Nathan considered this for a moment and then asked, "Does the bee know that?"
Sometimes we get stunt in life because we don't stop to ask the important that we fail to consider the real urgent and important matters. In our text, the Philippians jailer asks Paul and Silas the most important and urgent questions that anyone can possibly ask: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
That may not strike you as a very urgent question. You may think that the most urgent question you can answer is, "How can I get a boyfriend (or girlfriend)?" Or, "How can I get a job?" Or, "How can I communicate with my rebellious teenager?" While these may be important questions, none are nearly as urgent as the question, "What must I do to be saved?
1.The most urgent question in the world is:
How can I be saved?
This was not an academic question for this jailer. He had just been awakened by a power of earthquake. If that's ever happened to you, you know that it's a pretty good adrenaline rush! Then, when he rushed to the prison, he confirmed his worst nightmare the doors were open. He assumed the worst, that all the prisoners had escape. Instant death would be better to him than the torture that the authorities would inflict before they killed him. So he was ready to fall on his sword, when he heard a voice from inside calling, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here!"
He couldn't believe his own ears! Calling for lights, he entered the prison and saw that it was true. Overwhelm with all that had happened, he fell down before Paul and Silas. We don' know what words were exchanged at this point, Probably, as with Peter and Cornelius (10:26), Paul and Silas said, "Stand up; we too are just men." Perhaps then Paul explained that the living God, whom he served, was behind the earthquakes and the prisoners not leaving. These events had made the jailer see that he must come to terms with the God proclaimed by Paul and Silas. He knew that the servant girl had been shouting all over town that these men were bond servant of the most high God and were proclaiming the way of salvation (16:17). So after he brought them out of prison, he asked this urgent question, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
A. IT IS AN URGENT QUESTION BECAUSE APART FROM JESUS CHRIST, ALL ARE LOST.
"LOST" is a frightening word. I don't know if you're ever been lost, but it can be a harrowing experience.
B. IT IS AN URGENT QUESTION BECAUSE WE ARE JUST A BREATH AWAY FROM ETERNITY.
We all just hang on a life by a thread.A few weeks ago, a professional football player suited up and went out his afternoon workout with the team. Before dinner that evening, he was dead from heatstroke. If you had eaten breakfast with him that day, you would have thought, "'This guy is on top of the world!" He was in great physical condition. He had a wife and child. Millions of young men in this country would have traded places with him in an instant. But he was a corpse the day was over!
We're all so frail, and yet we think that we're invincible, especially when we're young. But we're not! Not one of us is guaranteed of being alive tomorrow morning. Novelist John Grisham said that when he was in law school, he got a call from one of his best friends in college. They got together for lunch, and the friend told Grisham that he had terminal cancer. Grisham was stunned. He asked, "What do you do when you realized that you are about to die?
The friend replied, "Its real simple. You get things right with God, and you spend as much time with those you love as you can. Then you settle up with everybody else." That friend's death at age 25 left a lasting impression on Grisham ( christianity Today [10/384],p.16).
DeWitt Talmage (20 century of great Preaching [word], 5:311) point out that the jailer, this was an immediate question that was demanded an immediate answer:
You can see by my torch the jailor [sis] hold in his hand the startled and anxious look. He had no time to prepare himself in especial apparel, no time to comb his hair, notice to fix himself up. He must have that question answered before the earthquake has stopped rocking, or never perhaps have it answer at all. Is that the way you profound the question of your salvation. Or do you drawl it out as much much as to say: Anytime without fifteen years I would like to have it answer?" Do you know that thousands of souls have been ruined because they did not ask the question in time? If the door of the lost world could be opened, and ... they could sounding up like the howl of the everlasting storm: "Now"
It is an urgent question because APART from Jesus Christ, all are lost, and because we all are just a breath away from ETERNITY.
C. IT IS AN URGENTQUESTION BECAUSE NOTHING ELSE WILL MATTER WHEN WE STAND BEGORE THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE OF THE EARTH.
