The document discusses the concept of salvation exclusively through Jesus Christ, referring to Acts 4:12, which emphasizes there is no other name by which humanity can be saved. It outlines the historical significance, warnings against other teachings, and invitations to accept Christ's offer of salvation. The document underscores that salvation is needed by all individuals and emphasizes the uniqueness and sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice for redemption.

1. JESUS WAS THE ONE AND ONLY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Acts 4:12 12
Salvationis found in no one else, for there
is no other name under heavengiven to mankind by
which we must be saved."
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Unfolded Banner Of Salvation
Acts 4:12
R.A. Redford Neither is there salvation in any other, etc. The contrast between the position of
Christ's heralds thee and now. They pointed to one miracle just wrought; we point to the whole
succession of wonders along the line of Christian history. Already the Name of Jesus is "above
every name."
(1) A proclamation;
(2) a warning;
(3) an invitation.
I. A PROCLAMATION. "None other name."
1. The proclamation of witnesses. They knew the person, they saw the power, they were subjects
of the grace. The Name was a history, testified by those who published it. Others could take
knowledge that they had been with Jesus. So Christians still can speak of the Name as in their
own hearts and lives "above every name."
2. The proclamation of inspired teachers. The name misunderstood among Jews, because
salvation itself nothing to them, not spiritually regarded. The Name of the "Messiah" represented
the promise of atonement, spiritual deliverance. The apostles themselves taught of God,
otherwise would never have known the secrets of the Name. They proclaimed salvation
necessary to all, denouncing the self-righteousness of the Jews.
3. The proclamation of sincere philanthropists. "Under heaven given among men." The standard
set up at Jerusalem, but it meant conquest of the whole world. No name will bear this test but

2. Christ's. Other names, Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, have but a limited range, of sympathy -
divide the world, not unite it. The history of man is a progressive preparation of the race to
acknowledge a Name which shall be adapted for universal recognition and homage. A
missionary spirit the test of a true Church.
II. A WARNING. There are other names among men. Recall the chief dangers of our present
time. The builders at the temple of human progress are setting at naught the corner-stone. An
emasculated Christianity, robbed of its deepest adaptation to the wants of men; a mere bundle of
moral principles and examples. The pride of the human intellect set on the throne; in rationalistic
criticism; the dry bones of the Bible offered instead of the living reality; in socialistic theories
put in place, of spiritual change, which alone can produce the fruits of righteousness; in
sophistical arguments against the leading doctrines of the gospel; and pretended philanthropy,
which means nothing but trifling with the awful realities of sin, and undue exaltation of the
material above the spiritual interests of men. Other names in the Church. The priest hiding the
Savior; the ritual shutting out the truth; sectarianism dishonoring Christ; names of leaders and
teachers made into temptations to spiritual pride, and mere hero-worship substituted for simple-
minded obedience to Christ's commandments. Yet the Name above every name in fact, and must
be seen to be so. The Name of the coming Judge, who, though he find not faith on the earth, will
still destroy all that exalteth itself against him, "that God may be all in all."
III. AN INVITATION.
1. To acceptance of a free gift. "Given amongst men." Contrast between Christ's method of
helping men and that of the world's teachers.
2. To separation from a lost cause. The names of the world represent the old things which are
passing away. Come out and be separate. Name the Name of Christ in order to realize salvation.
Half-hearted religion no joy.
3. To anticipation of a final victory. As the Name we honor represents a life which went up from
the lowliest places on earth to the highest in heaven, so those who are called after the Name rise
to the throne to reign with Christ. Will you sell such a birthright for vain delight? Will you forfeit
such a prospect for lack of faith? - R.
Biblical Illustrator
Neither is there salvation in any other.
Acts 4:12
Salvation in none other
J. P. Lange, D. D.This is —
1. The substance of every apostolic announcement.
2. The experience of every pardoned sinner.
3. The strength of every courageous confession.
4. The foundation of all missionary preaching of the Church.
(J. P. Lange, D. D.)

3. Salvation in Christ alone
A. O. Smith, B. A.I. SALVATION is a subject of world-wide interest, for all need it.
1. The infant at birth needs salvation, and unless kindly hands "save" it, and minister to its
necessities, it must perish. Through Childhood the saving interposition of others is needed. Even
in manhood there is constant exposure to dangers, salvation from which is required. In age,
sickness, and sorrow, how great is the need of temporal succour and salvation!
2. The unhappy fall of our first parents has involved all their descendants in ruin. By it the
human race has been brought into imminent peril (Romans 3:10, 23; Ezekiel 18:4). Nor is the
danger of sinners the less real because they are ignorant of it, or affect to make light of it. See to
it that you neglect not so great salvation. To give prior consideration to any earthly
consideration, however pressing, is a terrible mistake.
II. SALVATION IN CHRIST.
1. With the general outlines of the plan of salvation in Christ we are all happily familiar. We
know how the Divine pity was extended to man in his fallen estate (Job 33:24). Christ undertook
our cause, and purchased our salvation by His death (Isaiah 53:5; Romans 5:6, 8; 1 Peter 2:24; 1
Peter 3:18). Now, since Christ was really God, His sufferings had an infinite value, and His life
might well be regarded as more than an equivalent for the life of guilty man; and since He was
perfectly man, it was both possible and proper for Him to take man's place, endure his
punishment, and procure his salvation, so that God can be, and is "just, and the justifier of him
which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26).
2. The conditions on which this salvation is bestowed are also familiar, viz., repentance and faith
(Acts 20:21). Compliance with these conditions is necessary. Nor can you justly complain of
this. The seaman, provided with chart and compass, and instructions as to their use, who refuses
to follow his instructions, and perishes, has only himself to blame. The man who has taken
poison, and refuses the antidote, will have but scant pity.
3. And how much does the expression "salvation in Christ" include?(1) By it the mind is brought
in contact with the entire range of human history. We are led to think of the fall of our first
parents, the promise of a Deliverer in the seed of the woman, the types and shadows of the
patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations, the incarnation of the Messiah, His atoning death, His
triumphant resurrection and ascension, the mission of the Holy Spirit as His representative and
administrator until He shall come again, His high-priestly intercession and mediatorial reign, the
coming judgment of quick and dead.(2) Nor are thoughts connected with the salvation of the
individual less full of interest. Salvation in Christ comprehends the first dawn of conviction of
sin, the apprehension of the plan of salvation, the exercise of repentance and faith, the joy of
forgiveness, adoption, and renewal, a life of holiness and usefulness, with its vicissitudes, its
conflicts, and its triumphs, conquest of death, entrance into heaven, everlasting life in God's
presence, where there is fulness of joy, the light of perfect knowledge, the glow of perfect love,
the rapture of perfect felicity, and all this for ever.
4. This salvation, as it is needed by all, is adapted to all. Of all so-called faiths the gospel alone is
equally suited to all latitudes and Lives. Some religions can only flourish in certain countries,
just as some kinds of food are peculiar to certain climates; but this seed of the kingdom is like
corn — wherever man lives it will grow.

4. 5. And this greatest of all blessings, while adapted to all, is intended for all. It is cause for
thankfulness that the chief blessings even of this world are not the exclusive property of the great
and wealthy. And salvation may be the portion of the poor as well as of the rich. Moreover, it
may be embraced by the illiterate as well as by the learned.
6. This salvation is in the name of Christ. Amongst the Jews a mystic virtue was supposed to be
attached to certain names (chap. Acts 19:14-16). And we rejoice to know that the name of Jesus
is still the most potent of charms, and is invested with glorious mystic and saving properties.
III. SALVATION IN CHRIST ALONE.
1. With regard to the salvation of the race, of no other being except Christ has it ever been
affirmed, "He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). Christ, however,
having redeemed all, claims the homage and the hearts of all (1 Timothy 4:10).
2. As to the salvation of the individual, this, too, is to be had in Christ alone.(1) We cannot save
ourselves. The poor sinner under conviction resolves, it may be, to "turn over a new leaf," but the
first thing he does is to make a blot at the top of the next page. But even supposing he could
succeed, what would it profit him while his former sins still cried for vengeance? For a sinner to
undertake to lead a moral life henceforward is merely like a bankrupt promising his creditors that
for the future he will always pay cash. Nor can we save ourselves by the merit of our penitence
and faith. Impenitence is a perpetuation and aggravation of sin; but penitence has in it no atoning
efficacy. And unbelief — the refusal to accept Christ — is a sin; but faith is not a meritorious act
which earns salvation.(2) And as we cannot save ourselves, so also no other human being can
save us. We would not undervalue the loving efforts of others for our salvation. Who can tell
how much those of us who are now saved owe to the examples, counsels, prayers, and faith of
pious parents and devoted friends? The conditions of salvation cannot be fulfilled by proxy.(3)
Nor can any human system save us.(a) Look at the various systems of heathenism. How
degrading and demoralising their teaching and tendency!(b) Sometimes an impious priesthood
has professed to dispense salvation by external religious rites and sacramental efficacy; but such
a claim is mere blasphemy.(c) Philosophy has often made proud pretensions as to the elevation
and salvation of mankind, but her actual performances have not been such as to warrant boasting.
Education and civilisation may do much for man; but with regard to his sorest need they are
helpless. The greatest benefits which it is in their power to bestow may be enjoyed, and enjoyed
to the full, by sinners whose end is everlasting destruction. In the great work of human
redemption Christ is absolutely alone (Isaiah 63:1-3; Isaiah 45:22; Matthew 1:21; Hebrews
7:25).
(A. O. Smith, B. A.)
Salvation by Christ alone
Theological Sketch-Book.I. WHAT IS IMPLIED. That there is salvation for us in Christ, we
appeal —
1. To the typical representations of Christ. There were a great variety of sacrifices under the law
which typified the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. To the positive declarations concerning Him. Nothing can be conceived more clear and strong
than the Scripture declarations of Christ's sufficiency to save. How forcibly has the prophet
marked the extent (Isaiah 45:22), the fulness (Isaiah 1:18), and the freeness (Isaiah 55:1, 2) of
His salvation!

