And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to the anxious question what must I do to be saved, meaning to come to Jesus just as one is, take Him as one's own personal Saviour, and grasp His promises by living faith. Believing means trusting that Christ died for you and His blood cleanses from sin, not waiting to feel saved or to make oneself good first, for even the vilest sinner is saved by looking to Christ and living. In Philippi this was spoken to a convicted jailer who had seen faith and joy under suffering, and then the word of the Lord was spoken to all in his house, who heard, believed, were baptized that same night, and rejoiced with changed hearts. The promise to the house does not mean one man's faith saves the rest, but that his household is gathered to hear Christ preached, and they too believe and enter with him. Receiving Him is receiving the gospel into a willing, obedient heart, to follow Him in self-denial, keep God's law, and walk one day at a time in loving obedience.
Prison Night in Philippi
Beaten and thrust into prison with feet fast in the stocks, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God at midnight with angels present with them. Suddenly a great earthquake shook the foundations of the prison, opened every door and loosed every band. Their steadfast faith upheld them amid opposition and persecution, even in the Macedonian dungeon among convicted sinners.
The jailer awoke to find the doors open, supposed the prisoners had escaped, and, fearing the death punishment that would follow, was about to kill himself. Paul cried out to him to do himself no harm, for all were still there, and so stopped him. Convicted by the power of God, the jailer called for a light, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas, brought them out, and asked what he must do to be saved.
He sought the way of life because he desired the peace and joy he had seen in the apostles. He had been convicted by their faith and joy under suffering, their courage during the earthquake, and their Christlike forgiveness. The answer given him was to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, with the promise reaching also to his house.
That answer was followed at once by speaking the word of the Lord to him and to all in his house. He gathered his whole household to hear, Paul preached Jesus to them, and they heard and received the truth. That same hour of the night he washed their stripes, showing a changed heart that cared for them after cruelty, and he and all his household were baptized at once that night. Then he set food before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house, his heart united to the brethren and joined to Christ's disciples.
God in direct providence had placed Paul and Silas in prison so the light of truth could reach inside those walls. What looked like failure in jail resulted in conversion, and the work bore fruit despite imprisonment. The conversion of the jailer and his household, together with the prisoners and people connected with the imperial household, more than made up for disgrace and suffering and made the labor in Philippi fruitful and worthwhile. The apostles later told the new converts about the prison keeper's conversion and that of the prisoners.
The glory of God penetrates prison walls, flooding the darkest dungeon with beams of heavenly light. Where two or three love and obey God, Jesus presides as His church, whether in the wilderness, the city, or enclosed in prison walls. The bitterest opposition cannot shake the steadfast soul who trusts fully in God, and suffering in prison like the apostles spreads faith, wins souls to Christ, and glorifies His holy name.
Unlike Felix, who trembled but did not repent and turned away, the jailer did not turn from conviction. With humility he welcomed the Spirit of God into his heart and home, confessed his sins, and found pardon. He joyfully chose to become a child of God and an heir of heaven, learning the way of salvation and walking in it with his whole household.
Believe and Be Saved
The anxious cry what must be done to be saved is answered by belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour. To believe is to come to Jesus in faith just as one is, to take Him as one's own, to give oneself to Him, and to grasp His promises by living faith, and the one who so comes will be saved as he is. The gospel itself is the knowledge of a personal Saviour, for sin has divorced man from God and Christ alone brings him back by bridging the gulf sin made, as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. When Christ's ambassadors present that gospel in its simplicity and hearers respond to the Word, confessing sins and expressing faith and truth, nothing gratifies the heart of Infinite Love more than their coming, for He delights to impart His righteousness to them. Such believing is not guess-work but receiving His transforming grace, the gift of God that works by love and purifies the soul, opens the heart to receive the Word, and causes Christ's virtues to be reflected in mind and character, bringing willing obedience and delight in imparting the gift to others. He wants to save and to give peace and assurance in this life and eternal life in His kingdom, yet He compels no one, and each must choose whether to serve Him, and therefore the call is to go to Jesus without delay.
