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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/donald-armstrong/things-the-jailor-knew/
Could you turn with me please to the New Testament just for a short reading in the Acts of the Apostles in chapter 16, Acts of the Apostles in chapter 16, Acts chapter 16, and we'll break into the story at verse number 27, maybe verse 26, Acts 16, 26, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bands were loosed.
And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself supposing that the prisoners had been fled, but Paul cried with a loud voice saying, do thyself no harm for we are all here.
Then he called for a light. We've been hearing about the light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house.
And they speak unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized he and all his straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he said, meet before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
That's a reading and we look to the Lord to bless it with what we've already read and listened to this evening. I want to speak to you tonight about a man who knew some very important facts and I know that minds are very tired after a long day of conference and so I will try to be very simple and maybe even brief and I'll not tax your minds too much, but I want us to look at a man who knew some very important facts and I want to just bring them before you and trust that you will know them too.
The first thing that this man, he's called the Philippian jailer, we would call him maybe a prison guard. The first thing that we want to notice about him is that here is a man and he knew that he needed to be saved.
Brody has just been talking about that. There was absolutely no doubt in this man's mind. He was absolutely convinced of it. I need to be saved. I'm looking at an audience this evening at the end of a day of conference and I'm just going to go back over the ground that Brody's already been on.
I want to ask each one in the meeting, do you yet know that you need to be saved? You would say, but I have a Bible of my own. Of course I know. I go to Sunday school. Of course I know. I go to all the meetings with my parents and with my friends.
Of course I know I need to be saved. Are you sure? I want to tell you a story. Way back a number of years ago in Eden Derry, where I come from, there was a man in his seventies and he went along to some gospel meetings.
Those gospel meetings were taken by the late Jim Martin and the late Wilson Jennings. And in all of those weeks of meetings, they preached and preached and preached night after night after night. And eventually this man in the seventies, he got saved.
The preachers were very intrigued as to why it was so late in this man's life in the seventies that he only got saved. His wife was saved. His wife, in fact, was an assembly fellowship. And they went to this man, and I'll mention his name because some in the audience will remember him.
They went to this man and they said to him, Millan, how is it that you've only got saved now in your seventies? I want you to notice his answer. Now, this is a man who was married to a lady on the way to heaven, a man who spent his life going to gospel meetings, a man who had a Bible of his own, and a man who listened to the gospel hundreds, if not thousands of times.
They said, Millan, why have you only got saved now? He says, it's only now that I realized that I needed to be saved. Mind you, that's shocking, isn't it? I'm speaking to some here in this auditorium tonight, and you've listened to the gospel many, many times, maybe more times than you can ever count.
Is it just possible that you still don't know that you need to be saved? What does it mean to be saved? The very word itself tells us it means to rescue from danger. It means to protect from harm. It means to snatch one from perishing.
And as you and I think of this word saved and bring it into the context of the gospel, men and women and boys and girls need saved because they're sinners who are perishing for eternity. And dear boy and girl and man and woman here tonight, if your sins aren't forgiven, if you don't know Christ as your savior, if you've never put your trust in him, you're not saved and you need to be saved.
Here's a man and he learned this very important lesson. I need to be saved. Do you know it would be a great meeting at the end of a day of conference if the truth dawned upon someone, not in their head now, but truth reached a conscience in the soul in a meeting tonight, that I'm a sinner in the sight of God and I need to be saved because if I'm not saved, God will punish me for my sins for all eternity.
He knew that he needed to be saved. There's another thing about this man that's very important and it might sound trivial in one sense, but I really want to labor it a little. And that is that here's a man and he wanted to be saved.
You know, it's one thing to know that you need to be saved. It's an altogether different thing to want to be saved. There are many men and women living in this world today and they've heard the gospel and they know full well that they're sinners and they know full well that they need to be saved, but they don't want it.
There's something else more important to them. There's something else more dear to their heart. Maybe it's a friend, maybe it's a companion, maybe it's a spouse, maybe it's a sporting world, maybe it's a financial world.
I wonder if there's someone here in this school tonight and you've known for a long, long time that I'm a sinner and I need to be saved, but you don't really want it yet. There's something else more dear to you.
