What must I do to be saved?

Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. – Acts 16.29-33

While Paul and Silas sat there in their chains singing and praising God thinsg began to happen. ‘Suddenly,’ we read, ‘there was a earthquake…’ The chains were broken, the doors flew open, and there was nothing restraining the prisoners. The jailer was asleep but woke up to fine the prisoners missing from their cells.

He knew he was in trouble. The custom was that if there was an escape the jailer would be executed. When the jailer encountered Paul he asked him ‘what must I do to be saved?’

Now the jailer may have simply meant what could he do to be saved from execution, but Paul took the chance to talk about a much more important salvation. He told the jailer what he must do to be saved for eternity. It was not complicated – ‘believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.’

That answer has impacted the world for all eternity. The answer is still the same. God’s plan for eternal salvation is simply believe. That may sound too simple. But true belief, real and genuine belief, is all that God desires. Believe that Jesus is is the only door to heaven. Believe that He is he way, the truth, and the life and that no man comes to the Father but through Him and you will be saved. Believe that He alone is the way to forgiveness of sins and your sins will be forgiven.

The jailer and his family were saved and baptised. That happens to all who turn to Jesus today.