What Must I Do To Be Saved ?
(Scripture reading.. (Acts 16, verses 20 thru 30)
That scripture reading leaves us with the question.. “What must I do to be saved?” And I’d like to try to answer that question today. And as I do that, I want to talk a little bit about the church, and about a very important characteristic that we all need to have, if we want to be saved. So let’s get started..
As we learned from our scripture reading, Paul and Silas were in the city of Philippi, and they had been arrested, and severely beaten, and thrown in prison, basically for preaching about salvation. The accusation was that they were “exceedingly troubling the city”. But Paul was simply doing what Jesus Christ Himself had specifically called him, and chosen him to do.
The Lord said in Acts 9, verse 15.. “..for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.” And listen to the next verse.. “..for I will show him how much he must suffer, for My name’s sake.” And so this occasion is just one example of that suffering that Paul endured, for being a “chosen vessel” of God.
And there’s a striking similarity between Paul’s purpose as a “chosen vessel”, and our purpose as the church. In 1 Peter 2, verse 9, the apostle Peter says.. “But you (speaking of Christians collectively as the body of Christ) (You) are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness, into His marvelous light.”
So then God gave Paul a specific purpose, which was “to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.” And God has given us a specific purpose. To “proclaim the excellencies of Him who called “us” out of darkness, into His marvelous light.”
We have been “called out”.
Did you know that the original Greek word translated “church”, means “to call out”? The “church” is the called out body of the saved. We’re called out of this sinful world, which this verse refers to as “darkness”, and we’re called “into His marvelous light”, which is basically the same as saying, we’re called “into Christ”, into His “church”.
2 Cor 6, verse 17 says.. “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.”
Now, think back to our scripture reading. Paul and Silas are in prison, and put in stocks, and they’re praying an singing hymns to God. And a earthquake hits and shakes the very foundation of the prison, so that all the cell doors open, and all the prisoner’s chains come loose. And the jailer wakes up and sees all the cell doors opened, and he thinks all the prisoners have escaped, so he’s about to kill himself. But Paul stops him, and says, “We are all here”. And the jailer is so humbled, that he asks.. What must I do to be saved?
You’ve got to have some humility to ask that question don’t you? You don’t ask that out of pride, you ask it out of humility. And that’s an attitude that we all need to cultivate in our life! Because without it, we’ll never be saved.
Jesus said in Mathew 5, verse 5.. “Blessed are the meek..” Not blessed are the weak, but blessed are the “meek”. To be meek, means to be humble, and gentle. I read in a bible dictionary, that “biblical meekness, is strength under control”. Who was the strongest and most powerful person to ever live? Wouldn’t it have to be Jesus? He had the power to calm the wind and calm the sea, to heal the sick, and even raise the dead! And we know from John 1, verse 3.. “All things were made through Him, and without Him, was not any thing made that was made.” Jesus was the strongest and most powerful person to ever live, but yet, He was no doubt, the most “meek” and humble person to ever live.
Listen to what Philippians chapter 2, verses 6 thru 8 says about Jesus.. “Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped (or, held on to), but He emptied Himself, having taken the form of a servant, being made in the likeness men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.”
It says in Hebrews 5:8 & 9.. “Though he were a Son, yet He learned obedience, by the things which he suffered; And having been perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation, to all who obey Him.” Obedience, is an expression of humility, and Jesus expressed that perfectly.
And so, “What must I do to be saved?” Well to begin with, I need to be humble! 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26 encourages us to think about something. It says.. “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble by birth.” Those are qualities that tend to lead a person to pride. But no one can be saved through pride. If we’re going to be saved, it’s going to have to be through a humble heart. And an obedient heart.
When that Philippian jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved”, what was he told? Acts 16, verse 31 says, “..BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” There’s several verses of scripture that equate believing with salvation, and rightfully so. A good example is John 3:16 which says.. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever BELIEVES in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
A so a lot of people think that’s the end of the story. I believe, therefore I’m saved. But IS IT the end of the story? Well, let’s continue and find out.. The Jailer was told to “believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved..” But did he even know exactly, what all he needed to believe, in order to be saved? Probably not, because Verses 32 says.. “And they spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house. So evidently Paul and Silas understood the need to do some explaining here, and so they “spoke the word of the Lord to him”. And what happened after he heard “the word of the Lord”?
Verse 33 says.. “And he took them (The jailer took Paul and Silas) that very hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had BELIEVED in God.” You see, when you BELIEVE in God, you don’t just nod your head and say.. Yep, that’s what I believe. No, when you believe in God, you obey the word of God! You obey the word of the Lord!
And so let me give you a few examples of the “words” of the Lord Himself. Jesus said, in Mathew 10:32 & 33.. “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, him will I confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.” You sure can’t be saved, if Jesus denies you before the Father in heaven.
And Jesus said in Luke 13, verse 3.. “..Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish”. In the bible, the word “repent” means to change your mind, and turn from the ways of the world, and turn to the ways of God. A change of mind, that results in a change of action!
