Straight Talk about Salvation: The Philippian Jailor — Acts 16:16-34
It does not take much character or Christianity, to be happy when everything is going our way. What reveals our true character is when things go south! When poverty, sickness, bereavement, persecution, imprisonment, or misunderstandings, come our way. How we respond in those circumstances tells a great deal about us. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas are on their second missionary journey, where they are brutally beaten, thrown into prison, and left to die for preaching the gospel. Their response was to sing praises to God. These godly men, afflicted, miserable, unable to sleep, incapable of moving without anguish, sat in that dungeon and worshiped. And then, when given the opportunity, gave the good news of the gospel to the man who was responsible for their beating and imprisonment! Their answer to the question, “What must I do to be saved?” provides one of the clearest and most accurate presentations of the gospel in all of scripture.