right about the middle, chapter 16 and verse 31. And what I'm talking about this morning is how the Bible presents salvation. Now, I would love for you to have a concept or a picture in your mind, and if it's a truly functioning car, then when you turn the ignition switch, it starts. When you pull the gear shift down, wherever it is here or there, it actually goes into gear, and there are actually tires and they move, and if it's winter and you turn the heater on, there's a heater. If it's summer, you understand what I mean. That if you buy a car and it has these functions, it starts, the wipers work, the systems work, then if those things don't happen, what you do is you take it somewhere and say, hey, this is supposed to have this, and I need that to be the functionality of this car. And let me get there to that first slide. I didn't even notice we were on the wrong slide. There we go. And so, and there it is. I was wondering what they were waiting for back there. Boy, that's interesting. Do I have to unplug it and replug it? I will. See, I'm so used to speaking at the conferences. Wow, that's interesting. Well, I can talk all day without this. Who needs technical stuff? Okay, Phil, wherever you went. Someone go find Phil and have him fix it, and I'll talk to you. Think of salvation like an operating system. And the operating system of salvation is this, and what we're going to go through in the book of Acts is, if there is salvation, these things are present. So this morning as we're going through these items, And as we cover what it says in the book of Acts, salvation is all about, if you're sitting out there, and you say, I am a born-again Christian, I know Jesus Christ, thanks Dave, go find him, because this is of all Sundays, this is the Sunday we need this to work. Because I'm covering all of the book of Acts in one message. But if, as we're going through these, if one of these areas, you're sitting out there and you're saying, if saved people have that, that is not functioning in my life. then the lesson of the scriptures is this, Jesus Christ has put within us, in fact, in my phone, it has an operating system. And in that operating system, all the functionality promised in iOS, whatever 9.9 that we're on, is there. It's just my lack of knowing how to get to it, how to appropriate it, how to cause that functionality to begin. So, there he is. Aren't you a blessing? And so, in chapter 16, what we're looking at is the simplest description of the work of salvation. So look down your Bibles at Acts chapter 16, and I could summarize the entire message of salvation in this way, in the words of Acts chapter 16 in verse 31. In fact, the whole book of Acts. is about what happens to those who believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ. So, thank you, Phil. What does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Let's all stand. Isn't it good to have people that are gifted and know what they're doing? That helps old people that don't know what they're doing, you know? Acts chapter 16, verse 31. You follow along in your Bible, and I'm going to read it, and it says this. So they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will be saved. And it goes on to say, you and your household. So if someone is saved, what does that mean? And as we go through each of these examples of salvation, I encourage you, don't merely be a hearer this morning. But as we go through each of these descriptions of salvation, if that part of your operating system is not operative, one of two things are true. Either you have never asked God to unleash that part of his great salvation in your life, Or you've never connected with him. Because what we're going to look at this morning is what saved by God people operate like. Okay? Let's bow before him in a word of prayer. Father in heaven, I thank you in Jesus' name for the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. The simplest expression of salvation in Acts, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, encompasses every single functionality, work of the Spirit of the living, eternal, infinite God within us. And all we have to do is reach out to you and you do everything that this book describes. I pray for someone this morning that's going to hear and see, maybe for the first time, that maybe they don't even have the operating system. Or maybe they've never yielded and surrendered and unleashed you to be at work in their life. And I pray that they will today. In the name of Jesus, we ask this. Amen. And you may be seated. Each of these 22 different individual portraits of salvation that God records for us are from God in the book of Acts. And you can go back to chapter 2, that's where we're going to start. And I would encourage you as I go through each of these that you just keep following along. The references are up there on the screen and I'm going to be reading portions. I'll tell you what verse I'm reading from. But each of these 22 individual portraits of salvation are the ones God recorded for us as the way to eternal life. So each one of these individually is the way that these people came to embrace Jesus Christ as the giver of eternal life, but all of them are true about