Today we are choosing a text from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter sixteen. It is well known to most gospel preachers, but in order to introduce the text I shall read a few verses from Acts chapter sixteen, commencing to read at verse twenty five. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them, And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light and sprang in, and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And thy house? They spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and all his straightway. When he had brought them into his house, he sent meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. Now the text we have chosen for today is the answer that was given by Paul and Silas to the man when he inquired regarding the way of salvation, and they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Let us bow for a moment of prayer. Our Father, we come to thee again because we need thee at all times, especially now In connection with this message, we ask that by thy Holy Spirit thou shalt speak to every listening ear and every listening heart at this time, bring thy blessing upon them, and bring glory to the name of the Lord. for we ask it giving thanks in his worthy name. Amen. Now just before I bring you the message, we shall listen again to our good friend Alan McIntyre sing to us. Now the text that we have chosen for this message today is taken from the account of the first gospel enterprise in Europe. Up till this time the gospel preachers had been laboring in what today we call Turkey, Asia Minor, and around the Middle East. But the time had come for a further outreach, and God was moving them to come over into what was called Macedonia. Today we call it Greece. They were coming over then into European territory. It was a great movement of God, and we ought to be glad that the movement of the Gospel came towards the West, and that the Gospel was brought into Europe. But now I want you to note some of the things that are obvious in this particular passage in Acts chapter sixteen. First of all, we notice that there was a great spirit of indifference. You might call it a strange apathy. And just as there was apathy or indifference to the Gospel in that day, we find that same spirit is prevalent today. There are a great number of people today who are quite indifferent to the movements of God and quite indifferent to the message of the Gospel. and they show a rather strange apathy to spiritual matters. But there's another element that comes in in the record here. It is the element of surprise. Here we find one of the men who was quite indifferent to these matters, when suddenly at midnight he is awakened. He was sleeping, of course, and there was a sudden awakening. The man is caught by surprise. to learn that there was divine intervention in the affairs of his life. The third element that is evident in reading through this chapter is the expression of desire. When this man is brought face to face with the issues of eternity, and when the man realized he was dealing with God, Then he expresses a desire. It is the desire to know the way of salvation. And then it culminates with the experience of conversion. When the man believed the message that was preached to him when he was told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and he would be saved. Let us look a little at these things in some detail. First of all, there was this spirit or element of indifference, a man characterized by a strange apathy, in plain words. He was a man who was in a good position. He had what we would call today a government job. He was the governor of the prison. Yet this man was unconcerned with the movements of God. It is possible that he was interested in all the movements of men. He may have been extremely interested in the political movements of that day. He may have been interested in his own position, but nevertheless he was unconcerned with the movements of God. Now, isn't it strange as you look through past history? how that men were characterized by this spirit of indifference, and they showed strange apathy to all the movements of God. In fact, there are some people who don't even take time to consider that God does move in the affairs of men, but He does. God moves in the affairs of nations, and He moves in the affairs of families. He moves in the affairs of communities, and he moves in the affairs of individuals. May I ask every listener today, have you ever taken time to consider the movements of God in connection with your circumstances? More than that, I notice that this man was unsympathetic toward the men of God. He had been given charge of two men. who were innocent men, they were preachers of the gospel, you might call them evangelists at the present time, and these men had been taken and cruelly cast into prison. This man was responsible for having their backs beaten with thirty-nine stripes of the Roman birch, cast into an inner prison. Their feet were made fast in the stocks, but he didn't care. He was unsympathetic towards these men of God and went to sleep while these men were lying on the cold floor in the prison. This man was also unconscious as to his need of God. Is it possible there's someone listening to my voice today and you're just like this man? You have been characterized by apathy towards the spiritual matters. You have been showing a spirit of indifference with regards to your own relationship with God. You're not concerned about the movements of God. You are concerned about business movements. You are concerned about political movements. You are concerned about economic matters. But you're not concerned about spiritual matters. So far as God is concerned, you're not in the least concerned with the movements of God. You've given no time to consider spiritual matters. And then is it possible that you're unsympathetic toward the men of God, these men who preach the gospel? You just tolerate them. Is it possible, my friend, that you're not even conscious as to your need of God. You have been thinking that you can conduct your own life. You can live as you like. You can do what you like without ever thinking of God. Has that been the character of your life? Now watch. The second element in the message of this chapter is this. This man had to come to a point of sudden awakening. There's the element of surprise. You see, unexpected circumstances due to divine intervention. God broke into the affairs of this man's life at a time when the man didn't expect it. It was at midnight. the man was asleep when suddenly there was an earthquake. You know, it's amazing what it takes to awaken some people to their need. Or it may be that it's a sudden circumstance of tragedy, and when tragedy strikes, suddenly the man becomes aware that he needs God. You see, God breaks into a man's life, but you'll discover that this man reached an unreasonable conclusion. And that was due to the error of supposition. And you know, he's only a picture of a lot of people. People reach unreasonable conclusions when strange things happen in their lives. You know, it's a great error, the error of supposition. A lot of people have made the mistake of supposing certain things and what they supposed wasn't true. And this man supposed that the prisoners had fled, and the prisoners hadn't fled. Now, if the prisoners had fled, this man's life was in danger. He had failed in his responsibility, and he himself might be put to death on the morrow for failing in his responsibility in the prison. And so he reached this unreasonable conclusion. But then the next thing in this element of surprise is the unusual conduct of the prisoners. These prisoners could have gone out for the doors were all open. But nevertheless, here were two prisoners who were ready to help the jailer. Now that's an unusual thing. The