Salvation

So this Philippian jailer responsible for these prisoners, who had been sleeping on the job BTW, was awakened by the earthquake and assumes they are gone. He would be held responsible for their escape and would have to forfeit his own life. So he stands poised and ready to fall on his sword. Certainly a man in this position would naturally be thinking about eternity. But Paul seeing what he was about to do calls out to him and says “Wait! We are all here. Nobody has left. So don’t kill yourself.” And notice the jailer’s response. He asks what he must do to b saved. And the word he uses is sozo which means obtain salvation. He recalled that Paul had been preaching salvation in the name of the God of Israel. He immediately perceives the earthquake, the opening of the doors, and the unlocking of chains were all of divine power and inquired of his own salvation. True salvation comes from a recognition of God as the power in the universe. When you see the Divine power and nature of God Almighty it will cause you to recognize your own smallness and sinfulness and helplessness to do anything about it. We can bring no righteousness of our own before God. It is only Jesus Christ who lived sinlessly in this world and brings righteousness before God the Father. The jailor realizes this in an instant. That realization always preceeds salvation. You cannot accept the gift of salvation before you understand that you are completely helpless to save yourself. You might say that God has placed salvation upon a shelf and you cannot reach it. You need to stand on a stool to reach it. The understanding that you are helpless to save yourself is the stool you stand on to reach the free gift of salvation.

Never was a more important question asked than “What must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas evidently understood him as referring to eternal salvation. Certainly to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ would have no effect in saving him from any punishment from what had occurred.

Notice also the contrast between Christians and sinners. The guilty jailer was agitated, fearful, distressed, and terrorized; the Christian’s were peaceful, calm, joyous. The one filled with thoughts of self-murder; the others, concerned with saving life and doing good. In sorrow, in sickness, times of pestilence, death, the Christian is calm; the sinner is agitated and alarmed. The Christian can live through such times with peace and joy while the sinner endures these times with terror and dread. Look at what has been happening in the world with the COVID virus. Men and women are terrorized by the thought of being infected. They wear masks and cover themselves and keep their distance from others. They avoid going out into public places. They will do whatever the government suggests they do without question. I realize there are those that need to take precautions. I’m not discounting that at all. But the true Christian’s have stood with peace and joy in the midst of the pandemic and declared that God will protect them and keep them safe. They have refused to live in fear or be terrorized by the pandemic or the government! None of what has been happening has caught God off guard! If you claim to be a Christian and you have lived in fear and panic and have avoided attending church because the government has said to avoid public gatherings, and yet you have gone shopping or to work or vacation, you had better reevaluate your Christianity. It is not my place to judge you. It is my place to preach the Gospel and declare the good news of salvation. I can also look to a dog and declare him to be a dog without being a judge. I can also look to a life filled with fear and trembling and declare that that person is not a Christian because the God of Christianity is not a god that allows His people to live in fear. Again, I’m talking about a lifestyle filled with fear. And it will continue beyond the grave. On resurrection morning, the Christian will rise with joy and triumph, singing and shouting; the sinner will cower in fear and terror. And at the judgment seat, the saint will triumphantly proclaim the Judge as his Savior; while the sinner will be filled with horror as he silently listens to the sentence of eternal damnation! Which crowd do you fall in to? How is your life described? Fear and trembling or peace and joy?