To believe is to live, and the way is simple, requiring no labored argument and no hard attainment. It means trusting that Christ died for you and that His blood cleanses you from sin and saves you, not waiting to feel saved or to make yourself good first. Even the vilest sinner can be saved from grievous sins by looking to Christ and living, as the bitten Israelites lived by looking at the lifted-up serpent. Trust in Him gives His peace now, with safety and satisfaction and brightness beyond this life, ending in seeing Jesus, who created all things and made the worlds, as He is.
The Christ to be believed is the sin-pardoning Saviour, the only begotten Son of the infinite God. In the Macedonian dungeon He was presented to convicted sinners as the One who hates sin and loves sinners, who bore human sins, who takes away sin, who gave His life to ransom the world, and who gives His righteousness with authority to impart it. The sinner is Christ's property bought with the blood of the Son of God who through test and trial redeemed human beings from the slavery of sin, and he who confesses his sin and humbles his heart receives forgiveness and is reconciled to God through Jesus Christ the Deliverer from sin. Faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ is the assurance of pardon because Christ can cleanse away all sin. The cross is the stupendous expedient by which the love and justice of God are harmonized, and it is the sinner's only means of salvation because God is love, so the sinner need not perish if he exercises faith in its wonderful efficacy. Keeping in the path of holiness as a subject of the grace of God brings full salvation, joy, peace, and the true wisdom that comes from God, and simple daily reliance on that power gives keen wisdom to discern what will keep the soul from the bondage of sin in these last days, as by faith and prayer through the knowledge of Christ he works out his own salvation.
Believing answers the hunger of the soul with the gospel as bread of life suited to its need. It means receiving that bread as a message from God into a willing and teachable and obedient heart and obeying it, as bodily food must be eaten and digested to give strength. Its power to save does not depend on learned testimonies, eloquent speeches, or deep arguments, but on its simplicity and adaptation to souls hungering for bread, for hungry souls need bread, not cold problems. Knowing its truth for oneself requires a teachable, obedient heart opened to the Spirit of God and ready to obey truth as soon as it is seen. Following Christ also requires self-denial and taking up the cross, and the promise of salvation does not remove God's law as the standard by which people are judged. Each person is answerable for his own soul, and what others do cannot save or lose it.
The Christ to be believed is the promised child born and son given, with the government upon His shoulder, named Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, whose government and peace increase without end upon the throne of David and over His kingdom to order and establish it with judgment and justice forever. Salvation is sought when the Holy Spirit works through believers to convict people of sin, righteousness, and judgment. That conviction awakens the conscience and brings regret for past guilt and for dishonoring God by transgressing His law and refusing Christ, and leads to the cry for what must be done to be saved, whose faith works through love and purifies the soul. The answer is to repent and be converted so that sins go beforehand to judgment and are blotted out, with broken-hearted confession to those bruised and wounded without trying to keep one's own dignity, while those who turn sadly away mingle with scoffers. All spiritual pride must be rebuked because God will not tolerate it as inconsistent with His Word and profession of faith, and kind, tender, sympathetic care for people in peril is the fruit of saving faith and can draw them to repentance without force. The question of how to be saved is urgent and of supreme importance because life is brief and death may come at any time, and people need to know that they have made peace with God, fixing the eyes on Christ and His teaching to discern rightly and shape the choices made in response.
Promise to Your Household
The promise reaches the household because the word of the Lord is spoken to everyone in the house and they hear it. The answer to believe is followed by teaching the Lord's word to the jailer and to all in his house, and the household hears that teaching and receives the truth. That same hour of the night he washes their stripes and is baptized, he and all his household at once, then sets food before them and rejoices, believing in God with all his house. This fulfillment comes after beating and imprisonment with feet in the stocks, singing praises with angels present, a sudden earthquake shaking the foundations, opening all doors and loosing every band, and Paul stopping the jailer from killing himself, so what looked like failure in jail results in conversion of the jailer and all his household.