the life of everyone going to heaven. In other words, if you are going to heaven, all of these things are true, but if your wipers are not working this morning, then you need to either know that there's a wiper button, or you need to go and ask for the wipers to be repaired. You understand that? It is talking about the fact that all of these things are operative in the life of a believer that is truly born again. So, what does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, basically this. To the jailer's simple question in Acts 16.31, we can answer with God's complete record of all he wanted us to know. Now remember, there were hundreds, and then thousands, and then tens of thousands, and then hundreds of thousands, and potentially millions of people that were saved during these 30 years of the birth of the church. God only records these 22. This is the record. This is the picture. And these are just the key words that we'll find in Acts. It's coming to Christ, wanting Christ, seeing, finding, receiving, believing, knowing, turning, having, asking, heeding, following, reaching, entering, repenting, and experiencing Christ. But it's all Christ. He's the door. And there are many different ways that people are explained the door, but He is the door. And so if we were to summarize the book of Acts, it's coming to Christ and away from religion. It's wanting Jesus more than my sin. The third word there, it's seeing Jesus Christ as the only door of salvation. And the fourth word, it's finding that the Holy Spirit has changed my life. And it's the fifth word, receiving a new heart. And the sixth word, it's believing with all my heart. And the next word, it's knowing the peace of sins gone and turning to the Lord in repentance and having both the penalty and record of all my sins forever gone. The next word, it's asking God to purify my heart. He's in the heart purifying business. It's the next word, heeding God's word from an open heart. It's following Jesus. He's the new king of my life. It's reaching out to God as the true creator and the one I want to repent of all my idols in order to know and serve and follow. It's entering. God's kingdom and following God's way, no longer my own ways, and it's repenting and believing into the kingdom of Christ. And finally, it's experiencing God opened eyes and God turned living. Now that's the testimony God gave. That's the book of Acts. I just summarized. Every gospel account in the book of Acts, that list is what they are. That's the record God gave us. That's what God wants us to know. And the book of Acts is a report that God gave to us of how the apostles that Jesus personally trained and the disciples that they trained shared the gospel message in every possible setting. That's the record. And what we get to see is how those eyewitnesses and those they trained shared with the world. What happens because of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ embraced by individuals? That's what the book of Acts is about. So what is salvation? Look at chapter 2 verse 21. Number one, salvation is coming to Christ. away from religion. Now remember, who's this first group that Peter's talking to in verse 21? I'm sure that that incensed many of them. They were the uber-religious of the day. They were the ones that altered everything. They altered their diet, they altered their dress, they altered their schedule, they altered their finances, they altered everything to be centered around Jerusalem, and the temple, and the sacrifices, and the seven-day cycle, and the seven-month cycle, and the seven-year cycle, and every other part of the Mosaic Law. They were very religious. Jesus talked to some that even went through their garden every day and pinched off every tenth leaf and gave it to God. They were very religious. And you know what Peter said? To be saved you have to come to Christ away from your religion. Religion is man's desire to achieve. And we achieve through giving money, or through ceremonies like baptism, or through us saying something and people affirming that we said it, or through some ceremony that we participate in. But we achieve what we think is enough to get us to heaven. That's religion. And there are many religions in the world. From, you know, all of Islam and, you know, Mecca to the incredible labyrinth of Romanism and all of the pieces of that. And Peter said to the most religious people of his day, you've got to come to Christ. He is salvation. And when you come to Christ, you have to go away from religion. So, this morning, is your salvation that you're holding on to? I've been watching all the different ways they do the airline, you know, get ready to fly ads, and they're getting creative. And on one of the flights going back and forth to upstate New York, they were really harping on getting your cushion. I mean, I've never seen a flight attendant actually get a cushion and hug it. And I thought, what is it, Lake Erie? What are we going over? And besides that, I've seen what happened when they shot the plane down in Ukraine. Your cushion wouldn't help, you know? So, but what they were talking about is you're supposed to take your seat and put your arms through and hug it tight. And they