5. 3. To matter of fact. We can draw aside the veil of heaven, and point to some before the throne
of God who are such monuments of grace as leave no doubt respecting the sufficiency of Christ
to save any others whatsoever. Let us now turn our attention to —
II. WHAT IS EXPRESSED. It is of infinite importance to every one of us to know that, as there
is salvation for us in Christ, so "there is no salvation in any other."
1. There is not.(1) In whom else can we find the requisites of a Saviour? In whom can we find a
sufficiency, either of merit to justify, or of power to renew, a sinner? If we should apply to the
highest angel in heaven to give us of his merit, he would tell us that "he himself is only an
unprofitable servant; for that he does no more than is his duty to do" (Luke 17:10). If we should
intreat him to change our hearts, he would confess his utter inability to effect so great a work.
Shall we then look to ourselves? We are full of sin.(2) If there were any other Saviour, the most
eminent of God's servants would have had some intimation of it. Abraham (Romans 4:3-5);
David would probably have been acquainted with such an important fact in order to his own
salvation; but he sought refuge in none but Christ (Psalm 51:7). We might hope at least that some
information of this kind would have been given to the Apostle Paul (Philippians 3:9; 1
Corinthians 2:2).
2. There cannot be. We are warranted by the Scriptures to say that, consistently with His honour,
as the Moral Governor of the universe, man could not have been saved without a Mediator: nor
could any Mediator besides Jesus have been found to execute all that was necessary for our
salvation. But there is yet another ground on which we may deny that any other could save us,
namely, that if we were indebted to any other, either for righteousness or strength, we could not
join in the songs of the redeemed in heaven, but must separate from the heavenly choir
(Revelation 7:9, 10), and ascribe to ourselves, or to some other, the honour of our salvation. And
how would this comport with the dignity of Jehovah, who has determined "that no flesh should
glory in His presence"?Address —
1. The careless. Wherefore are men so indifferent about their spiritual concerns? Is it that they
are in no danger of perishing? Surely the very circumstance of Christ being sent down from
heaven to die for us is enough to alarm all our fears, and to convince us that, if the salvation
offered us could be procured by none but Him, the danger of those who are not interested in Him
must be inexpressibly great.
2. The self-righteous. It is difficult to convince those who are looking to Christ in part that they
are really renouncing Christ altogether.
3. The desponding. By nature and practice. Let none complain as though they were beyond the
reach of mercy: for there is nothing impossible with Jesus: "with Him there is mercy; with Him
is plenteous redemption; and He shall redeem Israel from all his sins" (Acts 3:16; Acts 4:10).
(Theological Sketch-Book.)
Salvation only from above
J. P. Newman, LL. D.In Germany there was a prison of exquisite beauty; its floors and walls
were highly polished; it was roofless, and the prisoner could look out upon the beautiful sky. A
prisoner was placed therein, and for a moment congratulated himself upon the polish and
splendour of his apartments; he could freely breathe the fresh air and see the stars that decked the
brow of night, or the sun that rose in glory; but after a time he observed that the walls were
gradually approaching him, softly as the fall of the dew from the hand of night; noiselessly, as by

6. the force of gravitation, those walls drew nearer, inch by inch, and as they came closer and closer
the cold sweat stood upon his brow, for he saw that those walls were soon to embrace him in the
arms of death. There was but one way of escape, and that was from above; a friendly hand might
possibly be put down, but there was no such friendly hand for him. That represents the condition
of humanity; the walls are approaching, there is but one way of escape, and the relief comes from
above. The Son of the Highest from His Father's throne is reaching down His hand of power into
our dungeon; our hope is to grasp it, or the walls of our dungeon will crush us to death. "There is
none other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved."
(J. P. Newman, LL. D.)
Salvation in Christ alone"You have been a good child to your parents," said the venerable
George
III. to his daughter, the Princess Amelia; "we have nothing for which to reproach you; but I need
not tell you that it is not of yourself alone that you can be saved, and that your acceptance with
God must depend on your faith and trust in the merits of the Redeemer." "I know it," replied the
dying princess, with gentle resignation, "and I could not wish for a better trust."
Christ the only Saviour"Believe a dying man," said Dr. Johnson in his last days to his physician.
"There is no salvation but in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God."
Christ the only Saviour found out too late
C. S. Robinson, D. D.It is not long since that a prominent business man, when closely pressed by
his pastor, who had lately come to the church, replied with a call force which was meant to put
an end to further pertinacity: "I am interested in all religious matters; I am always glad to see the
ministers when they call; but I have in the years past thought the subject over long and carefully,
and I have come to the decision deliberately that I have no personal need of Jesus Christ as a
Saviour in the sense you preach." Only two weeks from this interview, the same man was
suddenly prostrated with disease; the illness was of such a character as to forbid his conversing
with any one, and the interdict from speaking was continued until he was within an hour of
death. A solemn moment was that in which a question was put to him, intimating he might talk
now if he could — nothing would harm him. The last thing, and the only thing, he said was in a
melancholy and frightened whisper, "Who will carry me over the river?"
(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Christ the only SaviourA young French nobleman, a particular friend of Napoleon III., becoming
unaccountably gloomy in mind, and threatened with insanity, was urged by the Emperor to apply
for advice and treatment to the celebrated Dr. Forbes Winslow. He came to London, and the
great doctor, after careful questioning, discovered the character of his disease. He was tormented
with a thought — and the thought was "Eternity! where shall I spend it?" This haunted him day
and night. Dr. Winslow told him he could not help him. He had sought in the wrong quarter for
his cure. "Is there no hope, then!" exclaimed the nobleman in despair. "Yes; listen to me, and I
will tell you how I was helped and healed" said Dr. Winslow. "When I was younger I had your
complaint; and I tried every resource but the right one. At last I carried my case to the Lord Jesus
Christ in prayer, and He gave me health and peace. Go thou, and do likewise." The nobleman
was astonished, but he stayed while the doctor read to him the portions of Scripture that had been
blessed to himself, and after prayer, light and comfort came to him. The new medicine had cured
him.

7. The way of salvation
C. H. Spurgeon.Salvation is the total restoration of man from his fallen estate; and yet it is
something more, for God's salvation fixes our standing more secure than it was before we fell. It
first heals our wounds, removes our diseases, takes away our curse, puts our feet upon the rock
Christ Jesus, and baying thus done, at last it lifts our heads to be crowned with the King of
heaven. Some people, when they use the word "salvation," understand nothing more by it than
deliverance from hell and admittance into heaven. Now, that is not salvation: those two things
are the effects of salvation. We are redeemed from hell, and enter heaven because we have been
saved. Observe here —
I. A NEGATIVE FACT. "Neither is there salvation in any other."
1. Did you ever notice the intolerance of God's religion? In olden times the heathen respected the
gods of their neighbours: but Jehovah put this as one of His first commandments, "Thou shelf
have none other gods besides Me." The Christian religion is just as intolerant. The Brahmin may
admit that there is salvation in fifty religions besides his own; but we admit no such thing. There
is no true salvation out of Jesus.
2. What is the reason of this intolerance?(1) Because there is the truth with the Jew and the
Christian. A thousand errors may live in peace with one another, but truth is the hammer that
breaks them in pieces. A hundred lying religions may sleep peaceably in one bed, but wherever
the Christian religion goes as the truth, it is like a fire-brand. Truth cannot afford to be yoked
with error- it gives to error its due, declaring that it hath no salvation.(2) Because we have here
the sanction of God. It would be improper in any man who had invented a creed of his own to
state that all others must be damned who do not believe it; but since this religion is revealed from
heaven, God, who is the author of all truth, hath a right to append to this truth the dreadful
condition. We are not really intolerant, for we are but echoing the words of Him that speaketh
from heaven, that there is no salvation out of Him.
3. Now persons say, "Do you imagine, then, that none are saved apart from Christ? "I reply, I
don't imagine it, but I have it here in my text. "Well, but how is it concerning the death of
infants? Are they saved? and if so, how?" I answer, Saved they are beyond a doubt; but not apart
from the death of Christ. Another says, "But how about the heathen?" Holy Scripture saith but
very little concerning them; but there are texts which lead us to believe that there are some who,
led by God's Spirit, are seeking after Him; and it may be that the God of infinite mercy is pleased
to make to them revelations, so that they may be made partakers of the blood of Jesus Christ,
without having such an open vision as we have received. But this much is certain: no heathen,
however moral — whether in the days of their old philosophy, or in the present time of their
barbarism — ever did or ever could enter the kingdom of heaven apart from the name of Jesus
Christ.
4. But it is a great deal better not to talk upon speculative matters, but to come home personally
to ourselves. And let me now ask you this question, have you ever proved by experience the truth
of this great negative fact? Once I thought there was salvation in good works, and I laboured
hard to preserve a character for integrity and uprightness; but when the Spirit of God came into
my heart, "sin revived and I died"; wherein I thought I had been holy I found myself to be
unholy. After that I thought, surely salvation might be obtained, partly by reformation, and partly
by trusting in Christ; so I laboured hard again. But after fagging on for many a weary day, like a
poor blind horse toiling round the mill, I found I had got no farther, for "Cursed is every one that

8. continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." Perhaps I have in
my presence some who are trying to gain salvation by ceremonies. You have been baptized; you
take the Lord's Supper; you attend church; and if you knew any other ceremonies you would
attend to them. As well might you labour to build your house with water, as to build salvation
with such poor things as these. These are good enough for you when you are saved, but if you
seek salvation in them, they shall be to your soul as wells without water, clouds without rain, and
withered trees, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.
II. A POSITIVE FACT, viz., that there is salvation in Jesus Christ. Thou hast long been trying to
find the road to heaven, and thou hast missed it. Guilt, like a heavy burden, is on thy back, and
thou darest not yet cry for pardon. Satan whispers, "It is all over with thee; there is no mercy for
such as thou art: Christ is able to save many, but not thee." Poor soul! Come to the Cross of
Christ, and thou shalt there see something which shall remove thine unbelief.
1. Come now with thy defilement, and look at Christ's purity; and as thou lookest at that purity,
like the lily, and thou seest the crimson of His blood overflowing it, let this whisper be heard in
thine ear — He is able to save thee, sinner, inasmuch as though He was "tempted in all points
like as we are," yet He was "without sin"; therefore the merit of His blood must be great. Oh,
may God help thee to believe on Him!
2. But this is not the grand thing which should recommend Him to thee. Remember, He who died
upon the Cross was no less than the everlasting Son of God. If He were a mere man, a Socinian's
or an Arian's Christ, I would not bid thee trust Him; but since He is none other than God Himself
incarnate in human flesh, I beseech thee cast thyself upon Him: "He is able, He is willing, doubt
no more." "He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him."
3. Recollect again, as a further consolation for your faith, that God the Father has accepted the
sacrifice of Christ. It is the Father's anger that you have the most cause to dread. Now, Jesus was
punished in the stead of every sinner who hath repented, and God the Father hath accepted Christ
in the stead of sinners. Ought not this to lead you to accept Him? If the Judge -has accepted the
sacrifice, sure you may accept it too; and if He be satisfied, sure you may be content also. If the
creditor has written a full and free discharge, you, the poor debtor, may rejoice and believe that
that discharge is satisfactory to you, because it is satisfactory to God. But do you ask me how I
know that God has accepted Christ's atonement? I remind you that Christ rose again from the
dead.
4. Another argument is this — many have been saved who were as vile as thou art, and therefore
there is salvation. The chief of sinners was saved years ago; that was the Apostle Paul: but even
if thou should exceed him, still that word" uttermost" goes a little beyond you. I could turn to
you myself, and tell you that surely there must be salvation in Christ for you, since I have found
salvation in Christ for myself. Often have I said, I will never doubt the salvation of any one, so
long as I can but know that Christ has accepted me.
5. To quicken thy diligence, however, I will conclude by noting that if you do not find salvation
in Christ, remember you will never find it elsewhere. What a dreadful thing it will be for you if
you should lose the salvation provided by Christ! For "how shall you escape if you neglect so
great salvation?"
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
One only way of salvation

9. R. Wardlaw, D. D.I. OTHER WAY OF SALVATION THERE CANNOT BE, FOR THAT ONE
WAY IS GOD'S WAY; its divinity necessitates its exclusiveness. It is clear, that when man fell,
he lay at the mercy of his Sovereign. To Him alone it pertained to determine these two points-
whether the offender should have means of salvation at all; and then, what those means should
be. If, in the exercise of the mercy in which He delights, Jehovah determined on man's salvation,
and appointed and revealed the way, how can the conclusion be resisted that that way is the only
way? The name by which we are to be saved must he "given"; i.e., it must have Divine
appointment. If "Jesus" be the name "given," then must it be the only name that can furnish any
valid and satisfactory plea at the throne of the eternal God? If men could have been saved in
ways of their own, God would not have devised one of His; and the very fact of His having done
so is sufficient to show that men cannot be saved in ways of their own. It is related of Alphonsus,
of Castile, that on having the Ptolemaic system of astronomy explained to him, he jeeringly said,
that had he lived at the time, to give the Almighty counsel, he could have instructed Him to make
a universe better. We now know that the scoff of presumptuous profanity was founded in sheer
ignorance. And so it is in every one who fancies that he can dictate to God the way to save him.
Men calling themselves philosophers have speculated whether God could have saved men in any
other way than that which Christianity reveals, so as to forget the necessity of an interest in the
way which He has accomplished. The question with us should be, what God actually has done,
and if you admit that God has done what was best, you admit that He has done what alone He
could do without ceasing to be God.
II. WE ARGUE THE SAME THING FROM THE DIVINITY OF THE EXECUTOR of the
plan; that is, from the person of the Redeemer. He is "God manifest in the flesh." Now if this is
true, then that there can be no other Saviour must of necessity be as true. Either such a Mediator
and such means of salvation were necessary, or they were not. If they were not, God could never
have had recourse to them, for He is infinitely wise, doing nothing in vain, never using great
means for little ends; and if they were, then all others must have been not only inadequate, but
infinitely inadequate. The Mediator between God and man must either have been created or
Divine. Then if a creature were sufficient, no matter how exalted, a Divine Mediator was
infinitely above the exigency of the case; and if, on the contrary, a Divine Mediator was
requisite, then was a created infinitely beneath the exigency of the case. We might base our
argument, with equal conclusiveness, on the wisdom or the goodness or the justice of God. Take,
in connection with the Divinity of the Saviour's Person, the sufferings which He endured. Then,
if all this was not necessary, the adoption of such a plan was at variance with the Divine justice
and goodness.
III. We argue exclusiveness, on the ground that THE PLAN REVEALED IS THE ONLY ONE
THAT BEARS TO BE TESTED BY THE PRINCIPLE OF ADAPTATION TO WHAT THE
EXISTING CASE REQUIRES. This principle of adaptation is largely appealed to, as exhibiting
the evidence of Divine perfection in the works of creation. This principle is as applicable in the
moral world.
1. The gospel plan of salvation is in the essential and elementary principle of it, as well as in its
provisions, adapted to the circumstances of man as the party to be saved. As guilty and
condemned, he needed pardon and justification; and these are provided for by the mediatorial
propitiatory obedience unto death of the divinely constituted and Divine Saviour. As depraved
and sinful, he needed renewal in the spirit of his mind, sanctification; and this is provided for
him by the work of the Holy Spirit in association with the work of Christ.

10. 2. It is the only scheme adapted to the character of Him who saves. There is no salvation in any
other, because He is the only Saviour by whom, and His the only name by which, in saving the
lost, the glory of God is in every point secured.
IV. The last ground on which we rest the exclusiveness of the gospel method of salvation is THE
COMPLETENESS OF THE SALVATION ITSELF. It is a salvation worthy in all respects of
God, and fully meeting the wants of man. It is a salvation from guilt, sin, suffering, death, hell, to
a state of pardon and acceptance and favour, to the exercise of holy principles and holy
affections, to life, to happiness, to usefulness, to heaven, and all for eternity. All God's works are
perfect, and this not less than others.
(R. Wardlaw, D. D.)
Jesus the only Saviour
J. Begg, D. D.This passage is remarkable as forming part of a sermon by Peter — who thrice
denied this very Jesus — and as having been first delivered in the hearing of the judges and
murderers of Jesus. When Jesus stood before their tribunal, He told them that "hereafter they
would see the Son of Man standing on the right hand of power," and when the sacred writer
speaks of His second coming, he says, "Every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced
Him." Now, it must have been a foretaste of this fearful truth when His apostles stood in their
presence. In illustrating this subject, let us —
I. REMOVE AN OBJECTION. A difficulty arises in the minds of some, as if the doctrine
savoured of intolerance. They rest satisfied with the general idea that Christianity is true and
important, but do not feel that it is the only Divine religion. Now these views are precisely those
of the ancient heathens, who would have allowed an image for Jesus as one amongst many idols.
What they found fault with was the universal demand that every idol should be destroyed, and
that Jesus alone should be regarded as the object of worship and the author of salvation. But this
is evidently the very spirit of Christianity. No blood can cleanse sin but that which was shed on
Calvary; no power can open the gate of heaven but that of Him who "hath the key of David,
opening so that no man can shut, and shutting so that no man can open"; no power can overcome
the "strong man armed," but the power of Him who binds Satan in chains and bruiseth him under
the feet of His people. If men would only meditate on the solemn truth, that "God spared not His
only-begotten Son," who "died the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God," he would
see that it is blasphemy to imagine that the salvation of man can be secured in any other way. For
if so, God would have spared His only-begotten Son. Nor is there any ground for imagining that
the doctrine of the text is at all inconsistent with just views of the benevolence of God. Suppose a
body of men cast ashore on a desert island, smitten with disease, and famishing, and that in such
circumstances one solitary ship was descried making towards the island, loaded with bread, but
carrying an infallible physician, who offered to supply and heal the diseases of the people and to
carry them to a land where they should hunger no more, and where there should be no more
death — what would you think of the perishing men if they objected to all this because there was
only one ship by which to escape, only one physician, only one supply of bread — because
vessels had not been sent to all sides of the island, and bread of various kinds, and physicians of
various qualities? Would you not think them insane and deeply ungrateful? Now this is the very
case before us, only not nearly so strong. And what are we to think of such as object solely on
the ground that God has not sent many deliverers instead of one; and instead of hailing the
glorious offer, stand by callous and indifferent, and imagine that somehow or other they will
escape, although death and famine are raging around.

