Acts 16:31-40 – They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household. 35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” 36 The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.” 38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. 40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.
“They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Scripture interprets scripture. Romans 10:9 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” If we believe, we believe. Nothing in the Bible explicitly contradicts this verse, there is no “wait and see” condition. What kind of comfort would that bring if after making a confession of belief and faith in Jesus we were then told to not be too sure of ourselves, and that we must see if our faith is borne out by the perseverance of our faith and belief. If that were true, and it is not, then there would be no assurance of our faith. In fact, it is not a Christian teaching, but it is a teaching of the cults. Neophytes are often asked before being baptized if they know that they are saved. They are baptized by the confession of their faith in Jesus. Because 1 John 5:13 clearly states “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” We see that upon the confession of our belief and faith in Jesus we then are to know that we are saved. Not in the future, but right then we may know it. The Word promises that if we believe in Jesus we are saved. We do not have to wait to see if our belief, our faith holds out, we are saved right then and there. Upon our confession of belief and faith in the works and person of Jesus, we are saved. Then we have the peace that belongs to people who know and love the Lord.
We know that we are saved solely by faith (Ephesians 2:8). So since we are saved by faith do we then need to remain in faith by working hard to maintain the faith? No, no, no! (Galatians 3:1-3) We are saved and kept in faith by God (2 Thessalonians 2:13, Galatians 5:16-17, 1 Peter 1:2, 1 Corinthians 6:11). Part of the mystery of the grace of God is that God requires us to have faith in Jesus to be saved (Hebrews 11:6). However, that could be seen as a condition that we have to meet to be saved. But the faith that we have comes from God (Romans 12:3). He is the one who offers grace to us and He alone is the one who creates and builds that faith so that we are enabled to believe. So God is the Great One who really has done it all, but yet credits us as if we have done something of merit. Also, as some who do not understand and so wrongly deduce, that would mean that, since grace is totally of God, since the faith we have is totally a work of God and not of ourselves, then those who do not come to Him must have been created for eternal damnation and they never had a chance to come to Him in faith. But do not be deceived, that assumption is incorrect, perhaps coming close to blasphemy against our Holy God. If what they believe were true, than the Word of God that says that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (John 3:16), and that God does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9), are erroneous statements of scripture. That would mean that scripture contradicts scripture. And that would mean that some of the Word of God is wrong. And that would mean that what we have is not the Word of God. If what we have is not the wholly the Word of God but has errors, then what we have is not from an omniscient and omnipotent God. And, Family, that would mean we have no assurance at all. Scripture is either infallible, or we have no foundation for our faith.
Therefore, as the Word of God testifies, all that believe on the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord are saved immediately. There is not waiting to see if we will “hang in there.” It is plain, that when we believe on Jesus in this way we are immediately saved from being eternally separated from God (Romans 10:13, John 3:15). There is not a test to see if the belief and the faith of the person stands. People who confess Jesus are immediately saved. That is an eternal truth.
Some may ask but what of the person who renounces faith, and lives a reprobate life, and never repents of their rebellion of God? What of them? Well, that is another topic which could be reviewed. The question here is does God say what He means and mean what He says. The answer to that is “Yes! Yes He does.” So what Peter and Silas had said to the jailer regarding the requirements of salvation, that one need only to believe in Jesus to be saved is true. Believe and be saved at that very moment. Because we can believe and trust what God said that we are then saved, then we can have the peace of God that transcends all understanding and that peace will be ours, right there and right then. Right then we can take as our own this promise from Jesus “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) We have a right to the assurance of our salvation from the moment we believe in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. No waiting. Don’t let anyone steal your peace. Believe in Jesus and be saved. Then we have the peace of God and we look forward to an eternity with God. We can and do because of Jesus. Only because of Jesus.
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”