What must I do to be
saved?
THE TITLE OF this article is a direct
quotation from the book of Acts. [Acts 16:30] Paul and Silas were in prison
at Philippi, having experienced a mockery of a trial. They were beaten and
then after receiving many lashes were thrown into prison. The jailor was
commanded to keep them safely and not let them escape. Because of this, the
jailor threw Paul and Silas into an inner prison and put their feet into
stocks. The jailor obviously felt confident that he had done all that he
could - all that was humanly possible in order to prevent them from
escaping.
At midnight, we read that Paul and Silas
prayed and sang praises unto God, loud enough for the other prisoners to
hear them also. Suddenly there was a great earthquake which caused the
foundations of the prison to shake, with the result that all the prison
doors were opened and every prisoner's stocks and chains came undone. The
jailor, as we can imagine, was very frightened. An earthquake is indeed a
very terrifying experience and men and women are helpless in such a
situation.
The jailor's immediate reaction when he saw
that the doors were opened and the prisoners freed, was to kill himself.
Under Roman law, if a prisoner was to escape whilst under a jailor's care,
he would be held responsible, with death as a punishment. So the jailor's
intention was to kill himself, until Paul shouted: `Do thyself no harm: for
we are all here.' [Acts 16.28] The jailor, on hearing this brought in a
light quickly and trembling said `...what must I do to be saved?' [Acts
16.30]
Before we consider the answer to this
question, we should perhaps ask another question first. What did the
Philippian jailor need to be saved from? Was it from the Roman authorities
or was it from the consequences of his own actions? Both of these would
result in his death, so was he asking to be saved from death? This could not
be so, for Paul could not actually save the jailor from death. The Bible
teaches that death is the cessation of life and is our common lot because of
sin. God has placed a curse upon mankind because of the sin of the first man
Adam. Paul expressed this very clearly when he wrote to the Corinthians `For
as in Adam all die.' [1 Corinthians 15.22]
This statement is amplified in Paul's letter
to the Romans:
`Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned.' [Romans 5.12]
However, Paul and Silas were able to say to
the jailor `...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...'
[Acts 16.31] The record in Acts goes on to tell us that Paul and Silas `...spake
unto him the word of the Lord...' [Acts 16.32] This tells us that the
apostles expounded to the jailor the scriptures and explained how God had
provided a way of salvation from death through the work of His Son the Lord
Jesus Christ.
THE ORIGIN OF DEATH
In order to understand God's plan of
salvation we have to go back to the beginning. The clue to this is given in
those words of Paul already referred to: `... as in Adam all die' [1
Corinthians 15.22] - Adam and Eve were our first parents and after God had
created them, He pronounced that they, together with all His Creation were
`very good' [Genesis 1.31] and their surroundings were also very good. Now
God imposed only one condition on our first parents after He had placed them
in the Garden of Eden - they must not eat of a certain tree - `the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil'. God also told them `...in the day that you
eat of it you shall surely die.' [Genesis 2.17 NKJV]
Unfortunately, the temptation was too great
for them. Eve, taken in by the subtle words of the serpent, looked upon the
tree and saw that the fruit on it was very pleasing to the eye; she was
persuaded that if she did eat of the fruit, she wouldn't die as God had
said, but that she would have her eyes opened and would be `...like God,
knowing good and evil.' [Genesis 3.5 NKJV]
So Eve took the fruit of that tree and did
eat and she gave also to Adam to eat. Immediately they realised that they
were naked and feeling ashamed they sewed fig leaves together to cover their
nakedness. God then cursed the serpent for his part in the temptation. God
said:
`...Because thou hast done this, thou art
cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy
belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.'
[Genesis 3.14]
God also said to Eve:
`...I (God) will greatly multiply thy
sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;
and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.'
[Genesis 3.16]
Finally, God said to Adam:
`...cursed is the ground for thy sake; in
sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and
thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou
return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou
art, and unto dust shalt thou return.' [Genesis 3.17-19]
Adam and Eve were then banished from the
Garden of Eden:
`And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is
become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth
his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till
the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he
placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.' [Genesis
3.22-24]
A COVERING FOR SIN
In Genesis chapter 3, we are also told that
God made coats of skins to clothe Adam and Eve. [Genesis 3.21] By this act,
animals were not only killed in order to provide the covering for their
bodies, but also to provide a symbolic covering for the sin which they had
committed. This established a Divine principle that later was confirmed in
the daily sacrifices made by the Israelites in obedience to God's law given
through Moses. Paul refers to this in the letter to the Hebrews where we
read `And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without
shedding of blood is no remission (of sins).' [Hebrews 9.22]
So the slaying of an animal to provide a
covering for sin became an integral part of the law of Moses. But what
we
must remember is that the sacrifice of an animal only, was a covering for
sin and not any animal was allowed to be used as this sacrifice; it had to
be a perfect specimen without blemish. [Leviticus 6.6]
THE PERFECT SACRIFICE
Now God in His wisdom, provided His only
begotten Son who was the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.
