THE KING’S BUSINESS
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was to be saved, they spake the word of the Lord to the whole house. They were not to be saved by thé jailer’s faith, but by their own, and it was necessary that they hear the Word in order that they might believe, for faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Friday, February 16 . Acts 16 : 33 , 34 . It does not take long to get a man saved if he is in earnest. The jailer seemed a hard and hopeless case, he was brutal, he was indifferent, he was utterly ignorant and entirely godless, but in an hour he had passed out of suicidal despair into the rejoicing gentleness and abounding hospi tality of a baptized believer in the Lord Jesus. It is clear that there is nothing afiout the way of salvation that it takes long to telLor long to learn—one hour is sufficient for the whole process. Evidently Paul said something to the jailer about baptism, as immediately upon his having learned the way of life and believing on the Lord Jesus, he was baptized. And not only was he baptized, but every member of his household as well. Note the complete transformation in the converted ja ile r:'a few hours before he had taken these bruised and suffering prisoners and thrust them into a dungeon without %o much as washing their stripes, now he not only washes their stripes, but prepares a meal for them. There was great joy in that house: there is nothing that brings such joy to a home as believing in the Lord Jesus. From the Revised Version it appears that every member of the house rejoiced. Note the results of genuine conversion : (1) Transformation from brutality to ten der compassion. (2) Open and immediate confession of Christ in baptism. (3) Great joy. (4) Generous hospitality. (5) A transformed home. Saturday, February 17 . Acts 16:35 to 40 . The magistrates (Praetors) had got themselves into trouble in their haste. Under
us from sin’s power (Acts 2:36; Heb. 7:25). If we believe on Him we put' con fidence in Him as our Lord and King and as the One who has power to deliver us day by day from the power of sin, and we take Him to be our Lord and King and to deliver us from the power of sin. Still further, He offers Himself to us as a Teacher sent from God who spoke the very words of God (John 7:16; 12:49; 14:24; 17:8). If we believe on Him we put confidence in Him as a Teacher sent from God who spoke the very words of God, and we stand ready, if the whole world says one thing and He says another, to believe Him against the whole world. We receive Him to be our teacher, believ ing everything that He says. To put what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus in still another way, it is to commit ourselves and all that we have to Him ,(2 Tim. 1:12). Cast yourself unreservedly upon Him, leave all with Him, and you will be saved. Any one who really believes on the Lord Jesus is saved the very moment he believes. That very moment every sin he has committed is forgiven and blotted out, he is justified ' from all things (Acts 13:38, 39; 10:43; Rom. 8:1; 4:5; 5:1). Believing on the . Lord Jesus brings salvation not only to the one that believes, it brings salvation also to his house. It is the privilege of every true believer in the Lord Jesus to have his chil dren saved. It is true many believers do not live up to their privilege, nevertheless that is there privilege. Paul and Silas did not stop with merely telling the jailer to believe on the Lord Jesus, they gave him something as a foundation upon which he could build his faith, they ‘‘spake the word” unto him (cf. Rom. *10:17; John 20:31). It is at this point that many workers make a mistake; they tell, and rightly tell, people to “believe,” but they do not give them the word about Christ crucified and risen to enable them to believe. It is not enough to tell people to believe, you should do as Paul does here, give him the word regard ing Jesus, give him, for example, Isa. 53: 6 ; Heb. 7 :25; Acts 2 :36. As the whole house
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