very man who had laid the stripes on their back the night before. Now these prisoners are ready to help him. And they say, do thyself no harm. We're all here. It was at that moment that the man got a light, sprang in to see what it was. And when he came to them, he asked this great question, What must I do to be saved? This was a very stirring appeal from this jailer. This man is no longer the harsh man that he was the night before. Why his heart has been mellowed. This man has been humbled. He's been broken down. He expresses a desire now. It's the desire to be saved. See, this is expressive of a great need, the need to be saved. Might I ask every listener today, have you ever reached a new life the point where you've come to this conclusion that you need to be saved? Or am I speaking to someone, and you have thought, my friend, that there's no need for you to be saved. You've never learned this great truth yet, that you must be saved. Well, it was expressive of a great need. What must I do to be saved? This is man's greatest need, the need to be saved. But it was expressive of a personal need. He said, what must I do to be saved? He wasn't asking how other people could be saved. He was asking how he could be saved, and it was expressive of a personal desire. Now, might I say this, that while he expressed the desire, the man's mind was in a state of confusion. You see, he thought he had to do something to be saved, and there's a lot of people today who think the same thing. They think that salvation comes as a result of some particular work that you do. Some people think that you get saved when you join the church. Some people think you get saved when you get baptized. That's not what the Bible teaches. Some folks think you get saved by doing good works and giving of your abundance to charity. Some people think that they're willing to do anything in order to be saved. It's a mind that was in confusion. You see, he thought he would have to do something. And a lot of preachers today preach to the people and tell them what they've got to do to be saved. My friend, listen. This man's mind was in confusion. He was an unsaved man at this time. He didn't know the way of salvation. Like a lot of others, he said, what can I do? Now watch. He had a conscience that was convicted. He at least was convicted of this, that he needed to be saved, that he wasn't right with God, and things had to be adjusted between his soul and his God. Have you reached that point, my friend? Have you come under conviction, and you realize you need to be saved? Now he had a heart that was concerned. He felt he needed to be saved, and he wanted to be saved. Have you reached that stage? My speaking to someone today. And you've heard people talk about being saved, but so far as you're concerned, you know you're not saved. You don't understand all the implications of it, but you realize this you would like to be saved. And you're saying, well, I'm concerned about it. Well, now here is the answer. Here is now the element of experience. Here is the conclusion of the matter. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved. Now notice the only condition that's laid down here is belief. There is the act of faith. Now faith is an essential thing. By grace are you saved through faith. That not of yourselves it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast. Here is the only condition that's laid down. Believe. Now you can believe my friend no matter where you are. It may be you're lying in bed just now, you may be sick, and you couldn't even raise your hand. It may be you couldn't walk the aisle. It may be you couldn't be baptized. But you can believe, no matter where you are right now, whether you're in your car or in your home, wherever you may be, you can believe. This is the only condition. Now the object of our confidence, because believing means the exercise of confidence and faith, The object of our confidence is the Lord Jesus. It's not a matter of believe on the preacher. It's not a matter of believing your friend. Your act of faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the object of our confidence. No, it's not the measure of faith you have, my friend. It's a fact of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the object of our confidence. and Christ and Christ alone can save. Neither is their salvation in any other. There's none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. You see, they said to him, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the outcome of such trust is this. Thou shalt be saved. Now you see, if he's going to be saved, this is a personal thing. Thou shalt be saved. We get saved, you know, as individuals. Thou shalt, that makes it very positive. It's not a matter of hoping to be or thinking you might be. Thou shalt, that makes it absolutely positive. Yes, my friend, a person can be just as sure of heaven as if they were there already. You see, when God says thou shalt, God means thou shalt. There's no maybes about it, no perhaps. It's definite and it's very personal. thou is very positive thou shalt and let me go a little further it is a permanent thing thou shalt be saved you see here is the outcome of such confidence of such trust when a man or a woman as a poor sinner comes to the point where they realize they need to be saved and they exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ He says, Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. As you come to Christ and you trust Christ, He will not cast you out when you come. And in no wise will He ever cast you out. When you trust Christ, you're saved. You're saved with an eternal salvation. For He gives you eternal life. And Christ himself lives in the power of an indissoluble life. He is living forever, and so therefore he cannot die, and if he saves you with an eternal salvation and gives you the possession of eternal life, then salvation is a permanent thing. A man is saved, and he's saved for time, and saved for all eternity when he trusts the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in this chapter from which we have taken our text, There's a great power of evil that's let loose against the power of God. But the power of God proves to be more powerful than the power of evil. We discover here in this chapter there was a young maid who was under the power of evil and she was delivered from the power of evil. And then you discover also that this Philippian jailer He was delivered from sin and he also was saved for he believed and he believed in God with all his house. That is every member of his house believed. So they were old enough to listen to the word that was preached to them and they believed the word and were saved. And you know, you also read in this chapter of a businesswoman who was saved, a good living woman. A woman that feared God, she was saved. You have them from the topmost rung of the social ladder, right down to the lowest rung of the social ladder, and the gospel proves to be the power of God and to salvation to everyone that believeth. So therefore, this young woman who was held under the power of the devil, she was delivered. And you discover this, that the Philippian Gala, He was delivered, He was saved. You find that Lydia, the businesswoman, she was saved. And that was the commencement of the work of preaching the gospel in Europe. These people were saved. And the Christian church was established in the city of Philippi because that people were converted. Now, it comes to you and me today. If you've reached the stage where you realize that being saved is a reality, and being saved is a necessity, if ever you hope to occupy a square inch of God's heaven, and you're saying today, well, how can I be saved? Remember this, my friend, here is the simple answer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.