24TH MAY 2022
ACTS 16:22-34 AND JN 16:5-11
What is the main question that has your attention today? Are questions of war, the economy and the troubles of the world bringing you fear and confusion today? Everyone is asking questions, but it also seems that no one is asking the most important question of all. In our first reading today, a sin-hardened, pagan jailer asks the most important question that has ever been uttered in the history of the world. He asks, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” There are some other great questions that this jailer might have asked that night. He might have asked, “How did the doors of my prison get opened?” Or, “Why haven’t all my prisoners escaped?” Or, “Who am I going to blame for this?” Instead, he asks a question that gets to the heart of his problem as an individual and to the heart of the problem for every person in the entire human race. He asks, “What must I do to be saved?”
The jailer is told to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” That is, he is to place his faith in Christ and His work alone for salvation. At this point, the jailer surely does not know all about the message of the Gospel, but the basis for salvation, “faith in Jesus”, has been established.
Once, a missionary in Africa was attempting to translate the Gospel of John into the language of the natives. He became stuck on the word “believeth” in John 3:16. For weeks he tried to find a suitable word in the native tongue to translate that all important word. Then one day a young native man came running down the path that led to the missionary’s house. He came up on the missionary’s porch, out of breath and flopped himself down in a chair and said, in the native tongue, “It feels good to cast my whole weight upon this chair!” The missionary knew that he had found his word. Faith in Jesus means to “cast your whole weight upon Him.” If you are trusting Jesus, He must be trusted exclusively!
Let me encourage you to ask yourself the most important question of all, “What must I do to be saved?” What is your answer that question today? Eternity hinges on your answer!
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