It is midnight, all is still, when the voice of song is heard from the inner prison! Who has even been heard singing there. Singing in the inner prison! The merriest bird, whose tiny breast God has filled with treasures of cheerful melody, would become silent in cage so dreary and dark. It is the chained prisoners; though their feet were in the stocks, their souls were unfettered and unchained, free and strong and joyous. Like larks they soar up, and bathe in the sunshine of God’s favour, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ. God giveth songs in the night. What did they sing? God has provided the pilgrims to the heavenly Jerusalem with all that is needful; He has given them also songs for their pilgrimage, to cheer them in trouble, to encourage them in difficulties, to keep them hopeful and watchful when they pass through the enchanted ground. Knowest thou the chief musician whom God had given to His people? That man after His own heart, who knew life, with its bitterness and joys, its trials and sorrows, its sunshine and gloom, its mountain heights and dark valleys? Lovest thou the Psalms? ‘The Bible in miniature,’ Luther called them, ‘where thou seest the very heart-life of God’s saints.’ In the night of affliction, in the storm of temptation, in the anguish of repentance, in the twilight of doubt, have you found in them supplications, and sighs, and outpourings of heart that you could make your own? In the joy of fulfilled wishes, in the ecstasy of gratitude and praise, in the overwhelming moments when you were crowned with loving-kindness and mercies of which you were not worthy, have you found in them hallelujahs, songs of triumph, and joy, and adoration? My fellow-Christian, I know you have; for God has given this Book of Psalms to be the companion of His people, and His Church will use it and sing it till we learn that new song in heaven. And out of that song-book did the prisoners doubtless sing. ‘Oh, let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before Thee; according to the greatness of Thy power, preserve Thou those that are appointed to die! The Lord helpeth them to right that suffer wrong; the Lord looseth men out of prison; the Lord helpeth them that are fallen; the Lord careth for the righteous.’
And as they sang and prayed, God answered. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the earth were shaken.
‘Great is the Lord, and greatly to be feared. In His hand are the deep places of the earth. God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in time of trouble.’
The jailer, roused from his sleep, immediately thought of the prisoners. To his great amazement and horror, he saw the prison-doors open; and supposing that the prisoners had fled, knowing that inevitable death awaited him, in his ignorance and wretchedness he resolved that suicide was better than disgrace.
What an appalling picture is here given us of the atheism, carelessness, and wretchedness of this man! Distracted by an unexpected temporal calamity, he had no refuge wherein to take shelter, no counsellor to direct him, no sanctuary of sympathy and Divine love towards which to look. Having no comfort to soothe him, no inward peace to sustain him, he is driven to despair. Ignorant of God, he is careless about his soul — ready to peril its salvation, merely because he apprehended the loss of his earthly position and liberty; and simply to escape the misery of the present, he was about to rush into eternity and the presence of an all-holy and righteous Judge. What a fearful picture! — a weak, blind, helpless, lonely, tempest-tossed soul, left in the dark night the prey of angry waves; still more fearful, when we remember the awful nature of that shipwreck — to fall into the hands of the living God.
