"Sirs, What Must I Do To Be Saved?"

 [This talk was delivered by me June 1, 2025 at St. Christopher's New Carrollton; based on Acts 16:22-34, John 17:20-26; Revelation 22]

The jailer falls down before Paul and Silas and asks:
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Some Christian groups maintain that baptism is required before a person can be saved; some say that only those baptized in their denomination or in a certain way will be saved. Some say that you have to be well-schooled in a catechism prescribed by their denomination before you can be considered a candidate for salvation. And some denominations teach that once you are saved, you can be lost.

But how did Paul respond? Any body?

"Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." Let everyone say it together!

He did not say: Well, first, you have to sign up with our church and commit to tithe or otherwise your membership will be declined. Then you must complete 20 hours of doctrinal learning and pass the test at the end. If you cannot pass the test, you may need to repeat part or all of the class. And then, perhaps, we can talk about baptizing you so that you can be saved.|| Nor did Paul say – oh, well, you weren’t born into the –name the particular Christian denomination – I mean, you worshiped idols! We’re going to have to take this under advisement to figure out if you are even a candidate for salvation. And neither did Paul say – oh, your lifestyle does not sync up with Christian values; you have to change your lifestyle before we can even continue the discussion about how to be saved.

No - none of that was said nor implied. Why? Because the Holy Spirit had already positioned the jailer for salvation. You see, it was not a coincidence that Paul and Silas wound up in this particular jailer’s prison. Let’s see what God’s Word says about this. If you have your Bible or a Bible app on your phone, go to Ephesians 2. We are going to look at verses 1-10. Ask for a reader. Now as we read this passage let’s allow the Holy Spirit to teach us.

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Grace and faith. Paul writes that twice in case we didn’t get it the first time. The Grace gives us the ability to believe, the faith gives us the ability to act. We humans can presume and tell ourselves that “someday I’ll get around to ‘formalizing’ or settling into my salvation – right now I need to focus on my career/my university education/sowing my oats before I can take that next step” – as if salvation is something to be attained on a checklist of things to-do.

Believing here means committing our life to Christ. We are willing to sacrifice our perceived ‘lordship’ to make Christ our Lord and Sovereign. So the question that is begged to be asked is “what are we being saved from?” What do we think we are being saved from? Let’s look again at verses 1-3. Ask for a reader.

The same Holy Spirit moved Paul to write in Romans 6:20-23, that we are all born spiritually dead because of Adam’s sin DNA we carry. We are born slaves to sin. But by grace through the faith we receive, we are saved by the blood of Christ, and given new life (called regeneration or being born again as Jesus spoke about in John 3) – you see God is the author of our faith and of our salvation, so that no one can boast about how she or he won God over. Say Amen if you believe because what God has done in you?

In our Gospel lesson in John 17, Jesus tells us that in addition to His praying for us – yes He sits at the Father’s right hand and intercedes for us (Rom 8:34) who have been chosen and saved by the Father, Jesus put His Spirit in us – not for ornamental value or to lord over someone, but rather to humble us so that we may be one and love one another as He loves us. In the preceding verses of John 17, Jesus indicates what He is praying to the Father for us: protection in Jesus’ name and protection from the evil one; to have Jesus’ joy in us; and that the Holy Spirit would sanctify us by the truth of God’s word and the transformative work the Spirit would do in us, and that we may be with Him and see His glory.