Money matters a great deal to most of us, and we spend our lives trying to get enough to live comfortably. But you can pile a fortune as large as that of Bill Gates, but it won't get you in the door of heaven. You can work out and had healthy meals to make your body fit, and you might (or might not) extend your life for a few years. But it won't do you a bit of good when you stand before the Righteous Judge. You can devote your life to piling up good deeds, but they all will be consumed in the burning heat of the holy presence of Almighty God. YOU can enjoy the love of a family that cares for you deeply, but even that will not matter when you stand before God. The only thing that will matter on that soon coming day will be, and asked "Are you saved? ARE YOU RECONCILED TO GOD?
D. IT IS AN URGENT QUESTION BECAUSE IT MUST BE ANSWERED PERSONALLY.
Thee jailer asked it personally, "What must I do to be saved? Paul answered as it pertained both to him and to his entire household. If he would believe in Jesus Christ, he would be saved. The same thing applied to his household. If each of them believed, each one would be saved. Thankfully, we read that each member of his household did believe in Christ that night (16:34), because there is no group plan of salvation. Each of us has sinned; each of us needs to be saved personally. Coming from a Christian home won't do. Attending a Christian church won't cure it. It is incumbent on each person and therefore urgent, to answer this crucial question.
E. IT IS AN URGENT QUESTION WITH A VERY SIMPLE ANSWER.
Thankfully, even though it is a profound question, it is one for which even young children can understand the answer. Paul didn't say, "You'll need to enrol in the seminary course in advanced theology, and by the end of the semester, if you study hard, you will discover the answer." He didn't haul out a list of 20 steps, with the promise that if he worked hard at following them, by the end of his life he would be saved. Rather, Paul answered the jailer in a simple sentence, and then, because this was all so new to him, Paul sat down with the entire household and explained things more thoroughly (16:32).
2. The biblical answer to, "How can I be saved?" Is, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved."
That simple answer stands apart from all of the religion in the world. "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved." (Act16:31). The results that we see in the jailer and his family simply for things.
A. SALVATION IS GOD'S DOING, NOT OUR DOING.
The verb, "you shall be saved,," is passive, meaning that the subject is acted upon. No one can save himself by any amount of effort or sincerity. No one can pile up enough good deeds to tip the scale in his favour. Paul didn't tell the jailer that he would have to keep the Ten commandments and reform his life before he could be saved. We can't save ourselves. But God will save everyone who believe in the Lord Jesus.
Here are numerous biblical pictures of people who are apart from God show us how impossible it is to save ourselves.
* We are dead in our sins (Eph.2:1-3)
* we are spiritually blind (2 Cor.4:4).
* we are enslaved to sin , unable to free ourselves unless the Son of God frees us (John 8: 34-36).
We have spiritual leprosy and only Jesus can cleanses us. God alone can save a person from his sins. If salvation depended on us, then the best among us might have some hope of saving themselves, but the worst among us wouldn't have a chance. But since salvation depends on Jesus Christ, not not on weak man, and since God has sent Son to be the saviour of sinners. Read Roman 13:15
D. TRUE SALVATION ALWAYS RESULTS IN CHANGED LIVES.
If a person claim to believe in Christ as his saviour, but his life is no different, his claim is suspect. While no one is perfectly sanctified in this life, everyone who has believe in the Lord Jesus will be different. Salvation is not just a human decision; it is God's work imparting new life and changing our hearts, so that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature (2 Cor.5:17).
We see several changes in the jailer and his household.
First, they were all baptised after they believe (16:33-34). Paul had explained to them that baptism is the outward confession of our faith in Christ. The entire family rejoiced greatly because of their new faith in God.
In This pandemic world? The most urgent question is: HOW CAN I BE SAVED?
THE BIBLICAL ANSWER IS: BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS, AND YOU SHALL BE SAVED.
What is the most urgent matter in your life you must have at least verse of the of the word of God! (1Peter 4:7 KJV).
No comments:
Post a Comment