveal when he said sirs what must I do to be saved. What is he revealing. Let me suggest

31:56 first of all he's revealing a deep consciousness of guilt arising from a sense of his sin. Now the word saved I'm fully aware can mean temporal deliverance or preservation from mere physical harm. But remember the physical danger is gone. The earthquake is all over.

32:18 So he's not afraid of that. He's not asking sirs what must I do to be saved physically from the walls. No no no the earthquake is over. Nor is he afraid of death. The prisoners are all there.

32:32 So when he said sirs what must I do to be saved it is evident on the one hand from his circumstances and evident from the response of the apostle that the word saved is to be taken in its highest richest biblical sense. Sir what must I do to be delivered from sin and its consequences.

32:56 This God who shakes the earth. This God who restrains men's natural bias to flee when prison doors are open. This God who makes men like you Paul and Silas who can in the midst of injustice and personal abuse and physical agony. Praying praises to God and have no words of vile retort. This God is the most high God. This God is the God with whom I have to do. This God is the God against whom I have revolted and I have sinned. Sirs servants of the most high who are no way of salvation sirs. That way of salvation. I'm conscious of my guilt arising from the sense of my sin. The conscience long slumbering is now awake. The conscience that whispered when this man broke the law of God. But the whisper

33:57 was drowned in his sensual earthly pursuits. Now conscience no longer whispers. Conscience thunders and says thou art the guilty sinner. Thou art unprepared to stand before thy God.

34:13 Oh may I press upon your conscience the question. Have you ever asked his question? Because you've been brought to a sense of your own guilt. Not guilt that you disobeyed mummy and daddy and therefore sinned against them. Disobeyed the norms and the mores of society and therefore sinned against it. But has there come to your heart a consciousness of guilt arising from a sense of sin. Sin against almighty God. So that you can say with David against thee and thee only have I sinned and done that which is evil in thy sight.

34:53 To say with the prodigal I will return and say to my father father I've sinned against heaven and in thy sight. Oh dear children listen to pastor this morning. Your sins are not sins against mummy and daddy's standards and against the church. Your sins are against God. The most high God.

35:15 The God who makes mummy and daddy live the way they live. The God who has manifested his power before your very eyes in the transformation of lives. Has it ever been brought home to your heart that you have guilt arising out of your sin. But I suggest in the second place the question revealed not only a consciousness of guilt arising from the knowledge of sin. But a consciousness of danger arising out of that guilty condition.

35:47 If the Roman authority will carry out his threats. What about almighty God. A few moments before he's ready to kill himself. Because he know when Rome says keep the prisoners or you'll die.

36:00 Rome means what it says. He's come to the consciousness. God most high has said obey me or die. And with the sense of guilt comes the sense of danger.

36:15 And he's no longer afraid of the Roman sword. He's afraid of the sword of the almighty.

36:24 To commit suicide. Now he falls before his very captives and says sirs how can I have the sheath of the sword of God sheathed. How can I be delivered from this state. There was not only a glib acknowledgement. Oh yes I'm a sinner and I've broken God's law. There was a sense of danger arising from the guilt. And I suggest it was this sense of danger felt and owned that produced the intense and urgent activity. Look at the vigorous language in verse 29.

36:58 And he called for lights and he sprang. He didn't say oh well morning will be coming and I'll just examine this question. No sirree. When conscience became awakened it says he called for lights and he sprang in. And what did he do? Look at the vigorous language. And trembling for fear. Takes an awful lot to make a Roman jailer tremble. He's seen a lot to harden him. But now he's shaking. He's shaking in his boots.

37:33 Furthermore look at the activity. He brings them out. He completely forgets about the prisoners. He said if God could restrain them for the past ten minutes he'll take care of them.

37:44 I've got business to take care of. It's a beautiful little descriptive element. He brought them out. As though he just said let the prisoners take care of themselves like God take care of them. There's something more important than this. Brought them out and said sirs what must I do to be saved? And they give him a little capsule answer. And then he says look this is too important to put off till later. You folks come over to my house. And he rouses and raises the whole household. At this unearthly hour. Probably at least 12, 30, 1 o'clock in the morning.

38:15 And he says we're going to have us a house meeting. We're going to have preaching in this place. 1 o'clock in the morning. And furthermore after preaching he then takes them down wherever he took them and washed them. And then he was baptized.

38:29 And then he had a feast. And all this between midnight and morning. I tell you this man's all business. There's an earnestness.

38:37 There's an urgency. And what is the spring of that urgency? I submit it was the consciousness of danger.

