Charles Spurgeon wrote a little book entitled, Seven Wonders of Grace. In it he discusses and explains in his own unique manner the wonders of grace performed in the hearts of different sinners. King Manasseh is one of them; the malefactor on the cross is another. And the Philippian jailor is still another.

Here, on this missionary journey of Paul and his helpers, the work of the Lord apparently is suffering. The work had been progressing so well. A few converts had been made by this time (verse 16). They already had a regular place for prayer serv­ices. By the power of the risen Christ the demon had been cast out of a certain slave girl. And then it all appears to have come to an end, when they are thrown into the dungeon of the city jail. Is this the work of the Lord? And we do well to remember that the book of Acts is really not the book of the acts of the apostles, but of the risen, exalted Christ. In the Gospel narrative Luke writes about what Jesus be­gan to do and teach, but in the book of Acts what He continues to do and teach throughout the entire age of the New Testament. But now the leader of the whole "movement," Paul, with Silas, is imprisoned.

Little do they realize that through this way the Lord would not only not silence their testimony by that through it all He would perform a mighty wonder of grace in the conversion of the jailor. From this we may learn that when we are walking in the way of the Lord and then unexpectedly are led in ways which appear to be leading us in the wrong direction, we may rest assured that the Lord has something very special in mind with us.

Take a look at this prison warden. Likely, accord­ing to tradition, he was a veteran of the Roman army. He had proved himself to be dependable, and no doubt also a good example of Roman discipline and regimentation. And likely with such a position he was not an immoral man. Being an ex-soldier and a prison warden he likely was a man with "steel" nerves, knowing only one thing, a sure sense of duty over against the mighty Roman government. With­out any mercy for prisoners, as an obedient servant of the law, and no doubt without any qualms of con­science he had Paul and Silas cast into the dungeon, the worst place in the jail, and placed in the stocks with wounded bleeding backs and empty stomachs. Isn't it almost unbelievable that this same man in the same night approaches these same men with that immortal soul-searching question: What must I do to be saved? At the brink of hell with suicide, and within the same hour in heaven, in principle! How is it possible? There's only one answer: A miracle of grace. There are many things to be noticed here.

First of all it is evident that the Holy Spirit is working in this man's heart. No one can or would ask this kind of question of himself. It also shows, as the Holy Spirit is working within him, that it is through a process and an internal experience that he comes to this point of asking this question. It's not a ques­tion that he asks in a mere objective, abstract, or even a doctrinal sense. This man has turmoil within, a struggle and fear. He knows that he must look away from himself for the most important answer of his life at this time.

Also, he knows that he must do something. The rich young ruler coming to Jesus also asked what he had to do. But from the answer Paul gives this man it is evident that the jailor's question arose out of an entirely different heart. Here was no thought of sal­vation by works. This man is in dire need of some­thing he knows he does not possess.

We must also see that in some form or another this is always the way in which God saves His people as sinners. No one will ever come to the point of trusting in Christ, or of possessing Christ, except when anxiety and fear first have pressed out of his inner self the question: What must I do to be saved? And no one has really ever asked this question with­out receiving the same answer and being saved.

Notice also that this man is in the midst of the stream of life. It is not a case of someone near death, because of illness and facing death in such circum­stances. O yes, there, too, this question is asked. But here it is different.

And what is the answer? Does Paul tell him that he can do nothing? That he need do nothing because it is all of grace? By no means. He must believe, and that surely is doing something. He must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul gives him the complete name of the Savior. There is the basic element of trusting in Christ that he needs, of believing on the Lord. He must completely let go of himself and of all his works and lean only on the Son of God. How much this man knew about Christ we don't know. But that he knew something about Christ is presupposed. We may conclude that he had heard of the work of Paul and of his preaching and so knew at least something about Christ. Quite probably he, too, had heard how the demon had been cast out of the poor slave girl.

The main point of this marvelous conversion we must not fail to see. If we see here only the question of the jailor we fail to see the main lesson. Often peo­ple see no more than that. Remember, this is the book of the Acts of the exalted Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is His work, of course. But notice how He works here. It is through the preaching of the Gos­pel first of all, but then accompanied with the con­duct and testimony of Paul and Silas. God saves through the witness of the Word here, but then in connection with and through this almost incredible behavior of Paul and Silas.

The conduct of these men is nothing short of amazing. Everything speaks of gross injustice. And the jailor likely knew all this. What an injustice had been done to them. They had done nothing wrong; and then, without trial, to be beaten mercilessly; and then, to be cast into this awful dungeon hole, in foul air and in the darkness of the night. How painful it must also have been for the body (as well as the soul) with feet wide apart in the stocks and empty stomachs! And they had no idea how long this would last, or what was in store for them on the morrow.

Who would ever expect that this would become one of the most wonderful pulpits in the history of the church? Soon they begin to sing. To sing in such circumstances! But filled they were with the Holy Spirit and they knew now already what Paul wrote later to the Philippians that it is grace to be saved, but also to suffer for Christ. So glorious is this Savior. The jailor had surely never seen or heard anything like it. Then at midnight, when ordinarily all is quiet also in a jail, there is this terrible earth­quake. Fear and terror grips the hearts of the bravest. The walls are apt to fall upon them. The prison doors all are shaken open. But here no one is hurt and no one escaped. Apparently, as it appears to the jailor, Paul soon "takes over" in the entire matter. The jailor sees all of this somehow to be con­nected with these "strange" men who had preached, but how they acted. And so it is the testimony of the Word and their actions that makes this tremendous impression upon this hardened unbeliever. So the Holy Spirit works to save him. What he likely really wanted is to be like Paul and Silas, to have that kind of faith.

God wants us to do mission work. God wants us to give witness at all times. But, with it, He wants a conduct and life of Christian living and Christian love. People must see in us something that the world does not have, that is different, of the Holy Spirit. Faithful witnessing of the Word accompanied with real Christian living is doing dynamic Christian mis­sion work.