And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
The keeper at Philippi brought Paul and Silas out of the prison at night after the earthquake had opened the doors and loosed the bands, and trembling before them he asked what he must do to be saved. He was answered that he must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with his house, coming to Him in living faith just as a weak and sinful soul is, to receive pardon, a new heart, peace and eternal life. That saving belief is repentance and conversion that forsakes sin, dies to self and is proved by obedience to God's word and keeping His commandments, with good works as its sure fruit. His cry itself was awakened by the Holy Spirit bringing sin home to conscience under condemnation of the law and drawing the trembling sinner to Christ lifted up as the only hope. Those who have themselves found the Refuge must therefore answer such guilty seeking souls plainly and simply by pointing them to Christ the Redeemer and the power of repentance and faith.
Prison Night at Philippi
The question belongs to the advance of the gospel from Asia Minor into Europe, prepared at Troas by the night vision of a man of Macedonia pleading for help, a call that admitted no delay. Paul and Silas and Timothy, accompanied by Luke, assuredly gathered the Lord had called them to preach there and immediately endeavored to go into Macedonia. They loosed from Troas with a straight course to Samothracia and the next day to Neapolis and thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony.
It was asked at night after Paul and Silas, beaten by the magistrates and put in prison with feet in the stocks, sang praises to God. A great earthquake shook the foundations, opened the doors and loosed every band. The keeper, waking from sleep and seeing the doors open and supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. Paul stopped him by crying that all were still there. The keeper then called for a light, sprang in trembling, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out to ask what he must do to be saved.
The imprisonment came by direct providence, for the light of truth would never have reached within those prison walls if they had not been imprisoned. Believers must therefore bear the message wherever they are and constantly let light shine, choosing to obey God rather than man when laws and powers oppose God, even though stemming the current of iniquity brings reproach, persecution and strait places, since the whole world will not be in harmony with the law. Jesus Himself was present there, for where two or three love and obey the commandments of God He is present even enclosed in prison walls, and His glory penetrated and flooded the darkest dungeon with beams of heavenly light. Angels ministered to God's people in that Philippian prison, and the apostles' suffering spread their faith, won souls to Christ and glorified His holy name, so that bitter opposition against God's great moral standard of righteousness cannot shake the steadfast soul who trusts fully in God, because all things work together for good to those who love God.
What looked like failure in beating and imprisonment resulted in the conversion of the jailer and all his household, so the suffering was not in vain. He was told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with his house, the word of the Lord was spoken to him and all in his house, and the same hour of the night he washed their stripes, was baptized immediately with all his family, brought them into his house, set food before them, and rejoiced believing in God. The keeper and the prisoners who were converted became part of the apostles' report to the new believers in Lydia's house. God's power in that deliverance also helped bring others, even in Caesar's household, to faith.
Jailer's Cry for Salvation
The earthquake that shook the prison shifted the keeper's fear from Roman punishment and death for escaped prisoners to a deeper dread of God's wrath. Humbled by what had happened and by the peace, joy and cheerfulness Paul and Silas had shown under beating and bonds, he saw his own spiritual condition as unlike theirs. He recognized that God had intervened to save them, and his cry was not merely for rescue from immediate danger but for their tranquility and for the way of life with God.
With trembling and humility he asked how to receive salvation, convicted by their rejoicing under suffering, their fearlessness in the earthquake, and their Christ-like forgiveness. It was the faith that had sustained them which awakened him and then sustained him as he sought. He confessed his sins and sought forgiveness for his cruelty, caring for the wounded prisoners by washing their stripes. He received pardon and joyfully welcomed God's Spirit into his heart and home, choosing to become a child of God and heir of heaven, while his household joined Christ's disciples.
He was told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, he with his house, and the word of the Lord was spoken to him and to all that were in his house. The same hour of the night he washed their stripes and was baptized immediately, he and all his family. He then brought them into his house, set food before them, and rejoiced, believing in God.
He did not dismiss conviction as Felix did, but learned the way of salvation, confessed, received pardon, and walked in it with his household. By contrast Belshazzar indifferently passed over the same urgent question of what must be done to be saved, despite opportunities to learn and follow God's will, and that neglect and disregard left him unprepared when judgment came.
Salvation Through Faith Alone
The answer to what must be done to be saved is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour, to come to Him in living faith just as one is, weak and sinful, and to take Him as one's own. He saves all who come to Him, receiving them without casting any out, giving a new heart, covering sins so they are remembered no more, and treating the contrite as if innocent. No one need wait to make himself worthy, for Jesus alone cleanses from sin and forgives, and through faith the sinner becomes a hopeful, believing child of God with pardon and peace. Salvation is a matter between each soul and God, casting the helpless soul on Christ, and no other's failure excuses disloyalty or shields from its consequence, while He compels no one but gives peace, assurance, pardon, and eternal life to whoever believes. The way opens when Christ's ambassadors present the gospel in simplicity and hearers respond by coming, confessing sins and expressing faith, which delights Infinite Love who imparts His righteousness.
Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who loved and died and bore human sin in order to impart His righteousness. He hates sin and loves sinners, has borne the punishment for every person, and can ransom every soul however fallen if the law of God is accepted as the standard of righteousness and a life of loyalty to God is begun. The cross harmonizes God's love and justice and stands as the sinner's only means, and missionary work answers the question by first presenting Christ and Him crucified and warning that the kingdom of God is at hand, for nothing impresses like Christ lifted up. As Israel bitten by serpents lived by looking at the serpent lifted in the wilderness, so everyone now bitten by sin lives by looking to the Son of man lifted up as Christ crucified.
The holy law exposes guilt and requires perfect obedience, yet it cannot pardon the transgressor, cleanse sin, give power to be holy, or tell how to escape condemnation. To the fallen it is condemnation and death with no ray of hope, giving only knowledge of sin, by which no flesh is justified, and leaving the anxious inquirer with no answer in itself. Human nature cannot meet its demands apart from Christ, so the question itself confesses that people cannot save themselves by their own ability. Salvation does not come through riches, knowledge, high position, or works done to earn it, but through believing in Jesus as personal Saviour and receiving God's gift, whom Jesus loves and blesses because they believe. Those who receive His pardoning love are called to work with Him and bear fruit, not to earn salvation but in response to the gift received.