said, and leave everything else behind. Don't even take your electronic devices. Hug your cushion. Wow. Boy, that was a picture of salvation. You don't want to hold on to anything else. If you want to make it, you have to turn away from all that and hug, hold on to, receive, believe in Christ. Well, the second one, if you look at chapter 3, salvation is wanting Jesus more than my sin. Look what it says in verse 19 of chapter 3. Not only is salvation coming to Christ and away from religion and we repent and receive the Spirit and all that is there, but in chapter 3, verse 19, Salvation is wanting Jesus more than my sin. Repent therefore, of what? Of my sin. And be converted. Why? That your sins can be blotted out. Look at verse 26. To you first God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to bless you. How does Jesus bless me? In turning away every one of you from your iniquities. This morning, if you and I are born again, we want Jesus more than our sins. And if you don't, then you need to check your operating system and see if that option is on there and turn it on. Because if you don't want Jesus more than your sin, that's the operating system of salvation. And Jesus, like the hymn says, is standing with his arms open wide and he says, if I save you, I change your wanter. And you want me more than your sin. Now here's a little test. If your operating system is operating the way the Bible says, then Jesus Christ, look at verse 26, has turned every one of us away from our sins, our iniquities. We want Him more. Now they're still alluring and they're still tempting and they're still there and they still sometimes reach out and grab us and we trip and fall, but we don't like that anymore. It's kind of like the difference between a pig and a sheep. Sheep don't like to get in the mud and they don't like to get wet because If they get in that, they sink and they drown. Pigs, they just wallow in it. And when we get saved, our operating system turns from pig to lamb. You understand? There's a complete change in what we want and desire that God Marvelously works out. Thirdly, look at chapter 4 and verse 12. Jesus is the only door. It's not Jesus plus anything. Understand, he's the only door. And we know and believe and trust and come and have entered through him. Salvation is also in chapter 5. I love this one. This is Peter talking back to the religious people. And he says, if you're saved, salvation is finding that the Holy Spirit has changed my life. This morning, if you're saved, the Holy Spirit has changed your life. You have had, in fact, I had an incredible note this week. I was up in New York, and I got a note from someone, and they said, I'm heading off, I'm going to school, and I grew up here, and I listened to messages for 20 years, but they said I still know where I was sitting. And they told me they were between that door and that door on the back pew. And they said they were sitting there and for the first time they realized that Jesus was knocking on their heart's door and that he wanted to come in and change them from the inside out. Now, have you found that Jesus Christ has changed your life through His Spirit. Look at what it says in verse 31. Him, this is Peter preaching away, God is exalted to the right hand to be Prince and Savior. That's Jesus. What does Jesus do? He gives repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins, verse 32. And we are His witnesses. We know this has happened to us. And to us also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him. You see, there's an amazing, in the operating system God has designed called salvation, that those who come to Christ, God gives them an operating system that the Spirit of God changes them on the inside, that they want to obey God now. And the Holy Spirit changes us on the inside. Has that happened? Have you found the Holy Spirit has changed your life? Or did you do something? Did you pray something? Or did your parents tell you you prayed something? And you know down deep, nothing is different on the inside. In fact, it's getting worse and darker. And you kind of can hardly hear God's voice. It's so dim out there. In fact, you don't even know what you're doing here, some of you, this morning. There's a million places you'd rather be. See, salvation is when you realize the Holy Spirit's changed my life. How does He change our life? That's in chapter 8. This is fascinating. We receive a new heart. That's what 8.13 says, if you turn the page over there. And by the way, look at this. This is a before and after and kind of like one of those demonstrations. I was stuck in one airport with endless flight delays and I saw, I wish I could have gotten the name of it. You know how on the television they sell these products that are too hard to believe that they're possible. It's a little tiny bottle, this big. You put it on a cloth, and you rub it on your car, and when you rub it, your car looks newer than when you bought it. And it only costs $19.99 plus shipping and handling. And I saw that ad over and over, and I wonder if you wipe it on your hair, if it comes back. I mean, I just, I thought there's all kinds of things. I mean, they took an old wreck and went like