11. II. EXPLAIN THE TRUTH.
I. We are said here to be saved by the "name" of Christ. This is a mode of expression sometimes
used in Scripture; as, e.g., "The name of the Lord is a strong tower"; where by the name of the
Lord is meant God Himself. We speak of the "greatest names" of antiquity, and of men filling
the world with the "terror of their names," when in both cases we mean not the names but the
persons. And so we are saved by Christ Himself, although in Scripture we are said to trust in His
name. "In His name shall the Gentiles trust."
2. The form of expression, also, in the first part of the verse, is peculiar. The apostle does not
represent Christ as giving salvation as a thing disconnected from Himself, but as a thing existing
in Him, as a great treasure-house of spiritual blessings in Christ, from whom all the members
united to Him by faith derive strength, nourishment, and salvation. The general doctrine here is,
that Christ is the only Redeemer as He was the only Creator; and that He only is able to create us
again, as He was to make us at first. The special doctrine is, that this fulness of mediatorial
power is laid up in Christ as the Head of His Church, and that it descends from Him upon all His
members, like the holy anointing oil from the head of Aaron, which flowed down to the skirts of
his garments. The general truth is, that Christ alone hath removed the curse of the law and
silenced the accuser of the brethren. He hath died, the just for the unjust, that He may bring us to
God, and is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. The special truth is
that it hath pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell, and that we become partakers
of all the blessings which He hath purchased only when by faith we become branches of the true
vine, living stones in the spiritual building of which Christ is the chief corner-stone. And these
blessings are in no other. The merits of saints only exist in the imaginations of blinded idolaters;
for every saint is by nature a child of wrath, even as others. If we desire blessings we must go to
the Master of the house direct, for none of the servants can supply our wants.
III. SHOW THE CONCURRENCE OF SCRIPTURE IN THIS TRUTH. The whole stream of
revelation from the beginning points to Jesus and His finished work. The law which was given
by Moses pointed to that grace and truth which were to come by Jesus Christ. The prophets
prophesied beforehand His coming and sufferings. The angels of heaven filled the air with
melody at His birth, and announced that the great Deliverer had at length arrived. The Spirit of
God descended like a dove, and rested on His head, and a voice from heaven said, "This is My
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him." John, who baptized Him, said, "Behold
the Lamb of God," etc. Old Simeon said, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace,"
etc. Philip said to Nathanael, "We have found," etc. And what was the uniform doctrine of the
apostles? "Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And
the song of heaven is full of Christ's atonement.
(J. Begg, D. D.)
Salvation exclusive but comprehensive
Canon Liddon.I. THE NATURE OF THIS SALVATION. St. Peter might well have meant —
1. Salvation from physical discomfort and pain. The circumstance was the healing of the cripple
which the judges thought was effected by magic, but which the apostles ascribed to the name of
Jesus, who had simply employed them. Pain and discomfort, although they may be transfigured
by resignation, may yet crush out heart and hope, and our business in imitating God is to cure it
if we can. Our Lord did by His apostles what He still does by generous hearts. The inspiring
force of our hospital system is the grace and charity of Christ.

12. 2. National salvation. This was the point of the reference to Psalm 118. Christ's way of delivering
the nation was by becoming the corner-stone of its hope. For Israel was the real cripple. As a
political body the Roman power had broken it. Still more was it crippled morally. The devotion
of prophets and psalmist had died away, and in its place were Pharisees, Sadducees, and
Herodians. The old heart had been eaten out. What Israel wanted was new life, and its only
Saviour was He who had healed the cripple.
3. Spiritual salvation. This was implied by the national, and the spiritual salvation of the nation
implied that of the majority of its members. A nation is but an aggregate of individuals seen as
such by God. To save men they must be taken one by one. Did not the Redeemer, who gave
Himself a ransom for all, love me and give Himself for me? Does not the Spirit, by whom the
whole Church is governed and sanctified, dwell in each separate soul? Does not a mother deal
with her children personally? So Christ dealt with Peter, Thomas, Mary Magdalene, as if there
were no other souls in existence.
II. SALVATION IN THIS SENSE IS NO MONOPOLY OF ISRAEL. What was Israel that she
should claim the sole monopoly of the saving name? The final absolute religion could not but be
universal. The question of the Gentiles had not been raised, but there was behind the apostles the
broad commission. The old infection of nature still remains in the world. Who mill save it? Now,
as eighteen centuries ago, Jesus washes out the stains of a guilty past, and gives new desires,
aims, hopes, enthusiasms, and renews by His eternal Spirit what His enemies have destroyed.
III. SALVATION WAS EXCLUSIVELY CONFINED TO THE POWER OF THE LORD
JESUS. Christ was not one among many possible saviours; He was the only Saviour. And the
ground of Peter's con. fidence was that he had not a human speculation or theory, but, as he
firmly believed, the final, absolute, one truth. Error may pay its insincere and splendid
compliments to that which contradicts it. Truth can only firmly, tenderly, unvaryingly say, "It is I
who save; neither is there salvation in any other." "No man cometh to the Father but by Me." The
apostles speak as men who had found the secret of life, hope, happiness, salvation, and their
highest ambition was that others might share their privilege.
1. When we affirm that there is salvation in none other than Jesus, we do not deny that other
religions than Christianity have in them certain elements of truth. They would not exist if they
had not. The element of truth in them enables them to resist dissolution. But they cannot save.
2. When we affirm that Christ alone can save men, we do not deny that other agencies can
improve mankind. Education, etc.
3. But such influences as these are bounded by the horizon of time; they have no effects in the
great hereafter. They are not opponents nor rivals; they move in a different sphere.
4. There can be no doubt that this conviction was in the first ages of Christianity, and has been
since a great motive power in urging devoted men to spread the religion of their Master.
(Canon Liddon.)
Christ our only home
C. H. Spurgeon.On a huge cross by the side of an Italian highway hung a hideous caricature of
the Beloved of our souls, who poured out His life for our redemption. Out of reverence to the
living Christ we turned aside, disgusted, from the revolting image, but not until we had espied
the words SPES UNICA, in capitals ever its head. Here was truth emblazoned on an idol. Yes,

13. indeed, Jesus, our now exalted, but once crucified Lord, is the sole and only hope of man.
Assuredly, O Lord Jesus, Thou art spes unica to our soul.
"Other refuge have we none,
Hangs our helpless soul on Thee."We found this diamond in the mire of superstition: does it
sparkle any the less?
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
None other nameA few persons were collected round a blind man, who had taken his station on a
bridge in the City Road, and was reading from an embossed Bible. Receiving from the passers-
by of their carnal things, he was ministering to them spiritual things. A gentleman on his way
home from the City was led by curiosity to the outskirts of the crowd. Just then the poor man,
who was reading from Acts 4., lost his place, and, while trying to find it with his fingers, kept
repeating the last clause he had read, "None other name, — None other name, — None..." Some
of the people smiled at the blind man's embarrassment, but the gentleman went on his way
musing. He had lately become convinced that he was a sinner, and had been trying in many ways
to obtain peace of mind. But religious exercises, good resolutions, altered habits, all were
ineffectual to relieve his conscience of its load, and enable him to rejoice in God. The words he
had heard from the blind man, however, rang their solemn music to his soul — "None other
name." When he reached his home and retired to rest, the words, like evening chimes from
village towers nestling among the trees, were still heard — "None other name — None other
name." And when he awoke, in more joyful measure, like matin bell saluting the morn, the strain
continued, "None other name — None other name." The music entered his soul, and he awoke to
new life. "I see it all; I see it all! I have been trying to be saved by my own works — my
repentance, my prayers, my reformation. I see my mistake. It is Jesus who alone can save me. To
Him I will look. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name — none
other name — none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."
The power of the name of Jesus
W. Baxendale.A brave cavalry officer was dying of his wounds. He thought himself on the field,
at the head of his gallant men, and fancied that a heavy gun was just in front of them ready to be
fired. His distress was great. At length he thought the gun had been fired, and his men, badly cut
up, were retreating. Here I interposed, saying, "There is no gun there; you are safe among
friends." "Let me alone," he sternly replied; "I must recover my command and renew the attack."
"No," said I, "let us not think of battle scenes. You are soon to die. Let us talk of Jesus." The
mention of that name seemed to exert the powerful influence I had often heard ascribed to it. His
agitation ceased at once; his delirium passed away; a smile lit up his pallid features. After a
moment's silence, he said in a low tone, "Jesus, Jesus! It is He who said, 'Come unto Me,' etc. I
want rest, I am weary." Soon after he entered the glorious rest of heaven.
(W. Baxendale.)
The one saving name
A. B. Livermore.The text declares that Christ's is the only saving name on earth. Other terms are
used elsewhere to indicate the paramount value of His religion over all other instrumentalities for
man's well-being in this world and in that to come. But, either from an inadequate idea of moral
evil, or from a failure to see the perfect fitness of God's remedy for it, this truth is yet widely
unfelt or denied. Men resort elsewhere, and apply to this or that pretender, instead of the only