The answer begins with personally knowing the truth so that it can sanctify and prepare for the higher life. It is found by diligently seeking God's word, searching the Bible and praying earnestly for the Holy Spirit to give understanding of truth as it is in Jesus. Scripture plainly marks the way and reveals duties and privileges as a child of God, leads to Christ who alone can cleanse the soul, teaches valuing eternal things above worldly benefits and pleasures, and leaves each person answerable for his own soul. One who opposes truth in ignorance, as Paul once did, can still be converted, but many believers and unbelievers are blinded to danger and lose desire to investigate for themselves, letting worldliness, pride, or intemperate habits distract from the state of the soul. The question is therefore to be asked often and urgently of oneself, joined to faithful work, consecration, and hearts purified from evil.
Repentance Obedience Transformed Life
The question what must be done to be saved is answered by repentance and conversion so that sins go beforehand to judgment and are blotted out. It is the cry of those broken in heart, weeping, confessing to those they have bruised and wounded, giving up concern for their own dignity in order to gain admittance to the kingdom. It is asked at every step by the converted who have given up their own will and wisdom, learned of Christ, become as a little child, and put away suspicion, criticism, temper, self-dignity, distrust, and spiritual pride. To seek the Lord while He may be found means to forsake wicked ways and thoughts and return to God for abundant mercy and pardon. It means to go to Jesus without delay, confess sin to God and to those wronged, and repent thoroughly trusting Jesus as the sin-pardoning Saviour, even while Satan tries to silence the plea for help, in contrast to those who turn sadly away and mingle with scoffers.
Conversion that answers the question saves the soul from death and shows itself in reformation of life-practice. It is awakened by conviction about the nature of sin and begins a new life in Christ through being born again, which is to know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and to represent the new life in character, word, practice, and disposition. No one can be a true Christian without being thoroughly converted, and seeking God must lead to a changed heart and life. Salvation calls for coming out from the world and being separate, walking with God, and having a strong, living, working faith that cooperates with God, meeting the conditions given in God's word and undergoing the moral changes needed in character through Christ's grace to become fit for heaven. Schools most blessed of God study the question with earnest, prayerful hearts, turning away from merely ambitious studies that overshadow and bury truth, to study the Word, obey God, and be brought into subjection to Christ.
Works are the only criterion by which all will be judged, which does not interfere with justification by faith, because good works are the sure and precious fruit of faith, and good or evil works decide destiny for eternity. To ask what must be done to be saved means to seek decided change, transformation of mind and character, and sanctification of soul through faith in Christ and His healing power. Mere strenuous effort, carrying out own designs, and presenting the best offerings are worthless without faith in Christ, for seeing sin is not enough. Sin must be forsaken at any cost, like plucking out the right eye or cutting off the right hand, and salvation requires dying to self and having self crucified in order to rest on God, without which all efforts are valueless.
Saving belief in Christ as a personal Saviour is proved by separation from the world and obedience to the word of God as the sure evidence of love for God in keeping His commandments, because sin has divorced man from God and Christ alone can bring him back, having bridged the gulf that sin made as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The anxious question is answered by loving the Lord God with all heart, soul, strength, and mind, which means practicing the principles of God's law and reading God's Word with firm determination to obey its precepts. Whoever does this secures the highest good in this world and life everlasting in the world to come, for eternal life is the reward of obedience, and Christ lived a life of obedience to God's law that men might obey and be saved. The answer requires more than saying that one believes the truth, for its principles must be practiced daily, and great light and blessings if unappreciated and not lived out leave a person like Capernaum. The question calls for present preparation in washing the robes of character and removing every stain in the blood of the Lamb.
Asking in humility and contrition calls the whole powers of the being into earnest effort for the salvation of the soul. It means casting oneself on Christ, fulfilling His purpose, no longer being a law to oneself, with no violence done to will and freedom of action, bringing the mind under the authority of a new law, the royal law of liberty, surrendering the whole being to God, and having the heart transformed by the Spirit's power into a daily experience of repentance and cleansing. Seeking salvation means being willing to follow Jesus step by step, hear and obey His voice, and accept duties that require self-denial, ruling out defending fixed habits and opinions when they conflict with the Lord's counsel, even to giving up human indulgence of appetite and changing practices. Considering the important question lifts the soul into a purer, holier atmosphere, refusing to sit at ease saying Christ has done all that is necessary, and instead learning what is required as laborers together with God, throwing energies into contemplation of eternal interests, working out salvation with fear and trembling, and responding to the operations of the Holy Spirit. It means giving self to Jesus just as one is, a poor miserable sinner, confessing robbing Him of service all past years, while repentance itself comes from God who sends both the power to convert and repentance when the heart is broken. Being saved is lived one day at a time, one step at a time nearer the great white throne, trusting Jesus who endured the agony of Calvary to give strength to live right each single day, loving and obeying Him in return because He loved and did all He could, with the giving of the heart to be done this very day, for there is only a little time to get ready.
The inquiry is answered by setting aside preconceived and inherited opinions, searching Scripture to learn what God says rather than to defend personal beliefs, and accepting the truth when it conflicts with cherished views. It means never ceasing asking and searching Scripture to discover truth and realize duties and responsibilities, laying preconceived opinions and hereditary and cultivated ideas at the door of investigation. Searching must not be to vindicate own opinions, because that never reaches truth, nor to misinterpret the Word to suit belief when searching brings conviction that cherished opinions are not in harmony with truth, but to learn what the Lord says and accept the light given with open mind and heart to behold wondrous things out of God's Word. It means refusing wilful opposition and blindness to the Word, investigating the inspired Word for oneself, knowing for oneself what is truth, being sanctified through the truth, and thereby obtaining a moral fitness for the higher life.
