Three Paths to Salvation: Exploring Answers in the Book of Acts

Join Reagan as he delves into the Book of Acts, exploring three primary passages that address the question 'What must I do to be saved?' Reagan discusses the seemingly distinct answers given in Acts 16, Acts 2, and Acts 22, explaining how the answers are tailored to the specific contexts and spiritual journeys of the individuals asking the question. Through this examination, Reagan illustrates that the pathway to salvation involves different steps for different people, but ultimately converges on faith, repentance, and baptism. He emphasizes the importance of beginning where people are in their spiritual journey and the individual's responsibility in seeking and accepting salvation. This episode encourages viewers to reflect on their own relationship with God and consider what they must do to be saved.

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:42 The Question of Salvation in Acts 16
05:20 The Question of Salvation in Acts 2
07:21 The Question of Salvation in Acts 22
09:40 Understanding Different Answers to the Same Question
20:02 Application: Preaching and Personal Responsibility
30:39 The Importance of Asking the Right Question
34:22 Conclusion and Call to Action

Transcript

Good morning again. It's so good to see everyone here this morning, especially those who are visiting with us. We're so grateful that you've come our way, and I would invite you to open up your Bible and turn to the Book of Acts to Acts chapter 16 beginning. And if you'll make the effort to turn to the Book of Acts the three primary passages that we'll read this morning will all come from the Book of Acts in three different chapters.

And we'll start in Acts chapter 16 and verse 23. Here in just a moment. Acts chapter 16 and verse 23. This morning I want to look at three true answers to the same question, and, and that might sound strange to our ear at first, especially considering how the Bible emphasizes over and over that there is one way to God that there is one faith, that there is one savior.

And with that in mind, how could one question be given with three very different and distinct answers. And all of those answers be correct. It seems unlikely when we frame it that way, but as we talked about in the Bible, class hour framing can sometimes be deceiving. And yet this is the case in the New Testament book of Acts.

When the question, what must I do to be saved is asked. So if you're there in Acts chapter 16, begin reading with me. In verse 23, we're gonna look at three passages where this question or a version of this question is asked, and see what it is, is given as the answer to that question. So Acts chapter 16, begin.

Begin reading with me in verse 23, if you would, and look for the question and look for the answer that is given to it. And when they had laid many stripes on them, we're jumping in, in the middle of the story. Paul and his traveling companions have come to the colony city of Philippi. And in Philippi, they've done a lot of good they've converted some people, Lydia and others, and yet they're preaching is riled up some people, as it did everywhere.

And so they're arrested, they're beaten with stripes, and then they're thrown into prison. And they we see there in verse 23, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stalks. But verse 25, at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loose. And the keeper of the prison awakening from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.

Paul called with a loud voice saying, do yourself, no harm for we are all here. 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. The Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved, you and your household.

Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and 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 and when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them and he rejoiced having believed in God with all of his household.

The attitude of this jailer here reminds me a little bit of the blind man in John chapter nine when Jesus asked him, do you believe in the Son of God? He answered and said, who is he Lord, that I may believe in him. And so Paul's response to this man when he asked the question, what must I do to be saved was very simple.

You have to believe. You have to believe certainly in Jesus and who he is and who he claims to be. And if you want to be saved, you are going to have to believe in him. Now there are some, there are some that we encounter in the religious world who insist upon us that this expressed reply is complete, and that's all we can consider in this passage.

And thus, salvation is by faith only. And this is one of a number of passages in our New Testament that is argued from, in order to try and make that point, all you have to do is believe on Jesus and you can be saved. And certainly the expressed response in this passage in verse 31 is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

But if we look at the expressed replies given to this question on other occasions. I think it shows the fallacy of such narrow reasoning. In this one. Turn to another passage where this ver this question or a version of it is asked Acts chapter two, and we could begin reading in verse six and get the entirety of Peter's sermon.

But this is probably a passage with which you have some familiarity. It's a famous passage. It's one that we look at with some regularity. And so on this day of Pentecost where first fruits are being offered, the first fruits of the kingdom in terms of converts to that kingdom are found when Peter preaches this sermon showing those on this occasion that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

And so he brings that sermon to a conclusion in verse 36 when he says to those Jews assembled on that day. Therefore, let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?