14. infallible Physician. With some insufficient and temporary expedient, they patch up evils which
the miraculous touch of the Son of God is requisite to cure. Lanterns and lamps are of no little
use, but he would not be accounted wise who should propose to substitute them for the sun. Let
us consider some of the substitutes which have been proposed by some men for the great
instrument of man's highest good.
I. LIBERTY — the goddess, as Mammon is the god, of the present civilisation. Summoned upon
the theatre of Europe by the fearless voice of Luther, breaking forth in the tremendous throes of
successive French revolutions, and winning her more complete triumph in the New World,
liberty is one of the strongest passions of modern history. And no wonder. When you have
entered the house of human bondage, and remembered its dreadful secrets, no wonder your blood
boils. The Bastiles of tyranny have fallen before this potent indignation. Let them fall. All
honour is due to those who have lifted the yoke from the neck of humanity, and said to myriads,
"Ye are men, go free." But then we need only glance at the condition of the freest nations to see
that Liberty can be no substitute for the gospel. Under her dominion men may know their rights,
but they need another master to teach them their duties. Liberty must take law into her
partnership, or she is but another name for license. And when the general relations of society are
equitably adjusted, and justice done between man and man, what a wide empire of character is
beyond her reach! National liberty, glorious boon as it is, is external. But the liberty wherewith
Christ makes His people free is carried into the inmost recesses of the mind. Where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is liberty — Liberty from anger and malice and lust and drunkenness, and the
whole legion of evil spirits wherewith society is possessed.
II. MODERN CIVILISATION. The crying demand for a spiritual regeneration is postponed for
external ease and luxury. When the sacred writer wished to describe the growing degeneracy of
the chosen people, he said, "Jeshurun [a term of endearment for Israel] waxed fat, and kicked."
That phrase describes the two great eras in a nation's growth: first, of prosperity; and secondly,
of insolent power, forgetting right. Thus modern civilisation has woven so thick a veil, that many
seem to be incapable or indisposed to see underneath the living texture of Divine laws, and our
accountableness to the will of the Supreme. Strange and deplorable result, if home become so
attractive that it should prove a rival to heaven! Sad mistake, if the charms of earthly friendship
and comfortable life should dull our sensibilities to our holy relationship to God and Christ! We
need to know that what is best and safest in this modern civilisation has flowed from
Christianity; but that, so far as it is disconnected from Christ, as its controlling principle and
sanctifying motive, it is base and soulless and dangerous; that there is hazard of entombing our
souls in this magnificent earthly good. The splendid gift of life was not bestowed that we might
dress in purple or fine linen, or fare sumptuously every day, or even that we might ride a mile a
minute, cross the ocean in ten days, or send a despatch round the globe in the twinkling of an
eye. He who rides a mile a minute ought to be using that grand conveyance on no fool's errand.
He who can cross the Atlantic in ten days should feel himself commissioned to do some great
and good work for man, when the Almighty has thus put in his hands the sceptre of the winds
and waves, and they obey him. He who can send swifter than the sun's flight messages from
clime to clime ought to charter the telegraph with some good tidings of good. Modern
civilisation is all good and safe, when kept down at the proper secondary mark; but if it arise, and
assume prouder titles, and the privilege of monopolising immortal capacities for mortal uses, the
watchmen must cry aloud, and spare not. For none can look abroad, and not see that the world,
so called, has got a fearful hold of men's minds. Everything, even virtue, is to be turned to profit.
What does not bring money is not, in general, thought to be worth anything. Then is there no fear

15. that we have another God than the Lord of heaven and earth, even Mammon, as the actual deity
of our worship! Tried by every rule, and weighed in every balance, modern civilisation, as such,
is found wanting. Ill can it suffice for its own temporal needs, and keep itself out of fire and
water; how much less meet the great need of immortal man! Ill can it stand in the place of Christ
for the healing of the nations. Its god is gold, its aim is self; too many of its governments are
tyrannies; too many of its cities Sodoms; its highest honours are military butcheries; and its only
tolerable deserts are discoloured reflections from His glory who died on the Cross.
III. REFORMATION, PHILANTHROPY, A NEW ORGANISATION OF SOCIETY. The plea
is ingenious, because it has some truth to give it countenance, that, notwithstanding Christianity
has existed so many centuries, the dreadful evils of society have gone unreformed. True, but it is
because it has been corrupted, both under Greek, Catholic, and Protestant forms. But there it is,
in the life of Christ, in the books of the New Testament, and it will never suffer man to give sleep
to his eyes until it has made all things new. It is said, also, by the reformer, that though men
make institutions, institutions, in turn make men. For example, that you may preach heavenly-
mindedness, but how can you expect any considerable amount of spirituality in the brutal camp,
or in the damp, cold cellars of city pauperism? We confess we cannot. It becomes, accordingly, a
matter of the last consequence that the permanent institutions of society, and the customs of the
time, should all square with the Christian standard, Christ must sit as sole and final umpire upon
all the great questions that now agitate society. And in this just judgment, whatever Christ, by
His Word, rejects, we, who are His followers, must reject; and whatever He commands we must
do, let whoever will say nay. So much we yield to reformation. But what we protest against is,
simply, that moral reformation, or any new organisation of society, can take the place of the
religion of Christ. For, in the outset, how could these great moral movements start, unless there
were the heaven-derived and omnipotent influences of Christian ideas acting behind? This is the
ever-flowing river that sets in motion all the wheels and complicated machinery of practical
philanthropy. This is the exhaustless reservoir and lake that fills all the pipes, aqueducts, and
fountains, and quenches a city's thirst, and cleanses a city's impurity. Christ is the reformer's
wisdom and guidance and strength, and without Him he could do nothing. Then, again, grant that
you could by a possibility get the world all reformed, the timepiece wound up and running well,
properly more equalised, education and happiness universal. How long would the millennium
last without Christ? Self is still there, and passion is busy, and the old man will again come to
life though he has once been crucified with the lusts thereof; and then the world is as bad as it
was before, and you have all your work to do over again. No; Christ is the only Sovereign and
legitimate Reformer, as He is the Saviour of the individual soul, and those only who go forth in
His name and spirit are mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.
IV. EDUCATION. We grant, indeed, that if the world is ever to be better and happier, it must be
in no slight measure by a better family and common school nurture. But education, like all other
great movements of benevolence, is powerless of good when disjoined from Christ. The culture
of the mind exclusively becomes a doubtful good, if moral training keep not an even pace with it.
Jesus, as the perfect representative of our spiritual nature, encourages the earliest moral training,
He called children to Him, and pronounced His blessing upon them. At one time He set a little
child in the midst, and bade His disciples be converted and become like little children, or they
could not enter His kingdom. And He left it in charge to His apostles, "Feed My lambs."
Education, then, in its higher forms, has the explicit encouragement of Him who knew what was
in man.

16. (A. B. Livermore.)
One saving name
S. Martin.We can destroy ourselves and each other, but we cannot save ourselves or each other.
There are some dangers and evils from which we can save both ourselves and our fellows, but
from the worst we can neither save ourselves nor others. All that in this case we can do for
ourselves is to look to a Saviour, and for others to direct them to a Redeemer. We are seldom
satisfied with what we have. Eve desired the forbidden fruit; and the Jews desired a Saviour
entirely different from Him to whom the prophets had given witness, and whom God had sent.
To this fact Peter calls attention, and then adds, "Neither is there salvation in any other," etc.
Note here —
I. SALVATION.
1. Ignorance with respect to the highest subjects is compared to darkness; to be called out of
darkness into marvellous light, is in part salvation.
2. Foolishness is ever attendant upon sinfulness. To receive wisdom from above, and to be made,
concerning the highest ends and the best means, truly wise, is in part salvation.
3. The imagination is a faculty ever busy for good or evil. Unless connected with knowledge and
wisdom, its fabrications are vain and wicked. To have all such imaginations cast down, is in part
salvation..
4. The heart of man is a tree bearing corrupt fruit, and a fountain pouring forth bitter water. To
have created within us a clean heart and a right spirit, is in part salvation.
5. The will of man was created to correspond to the will of God, as a wheel within a wheel, but it
has fallen from its place and revolves out of its sphere. Like the rudder of a ship, the will was
intended to keep men true to the glory of God while compassing the broad way of God's
commandments. But the helm is in the hands of pirates, and the vessel's prow is to the rock, or
the quicksand, or the iceberg. To be delivered from a rebellious and wayward will, and to be
made ready to do the will of God as an obedient child, is in part salvation.
6. Conscience is a faculty which many suppose can never become corrupt. But a man may do
evil when he acts conscientiously, for there are evil consciences. To have the conscience
cleansed and healed by the precious blood of Christ, and rectified by the Holy Ghost, is in part
salvation.
7. God created man in His own image (Genesis 1:27). As the painting or the statue to its subject,
as the mirror to the spectator, so was the first man, in the beginning, to his God. But the mirror is
broken, and the statue is defaced, and the painting is rent, and the child has fallen and is
disfigured and maimed. To have the mirror replaced, the picture renovated, the child healed, and
the Divine likeness restored, is in part salvation.
8. With a sinful nature we are born. To have our sinfulness crucified and its dominion destroyed,
is in part salvation.
9. The position of man was, in his first estate, righteous and filial. But we have fallen from our
position by sin, and are accounted guilty and ungodly. To be justified, is in part salvation.
10. There is an evil spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience. To be delivered from his
presence and power, is in part salvation.