Spirit Awakens Saving Inquiry
The cry of what must be done to be saved marks the Spirit addressing the heart, bringing cherished sin home to the conscience, throwing light into the understanding, and piling up condemnation under the law until the powers of the soul awake and ask how to be saved. It is the anguished question conviction brings when sin is exposed and the soul is humbled, with God's judgments and fearful judgments presented by ministering angels deepening the sense of great need until that cry is prompted. The moment belongs to the divine Spirit working with the human agent to draw the law-condemned sinner to Jesus Christ, with all heaven ready to cooperate to expel sin from the soul and fill the vacuum with the Holy Spirit. Seeking pardon and finding peace in Christ are joined to the inquiry, and in genuine conversion concern for salvation and eternal things continues beyond a passing moment to become central to life. The conviction awakens conscience and brings deep regret for past guilt, for remaining in darkness, dishonoring God, transgressing His holy law, and refusing Christ as a personal Saviour, after being humbled to the dust with sin rebuked and pride and ambition put to shame, until the same hand that rebukes lifts the penitent in deepest sympathy to meet the need.
The inquiry arises when hearts are broken by the presentation of the love of God and Jesus is lifted up as the sinner's only hope. Christ on the cross brings redemption within reach, and He must be presented as near and willing to save now, with His tender love and nearness made present to soften and subdue the heart to receive the seeds of truth unto eternal life through Him. It comes through a speaker sanctified through the truth, who has been with God in effectual fervent prayer, whose lips are touched as with a coal from off the altar, upon whom the Holy Spirit has fallen with vital heavenly fire, whose words are living realities comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and who is given power to tear down the strongholds of Satan. Their response follows heart-led work through the Holy Spirit with faith centered on Christ's sacrifice at Calvary, requiring personal care for those whose hearts have been touched to help them respond to God. By contrast, Christless sermons of mere argument without His blood fail to prick the heart, while preaching shaped by His Spirit moves convicted and impressed sinners to seek salvation.
When attention turns to eternal things and souls ask what they must do to be saved, Satan works to oppose Christ's power and counteract the Holy Spirit's influence, intensifying his efforts against the seeking soul. Angels with Jesus work to push back the powers of darkness, yet no one is forced either to accept Jesus or to reject Him. Opposite to clear and distinct truth preached in the Spirit and power of God to arouse the church and the world from carnal slumbers stands the soothing cry of Peace and safety by false unfaithful shepherds, which leaves souls at ease to face sudden destruction. So it was in the awakening about Christ's coming, when convincing truth stirred the urgent question but false shepherds obstructed the people and led them away from the truth with assurances of peace.
In the last days of this earth's history solemn conviction of the Spirit will impress souls, and unbelievers will make the inquiry with trembling and painful earnestness. It is awakened when those called by the name of Christ bear a clear, solemn message of decidedly urgent importance, with works of a very different character from now, as the considerations presented in the Word move hearts to see and realize peril. Disregard of God's Word and law, which is as binding today as when spoken and has been kept constantly before those with great light and heard preached time and again, kindles the Lord's anger, so the cry to pray with the whole heart in penitence at the foot of the cross must be made quickly before it is too late. Amid the perils of the last days every person needs to understand for himself what must be done to be saved, finding answer that strengthens and confirms faith by hearing the message God has, meeting with God in holy convocation, and gaining help and strength for lifework, so that mothers, children, and whole households should come together where that message is given.
The question belongs not to sinners alone but also to those that have named the name of Christ and to the church itself. If professed Christians could get sight of their own hearts, their love to be like the world, and the vanity and pride lurking within, they would raise the same cry for salvation. A believer whose life does not match the truth must make the great personal inquiry for himself, turning from marking out a course for brethren to seeing the work to be done to be a consistent, humble Christian. Asking means conforming life and acts to the truth, entirely reforming rough, coarse, boisterous, overbearing words and slack habits, adorning profession by a saving influence that wins souls instead of driving unbelievers farther off, prejudicing and disgusting them and causing enemies to reproach the truth. The answer begins with a humble, contrite heart that trembles at God's Word and yields its will to God at the throne of grace, where receiving light reveals human weakness and Christ's dignity and glory, after which the Holy Spirit guides the obedient into truth and brings Christ's words into the heart so that it may receive God's image.
Guiding Seekers to Christ
Trembling guilty sin-sick souls turning to another for help must be answered only by those who have themselves been led to the Refuge and know Christ as a personal Saviour. The answer is to tell the story of the Redeemer's love and to speak of the power of repentance and faith in Christ, pointing the sufferer to the mighty Healer. As the sufferer's mind is fastened on Christ he receives His peace and spiritual health and joy, and the Lord works with and through the one who speaks. That spiritual health becomes God's helping hand in restoring the health of the body, for meeting the peril of the soul is as solemn as averting peril of the body because of the soul's future and meeting the dying before the judgment seat. The physician to whose wisdom, mercy, skill and faithfulness the sufferer entrusts himself must therefore have personal religion and be a faithful steward of grace, acting as an evangelist with saving influence and as guardian of soul as well as body.
Sick and suffering people and those who before took no interest in religious things will ask what they must do to be saved when they are comforted and helped by wise nurses whose patient attention anticipates their wants. Prayer to Christ as the great Medical Missionary for compassion, the soothing influence of His grace, and His restoring power leads them to Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away sin and saves both soul and body. Sanitariums as memorials, consecrated physicians, and the blending of gospel ministry with medical work in every line awaken eternal realities and make deep impressions in peril and affliction, leading to decisions for both body and soul. Those who guard bodily health must have personal religion and know how to promote health of the soul, teaching the sick to face this great question and pointing the afflicted to Christ the divine Healer as the only hope, since disease is the result of sin and unless God heals there is no hope. Converted physicians must illuminate minds dead in trespasses and sins with sanctifying truth after doing all to relieve suffering, and must speak words in season to trial-torn friends, using confessions and opened secrets as openings to sow seeds of truth with tact and tenderness and purity of word and deed and comfort of hope and sympathetic consolation, losing no opportunity to bring patients to Christ as the great Healer of body and soul.