38:47 Someone came through the back door in the next ten minutes wild eyed and saying I've planted a bomb in this place and it's going to go off in five minutes if you believed him. And the sense of danger gripped you. You wouldn't sit here hoping the preacher would get done.

39:05 You'd be quite urgent either in seeing that he got done or in being totally rude and walking out before he was done. If you're convinced the danger is real your activity will reflect an urgency.

39:21 And that's what happened to this man. Oh let me ask you this morning do you feel the danger arising from your guilt? Have you ever felt the urgency of the danger of being an unconverted unforgiven unsaved sinner? Now you see your sense of danger doesn't change the reality of it.

39:40 Listen you kids I've got an illustration especially to make this real to you this morning. Imagine a little girl who gets lost.

39:49 She's strayed away from where she should be and she gets lost out in the woods somewhere. And nightfall is coming and she's scared and doesn't know what to do. But she sees a little cave and so she figures well at least I'll be safe in there so she crawls into the little cave and sobs herself to sleep missing her mommy and praying that God will help whoever's looking for her to find her. And she goes sound asleep and all the while she's sleeping just 15 feet away there's a bear in that cave. 20 feet away there's a whole nest of rattlesnakes but she falls fast asleep utterly oblivious of the danger that's so near. She may even have wonderful dreams that she's home in her mommy's arms that she's in the warmth of her own bed and she sleeps like a baby having her wonderful dreams and then with the first light of morning as she begins to awaken the light begins to illuminate the cave from its entrance. She sees 20 feet away a bear, a few feet away a nest of rattlesnakes and she's scared to death. She freezes with fear.

41:01 Now my question is this is she in any more danger when she opens her eyes than she was when she was asleep?

41:11 Did her opening her eyes and seeing the bear create the danger or did it simply make her aware of the danger that was already there? Hmm?

41:22 You see the point? The danger was there, wasn't it? Now her opening her eyes and seeing it didn't create the danger it simply made her aware of the danger. Now imagine, of course she couldn't do this but imagine if she could.

41:34 Suppose seeing the bear and the rattlesnakes she could force herself back to sleep and have wonderful dreams about being home in her own bed.

41:44 Would her dreams remove the real danger that she's in? Yes or no? Hmm? Her dreams don't remove the danger and her safety is in facing the danger realistically and fleeing the danger.

42:02 My friend, you may sit here this morning as a boy or girl, man or woman and the bear of God's anger against impenitent sinners is at your shoulder and the rattlesnakes of divine vengeance against impenitent sinners are at your feet. You're sound asleep having lovely little dreams. God is so sweet and so nice he never hurts any of his creatures. And I'm religiously religious and that, my friend, I don't mean to be facetious but I hope to shake and shock you loose from your delusion.

42:38 Those are nothing but dreams and I call upon you to awake what? Not to some figment of my imagination but to the reality of my judgment against sinners. All that sinneth, it shall die. Jesus Christ our Lord said except ye repent and leave this place this morning and find yourself rocked to sleep on the lap of some fool.

43:14 It says there is no hell and no judgment and no need of repentance in the new birth but my friend, your dreams and your sleep don't destroy and thank God this jailer woke up to the world of reality and he said, look that's a frightening world of spiritual reality. I've sinned against the Most High. I'm unprepared to meet him. What a fool that I came within a hair's breadth.

43:53 Thrusting myself into the presence of an angry God. And now the consciousness of his guilt brought this intense awareness of danger. And then thirdly I suggest that his question reveals not only the consciousness of guilt, the consciousness of danger, but the consciousness of helplessness to alter the situation by himself. Look at the wording.

44:21 He came to Paul and Silas. He brought them out in silence. He said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? He does not turn aside and implore his false.

44:34 He knows that when his conscience begins to be gripped with a sense of sin, he can get no help from some God that he's made with his own hands.

44:45 He says, these are servants of the Most High God who teach a way of deliverance. I shall seek help from the messengers appointed of God. And then the very way he phrased the question, he did not say, sirs, what must I do to save myself? He used a passive verb. What must I do? Someone! What must I get in the place of being rescued? My friend, you must ask a question which reveals that you've also come to a conviction of your helplessness to rescue yourself.

45:27 You have guilt rooted in your sin. You're in a place of danger because of that guilt. And perhaps your danger is never more great. Than when you think you can help yourself.

The Urgency of the Question for All

45:40 Sirs, what must I do to be saved? To have someone or something lay hold upon me and purge my guilt and cleanse my sin and make me fit for the world to come? I submit to you this morning, this is the most important question any man, woman, boy or girl can ever ask. Thank God I had the joy this week of having one of our own children.