Paul, calm, collected, unselfish as a true child of God, in the midst of the terrible and exciting scene, exclaimed, ‘Do thyself no harm; for we are all here.’ Then the jailer laid aside his sword, called for a light, and rushed into the inner prison. And as he stood there before Paul and Silas, a fear of a higher kind took possession of his soul. He remembered all that he had heard before of the prisoners, who were now so calm, their countenances irradiated with heavenly peace and confidence; of their doctrine of obedience to God and love to man — their blameless life of prayer, and purity, and benevolence; he called to mind their patience, their meekness, their gentle submission, their undisturbed tranquillity in the undeserved humiliations, sufferings, tortures, which they had to endure. He trembled and fell down before them. Here was a greater and mightier earthquake than that which had shaken the foundations of the prison. When the eternal world came so near him, — when he was so close to death, and that unknown future, whose shadow had so often flitted across and disturbed the even tenor of his God-estranged life, — and when he saw before him men who evidently were in possession of a faith which was a reality, a peace which was from above, a strength which nerved them to look fearlessly into the jaws of death, — the question which lies buried in the heart of the sinner, be he ever so careless and hardened, broke forth, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ It is the most important question for a sinful, guilty man to ask. Saved is the word — not improved, reformed, soothed. For he knows that he is lost and condemned. ‘Sirs,’ he exclaimed — ‘you who know about these things — you who are in safety and peace — you who know and love God, and are loved and upheld by Him — you I ask, what must I do to be saved?’ And now, come friend, and think of all systems of religion and philosophy, ancient and modern, austere, sentimental, poetical, transcendental, and tell me what human being can give an answer to the question — an answer true, sure, decided, authoritative. Can he be saved, guilt-laden sin-stained as he is? What is he to do? How is he to obtain it? You say he is to repent. Will repentance save him? Can you promise it? What amount of sorrow, contrition, reformation, is sufficient to secure salvation? The very utmost that men can say amounts to faint probabilities, uncertainties, which give no peace to the wounded conscience, no life to the broken heart, no principle of holiness to the polluted soul, no strength to the sin-enfeebled man. ‘What must I do to be saved?’
And clear and strong, as a voice from heaven, sounds the answer of the Apostle — ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.’ This is a faithful saying, for it is God’s truth. It is worthy of all acceptation, for it brings a message of peace and life from the heavenly Father Himself. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He has done it. What required to be done in order to secure the salvation of the guilty, behold it has been done; for Christ lived, obeyed, suffered, died, rose again, and ascended. Then believe, and live! Look unto Him, and be saved! Cling to Him, who was wounded for thy transgression, and bruised for thine iniquity. Thou shalt be saved; for God has declared it. He has not merely said so, but the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the glorious confirmation of our acceptance. Thou shalt be saved immediately; for as soon as thou believest, the righteousness of Christ is thine. And saved for ever; because the joy of the Father and the angels over a sinner that repenteth is a proof that the prodigal, once restored by Divine grace to the home of love and peace, is to dwell there for evermore.
The promise, ‘Thou shalt be saved,’ has its depths. ‘To be saved’ means, to be brought out of a state of danger into a state of safety. But this is only the beginning and foundation. The state of danger is a state of sin, soul-sickness, estrangement from God. The state of safety is a life of faith, love, and hope, of fellowship with the Father and the Son. Our salvation is perfect when we are like Jesus; for He is the true man, in the likeness of God, and we are to be conformed to His image. But the moment we believe we are virtually saved; for we are begotten again by the Spirit of God, created anew in Christ Jesus, endowed with a new principle of life. And we must hold fast the beginning of our confidence, our first act of faith, to the end; for the just shall not merely commence to live, but shall live by faith. In proportion as we exercise our faith in Jesus is our peace deepened, our love strengthened, our hope established, our holiness increased. What a wonderful salvation is this, which descends into the lowest depth of guilt and comfort and peace, and carries on its work, till it has raised us to a height and eminence too lofty for our gaze at present: ‘We shall be like Him!’
But, again, let us listen to the Apostle’s answer: ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.’ Poor jailer! and hast thou a house — a wife, who gives thee the affection of her heart — and children, who cling to thee, and look to thee as their guide and model! And you, poor, godless, prayerless man, who have allowed yourself, in your recklessness, to be hurried along on the road to destruction, do you bear the sacred name of father? Do you not know that these children look up to you as if you were the only man in the universe, the very type and model of what a man ought to be? — that your words and doings are regarded by them as worthy of all imitation? ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.’ You will be a light, and guide, and blessing to them; and the Lord will hear your prayer, and bless your example, and they also will be brought into the fold of Jesus.
Have you not yet come to Jesus, dear reader? and has God given you souls to watch over and train? — and I know you love them: do ponder over this gracious promise: ‘Thou shalt be saved, and thy house!’