There's something in the world that is clinging on to you and you're clinging on to it. My dear friend, let me remind you that when this world is passed and gone and you've closed your eyes and entered into God's great eternity, friendships in the world won't matter.
Fame and sport won't matter. Doing well financially won't matter. The only thing that will really matter is, are your sins forgiven and is your soul saved for eternity? Here's a man and he not only knew he needed to be saved, but he knew he wanted to be saved.
I'll tell you this about him. He was in quite an urgency about it. He calls for a light we read. He springs into the prison. That's not like a man who's got a lackadaisical attitude to God's salvation.
And he brings Paul and Silas out and he falls down before them and he says, what must I do to be saved? Do you know what would be great? If at the end of this day's conference, there would be somebody in the meeting and they would just love to know how they could be saved.
It would make a great conference for us all, wouldn't it? The third thing about this man is this, that he not only knew that he needed to be saved, he not only wanted to be saved, but here's a man and he knew that these two men that he was kneeling before in the prison, he knew that they could tell him how he could be saved.
You know, I want to tell you, if you sit and listen in a gospel meeting like this tonight, you are blessed above millions. You are blessed above millions because you're sitting in a place where you can hear how you can be blessed for eternity.
There are millions and they have no idea that they need to be saved. There are many and they have no desire to be saved. There are many more and they've never heard how they can be saved. Isn't it just wonderful that you're able to gather young and old together to listen to the wonderful message of the gospel and listen to two simple men just seeking to try and tell you how you can be saved.
And here's a man and he is absolutely sure he speaks to these two men and says, what must I do to be saved? He knew that they could tell him. There's something else that this man then knew and it comes from the lips of the two men that he was speaking to.
And that is that he knew that there was someone who could save him. I hope you got that. He knew that there was someone who could save him. You see, whenever he said to these two men, what must I do to be saved?
They didn't tell him to go to church. They didn't tell him to stop beating the prisoners. They didn't tell him to donate money to charity. They didn't tell him to be very honest in his dealings with the world.
They told him about a person who could save him. Mind you, that's great. My dear friend, in the moments that are left in our meeting this evening, I want by the help of God to try and tell you of a person who can save you for eternity.
You know, I want to tell you there's a God in heaven and he loves you. He loves you so much that he has done everything that is possible and everything that is necessary for you to be saved for eternity.
What did he do? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. And from the glory of heaven into this world of sin and shame came the eternal Son of God himself, because no other person could ever meet your need.
And one day he went outside Jerusalem to a cross at Calvary, and on that cross he suffered and died for sin. What does Peter tell us? Who? His own self. Bear our sins in his own body on the tree. What does Isaiah tell us hundreds of years before he ever came?
He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, he said. We have turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
My dear friend, tonight in this meeting, I want to tell you of a person who can save you. The Apostle Paul, when he was preaching the gospel, he said three things about the Lord Jesus Christ. He says that Christ died for our sins.
That's important, isn't it? He says, and he was buried. Listen to the next part, because it's just as important. And he rose again. My dear friend, we present to you a living Savior. Respectfully speaking, a dead Savior can save nobody.
But we present to you a living Savior at God's right hand, and he is able to save. Why? Because he's living. He has died. He's risen again. He has conquered death. He's borne the judgment for sin. And as a living Savior, he's able to meet the need of every man and woman and boy and girl in this auditorium tonight, without exception.
Listen to me carefully. He's able to meet your need. God loves you, and he wants to save you. The Lord Jesus Christ died in order that you might be saved. And he lives, a prince and a Savior. And listen, he's able to save all that come unto God through him.
What a wonderful person. And so, here's this man, and he's in the prison, and he says, what must I do to be saved? Do you know what they do? They just point him to a person, and they say, you believe in him, and you'll be saved.
You put your trust in the one who died upon the cross, who's risen again, and you'll be saved. You rest upon him and what he has done upon the cross, and you'll be saved. You just place your full weight of confidence in him as your Savior, and you'll be saved.
What did they say to him? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Is there one in a meeting tonight, and you find that difficult? I remember when I was a young boy, I was saved when I was 11.