The jailer's faith alone does not save his household. He gathers them, Paul preaches Jesus to them, and they too believe, are baptized, and rejoice in God. The promise reaches them as they hear the word of the Lord, and the answer is followed by instruction, care for the apostles, and the household's own response to the message, springing from the jailer's fear and desire for the peace and joy he saw in the apostles that led him to seek the way of life.
Family members are to be sought and prayed for so they may share in that blessing. Each person's salvation is precious, and parents should make preparing their children for immortal life their chief study. That means laboring for the conversion of children right in the home by praying with them and teaching them the requirements of the Word of God, which is better for them than pleasing them by giving them their own way, so that children are saved from their sins to stand uncondemned in the judgment and enter the kingdom together with their parents. A family can have God's salvation when its members believe, live for it, and continually trust in God through faith. This faith is joined to practical self-control, including restraining temper and words.
Saving one's own soul and winning one's household is decided in the home, which tests religious character. It requires being transformed to be more tender, pitiful, merciful, forbearing and patient, expressing love and affection, showing zeal and interest in a wife's happiness, dictating to a wife in nothing, and ceasing to be overbearing to children. The call is illustrated by a family whose three members are converted and believe in Jesus. It means mother and children and the younger members of the family all need to understand what they must do to be saved, especially amid the perils of the last days, by coming together to meet with God, attending the meeting to strengthen and confirm faith, hearing the message God has, and thereby gaining help and strength for lifework and seeking the help needed to hear God's message.
Preaching the Saving Message
Leading sinners to ask what must be done to be saved is a central work of a true minister, whose business is to uplift Jesus as the sinner's only hope and to present God's love until hearers are brought to the decisive question of salvation. Preaching that answers it plainly presents Christ and His power to save all who come to Him, rather than dwelling on subjects that do not enlighten or convert. The seeker is to lay aside preconceived beliefs, search the Bible to learn what God says, and accept the truth even when it conflicts with cherished opinions. That opening of the treasure house of God's Word feeds hungry, starving people through the simplicity of truth as it is in Jesus, letting light shine in large gatherings as well as to students and church members as a precious banquet and rich feast to be partaken of and digested.
The question of salvation is the true philosophy of education that every youth should learn. Children need clear religious instruction about what they must do to be saved and about God's love, and few understand the answer distinctly without essential instruction in religious things. Special effort is to be made to teach children and youth this answer and to train them to become missionaries who can teach it to others. Only instructors and teachers who have themselves experienced conversion, have a religious experience, and know the love of God can communicate this knowledge to students, and giving these lessons is the noblest missionary work anyone can undertake.
Many not of the faith long to know what they should do to be saved, and many poor souls do not know the answer. Standing before them to speak brings an overwhelming, consuming burden to make the way of salvation known to them in their peril. The answer set before them is to accept Jesus Christ as personal Saviour by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. The hour of greatest peril in sickness can become the hour of resolve to believe, and physicians who pray as well as work to restore the sick make deep impressions that prepare for that decision, so prayer and painstaking effort are not to be confined to those who already believe the doctrines held as truth, for God will bless the afflicted one, believer or unbeliever.
