What Does Acts 16:30 Mean?

and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

Acts 16:30(NASB)

Verse of the Day

Never was there a more vital question asked in the history of mankind than: "What must I do to be saved?" Never was a more gracious answer received, directly from the heart of God than: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." 

Believe in Christ's shed blood as the full payment for your sins. Believe that He rose again the third day to break the power of death in your life, and believe that God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven, to live a perfect life on our behalf so that He could also die a sacrificial death in our place. And all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. All who believe in Christ's finished work at Calvary shall be saved.

Believe! believe! believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, with no need for any add-ons or any hidden-extras. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, eternally saved, and forever secure. And multitudes down through the corridors of time have simply believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and been saved from the punishment of sin and its diabolical wages, which is death. What wonderful grace that woeful, sinful man should receive such a costly gift, so freely given.

It was the Philippian jailer who asked this question. He was not concerned about his physical well-being or personal safety. This man had heard about Paul's ministry. He knew that a demon had been cast out of an exploited woman, resulting in the apostle's imprisonment. He had seen the work of the Spirit in the lives of Paul and Silas and had heard them singing praises to God in the midnight hours, and he knew that Paul had prevented his death by keeping the other prisoners from escaping after an enormous earthquake flattened the prison wall.

No surprise that the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, fell down before Paul and Silas and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Paul did not call for him to be baptised or to attend church each week. He did not tell him to tithe his money or give it away to the poor. He did not insist that he did good works, read his Bible, or stop drinking wine, and the jailer did not have to walk to the front of a big meeting, recite 'the sinner's prayer' or join a church community. You must BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And your family must do the same, they must BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ and they will be saved.

Christianity is far removed from the religions of the world which seek, in so many ways, to appease an angry god. Most religions insist on good works for salvation. They even suggest that if your good works outweigh your sins, you may get to heaven. But there is only ONE way to be saved, there is only one way to gain forgiveness of sin, there is only one way to receive life everlasting, and that is by faith in Christ's finished work on the Cross.

This one simple requirement; to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, appears sublimely foolish to the logic of thinking man who too often treat it with contempt and ridicule! But for those that have seen the light of the glorious gospel of Christ and have been awakened from their worldly, narcotic slumbers, there is no more profoundly wonderful truth which warms the soul and rejoices the heart.

Those that are steeped in legalistic practices also find the profound simplicity of the uncomplicated gospel to be insufficient to deal with the guilt of sin and its awful consequences and so they insist that certain works of the flesh or some other form of human merit or sacrifice must be added to the simple, child-like trust. BUT there is no other way to be saved except by faith in the Person and Work of Christ on the Cross: "That Christ died for our sin according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose again, according to the Scriptures."

It was the jailor who asked the question: "What must I do to be saved?" and He discovered that all that was needed was to believe of the Lord Jesus Christ and he would be saved. And all that was required of his family was that they too, simply believe in Jesus Christ for salvation, for Jesus is our Kinsman-Redeemer. He is our great God and Saviour, for Jesus became the sin-substitute for all who will believe.

With man the forgiveness of sins is impossible but with God, all things are possible when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Only believe, only believe
All things are possible if you'll only believe.
Only believe, yes, only believe
All things are possible; Only believe.

My Prayer

I praise You, O God, for this sublimely simple truth, and thank You that all I had to do to be saved, was to believe on the finished work of the Lord Jesus on Calvary. There are many people both in the world and in my own family, that do not believe. I pray that You will use me as your instrument today, to share the good news of the glorious gospel of Christ, in action, attitude, or prayer, so that others may come to a knowledge of this eternally wonderful truth and be saved. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.

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