Then Peter said to them, repent. Let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises to you and to your children, and to all who are far off. As many as the Lord our God will call. Now we see that Peter taxed some things on here in terms of what they will receive.

They, they ask what we must we do, and he says, for the remission of sins and receiving the Holy Spirit and the promise to you and to your children. But the thing that he tells them to do that they ask about is we need to repent and be baptized, repent and be baptized in order to receive these things.

Certainly including salvation. Alright, one more passage for us to consider. Let's look in Acts chapter 22. Now this is the apostle Paul and Paul is recounting his own conversion to a large, we might call it a mob, a group of people who have ill intent toward him, and he is describing his own conversion in Acts chapter 22, beginning in verse six.

So Acts chapter 22, beginning in verse six. This is what the text says. Paul says, now, it happened as I journeyed and came near Damascus, that about noon suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? So I answered, who are you, Lord?

Again, reminds me a little bit of John chapter nine. He, this voice said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of him who spoke to me. So I said, what shall I do Lord? And the Lord said to me, arise and go into Damascus.

And there you'll be told all the things which are appointed for you to do. And since I could not see for the glory of the light being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus. Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, came to me and he stood and said to me, brother Saul, receive your sight.

And at that same hour, I looked up at him. Then he said, the God of our fathers has chosen you, that you should know his will. And see the just one and hear the voice of his mouth for you will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins.

Calling on the name of the Lord. So when Saul asked what to do, he was directed by Ananias who told him, arise and be baptized. So three times this question or a version of it is asked three times. An answer is given and three times the answer is at the very least, slightly different. So here's my question.

Can only the expressed reply be considered in each of these individual passages? In other words. Was what they were told to do, inclusive of everything that they had to do in order to be saved. I think pretty obviously not. If only the express reply is to be considered, then we would have to conclude for these people to be saved.

They were each told to do something different. The jailer then was saved by faith alone, just by belief, and those on the day of Pentecost were saved by repentance and baptism alone. Without any faith. I mean, that's not given there in the passage and that Saul was saved by baptism alone without either faith or repentance because those two things are left out in what Ananias tells him to do.

Now, that's silly, and that's obviously not the case. So why then were the answers to the question different? There is, but one path that leads to life. We know this. Jesus made that very clear, right? I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by or through me. That path to life is through Jesus and the salvation that he offers.

And I would suggest this morning very clearly that all three of these people were saved in the same way. So what was different? Why were the answers different? Well, the location of where the asker was was different. When they asked for that salvation, where they were when they asked the question was different.

Ah, that's true. Obviously in a literal sense. One's in Philippi, one's in Jerusalem and so forth. But really what I'm talking about is where they were in their life, where they were in their understanding, where they were, we might say, in their relationship with God. They were on different points of progression along that same road or path that leads to life through Jesus Christ.

Stephanie's dad's birthday was yesterday and through the marvels of modern technology, we were able to FaceTime with him and, and seeing him happy birthday and all those sorts of things. But let's imagine that we wanted to go up there and surprise them in person. We wanted to drive to Benton, Illinois.

That is not a short trip. It is not a particularly easy trip. The fastest route, according to Google, and we have found this to be true, is 10 hours and eight minutes. That's with no stops for anything. So it ends up being, you know, 11 hours, maybe more. But I'm not gonna throw anybody under the bus. So, how far is it to Bitton Illinois from our house, from our home here in Lufkin?

Well, it's about 10 hours and eight minutes, and so we try and, you know, knock off the first part of the trip. We try and knock off Texas to start with, and so we drive up to Texarkana and we stop for, you know, snacks and that sort of thing in Texarkana. And so if we ask somebody there, how far is it to Benton, Illinois?

Same question. How far is it? Well, it's seven hours and 12 minutes, and then we usually get to Little Rock and we're wanting a, a bite for lunch or whatever the case might be. I'm, I'm coming to realize that a lot of our travel revolves around food, as does many things in our life. And so we get to Little Rock and we say, how far is it to Benton, Illinois?

Well, it's five hours and 13 minutes, and then there's this great little rest station you, you drive through just like this little. Tiny sliver of Missouri. And so we get to this little rest station here. The Missouri Division of Tourism has a great little race station there, so we stop there and they've always got a booth and somebody's ready to talk about Missouri even though you're only in it for like five minutes.