Telling the sick to believe means pointing them to Christ as the wonderful Healer and great Physician of body and soul, who is light and life as well as comfort, peace, hopefulness, and hope. Their minds are to be fastened on Him and taken off their hopeless, suffering condition, fixing attention on Jesus so they look and live and see the smiling face of Christ, with thought and attention directed to divine realities for time and for eternity. This believing is faith that works by love and purifies the soul, and it is the very best mind cure and body cure. It is joined with availing themselves of simple, hygienic remedies for relief of suffering and restoration of health while being educated to take hold of the power of Him who provided these remedies, looking to Jesus as the true, faithful physician who loves them and gave His life for them and believing He will hear their prayers as well as the prayers of physicians and nurses attending them, with all working in perfect harmony for recovery of the soul as well as recovery of the body, because the simplicity of the act of faith brings the suffering one in touch with the great Healer. Christ weeps over impenitence and pleads for sinners to turn to Him, and rejoices when they turn to Him asking how to be saved, and old and young today are to be warned and led to make that turning to the Redeemer, with those in medical service to lose no opportunity to bring patients to Him and by Christlike example reclaim the wanderer and edify the believer, and calling for this faith belongs to ministry of the Word that blends skillful work as a physician with preaching the gospel and encourages suffering ones to receive treatment from the great Physician for healing of both body and soul.
Living Out Salvation
Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation is true higher education that makes God's will supreme in the individual life. It means to follow the Word of God implicitly, to walk in Christ's footsteps and practice His virtues, to give up selfishness and devote the life to the service of God, with peace found only in the path of perfect obedience. Being saved means being workers together with God with hearts purified from all defilement, putting away all strife and evil speaking and evil thinking, and doing faithful work in upholding the claims of God's law. Practicing the principles of truth guides to Christ, who is the author of all truth and the only one who can cleanse the soul from defilement, and fills the soul with peace.
The jailer and his whole household responded by joining Christ's persecuted disciples. Believers must bear the message wherever they are and constantly let their light shine, obeying God rather than man even when taking a stand for truth brings reproach, persecution, and strait places in a world not in harmony with the law. Children old enough to know what sin is can ask what to do to be saved and come to Christ. To believe means to seek the Lord, to turn to Him with full purpose of heart, to choose to leave sin and the service of Satan and become Christ's followers, to testify to that choice publicly by coming forward, to desire the prayers of God's people and to pray and seek God earnestly. Taking that first public step gives strength to take the next, and those who do so are accepted by Him, have their sins forgiven for Christ's sake, are brought into His fold, and may feel assurance that Jesus speaks peace to their troubled hearts.
Believing with simple, trusting faith means taking hold of a power that cannot be created but is given. This belief means personal consecration to God's service, surrender of the heart to the working of the Holy Spirit, and being placed in right relation to God, with cheerfulness and thanksgiving and rejoicing. It rests on Christ coming to this world to give Himself as a sacrifice for the saving of sinners, on all heaven being interested in the work, and on the assurance that He will be with all who give themselves unreservedly to this work. Believing in the Lord Jesus as personal Saviour while doing everyday work and seeking to make that work a success gives the privilege of wearing the divinely provided righteousness of Christ as a breastplate that protects the spiritual life in action and in all practices and guards the vital parts.
To answer what must be done to be saved is to give yourself to Jesus this very day, coming just as you are as a poor miserable sinner, telling Him He gave Himself for you and paid the infinite price for your salvation, confessing that you have robbed Him of your service and repenting of it. Repentance itself comes from God, who sends His power to convert and sends repentance when the heart is broken. Being saved is then lived one step at a time and one day at a time, trusting Jesus who passed through the agony of Calvary to save men because He loves them to give strength to live right each day and to hold out, every step taking nearer the great white throne and the crystal sea, loving Him and being obedient in return. Believing means to believe and be true to principle as one whom Christ still loves even when erring and dishonoring Him and bringing reproach on His cause, becoming the noble witness Christ desires and giving the world no occasion for reproach. Believing means keeping clear of speculation, following closely in the steps of Christ, pressing on in the way of eternal life, never entering into worldly business with unbelievers thinking that will bring success, and sacredly cherishing the truth and the reasons of faith instead of repudiating them, because repudiating sacred truth to gain a better showing brings unequal warfare and gives the enemy a chance to overcome. It is the daily cry of a mother of nine children rejoicing that she has found the true church, asking what she and her family shall do to be saved.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to the anxious question what must I do to be saved, meaning to come to Jesus just as one is, take Him as one's own personal Saviour, and grasp His promises by living faith. Believing means trusting that Christ died for you and His blood cleanses from sin, not waiting to feel saved or to make oneself good first, for even the vilest sinner is saved by looking to Christ and living. In Philippi this was spoken to a convicted jailer who had seen faith and joy under suffering, and then the word of the Lord was spoken to all in his house, who heard, believed, were baptized that same night, and rejoiced with changed hearts. The promise to the house does not mean one man's faith saves the rest, but that his household is gathered to hear Christ preached, and they too believe and enter with him. Receiving Him is receiving the gospel into a willing, obedient heart, to follow Him in self-denial, keep God's law, and walk one day at a time in loving obedience.