I’d like to share a story with you that I came across. There was a man who had been convicted rightly of murder, and subsequently found guilty and sentenced to death. He was put on death row in prison. He admitted his guilt and knew that the state’s response was life for life. As his appointment to his execution grew nearer, something began stirring within him. Most of his life was a fight against the goads, and he had hurt or harmed others just as others had done to him. But one day, a noise-cancelling quiet came over his cell. When you are on death row, quietness is a luxury that you did not have, yet at that point in time, all the surrounding noise was silenced. He hears a voice that asks him why is he here? The voice not so much audibly as internally speaks his name and asks again, why are you here, and tells him that he had fought against Him much of his life. The voice begins to sound like thunder, and the cell vibrates; no one else heard it or felt it but the man. For the first time in his life the man experienced a fear that he could not fight against. It must be a dream he reasoned. Then a strange bright light engulfs the cell and the Voice says: I Am Jesus whom you have been fighting against. Now, in this place, I have chosen you to serve me and teach my word to those fellow prisoners here who are lost and to whom I will direct you, so that they may experience the release from the real prison – the prison of sin and death. I declare you righteous and have freed you and I am sending you to others in this place so that the Holy Spirit will be in you and will guide you to bring back to me those men who have been in a life-long prison like you. In this place I will use you to plant my church. Very soon you will hear footsteps that are coming to your cell to tell you that your execution has been permanently stayed and that you will be relocated to another area where I will show you all you will need to accomplish the work I have for you. Long story short, the light fades and the man hear the footsteps. Still in awe and a fear inexplicable, he watches the warden open the cell door, and tells him the news about the execution pardon. What had once been a pathway to hell, was now a mission field for God. The man asks for a good study Bible and is mentored by another prisoner who also became born again in the prison, and together they establish a prison ministry that was both challenging and rewarding.

Like Paul and the man in the story, we have all been at war with God at some time in our lives. Some of us are still kicking against the goads. These last 7 weeks have been a repeated opportunity from God, a repeated summons from the Holy Spirit God and the Bride of Christ – His Church – to Come. To come into real relationship with Jesus, to be one in Him and in the Father, and desire, thirst for Him. To Come, and drink in the water of Jesus’ truth for sanctification as His saints or people separated unto Him to be remade in His image. To be blessed with the healing tree of life that Adam and Eve forfeited. To respond to the voice who has been asking you, why are you here, still stuck in your unrighteousness? Jesus says He is coming soon, and His reward is with Him to repay according to everyone’s work. Jesus – whose very name means salvation – and in whose Name by God’s will we too will know the awe and inexplicable joy of His salvation.

In the mustard seed of faith given us by God we ask: Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And Jesus tells us, COME BELIEVE ON ME, YOUR LORD JESUS. LET ANYONE WHO IS THIRSTY COME. LET ANYONE WHO SEEKS ME COME AND TAKE THE LIVING WATER FREE–it is already paid for! AMEN! HALLELUJAH!

 We’ve come this far by faith…

Mini Series on Ephesians - The Holiness of God and Who We Are In Christ. Chapter 1: Awareness

May the LORD bless you and keep you, may the LORD make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

Awareness of Who We Are 
One of my favorite passages in the Bible (there are actually quite a few favorites!!), is the one we were blessed with in the Bible reading from Paul's epistle to the church at Ephesus. According to Bible scholars, the ancient Greek manuscripts show that the passage in Paul's letter we identify as verses 1 through 14 was a single sentence (no grammar police back then!). To me it is as if the message contained in those few verses was a singular reassurance to the church, some members of which were new to the faith and/or persons who were experiencing trials and uncertainties. The letter would have been read to the church by an elder, and no doubt exegeted or expounded upon by a leader or leaders based on Paul's two-year visit with them and the evangelism/Gospel teaching he shared. I wonder how I would have responded if I were with the believers at Ephesus hearing this letter: would I have hung on every word, or at least try to commit to memory as much as I could? How would you have responded?

Even now, reading and re-reading this passage is so encouraging - especially in the midst of a dark valley or path that does not seem to have an exit ramp. On this 'visit', let us read out loud the opening words at least a couple of times, slowly. Listen to them, and let them soak in: "To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus." (Ephesians 1:1, NRSV) 

Contrary to what some of us may have been told or taught, a Biblical saint, that is, what the Bible calls a saint is not defined as a heroic Bible character or highly pious person who has practiced good-deed-doing, or some other extraordinary act. A Biblical saint is a person made a saint (or regenerated) by God's will to become a saint - a person who He has set apart from the world culture to be holy and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, not because he or she has done something extraordinary, or has earned special merit by some other act. All who are saved and sanctified by God are saints. To be a person He has "called out" to "come in".