And if we were to ask, how far is it? The Benton, Illinois, well, it's two hours and nine minutes. And then just south of of Benton, the, the nearest big city is the city of Marion. And there's actually. You're gonna think I'm making this up. There's actually a really, really good barbecue place, like real Texas brisket and stuff in Marion, Illinois.

And so we usually stop there on the way right before we get there and we, we ask those people who live just down the road. How far is it to Marion to Benton, Illinois? Well, it's about 25 minutes, give or take, depending on all the construction that's going on. Same question. A bunch of different times with different answers.

Why? Because we're on the path to this place, and the further along we are on our journey, the the answer is going to be a little bit different. Now that is true based on, you know, something physical like this. The answer the ask receives is based on where we are at the time, but it's also true in terms of.

This question about our relationship with God. The answer the asker received in these three passages was based on where he or they were and what he needed to do next. If he's gonna keep going on this journey, I, I want you to think about it this way instead of a, a literal trip. A number of years ago, Stephanie and I were not quite newlyweds.

You know, maybe we'd been married a couple of years. We had not yet moved. Here. So it would've been just a couple of years. And I got a, I got a call from somebody I'm pretty close to a good friend of mine. And he was lamenting about his dating prospects. And he he was not living fatefully to the Lord at that time.

And, and he said, well, you know, I, I just wish that I could find a, a nice girl. I wish I could find a, a Christian girl. I wish I could find somebody like Stephanie, you know, and I'm like, back off, dude. Hey. No, he, he's saying, I wanna find somebody like her. And, and I'd love to have that kind of relationship.

And, and because we have a close relationship and we love one another, and we can be honest with one another, I said, look, man, you're not gonna find a good Christian girl in a bar. You're just not gonna find that. And so he asked the question, how can I find a girl like that? And my expressed reply to him was.

Dude, you need to go back to church. That's what I said. Right. But what is implied? What is included in that answer, do you think? He heard my, my answer to his question and said, great. Well I just, I just need to show up. I just need to show up at a church and bingo, bongo, I'm gonna find a nice girl. Do you think he understood it that way?

Do you think that was actually the answer that I was giving him, or as he understood it correctly, was I saying you need to make your life right with God and you need to get back into the kind of places where Christian girls are being the kind of person that Christian girls are gonna wanna date. That was my true reply, and he understood it that way.

He said, you know what? You're right. I do need to get my life together. When we think about this question, what must I do to be saved? Many times in our discussions with other people, they wanna take us to a passage and say, look, there it is. That's all of it. And put on blinders, you're not allowed to, to look or consider anything else.

But we know that's not really the case. Think again about Acts chapter 16. There is no indication there that the Philippian jailer had either knowledge or faith in the Christian system. So he was told to believe, they spoke unto him the word of the Lord. The text says he repented as indicated by washing their stripes, and he was baptized as it says in verse 33, and thus.

The text looks back and says thus he believed In verse 34, it summarized everything that he did in between as believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. But those on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, they had heard the preaching of Christ before they asked their question. They had a deep understanding in background in the Old Testament and who the Messiah was, what it meant for someone to be the Christ.

And that preaching by Peter on that occasion pricked their hearts. They knew the truth of what was preached and they believed it, and that's why they asked the question to begin with, man and brethren, what shall we do? How do we make this right? How can we be saved in the midst of this kind of sin? They understood the ramifications of what they had done, and so they were told on that occasion, having already believed you need to repent and be baptized.

And Saul later called Paul had already believed and he had spent three days Penitently praying to God, presumably in repentance. I'm praying to God because what I did in persecuting the church was exactly the opposite of what God wanted me to do. He too was pricked in the heart, though the text doesn't explicitly say that.

When he was told, arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, he had already believed and repented, and now he was doing this so that his sins might be washed away. They were in three very different and distinct places in their knowledge, in their understanding, and in their actions, and the words spoken to them, the reply to their heartfelt questions.

Intended to move them from where they were to where they needed to be and what they needed to do next. So what does that. What does that profit us? Well, let me, let me make four observations by way of application to this reality of these three true answers to this one. Question number one, preaching should begin where people are.