Prison Night in Philippi
Beaten and thrust into prison with feet fast in the stocks, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God at midnight with angels present with them. Suddenly a great earthquake shook the foundations of the prison, opened every door and loosed every band. Their steadfast faith upheld them amid opposition and persecution, even in the Macedonian dungeon among convicted sinners.
The jailer awoke to find the doors open, supposed the prisoners had escaped, and, fearing the death punishment that would follow, was about to kill himself. Paul cried out to him to do himself no harm, for all were still there, and so stopped him. Convicted by the power of God, the jailer called for a light, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas, brought them out, and asked what he must do to be saved.
He sought the way of life because he desired the peace and joy he had seen in the apostles. He had been convicted by their faith and joy under suffering, their courage during the earthquake, and their Christlike forgiveness. The answer given him was to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, with the promise reaching also to his house.
That answer was followed at once by speaking the word of the Lord to him and to all in his house. He gathered his whole household to hear, Paul preached Jesus to them, and they heard and received the truth. That same hour of the night he washed their stripes, showing a changed heart that cared for them after cruelty, and he and all his household were baptized at once that night. Then he set food before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house, his heart united to the brethren and joined to Christ's disciples.
God in direct providence had placed Paul and Silas in prison so the light of truth could reach inside those walls. What looked like failure in jail resulted in conversion, and the work bore fruit despite imprisonment. The conversion of the jailer and his household, together with the prisoners and people connected with the imperial household, more than made up for disgrace and suffering and made the labor in Philippi fruitful and worthwhile. The apostles later told the new converts about the prison keeper's conversion and that of the prisoners.
The glory of God penetrates prison walls, flooding the darkest dungeon with beams of heavenly light. Where two or three love and obey God, Jesus presides as His church, whether in the wilderness, the city, or enclosed in prison walls. The bitterest opposition cannot shake the steadfast soul who trusts fully in God, and suffering in prison like the apostles spreads faith, wins souls to Christ, and glorifies His holy name.
Unlike Felix, who trembled but did not repent and turned away, the jailer did not turn from conviction. With humility he welcomed the Spirit of God into his heart and home, confessed his sins, and found pardon. He joyfully chose to become a child of God and an heir of heaven, learning the way of salvation and walking in it with his whole household.
Believe and Be Saved
The anxious cry what must be done to be saved is answered by belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour. To believe is to come to Jesus in faith just as one is, to take Him as one's own, to give oneself to Him, and to grasp His promises by living faith, and the one who so comes will be saved as he is. The gospel itself is the knowledge of a personal Saviour, for sin has divorced man from God and Christ alone brings him back by bridging the gulf sin made, as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. When Christ's ambassadors present that gospel in its simplicity and hearers respond to the Word, confessing sins and expressing faith and truth, nothing gratifies the heart of Infinite Love more than their coming, for He delights to impart His righteousness to them. Such believing is not guess-work but receiving His transforming grace, the gift of God that works by love and purifies the soul, opens the heart to receive the Word, and causes Christ's virtues to be reflected in mind and character, bringing willing obedience and delight in imparting the gift to others. He wants to save and to give peace and assurance in this life and eternal life in His kingdom, yet He compels no one, and each must choose whether to serve Him, and therefore the call is to go to Jesus without delay.
