Believe On The Lord Jesus Christ

The Philippian Jailer’s Salvation II

ACTS 16:30-32

How can we be sure we are saved? Is there more than one way to God? I have heard people claim with total confidence that they know they are saved! They have no doubts about it. With some folk; however, they speak about their salvation as something they are uncertain about…they are “working on it.” They have a ‘hope so’ mentality, and not a ‘know so’ assurance. Then there are those who do not think much about the subject at all and just assume God will accept them because they are basically ‘good people.’

Part of the reason for this confusion is the reality of counterfeit salvations spawned in the dark heart of Satan (2 Cor. 4:3-5). Unfortunately, many have believed the devil and failed to believe God. These are working hard to earn their salvation by their works, diligence, and adherence to a church’s creeds or religious rules. Others seem to be church-going people, but they are merely ‘hoping’ they will finally “make it in” to Heaven. They really are not sure about what it actually means to be saved by God’s grace. Then that final group is generally oblivious of the importance and weight of these eternal matters—they simply ignore them and avoid the subject like the plague.

It is in the body of Scripture that we find the actual teaching that a person can be saved and know they are (1 John 5:10-15). One way to use the Scriptures to discern if this is our case is to compare the Scriptures with our ‘salvation experience.’ We are not given to living under misconceptions; we deeply prefer to know the truth. This study is designed to help identify the critical elements that are a part of a genuine conversion. The Bible account of the Philippian Jailer is an excellent passage from which to identify those vital elements. It will serve as our case study for this article. Therefore, we will use it as the basis of our presentation and use other verses in the Bible to support and validate what is stated in the Acts 16 passage.

My promise during the course of this study is to be biblical and Christ-centered in everything I claim and say. My purpose is to minister peace and grace, and not to engender confusion and frustration. I want to encourage you to read this article through several times and look closely at the verses that are used. They are the words of life. Cling to God’s truth and statements regardless of traditions, religions, and denominational affiliation. Listen carefully to God’s Word as He speaks to your heart.

Lastly, this study is a continuation of “The Philippian Jailer’s Salvation I.” The major emphasis in that study was:

I.  The Preparation for the Jailer’s Salvation (Acts 16:25-29). 

God often uses difficult challenges and awkward situations to bring people’s attention to the most important matters in life. One of the most crucial issues of all is a relationship with God, and the forgiveness of sins.  Many people leave this matter unaddressed; they ignore God their entire lives. Except God take the initiative, they would continue in ignorance. If you are not familiar with that article, I encourage you to read it as well on my blog, MaxEvangel.blogspot.com. Now that this area has been explored, we are now prepared to look at the next point of focus:

II. The Elements of the Jailer’s Salvation (Acts 16:30-32).

Though the details of each person’s conversion experience will differ greatly, the elements of a genuine salvation experience are always the same. The ages, the places, the day of the week, month of the year, circumstances leading up to conversion will differ from person to person. However, elements like conviction of sin, a desire to be saved, acceptance/belief of God’s clear Word (Gospel), heartfelt repentance of sin, and faith in Christ as the sole means of salvation are essentials. These are the elements we will explore in this study.

A.  HE HAD A SINCERE DESIRE TO BE SAVED.

Acts 16:30, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

Going into Paul and Silas’ cell, the jailer asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” This question is filled with significance. How did he know to ask this specific question? He must have understood what he was asking. Undoubtedly he had heard the story of the slave girl and how she had announced these men to be servants of God with the message of salvation (v. 17). Very possibly also the prayers and singing of Paul and Silas (v. 25) had reached his ears. The Spirit of grace was working deep within the precincts of his soul persuading and convincing him of his need to be saved. Also the combination of the awesome earthquake with the subsequent opportunity for the prisoners to escape and Paul’s reassuring words all moved him to ask about the way of salvation. Several lessons can be drawn from this:

