Saving Faith

Faith

Acts 16: 25 – 32

The apostle Paul was thrown into jail for preaching about Christ in the city of Philippi. He and his companion Silas were beaten and then chained to an inner dungeon.

The Bible records that Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God, and the prisoners heard them. The prisoners and the guards had to be dumbfounded. They'd heard cursing and complaining coming from the inner dungeon but never praising.

Acts 16: 25 – 29 says, “At midnight an earthquake shook the city and the prison fell apart. The doors shook open, the chains broke off their feet and hands, and the prisoners were free.”. The jailer realized that he was in deep trouble. In that day, if a prisoner escaped, the jailer could be forced to serve the remaining time of the escaped prisoner’s sentence. Or even worse the jailer could be executed.

Either way, this jailer was doomed. Some of these inmates were probably on death row. When he saw the doors open, he assumed the prisoners had escaped. He drew his sword and was going to kill himself so he could die with honor.

But Paul intervened. He said, “Wait, don't kill yourself. We're all here. No one has escaped.”. The jailer grabbed a lantern and rushed from cell to cell, and he discovered the prisoners were still there.”.

He was so impressed that he realized that he was in the presence of a miracle.

And Acts 16: 29 & 30 reads, “He fell trembling before Paul and Silas, and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’.”.

Early in my ministry, there was a guy in the church where I was serving at the time who was converted to Christ.

Steve and his wife Lynn lived about an hour from the church, but one night, around 2:00 a.m., Lynn woke up and heard two burglars in their kitchen.

She decided not to wake up Steve for fear he would get hurt.

She lay there just trembling for a while and then the burglars came into the bedroom and started rifling through their dresser drawers.

One of them turned and flashed the flashlight at her and she saw that he had a gun and Lynn screamed instinctively at that. When she screamed, Steve immediately woke up and sat straight up in bed only to realize that he was staring down the barrel of a gun barrel.

The burglar fired 3 times and then both men took off running.

Steve and Lynn regained their composure, called the police, and concluded that the burglars must have been firing blanks.

There was no way they could miss at that short range. When they threw the covers back, they saw that there was a bullet in the mattress. It had gone through Steve’s legs.

They discovered that another bullet was in the pillow, and another one was in the headboard.

They said, “We're not staying another night in this house.”. They packed their bags and came out to Steve’s aunt who lived there in Roper, the town where the church was located. Steve’s aunt was a member of our church.

She called me the next day and said I have a nephew who is not a Christian, but I think he'd be ready to listen to the gospel.

I went to talk to Steve, and he was, without a doubt, the most pliable prospect I've ever talked to.

The following Sunday he came and gave his life to Christ and was baptized into him, and they have been faithful in their service ever since.

This jailer had been through a violent earthquake that scared the daylights out of him. It was so violent that it almost destroyed the prison. He assumed the prisoners had escaped. He was about to commit suicide and now everything was OK. No wonder he fell at Paul's feet and said, “What must I do to be saved? I want whatever it is that you have.”.

I think the most important question of our lives is that question…

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

How can I be confident that when I die, my sins are forgiven, and I have the promise of living eternally with Christ?

I was reading an article the other day that talked about what Americans fear the most in today’s culture. 60% are afraid of governmental corruption. 41% are afraid of terrorist attacks (foreign and/or domestic. 38.5% are afraid of being a victim of a mass shooting. 38.5% are afraid of government restrictions on the 1st and 2nd amendments. 35.5% are afraid of another 4 years of radical socialism. The second-ranked fear that people have is the fear of death and not knowing if their souls will be saved.

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?