Then
He Brought Them Out And Asked,
“Sirs,
What Must I Do To Be Saved?” They Replied,
“Believe
In The Lord Jesus And You Will Be Saved …
Scripture
Acts
16
22 A mob
quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered
them stripped and beaten with wooden rods.
23 They were
severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer
was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape.
25 Around
midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and
the other prisoners were listening.
26 Suddenly,
there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its
foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of
every prisoner fell off!
27 The
jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the
prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself.
29 The
jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down
trembling before Paul and Silas.
31 They
replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along
with everyone in your household.”
33 Even at
that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their
wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately
baptized.
34 He
brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and
his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.
Observation
This
is one of my favorite stories in the Bible! This story is all about
God's extreme love for a jailer and his family!
Paul
and Silas had been severely beaten and then thrown into the darkest
and most secure place in the dungeon and there their feet were
clamped in stocks.
What
they did next brought down the jail and had all the other prisoners
listening in awe – Paul and Silas began to pray and praise their
God! Yes, and it was at midnight!
God
responded to their praise in a very powerful way! Amazingly when the
earthquake caused all the prison doors to open and caused all the
prisoners chains to fall off not one of them tried to escape! Think
about it … what an amazing story!
The
jailer seeing all the doors open thought that all the prisoners had
escaped, but the Apostle Paul assured him, “We are still here!”
Amazing!
The
jailer, not the prisoners, not Paul and Silas, it was the jailer who
fell down trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas, and asked this all
important question, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
The
earthquake didn't happen to free Paul and Silas. The earthquake
didn't happen to open the prison doors, or to take the chains off of
the prisoners so they could escape. All of this happened so that a
jailer and his family could find salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul
and Silas experienced suffering and pain, but through it a jailer and
his family were saved!
There
is a lesson in this story for me and maybe for you too:
Some
of the suffering in life that I experience and the way I handle it
can help others see that God is real and that they can trust Him.
Application
Paul
and Silas pointed the jailer to Jesus when he desperately asked them
this question, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”, and that is
exactly what I need to do too --- Point people to Jesus!
How
about you?
Romans
5:8
8 But
God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us
while we were still sinners.
Isaiah
53
3 He
was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest
grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was
despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet
it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him
down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a
punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All
of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to
follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us
all.
Prayer
Heavenly
Father, help me to be like Paul and Silas. Give me the ability to
praise You even in the midst of suffering. Help me to be a witness
even when I am going through suffering. I want to be used by You to
help other people enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Use me, Lord, in the
lives of other people just like You did with Paul and Silas, but I
would rather not do it in a dungeon or prison. Thank You for giving
us this story to show us how far You will go to see someone saved.
Daily
Bible Reading: Leviticus 10,11,12; Acts 16
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