46:09 Children of the congregation sit in my study, coming to ask her pastor, what must I do to be saved? And I've not been able to shake the conviction that in asking that question, that young child was asking the most important question that some of you, age 20, 30, 40, have never yet asked! You're asking stupid questions. Where'd Cain get his wife?

46:39 Did God create the world in six little... My friend, you better stop trifling with the issues of your eternal soul of salvation.

46:47 The question you need to ask is, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Whether God brings you to ask that question gradually by gentle dealings, by sudden arousals, by inward or outward calamities, but it must be a question arising out of the knowledge of your guilt, the sense of your danger, and the consciousness of your helplessness.

The Most Accurate Answer: Believe on the Lord Jesus

47:13 But asking that question does not save you. You'll never get saved unless you ask it, but asking it doesn't save you. And God willing, next week I want to expound the answer, but I may not be here and you may not be here, so I close with just pointing you to the words. And they said...

47:29 Here's the most accurate answer to the most important question. What did they say? And they said...

47:36 And they would be false, false physicians if they had said, well, you're really all mixed up, you see. You really don't need to be saved. You've just got some psychological hang-ups. You've just got some guilt.

47:47 You've just got some guilt complexes. You've overestimated your problem, Mr. Jailer Man. That's the abominable trash being peddled in the name of Christianity.

47:58 Nothing but psychology with a word of scripture here or there telling men you've got a little guilt hang-up, a little maladjustment on the inside psyche. No, no, they did not say. You've overestimated your problem. When they said... When he said, what must I do to be saved? They didn't say, well, we've got to sit down and give you instructions. For seven weeks, we've got to tell you all the sacraments, and we've got to tell you you've got to be baptized, and you've got to do good works, and you've got to join this church or that. They didn't tell them. Not!

48:32 What did they tell them? Well, look at it. The most accurate answer ever given to that question. And they said, you must believe.

48:41 You must believe. That is, you must rest wholly upon and look solely to another. That one spiritual activity that takes us wholly out of ourselves in the direction of another. They didn't say, you must start by loving God, serving God.

48:59 They said, you must believe. And then they didn't say, simply believe, as though faith were the Savior. But they set forth the object of that faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus.

49:11 They said, Mr. Jailerman, you must believe, but there must be a definite object to that faith. It is the Lord of glory. It is Jehovah manifested as Jesus of Nazareth, God's prophet, priest, and king. You must believe on the Lord Jesus. And then they didn't put parenthesis, plus his church, plus his people, plus his sacraments. Not all! They said, believe on the Lord Jesus. And then they gave a wonderful promise. And thou shalt be saved. Believe in you are saved, Mr. Jailerman. Your hope is not in us. We are but servants of the Most High. We do not point you to ourselves. We do not even point you to the church, which we founded here in Philippi, that began with the prayer meeting by a riverside. We point

50:04 you away from ourselves. Point you to Christ, and Christ... My dear friends, it will be my joy, God sparing us, to open up that passage next week, but I can't wait till next week to tell you. That's the answer. You must believe. This is the work of God that you believe, and you must believe on the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus alone. Jesus in all the fullness of His glory as the God, as the only of sinners. We do not ask you to believe in this church. Join this church.

50:47 I'll say they're terribly narrow, my friend. We're broad. We're narrow. The command is to believe in Christ in all the magnitude of the glory of His person and work.

51:00 But you look anywhere else and you'll destroy.

Concluding Exhortation: Awake and Rejoice in the Answer

51:04 You'll die. Thou shalt be saved only believing and believing only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Most important question any man ever asked. Have you asked that question? Hmm? Have you asked it with a real sense of the earnest, of the importance of the question, with the urgency upon your spirit? My friend, if you haven't, you're fast asleep in the cave having dreams that are mere delusions. May God grant that you'll give yourself no rest until that cry comes from your heart, sirs, what must we do to be saved? And oh dear people who can say, yes, I've asked the question. Thank God I've

51:49 heard the answer and I've found that it's true. Oh, can't you rejoice this morning as you look back and see God didn't use an earthquake. What did He use? Well, He used a transformed life that came across your path and you said, I don't know what makes that guy, that gal tick, but I'm going to find out. And you started coming under the sound of the word and you found out it was Christ. With some of you, God had to shake. You were so thick and so dunce, God had to holler in your ear. Some of you, God whispered. It makes no difference what means He used, but He's brought you to ask that question, hasn't He? And He's shown you the answer in His Son. Rejoice. That's His work.

52:30 And to Him, and Him alone be the praise. For by grace have you been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works that no man should glory. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. And there's a wonderful example of how the Lord does it. As He does that in you, if not, give Him no rest until you know that He has. Let us pray.