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ట్రాన్స్క్రిప్ట్
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Turning again to that portion of the Word that we read together in Acts chapter 16, reading at verse 28, Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, Serge, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptised, he and all his straight way. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. The words that we seek to consider here in this situation tonight, I am quite sure is familiar to you all, all who have gathered here this evening. These words, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. are words, I'm sure, that even from a very, very young age, that they are familiar to us. And at least knowing them, maybe not knowing where to find them in scripture, nevertheless, there's a familiarity about these words. And these words here also are a definition of what it is to be a Christian, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's as simple as that. Now, the question here that is asked by this jailer, Serge, what must I do to be saved? presupposes any man who asks that question that they have a need and see their need to be saved. Now, of course, some people say that what he's asking here is to do with the fact that he would be afraid of his superiors and so on. But I think that it's obvious that the answer that the apostle gives here Paul and Silas give here, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they knew exactly what he was saying there and so they respond in that way. And so here we see then this man coming with a question and so it is anybody who asks this question here tonight even must be because they are not a Christian because they are not saved. What must I do to be saved? Why would you ask that if you weren't a believer, if you weren't an unbeliever? And so we see the question is brought before us here clearly. Now in this congregation tonight, as in most of our congregations, there are those who do profess to be already believers and to be saved, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But also there are those who don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, therefore, with that question still in their mind, what must I do to be saved? Because none of us are born believers. All of us are by nature estranged from God through our sin, through our disobedience, as we try to look at this morning, the breaking, law breaking of our first parent, Adam, and we being an Adam, he being a representative head of mankind and with original sin and so on. And so here we are by nature, all of us, that we are lost, needing to be saved. By God's grace, some of us have come to know the answer to the question and have responded to it, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. So tonight then, friends, as I address you, I would like you to consider your own condition. Consider your own condition. And to make sure, those of us who profess to be Christians, we should still continue asking ourselves, am I so? Have I got the Lord? Am I sure that I am indeed one of the Lord's people? And if we are, and know that we are unsaved, therefore still guilty before God, and therefore, as we know, liable to punishment for our sins, if Christ is not your Savior. And so the consequences of not believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior It's not just a consequence of, well, leaving this place again tonight, as you've done, some of you, on many, many occasions, and just going back to the way it was. There is something, as you know very well, that maybe you're not facing, that will come your way eventually, and that is the judgment seat of God. And if you are going to stand before the judgment seat of God, without Christ as your intercessor, without Christ as your saviour, intermediator, breaking, having broken God's holy law. Well, God cannot overlook that sin. It is impossible for him to do so. And so, friends, it is only as we are found in Christ. And unless a person understands this, and unless a person understands what sin mean and how it relates to them personally, well, then they will never come and genuinely ask, what must I do to be saved? So then, friend, why would you ask to be saved, how to be saved, if you didn't have some understanding already of being lost and born in sin? Do you ask the question? Do you have that question tonight? Is it something that comes up in your own mind? You see, many today, they blame their upbringing. They blame the company they've kept, the environment they have lived in, the neighborhood, and so on. But you see, friends, all these things that people say, this is the reason such and such a person is like this. And maybe you'll hear like that yourself tonight. They say that's the reason for it, all these things that I've mentioned and other things. But friends, these are just symptoms of already being sinners. Being sinners before God. These are already symptoms, all these things. They are not the cause of being sinners. You are a sinner and these other things will be there. And so that's the first thing you have to address. Whatever your background, whoever you are, wherever you've come from, What must I do to be saved? Because I'm a sinner who needs to be saved. And the answer is here, of course, for us. