The most important question that I know is the one recorded
in Acts 16:30. It came from the lips of a Philippian jailer
who was contemplating suicide. But within a matter of
moments he was wanting a life, not just a life, he wanted
eternal life. He asked, "What must I do to be saved?" The
answer to that most critical of all human questions is the
focus of this lesson. Obviously, I want to address this
question and its answer to those who aren't Christians.
There are many who honestly don't know the answer to the
jailer's question: What must I do to be saved? More than
anything else in the world, you need not only to know the
answer, but to respond to it. Secondly, I want to address
this question and answer to Christians who do understand
the reasoning and the ramifications of your commitment. I
hope this lesson will better equip you to share the answer
to the question with those who desperately need it. I'm
very concerned about how we effectively communicate. I'm
concerned that we often don't do a very good job of
expressing just how good the Good News of Jesus is and the
beauty associated with the way that God wants us to accept
it.
Often we assume what we think people know. We assume what
we think they understand. Many have a pat answer, but it
doesn't answer the question. We just don't communicate. I
love the story of the couple who had been married for 70
years and he was pretty hard of hearing. On their 70th
anniversary the little old lady leaned over to him and
said, "I'm so proud of you!" He looked around at her and
said, "I'm tired of you, too!"
I don't know about you, but I think at times I've been
guilty of spiritually speaking while being hard of
hearing-not hearing what was being asked or sensing where
they were. So helping those of us who are Christians to
communicate the answer to that question may be the most
important use of this lesson. Because folks, there is no
question about the power of the gospel. It is the power of
God to convict and to convert in any culture in any
generation. If it's not doing that in abundance, it's not
because of a lack of clarity of the signal; it would more
be the way it's being transmitted.
What must I do to be saved? The entire New Testament, in
one way or another, is focused on the answer to that
question. Ephesians 2, the first ten verses give us a
concise and powerful description about what one must do to
be saved. Ephesians 2:1-10
1. Recognize the need.
"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and
sins, in which you used to live when you followed the
ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of
the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are
disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one
time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and
following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we
were by nature objects of wrath." Folks, if anyone is
going to come to Christ, they must first see a need for
that conversion. This is where, as ambassadors of
Christ, Christians often fail. We leapfrog to an answer
when we don't have a question.
There are two broad categories of people who don't come
to Christ. The first category is those who think they
are so bad that there is no chance in the world that
God could ever reach them or save them. "You mean God
could save me?" In my experience as a preacher and as
an ambassador for Christ, I find that those people are
usually easier to reach. Because once you break through
their guilt and shame and pour the love and mercy of
Christ in that opening, they begin to loosen up.
But there's a second group that seldom comes to Christ
and this is the vast majority. Those who think I'm a
good person and I don't really need to be saved. I'm
always intrigued by the Gallup Polls that indicate 90%
of Americans say, "I'm a Christian." Yet, that
percentage is nowhere close to the percentage of our
population who assemble together, have their name on
any church roll, who read the Bible at all, who pray or
who give money to any congregation.
As you look closely at the questions they answer, you
begin to understand why they think as they do. Most of
America defines being a Christian as basically being a
good person. They've made the two things synonymous.
Believe it or not, there are tons of folks out there
who think they are already Christians just because they
perceive themselves as good.
I've learned one of the most insightful questions you
can ask a person and obviously you do this tactfully as
conversation goes along. Ask them if they're going to
heaven. Usually that will startle them and they'll say,
"Well, I guess I am." Then I like to ponder, "Well tell
me, why do you think you will?" Over 90 percent of the
time, the answer is "I do a pretty good job at work, I
love my kids, I'm basically honest, I give to the
United Way and I don't break any laws." In other words,
what they're saying is: The good in my life outweighs
the bad. I deserve to be saved." They don't understand
the need. They don't understand the scope of sin.
They're like Simon, the Pharisee who answered Jesus by
saying "The one who has forgiven much, is the one who's
going to love much." (Luke 7)
If I'm going to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ
or if I am going to effectively communicate the gospel
of Jesus Christ, the first thing I've got to do is see
the need. I've got to discover the reality of lostness.
I've got to understand that life is not some great
humanity test that's going to be graded on the curve
about how good I am in relation to everybody else. If
I'm going to respond to who Jesus is and what he has
done, it will be because I've first realized the truth,
that all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory
(Romans 3:23) and that the wages of sin is death.
