“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” That is what the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas in Acts 16:30. His question was posed because an earthquake opened the doors of the prison that housed the missionaries, but Paul and Silas chose not to escape. The jailer was touched by their choice to stay put, and then he knew that these men truly possessed something different.
The duo answered his question by telling him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household (v.31).” This shows us there is something we must do in order to be saved. They did not tell the Philippian that all people go to heaven automatically; each person must make the personal choice to believe in, or trust in, Jesus and His work on the cross.
If you want the answer to the question to be nothing, then the question needs to be “What must I do to be lost?” Some might say that in order to be lost we need to do something terrible, like commit a violent crime or worship some false idol. But that is not true. We do not need to do anything to be lost, because we are all lost by birth. Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”
It really is that simple. Our eternal destiny is not decided after a careful analysis of the way we lived our lives, it is decided the second we choose to put our trust in Jesus. Belief plus nothing results in salvation; unbelief plus everything results in condemnation.
What must you do to be lost? Nothing, you are born separated from God in your sins. What must you do to be saved? Just believe. Put your trust in what Jesus has already done.
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