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Well, then, let's look at it in more detail then. Something very familiar to you, I know. But again, worth going over time and time again. The answer, first of all, the only answer to the problem of my sin. And it is that, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us there is no other name given amongst men whereby we must be saved. Now, you might be saying, I believe it. You might be saying, I believe it. Everything the Bible says, I believe it. Well, friend, what do you believe? What exactly do you mean when you say that you believe the Bible? What exactly do you mean when you say that you believe what you read and what you hear from this pulpit or elsewhere every week? Many believe, I am sure most if not all surely here tonight believe what the Bible teaches to some degree. But even if you don't seem to apply that teaching to your own situation, you say, well, I still believe it. but then why aren't you applying the teaching of it to your own life if you say you believe it? But you see friends, it's one thing to believe in the sense of just agreeing with what is brought before you in the preaching of the word, to agree what is brought before you in what you read in the Bible, but it's not a case of believing it, it's a case of believing on. And there's the great difference. Believe, not believe it, but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's needed. It's one thing to say, yes, my Bible, I read it. I read it and I make an effort to pray and I listen to sermons and I believe it all. But it's about believing on, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? It means personally seeing why Christ came into the world. It means personally believing that he died for me. That it is in you, Romans, dead that he died. It is personally saying, I'm a lost sinner. I deserve the wrath and the curse of God for my sin, for my unbelief. That is what I deserve. But I believe in Christ that he's taken my sin upon himself. You see, that's faith, that's saving faith in Christ. That's the answer to the problem. Not just it, but on Christ. Faith, your faith, resting on what? On Christ, on the evidence of Scripture, on the Christ of the Bible, of Him as the Savior, as the Messiah, as the sacrifice, as the substitute, and now as the intercessor at the right hand of God. And to be able to say, and as it says elsewhere, I know, I know whom I have believed. I know, and without a doubt believing in Him. Can you say that tonight? With all your knowledge, with all your experience, with all of these things that you think you know about it all? Friend, I want to encourage you tonight. You here tonight who may be seeking the Lord. You here tonight who may be able, not able as yet to come to the place where you know for yourselves this thing. I want to encourage you, oh, don't stop at I believe what the Bible says. Don't even stop at saying, I believe I'm a sinner. Not even I believe what it says about heaven and hell and faith and repentance in the Bible, and I'm a sinner. See, that is not in and of itself enough. You see, there is no point whatsoever in a faith, as it were, or a belief that falls short of saving faith in the Christ of the Bible. And there's no doubt that even tonight, and there will be countless numbers in hell itself, who will have said that they had a Bible and they read it and they believed it. You see, friend, you have to believe in why he died. You have to believe of the personal aspect of that. You have to believe He did this for me. And anything that falls short of that is of no consequence as far as your eternal future is concerned. The Lord Jesus Christ, and faith in Him as the Saviour of sinners, my Saviour, is the only answer to your lost condition. Absolutely nothing else will do for you. Nothing else will deal with your sinfulness. Nothing else will deal with your estrangement from God. What you need to see on the cross of Calvary is God's holy anger against sin, my sin, and God's holy justice being satisfied. Satisfied for whom? For me. Oh, did Christ not die for everyone, for all? No. what we have here, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. That's those for whom he died, those who are saved, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, dying in the room instead of sinners, taking on himself your sins, taking your punishment therefore and bringing you into that peace with God that you so need. My dear friend, are you here tonight and you long to have that peace? Are you here tonight and you're troubled so much? Maybe you have sleepless nights and you wake up even a cold sweat at times thinking about these things. Are you here tonight and you've come here and you've heard other sermons and you've heard other preachers and you've heard so many things and been warned so often and you're troubled by it, but you haven't got beyond that. Well, here is the only thing that will take you beyond it, is to cast yourself upon the Lord, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, step out in faith, believing in Him, trusting in Him and following Him. The one who made the laws demand in you, Romans, that you as a sinner could never Here he is, as we mentioned this morning about this counter-imputation that goes on. Your sins over to him, his righteousness over to you. So when you stand before a holy God, what have you got? Nothing of myself, nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. So when you stand before a holy God, what does he see? He