17. 11. There is evil in all human institutions and arrangements. God's world is good, but man's has
much evil. To be made to overcome the world, is in part salvation.
12. Death has crept over our human nature, spiritual death. To be morally and religiously
quickened, is in part salvation.
13. Punishment hangs over our guilty heads like a thunder-cloud pregnant with storm, and the
impending tempest murmurs in our present sorrows. The wages of sin is death, and all the evils
to which flesh and soul are heir are as instalments of the wages of sin. To have the firmament of
life cleared of these clouds by the forgiveness of sins, is in part salvation.
14. Such are the derangements of evil, that the forgiven and regenerated are exposed to affliction,
and it is appointed that they too should die. To be sustained in the hour of tribulation, to go down
into our grave and to rise again, shouting, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory?" is in part salvation.
15. Paradise was lost by Adam, but paradise is regained by Jesus Christ. To enter that garden as
our own, and enjoy its innumerable delights, and to realise therein everlasting life, this is the
consummation of salvation. This salvation God promised at the beginning, this God has
provided, and this we offer you in the preaching of the gospel.
II. SALVATION IN A PERSON.
1. Deliverances are sometimes wrought by things. The shipwrecked one is saved by clinging to a
floating spar, the tenant of a house on fire by the trap-door in the roof. And deliverances are
effected by things employed by persons, as by a crew in a lifeboat, a fireman and the fire-escape,
a physician and his medicines. There are, moreover, persons whose profession is some work of
salvation, as the medical practitioner, the fireman, and the lifeboat crew.
2. The salvation of which we have been speaking is not in the Divine purpose, or in the Divine
fiat, or in anything, but in a living Saviour.
3. To be saved by a Saviour.(1) This shows our weakness, and in our weakness we see our
wretchedness. We are like one drowning, bound hand and foot. We are like one exposed to the
flames, and paralysed in every limb. We are like one poisoned, upon whom the sleep of death is
already creeping.(2) This arrangement removes all cause of boasting from the saved.(3) It places
the redeemed under special obligations. They are indebted to their Saviour as to none other.
Father, mother, husband, wife, have done nothing for us compared with Him who saves us.(4) It
renders the actual work of salvation a service of sympathy and love. Salvation comes not from a
mere power or force, but it is connected with intelligence, affection, and volition, and is therefore
not liable to failure.(5) it creates a new relation and connection. By our existence we become the
offspring of God. By our entrance into life we have parents of the flesh. And these and other
connections are natural. We have Creator, mother, father, perhaps brothers, sisters, in the
ordinary course of providence. But a Saviour is distinct from all other relations. Blessed is the
man who, looking toward one mighty to save, can say "My Saviour." A man may be an orphan
and friendless, but with a Saviour anything but desolate, while he who, in the midst of the largest
and most loving circle, has no Redeemer is not only a forlorn, but a lost man.
III. SALVATION IN A PERSON WHOSE NAME IS MADE KNOWN.
1. Six thousand years ago the Saviour of men was simply called the seed of the woman. Then He
was denominated the Shiloh, the Prophet, Wonderful, Root of Jesse, Righteous Branch, Jehovah

18. our Righteousness. And the angel who announced the conception said, "Thou shalt call His name
Jesus," etc.
2. Jesus is the name given among men as the name of the Saviour. To this Jesus give all the
prophets witness as the Christ of God. This Jesus was proclaimed Saviour by the angel Gabriel,
by another angel, and by a multitude of the heavenly host. This Jesus was introduced by one of
the greatest prophets the earth has ever known. The works He wrought bare witness of Him. The
heavens were thrice rent, and from the excellent glory a voice came, saying, "This is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased." Eclipse and earthquake saluted Him as the Saviour when He
died; resurrection revived His renown, and ascension established it for ever, "That at the name of
Jesus every knee shall bow." It is an interesting fact that the name Jesus occurs nearly seven
hundred times in the four Gospels, Christ alone some sixty times in the Gospels and in the Acts,
Jesus Christ but five times in the Gospels, and Christ Jesus not once in those books. We may
regard Jesus as therefore the name given among men.
3. Joshua, to which name Jesus corresponds, is composed of a portion of the name Jehovah, and
of a word which signifies salvation. So that the etymon would signify the Lord's salvation, or
Lord of salvation. This name was given to the Son of Man, to a Bethshemite in the time of
Samuel, to a governor among the cities of Judah in the days of Josiah, and to a high priest in the
days of Haggai. The name, though in use, was not common, and it was given the Son of Mary
with a special signification.
4. But who is this Jesus? He is God manifest in flesh. He has all the attributes and properties of
God, but while on earth He "made Himself of no reputation," etc. He has all the attributes and
properties of humanity, but without sin. In Him is all that is requisite for complete redemption.
God has given this name — in writing to be read, by preaching to be heard; given it Himself that
it may never be forgotten, and that it may be above every name; given it among men, that men
may read and hear it, learn and repeat it, incorporate it with their prayers and their songs, and
that it may become as familiar in their mouths as any household word.
IV. Salvation limited to this person.
1. There have been other names under heaven given among men. The Pharisees gave the name of
Abraham, and said, "We have Abraham for our father," and the name of Moses, saying, "We are
Moses' disciples." The false prophet of the sixth century gave his own name. The Church of
Rome gives the name of the Holy Catholic Church, the names of angels, saints and martyrs, and
above all, the name of Mary. But Abraham was the ancestor of the Saviour, not the Saviour;
Moses was a prophet of the Saviour, not the Saviour; Mahomet was self-deceived and a deceiver;
the Church is composed of the saved, not of saviours; the angels minister to the heirs of
salvation, they cannot save them; and Mary is indebted for her own salvation to her own son
Jesus.
2. But not only have other names been put forward, but things have been presented as saviours.
Thus, sacraments are given among men as means of salvation, and men-made creeds, and
membership with particular churches, and good works. But these are given among men by men,
and not by God.
3. It would be interesting to inquire into the causes of other names and things being put forward.
Perhaps the chief cause is pride. We shrink from the practical acknowledgment of entire and
absolute dependence upon the grace of God for our redemption; we despise the simplicity of

19. faith, or we are not prepared to follow after holiness. But, however, this may be, "neither is there
salvation in any other."
4. There is much mystery surrounding this name, the mystery of the holy incarnation, of the
union of the Divine and human natures, of oneness with the Father, co-existing with subjection
to the Father, of the temptation and agony, and of the "Eloi, Eloi," of the grave, and resurrection
and ascension; but we cannot afford to neglect the name Jesus because of the mystery which
surrounds it, because "neither is there salvation in any other."
5. There are differences of opinion concerning Him who bears this. name Jesus. Some deny His
Deity, others His true humanity. Some refuse to recognise Him as victim and priest, and do Him
homage only as a teacher; others leave Him in the sepulchre among all the mighty dead. The
unbelieving Jew still accounts Him an impostor, the believing Gentile crowns Him Lord of all.
But amidst this diversity of opinion we may not say, "I suspend my judgment." We must on this
subject make up our minds. Nor can we hold error without fearful peril, for "neither is there
salvation in any other."
6. Many who say they are saved by Christ show no signs of redemption. As we look at them we
say, "Saved from what?" If they be saved, what must they have been before? There are men who
boast that they are saved, who are such children of the devil, that many have said, "If this be
salvation, may Heaven keep it far from me!" But what then? Although many who say they are
saved exhibit no signs of salvation — yea, more, although but few be saved — yea, more, if as
yet not one soul has been saved, my text abides true, "Neither is there salvation in any other."
7. Many men think their own cases too singular to be saved by Christ Jesus. One man is
sceptical, and his doubtings are, in his judgment, of the most extraordinary character. There have
been sceptics many, but none like himself. A second was once an atheist or a deist, and in the
denial of religious truth proceeded farther than he can conceive it possible for an infidel to go. A
third has been a blasphemer. A fourth has been a licentious profligate. A fifth has been more
cruel than a beast of prey. A sixth once wore the form of godliness while destitute of the power.
A seventh once heard the Word with joy, but endured only for a while; tribulation arose and he
was offended. The eighth has been a bitter persecutor. Now, each of these say, Jesus may save
others, but He cannot save me. But whatever eminence a man may have in that which is sinful, if
he be saved at all, he must be saved by the Redeemer of the least of sinners. There is one sun to
rule our day, one moon to rule our night, one atmosphere round our globe in which to breathe
and move, and not another. "Neither is there salvation in any other."Conclusion:
1. And are there any persons here who believe not on Jesus? If there be, who can they be? Surely
not the children of believing parents? Not those who are now, or who have been, in our Christian
schools? Not the possessors of a New Testament? Not those who regularly or even occasionally
hear the gospel? Not such as know this name Jesus? Or is it so, that the unbelievers here consist
of these very classes? Not believe! Why do you not believe? This name, by faith in this name,
saves. The ignorant by faith come to this Jesus as a teacher; the unwise by faith come to this
Jesus as wisdom's fountain; the foolish builders by faith come to earth's Creator; the impure by
faith come to this Jesus, as to a fountain opened for sin and all uncleanness; the conscience-
wounded creature comes by faith to this physician of souls, that He may make him whole; the
fallen come by faith to this Jesus, mighty to save, that He may lift them up; and if you believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved.