(Romans 6:23)
Paul says, "'you were dead in your transgressions and
sins'" (Ephesians 2:1) and "'All of us also lived among
them at one time.'" (Ephesians 2:1) Until someone sees
and feels the need, he or she won't become a Christian.
So step one is to recognize the need.
2. Realize the solution.
'"But because of his great love for us, God, who is
rich in mercy made us alive with Christ, even when we
were dead in transgressions-It is by grace you have
been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated
us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in
order that in the coming ages he might show the
incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his
kindness to us in Christ Jesus.'" (Ephesians 2:4)
There's the solution. Once the need is communicated,
then and only then, can we talk about a solution.
The modern American mind is: "I can pull myself up by
my bootstraps. I'm a self-made man. I don't need
anybody else and I can take care of this problem. I'm
independent." But the gospel message says. No, you
can't take care of this problem. It's bigger than you.
You don't have what it takes to solve it. The great
news is God, who is rich in love and mercy, has already
solved the problem. "But because of his great love for
us. God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with
Christ even when we were dead in our
transgressions."
The non-Christian who really has a curious mind will
ask, "Now, I've heard about Jesus around Christmas and
Easter but just how does Christ save me? How does Jesus
Christ make me alive? Paul answered that question: "For
God made him who had no sin (that's Jesus) to be sin
for our sakes, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21) Do you know
what that's called?
Theologians and scholars call it "Substitutionary
Atonement." That sounds awfully scholarly but it's not
hard to understand. Break it down. What does substitute
mean? It means, "One who takes the place of another."
Atonement means "One who pays a debt for another."
Jesus took your place, he was the substitute and he
atoned; he paid your sin debt to God that you could not
pay. Therefore, you share in his righteousness. That is
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the message of
Christianity.
But often we discuss how without first discussing why
and who made the how possible. The why and the who need
to be understood first. People need to know the Christ.
They need to fall in awe before the one who came from
heaven's throne room, God come in the flesh, the one
who never sinned, who hung on a dirty cross and who was
treated like he was the world's only sinner. We need to
fall on our knees when we understand who Jesus is. We
don't need to walk away smugly with some formula for
salvation. Our message, our hope and our ticket is the
person of Jesus Christ. Peter did this the first time
the Gospel was preached. He talked about the need. He
helped them realize there was a need. He showed them
their sin. He told them "This Jesus, whom you
crucified," now that's showing them their sin, isn't
it? I mean he could have shown them a million more, but
he said, let's just take the most dominate one, "You
crucified the son of God." The second thing he did was
to show them the solution "God has made Him both Lord
and Christ." Then in the next verse, Peter's listeners
asked in essence the same as that all important
question asked by the Philippian jailer. "Brothers,
what shall we do? We recognize our sin. We realize the
solution is in Jesus, now. What do we do?" That leads
to step three.
3. Respond in faith.
'"For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God-not by works, so that no one can boast.'"
(Ephesians 2:8-9) Folks, there it is. Scripture makes
it clear that there has to be a response to this grace.
Grace just means the gift offered by Jesus and in a
word that response is a thing called "faith."
Again, there is a communication problem. Much of the
world has defined the word "faith," in their own terms,
"just believe." Just believe that Jesus is the Son of
God with all your heart, that's faith. The Bible says
faith is being sure of what you cannot see and what you
may not understand. (Hebrews 11:1) The Bible says that
faith is going where God says. (2 Corinthians 4:5)
Folks, just to ask Jesus to come into your heart as a
personal Savior is not what Ephesians 2:8-9 is saying.
Read it again. The passage says we are saved by grace
through faith; not our works and not our own merits.
The Ephesians statement is confirmed throughout the
Bible, particularly the New Testament.
To properly understand Ephesians 2:8-9, let's allow God
to define his desired faith response. There is no
question that belief is at the core of faith. He has
always dictated the faith response that he wanted. For
example, when the Israelites were being bitten by
poisonous snakes, what did God want as a faith
response? Do you remember? He had Moses fashion a
bronze serpent on top of a pole and he lifted that up.
God said, "If you want to be healed from that, here's
what you do. You look at that serpent. You'll be
healed." (Numbers 21) That was the faith response. Who
decided what that faith response would be? The people?
No, God did.