Yet, as early church history has shown - and even unto this day, the Roman Catholic Church has overwritten Bible theology, and in and of itself, has appointed a Roman Catholic-based group - the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (originally called the Congregation of Rites) tasked by the Roman church with the responsibility of determining if a person is worthy of canonization – i.e., the formal process to declare such person a "saint." Because of this human intervention, the church has adopted such a nonbiblical premise for awarding humans it has deemed worthy the title of "Saint."  The Bible, never uses the word saint as a title, but rather as a "position", a salvific identity, given true worshipers as those God has indwelt with His Spirit and who God has redeemed by the blood of Christ. All Christians who are saved by the blood and imputed with the righteousness of Christ are sacred vessels - saints - made by God for God. Admittedly, this truth will take some time to inculcate as we have been conditioned in the opposite direction.

Further on this point: Read the following excerpt from Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3-4. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him in love." God the Holy Spirit, Author of the Word of God, says that God has chosen us, placed a calling on us, has set us apart from the world to become a person made new by the Holy Spirit (more of that in verses 13-14) The word "saint", which is also translated in some versions as "holy ones," appears several times in both the Old Testament and New Testament scriptures. It is derived from the Latin version of the word holy as applied to such a person (agnus), translated from the Greek word hagios, which means to be set aside or separated apart from ordinary use to be made sacred or created for a sacred purpose. A calling from God to become a Christ follower, a person who is "in Christ", is a holy calling. It is an invitation into the family of God. You and I who have been called by God to such a holy purpose, are saints made by God.

And there is more to be made aware of in the opening verses of chapter one:

The passage reveals something even more amazing: "He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world." Before the foundation of the world. That is, before the "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", God had already determined who would be called. This is referred to as the "doctrine of election" and if you were a regular Bible study attendee you would have heard Mr. James refer to this doctrine a number of times. It is definitely one of those hard sayings in the Bible, but the essence is that God is the One Who Saves, God is the One Who Calls us to be in Christ. This is a recurring theme in chapters 1 and 2 of Ephesians, and in my messages, will likewise be repeated.
     Some of you who continue to read this message may be unsettled by what you read, as you have been raised and taught either by those who raised you, or by a minister, or by a religious rite or ritual the very opposite.

We do not, we cannot become a Christian any other way, no matter what anyone says or professes - only God alone can do this. He doesn't need help from us to make that decision. We can't inherit it from mommy and daddy, or from grandma or grandpa, or any other "ancestor". Nor does sainthood - the call to be in Christ - "rub off" on us when we are around a Christ follower; yes, we can be influenced by their example, by their sharing of the Gospel message, but it is ultimately God who chooses to stir the heart of the hearer. We cannot earn it by being "good" which is beyond impossible because we have an inherited sin nature from Adam that is anti-God. We cannot earn it through good-deed-doing; no church or religious person or religious ritual can make us Christian or saved; such activities may be able to point us to God, but they cannot usurp the power of God to save an individual. It is God alone who makes that choice - and it is God alone who has set the time and circumstance of the manifestation of that choice.

Thus, when you really sit and meditate on that tenet, that truth, can you feel the ramifications of what God has done for you and in you, if indeed you are saved, that He pierced all of eternity to choose us out of love? 

Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but I'll be honest with you: I often well up with tears and a heart so full of gratitude that it overflows whenever I am hit with that reality!! He chose me - me, a nobody, a "blip on the screen of eternity". I don't deserve even a passing thought by Him. Why can I honestly say that? Because: He is a God so Holy that there are no adjectives created by man to adequately describe Him. And I (along with everyone else) am a sinner that has no inherent right to even step into a space of holiness, or even on the edge of God's shadow. (Kind of like Moses and the burning bush1/: God told Moses to remove his sandals, the identity of his walk or character, because what he was entering was holy space. If Moses had instead arrogantly stepped into that holy space with the uncleansed sinful character he had, we wouldn't even know about him, for he would have been consumed by the fire he was investigating, never to be used in the holy work of liberating the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from slavery in Egypt. He would have been a "blip" that immediately disappeared, never to return. But, praise God that He had already ordained Moses for this calling, so that we are here today because he obeyed by the grace of God. Just as God called Moses and planted a faith in him that obeyed the call to approach the bush, God calls us out of the bondage and penalty of sin by endowing us with the faith to respond in obedience so that we can respond by acknowledging His holiness and "take off our sandals" to be used by God.)  

As the hymn says, "we are not worthy of all His blessings." yet God in His amazing grace and mercy chose us to be in Christ since before the foundation of the world. This knowledge and awareness of what God has done has to be the most awesome, most serious, solemn and at the same time, the most amazing and joyous thing that ever happened to us. The All-Knowing, All-Seeing, All-Powerful God who lives in the Eternal Present - a time frame we cannot even begin to wrap our brains around - has chosen us to become an heir with Christ - the same Christ Jesus who left heaven, came to earth, lived a life of righteousness, then died as a sacrifice for sin. *More about that later.*

Friends, please do not take this truth lightly. If you know that you are called by God, that you were chosen from before the foundation of the world -- as opposed to mere attraction or feel good vibes of a service, as a social interaction with family or friends, or as a duty to a lifestyle so that you are perceived as a good person by crossing a church threshold -- then please, please grab hold of this awareness, even the miracle of who you and I are and how we became to be in Christ, let it seep deeply, let it be digested into our souls and fill us with all wonderment and awe, fill us with overflowing gratitude, fill us with indescribable joy and peace, and anchor our trust in Him in all things. Mark this page in your Bibles so that you can return to it often, repeat it often, pray it often. May it shape our faith, nurture our love for and in Him, knowing that through Him we have not only eternal life in us in the person of the Holy Spirit, but that we have been gifted the promise of eternal life in the realm where we will see our Savior face to face. Knowing that by His choice of us and the imputed holiness - a holiness that cannot be naturally derived or developed by us, but rather be transferred to us by God - through the Spirit of Christ, we are being sanctified (another word derived from the Greek word hagios), transformed into the image of Christ until we reach the full measure and be "translated" to live in the heavenly places already designated for us. 

Friends, let us believe so strongly and feel the promise in our hearts and souls so deeply so that we will be able to see our lives and humanity through a mind set on God. May we consider all our sufferings (for they can be many), all our woes, our troubles, our grief, our pains - while very and sometimes brutally real and sometimes scarring - as a "slight, momentary affliction [that] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure," i.e., they are "slight" when compared to the eternal life with Christ in the holy realm and kingdom of God that we will enjoy beyond our earthly journey. What a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus as He is! As the Gospel song says echoing scripture, "Don't wait 'til the battle is over: shout now!" Hallelujah!

Next time, what it means to be "holy and blameless", a "faithful saint", and what it means to be "blessed".

1/ See Exodus 3:1-22 for full text of Moses' calling.

Forgiveness – My Story [Inspired by the crucifixion of Christ as told from the perspective of an unnamed thief circa 31AD]

      

Seven hours is a long time when you’re in trouble. 

I keep goin’ over this in my head ‘til it hurts – “how did I wind up here?” 

*Sigh*. I’m guessin' it started when I was a youth – I got mixed up with some fellows –one of’em was the son of my mother’s sister; they were bullies and stole stuff from people who were naki, real weak. It was scary first time, but when you poor and your pockets all of a sudden got coins in'em, the fear just goes away--like a scared bird--when you hear them coins clinkin' together - mmmh – you feel rich! But, uh, if I was gonna tell the truth – course not somethin’ I be sayin’ to my partners, I really was scared each time we stole stuff from people cuz I kept asking myself, how many more times can we get away with it? But later, when there wunt nothin’ to eat, hungry took over fear; no sech thing as free food. 