20. 2. My brothers, believe. Do I hear you say, "Go thy way for this time"? For this time! Why for
this time? Ah, I know why — that you may drink more freely of this world's pleasures.
3. Believers in this name, do your utmost to make it known. When you see it, does it not sparkle
beneath your eye as the gem of gems? When you hear it, does it not sound as heaven's sweetest
music in your ear? and in your heart of hearts, do you not feel it to be the power of God to your
salvation? Then do your best to sustain the men by whom, and to uphold the places in which, this
name of names is preached.
(S. Martin.)
Only one way inStanding opposite Fort William, a missionary heard the Mussulmans and
Chinamen saying, "There are very many gates into Fort William — there is an hospital gate, a
water, gate, and others. Now, Sahib, it is just the same in regard to heaven. Chinamen get in at
one gate, Mussulmans in at another, and Hindoos in at another!" "Yes," the missionary said, "that
is true; but there is a sentinel at every gate, and every sentinel has the same watchword, and you
cannot get into it without that watchword." There is none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved, but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."
Christianity the only reformatory force
J. P. Newman, LL. D.1. Four great facts confront us at every turn.
(1)There is that in the world which men have consented to call vice.
(2)There is that in the world which men have consented to call virtue.
(3)This vice and virtue has its residence not in the human physique or intellect, but in that which
you and I have consented to call character.
(4)The power to suppress vice and to develop virtue is not in man nor of man, but from God.
2. These are four facts, confirmed by the whole race, that stand to-night unchallenged. And we
stand here to advocate the great thought in the text that the only power whereby vice can be
suppressed and virtue developed is the power of Christianity, manifested through a personal
Christ, resident in the human heart.
I. THE LIBERALISM OF TO-DAY is opposed to such a thought, and POINTS US TO OTHER
SOURCES OF REFORMATORY POWER.
1. Our attention is directed to China, where a name is held as sacred as the name of Christ by us.
Once a year the Emperor, surrounded by his court, enters a temple, and exclaims: "Confucius,
Confucius, how great is Confucius; before Confucius there was no Confucius, and since
Confucius there has been no Confucius; Confucius, Confucius, how great is Confucius!" Now
what was the radical conception of humanity by Confucius? It was that humanity is radically
good, that it is capable of the highest form of virtue, independent of any external force; hence he
gives to his countrymen the five relations. The great reformatory force of Confucius was
subordination; the obedience of the wife to the husband; of the child to the parent; of the
youngest brother to the eldest brother; of the youngest friend to the oldest friend; and of the
subject to the Emperor. Let us honour Confucius for the moral principles he gave his
countrymen; but those principles have been tested under the most favourable circumstances, and
what are the results? Go all through the Chinese Empire, and what do you find? Lying and theft,
and all forms of dissipation; the degradation of women; and an expenditure of £33,400,000
annually in one branch of idolatry.

21. 2. Then in the East there is another rival name, the name of a man who sways his sceptre over
more than 100,000,000 of people in China, Japan, the Isles of the Sea. Sakya-Muni went forth
with the two great ideas that vice is the result of the change that is apparent all around us, and
that to secure virtue the mind must rise to that law under which no things change. Hence the
name Buddha is given to one who ascertains that changeless law. I have no interest in
misrepresenting this great man. I would estimate him a providential man, as Socrates and Plato.
But when he is brought as a rival against my Master I am bound to sit in judgment upon his
proposals to make humanity better. He gave noble precepts to his people, and that six hundred
years before Christ came into the world. He issued His commandments," Thou shalt not kill,"
"Thou shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not commit adultery," all of which, however, can be traced to
Moses. But now go all through where Sakya-Muni has swayed his religious sceptre. Here not
only are his precepts violated, but all the precepts in our Ten Commandments.
3. In India we find another rival to our Master in the form of Brahma. The great theory in
Brahminism for the elevation of humanity is that as sin abides in the flesh, and virtue in the
intellect, we must reduce the physical to the minimum, and exalt the intellect to the maximum,
and then we suppress vice and develop virtue. Well, let us judge of Brahminism by its results.
Let us go to that fair land, where all nature is lovely and only man is vile. Look at the idolatry —
360,000,000 of gods! Woman is degraded; childhood, especially female child-hood, is sacrificed;
Thuggism prevails, and there vices are dominant. And all this is the result of the insufficient
reformatory force in Brahminism.
4. I do not mention Mohammedanism, for Mohammedanism is not original; it is plagiarism.
II. NOW TURN TO CHRISTIANITY. What is Christ's radical idea of the condition of
humanity? It is that human nature is bad, and that this badness is in the condition of the will,
conscience, and affections, and that out of this moral condition flows vice, and that out of vice
comes the misery of the world. Now, what does He propose to do? To transform by a
supernatural power.
1. We must not look upon Him as a mere philanthropist; Christ's philanthropy is subordinate to
His supernatural power. Christ did not come to improve the physical condition of man. Do you
tell me that He performed miracles? True; but not as a philanthropist. He did not raise all the
dead, or heal all the sick; but only where He could write a credential for His great mission to
renew the human heart. The significance of the miracles of Jesus Christ is this, that all through
the East there prevailed the idea that sin was in matter, and that there was no power in the
universe by which matter itself could be controlled. Hence He performed His miracles simply to
prove that He was higher than nature, and that matter was subject to Him. He was not a
philanthropist in the ordinary sense. The orphans cried in the streets of Jerusalem, but He erected
no orphan asylum; He never founded a college. He might have given to the world a perfect
system of science and a Materia Medica that would have alleviated the sufferings of humanity.
But He did nothing of the kind. He might have anticipated great inventors; whatever to-day
seems to be the glory of our civilisation must have floated through His Divine imagination. But
this was not the purpose of His coming. Nor did He come as a statesman. Twice He was invited
to be a judge, but He declined; once He was asked to be a king, but He refused. He expressed no
preference for this form of government or that. He knew that government was oppressive, and
slavery fearful, but He issued no proclamation of emancipation. The social evil prevailed, but He
organised no meetings for reclamation. Intemperance prevailed, yet He never offered the pledge
of total abstinence to any. War prevailed, yet He did not organise peace societies. Even idolatry

22. cursed every hill and valley, yet He organised no crusade against idolatry. What He did not do is
as remarkable as what He did do. The infidels of to-day arraign Him because He did not do these
things.
2. But listen! His eye looked down the ages, and, passing over China, saw what subordination or
subjugation had failed to do; over the region swayed by Buddha, and saw what his teaching had
failed to do; over India, and saw that intellectual culture had proved a failure; over Rome, and
saw that law had failed to suppress vice or develop virtue; ever Greece, where art was in its
glory; and there He saw that the aesthetics of civilisation had failed, and that art was not a
reformatory force. Then He said, "I will now enter the citadel of man; I will come to each
individual, and ask him to permit Me to incarnate Myself in him; to enchain his conscience to
My severe morality, to harmonise his will with Mine, to enthrone Myself in his affections; I will
make each man a living, walking, speaking Christ."
3. He resolved not to do what men could do. He knew that man, unaided by Him, could educate
the mind, could bless the orphan and comfort the widow; but He resolved to touch the fountain
of life that all the streams might be pure, and just in proportion as He is received as the
regenerator of the human heart, in that proportion do public charities become facts, and
benevolence is a sublime truth in the world. A learned Chinese in Philadelphia wrote a series of
articles to this effect — that in his country there were houses of charity for the reception of the
widow and the aged, but he should have had the honesty to tell two facts — first, that in his
country there is no house of charity which antedates the introduction of Christianity; and,
secondly, that on the banks of the Yang-tse-kiang there is a house of charity for animals which
antedates Christianity. Those Chinese are in advance of Darwin, for they say these animals are to
be men in the next world. In the same city I attended the semi-centennial of the Bible Society.
First came upon the stand a mute, who, in his graceful language, recited to us the Beatitude,
"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." Then came a beautiful girl born deaf,
but Christian science had taught the mute lips to speak, and she whispered, "Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God." Then came a Chinese lady who was born blind, brought to this
country and converted, and Christian science had taught her fingers to read deftly in the language
of the blind, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Christian science is doing to-day what
Christ did in His person. The genius of Christianity working through renewed hearts is writing its
credentials in favour of our Divine Lord. Is it true He did not found a college or a university? He
did something better; He placed in the hands of each man a book that should tell men of the
character and the claims of Almighty God; that should inform man of his own origin, that he is
immortal, and responsible to the ages as he is to God; a book that should present to him the
noblest specimen of virtue and the grandest laws of morality, and wherever this Book has spread
its banner of wisdom and love knowledge has been diffused, universities founded, and science
advanced. Christ did not come as a statesman? He declared the brotherhood of mankind; He
announced the eternal principles of truth and justice, and He knew that wherever these principles
were accepted, from a heart that had been renewed by Him, there government would be
modified, oppression would cease, and liberty would be enjoyed. Is it true He did not organise
missions to reclaim the poor courtesan? He knew it was necessary to create a new affection in
the heart of men and of women, for Him to be received into the human heart, to restrain passion;
and He knew that, having been thus received, there would come a reformation of this fearful
class in society. Only in a Christian land, and as Christianity becomes a living force in society is
the social evil branded and banished. Is it true He did not offer the pledge of total abstinence to
any? He knew that antecedent influences would be at work at first, and that great moral forces