Consider when the children of Israel were coming into
the Promised Land and they were about to take on
Jericho, that great walled and most fortified city. God
wanted belief in his power but he also wanted a faith
response. I want you to march around that city once a
day for six days and on the seventh day I want you to
march around it seven times, and then I want you to
call out in a great shout.
What faith response did God ask of Naaman, the Syrian
leper, in 2 Kings 5 when he came down to see the
prophet Elisha? Elisha didn't even go down to see him.
He just sent word down through a messenger. He said,
you tell him to go dip seven times in the Jordan River.
It was God's idea. What faith response did God ask of
Peter after he had fished all night and he came to the
shore? Jesus said, Peter, I want you to go launch out
into the deep one more time and let down your nets.
There are countless other examples. But the question
is: Did any of those responses merit or supply the
power for the miraculous event that followed? No. No.
No. Do you understand that? The faith response didn't
supply the power. The children of Israel could have
marched around the wall of Jericho a thousand times and
that wall wouldn't have budged an inch if it weren't
for the power of God. Naaman could have dipped in the
Jordan River from sun up to sun down and he would have
still left there a leper, except for the power of God.
But when they responded in faith as God had prescribed
then His power was channeled to them. God always
determines the faith response. He always has. So, what
faith response does God demand for accepting Christ?
Let's allow the Bible answer rather than someone's
opinion. The Book of Acts is the only inspired book of
the Bible that gives us the pure history of the birth
and the growth of the early church. In it and it alone
are the only specific details of individual conversions
of those first Christians. It's where to go to learn
how they became a Christian. We should do no more or no
less.
I want to show you concisely all of the accounts of
conversions to Christianity found in the book of Acts. Now,
we're not going to be able to take them in their entirety
so I would encourage you in your private study to go back
and look at them in their entire and the whole context.
Look at the moments how they came to Christ and assimilate
all that data we find.
1. The day the church began when those first
3,000 asked the question to Peter and the apostles.
"When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart
and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers,
what shall we do?' Peter replied, 'Repent and be
baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit.'" (Acts 2:37-38), "Those
who accepted his message were baptized, and about three
thousand were added to their number that day." (Acts
2:41)
2. "But many who heard the message believed and
the number of men grew to about five thousand." (Acts
4:4)
3. The next reference is in the conversion of Simon,
the Sorcerer. "But when they believed Philip as he
preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the
name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized ... And he
followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great
signs and miracles he saw." (Acts 8:12-13)
4. The Ethiopian eunuch. "Then Philip began with
that very passage of Scripture and told him the good
news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they
came to some water and the eunuch said, 'Look, here is
water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?' And he gave orders
to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch
went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When
they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord
suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see
him again, but went on his way rejoicing.'" (Acts
8:35-39)
5. Saul, who would become the great apostle
Paul, gives his own testimony of what happened as
he was on his way to Damascus. "As he neared Damascus
on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed
around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say
to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' 'Who are
you Lord?' Saul asked. 'I am Jesus, whom you are
persecuting,' he replied." (Acts 9:3-5) After Saul gets
to Damascus and talks with Ananias, "Immediately,
something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he
could see again. He got up and was baptized." (Acts
9:18)
6. The conversion of the first Gentile,
Cornelius. "Then Peter said, 'Can anyone keep these
people from being baptized with water? They have
received the Holy Spirit just as we have.' So he
ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ.'" (Acts 10:46)
7. "Some of the men from Cypress and Cyrene went
to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling
them the good news of Jesus. The Lord's hand was with
them, and a great number of people believed and turned
to the Lord." (Acts 11:20-21)
8. "There they spoke so effectively that a great
number of Jews and Gentiles believed." (Acts 14:1)
9. Lydia came to Christ through the preaching
and teaching of Paul, "One of those listening was a
woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the
city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord
opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. When she
and the members other household were baptized, she
invited us to her home." (Acts 16:14)
10. The Philippian jailer said, "He (the jailer)
then brought them out and asked, 'Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?' They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus,
and you will be saved-you and your household.' Then
they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the
others in his house. At that hour of the night the
jailer took them and washed their wounds; then
immediately he and all his family were baptized." (Acts
16:30)
11."Many of the Jews believed, as did also a
number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men."
(Acts 17:12)
12. "A few men became followers of Paul and
believed." (Acts 17:34)
13. "Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his
entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the
Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized."
