”What Must I Do to Be Saved” | Acts 16:16-40

This sermon was taken from our passage of Scripture that we are studying this week in Acts 16:16-40. In Acts 16:30, a Philippian jailer cries out to Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?”  It’s a desperate cry that comes from someone who suddenly has an acute awareness that he cannot save himself. He thinks that his life is over. Yet, it is about to just begin.

 As we study this passage of Scripture this week, you will notice that every person in this passage is trying to save themselves except two – Paul and Silas. This in a sense is like one of those “Where is Waldo?” pictures. It’s busy and chaotic. There is a lot going on. In a “Where is Waldo” picture, if you have seen one, you will know that in the picture there are hundreds of people doing all kinds of things, but somewhere in the middle, is Waldo. Waldo originally was called “Wally” and the idea was that a “Wally” was a dim-witted person. Somewhere in the middle of a world of ordinary people doing ordinary things, there is a Waldo doing something strange. In this scene, Paul and Silas are the Waldos… praying and singing after being beaten and thrown into prison. What? This text begs the question, “Who is the real Waldo (the fool) in this passage?” To quote the late Jim Elliott, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” The greatest question any person can ever ask is this one: “What must I do to be saved?”

Let’s come together and worship each Sunday and be both encouraged and challenged to ensure that we can answer that question with absolute certainty.