John's Gospel record tells us how John the Baptist recognised this when he
saw Jesus:
`The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto
him, and saith, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world."' [John 1.29]
So Jesus was sacrificed for the sins of the
world. As the sacrifices under the law had to be without spot and blemish,
so therefore Jesus fulfilled this role perfectly. [1 Peter 1.18,19] The
Apostle Peter again reminds us of Christ's perfect character in these words:
`Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.' [1 Peter 2.22]
It was necessary for Christ to die, because
he was mortal, having been born of Mary. [Galatians 4.4] He overcame sin in
the flesh and therefore in his death he nailed it to his cross. By his act
of obedience to his Father, in laying down his life, he fulfilled a Divine
promise which was made in Eden. God said to the serpent:
`And I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel.' [Genesis 3.15]
The meaning of this promise is clear. Christ
bruised sin in the head, a fatal wound; but sin only bruised Christ in the
heel, a minor wound. Because Christ was sinless, he was not worthy of the
curse of death and God therefore did not let his soul see corruption but
raised him from the dead on that third day, a glorious resurrection. [Acts
2.22-28] In the letter to the Hebrews we are reminded of the great contrast
between the sacrifices under Moses' law and the sacrifice of Christ:
`...not that He should offer himself often,
as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with the blood
of another...but now, once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.' [Hebrews 9.25,26 NKJV]
By the shedding of his blood Jesus has made a
way possible for us to be forgiven our sins. We are all sinners, for we are
descended from Adam and still the same principle applies, as the prophet
Ezekiel put it so plainly `the soul that sinneth, it shall die.' [Ezekiel
18.4]. What did the jailor have to do to be saved? Paul and Silas said to
him: `...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' [Acts
16.31] There was no hesitation on the part of the Jailor for `...he took
them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was
baptized...' [Acts 16.33].
So we see that in order to have a hope of
salvation, a hope of being saved from eternal death, we must believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized.
The command of Jesus to all who wish to
follow him is this:
`He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned.' [Mark 16:16]
THE MEANING OF BAPTISM
Paul explained the meaning of baptism in
these words:
`Know ye not, that so many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we
are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life.' [Romans 6:3,4]
In order to be completely buried as Christ
was, we need to be totally immersed in water for this to symbolise his
death. Examples of how baptism was carried out, can be found elsewhere in
the Bible. In the book of Acts we read about an Ethiopian eunuch who had
been to Jerusalem and was returning home. Philip was sent to him and found
him sitting in a chariot reading a passage of scripture from Isaiah. Philip
asked him whether he understood what he was reading. [Acts 8:27-30] The
eunuch replied that he could not unless someone explained it to him. Philip
did just this, and explained the meaning of the passage which was a prophecy
concerning the crucifixion of Christ. We are told that `The place of the
scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth.' [Acts
8:32]
After the eunuch had understood the teaching
of the Old Testament scriptures concerning the work of Christ, they both
came to some water and the eunuch asked `...what doth hinder me to be
baptized? And Philip said, `If thou believest with all thine heart, thou
mayest...and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch;
and he baptized him.' [Acts 8:36-38] After his baptism, we are told that the
eunuch `...went on his way rejoicing.' [Acts 8:39]
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
So we have learnt that both the Philippian
jailor and the Ethiopian eunuch were baptised into Jesus' saving name and
now rest in the certain hope of eternal life and will have a part in the
resurrection. We read of this in Paul's letters:
`For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.' [1
Thessalonians 4:16]
`For since by man came death, by man came
also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so
in Christ shall all be made alive.' [1 Corinthians 15:21,22]
When Christ returns to the earth, he shall
raise those who are `in Christ' and he shall judge both the
living and the dead. Those who are found worthy will then receive God's
gracious gift - eternal life in his kingdom - what a wonderful prospect!
What must you do to
be saved?
There are three essential things - believe
the Gospel - be baptised - then walk in faith along the path marked out for
you, so that when Christ comes, in God's mercy you will be judged worthy to
have a place in his glorious kingdom.
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