Ev'rythin' was goin' good enough...somedays you gettin' enough for some food and somedays you be gettin' enough for food and shoes, and even a decent robe! Then one day, this rich man who look like he was a lawyer or sumthin was gone on the road that goes from the Engedi in the wilderness all the way to Jerusalem and Samaria. You see, there’s this little spot on the road up between the mountains so travelers can’t see what’s in front of ‘em or behind’em. It’s real wind-ee, you know? So this rich lookin' ol’ man had a bunch-a bondsmen – so you know he had coin -  they went afore him with this noisy rattlin’ cart fulla loot; couldn’t hear much by that noise. Too many of’em to try to steal from that stash. But, when they gone afore enough so you couldn’t see’em and they couldn’t see you or them master, we made our move. One of our gang gagged the ol’ man an’ pull’him down off his donkey; you could hardly hear his little whine. The fellow what’s grab’him kept him down, while the rest of us pick’d his pockets an’ stole the purse hangin’ on the animal. When we got our plunder, the fellow who was holdin’ the ol’ man down told him not to make any noise or else… we ran back to the thicket where we been hiding. I was shaking ‘cuz we never in all the time we be doin’ this – we never hurt somebody to make’em bleed; I mean the ol’ man was alive but he was scared-er than me. Never been so scared in my life! This was the most hard we e’er done to somebody – they just usually throw their money at us and run. Now, I’m the one who runnin’. I also thinkin’ – when we first started working this shohd, this robbin’, we bein' just glad to get a coin here, a coin there, but, y’know, we was “lucky” – we got away erry time! An’ we stole from a lotta people. This one, this time though -- I swore on my father’s head this gone be my last time. We could sell alla stuff we had store, an I buried some coin for me when nobody lookin’. I beg’ the gang to lay low for a while ‘til this blew over. Are greedy leader  he laughed at me. He always greedy – we threw fists once ‘cuz he wanna take mos'of da plunder, but this time he says layin’ low might be a good idea. Says we won’t be stealing for a while. I liked the sound of that, and it made me feel good an' comfutable to hear'em say so. 

Well, he was right, but not the way I wanted him to be right. 

We made it to our reggla cave where we like tuh go ‘cuz it hides from the main road. But this time, some kind of way, they found us. Where’d we mess up? We tried runnin’, but the soldiers come up on us. Guess we muss’v  run outta  “luck.” Our leader and one of the other fellows tried  fightin’ their way out – I kept tellin’em to stop, stop man, then one of’em hit one-uh the soldiers and him an’ the leader tried gettin’ way to the wilderness; in the end, though, well--they didn’t make’it. I tried to bribe the soldiers with the purse – they like bribes, but they wont having' it today for some reason. The soldiers then tie' me up with leather straps and rough rope; they make me walk all da way to Jerusalem. I knew what was comin’. Jewish men never gets a fair trial no matter what. The Romans always wanted to make an example of criminals. Ha - muss’v been my turn.

Seven hours is a  l o n g  time. A long time. 

I got hanged onna stake next to two other fellows – one was a rebel who tried-duh get some other Jews to go up on the Roman governor. He be a thief too like me and he was very angry. The other man was this Rabbi I heard ‘bout – he been upsettin’ all da villages, and making the Pharisees mad. The soldiers ha'done a number on him – he was beat up bad, and looked like they tortured ‘im; he looked half dead. He really muss’v done somethin’ wrong for all that! The fellow on my other side started cursin’ him, callin’ him a blasphemer. An’ sayin’ he was God anna  new king! I tol’ the beaten up man “if yous a god, get us down offa these crosses!” I added my own cursin’ ‘cuz I was angry I got caught an’ now here I was. Hangin’ on a crossbeam. I asked him, “if you god then why you hangin’ on a crossbar like us? Why they treat you so bad? What kind of god are you?” Only, I wished right then he was God, ’cuz seven hours is a long time to hang on a crossbar ‘n’ stake.

