The amazing ripples of grace.

Steve Brown:
The amazing ripples of grace. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life is a radio program for struggling believers, sick of phony religion and pious clichés. Our host and teacher is seminary professor Steve Brown. He teaches that radical freedom leads to infectious joy and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you’ve been with us this week and the last part of last week, I don’t have it outlined, I’m just reading verses and pointing them out as we go along. If you weren’t with us, we went to jail with Paul and Silas and their friends. They were in shackles because they had interrupted the income stream of some con artists. And they didn’t have any hope. And they were having a worship service in the prison, singing hymns and praying and praising. And the prisoners were listening and God was bringing revival to the prison, but they were still in jail. They were still in shackles. They were still in trouble. And this was not for a parking ticket. This was a big deal. And then all of a sudden, an earthquake shook the prison. I love it. I mean, really shook the prison so much so that the prison doors automatically came open. The shackles fell off their feet and arms and they were free. And then we saw that the jailer realizing what had happened, knowing that his bosses were going to execute him for letting the prisoners escape, got a sword and was getting ready to commit suicide. And Paul said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We’re still here. We haven’t gone anywhere, come in and check. And he did, and it blew him away. And we saw the importance of doing things that are unexpected, in ways that are unexpected, so that the world can see. You ever let them see you be really serious because this is serious business. Listen to me, sometimes you need to let them see you laugh because this is good news. It’s really good news. I have a friend who says that the problem with the church is that there are nose marks on the windows, as we look out at the world and wish we could be with them and party with them. And he says, it ought to be the other way around. There ought to be nose marks on the outside of the church, so people when they look in will say, man. I wish I could be in there with them. And so, Paul should have run, he should have escaped, saved himself for another day, but he didn’t. He and Silas and their friends just sat there and waited to see what God was going to do. And when the jailer found out they were still there, he was blown away and he said, men, this is the 31st verse.

“Men, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved.”

What do you mean believe and you’ll be saved? I mean, you ought to live a life if you’re saved and you know it, your life ought to show it. You ought to join a Bible study and a good synagogue and you ought to let the world, no, no, none of that. Paul didn’t add anything to the gospel, that’s it.

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”

That doesn’t say you have to change first, you have to be nicer than you’ve been, you have to be more faithful than you’ve been, and God will notice and save you. When we were dead, not sick. When we were coldstone dead and dead people can’t do anything, Jesus came and salvation took place.

“Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”

And the guy, it’s not in the text, but I know what happened. He said, that’s it? And Paul said, that’s it. Well, there’s gotta be more than that. Paul said, no, there’s no more than that. That’s enough.

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”

And that’s what happened to the jailer, he was saved, but let me show you something else. You have got to stay on with that verse.

And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”

And here it comes.

“You and your household.”

Yeah. How about that? Not just you, but you and your family. We don’t make much of it, but we ought to, there is a family covenant. When you become saved, there’s a, now that doesn’t mean that everybody in your family is thereby saved, but they become a part of a family covenant, and God works within family covenants. And we need to remember that. Don’t give up on your husband. Don’t give up on your wife. Don’t give up on your kids. Don’t give up on your cousins because there’s a family covenant and God works within the covenant. And Luke saw fit to give the whole quote in this particular text.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved and your household.

That’s called the ripples of grace. I’ll tell you something, when you get saved, that’s not just you, you’re not John Wayne, just you and God. When you’re saved, it has ripples and it starts in your family and it goes to your friends and to your business and your network. And it begins to make a difference because Jesus does make a difference. Now, we don’t know the full story of this jailer or what happened to him after that, but we do know that it started in the family and you couldn’t stop it. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
And that was Steve Brown, continuing to teach us from Acts 16 about the time God busted Paul and Silas out of jail. Oh. And saved the jailer and his family, so much happening in this chapter. And we’ll continue reveling in this story tomorrow. Hey. Join us for that, won’t you? So, we get a lot of questions here at Key Life, but there’s one that we get more often than any other. How can I know that I’m saved? That’s a great question. Well, Steve spoke about this in a classic sermon titled How to Know that You Know Him. Take a listen to part of that talk, then I’ll be back to tell you about a special free offer. Here’s Steve.