1.      A Person must first realize they are desperately lost and hopeless without Christ.

a.       The jailer saw himself as lost and needing to be saved; therefore, in desperation he cried out to the preachers for direction! It is helpful to understand what we mean by “lost” and “save.” The word “lost” literally means to destroy; cause to perish eternally; and deprived of eternal life. This undesirable condition describes all humanity who have not yet believed on Christ. It does not matter how religious and sincere they are. If they have not come to the point where they regard Jesus Christ as the only means of hope for eternity, then they are still lost.

b.       When applied to salvation, “lost” means our relationship with God is broken by our sin. We are at a lost for a relationship with God, we are at a lost for deep inner peace, we are at a lost for hope for all eternity, we are spiritually alone, and if we die in this lost condition, we will consciously suffer in the Lake of Fire (Hell) forever. This is what God endeavors to rescue us sinners from. He is not interested in people perishing forever—He desires to save each of us.

c.       By “saved,” we mean that our relationship with God has been established through faith in Jesus Christ. This means we have been forgiven, reconciled to God, our sins have been completely paid for, we can live for God now, and we will be with Him in Heaven. Genuine Believers have been rescued from the eternal consequences of our sins. Many passages use the term ‘saved’ and the ‘lost sheep’ analogy to describe sinners doomed to perish unless they are rescued (Matthew 10:6; 15:24; 18:11; Luke 15:4, 6, 9, 24; 19:10). Before a person trusts Christ, they must realize and sense deeply their desperate and absolute NEED for Him and His sacrificial payment for sin.

2.      A Person is ready to be saved when they actually (truly) desire to be saved! 

a.       We must desire to make things right with God Whom we have greatly offended with our sinfulness and wayward deeds! Remember what we are is far worst then anything we have done! We are sinners, and this is why we sin! This is why we confess ourselves sinners.

b.       We Must Desire to Have our Sins Forgiven and Washed Away through the blood of Christ!  That is, we understand that the price of sin is death and death is the obligation presently looming over us because we have sinned (Rom. 5:12; 6:23). We discover Christ paid this sin debt for us two thousand years ago and believe it is sufficient payment to God. Upon trusting Christ, we are forgiven, our guilt for sin is washed away, and God does not recognize any of our past offenses against Him any longer. The repentant sinner must desire to be forgiven by God.

c.       We Must Desire to avoid the Judgment of God at the Great White Throne upon the Lost! Though this is sometimes played down or minimized, standing before an extremely holy God guilty of violent and flagrant offenses against Him and His Law is not a comfortable place to be (Rev. 20:11-15). No not by any stretch of the imagination. Many of us would be content if we never had to stand before a human judge in a county courthouse. Can you imagine what it will be like giving an account before the Almighty All-knowing God of the universe? He cannot be deceived nor manipulated; He knows everything about us…everything…yes, everything.  

d.       We must Acknowledge The Lord Jesus Christ and His Authority!  We come to God on His terms (Rom. 10:8-14, 17). We cannot come to Him desiring to be forgiven when we have no intentions of conforming to His expressed will in the Word. The rebel must be willing to live in obedience to God with the intent of following through as a disciple of Christ. Salvation is free to us, but trusting Christ is a commitment of oneself to follow Him as Master and Lord after He has saved us. Christ is not interested in saving a person with a heart of rebellion committed to continuing in their rebellion!

3.       A Person is ready to be saved when they come to God on His terms, and not upon their own ways or ideas. Because we realize we can do nothing to save ourselves, we humbly accept God’s one way to be saved. Acts 2:37-38, Now when they [Jewish crowd] heard this, they were pricked in their heart [convicted of having rejected The Christ], and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do [they were desperate for God’s remedy]? 38, Then Peter said unto them, Repent [turn from unbelief and rejection of Christ by turning to God through faith in Christ], and be baptized [believer’s baptism upon being saved] every one of you in the name [the singular authorized way to God] of Jesus Christ for [because of] the remission [forgiveness] of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost [be indwelt by the Spirit for Christian living]. So, our baptism, a religious ceremony, the Law of Moses, keeping the Sabbath, obeying the Golden Rule, a Church, following the Ten Commandments, an Institution, or any diligent efforts or works cannot save us. Saving sinners is the job of Jesus Christ alone, and He is not accepting resumes for His position!