And here’s something else that Jesus said. He said in Mark 16:16.. “He who has believed AND has been baptized, shall be saved; But he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”
You wanna know what the apostle Peter said one day when HE spoke the word of the Lord? In Acts 2, verse 38.. Peter said.. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, unto the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” And verse 40 says.. “And with many OTHER words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be SAVED from this perverse generation!” Peter had already convicted his listeners of crucifying Jesus Christ. They had already come to believe. But now you might say, Peter told them the rest of the story!
Believe, repent, be baptized and be saved, that’s what Peter said. Believe, confess, repent, be baptized, and be saved, that’s what Jesus said. Even the apostle Paul, who used to be a proud persecutor of Christians, when he believed in Jesus, he was told to “arise and be baptized and wash away your sins..” (Acts 22:16) And that’s precisely what Paul did. He humbled himself, and obeyed the word of the Lord. He had already believed, and he had already repented, and so he was told.. “Why do you delay? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins..” Once you believe, and once you repent, there’s simply nothing more to wait for. It’s time to wash away your sins.
When we put all these verses together, a clear pattern emerges. And it all starts with having enough humility, and a willingness to “hear” what the word of the Lord says.
Jesus repeatedly used the phrase.. “He who has ears, let him hear”. And what that means is.. Let everyone who is willing, and let everyone who is humble enough, accept the Lord’s words as the truth that they are, and let them obey those words, and be saved.
And so once again, here’s the pattern that the word of the Lord reveals; Humble yourself, and be willing to “hear” the word of the Lord. “Believe” in the Lord Jesus. “Confess” your faith in Christ. “Repent” of your sins, and be “baptized” for the forgiveness of those sins, and be saved. Saved from the consequences of sin. Called out from a world of sin, and transferred into the kingdom of light, in other words, added to the “church”, the called out assembly of the saved. Acts 2:47 says.. “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
And now, let me explain something to you about the phrase “Believe and you will be saved”. That phrase is an example of what is called a “synecdoche”. How many of you know what that is? It’s an ancient Greek word, that refers to a figure of speech, where a part of something, is used to refer to the whole thing. In this case, the word “believe” is a part of everything that we must do to be saved. But it’s used to represent the whole thing. The same hold true with John 3:16 which says.. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever BELIEVES in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Let me give you some common everyday examples of this kind of figure of speech. With all the talk about wars lately, people are saying, we don’t want “boots on the ground”. What does the word “boots” refer to here? We understand it to refer to the whole combat ready soldier, right? But we simply use the word “boots”, to represent the whole thing. The same holds true for the phrase “all hands on deck”. We understand that “hands” represents the whole person. And here’s some more examples.. A man might ask for a woman’s “hand” in marriage. You might admire someone’s car and say, nice “wheels”. If a woman said, I’ve got four hungry “mouths” at home to feed, we understand what that means. The very meaning of that Greek word “synecdoche”, is “same understanding”. In other words, we understand that a part of something, often times means the same as the whole thing.
And people have evidently always used this figure of speech. Here’s what an on-line encyclopedia says about this manner of speaking.. “Synecdoches have been used for thousands of years, with their roots possibly coming from ancient Greek rhetoric. Common examples of this are ancient Greek literature and biblical texts.”
So, let me give you some examples of some biblical texts, that use this type of language.. We read in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 50.. “FLESH and BLOOD, cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. Flesh and blood are used here to represent the whole physical body. This physical body of ours, cannot and will not, inherit heaven. But god has promised that we will all be given a spiritual body at the resurrection, so that we can indeed inherit the kingdom of God.
Here’s another example.. Jesus said in Mathew 6, verse 11.. “Give us this day our daily BREAD”. The word “bread” is used to represent all the food which sustains us. And so, Lord, sustain us this day, and every day.
Jesus said in Luke 22:20.. “This CUP is the new covenant in My blood..” He’s obviously referring to the Lord’s supper. The cup of course represents the fruit of the vine which was in the cup. And the fruit of the vine of course represents the blood of Christ. But the point is, that in this verse, the “cup” is used to represent the entire new covenant.
And so now let’s go back to Acts 16, verses 30 & 31, the jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved?” And the answer was.. “Believe and you will be saved”. The word “believe” in this verse, is used to represent the whole, of what we must do to be saved. It’s used that way in this verse, and it’s used that way in John 3:16, and it’s used that way in a couple of other verses as well. But we know, even just from our study here today, that belief is certainly not ALL that we must do to be saved.
Belief might be the first step in salvation, and it could be argued that it’s the most important step, because without belief, none of the rest even matters. But it’s used here to represent the whole thing.
When Jesus said in Mark 16:16.. “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved”, He was using the first and the last step, (believe and be baptized) to represent the whole plan of salvation.
Jesus said in Mathew 4, verse 4.. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
And so just as we can’t live by “bread” alone, neither can we be SAVED by “belief” alone, but by obedience to every word, and every command, that comes from the mouth of God.
You are invited to respond to the “call” of God.
