Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

Immediately prior to His ascension the Lord Jesus gave His disciples a commission in which He stipulated that the gospel was to be preached everywhere, ‘Go into all the world’, and to everyone, ‘to every creature’, Mark 16. 15 NKJV. No one and nowhere was to be exempt; racial and social barriers were to be overcome because ‘there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’, Rom. 3. 22, 23.

The establishment of a church in Philippi began with the conversions of three people who were very different socially and religiously. Lydia was an affluent merchant who worshipped God, and her conversion was unspectacular. Luke simply states, ‘Whose heart the Lord opened’, v. 14. In contrast, the second convert was an afflicted medium, a young slave girl who was demon-possessed. Unlike Lydia, she didn’t sit passively listening to Paul but, influenced by the evil spirit, she heckled him day after day. However, the power that graciously opened the heart of a religious woman was equally able to liberate a demonized reprobate; overcome by the authority of the Name of Jesus Christ the spirit left her instantly.

The third convert was neither religious nor demon possessed; he was a callous uncompromising jailer. Whereas Lydia responded to the gospel as softly as a flower opens its petals to the sun, God used an earthquake to get this brutal man to realize his desperate need of salvation. Not only did the doors become unhinged but so did he, for he quivered as much as the foundations of the prison. Awakened from sleep to the consciousness of his dire need, he cried, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved’, v. 30. The response was simple,succinct, and sufficient, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ’.

Over a thousand years before these conversions David said of the sword of Goliath that there was ‘none like that’, 1 Sam. 21. 9. Those words may be applied to the gospel of God; there is no message like that. It is the power of God unto salvation; it is for all people in all nations. It met the need of a wealthy lady, a wretched slave, and a wicked jailer and, if you are not saved, it can meet your need right now.