B.  HE ACCEPTED/BELIEVED THE CLEAR PERSPECTIVE OF GOD’S WORD.

Acts 16:32, And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

Today we would say Paul and Silas gave him the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They told Him how Christ died for our sins, how He was buried to demonstrate He really did die, and that He rose again the third day just as the Scripture predicted He would (1 Cor. 15:1-6). They explained how Christ was “wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:5, 6). Beloved, this is the clear perspective of the Word of the Lord.

Note, how John expressed this in 1Jn. 5:10-13,

He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11, And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12, He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

This is what God said—His record—and what He requires! The substance of our faith—what we believe—is important to God and our salvation. We are not free to just believe anything or everything. No, salvation is through specific beliefs regarding the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. A problem with believing on Christ for salvation is usually a problem with accepting God’s Word and witness as the final authority! Again, the Philippian Jailer readily accepted the “Word of the Lord” and so did his family members who were old enough to receive it and believe it.

C.  HE PLACED HIS FAITH IN THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Acts 16:31, And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Paul knew the right answer to the question, “What must I do to be saved?”—faith in Jesus Christ. That is the correct answer. Simple yes, but also true. Let us take a moment and look closely at this simple answer though. This is necessary because different denominations, movements, and religions teach different things. The devil is a master of counterfeiting and confusing the issue by introducing many false ideas with the hope of burying the truth. So, let us take a close look:

               1.  SALVATION IS A SIMPLE PROPOSAL—“Believe” (Acts 16:31).

                      a. “Believe” John 3:15-18, That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. [16] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [17] For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. [18] He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

i.                    First the only folks ready to "believe" are those who are repentant. We cannot believe on Christ for forgiveness of sin unless we first realize we are guilty before a holy God (J. R. Rice, MacDonald & Farstad). With this being the case, to believe is to place your trust and confidence in; it is acting on what we trust.  Jesus did not say be baptized to be saved, He did not say join the church to be saved, and He did not say do good works to be saved. Jesus said believe! Trust God—believe God—from the Heart with your entire being! Depend on what God said in the Bible—believe His Bible statements about Jesus Christ and salvation. Believing Christ is risking our entire hope for eternal life and a relationship with God on Jesus Christ and His cross. We refuse to trust in anything or anyone else!

ii.                   Many people today seem to have difficulty knowing what it means to believe. "However, when a sinner realizes she or he is lost, helpless, hopeless, hell-bound, and when she or he is told to believe on Christ as Lord and Savior, she or he will know exactly what it means" (MacDonald & Farstad). God’s Spirit will help him know what this means (John 16:7-14). The Spirit of God will see to this matter with extraordinary diligence. Finally, since the sinner cannot save themselves, believing is the only thing left that they can do!

                      b. “Come” Matt 11:28, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

It is a simple invitation to salvation issued by the Lord Jesus Christ. He likens salvation to simply coming to Him. Too all who bare the heavy burden of guilt, failures, and the consequences of those moral failures, Christ simply says come to Me and promises us rest for the soul. The toiling and grappling with a heavy conscience is over once we entrust our burden to the Savior.

                      c. “Receive” John 1:12, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (Salvation is a gift; all we can do is receive it to make it our own—Rom. 6:23)

Rev 3:20, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Open the door of your person—your entire life—and receive Him is the application for this passage.

                       d. “Repent” Acts 3:19, Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord…. We sinners must do an ‘about face.’ Change our minds and hearts about God and Sin! No longer desiring our sin more than we desire God, but turning away from our self-styled life to a life filled with hope in God. Remember sin is our enemy, not God! God through Jesus Christ is our Savior, and not we of ourselves! Have a change of heart and mind that leads to a change in your direction, and turn to God in full assurance of faith for salvation!