that, and that bumper became blazingly glowing. It looked like, wow. Did you know that was fake? Or maybe it does something. I don't know if they allow fake stuff on TV, but you know what I mean. But salvation is real. Look what it says in 8.13. It says, then Simon believed and he was baptized and he continued. But look at verse 21. When Peter gets there to do a little examination of whether this belief in baptism is real, he says, you don't have part or portion in this matter. Why? For your heart is not right in the sight of God. You see, salvation is when I receive a new heart, a new operating system. You understand that? If I'm truly saved, at the center of my being radiates outward a brand new operating system that I wasn't born with and that my parents or my church or my friends cannot plant in me. Only God can put that operating system into me. So this morning, if you aren't sure you have a new heart, then you know what you have to do. You have to just reach out to the Lord. You know, Jesus, the hymn writer put it this way, softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling. Calling to you and to me. He's saying, I want to give you a new operating system. I want to give you a new heart. And look what Peter says to him, verse 22, how do you get that new heart? Repent of your wickedness. Pray to God, reach out to him. Perhaps he'll forgive you. Because verse 23, you are poisoned by bitterness, you are bound by iniquity. Anybody who claims to be a Christian who is poisoned and bound, Peter, in the authority of God says, you don't have a new heart. If you are poisoned with bitterness, if every part of your life is, you're embittered about everything in your life, and if you are bound by iniquity, You haven't got a new heart, Peter said. That's the gospel. Well, so Philip listened to all that, and look at chapter 8, verse 35. Salvation is believing with all your heart. It's asking people to make sure. And Philip, in 8.35, began with the Scriptures, preached Jesus to him, and the guy says, I'm interested. I want to be baptized. And Philip says in verse 37, if you believe with all your heart. Philip said, I want you to make sure that you know Jesus Christ before I will make you think that you know Jesus Christ. And salvation in chapter nine is wanting Jesus as the Lord to obey. This is Paul's testimony. Look what it says in nine, one to six. Basically in verse four, he fell to the ground. He heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? That was the Lord speaking. And he said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus. And look at what it says in verse six. He trembling and astonished says, Lord, what do you want me to do? Do you see what, this is Paul's conversion. And conversion was when he wanted Jesus as the Lord to obey him. There are many people that they want, they want salvation. Actually, theologically, they want a savior without a Lord, and they come packaged together. You can't get a Savior without a Lord in the Bible. Now you can in pop religion, but that's why we have so many misfunctioning, dysfunctional, non-alive believers. They got some kind of a Savior, they thought, and they never realized that he was a Lord to obey. That's why Jesus says, why call you me Lord, Lord, and don't do what I say? And many were saying to me that day, Lord, Lord, didn't we do everything else? He says, yeah, but you never did my will. You never submitted to me. So this morning, the operating system God gives is that he plants within us a desire to want Jesus to be the Lord that we obey. Now this morning, think about that. Has that happened? If it hasn't, before you lose that thought, right where you're sitting, reach out and say, Lord, I need to reinstall. I need a re-download. This isn't happening. I know you're the source. I want you to change my life. I want you, Jesus, as my Lord, to obey. Look at chapter 10. This is phenomenal. This is what empowers us as we go out and share the gospel with people. Salvation is knowing the peace that my sins are gone. In Acts 10, 36, the word was sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. Verse 39, they hung him on a tree at the end of it. In verse 43, to him all the prophets witnessed that through his name, the one hung on the tree, the one who is Lord of all, of verse 36, the one who brings peace through his name, whoever believes in him, that's, like the hymn writer said, only trust him. Only trust him. He will save you. He will save you. Only trust him now. That one, through his name, whoever believes in him receives remission of sins. They know the peace that their sins are gone. Do you know the peace your sins are gone this morning? That's salvation. And Jesus himself, did you know the book of Revelation repeatedly says that Jesus right now is walking around this church because this is one of his lampstands where we're proclaiming his word and he is the Lord of this church and he is right here and he knows everyone are connection or not connected. And he's right here ready to connect. That's the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. And what happens when that happens? Chapter 11. We went on to see that salvation is turning the Lord in repentance. God