To believe is to live, and the way is simple, requiring no labored argument and no hard attainment. It means trusting that Christ died for you and that His blood cleanses you from sin and saves you, not waiting to feel saved or to make yourself good first. Even the vilest sinner can be saved from grievous sins by looking to Christ and living, as the bitten Israelites lived by looking at the lifted-up serpent. Trust in Him gives His peace now, with safety and satisfaction and brightness beyond this life, ending in seeing Jesus, who created all things and made the worlds, as He is.
The Christ to be believed is the sin-pardoning Saviour, the only begotten Son of the infinite God. In the Macedonian dungeon He was presented to convicted sinners as the One who hates sin and loves sinners, who bore human sins, who takes away sin, who gave His life to ransom the world, and who gives His righteousness with authority to impart it. The sinner is Christ's property bought with the blood of the Son of God who through test and trial redeemed human beings from the slavery of sin, and he who confesses his sin and humbles his heart receives forgiveness and is reconciled to God through Jesus Christ the Deliverer from sin. Faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ is the assurance of pardon because Christ can cleanse away all sin. The cross is the stupendous expedient by which the love and justice of God are harmonized, and it is the sinner's only means of salvation because God is love, so the sinner need not perish if he exercises faith in its wonderful efficacy. Keeping in the path of holiness as a subject of the grace of God brings full salvation, joy, peace, and the true wisdom that comes from God, and simple daily reliance on that power gives keen wisdom to discern what will keep the soul from the bondage of sin in these last days, as by faith and prayer through the knowledge of Christ he works out his own salvation.
Believing answers the hunger of the soul with the gospel as bread of life suited to its need. It means receiving that bread as a message from God into a willing and teachable and obedient heart and obeying it, as bodily food must be eaten and digested to give strength. Its power to save does not depend on learned testimonies, eloquent speeches, or deep arguments, but on its simplicity and adaptation to souls hungering for bread, for hungry souls need bread, not cold problems. Knowing its truth for oneself requires a teachable, obedient heart opened to the Spirit of God and ready to obey truth as soon as it is seen. Following Christ also requires self-denial and taking up the cross, and the promise of salvation does not remove God's law as the standard by which people are judged. Each person is answerable for his own soul, and what others do cannot save or lose it.
The Christ to be believed is the promised child born and son given, with the government upon His shoulder, named Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, whose government and peace increase without end upon the throne of David and over His kingdom to order and establish it with judgment and justice forever. Salvation is sought when the Holy Spirit works through believers to convict people of sin, righteousness, and judgment. That conviction awakens the conscience and brings regret for past guilt and for dishonoring God by transgressing His law and refusing Christ, and leads to the cry for what must be done to be saved, whose faith works through love and purifies the soul. The answer is to repent and be converted so that sins go beforehand to judgment and are blotted out, with broken-hearted confession to those bruised and wounded without trying to keep one's own dignity, while those who turn sadly away mingle with scoffers. All spiritual pride must be rebuked because God will not tolerate it as inconsistent with His Word and profession of faith, and kind, tender, sympathetic care for people in peril is the fruit of saving faith and can draw them to repentance without force. The question of how to be saved is urgent and of supreme importance because life is brief and death may come at any time, and people need to know that they have made peace with God, fixing the eyes on Christ and His teaching to discern rightly and shape the choices made in response.
Promise to Your Household
The promise reaches the household because the word of the Lord is spoken to everyone in the house and they hear it. The answer to believe is followed by teaching the Lord's word to the jailer and to all in his house, and the household hears that teaching and receives the truth. That same hour of the night he washes their stripes and is baptized, he and all his household at once, then sets food before them and rejoices, believing in God with all his house. This fulfillment comes after beating and imprisonment with feet in the stocks, singing praises with angels present, a sudden earthquake shaking the foundations, opening all doors and loosing every band, and Paul stopping the jailer from killing himself, so what looked like failure in jail results in conversion of the jailer and all his household.