To clarify further, repentance is not living a good life or even cleaning up our lives in order for God to accept us. This is working to achieve or earn salvation. God finds such efforts repulsive and fully objectionable! Repentance begins inside when we realize we have offended a righteous God with our sinfulness. We realize we desperately need His forgiveness because we stand utterly condemned before Him. Again repentance is a change of heart and mind that leads to a change in course or direction. We are no longer running from God while justifying our sinful lives, we are now running to God admitting that we are awful sinners and we yearn for His forgiveness.

               2.   SALVATION IS IN AND THROUGH ONE PERSON—“the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31).

                      a. “Lord” = Deity     b.  “Jesus” = Humanity     c.  “Christ” = Messiah, Anointed One

In the Book of Acts, the emphasis is on faith in Jesus Christ alone (Acts 2:38–39; 4:12; 8:12, 37; 10:10–43; 13:38–39).

Acts 8:37, And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  Actually this is the focus of the entire body of Scripture! Salvation is not in a religious movement, a church, a denomination, a preacher, priest, nor any other religious figure; salvation is ONLY in the Person Jesus Christ! He alone is the Way, Truth, and Life and it is impossible to enter a relationship with God without Christ (John 14:6). What about all other world religions? That is precisely the problem; they are mere religions of working one’s way to God to finally be accepted. In the Christian Faith God reaches out to us, died for us, rescues us, forgives us, brings us to Himself, delivers us, and we enjoy a relationship with Him.

               3.  SALVATION IS BASED ON A PROPOSITION—“On” (Acts 16:31). Rom 10:9-10, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  10, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

                      a. The Death of Christ in Our Place—as our substitute.  Rom 5:6, For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

                      b. The Resurrection of Christ for Our Justification/Acceptance (Rom. 4:25).

                      c. It is Not What We Must Do To Be Saved, It is What He Has Done That We Trust in to be Saved!

2 Cor. 5:21, For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

                     d. Salvation is totally by God’s free grace (Eph. 2:8, 9). God does not reward salvation because we have earned it throughout a faithful life. No, God gives us salvation freely because we believe on Christ who lived a sinless faithful life, was crucified to pay for our sins, and rose again from the dead to save all who will repent and believe in Him. This is grace and it means free salvation to Believers; to attempt to earn our own salvation would be an insult to the God who gives it freely out of love.    

4.      God is interested in saving the entire family (Acts 16:31-34). 

a.       The phrase “and thy house” does not mean that the faith of the jailer would automatically bring salvation to his family. Each sinner must trust Christ personally in order to be born again, for we cannot be saved “by proxy.” The phrase simply suggests “and your household will be saved if they will also believe.” We must not read into this statement the salvation of infants (with or without baptism) because it is clear that Paul was dealing with people old enough to hear the Word (Acts 16:32), to believe, and to rejoice (Acts 16:34).

b.       God desires every person old enough to believe to be saved in every household! God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He does not want the wife in Heaven and the husband in Hell or vice versa. God desires a relationship and fellowship within the home and the entire family unit. He wants the entire family to know Him and walk in His will for them. He truly has the best interest of all at heart.

Once again the specific details of our conversion experiences will not be identical. God never intended that they would be. People get saved all the time in different places, times, circumstances, and on the list goes. These incidentals are not the focus when judging and discerning the authenticity of our own salvation experience. The elements we should concentrate on and look for are things like conviction of sin, a desire to be saved, acceptance/belief of God’s clear Word (Gospel), heartfelt repentance of sin, and faith in Christ as the sole means of salvation. These are essential and crucial elements of a genuine conversion. Are these elements evident in your salvation experience? When you look back at that day you claim you were saved, do you see these elements? The scope of this study is not to breed confusion; my aim is to help people find peace with God through a real salvation experience. Yes, there are counterfeit ‘so-called salvations’ that are confusing the real issue. These we must avoid falling prey to. My prayer is that this study and the verses from God’s Word will speak to your heart and lead you to full assurance or genuine salvation.