Sabbath-school exercises should become seasons of deep conviction of sin and heart reformation through earnest skillful Christ-like teaching that comes close to the heart of every scholar, not mere form by spiritually indolent teachers without love for souls. Children and youth should long to understand and experience personally what they must do to be saved, for few youth understand distinctly and every young person should learn how to be saved as the central question of true education. When hearts are affected and they begin to seek the Lord and desire to be Christians, the question means choosing to leave sin and the service of Satan to become Christ's followers. It is answered by turning to the Lord with full purpose of heart, taking the public cross of coming forward to testify before all present which gives strength for the next step, then continuing to seek God earnestly in prayer with others until accepted by Him with sins forgiven and peace spoken to the troubled heart, beholding Jesus as the Lamb and the living fountain and water of salvation. Only truly converted teachers who themselves drink deep, receive the blessing of God, and reflect it with aptitude, sympathy, and patient determined effort to interest scholars in salvation can lead souls thus to Jesus and the saving knowledge of Christ.
Ministers, canvassers, and Bible workers must answer plainly and simply, centering living faith in Christ, His sacrifice at Calvary, and the requirements of law and gospel to convict and convert. Sinners are to see Christ on the cross bringing redemption within reach, learn how to make Jesus their friend and bring Him into daily work, and place their will on the side of God's will upon hearing God's love for the perishing. Close connection with God gives the minister vital power to awaken conscience so that under conviction sinners cry for salvation. Through personal family-to-family studies in dark unworked fields and barren unworked portions of the vineyard, ministry to the poor and lowly in highways and hedges with relief of bodily and spiritual suffering, and opening the treasure house of simple truth as food to hungry souls rather than learned speech or incomprehensible subjects, touched hearts respond and transformation follows. The gospel succeeds not through deep argument but through a message suited to those who hunger for the bread of life.
The agonizing cry comes under conviction of sin and sense of God's judgment, when reproof pierces blindness, humbles pride to the dust, and breaks complacency over danger and guilt. Reproof and warnings are meant to expose ignorance and wrongdoing and prompt this plea for salvation. The same hand that rebukes and humbles then lifts the penitent with tender sympathy and compassion to meet the need.
It is the greatest rational life-and-death question, measuring with the life of God and demanding decided earnestness because no mistake can be afforded in spiritual matters. It is the great and solemn concern of personal salvation that must have priority over every other enterprise and over disputes about minor differences. It stands opposite low thoughts about what to eat or drink or wear that mark the last days; when thoughts stay on that low plane character stays low, but when thoughts grapple with this question and with the difficult problems of the Bible the mind and character are strengthened. A timely word can stir someone to inquire how to be saved, and speaking such a word is a better use of time than tending ornaments or other distractions. It is also the daily rejoicing cry of one who has found the true church, asking how salvation may be secured for herself and her household, as the continual prayer of a mother for herself and family and children together.
It is the urgent cry of one awakened to his case before God, fearing to be lost, cut off in sin, and unprepared to meet Christ. It belongs where people are brought up for final judgment with Jesus walking through the midst touching hearts, faces lighted up, praise to God, confession of sins and rejoicing over sins forgiven; those not walking with Jesus but apart from Him do not realize His presence and shrink into dark corners and lose the blessing. The awakened one rushes out of spiritual darkness to Jesus as if life or death depends on it, pleading through nights of tears to learn steps to give self wholly to the Lord. Feeling that to be a Christian is a great thing requiring peculiar effort, with hope small and faith weak so that a word of discouragement is dreaded, the continual prayer is to know what must be done to be saved and to attain holiness and assurance before claiming justification is enough.
Convincing truth and searching testimony made powerful by the Spirit awaken burdened souls to recognize need, repent with humility, make restitution for dishonesty, and long for others to share peace found in Christ. Preaching should therefore teach practical godliness and holiness of heart, not dwell on knowledge of the heavens which is not essential for salvation. The ignorance of poor souls who do not know lays an overwhelming consuming burden on those who see their need, making speaking to congregations taxing and weighty.
Many read with eagerness messages reproving wrong since 1846, though not personally addressed, to learn what they may do to be saved; they are corrected and led to shun evils specified, errors reproved by warnings to the erring, doubts swept away, and light dawns as Bible truth clearly and simply presented finds its place in hearts so transformation takes place. The testimonies themselves are the key that explains the messages as Scripture is explained by Scripture, with the Spirit impressing minds. Straight testimony also sets pleasure-loving self-indulgent hearers devoted to dancing, amusement, drinking and profligacy without self-denial and cross-bearing to thinking, turning them from seeking eternal interest by self-indulgence to seeking fitness for heaven through thorough transformation, learning to love and practice Christ's life of humiliation here so as to enjoy His presence in the world made new and city of God. The concerned inquiry of a soul in infancy of experience, interested and inspired with hope and filled with grace to whom light and truth have become precious treasure feeding on bread from heaven, is met by scorners with contempt and every device and false method to hinder seeking truth as hidden treasure and hearing the word of life.
The inquiry calls for diligent cheerful ministry to those in need, united with worship and devotion to God. Busy activity must be proportioned with devotional worship, work and piety blended, strength for daily duties derived from worshiping God in the beauty of holiness, and the lamp kept burning by holy oil efficacious only as its light is communicated by reflecting light upon others' pathway. The answer presented is to live faithfully before God who always sees, doing one's best in every duty without human supervision and cultivating loyalty and faithfulness as principles of character. Awareness of how lives are regarded in heaven should lead those who have neglected light and privileges to ask with fear, and Bible teaching that stirs hearts brings people to ask how to come into harmony with God. Like Paul in the Macedonian dungeon facing convicted sinners, steadfast purpose to serve Christ holds firm, with opposition and persecution unable to turn aside and faith upholding and strengthening.