sees Christ. clothed in Christ's righteousness, the robe of righteousness of Christ, nothing else will do. Not your Bible reading, not your believe in the Bible, nothing, absolutely nothing else will do. To see and to believe in Him, the Son of God, who as Blanchard put it, the Son of God who became man, that the sons of men might become sons of God. That's the answer. That's what's needed. That's what's required for all. How could that be? How can we become the sons of God? How can we become the children of God? How can we say that God is our Father in heaven, only by faith in the begotten Son of God? No other way. Nothing else will do. No one else can save you. Here is what you need. So I ask you then, dear friend, do you believe in that sense? Forget about but believe the Bible. Do you believe in that sense, in that deeper sense of what's brought before you? Well, dear friend, if you do, if you do, thou shalt be saved. That's the promise of scripture. It is the assurance that you have from the word of God. And if you believe, you say the word of God, believe this surely as well. But if you don't, you're still lost. And if you say you believe the Bible, you know what lost means. You know the end for you. Oh, you say, surely not me? Ah, yes, dear friend, indeed. There's enough fearful thought that any in this congregation tonight may be marked out for hell itself. Need it be so? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. But there is only one way out. There is only one doorway. And he says himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life. That's the way. No other way. This is what, dear friend, you need. The only answer to the problem of my sin is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's the answer. How do you answer? How do you know this for yourself tonight? Do you know this for yourself tonight? Have you come to the place where you can say that? Or I still got the question, what must I do to be saved? Here is a man with ignorance, and we'll see that in a moment, but he came to faith in Christ. And so we see then, secondly, that the jailer made a decision. Now, friends, before you have been horror at the thought of it, of decisionism. That's not what we're saying. But there's a decision to be made nevertheless. every single person comes to a place where they have to make a decision. Does that mean that we believe in free will? Well, it depends how you define that, of course. But the reality is that man of himself, man, because of the fall, will always have and always has his will inclined away from God. His will is away from God and towards sin. And that is the will of every single person who comes into the world. So then man left to himself, he'll continue and he cannot choose that good which is good. But we make choices, we make decisions according to our nature and our nature sadly is naturally sinful. naturally sinful. So, the mystery then is, the question is, how then can any be saved? How can you be saved? How can I, you say, be saved? How can I turn to God in repentance if my nature is naturally sinful? Well, friend, Scripture makes clear. It is that. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. enabled by the Holy Spirit of God. When you're convicted of your need, of your sin, of your misery, of your lostness, of your depravity, then cry to God. There's the answer. Oh, so many people get taken up with election and such things. Well, some of us knew nothing about that, but people who are maybe well-versed in the Bible will bring up these things at times. But, friends, here is the answer. Repentance. But you say then, so I can't help it if I'm not going to be saved. Not at all, friend. Scripture tells you time and time again. It tells you what your responsibility is. And what is it? Again, come back. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. On the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what you need. It comes before you time and time and time again. In other words, the responsibility lies at your door. It is you, friend. It is you. It is you and it is your own fault, if I can say, if you end up in a lost eternity. You know that's what the Bible teaches. This is what's needed. And yet you tell me, some would tell me, but I believe the Bible. Well, why don't you believe this and act upon it? What kind of belief is it? That just says, well, I believe the Bible. If you believe the Bible, truly believe the Bible, you'll believe the truths of the Bible, you'll believe what is said before you in the scripture, and you will believe that you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This man here, an unlikely candidate, you would say. Oh, friend, too many, maybe in this place, were unlikely candidates. But they believed. They believed. This man, probably an ex-soldier who would be used as prison keeper, be a rough man who was experienced in rough ways. But you see, God, through the word and through the witness, does great things. And some of us here tonight who can testify to that truth. What the Lord can do through his word. You see, this is what we see here. He heard amazing things, no doubt. At midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sung praises to God. What are they doing? What's this they're doing? It doesn't make sense. They're in prison. They're in the inner prison. They've been tied up in there. What can they do? They're singing, and they're