The Jailer

[Pages:3]MEN OF DECISION

The Jailer

TEXT: ". . . and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30).

INTRODUCTION The most famous prison and prisoners in penal history are spoken of in Acts 16. Certainly the most famous jailer is the Philippian jailer. One hundred years before Paul reached Philippi there was fought on those plains a momentous battle destined to alter the course of history and shape for centuries the map of an empire. Mark Antony, Cassius, Brutus, and Caesar Augustus all participated, and two were slain at Philippi. It is no exaggeration to say that the Battle of Philippi was a monumental event. Yet almost no one knows or cares about it, while practically everyone has heard of the Philippian jailer! In that midnight prison scene of Acts 16, he is portrayed as a man of decision. Until time is no more, until the trumpet sounds and the day dawns which will never know dusk, he will be honored and admired. According to Acts 16:9, Paul received a Macedonian call which led him across the Aegean Sea to Europe and to Philippi, the first stop on that vast continent. Paul soon found himself in trouble with the law. It has been said that everywhere Paul preached there was a riot or a revival! Here he and Silas infuriated a band of business people who saw them as a threat to the economy. Being determined, they drug Paul and Silas down those rough stone streets until they reached a large enclosure familiar to every Greek city, called the Forum, there to appear before the magistrates. These time-serving rulers of Philippi sniffed the political air and realized that they could use this situation to their personal gain. The passage appears to indicate that the magistrates, with their own hands, ripped the clothes off of Paul and Silas and commanded that they be beaten. Writing later to the Thessalonians, he recalled, "We were shamefully entreated at Philippi." Luke reports here in Acts that they "laid

many stripes upon them." The Roman ruler of the first century carried with him a bundle of rods with an ax in the center as a reminder of his power to whip or execute the offender. This symbol may be seen today on the back of an American dime.

After whipping Paul and Silas to their satisfaction, the magistrates had them cast into an inner cell, which would have been the darkest and dampest portion of the prison. But even that was not enough for these sadistic captors; they demanded that the missionaries, with bleeding backs, be placed in stocks. In stocks, a man's legs would be so stretched and contorted as to make comfort impossible. If he wished to sit up or lie down, he could do so only with discomfort. Thus, Paul and Silas, with bleeding backs, lacerated sores, and pain running up every nerve of the body were left in a dark cell.

I. SONGS IN THE NIGHT According to Acts 16:25, we read that "about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns unto God, and the prisoners were listening to them." Where is there to be found a more courageous sentence in Scripture? These two Christians had a song on their lips and in their hearts unlike anything ever heard in Philippi. It was not the sighs, groanings, and cursings of condemned convicts, but the victorious acclamation of a redeemed people! At the stroke of midnight, suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. I believe this was more than a natural occurrence, rather a heavenly visitation. God, looking down upon that motley scene, shook the prison to its foundation, throwing open the doors and breaking the shackles which bound those within. The Philippian jailer, asleep at that late hour, woke up with a jolt and immediately decided to take the refuge of cowards--suicide. Roman law required the life of a soldier

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or jailer who allowed a prisoner to escape. But, before he could hurl himself upon his sword, there came a voice from the rear of the prison: "Do thyself no harm: for we are all here." Suddenly, out of that midnight blackness, "the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world" shone upon his heart. Now he recognized that these men were messengers of God. He called for a light and trembling fell down before Paul and Silas. He asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" His pagan heart was throbbing for that salvation of which these men sang. They replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house." Then they spoke unto him the Word of the Lord that he might believe. Penitently did he wash their bleeding backs and "the same hour of the night, . . . was baptized, he and all his, immediately."

II. A MAN OF DECISION Let us descend into the darkness of that dungeon that we might meet one of God's great decision-makers, a nameless warden of a long time ago. See him first as a sinner knocked to his knees and his senses. The Scripture affirms that he actually trembled and fell to his knees. Some day this whole world is going to do the same! The Bible says, "In the name of Jesus every knee should bow, . . . and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Philippians 2:10, 11). Naturally and ashamedly will Khruschev, Hitler, Stalin, and Attila the Hun fall on their faces before the King of Kings. Yet what will be so natural then is so unnatural now! Millions find it difficult to humble themselves at the throne of grace. They would never be found on their knees at bedtime. They would never come before a congregation to say, "I have sinned. God be merciful to me, a sinner." Yet, that is precisely what this jailer did. God sent an earthquake which shook the prison to its foundation and the jailer to his knees! May He do the same to our casual, sophisticated, blase generation. The "earthquake" may come in the form of illness or personal affliction. It may be economic or political in nature. But whenever and however it comes, may it shake us to our senses, lest we wait to get on our knees until it is too late to matter!