The keeper at Philippi brought Paul and Silas out of the prison at night after the earthquake had opened the doors and loosed the bands, and trembling before them he asked what he must do to be saved. He was answered that he must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with his house, coming to Him in living faith just as a weak and sinful soul is, to receive pardon, a new heart, peace and eternal life. That saving belief is repentance and conversion that forsakes sin, dies to self and is proved by obedience to God's word and keeping His commandments, with good works as its sure fruit. His cry itself was awakened by the Holy Spirit bringing sin home to conscience under condemnation of the law and drawing the trembling sinner to Christ lifted up as the only hope. Those who have themselves found the Refuge must therefore answer such guilty seeking souls plainly and simply by pointing them to Christ the Redeemer and the power of repentance and faith.
Prison Night at Philippi
The question belongs to the advance of the gospel from Asia Minor into Europe, prepared at Troas by the night vision of a man of Macedonia pleading for help, a call that admitted no delay. Paul and Silas and Timothy, accompanied by Luke, assuredly gathered the Lord had called them to preach there and immediately endeavored to go into Macedonia. They loosed from Troas with a straight course to Samothracia and the next day to Neapolis and thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony.
It was asked at night after Paul and Silas, beaten by the magistrates and put in prison with feet in the stocks, sang praises to God. A great earthquake shook the foundations, opened the doors and loosed every band. The keeper, waking from sleep and seeing the doors open and supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. Paul stopped him by crying that all were still there. The keeper then called for a light, sprang in trembling, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out to ask what he must do to be saved.
The imprisonment came by direct providence, for the light of truth would never have reached within those prison walls if they had not been imprisoned. Believers must therefore bear the message wherever they are and constantly let light shine, choosing to obey God rather than man when laws and powers oppose God, even though stemming the current of iniquity brings reproach, persecution and strait places, since the whole world will not be in harmony with the law. Jesus Himself was present there, for where two or three love and obey the commandments of God He is present even enclosed in prison walls, and His glory penetrated and flooded the darkest dungeon with beams of heavenly light. Angels ministered to God's people in that Philippian prison, and the apostles' suffering spread their faith, won souls to Christ and glorified His holy name, so that bitter opposition against God's great moral standard of righteousness cannot shake the steadfast soul who trusts fully in God, because all things work together for good to those who love God.
What looked like failure in beating and imprisonment resulted in the conversion of the jailer and all his household, so the suffering was not in vain. He was told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with his house, the word of the Lord was spoken to him and all in his house, and the same hour of the night he washed their stripes, was baptized immediately with all his family, brought them into his house, set food before them, and rejoiced believing in God. The keeper and the prisoners who were converted became part of the apostles' report to the new believers in Lydia's house. God's power in that deliverance also helped bring others, even in Caesar's household, to faith.
Jailer's Cry for Salvation
The earthquake that shook the prison shifted the keeper's fear from Roman punishment and death for escaped prisoners to a deeper dread of God's wrath. Humbled by what had happened and by the peace, joy and cheerfulness Paul and Silas had shown under beating and bonds, he saw his own spiritual condition as unlike theirs. He recognized that God had intervened to save them, and his cry was not merely for rescue from immediate danger but for their tranquility and for the way of life with God.
With trembling and humility he asked how to receive salvation, convicted by their rejoicing under suffering, their fearlessness in the earthquake, and their Christ-like forgiveness. It was the faith that had sustained them which awakened him and then sustained him as he sought. He confessed his sins and sought forgiveness for his cruelty, caring for the wounded prisoners by washing their stripes. He received pardon and joyfully welcomed God's Spirit into his heart and home, choosing to become a child of God and heir of heaven, while his household joined Christ's disciples.
He was told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, he with his house, and the word of the Lord was spoken to him and to all that were in his house. The same hour of the night he washed their stripes and was baptized immediately, he and all his family. He then brought them into his house, set food before them, and rejoiced, believing in God.
He did not dismiss conviction as Felix did, but learned the way of salvation, confessed, received pardon, and walked in it with his household. By contrast Belshazzar indifferently passed over the same urgent question of what must be done to be saved, despite opportunities to learn and follow God's will, and that neglect and disregard left him unprepared when judgment came.
Salvation Through Faith Alone
The answer to what must be done to be saved is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour, to come to Him in living faith just as one is, weak and sinful, and to take Him as one's own. He saves all who come to Him, receiving them without casting any out, giving a new heart, covering sins so they are remembered no more, and treating the contrite as if innocent. No one need wait to make himself worthy, for Jesus alone cleanses from sin and forgives, and through faith the sinner becomes a hopeful, believing child of God with pardon and peace. Salvation is a matter between each soul and God, casting the helpless soul on Christ, and no other's failure excuses disloyalty or shields from its consequence, while He compels no one but gives peace, assurance, pardon, and eternal life to whoever believes. The way opens when Christ's ambassadors present the gospel in simplicity and hearers respond by coming, confessing sins and expressing faith, which delights Infinite Love who imparts His righteousness.
Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who loved and died and bore human sin in order to impart His righteousness. He hates sin and loves sinners, has borne the punishment for every person, and can ransom every soul however fallen if the law of God is accepted as the standard of righteousness and a life of loyalty to God is begun. The cross harmonizes God's love and justice and stands as the sinner's only means, and missionary work answers the question by first presenting Christ and Him crucified and warning that the kingdom of God is at hand, for nothing impresses like Christ lifted up. As Israel bitten by serpents lived by looking at the serpent lifted in the wilderness, so everyone now bitten by sin lives by looking to the Son of man lifted up as Christ crucified.
The holy law exposes guilt and requires perfect obedience, yet it cannot pardon the transgressor, cleanse sin, give power to be holy, or tell how to escape condemnation. To the fallen it is condemnation and death with no ray of hope, giving only knowledge of sin, by which no flesh is justified, and leaving the anxious inquirer with no answer in itself. Human nature cannot meet its demands apart from Christ, so the question itself confesses that people cannot save themselves by their own ability. Salvation does not come through riches, knowledge, high position, or works done to earn it, but through believing in Jesus as personal Saviour and receiving God's gift, whom Jesus loves and blesses because they believe. Those who receive His pardoning love are called to work with Him and bear fruit, not to earn salvation but in response to the gift received.