The jailer's faith alone does not save his household. He gathers them, Paul preaches Jesus to them, and they too believe, are baptized, and rejoice in God. The promise reaches them as they hear the word of the Lord, and the answer is followed by instruction, care for the apostles, and the household's own response to the message, springing from the jailer's fear and desire for the peace and joy he saw in the apostles that led him to seek the way of life.
Family members are to be sought and prayed for so they may share in that blessing. Each person's salvation is precious, and parents should make preparing their children for immortal life their chief study. That means laboring for the conversion of children right in the home by praying with them and teaching them the requirements of the Word of God, which is better for them than pleasing them by giving them their own way, so that children are saved from their sins to stand uncondemned in the judgment and enter the kingdom together with their parents. A family can have God's salvation when its members believe, live for it, and continually trust in God through faith. This faith is joined to practical self-control, including restraining temper and words.
Saving one's own soul and winning one's household is decided in the home, which tests religious character. It requires being transformed to be more tender, pitiful, merciful, forbearing and patient, expressing love and affection, showing zeal and interest in a wife's happiness, dictating to a wife in nothing, and ceasing to be overbearing to children. The call is illustrated by a family whose three members are converted and believe in Jesus. It means mother and children and the younger members of the family all need to understand what they must do to be saved, especially amid the perils of the last days, by coming together to meet with God, attending the meeting to strengthen and confirm faith, hearing the message God has, and thereby gaining help and strength for lifework and seeking the help needed to hear God's message.
Preaching the Saving Message
Leading sinners to ask what must be done to be saved is a central work of a true minister, whose business is to uplift Jesus as the sinner's only hope and to present God's love until hearers are brought to the decisive question of salvation. Preaching that answers it plainly presents Christ and His power to save all who come to Him, rather than dwelling on subjects that do not enlighten or convert. The seeker is to lay aside preconceived beliefs, search the Bible to learn what God says, and accept the truth even when it conflicts with cherished opinions. That opening of the treasure house of God's Word feeds hungry, starving people through the simplicity of truth as it is in Jesus, letting light shine in large gatherings as well as to students and church members as a precious banquet and rich feast to be partaken of and digested.
The question of salvation is the true philosophy of education that every youth should learn. Children need clear religious instruction about what they must do to be saved and about God's love, and few understand the answer distinctly without essential instruction in religious things. Special effort is to be made to teach children and youth this answer and to train them to become missionaries who can teach it to others. Only instructors and teachers who have themselves experienced conversion, have a religious experience, and know the love of God can communicate this knowledge to students, and giving these lessons is the noblest missionary work anyone can undertake.
Many not of the faith long to know what they should do to be saved, and many poor souls do not know the answer. Standing before them to speak brings an overwhelming, consuming burden to make the way of salvation known to them in their peril. The answer set before them is to accept Jesus Christ as personal Saviour by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. The hour of greatest peril in sickness can become the hour of resolve to believe, and physicians who pray as well as work to restore the sick make deep impressions that prepare for that decision, so prayer and painstaking effort are not to be confined to those who already believe the doctrines held as truth, for God will bless the afflicted one, believer or unbeliever.