If we think about Philip in Acts chapter eight and verse 35, as he, as he finds this man in this chariot, this Ethiopian, who is a servant of Candace. And he's reading from the book of Isaiah and he asks him, well, do you understand what you're reading? And he says, how can I, unless somebody shows me, is he talking about himself or some other man?

And the text is really clear in Acts chapter eight, verse 35, then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this S preached Jesus to him. Here's my question. At what scripture do we need to begin in order to preach Jesus? May I humbly suggest any of them, any of them leads us to Christ because this book is about Jesus Christ.

Old and New Testament. The Old Testament is a tutor, a school master to bring us to Christ so that we might see him. The gospels tell us all about Christ Acts tells us about people converted to Christ and becoming citizens of his kingdom, and then the epistles tell us all about people who were converted and what they needed to do next.

This book is about Jesus. If somebody has a, a question about the scriptures, if they're reading something to themselves every single time somebody is doing that, that's an opportunity to preach Jesus to them. But it's not just a matter of where they might be studying in the Bible, it's also a matter of probably where they are in their life as well.

In Acts chapter 24, in verse 25, we see that the Apostle Paul. Is preaching to Philip, to Felix, excuse me. He's preaching to Felix, who who had some background in the law, but he also was, was living a really kind of sinful life. And in Acts chapter 24 in verse 25, the text tells us now he now, as he, that is Paul reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come.

Felix was afraid. Now, why did Paul choose those three topics? Righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come because that's exactly what Felix and Drusilla needed to hear. That's where they were in their life. They were like that friend in friend of mine who are. Living an ungodly life. Felix is known for his hedonism.

He is known for practicing all of these indulgences of the flesh, and so Paul says, no, there's some righteousness that's required of you. In order to have that righteousness, you're gonna have to have some self-control in your life because there is a judgment coming and you need to be ready for that judgment.

Now, did Paul preach the right thing to him? The text seems to indicate so because he was afraid and he needed to be afraid because of where he was in his life. He was not right with God, and he needed to know that, to have an opportunity to become right with God. And so we too, when we're preaching to people, need to start where they are.

In my preaching and in Heralds and in Prestons, we try to be relevant. We try to be timely, we try to be practical. We try to preach and begin where people are. But I'm not really talking about the pulpit. In our efforts, in all of our efforts to to speak the good news of Jesus to others, our preaching should begin where people are.

If they believe in God, they believe Christ is the son of God, and if they love God. And believe that his word was given to us By God. I mean, praise God. We're on our way. That's where they are. And we should talk to them about the things where we agree and hopefully we're able to to agree on those things, say yes to these commonalities.

But it's also imperative not to skip the fundamentals upon which we might disagree. We need to do our best to find out where they are, what they believe, where they have struggles, and start with those things. Listen attentively, attentively. Listen carefully to people and ask how are they living? What do they know?

What do they need to know? And you know, the best way to get answers to those questions about people, not to hide in the bushes and spy on their life. It's to ask them kindly and gently about their life. Ask them what they believe, agree where you can. And don't be afraid to start from the very beginning of where they seem to misunderstand, figure out where they are and you know where to start.

When I was a teenager, I had a good friend who asked me about. Instrumental music and said, Hey, I know y'all don't use instruments when you worship God. Why is that? Now, that's not the most important thing in the world, but it is a matter where we differed and we could talk candidly about things and still love and respect one another.

And so I, I turned to the Bible. I showed her some passages. I had. Providentially or circumstantially, whatever the case might be. I had just gotten a handout that had some quotes on it from some early church fathers about that issue. And I said something like, well, you see, you know, the, the scriptures in the New Testament specify singing and no Christians in the first century used instruments.

In fact, for many more centuries, nobody used instruments to worship to God. I said, do you see that She said. Yeah, I, I see that, and, and I agree with you. I, I think you're right about those two things, and that was great. I was, you know, man, this is easy, you know, like I'm ready to be a preacher. And so I say, so you agree?

So you agree then that we shouldn't use them in worship today? And she said, oh no, I think we still should. And it just blew my mind. Well, how do you agree about those two things and not agree about that? Well, now I had some learning to do, not about. The scriptures I had some learning to do about her. I asked her, well, why?

I probably made that face why? And she said well, she believed that Christians today could change their doctrine and practices. She probably didn't put it that way, but they could change what they did based on changing times and as times change, so does Christianity. And if we vote for it as a denomination or agree to it as a church, well then that changes what we do.

