Acts 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.
27 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.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
The Bible is a fairly large book. It is made up of 66 books. It has one Author, God. It’s central message is the need for and the way of salvation. There are only two chapters in the entire book that deal with life before sin. After that the Bible deals with sin and the consequences of sin and the hope of man to be forgiven of sin and to be given spiritual life. The Bible ends with the blessed hope of an eternity in heaven for those who are truly born again.
The majority of people never bother to read the Bible. Some people will read the Bible but they read it as a proof text to prove what they believe to be true. This is something that any person can be guilty of. God requires that we come to the place where we submit to Him and accept His Word as truth and put everything we believe under His microscope.
The devil has many fallen angels assisting him in his work of deception. The Bible tells us that we are all born as lost sinners. As such, we are already leaning to the acceptance of lies. There are many forms of the same lie that the devil uses.
Listening to politicians shows us a good picture of how the devil works. It is very seldom that a politician will admit they have lied. Yet most of what they say is a lie. They learn the art of spin and they figure out how to cover up for their lies. Even though others can see they are lying, they insist they are telling the truth. Some of them have convinced themselves that their lies are the truth. They believe their lies.
In our text we see that Paul and Silas told the Philippian jailor that he needed to “believe” on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. The Greek word translated as believe in that text is found 248 times in the Bible. It is quite a common word. It is more that just a flippant act. It is a word that speaks of committing to that which you are trusting.
We see in our text that the jailor was fearful for his life. He did not care about the prisoners. However, when God sent the earthquake and the jailor knew that all the prisoners were free to escape, he assumed that is what they did. He knew the nature of humanity. He was also a human being, although a very hardened one.
The jailor was about to take his own life because he knew that Roman law stated that if your prisoners escaped on your watch, you would lose your life as punishment for what was deemed to be carelessness.
When Paul called out that he not harm himself, he was desperate for an answer. He really did not want to kill himself. He wanted to live, but he did not know how to live. He leaped into that prison and fell down before Paul and Silas. He wanted to know how to be saved. He needed more than just salvation from the Roman government. He needed a changed heart. He needed to be saved from eternal damnation.
He knew of the threat to his physical life. However, he wanted to be free from the threat to his soul. He believed that if he could fix that problem, the rest would be dealt with as well.
He heard Paul’s words to him. He needed to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This was no easy-believism ploy. You notice here that all three names given to Jesus are mentioned. Jesus came to save His people from their sins. Christ is the anointed one of God. He is the prophesied Messiah. Lord is the master. When a person is truly saved, he/she is immediately given eternal life. They also place themselves under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. They follow Him. That is what Jesus commanded the disciples to do as He called them. When Peter led the disciples back to fishing after Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus met them at the seashore and showed them that He could provide their daily needs, He reminded Peter again that he was to follow Him. He was not his own boss anymore. He had been called to save sinners and that was to be his full-time task. He needed to be busy doing what God had told him to do.
There are saved people who are called to be carpenters, doctors, mechanics, etc. In those jobs, their goal is to help people to see the need to be saved. They want to do honest work so that the customer or boss can see the difference between their work and that of the lost person.
Boeing workers have just gone out on strike. They are trying to force the boss to pay them more or to treat them differently. Saved people do not do that. Saved people live right and do right and trust God to provide for them. If you are working somewhere and believe you are worth more than you are making, you might ask for a raise. You might also look for a place to work that pays you what you believe you are worth. In any job, it is more than the pay check that counts. There are other factors to take into account.
In our text we see that after the jailor believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, he brought Paul and Silas out of the prison and fed them and washed their wounds. He acted upon what had happened to him. He was a new creature in Christ and he proved it. He was also baptized, along with his household. Obviously his household also believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ deniers insist there must have been young children in his household, but we know the Bible declared that baptism is for those who are first of all saved and then baptized. The naysayers can argue all they want. They are wrong.
In our text the jailor was not concerned about his standing with the Roman government now. He had a changed heart and he trusted God to work things out for His glory. We read that the Roman government wanted to release Paul and Silas the next day. Paul insisted that the leadership come and personally release them. They needed to acknowledge their wrong and make it right. The jailor had obviously put them back in prison, but now in a caring manner. He could not change the laws. He could do his part in a proper way. We do not know what he did after that but we do know that he became a true child of God. He demonstrated that with his actions.
He put his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was fully dependent upon Him now for his life. He would serve Him now. The governmental system was now secondary to his new Master. True salvation is a gift of God and it is life changing. The same result is expected from every born again Christian. The devil wants to keep people in bondage and he will try to convince a saved person that salvation does not really make any difference. The person who is truly saved will prove the devil wrong by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. He does not entertain the lies of the devil. He trusts in God and follows Him. As he does so, he grows in grace and knowledge and is a greater testimony of the mercy and love of God. He does not pursue the heresies of the Charismatic lies. He pursues godliness which includes holiness.
Pastor Bartel