gave, it says in verse 17, to them the same gifts as he gave us when we believed. And then it says in the end of verse 18, then God has granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. Those who have life have been granted repentance. And everybody who is saved has turned to the Lord in repentance. And that's the gospel. And you know what, there's a new pop version of the gospel that is not true, that says that you can make that decision and pray that when you're like two years old, but you can live like the devil, become a Muslim, and you can become a Mormon, you can become a Jehovah's Witness, and you can end up as a practicing homosexual because you did something when you were, did something that God has to save you. He does save all that he saves, but his salvation contains this. God granted repentance to life. You can't come to life in Christ without repentance. So you have to turn away from religion to Christ. Or you could put it, you have to turn to Christ away from religion. Whichever way you want to say it, there's the turn. And if you keep reading, it says at the end in verse 21 of chapter 11, it says, And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned. They believed the message, and God supernaturally turned them to himself. You see, this is something I can't do and you can't do, only God can do. Make sure he's done it, because salvation is turning to the Lord in repentance. And it goes on in chapter 13, that when he turns us in repentance, look at verse 38, it says, Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you forgiveness of sins. That's the one thing every one of us here that are going to heaven know is we're forgiven. And not just forgiveness, it's having both the penalty and the record of all my sins forever gone, which equals forgiveness of everything. It isn't like I'm scared one's going to slip in, it's going to be one too many, one too bad, one too whatever. No. Everyone that God saves Think about this. In his wisdom, which is also known as his omniscience, at the instant of our salvation, God who equally vividly sees all things past, present, and future, at the instant of our salvation, he already knows our entire life and all of its iniquities and transgressions and sins. And at the instant of our salvation, he credits to us the justifying work of Christ. that has both the penalty and record of all my sins forever gone. And boy, is that a witnessing tool. I told the story, in fact, I told a lot of stories. It's hard to go through that whole series I went through this week without telling you. I told the story of the power walker that burst into my office many years ago, pushed my secretary right, I mean, he would take no, would not take no for an answer, and he pushed her right through opening the door with her, pushing back on him, and burst into my office, and he says, I want to know what people in this church have, because I don't have it. And I mean, I've never had anybody ask me to lead them to the Lord in that manner before. And as I shared the gospel with him, I actually stood up from my desk, I was sitting there in the middle of my study studying, and I stood up with my Bible, and I said, so you want me to share the gospel? I will. And I started through the Romans road, and I got about the third point, you know, that you have to call in the name of the Lord. And I looked up and he was gone. And I thought, You know, here I went, interrupted everything, and I looked down, and there he was, down on his face, down on the carpet with his face flat down, weeping. And I thought, wow, it works. We all know that, but it's fun to see it now and then. I mean, this is the most pagan man, and when he heard what Jesus offered, then he knew, look what it says in verse 38, verse 39, I mean, everyone who believes is justified from all things. And he believed, and the Lord transformed him. And boy, did he give a great testimony. He stood next to me. He was a special forces, one of the most worked out, muscular people I'd ever seen. And he just read Titus 2, 3 to 5 for his baptismal testimony. It says, for you were also once disobedient, and hard, and malicious, and hating, and just, and he went through that whole list. And he said, but then the kindness of God. And he said, that's what happened to me. And it wasn't by works of righteousness, because he said, I've never been righteous. But by his mercy, he saved me. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, and he turned and folded his hands and waited for me to dunk him. It was so precious. Do you know that both the penalty and record of all your sins? And when that happens, look what chapter 14 says the Lord does. Salvation, in verse 15, Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you. And preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God. Salvation is turning from useless things to the eternal God. And if your life, I mean right now where you're sitting, if most of your life is consumed with what in God's sight, and a thousand years from now, will be totally useless, Think about the past 168 hours. What part of that past 168 hours will even matter a thousand years from this moment? The parts of your week past that will matter a