Well, that's different. And that's a lot more fundamental even than what our worship is, isn't it? And that's only determined by figuring out where she was and starting there. How can we appeal to the Bible without agreeing that it is supposed to be the authority for our lives? How can we teach on salvation without knowing whether or not they believe that they are saved or not, and why?

How can we apply a specific passage without understanding the context in which that passage is? WR is written. But I want us to remember humility in this as well. We are not alone in terms of those who study our Bibles. We should be truth seekers, not arrogant scribes from on high, telling other people the way the cow ate the cabbage.

Christ's word has the answers, not Reagan or you personally. And we might just learn something too by asking all of these questions in sincere love for truth. Sincere love for people and so preaching should begin where people are very quickly. Consider the responsibility in these passage is always placed on the asker when they get the answer to put it another way.

The answer to what must I do was never in any of these passages or anywhere else in the Bible do nothing. No, there was something for them to do in response to the answer. And even in belief, there is a responsibility to one who asked the question. Now that's quickly dismissed by many in the religious world.

Instead, insert asserting that belief or faith is miraculously placed on one's heart by God without anything being done by the one who believes. These questions recorded in scripture seem to fly in the very face of that, what must I do is the question, what action do I need to take? And it's not just.

What do I need to do? Or what would be nice to do? What must I do for these three examples? What must I do was believe, repent and be baptized. These are the things you must do to accept God's grace. Now we read Paul's conversion in Acts chapter 22. There's another account of that in Acts chapter nine, the first account of that.

And on that occasion, he actually asked the question, Lord, what do you want me to do? He says it in those terms, but the Lord said to him, what arise? And go into the city and you'll be told what you must do, there is something that you must do. It's required. You have to do it. And all three of these answers number three, are required in order to be saved.

God forbid that I ever preach or it ever comes across that I'm preaching a salvation by baptism alone, God forbid. A fair study of the context shows that the same elements and all three of these elements, faith, repentance, and baptism, and the implied understanding of God's grace and power through Jesus Christ that makes it so were present in each of these cases that we've examined.

But true fateful obedience is no reason to boast, but it is something that God requires. As Hebrews chapter five and verse nine says, and having been perfected, he, Jesus became the author of Eternal Salvation to All who Obey Him. So where are you, my friend? Your status or condition before God must be considered in answering your question, what must I do?

Which leads us to our final observation. I want you to see this really clearly. You know, I try not to do this at the end of lessons, but this is the most important thing, okay? This is what we, if you take nothing else from the lesson, take this. All three felt compelled to ask the question. They each showed the humility to ask.

Because they desperately wanted to know the answer. The Philippian jailer, his life has been spared and he's heard the hymns and heard some of the prayers before he fell asleep, and now this one whom he has put in the innermost part of the prison who is beaten with stripes is now crying out to save him.

And so he is compelled. What makes somebody like this? What must I do to be saved? You've already saved me once. Can you save me again in a greater way? He felt compelled by the grace that had been shown to him to ask that question. Those on the day of Pentecost, they saw what they had done and they saw how awful it was.

We've been waiting for 2000 years. For the Messiah to come and he comes and what do we do? We kill him and we can't take it back. Men and brethren, you're our brothers. You love us. Please tell us what must we do to make it right?

And Paul Saul on the road to Damascus. Doing all things in good conscience, thinking with all of his heart, he was doing what God wants him to do. A light shines and he realizes how wrong he has been. Can he make it right?

He can, because that's the kind of God that Jesus is. It didn't matter. Where they were. It didn't matter how the answer clashed with previous understanding. Just tell me what I must do, and don't you imagine that any of these asks would have done anything that was asked of them, they felt convicted to ask this question.

Though we may know intellectually what the answer to the question is until we feel that conviction to ask it, the answer is gonna fall a little flat. But when our hearts are pricked by the reality of our sin and the unbelievable possibility of salvation, despite that sin, through the love of this one.

Jesus who is to become our Lord. When our hearts are pricked like that, we're willing to do whatever he commands. Are you compelled this morning to ask the question, what must I do to be saved? Well, Jesus, he has the answer, and if there is anything that we can do to help you in responding to his answer.

Why don't you come now? Why? Together we stand and while we sing.