Luke tells us in the book of Acts about the prison guard who was awakened one night by "a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened," and every prisoner was free to escape! Supposing that all the prisoners had escaped, the prison keeper was about to take his own life, knowing that would be his punishment for allowing the prisoners to get away. However, from deep within the darkened prison, the apostle Paul cried out saying, "Do thyself no harm: for we are all here." The keeper could hardly believe it!

He rushed in and brought Paul and his companion, Silas, out of the prison, and knowing that they were godly men because they did not try to escape, he asked them the most imortant question of all. He said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?."

The answer from Paul was surprisingly simple, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved ..." and then he spoke "the word of the Lord" to the prison guard and all that were in his house (Acts 16:23-32).

The "word of the Lord" tells us that, in our natural state, we are all in need of salvation just like the prison guard. Ever since the creation of the world when God's first man, Adam, disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, man has continued to disobey God. We can't help it. The Bible says, we have all sinned; meaning, we have all disobeyed God's expressed will (Romans 3:23). Jesus himself said because of our sin, we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. IF that were the end of the story, we would all be without hope of having everlasting life. But ...

... God loves us in spite of our disobedience. In fact, He loves us so much that He allowed His only begotten Son, Jesus, to take our place in death so that we, might be justified before Him. In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul wrote, "... God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)." John wrote "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16)."

The jailer in Acts chapter 6 is included in the "whosoever" of John chapter 3. And so are we. The Lord wants us to realize that we are sinners - disobedient humans before a perfectly holy God - and that because of our sin, we cannot enter into His holy presence. Thus, "what must I do to be saved?"

Since Jesus already took the punishment for our sins when he died on the cross, there is really nothing for us to "DO" because it's already been done. But according to John 3:16, "whosoever believeth" in Jesus shall be saved. Our eternal destiny, then, hinges upon our "believing." In fact, Paul wrote, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and BELIEVE in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man BELIEVETH unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord SHALL BE SAVED (Romans 10:9,10,13)."

So ... what must YOU do to be saved? Believe. You can know that you have eternal life because God's word promises it. And you can have it by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. BELIEVE that Jesus' death on the cross was the only sufficient payment for your sins, and that he rose again from the grave to give you hope of doing the same. Believe that only God is able to forgive you of your sins and call upon Him, asking for His forgiveness.

Wouldn't you like to know for sure that if your life on earth was to end today, you would spend eternity in the presence of God? (Knowing that the alternative would be to spend eternity in everlasting torment apart from God's mercy, the choice is really not that difficult!) Why not receive the gift of eternal life right now? You can. Simply call upon the Lord, right now. He'll hear you. He's waiting to hear your voice. Call upon Him with a prayer similar to this:

"Oh, God, I know that I am a sinner and that I do not deserve heaven. I know that I can never be good enough to earn my way to heaven, so I'm trusting completely in Jesus' death on the cross as payment for my sins. I now repent of my sins and accept Jesus as the Lord of my life from this day forward. God, I pray, forgive me of my sins and save me in Jesus' name. Amen."

Remember, it is by FAITH that you are saved. And if you have read this and prayed that prayer for the first time, we'd like to hear from you. Drop us a line at the church address, call us, or e-mail me at randallrevrick@juno.com. We'd love to hear from you.