Telling the sick to believe means pointing them to Christ as the wonderful Healer and great Physician of body and soul, who is light and life as well as comfort, peace, hopefulness, and hope. Their minds are to be fastened on Him and taken off their hopeless, suffering condition, fixing attention on Jesus so they look and live and see the smiling face of Christ, with thought and attention directed to divine realities for time and for eternity. This believing is faith that works by love and purifies the soul, and it is the very best mind cure and body cure. It is joined with availing themselves of simple, hygienic remedies for relief of suffering and restoration of health while being educated to take hold of the power of Him who provided these remedies, looking to Jesus as the true, faithful physician who loves them and gave His life for them and believing He will hear their prayers as well as the prayers of physicians and nurses attending them, with all working in perfect harmony for recovery of the soul as well as recovery of the body, because the simplicity of the act of faith brings the suffering one in touch with the great Healer. Christ weeps over impenitence and pleads for sinners to turn to Him, and rejoices when they turn to Him asking how to be saved, and old and young today are to be warned and led to make that turning to the Redeemer, with those in medical service to lose no opportunity to bring patients to Him and by Christlike example reclaim the wanderer and edify the believer, and calling for this faith belongs to ministry of the Word that blends skillful work as a physician with preaching the gospel and encourages suffering ones to receive treatment from the great Physician for healing of both body and soul.
Living Out Salvation
Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation is true higher education that makes God's will supreme in the individual life. It means to follow the Word of God implicitly, to walk in Christ's footsteps and practice His virtues, to give up selfishness and devote the life to the service of God, with peace found only in the path of perfect obedience. Being saved means being workers together with God with hearts purified from all defilement, putting away all strife and evil speaking and evil thinking, and doing faithful work in upholding the claims of God's law. Practicing the principles of truth guides to Christ, who is the author of all truth and the only one who can cleanse the soul from defilement, and fills the soul with peace.
The jailer and his whole household responded by joining Christ's persecuted disciples. Believers must bear the message wherever they are and constantly let their light shine, obeying God rather than man even when taking a stand for truth brings reproach, persecution, and strait places in a world not in harmony with the law. Children old enough to know what sin is can ask what to do to be saved and come to Christ. To believe means to seek the Lord, to turn to Him with full purpose of heart, to choose to leave sin and the service of Satan and become Christ's followers, to testify to that choice publicly by coming forward, to desire the prayers of God's people and to pray and seek God earnestly. Taking that first public step gives strength to take the next, and those who do so are accepted by Him, have their sins forgiven for Christ's sake, are brought into His fold, and may feel assurance that Jesus speaks peace to their troubled hearts.
Believing with simple, trusting faith means taking hold of a power that cannot be created but is given. This belief means personal consecration to God's service, surrender of the heart to the working of the Holy Spirit, and being placed in right relation to God, with cheerfulness and thanksgiving and rejoicing. It rests on Christ coming to this world to give Himself as a sacrifice for the saving of sinners, on all heaven being interested in the work, and on the assurance that He will be with all who give themselves unreservedly to this work. Believing in the Lord Jesus as personal Saviour while doing everyday work and seeking to make that work a success gives the privilege of wearing the divinely provided righteousness of Christ as a breastplate that protects the spiritual life in action and in all practices and guards the vital parts.
To answer what must be done to be saved is to give yourself to Jesus this very day, coming just as you are as a poor miserable sinner, telling Him He gave Himself for you and paid the infinite price for your salvation, confessing that you have robbed Him of your service and repenting of it. Repentance itself comes from God, who sends His power to convert and sends repentance when the heart is broken. Being saved is then lived one step at a time and one day at a time, trusting Jesus who passed through the agony of Calvary to save men because He loves them to give strength to live right each day and to hold out, every step taking nearer the great white throne and the crystal sea, loving Him and being obedient in return. Believing means to believe and be true to principle as one whom Christ still loves even when erring and dishonoring Him and bringing reproach on His cause, becoming the noble witness Christ desires and giving the world no occasion for reproach. Believing means keeping clear of speculation, following closely in the steps of Christ, pressing on in the way of eternal life, never entering into worldly business with unbelievers thinking that will bring success, and sacredly cherishing the truth and the reasons of faith instead of repudiating them, because repudiating sacred truth to gain a better showing brings unequal warfare and gives the enemy a chance to overcome. It is the daily cry of a mother of nine children rejoicing that she has found the true church, asking what she and her family shall do to be saved.