The day wored on, an’ the sun’s heat made the air feel like it’s full of needles. The angry fellow kept on with his rilin' on the tortured man; kep’ callin’ him Yeshua, which kina made me laugh ‘cuz the name means “God saves.” Yeah, right. So I’s in and out of consciousness. But one of those times I start thinking about it -- then I 'emember seein’ this Yeshua walkin’ with a crowd some time afore all of this. . .hey! He’s da one that healed the lame man! That man’s legs were all messed up – he’s always beggin. I’s on the edge of the crowd but I saw most of it with my own eyes. Thought it was a scam though… It was hard to remember who this Rabbi was ‘cuz I mean his face so messed up. An’ I heard him mumblin’ words I just barely make out over the angry fellow’s yellin’ – like, he was talkin’ to somebody and tellin’em that the people should be forgiven. 

Seven hours is a long time to hang on a crossbar and stake… 

So I come to ag’n. Angry fellow looked all used up. The Rabbi, Yeshua, was really lookin' bad and in lotsa pain. But his words—his words about forgiveness was still ringin’ in my ears – I saw what he done; I was even one of the people that the wild man John baptized. For repentance. I, I remembered seein’ Yeshua near the river one day and the wild man John said that Yeshua was the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Someone even said that He was The Messiah!! Was it true? Could it be true? I prayed for the first time in a long while that it could be true an’ that I was next to somethin’ or somebody divine. 

I was in the seventh hour on this cross and know’d my life would soon be over... 

Then Angry fellow woke up and tried to yell at Yeshua again—pantin’ with each word. With the little bit of force I had left I told angry man “to stop cuz this man, Yeshua, is innocent. We’a payin’ for our sins, but this man he’s not sinned.” I heard myself say those words like an echo. Was I still alive, then? I looked up, then the Rabbi Yeshua looked at me with eyes that seem to look all the way into my soul.  An' I felt somethin' like I nevah be feelin' before. I felt peace!  There was something ‘bout them eyes. 

With slow breaths I ask the Rabbi, the Messiah: ‘Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And the Lord, the Lamb, hangin’ next to me, and still lookin’ in my eyes said, “Truly I will remember you and you will be with me in Paradise.” 

I was forgiven! I am forgiven! I wanted to shout it out loud, but it came out in gasps. I prayed to God in heaven “toda, thank you” and tol’ the Rabbi, The Messiah Yeshua, with tears in my eyes, “toda , toda,” and I wont sure why; I just knew inside somethin’ had happened I didn’t deserve. 

See: seven hours is a long time to hang on a crossbar ‘gainst a rough wood stake only knowin’ ‘til right now, my last hour, my life had no meaning. This seventh hour changed everything—I was forgiven by Him.

Then the soldiers broke Angry man’s legs and he cried out loud cursin’ the emperor; he died just a little while later. An’ then a soldier stuck a spear in The Messiah’s side and water and blood came out. When the spear went in, I heard’im scream what should have been a scream heard all over Judea!, but his voice was thick with pain and the scream a whisper. After a short while, He said real soft strainin’ his voice, ‘I am a-thirst,’ then another soldier ran and got him a sponge soaked in vinegar, but a'fore he could suck good on the sponge, I heard him say, “It is finished.” And he died. 

Seven hours is a long time to hang nailed to a rough wood cross. 

I heard a soldier say that this Rabbi Yeshua, My Messiah, was truly the Son of God. And then I knowed -- I knowed for sure I was forgiven an’ I was gonna see my Lord in Paradise! 

An’ then it was my turn. In my head, my face was smilin’; I had spoken with the Son of God – the Son of God!! uhg! the soldiers broke my legs, then the world around me became dim, dim, then dark.

Seven hours is a long time to hang on a rough wood cross. But, 

Paradise is forever! 

                                                               ~The beginning~

                    ~by an unnamed thief at Calgary in Judea circa AD 31~