Sharing the Consolation of Christ

Notes

1. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." This is the language of inspiration, and must be accepted as a perfect answer to the jailer's appeal for knowledge. We must accept perfect belief on the Lord Jesus Christ as the all-sufficient means of salvation. The reason why so many speak disparagingly of simple belief, saying, "It is all right to believe, but we must do something, as well," is because they fail to realize the wonderful comprehensiveness of Bible belief. Believing, in the Bible sense, is doing. When Christ was asked by the Jews what they should do in order to work the works of God, he replied, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom he hath sent." John 6:29. This shows that there is no danger of antinomianism in real faith. Paul says that faith establishes the law. Rom. 3:31. That means that it is faith that does the law, and that the law is "made void," that is, broken, only by those who do not have faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. That is, everything good that we long for, we get in faith. It is that which brings strength out of weakness, and light out of darkness, and works of righteousness in the place of disobedience. Let no one decry faith in Christ, but let all seek to know what it is in truth.

2. Paul and Silas had been set upon by a mob, and the magistrates, in obedience to the dictates of the mob, had beaten them, without trial, and had thrust them into prison. Roman justice never allowed a man to be punished without trial and condemnation, and it would have been an unlawful thing to scourge Paul and Silas, who were Roman citizens (Acts 16:37), even if they had been justly condemned. So when the magistrates, having come to their senses, and knowing that the prisoners had done nothing worthy of punishment, indifferently sent messengers telling the jailer to set them at liberty, Paul stood upon his rights as a Roman citizen, and let the magistrates feel in what a compromising situation they had placed themselves. He could not have pleaded his Roman citizenship the night before, and thus avoided the indignity, because a mob is deaf. But now he could make the magistrates sensible that they were within his power. He had no idea of using his power to report them to Rome and have them deposed, and perhaps beheaded; but there can be no doubt that he designed to take advantage of the situation, to teach the magistrate a lesson, and perhaps to secure immunity to some extent to the disciples. From this we may learn that it is lawful at all times to avail ourselves as far as possible of any natural or civil right that we may possess, in order to check the violence of persecution.

3. "And when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed." What a wonderful lesson is in this statement! One would naturally think that Paul and Silas, after the shameful and cruel treatment that they had received, were the ones to be comforted. But no; they had received their comfort already. They had been sharers in the sufferings of Christ, and he had borne their sorrow for them. The happiest men in Macedonia that night were Paul and Silas. And as God had given them comfort, they, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Peter 4:10), ministered the same comfort to others. From this we may learn that the proper way to use trials is not to mourn over them, burdening others in our efforts to obtain sympathy, but to take the increase of grace which God always gives in tribulation, to those who will receive it, and thereby be able to testify to others with greater confidence, of the goodness of God.