The answer begins with personally knowing the truth so that it can sanctify and prepare for the higher life. It is found by diligently seeking God's word, searching the Bible and praying earnestly for the Holy Spirit to give understanding of truth as it is in Jesus. Scripture plainly marks the way and reveals duties and privileges as a child of God, leads to Christ who alone can cleanse the soul, teaches valuing eternal things above worldly benefits and pleasures, and leaves each person answerable for his own soul. One who opposes truth in ignorance, as Paul once did, can still be converted, but many believers and unbelievers are blinded to danger and lose desire to investigate for themselves, letting worldliness, pride, or intemperate habits distract from the state of the soul. The question is therefore to be asked often and urgently of oneself, joined to faithful work, consecration, and hearts purified from evil.
Repentance Obedience Transformed Life
The question what must be done to be saved is answered by repentance and conversion so that sins go beforehand to judgment and are blotted out. It is the cry of those broken in heart, weeping, confessing to those they have bruised and wounded, giving up concern for their own dignity in order to gain admittance to the kingdom. It is asked at every step by the converted who have given up their own will and wisdom, learned of Christ, become as a little child, and put away suspicion, criticism, temper, self-dignity, distrust, and spiritual pride. To seek the Lord while He may be found means to forsake wicked ways and thoughts and return to God for abundant mercy and pardon. It means to go to Jesus without delay, confess sin to God and to those wronged, and repent thoroughly trusting Jesus as the sin-pardoning Saviour, even while Satan tries to silence the plea for help, in contrast to those who turn sadly away and mingle with scoffers.
Conversion that answers the question saves the soul from death and shows itself in reformation of life-practice. It is awakened by conviction about the nature of sin and begins a new life in Christ through being born again, which is to know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and to represent the new life in character, word, practice, and disposition. No one can be a true Christian without being thoroughly converted, and seeking God must lead to a changed heart and life. Salvation calls for coming out from the world and being separate, walking with God, and having a strong, living, working faith that cooperates with God, meeting the conditions given in God's word and undergoing the moral changes needed in character through Christ's grace to become fit for heaven. Schools most blessed of God study the question with earnest, prayerful hearts, turning away from merely ambitious studies that overshadow and bury truth, to study the Word, obey God, and be brought into subjection to Christ.
Works are the only criterion by which all will be judged, which does not interfere with justification by faith, because good works are the sure and precious fruit of faith, and good or evil works decide destiny for eternity. To ask what must be done to be saved means to seek decided change, transformation of mind and character, and sanctification of soul through faith in Christ and His healing power. Mere strenuous effort, carrying out own designs, and presenting the best offerings are worthless without faith in Christ, for seeing sin is not enough. Sin must be forsaken at any cost, like plucking out the right eye or cutting off the right hand, and salvation requires dying to self and having self crucified in order to rest on God, without which all efforts are valueless.
Saving belief in Christ as a personal Saviour is proved by separation from the world and obedience to the word of God as the sure evidence of love for God in keeping His commandments, because sin has divorced man from God and Christ alone can bring him back, having bridged the gulf that sin made as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The anxious question is answered by loving the Lord God with all heart, soul, strength, and mind, which means practicing the principles of God's law and reading God's Word with firm determination to obey its precepts. Whoever does this secures the highest good in this world and life everlasting in the world to come, for eternal life is the reward of obedience, and Christ lived a life of obedience to God's law that men might obey and be saved. The answer requires more than saying that one believes the truth, for its principles must be practiced daily, and great light and blessings if unappreciated and not lived out leave a person like Capernaum. The question calls for present preparation in washing the robes of character and removing every stain in the blood of the Lamb.
Asking in humility and contrition calls the whole powers of the being into earnest effort for the salvation of the soul. It means casting oneself on Christ, fulfilling His purpose, no longer being a law to oneself, with no violence done to will and freedom of action, bringing the mind under the authority of a new law, the royal law of liberty, surrendering the whole being to God, and having the heart transformed by the Spirit's power into a daily experience of repentance and cleansing. Seeking salvation means being willing to follow Jesus step by step, hear and obey His voice, and accept duties that require self-denial, ruling out defending fixed habits and opinions when they conflict with the Lord's counsel, even to giving up human indulgence of appetite and changing practices. Considering the important question lifts the soul into a purer, holier atmosphere, refusing to sit at ease saying Christ has done all that is necessary, and instead learning what is required as laborers together with God, throwing energies into contemplation of eternal interests, working out salvation with fear and trembling, and responding to the operations of the Holy Spirit. It means giving self to Jesus just as one is, a poor miserable sinner, confessing robbing Him of service all past years, while repentance itself comes from God who sends both the power to convert and repentance when the heart is broken. Being saved is lived one day at a time, one step at a time nearer the great white throne, trusting Jesus who endured the agony of Calvary to give strength to live right each single day, loving and obeying Him in return because He loved and did all He could, with the giving of the heart to be done this very day, for there is only a little time to get ready.
The inquiry is answered by setting aside preconceived and inherited opinions, searching Scripture to learn what God says rather than to defend personal beliefs, and accepting the truth when it conflicts with cherished views. It means never ceasing asking and searching Scripture to discover truth and realize duties and responsibilities, laying preconceived opinions and hereditary and cultivated ideas at the door of investigation. Searching must not be to vindicate own opinions, because that never reaches truth, nor to misinterpret the Word to suit belief when searching brings conviction that cherished opinions are not in harmony with truth, but to learn what the Lord says and accept the light given with open mind and heart to behold wondrous things out of God's Word. It means refusing wilful opposition and blindness to the Word, investigating the inspired Word for oneself, knowing for oneself what is truth, being sanctified through the truth, and thereby obtaining a moral fitness for the higher life.