(Acts 18:8)
14. Paul comes to Ephesus and stays there for
two-and-a-half years. "And he asked them, 'Did you
receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' They
answered, 'No, we have not even heard that there is a
Holy Spirit.' So Paul asked, 'Then what baptism did you
receive?' 'John's baptism,' they replied. Paul said,
'John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told
the people to believe in the one coming after him, that
is, in Jesus.' On hearing this, they were baptized into
the name of the Lord Jesus.'" (Acts 19:2-5)
15. '"I have declared to both Jews and Greeks
that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith
in our Lord Jesus.'" (Acts 20:21)
16. And then finally the last one. Paul once again
recounts his conversion experience and said, "I
fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, 'Saul!
Saul! Why do you persecute me?' 'Who are you, Lord?' I
asked. 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are
persecuting,' he replied. My companions saw the light,
but they did not understand the voice of him who was
speaking to me. 'What shall I do, Lord?' I asked. 'Get
up,' the Lord said, 'and go into Damascus. There you
will be told all that you have been assigned to do.'"
Ananias asked Saul, '"And now what are you waiting for?
Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on
his name.'" (Acts 22:16)
That may have been a little lengthy, but I wanted you
to see it for yourself. Nine different times in those
conversion accounts, all that we find in the book of Acts,
we're told that the people believed and obviously they did.
Three different times we're told that they repented and the
word, "repent," means "to turn," to turn away from the
world and turn toward Jesus Christ. Ten different times,
we're told they were baptized. The word, "baptized," means
to be immersed, to be dunked or dipped, meaning the total
body going beneath the water. When one is raised from the
water, resurrected, he came out walking into a newness of
life. By the way, each time they were baptized, it wasn't a
week later and it wasn't a month later, it was immediately.
Now, what faith response does God set forth for coming to
Christ?
I realize that much of the world asked "Do you really
believe God requires baptism as a part of faith response
for accepting Christ?" They could also ask "Do you really
believe that Moses and the Israelites were required a look
at the bronze snake as their faith response?" "Do you
really believe that God required the Israelites to march
around that city like idiots once a day for six days and
seven times on the seventh day?" "Do you really believe God
expected Naaman to dip seven times in the Jordan?" "Do you
really believe he wanted Peter to go out after fishing all
night and cast those nets one more time?" Do you really
believe God wants the response He requested from all those
people for their physical healing or the response He
demands of us for our spiritual healing, the forgiveness of
our sins. Of course the answer is God expects man to obey
Him based upon knowledgeable faith.
A few other verses should put everything in perspective
about the way God desires us to respond to Him in faith.
'"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but
whoever does not believe will be condemned.'" (Mark 16:16)
But, what is the purpose for baptism? "Or don't you know
that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him
through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ
was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him
like this in his death, we will certainly also be united
with him in his resurrection." (Romans 6:3-5:1)
Paul says, the reason God chose to incorporate it as part
of the faith response, contingent upon belief, contingent
upon repentance and a turning to God, is to re-enact the
very death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter
gave the same reason when he was talking about Noah and how
he was saved because of his faith response, when God sent
that great flood upon the earth. "And that water symbolizes
baptism that now saves you also-not the removal of dirt
from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward
God." (1 Peter 3:21) There's nothing magical about the
water. It's not holy. It's not what it does physically by
taking away anything dirty or unclean. Its whole purpose is
"The pledge of a good conscience toward God" Why? Because
it's fulfilling, the faith response that God has asked
for.
There are a lot of friends who very respectfully and
honestly disagree with what I've shared with you, despite
all that I've shared and the reasoning behind it. Going
back to our passage in Ephesians 2:8-9, where it says, "For
by grace are you saved through faith-and this not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God-not of works, lest anyone
should boast." They say, "But baptism is a work, it's a
work."
Let me show you one last verse as we summarize everything
up "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had
done, but because of his mercy." (Titus 3:5) See it's not
by what we do. It's not our power. It's his mercy. He is
the power. "He saved us through the washing of rebirth and
the renewal of the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:6) Baptism has
nothing to do with working; it has everything to do with
submission. It has everything to do with faith. It means
nothing apart from belief. It means nothing apart from
Jesus Christ. Baptism is simply the faith response
connecting us to the great power that saves us from our
sins.
Lesson #1273, July 21, 1996