What Must I Do To Be Saved? - May 18

Read Acts 16:30-31

Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Reflect

Growing up, what were you taught about salvation? Did that teaching match up with Scripture?

Many people want to know what we have to do to be saved. Most religions have certain steps that you have to follow and different rules that you must adhere to in order to go to heaven. To make it super confusing, most of these religions contradict each other.

Tragically, there even seems to be confusion among Christians on this matter. I have heard professing Christians claim that they know they’ll go to heaven because they try to do good and love their neighbor. I’ve heard people who claim to be pastors and priests deny the reality of heaven and hell as some kind of mere symbolism. I’ve also heard self-proclaimed Christians claim that because God is good, He won’t send anyone to hell, so all roads must lead to heaven. But if these roads contradict each other, how can they all lead to the same place? It doesn’t make sense at all.

Thankfully, God’s Word clears up the confusion on this issue. When we go back to the Bible, we see that when people asked the apostles what they had to do in order to be saved, there was only one step—belief in the Lord Jesus.

For context, today’s passage comes from the account of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail. They had been beaten and tossed into prison for preaching the Gospel and casting a demon out of a slave girl. They were praying and singing to God around midnight when all of a sudden an earthquake shook the foundations of the prison and sprung open the cell doors. Miraculously, the prisoners' bonds and shackles also came undone.

Realizing that his prisoners were about to escape, the jailer drew his sword to take his own life. As a Roman guard, he knew he’d face a shameful execution if criminals escaped on his watch. But Paul didn’t seize the opportunity to escape, he seized the opportunity to share the Gospel. He told the man not to harm himself because none of the prisoners had actually escaped.

Trembling with fear, the jailer cried out, “What must I do to be saved!” You see, he had just witnessed the awesome power of the One True God and he knew it. He rightly perceived that the God Paul and Silas worshiped was the only God who could save him.

Think about Paul’s response and what he did not say. He did not say that you must go out and  do a bunch of good deeds. He didn’t tell him that he had to clean up his life first. He didn’t tell him that he had to convert to Judaism and get circumcised. He didn’t tell him that he had to work harder to obey all the laws of the Torah or sacrifice a bunch of animals. He simply said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…”.

This is consistent with Paul’s other writings. For example, in Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul wrote: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

John’s Gospel also supports that it is our belief that Jesus is Lord is what saves us. In John 3:16-18, Jesus told us God’s plan for salvation: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

God is the Creator of heaven and earth. Salvation belongs to Him (Revelation 7:10). So, shouldn’t He be the One that tells how we can be saved and enter into eternity with Him? If you haven’t placed your faith in Him alone, I urge you: Stop your striving. You can’t earn it. Stop looking in all the wrong places. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you can be saved!

Respond

Lord Jesus, thank You for revealing God’s plan of salvation to us. You have told us that salvation is found in no one else (Acts 4:12). No one comes to the Father except through You (John 14:6). I know that You died on the cross for my sins. You paid the price that I could not pay. I don’t deserve it and I can never earn it. But I accept Your gift of mercy and grace for my salvation. Amen.

Reveal

Who do you know that is confused about how to be saved? Pray for them. Then, share God’s Word with them that salvation is found by faith in Jesus Christ alone.