Salvation

Salvation

Acts 16:25-34

The Doctrine of Salvation

I Salvation is a Work of God.

1Tim 2:3-6 “…God our Savior, 4 who desires all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator …the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all...”

• God’s plan and purpose is the salvation of all sinners, and we are all sinners.

• God’s mercy saves sinners. He withholds the eternal punishment that we deserve. Why do we deserve it? We are sinners. We have ALL sinned! Only Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life. Not even a bad thought!

• Salvation is a free gift from God. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. It is by grace. God giving us something we do not deserve. Eph 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”

Sadly, not everyone will be saved even though God desires it. The salvation God offers is conditional. It must be asked for and accepted. It is a possession that you hold in your heart. Is there anything God can’t do? He cannot and will not force you to accept His gift of salvation!

II Salvation involves Knowledge of the Truth.

This means you must be personally acquainted with the truth. It is this knowledge that leads to repentance. You understand you have sinned and are separated from God because of sin. This understanding leads you to faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. Together, repentance and faith are the two conditions of salvation.

III Salvation involves Action

It is faith that leads you to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. That is action. Baptism is a public pronouncement that you are a disciple of Christ. In Mark 16:16 the Bible says: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.”

Saving faith that leads to repentance also leads you turn from your sinful ways. This is action! Repentance literally means turn around and go the other way. You will no longer have the desire to do the sinful things of the past. You may make a mistake or succumb to temptation, but it will not be your lifestyle. You will have the Holy Spirit living within you and He will help you when confronted with temptations. The fact that you are saved will cause you to take actions that will make your salvation known to everyone.

Having said all of that by way of introduction, let’s get to the scripture for today’s message. Acts 16:25-34.

“25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” 29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. 33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. 34 And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.”

So we see Paul and Silas in chains, in prison. And what do we see them doing? They are singing praises to God. If you want to see a true salvation experience, look to Paul. He was actually persecuting the Christian’s because he felt they were acting against everything he had ever been taught about the Scripture. And then he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. BTW, he was on his way to Damascus to look for Christian’s to bring back to Jerusalem, bound up in ropes or chains, to be punished! You can read about it in Acts 9. But Jesus stops him and asks him why he is persecuting Him. It’s interesting that his response is, “Who are you, Lord?” The word Lord is kyrios and means “he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord; the possessor and disposer of a thing; the owner; one who has control of the person.” Paul didn’t know who Jesus was but yet recognized that Jesus was in fact, Lord! Paul had been schooled in the Bible his whole life. He knew Scriptures. But he didn’t know Jesus. He thought Jesus was a fraud. He had never met Jesus. He had only heard about Jesus. Maybe that is you today. You have heard about Jesus but you’ve never met Jesus. When people truly meet Jesus they will recognize that He is indeed Lord. Paul recognized Jesus as Lord and has a salvation experience right there on the road to Damascus.