But I remember when I was a young boy, and I wanted to be saved. And listen carefully, I tried to be saved. Did you? Yeah. What did you do? Well, I came to this verse here in Acts chapter 16, and I looked at this verse, and it says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
I remember one night lying in bed and looking up at the ceiling, and I would say to myself, well, no, I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing happened. And then I convinced myself that I wasn't believing hard enough, and I tried to work up emotional energy, and I tried to concentrate my mind, and I strove as hard as I could to get this word believe into my head.
And I kept saying to myself, I believe, and nothing happened. Do you know what I was doing? I was making a work out of believing. I was looking at myself. I was focusing upon what I could do. The night that I got saved, I stopped thinking about myself.
I really did. And I got occupied with a person who could save me. What was it like? Well, I'll tell you very simply because it might be interesting. I saw as a young 11-year-old that there were three crosses at Calvary.
Don't we sing the chorus? Three crosses standing side by side, a broken law sign. I saw in my young mind that there were three men there, and they were all dying for sin, two of them for their own sin.
Remember, one of them on one side said to the person on the very opposite side, he says, you know, we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. There's two men, and they're dying for sin, and one of them at least recognizes it.
He's done wrong, and he's facing justice, and he's accepting the consequence. But that night as I lay, I was up in County Donegal in Northwest Ireland. As I lay in my bed, it had been half past 10 at night.
I got occupied with the one who was in the middle cross. He's dying for sin. But the thief beside him said of him, this man hath done nothing, a mess. And in a flash, it dawned upon my mind that when he died upon the cross for sin, he died for me.
What about your believing? I forgot about it. I just simply rested upon him, that when he died, that he did it just for me. My dear friend, that's God's salvation. Maybe there's someone in our auditorium tonight, and you have spent many hours trying to believe, and trying to work up a feeling, and trying to create an emotional energy.
Stop looking at yourself. Get occupied with the Savior. He's a living, glorified Savior who died for sin upon the cross at Calvary. And if you accept him, put your trust in him, rest upon him, put your full confidence for forgiveness and salvation on him.
Listen to the verse, thou shalt be saved. Do you know, it's possible to go out through those two sets of double doors tonight, having come in as a sinner, and to go out knowing that you're saved. Why?
Because Christ has died. God's Word is promised that if you put your trust in him, thou shalt be saved. But here's a man, and he knew something else. He knew that he was saved. He knew that he was saved.
How do you know that? Well, first of all, there was a change in the man. His attitude was completely different. Secondly, he's rejoicing, and he's rejoicing because he's believing in God. And not only that, he's really happy because his whole house has done the same thing.
Everybody in his house has heard the gospel. They've learned they were sinners. They trusted in Christ, and they all have believed, and they're all saved. It says he's rejoiced at God, rejoiced believing in God with all his house.
I want to finish with this. Is everybody in your house saved? Maybe there's someone in the meeting, and you're the only one who's not saved. Why don't you come to Christ tonight? Why don't you stop all your striving, all your struggling, all your looking within at yourself, all your own self-effort?
Why don't you accept the simple and precious truth that when the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross at Calvary that he died for me, and you put your trust in him as your Lord? Do you know something?
You'll be happy. Everybody else in the house will be happy. The angels in heaven will be happy, and the Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified. Can I leave the question with you? Oh, that someone in our meeting tonight would know that they're a sinner, that they need salvation.
Oh, that someone in the meeting tonight would know that, yes, I'm a sinner, and I not only need it, but I want salvation. Oh, that someone in the meeting tonight would know that there is a Savior who will save them, and that they would put their trust in him, accept him as their Lord and Savior, and rejoice with us in Christ for all eternity.
Shall we pray? Our Father, we bow before thee. We thank thee for the wonder of salvation. We thank thee for the wonder that a soul that was on the way to hell can enjoy the forgiveness of sins, and know on the certainty of thy word that they're on their way to heaven.
We praise thee for thy Son, that he accomplished such a wonderful work upon the cross at Calvary, and that because of his suffering and death, sinners can know their sins forgiven, and their soul eternally saved.
We pray for each one bowed before us in the meeting this evening. We pray that not one will ever lift up their eyes, having missed out on this great salvation, but that they will with urgency seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near, and that they may trust thy Son as their Savior and Lord, and know their sins forgiven, and be blessed for eternity.
We pray for journeying mercies as we now make our homeward way after a while, and we ask of thee that there will be someone here tonight who will accept Christ and rejoice in salvation. We give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.