obviously singing as well praises to God. He would be hearing them singing things that were, as it were, joyful in what they were doing. And he heard these things. And then he saw amazing things, this great earthquake. That would be astonishing. So that's bound to have shaken him. The foundation of the prison was shaken. And then in something else, the doors were opened and everyone's bands were loosed. He saw all these things. It was there in front of him. He couldn't mistake what was going on here. And then he goes and he wants to kill himself when he sees this because they thought they had escaped. And then they would say, do thyself no harm. He said, what's wrong with them? Surely they would have escaped by now. But what kind of men are these? What kind of people are they? And what kind of people are they bothering with somebody like me? Ah, my friend, have you ever thought that yourself? Christian here tonight. How did he ever bother with somebody like me? But he does, and he did. And this man now is drawn to these men, and he realizes his need, based on what he had heard, no doubt, and so on, and what he had seen. Serge, what must I do to be saved? Notice, it wasn't yet what we have in verse 31. But also notice verse 32, when they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they spake unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house. There's an explanation. We have not told what they said. They began with a basic message of the gospel, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. How to explain what are you talking about? And isn't that what the preaching of the gospel is about? That is why some of us stand and preach the gospel. And so an explanation is obviously given to him of the gospel and his family. What does he do? He makes a choice. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. And you who know the Bible, you who know the gospel, you yourselves have seen things. You've seen a transformation in the lives of somebody around you, maybe within your own home, And here you are still, and you say, oh yes, I believe the Bible, but you don't believe on Christ. Dear friend, all you've seen, here are these people now, and they follow this jailer and the family, they follow what they have been taught. And you see, that's the message again for you here this evening. You know, friend, you may have lived a rough life, I don't know. There may be sins in your life without question indeed, not a maybe, but there are and will be, like us all. Sins in your life that you'd be so ashamed of, if others found out about it particularly. That's the kind of life you've lived. Maybe you lived a godless life in many ways, maybe hidden away from everybody else. Or even maybe you've just been religious up to now. But remember, friend, however awful your sins have been, however terrible and unlikely candid you may be, remember this and don't forget it. He came to do what? To call sinners and not the righteous to repentance. That should give you hope. How many people have been given hope by that text? He came to call sinners. I'm a sinner. There's a hope for me yet. Are you here tonight, then, an unsaved sinner? Dear friend, I say to you that in that way, you have a choice to make. If your desire is, search, what must I do to be saved? I believe the Spirit of God will enable you to believe and to be saved. And so you say, don't you? That you want this. You say, I know the Bible. I know the Bible, I know what it says, I know what it teaches, and you say you believe it. Well, it is fine. It was, again, quoting Martin Luther, spoke about the life of Christianity, he says, consists of possessive pronouns. It's one thing to say Christ is a savior. It's quite another to say he is my savior. He said also this, when he says, one thing to say Christ is our saviour, quite another, he is my saviour. He says the devil can see the first, but only the true Christian can see the second. The devil can say Christ is our saviour. Dear friend, that's not enough for you to say. I know from my Bible that Christ is our saviour. What must I do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." And then we see proof in this man's life that he has come to faith. Verse 33. And he spake unto them the word of the Lord, and all that were in the house. And he took them the same hour, washed their stripes, baptized, and he set a meal before them. And notice, of course, We know from Scripture that faith without works is dead. But notice something else here as well. Thou shalt be saved and thy house. And then he spake unto the world to all that were in his house. Verse 34, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. You see, there was an explanation of the gospel to them all. What a transformation came into this house. You know, friend, I have no doubt that there are homes in this congregation, or people in this congregation, have been transformed by the very same power of the grace of God coming in. Now, remember this as well, though. Whose family were not saved on the basis of whose faith? Sometimes people have that idea. It cannot be. You see, it was about that he spoke the word in the Norman house and they believed. You know, we do, some people say, my parents They're Christians, well, I'm sure they'll care for me. My wife, my husband, my friend, my neighbour, whoever. There's some believers so good of that, surely some good from them must accrue