Spirit Awakens Saving Inquiry
The cry of what must be done to be saved marks the Spirit addressing the heart, bringing cherished sin home to the conscience, throwing light into the understanding, and piling up condemnation under the law until the powers of the soul awake and ask how to be saved. It is the anguished question conviction brings when sin is exposed and the soul is humbled, with God's judgments and fearful judgments presented by ministering angels deepening the sense of great need until that cry is prompted. The moment belongs to the divine Spirit working with the human agent to draw the law-condemned sinner to Jesus Christ, with all heaven ready to cooperate to expel sin from the soul and fill the vacuum with the Holy Spirit. Seeking pardon and finding peace in Christ are joined to the inquiry, and in genuine conversion concern for salvation and eternal things continues beyond a passing moment to become central to life. The conviction awakens conscience and brings deep regret for past guilt, for remaining in darkness, dishonoring God, transgressing His holy law, and refusing Christ as a personal Saviour, after being humbled to the dust with sin rebuked and pride and ambition put to shame, until the same hand that rebukes lifts the penitent in deepest sympathy to meet the need.
The inquiry arises when hearts are broken by the presentation of the love of God and Jesus is lifted up as the sinner's only hope. Christ on the cross brings redemption within reach, and He must be presented as near and willing to save now, with His tender love and nearness made present to soften and subdue the heart to receive the seeds of truth unto eternal life through Him. It comes through a speaker sanctified through the truth, who has been with God in effectual fervent prayer, whose lips are touched as with a coal from off the altar, upon whom the Holy Spirit has fallen with vital heavenly fire, whose words are living realities comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and who is given power to tear down the strongholds of Satan. Their response follows heart-led work through the Holy Spirit with faith centered on Christ's sacrifice at Calvary, requiring personal care for those whose hearts have been touched to help them respond to God. By contrast, Christless sermons of mere argument without His blood fail to prick the heart, while preaching shaped by His Spirit moves convicted and impressed sinners to seek salvation.
When attention turns to eternal things and souls ask what they must do to be saved, Satan works to oppose Christ's power and counteract the Holy Spirit's influence, intensifying his efforts against the seeking soul. Angels with Jesus work to push back the powers of darkness, yet no one is forced either to accept Jesus or to reject Him. Opposite to clear and distinct truth preached in the Spirit and power of God to arouse the church and the world from carnal slumbers stands the soothing cry of Peace and safety by false unfaithful shepherds, which leaves souls at ease to face sudden destruction. So it was in the awakening about Christ's coming, when convincing truth stirred the urgent question but false shepherds obstructed the people and led them away from the truth with assurances of peace.
In the last days of this earth's history solemn conviction of the Spirit will impress souls, and unbelievers will make the inquiry with trembling and painful earnestness. It is awakened when those called by the name of Christ bear a clear, solemn message of decidedly urgent importance, with works of a very different character from now, as the considerations presented in the Word move hearts to see and realize peril. Disregard of God's Word and law, which is as binding today as when spoken and has been kept constantly before those with great light and heard preached time and again, kindles the Lord's anger, so the cry to pray with the whole heart in penitence at the foot of the cross must be made quickly before it is too late. Amid the perils of the last days every person needs to understand for himself what must be done to be saved, finding answer that strengthens and confirms faith by hearing the message God has, meeting with God in holy convocation, and gaining help and strength for lifework, so that mothers, children, and whole households should come together where that message is given.
The question belongs not to sinners alone but also to those that have named the name of Christ and to the church itself. If professed Christians could get sight of their own hearts, their love to be like the world, and the vanity and pride lurking within, they would raise the same cry for salvation. A believer whose life does not match the truth must make the great personal inquiry for himself, turning from marking out a course for brethren to seeing the work to be done to be a consistent, humble Christian. Asking means conforming life and acts to the truth, entirely reforming rough, coarse, boisterous, overbearing words and slack habits, adorning profession by a saving influence that wins souls instead of driving unbelievers farther off, prejudicing and disgusting them and causing enemies to reproach the truth. The answer begins with a humble, contrite heart that trembles at God's Word and yields its will to God at the throne of grace, where receiving light reveals human weakness and Christ's dignity and glory, after which the Holy Spirit guides the obedient into truth and brings Christ's words into the heart so that it may receive God's image.
Guiding Seekers to Christ
Trembling guilty sin-sick souls turning to another for help must be answered only by those who have themselves been led to the Refuge and know Christ as a personal Saviour. The answer is to tell the story of the Redeemer's love and to speak of the power of repentance and faith in Christ, pointing the sufferer to the mighty Healer. As the sufferer's mind is fastened on Christ he receives His peace and spiritual health and joy, and the Lord works with and through the one who speaks. That spiritual health becomes God's helping hand in restoring the health of the body, for meeting the peril of the soul is as solemn as averting peril of the body because of the soul's future and meeting the dying before the judgment seat. The physician to whose wisdom, mercy, skill and faithfulness the sufferer entrusts himself must therefore have personal religion and be a faithful steward of grace, acting as an evangelist with saving influence and as guardian of soul as well as body.
Sick and suffering people and those who before took no interest in religious things will ask what they must do to be saved when they are comforted and helped by wise nurses whose patient attention anticipates their wants. Prayer to Christ as the great Medical Missionary for compassion, the soothing influence of His grace, and His restoring power leads them to Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away sin and saves both soul and body. Sanitariums as memorials, consecrated physicians, and the blending of gospel ministry with medical work in every line awaken eternal realities and make deep impressions in peril and affliction, leading to decisions for both body and soul. Those who guard bodily health must have personal religion and know how to promote health of the soul, teaching the sick to face this great question and pointing the afflicted to Christ the divine Healer as the only hope, since disease is the result of sin and unless God heals there is no hope. Converted physicians must illuminate minds dead in trespasses and sins with sanctifying truth after doing all to relieve suffering, and must speak words in season to trial-torn friends, using confessions and opened secrets as openings to sow seeds of truth with tact and tenderness and purity of word and deed and comfort of hope and sympathetic consolation, losing no opportunity to bring patients to Christ as the great Healer of body and soul.