thousand years from now are the parts that were useful to God. Yet the vast amount, in fact Bloomberg said this week in his financial review, he says, well Americans are doing the one thing they know how to do, spending money and going in debt. That the uselessness of looking for pleasure in buying things we can't afford, with money we don't have, longing for something someone else has, is useless. And that's why materialism is an idolatry. And people that get saved turn from that. You know what's so amazing? Think. This morning if we had an invitation, we all stood and sang, just as I am, and someone toddled down the aisle pulling a wagon with a Buddha statue, you know, big Buddha sitting there on the statue. And they were pulling that thing and they came bowing to Buddha and putting little flower petals on him and everything. And they came up with their little wagon with Buddha on it and said, I want to be saved. Not a person in this room would have a doubt that they need to turn from Buddha and that idol that they are trusting in for their hope of eternity. But yet there are people all the time that come with something else in their wagon. They're living for their own physical pleasures. They're living in illicit immorality. They're living in absolute consummate materialism. They're living so much Christ-like living in their wagon. But they're all acceptable. Buddha isn't. but pride and total self-absorption and focus and total bitterness and deceitful business practices and cheating and lying and going and rejoicing when you take someone in a deal and snooker them, they don't even know, and you win and you get what they had at such a small price and you're rich and they're poor. That is in so many wagons. But they don't realize that we have to turn. Salvation is turning from all of those things, those useless things to the Lord. That you should turn from these useless things. to the Lord. Verse 21, they preached the gospel of that city and made many disciples. And verse 27, when they gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done. Did you know only God can make the Buddha trailer wagon person renounce Buddha? And only God can make us renounce our materialism and our dishonesty and our living for ourselves. But if you're saved, you've turned from useless things to the Lord. And then you ask, look what chapter 15 says, you ask God to purify your heart. And salvation is asking God to purify my heart. And in Acts 15 and verse 7, Peter rose up and said to them, men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. Okay, Peter, so when they hear the word of gospel and believe, what happens? So the God who knows my heart acknowledged them by giving to them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts. See, people that believe the gospel and receive the Holy Spirit, God purifies their hearts. And when I have a, it's kind of like when you wash your hands and you're headed, you know, to eat something you're going to use your hands for, you kind of don't touch other things, you know. You kind of push the door open, you don't want to touch it, you know, and people take paper towel and turn, you know, handles and then they throw it on the floor. You ever see that in public bathrooms, all those thrown on the floor, but they don't want to get anything on their hands. That's because they're clean. That's what happens when God purifies our hearts. We don't like the things we used to like, and God has changed us. So, is that how you are? If not, you need to say, Lord, could you turn that functionality on here? It's not I don't think my heart is purified. Reach out to him. Let him purify your heart. Next, in chapter 16, Heeding God's Word from an Opened Heart. In Acts 16, 14, it's so beautiful. This is such a contrast. This is Lydia, a certain woman named Lydia in verse 14, heard of us. She was a seller of purple who worshiped God. I mean, she was someone that was very attuned. She said, I know there's a true and living God, and I know it's the one that's in this book, but she hadn't yet understood how to connect to him. And I'm afraid that's what is going on in many churches across America. They're there because they're quite interested, but they have never been born again. And that's the problem with the non-evangelical churches in America, of which more than half of them are. What's a non-evangelical church? It's a church where they don't preach that you have to be born again or saved. They just kind of act like they've always been saved. Kind of their parents were, and something happened when they were eight days old, and something else happened when they were 12, and don't bother me, I'm in. That's a non-evangelical church. An evangelical church is, you were born a sinner and you continue a sinner until the moment you call on the name of the Lord and are born again. And when did that happen? And people get uncomfortable with that. They're non-evangelicals. And by the way, the word evangelical is just a Greek word that means the gospel. The good news of the gospel. So what they're saying is they're non-gospely. Because the gospel is you're born lost and you get saved. And there's a moment, it's called the new birth. And most of us know when we were born. And the ones that don't, they keep them in special places. Either they're too little or there's something wrong. If you don't know when you were born. Yet we have churches filled with people that don't know when they were born again. The most radical transformation in the universe. And they go, I don't know. And they're not even alarmed that they don't even know. And salvation, look what happens in verse 15. It's when God does this, or verse 14. It says, and the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. That's how people get saved. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. You hear it, you realize it's true, and you say yes. And you reach out, you cry out, you ask, you believe, you repent, you turn, you respond. That's salvation. It isn't static, it isn't kind of like it's gonna happen, it's like osmosis, you know. It'll just happen. You reach out by faith. That's the gospel, and that's how it's always portrayed. She responded to the thing. She heeded the things spoken by Paul, and she and her household were baptized, and she begged us. Why? She heeded God's Word from an open heart. The Lord opened her heart, and salvation is also, and this is the quintessential, the believe on the Lord Jesus Christ passage. In chapter 16, 25 to 34, It's to believe. Look at what verse 31 says. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, that's the connection to God in the Old Testament. The Lord Jehovah. Jesus, that's that man you see walking around. That's the connection. Jesus was a normal. I mean there are so many people named Jesus in his day. He was a hundred percent human, but he's the Christ. He's the one that's the fulfillment of all the promises God made. So he is God. The man, the fulfiller of all the promises, Lord Jesus and Christ. You got to believe in Him. You believe in God the Son as the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe that God came down as a human, He's God the Son, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved. And when you're saved, look what Acts 17 says, you start following Him as the new King of your life. I mean, either you're following someone or you're not. Right? Get in your car. If someone says, let's go here to eat, follow me. You can look in your rearview mirror and either they're following you or not. And you can look at the car in front of you, either you're following them or not. And if you are following them, you're watching everything. You're looking to see where they're going. You're saying, no, no, don't bother me. I don't want to lose track of where they are. That's the Christian life. Following Jesus. Is Jesus out in front today? When you started your day, did you say, Oh, okay, Lord, I want to get you out of sight. I'm following you. When you look in your rearview mirror, you're going to see my two eyes fixed on you. That's the Christian life. And look what it says. It's so interesting. It's pagans that said this. In other words, they heard what Paul said and they didn't like it. Look what they said in verse six. They dragged Jason and some of the rulers out of the city, or to the rulers of the city, crying out, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here, verse seven. Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of our king, who is Caesar, saying there's another king, Jesus. The unbelievers understood that the gospel message was that you start following a new king of your life, and his name is Jesus. And when you follow Him, you reach out to Him as the true Creator and you repent of all idols. Look what it says in verse 22. Paul stood in the midst of the Arrow of Pagus and said, God who made the world and everything in it, He is Lord of heaven and earth. He's the one I'm introducing you to. Verse 25, So the God I'm introducing to you is the life giver, breath giver, all things maker. And he has come, verse 27, so that we should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him. Salvation is reaching out. See, salvation is a response to God. We reach out to Him. It's reaching out to God as the true creator, the one that made everything. And then look at verse 30. He says you've got to repent of all your idols. You Athenians, you've lived your whole life, your culture is idols. You gotta disavow, you have to reject, you have to turn away from all those idols to the true living God. Wow. And when you do that, chapter 18 says you believe and worship this God. And that's Acts 18, verse 8. The ruler of the synagogue believed on the Lord with all his household. And look what it says in verse 13. This fellow persuades men to worship God. Believing and worshiping God. That's salvation. If you don't believe in Him, if you're right now worshiping and a worshiper, not just when there's music, Worship is so much bigger than music. It's a life of adoration of God and I can adore him in prayer, I can adore him in ministry, I can adore him in seeing his creation, I can adore him by singing his praises. But I have a life of worship because I have a new heart. And so the Apostle Paul explained again that this event is when I enter God's kingdom and follow God's way and I'm not going my own way anymore. That's Paul's testimony as he preaches