Why did the Philippian jailer pick Paul and Silas and ask how to be saved?
God sovereignly let the pagan jailer know that Paul and Silas held the answer to his dilemma. Though his immediate crisis was prisoners who stayed instead of fleeing, the real issue became his own soul. So he brought them out and asked what he must do to be saved.
Les explains that the jailer, a pagan Gentile, singled out Paul and Silas from all his prisoners because God somehow let him know they were the answer to his predicament. The jailer faced a dilemma: all the renegade prisoners were loose and ready to flee, yet they were not fleeing; they stayed. Les sees God sovereignly letting the jailer know there was the answer to his problem, but the answer concerned far more than prisoners—it concerned the man's own soul. After bringing Paul and Silas out of the dungeon and prison, the jailer asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Les contrasts this with Peter in Acts chapter 2, where Israel asks nationally what the nation must do; Gentiles are dealt with as individuals, and each individual must ask that same question.