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III. STANDING ALONE As we enter the ruins of that prison, we observe a man of Macedonia standing all alone. To our knowledge, he became the only native male Christian in Macedonia. Undoubtedly, at morning's light, he would find himself unemployed and practically unemployable. There was no market on the streets of a Roman colony for a Christian jail keeper. Yet he hesitated not a moment in his gospel obedience. "The same hour of the night" a pool of water was found and he was baptized. With no congregation to encourage him and no friends to support him, the jailer made a life-changing decision.

IV. THE RIGHT QUESTION Let us notice that this man asked the world's greatest question: "What must I do to be saved?" The answer given was, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved." Three times in Acts that question is posed in essentially the same fashion. In Acts 2 the Jews asked, "Brethren, what shall we do?" The answer there was to "repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (v. 38). In Acts 22 Saul of Tarsus asked, "What shall I do, Lord?" The answer was, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name" (v. 16). The third such occasion was this one in Acts 16: "What must I do to be saved?" And the reply was, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved" (v. 31). It may be easily observed that each answer differs from the other two. The three thousand on Pentecost were told to repent and be baptized; Saul of Tarsus simply to be baptized; and the jailer to believe. How ought we to look upon this seeming discrepancy? There is a simple and sure explanation. Each received a different answer because each was at a different point along the road. Last summer our family took the longest trip by car we have ever taken, encompassing twentyeight hundred miles. The farthest point on that journey was the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs. We stayed one night in Springfield, Missouri. Had I there inquired, "How far is it to the Rocky Mountains?" the answer would have been, "It is 660 miles." On a Sunday night we worshipped in Coffeeville, Kansas. Had I asked those brethren, "How far to the Rocky Mountains?" their reply would have been, "Why, it's

560 miles." We stayed in Oklahoma City several days while I preached at the Edmond church. There, too, we inquired as to the distance to the Rockies and were told, "It is 475 miles." Along the way, we paused in the beautiful resort village of Raton, New Mexico. "How far is it now to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs?" we asked. "It is 125 miles." It was 660, 560, 475, and now only 125 miles! But there was no contradiction or cause for concern. The question was posed at different locations along the way.

Those on Pentecost, already believing, demanded, "What must I do to be saved?" "Having faith in Jesus, you must repent and be baptized for the remission of past sins." Saul of Tarsus, full of faith and so penitent that for three days he would not even eat, asked, "What must I do to be saved?" "You must arise from your knees and be baptized to wash away your sins." The Philippian jailer asked, "What must I do to be saved?" "You must have faith, for you are a pagan, an unbeliever." That is always the answer for such a one. But the same answer is given each man. The Philippian jailer was not saved by faith alone, for in the same hour of that night he was baptized for the remission of sins. If you do not believe, then start right where you are and believe on the name of the Son of God. If you do believe that He is the Christ, then start right there and repent. If you believe and have

repented, then be baptized and have your sins washed away.

V. SAVED BY HIS POWER DIVINE He was told, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved." Saved! Saved from doom and gloom. Saved from death and damnation. Saved right now. Saved on Judgment Day. Saved in time. Saved in eternity.

Saved by His power divine, Saved to new life sublime . . . Life now is sweet and my joy is complete, For I'm saved, saved, saved!

CONCLUSION How remarkable that in a single hour a pagan from Philippi should have been so wondrously saved and set free! Yet that is the pattern to be found throughout Acts. There is not recorded a case of conversion in which a believer even so much as ate a bite, drank a drop, or slept a wink until completing his obedience to the gospel through repentance and baptism. We read, "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2); "And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16). You can use the rest of your life praising Him by coming now!

--Paul Rogers

?Copyright, 1985, 2004 by Truth for Today ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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