The Apostles, we are told, spoke unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house; and they heard it, and believed. They understood it. So do you. Christ died for the ungodly — Jesus came to save that which was lost. They had heard it only once. You a thousand times. They believed it — that is, they did not make God a liar; but thought His word worthy of all trust and confidence. They believed, because they thought themselves bad enough for Jesus. Most people say, they do not think themselves good enough to come to Christ. But they do not express their thoughts and feelings correctly. They do not think themselves bad enough; they do not hold their case to be a desperate one; they still imagine they will be able to pay some portion of their debt. As soon as people think themselves bad enough for Jesus, for a Saviour who only undertakes lost, condemned, leprous, bankrupt sinners, they believe.
Faith cometh by hearing. The means which God employs to direct our attention to the things which concern our peace, to rouse us from our apathy, to convince us of our danger, to awaken within us a hunger after His word of life and peace, are very various in different cases; but conversion, the turning from darkness to light, from self to God, from sin to Christ, is always effected by the truth of God, the full and free declaration of the grace of God in a crucified and glorified Saviour being applied to the soul by the Holy Ghost. The earthquake, the opening of the prison-doors, the bursting of the prisoners’ bands, — all these miraculous events were used by God to awaken his conscience, to impress him with a sense of danger, to lead him to ask the way of escape and safety; but it was in the still small voice of a preached Gospel that salvation was brought to his soul.
They believed, and were baptized straightaway. Wherever there is faith, the sign and seal of the covenant ought not to be withheld. If you think yourself justified in coming to Christ, and resting on His bosom, why hesitate to sit down at His table, and fulfil His dying request, ‘This do in remembrance of Me?’
The jailer’s house is now changed into a church of God. Behold him filled with shame and contrition, and yet hope, and peace, and consolation. Just look at him, washing the disciples’ stripes. Is not his very countenance changed? Are these the same hard, selfish, cruel features? Pause here, and adore. The love of Christ is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost. As one of God’s elect, he had put on bowels of mercy, compassion, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness. He is in Christ, and, therefore, a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. Is it not true, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved?’ Is not faith the victory that overcometh the world?
Look at that scene in the jailer’s house, on that early morning. He set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house. The Apostles, through whom God had given them the knowledge of the truth, sat down with them. The angels of God were near them, partakers of their joy. Oh, it must have been a glorious sight! But still more glorious shall it be, when, with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the innumerable multitude of ransomed sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ shall sit down in the kingdom of His Father; and their joy will be full, and their blessedness everlasting: when the promise, ‘Thou shalt be saved,’ shall be perfectly fulfilled: when there shall be no more trace of that sin which reigned unto death, but where nothing but grace shall abound unto eternal life.
He came trembling — call it not selfish, ignoble fear. It is more selfish and ignoble to drown the misgivings, and forebodings, and anxious thoughts of the conscience in the cares and pleasures of this life, or, forgetting or neglecting our own salvation, seek rest in a superficial charity and usefulness to others. The first commandment is to love God; only then are we able to fulfil the second, ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself.’ To be at peace with God is the only foundation of true love and unselfishness. Call not this fear selfish and ignoble; for there was in it the beginning of repentance — turning from sin unto righteousness, from self unto God; there was in it a seed sown by the Divine Sower. Remember that Jesus — the truth and the love of God — has shown unto us whom and what we are to fear and bear in mind, — that He thought it necessary to speak to us of that fire which is unquenchable, and that sentence which is final. Look at this trembling jailer, and learn from him how fear may be changed into peace, trembling into joy, the spirit of bondage into the spirit of adoption, the unknown God into Abba, Father, the despised Nazarene and His followers into a beloved Saviour and brethren. Hear the word ‘Believe,’ as an invitation of mercy, and the command of our heavenly Father. Askest thou, ‘What shall I do?’ as the Jews asked, ‘What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?’ Then the answer of Jesus is to us as it was to them: ‘This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.’