What Must I Do To Be Saved?

What Must I Do to Be Saved?

—Acts 16:30

We come now to what is arguably the most pointed question in the entire Bible: “What must I do to be saved?” A jailer in the ancient city of Philippi asked his prisoners, Paul and Silas, this question in the midnight hour. Hours earlier this same jailer had beaten them, put them inside a prison cell, and fastened their feet in iron stocks. Why was the jailer now asking the two prisoners about spiritual matters? To fully appreciate the motivation behind this question we must view it in the context in which it was asked.

It was in the midnight hour. The jailer had securely locked Paul and Silas in the “inner prison” (Acts 16:24)—they had bloody, beaten backs and their feet were secured in iron stocks, but their voices were “praying and singing hymns to God” (v. 25). Then suddenly God went into action. He sent an earthquake that not only shook the foundation of the prison, but opened the prison doors and loosed the prisoners’ chains. Knowing that punishment for letting the prisoners escape would be his death, the jailer drew his sword to do the deed himself when he saw that the prisoners had not escaped. Amazed, the jailer “fell down trembling before Paul and Silas” and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Their reply was immediate: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:29–31).

When darkness sets into our lives, when the midnight hour comes, we often feel like giving up—we certainly don’t feel like singing a song in the night! But singing praises has a hugely liberating effect on three relationships in life. First, praise affects our inward expression—our relationship with ourselves. Second is our upward expression—our relationship with God. And third, our outward expression—our relationship with others. A song in the night engages all three relationships and often leads others to inquire about what enables us to live in such victory.

A SONG IN THE NIGHT WILL ALTER OUR PERSPECTIVE

As to the inward expression, singing a song in the night will change our perspective, improve our attitude, and get the attention of others. That was true for Paul and Silas as well. Nothing seemed to be going right for them. They had been arrested. Their backs were sore and bleeding. Their bodies ached. It would have been easy for Paul and Silas to have asked the question of Gideon, “If the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” (Judges 6:13). But instead, they chose to sing a song of praise, and it altered their perspective. Jesus had given Paul and Silas what the prophet Isaiah had foretold: “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:3). Often when things are not going our way, our own attitude can make a tough situation even more difficult. An accurate perspective is vital, especially when it is midnight in our soul. Giving thanks to God and singing His praise will alter our perspective as the Lord’s light of hope breaks through.

A SONG IN THE NIGHT WILL ACTIVATE OUR POWER

God always hears His people when we sing a song in the night. He often responds with the blessing of peace and comfort. But in Acts 16, His response was more dramatic: “Suddenly”—and I love that word—“there was a great earthquake . . . and immediately”—another good word—“all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed” (v. 26).

In Psalm 22, David wrote that God is “enthroned in the praises of Israel” (v. 3). In other words, God inhabits the praises of His people. Our praise is where God is at home! This is where He gets comfortable and settles in. And so, in the darkness of their prison cell, Paul and Silas sang a song in the night, and God responded with a remarkable demonstration of His power.

When difficulties come knocking on our door, when we find ourselves in our own prison at midnight, we can too easily assume the martyr’s role and begin to get comfortable in the cell of self-pity. Resist that! Instead, sing a song in the night. It will alter your own perspective, and it will activate the power of God in your behalf to endure. There is power in praise.

A SONG IN THE NIGHT WILL ALLEVIATE OUR PREJUDICES

Talk about prejudices in the outward expression of relationships! People in Macedonia thought none too highly of Jews, and then when Paul and Silas began preaching the gospel message—which they deemed too controversial for their own tastes—the Macedonians’ prejudice increased. But when Paul and Silas sang a song in the night, they became a blessing to others. The very jailer who had whipped those stripes in their backs was now drawn to them, curious about what made them different, interested in their message.

When we are in our own midnight hour and we begin to praise our God in the midst of it, we often catch the attention of people around us who are watching to see how we react. The world looks on, as this jailer did, and concludes that it wants what we have.

Picture the jailer as he knelt, trembling, before Paul and Silas and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” The jailer felt convicted by God’s Spirit. Shaking and kneeling, he wondered what he had to do to be saved. But the jailer could not do anything. It had already been done: Christ’s death on the cross is what saves. So when the jailer asked about how to be saved, the disciples’ immediate reply was “Believe!” Put your trust in Christ alone, they said, “and you will be saved!” (Acts 16:31). The jailer learned late that night that salvation is not spelled D-O, but D-O-N-E!

A beautiful thing happens before our story ends: the jailer “took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes” (Acts 16:33). Only the gospel can change a man’s heart like that. The jailer was now gently washing and seeking to soothe the very stripes on their backs from the beating he himself had earlier administered. What a testimony to the fact that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Q & A: “What must I do to be saved?” The pointed answer is the same today: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). It is as easy as ABC: Admit your sin and come to Christ in true humility and need just as this jailer did. Believe that Jesus is the resurrected Son of God and trust that He alone can save you from the deadly consequences of your sin. After all, it is “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Confess your faith, because “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Yes, salvation is spelled D-O-N-E. Your part is to believe!