GETTING THE MESSAGE/At the root of sin is self-love, pride

The context of these verses is a prison in the city of Philippi where Paul and Silas are bound. They were praying and singing hymns to God when suddenly an earthquake shook the foundations of the prison (Acts 16:26).

This was not an ordinary earthquake; it caused the doors of the prison to open and the chains of the prisoners to become unfastened. The jailer, awakened by the earthquake, sees the prison doors open and assumes the prisoners have escaped. Since it was a capital offense to allow prisoners to escape, he draws his sword to kill himself. 

Paul cries out for him to stop and assures him that the prisoners are all still present and accounted for. The jailer, trembling with fear, responds by falling down before Paul and Silas. He then brings them out and asks the question that was weighing heavily upon his heart: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (verse 30)

They told him to believe in the Lord Jesus, assuring him and his household of salvation. Paul didn’t mean that the jailer’s faith could save his household; he was saying the way was open for the people in his household to be saved as well. And so Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to the jailer and all in his house (verse 32).

The jailer washed the wounds of Paul and Silas from the beating they had suffered, and then he was baptized, he and all in his house (verse 33). The jailer then brings out food for Paul and Silas. He and his household rejoiced that he had believed in God (verse 34).

It’s an amazing thing for salvation to come to your soul. The miraculous earthquake is symbolic of the seismic shift in the soul of the jailer. He is thrown down from his pride. He shook with fear more from the judgment of God than the earthquake. To be thrust into an awareness of the presence of God along with his guilt made the jailer awaken to the reality he was an undone man.

A sign of someone being saved by Christ is they become aware of what it means to not be saved. People go about their daily lives unconcerned about the judgment of God. But let a man come under conviction of the holiness of God along with God’s anger toward sin and you no longer see him treating Christ and salvation in a common way. The Lord’s salvation becomes the one thing necessary.

We are told in verse 32 that Paul spoke the “word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.” The word of the Lord is the foundation of all true faith. The word of the Lord will give the soul a solemn awe and reverence for God.

One of the deceptions of the devil is to persuade men they shall escape judgment. At the root of man’s sin is self-love and pride. Something needs to happen to make the sinner aware of his predicament with God. For the jailer, it took an earthquake along with the word of God. He would have understood the words of the hymn: “Twas grace that caused my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.”

Pride is a stubborn vine. We must be careful we don’t base our salvation on the sins of other people. In other words, you can’t be saved by being better than other people. Christ must save or you will be lost. The first and chief ground of the comfort of salvation is that Christ as a priest offered himself as a sacrifice to his Father for our sin. He alone can take away the guilt of our sin.

Paul tells the jailer to “believe in the Lord Jesus.” Jesus, as our Savior, was willing to become a curse on the cross for us. To believe in him is to embrace the cross as necessary for your salvation. It is to renounce any grounds for boasting in yourself. It is also to rejoice in the love of Christ.

To believe also means to claim Christ as your Lord. Paul would have explained all the benefits of salvation to the jailer. As a Christian you can lay all your weights and loads by faith upon Christ. Ease yourself and let him bear all. As Lord he can, he does, and he will bear you.  Don’t try to divide ‘Lord’ from ‘Jesus.’ Both titles belong to him, and both make him the great Savior he is.

The Rev. Chris Shelton is pastor of Union’s First Presyterian Church.