in the city of Ephesus. And he says that you have to follow a new way. And you have to let Jesus into your life. And it says in verse 17 at the end, the name of Jesus was magnified. Verse 18, many believed and confessed and told their deeds. And the word of the Lord, verse 20, mightily prevailed. And God, through Paul in verse 26, persuaded and turned away many people away from their gods. Salvation is entering God's kingdom, and it's following God's way, and I no longer want my way. We're like Jesus in the garden, not my way, not my way, not my way. And in Acts chapter 20, verse 21, salvation is repenting and believing in the kingdom of Christ. And we went through that just recently, and then the next one I told you about, when Paul shared with Festus, salvation is following the way of God's righteousness. It's now my life has turned from the following the way of the God of this world, my father the devil, and my whole life now is following the way of God's righteousness. And it's following the way of self-control that I want to mortify and to be crucified with Christ and I want to no longer live as unto myself, but unto him, because I'm going to give an account, and it's a way of God's righteousness and a way of self-control and judgment, and it's because chapter 26 says, and look what Paul says in 26, 18. He says this, he says, God opened my eyes, verse 18, he turned me from darkness to light, And from the power of Satan to God, and I receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance, and I'm sanctified by faith in Christ. And Christ said, and that's what you're supposed to present to everybody. That salvation is when God opens your eyes and when God turns the way you live. So this morning, Either your eyes have been opened and you see clearly Christ in his word or you have cataracts. And if you have cataracts all you have to do is talk to the Lord. He gives eye openings. He gives heart turnings. He wants to. And finally, the book ends with salvation as entering God's kingdom. I mean, look at the very last time. Verse 28, salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. Verse 31, preaching the kingdom of God and the things that concern Jesus Christ. So, what does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? It means that we come to Christ, we want Christ, we see Him as our only hope, we find in Him that He is the way that we want to live, we receive His Spirit, and He changes us. We believe in Him, kind of like the life jacket on the airplane, we cling to him, we know him, we turn to him away from our religion and our idols, we have him, we ask him to cleanse us, we heed what he says, we follow him through life, we reach out to him, we enter his kingdom repenting of our own, and we experience Christ. Now that's salvation according to God. That's the gospel record that God laid down in the book of Acts and that's what Jesus Christ is softly and tenderly offering today. And what each of us has to consider is have we embraced Christ? Let's stand for a word of prayer, and as you stand at the end of every service, we have men and women here at the front, leaders and godly servants of the Lord here, elders, and our tightest two women, and they would like to, you know, if you say, you know what? Yeah, I got tires, and the car starts, but nothing else works. I don't have all those things. They can explain to you how to reconnect with the Lord. Or some of you say, my car's never started ever. None of that. And I thought I was a Christian. They'd like to lead you to Christ. Did you know, right where you're standing, you can reach out to Him. Kind of like the email I got this week. They knew they were sitting between that door and that door on the back row. And they said, for the first time I heard Christ wanting me and I wanted him and he saved me. And do you know that happened to you? Do you know when Jesus saved you? If you don't, maybe you need to say, Lord, could you bump me today? I need to know I have that new heart. Let's bow for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, I pray that you would draw to yourself this morning Some who have heard about you, but like Lydia, now as they hear the truth of the gospel, you're opening their heart, may they just flee to you and receive you as Savior and Lord and have that new heart and that new spirit. And for some, they just have gotten away. But they want with all their heart to know and love and follow you. But they just have gotten away. They have a flat tire. They're in the ditch. And I pray that today they would cry out to you and call out to you and let you tow them back onto the road of the way of walking in your truth. But I pray that none of us would leave today without saying either yes or no. I have that new operating system of salvation or I don't, and if I don't, I pray that you would convict and draw and that they would respond and believe and let you save and transform them. Thank you for this wonderful day. Bless us as we go out with your spirit that we might live this new life you've given us in power and in knowing our sins are forgiven, and following you as our King. In the name of Jesus we pray, and all God's people said, Amen. God bless you as you go.