Steve Brown:
Now, if you were here last week, you’re aware that I took the time to show you that the Bible teaches that if you’re a Christian, you’re always going to be a Christian. I am the son of Newton Webb Brown. I was born that way. And if I go to a court and have my name changed, I’m still going to be the son of Newton Webb Brown. And no matter what happens to me, no matter whether I’m faithful to the principles taught to me by my father or not, I am still the son of Newton Webb Brown, and I’m going to be his son until the day I die. Now, if you’re a Christian, according to 1:12, you became a child of another Father. And that will never, ever change because he holds you, you do not hold him. If you were here last week, you are also aware that we saw through Hebrew 6:1 through six, and a number of other Scriptures that there are in the church, two kinds of Christians, the real ones and the false ones, the weeds and the wheat. And we saw that it is possible and I didn’t have anybody particular in mind when I said, that it was possible for you to be an officer in the church and not to know Christ, to play the game so perfectly that you fool all of the brethren into thinking that you’re the real thing, when you’re a counterfeit. Bud Coombs was telling us this morning, that he was a deacon in this church for one year, before he became a Christian. So, it’s possible to be a pastor, it’s possible to be on the staff of the church, it’s possible to be a weed Christian and to fool everybody except you and God. You heard about the man from the mountains who was dressed, fit to kill, with a big black Bible under his arm. And he was approached by a friend and said, why are you dressed up like that? And he said, I heard about New Orleans. And I heard that they have women running all over the place down there and booze is flowing like a river and they’ve got a poker game on every corner. And I decided that if it was that good, I was going down there. And he said, well, I understand that, but how come the big black Bible under your arm? He said, well, I figured if it was as good as they said it was, I’d stay over till Sunday. And I certainly wouldn’t want to miss church. Now, there are lots of folks in the church, just like that. Now, in response to what I said last week, there were a lot of questions and I want to deal with those questions this morning, or rather to allow the writer of Hebrews to deal with those questions. Evidently a lot of people got scared after last Sunday and they wondered if they were really Christians. That’s not bad. I hope you were scared good for a whole week. That’s what the writer of Hebrews does, for the first six verses he scares the socks off you. And then when you get to the next to the ninth verse, he begins to pour oil on the troubled waters. And so, even though I didn’t plan it that way, I suggest that what happened to you if you’ve been frightened all week about your salvation, is probably a pretty Biblical thing to happen to you. But the question was something like this, I realize that Christians are eternally secure. I realize that the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is a true doctrine and a Biblical doctrine. I recognize that if I’ve put my hand in his hand, he’s going to hold on to me right on through to the end if Philippians 1:6 is true, in that.

He who began it in me is going to bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

But my problem is, that I’m not sure whether or not I’m a Christian. And so, this morning I proposed to let you know how to know that you know Him. Seems appropriate before we turn to the text that we take a few moments to examine five facts that have to do with how one comes into a relationship with Christ. For those of you who are searching, I want you to listen very carefully. You’re not going to like what I’m going to say, you may think that it’s old fashioned, that it went out with your grandfather’s spats. But after I tell you, you’ll never again, be able to say, nobody ever told me. I am not an evangelist. And it’s very rare in this church when I present a plan of salvation. And so, if you’ve been here and you’ve never heard it and you’re not sure, listen very carefully, cause I’m going to very quickly cover the five points that you need to know when you come into that initial relationship with Jesus Christ.

Matthew Porter:
And guys, that’s just about four minutes of this amazing sermon. If you ever have doubts about your salvation or know someone who struggles with those questions, let us mail you this sermon on CD, for free. Just call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. If you’d like to mail your request, send it to

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