Sabbath-school exercises should become seasons of deep conviction of sin and heart reformation through earnest skillful Christ-like teaching that comes close to the heart of every scholar, not mere form by spiritually indolent teachers without love for souls. Children and youth should long to understand and experience personally what they must do to be saved, for few youth understand distinctly and every young person should learn how to be saved as the central question of true education. When hearts are affected and they begin to seek the Lord and desire to be Christians, the question means choosing to leave sin and the service of Satan to become Christ's followers. It is answered by turning to the Lord with full purpose of heart, taking the public cross of coming forward to testify before all present which gives strength for the next step, then continuing to seek God earnestly in prayer with others until accepted by Him with sins forgiven and peace spoken to the troubled heart, beholding Jesus as the Lamb and the living fountain and water of salvation. Only truly converted teachers who themselves drink deep, receive the blessing of God, and reflect it with aptitude, sympathy, and patient determined effort to interest scholars in salvation can lead souls thus to Jesus and the saving knowledge of Christ.
Ministers, canvassers, and Bible workers must answer plainly and simply, centering living faith in Christ, His sacrifice at Calvary, and the requirements of law and gospel to convict and convert. Sinners are to see Christ on the cross bringing redemption within reach, learn how to make Jesus their friend and bring Him into daily work, and place their will on the side of God's will upon hearing God's love for the perishing. Close connection with God gives the minister vital power to awaken conscience so that under conviction sinners cry for salvation. Through personal family-to-family studies in dark unworked fields and barren unworked portions of the vineyard, ministry to the poor and lowly in highways and hedges with relief of bodily and spiritual suffering, and opening the treasure house of simple truth as food to hungry souls rather than learned speech or incomprehensible subjects, touched hearts respond and transformation follows. The gospel succeeds not through deep argument but through a message suited to those who hunger for the bread of life.
The agonizing cry comes under conviction of sin and sense of God's judgment, when reproof pierces blindness, humbles pride to the dust, and breaks complacency over danger and guilt. Reproof and warnings are meant to expose ignorance and wrongdoing and prompt this plea for salvation. The same hand that rebukes and humbles then lifts the penitent with tender sympathy and compassion to meet the need.
It is the greatest rational life-and-death question, measuring with the life of God and demanding decided earnestness because no mistake can be afforded in spiritual matters. It is the great and solemn concern of personal salvation that must have priority over every other enterprise and over disputes about minor differences. It stands opposite low thoughts about what to eat or drink or wear that mark the last days; when thoughts stay on that low plane character stays low, but when thoughts grapple with this question and with the difficult problems of the Bible the mind and character are strengthened. A timely word can stir someone to inquire how to be saved, and speaking such a word is a better use of time than tending ornaments or other distractions. It is also the daily rejoicing cry of one who has found the true church, asking how salvation may be secured for herself and her household, as the continual prayer of a mother for herself and family and children together.
It is the urgent cry of one awakened to his case before God, fearing to be lost, cut off in sin, and unprepared to meet Christ. It belongs where people are brought up for final judgment with Jesus walking through the midst touching hearts, faces lighted up, praise to God, confession of sins and rejoicing over sins forgiven; those not walking with Jesus but apart from Him do not realize His presence and shrink into dark corners and lose the blessing. The awakened one rushes out of spiritual darkness to Jesus as if life or death depends on it, pleading through nights of tears to learn steps to give self wholly to the Lord. Feeling that to be a Christian is a great thing requiring peculiar effort, with hope small and faith weak so that a word of discouragement is dreaded, the continual prayer is to know what must be done to be saved and to attain holiness and assurance before claiming justification is enough.
Convincing truth and searching testimony made powerful by the Spirit awaken burdened souls to recognize need, repent with humility, make restitution for dishonesty, and long for others to share peace found in Christ. Preaching should therefore teach practical godliness and holiness of heart, not dwell on knowledge of the heavens which is not essential for salvation. The ignorance of poor souls who do not know lays an overwhelming consuming burden on those who see their need, making speaking to congregations taxing and weighty.
Many read with eagerness messages reproving wrong since 1846, though not personally addressed, to learn what they may do to be saved; they are corrected and led to shun evils specified, errors reproved by warnings to the erring, doubts swept away, and light dawns as Bible truth clearly and simply presented finds its place in hearts so transformation takes place. The testimonies themselves are the key that explains the messages as Scripture is explained by Scripture, with the Spirit impressing minds. Straight testimony also sets pleasure-loving self-indulgent hearers devoted to dancing, amusement, drinking and profligacy without self-denial and cross-bearing to thinking, turning them from seeking eternal interest by self-indulgence to seeking fitness for heaven through thorough transformation, learning to love and practice Christ's life of humiliation here so as to enjoy His presence in the world made new and city of God. The concerned inquiry of a soul in infancy of experience, interested and inspired with hope and filled with grace to whom light and truth have become precious treasure feeding on bread from heaven, is met by scorners with contempt and every device and false method to hinder seeking truth as hidden treasure and hearing the word of life.
The inquiry calls for diligent cheerful ministry to those in need, united with worship and devotion to God. Busy activity must be proportioned with devotional worship, work and piety blended, strength for daily duties derived from worshiping God in the beauty of holiness, and the lamp kept burning by holy oil efficacious only as its light is communicated by reflecting light upon others' pathway. The answer presented is to live faithfully before God who always sees, doing one's best in every duty without human supervision and cultivating loyalty and faithfulness as principles of character. Awareness of how lives are regarded in heaven should lead those who have neglected light and privileges to ask with fear, and Bible teaching that stirs hearts brings people to ask how to come into harmony with God. Like Paul in the Macedonian dungeon facing convicted sinners, steadfast purpose to serve Christ holds firm, with opposition and persecution unable to turn aside and faith upholding and strengthening.