to me. Well, my friend, I tell you this, what will accrue to you of such of those who are near and dear to you, if they're saved and you don't believe that there's only one thing that will accrue to you, it is a depth, a further depth in the lost eternity in hell. because of them, and because your refusal to follow them, and because of your refusal to believe in their Christ as they have believed. None of these things will save you. It is a personal faith that is required here. I know I keep repeating that, but that is what is necessary to know. Notice also what this man did for Paul and Silas. What he did was not what saved him. but it was proof of being saved. You see, works following on from faith. Proof of being saved. By their fruit, scriptures as elsewhere, ye shall know them. Ah, here is lovely fruit, as it was with Lydia earlier on, who read about as well. But they're not saved on the basis of their own works. They did something, they didn't say like Agrippa almost though persuaded me. They were immediately persuaded. It was an immediate personal concern that brought this man to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is what you need here tonight. Nothing else will do you. Oh, you've seen transformation. You've seen a great change in people around you. I have no doubt even within your own home, some of you, you cannot deny that a great change has come into the lives of some. And maybe you're here also, and occasionally, you even in places like this, you're convicted of sin. But what is your response to it? Here was a man who was impressed with what he heard. He was a man who was imprisoned in that fence that he was wound within this jail. He was much in one sense a prisoner, although he was imprisoning others. And yet he didn't realize the chains of sin that he was in himself, that he couldn't break free from. And now what do we see? He's set free and he rejoices and is baptized. It's a wonderful story, known to us all, we've heard it often enough. But friend, I say this to you, you here tonight are still in the chains of sin. May be coming to ask the question, you also, by faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Lord Jesus Christ, will be and can be saved. Christ in the Gospel, friends, is willing and able to save to the uttermost. He will even make you willing in a day of His power. Oh, my friend, then, what's stopping you? Why will you not come? Why will you not ask from your heart, not just mere words, but to ask and to plead, what must I do to be saved? This is what is necessary, not half-hearted, not insincere, not just reading the words and that's it. Don't you hear, friend, time and time again, the pleading, loving voice of our gracious Saviour is heard throughout all the Gospel, that is willing to save. It's in Scripture, time and time again. Come unto me, whom that cometh unto me, I will know why is cast out. Any man thirst, come unto me, and so on, and so on, and so on. If you know the Bible, as you say, you know these things. But you see, that knowledge, head knowledge of them, that is not enough. It is to experience the thirst. It is to experience the longing to follow Christ. It is to experience the desire that nothing will stop you when he says, come unto me, nothing will stop you. That's what it means to come and know the Lord. The gospel is there, the declaration, as Robbie Duncan put it, the declaration of God himself loving. That's what the gospel is. There is no one Christ cannot save. And for you tonight, dear friend, it is for you tonight to accept Christ as he is freely offered in the gospel. So why will you not? Why have you not? up to now done so. He is willing to save. He loves to save. His arms are ever stretched out in mercy to poor, needy sinners. His loving heart is reaching out. We see here the great contrast. We had Lydia, whose Lord had opened her heart so gently and so. and then you had the Philippian jailer, earthquakes used. But you see, what matters is not how you come, but if you come. And if you come, as the Lord has set out in the scripture, you will be saved. But oh friends, there are so many who keep putting off who keep putting off that great day, and who refuse to accept that invitation. And if that is you here tonight, I say to you, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Let me read to you something in conclusion that I read actually this afternoon. It is speaking about the picture, a vivid picture, of the devils in hell seeking the downfall of man. The devil and his cohorts were devising plans to get people to reject the gospel. Let's go to them and say there is no God, proposed one. Silence prevailed. Every devil knew that most people believe in a supreme being. Let's tell them there is no hell, no future punishment for the wicked, offered another. That was also turned down because men obviously have consciences which tell them that sin must be punished. And then came another suggestion. Tell them there is a God, there is a hell, that the Bible is the true word of God, but tell them there is plenty time to decide the question. Let them neglect the gospel until it's too late. All hell erupted with ghoulish glee, for they knew that the longer a person procrastinated on Christ, they usually never accept Him. O friend, may that not be true about you here this evening. Let us pray.
What You Must do to be Saved
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