23. must operate. Is it true He did not organise peace societies? He whispered that Beatitude,
"Blessed are the peacemakers," and He very well knew that only as humanity is transformed by
His power would war-passions cease and men live in sweet harmony together. Christian men
have organised the only peace societies in the world.
(J. P. Newman, LL. D.)
PRECEPT AUSTIN RESOURCES
The Way Of Salvation BY SPURGEON
“Neitheris there salvation in any other: for there is none other name
under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Acts 4:12
IT is a very happy circumstance when the servants of God are able to turn
everything to accountin their ministry. Now the Apostle Peterwas summoned
before the priests and Sadducees–the chiefs ofhis nation–to answerfor having
restoreda man who was lame from his mother’s womb. While accounting for
this case ofhealing, or, if I may use the expression, for this case oftemporal
salvation, the Apostle Peter had this thought suggestedto him, “While I am
accounting for the salvationof this man from lameness, I have now a fine
opportunity of showing to these people who otherwise will not listen to us, the
way of the salvationof the soul.”
So he proceeds from the less to the greater, from the healing of a man’s limb
to the healing of a man’s soul. And having informed them once that it was
through the name of Jesus Christ that the impotent man had been made
whole, he now announces that salvation–the greatsalvation, must be wrought
by the selfsame means–“Neitheris there salvationin any other: for there is
none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved.”
What a greatword that word “salvation” is!It includes the cleansing ofour
consciencefrom all past guilt and the delivery of our soul from all those
propensities to evil which now so strongly predominate in us. It takes in, in
fact, the undoing of all that Adam did. Salvation is the total restorationof
man from his fallen estate. And yet it is something more than that–for God’s

24. salvationfixes our standing more secure than it was before we fell. It finds us
broken in pieces by the sin of our first parent–defiled, stained, accursed. It
first heals our wounds, it removes our diseases, it takes awayour curse, it puts
our feetupon the rock Christ Jesus and having thus done, at last it lifts our
heads far above all principalities and powers, to be crownedforever with
Jesus Christ, the King of Heaven.
Some people, when they use the word “salvation,” understand nothing more
by it than deliverance from Hell and admittance into Heaven. Now that is not
salvation–thosetwo things are the effects of salvation. We are redeemed from
Hell because we are savedand we enter Heaven because we have been saved
beforehand. Our everlasting state is the effectof salvation in this life.
Salvation, it is true, includes all that because salvationis the mother of it and
carries it within its heart. But still it were wrong for us to imagine that that is
all the meaning of the word.
Salvationbegins with us as wandering sheep. It follows us through all our
mazy wanderings. It puts us on the shoulders of the Shepherd. It carries us
into the fold. It calls togetherthe friends and the neighbors. It rejoices overus.
It preserves us in that fold through life. And then at last it brings us to the
greenpastures of Heaven–beside the still waters of bliss–where we lie down
forever in the presence ofthe Chief Shepherd, never more to be disturbed.
Now our text tells us there is only one way of salvation. “Neither is there
salvationin any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved.” I shall take first of all a negative
Truth of God taught here, namely, that there is no salvationout of Christ.
And then, secondly, a positive Truth of God inferred, namely, that there is
salvationin Jesus Christwhereby we must be saved.
1. First, then, A NEGATIVE FACT. “Neitheris there salvation in any
other.” Did you ever notice the intolerance of God’s religion? In olden
times the heathen, who had different gods, respectedthe gods of their
neighbors. For instance the king of Egypt would confess thatthe gods of
Nineveh were true and realgods and the prince of Babylon would
acknowledge thatthe gods of the Philistines were true and real gods.
But Jehovah, the God of Israel, put this as one of His first
Commandments, “You shall have none other gods besides Me.”
And He would not allow them to pay the slightestpossible respectto the gods
of any other nation–“You shall hew them in pieces, you shall break down their
temples and cut down their groves.”All other nations were tolerant, the one to
the other, but the Jew could not be so. One part of his religion was, “Hear, O

25. Israel, the Lord your God is one God.” And as the consequence ofhis belief
that there was but one God and that one God was Jehovah, he felt it his duty
to call all pretended gods by nicknames, to spit upon them, to treat them with
contumely and contempt. Now the Christian religion, you observe, is just as
intolerant as this. If you apply to a Brahmin to know the way of salvationhe
will very likely tell you at once that all persons who follow out their sincere
religious convictions will undoubtedly be saved. “There,” says he, “are the
Mohammedans. If they obey Mohammed and sincerelybelieve what he has
taught without doubt Allah will glorify them at last.”
And the Brahmin turns round upon the Christian missionaryand says, “What
is the use of your bringing your Christianity here to disturb us? I tell you our
religion is quite capable of carrying us to Heaven if we are faithful to it.” Now
just hear the text–how intolerant is the Christian religion! “Neitheris there
salvationin any other.” The Brahmin may admit that there is salvationin fifty
religions besides his own. But we admit no such thing. There is no true
salvationout of Jesus Christ. The gods of the heathens may approach us with
their mock charity and tell us that every man may follow out his own
conscientious convictionand be saved. We reply–No such thing–there is no
salvationin any other–“forthere is none other name under Heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Now, what do you suppose is the reasonfor this intolerance–ifI may use the
word again? I believe it is just because there is the Truth of God both with the
Jew and with the Christian. A thousand errors may live in peace with one
another, but the Truth of God is the hammer that breaks them all in pieces. A
hundred lying religions may sleeppeaceablyin one bed–but whereverthe
Christian religion goes as the Truth of God–itis like a firebrand and it abides
nothing that is not more substantialthan the wood, the hay and the stubble of
carnalerror.
All the gods of the heathen and all other religions are born of Hell and
therefore, being children of the same father, it would seemamiss that they
should fall out and chide and fight. But the religionof Christ is a thing of
God’s–its pedigree is from on high and, therefore, when once it is thrust into
the midst of an ungodly and gainsaying generationit has neither peace, nor
parley, nor treaty with them. For it is the Truth of God and cannotafford to
be yoked with error. It stands upon its own rights and gives to error its due–
declaring that it has no salvation–but that in the Truth of God and in the
Truth of God alone, is salvationto be found.
Again–it is because we have here the sanctionof God. It would be improper in
any man who had invented a creedof his own to state that all others must he

26. damned who do not believe it. That would be an overwhelming censoriousness
and bigotry, at which we might afford to smile. But since this religion of
Christ is revealedfrom Heaven itself–God, who is the Author of all truth–has
a right to append to this truth the dreadful condition that who so rejects it
shall perish without mercy. And He may proclaim that apart from Christ no
man can be saved. We are not really intolerant for we are but echoing the
Words of Him that speaks fromHeaven and who declares that cursedis the
man who rejects this religion of Christ, seeing that there is no salvation out of
Him. “Neitheris there salvationin any other: for there is none other name
under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Now, I hear one or two persons saying, “Do you imagine then, Sir, that none
are savedapart from Christ?” I reply, I don t imagine it, but I have it here in
my text plainly taught. “Well but,” says one, “how is it concerning the death
of infants? Do not infants die without actual sin? Are they saved? And if so,
how?” I answer, savedthey are beyond a doubt–all children dying in infancy
are caughtawayto dwell in the third Heaven of bliss forever. But mark this–
no infant was eversaved apart from the death of Christ.
Christ Jesus has with His blood bought all those who die in infancy. They are
all regenerated, not in sprinkling, but probably in the instant of their death a
marvelous change passesoverthem by the breathing of the Holy Spirit. The
blood of Jesus is applied to them and they are washedfrom all original
corruption which they had inherited from their parents. And thus washedand
cleansedthey enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Otherwise, Beloved, infants
would be unable to join in the everlasting song, “Unto Him that loved us and
washedus from our sins in His blood.” If infants were not washedin the blood
of Christ, they could not join in that universal song which perpetually
surrounds the Throne of God.
We believe that they are all saved–everyone of them without exception–but
not apart from the one greatsacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Another says,
“But how about the heathen? They know not Christ–are any of the heathen
saved?” Mark, Holy Scripture says but very little concerning the salvation of
the heathen. There are many texts in Scripture which would lead us to infer
that all the heathen perish. But there are some texts which, on the other hand,
lead us to believe that there are some out of the heathen race who, led by
God’s secretSpirit, are seeking afterHim in the dark. By His Spirit they are
endeavoring to find out something they cannot discoverin nature. And it may
be that the God of infinite mercy who loves His creatures is pleasedto make to
them these revelations in their own heart. Dark and mysterious revelations
concerning the things of Heaven–so that even they may be made partakers of

27. the blood of Jesus Christ, without having such an open vision as we have
receivedwithout beholding the Cross visibly elevatedand Christ set forth
crucified among them.
It has been observedin many heathen lands that before the missionaries have
gone there, there has been a strong desire after the religion of Christ. In the
Sandwich Islands, before our missionaries wentthere, there was a strange
commotion in the minds of those poor barbarians. They did not know what it
was, but they were all on a sudden discontentedwith their idolatries and had a
longing desire after something higher, better and purer than anything they
had up to then discovered. And no soonerwas Jesus Christpreached than
they willingly renounced all their idolatries and laid hold upon Him to be their
strength and their salvation.
Now we believe this was the Work of God’s Spirit secretlyinclining these poor
creatures to seek afterHim. And we cannot tell but that in some sequestered
spots where we had thought the Gospelnever has been preachedthere may be
some lone tract, some chapter of the Bible, some solitary verse of Holy Writ
remembered which may be sufficient to open blind eyes and to guide poor
benighted hearts to the foot of the Cross of Christ. But this much is certain–no
heathen, howevermoral–whetherin the days of their old philosophy, or in the
present time of their barbarism–everdid or ever could enter the kingdom of
Heaven apart from the name of Jesus Christ. “Neitheris their salvationin any
other.” A man may seek afterit and labor after it in his own way, but there he
cannot possibly find it, “for there is none other name under Heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved.”
But after all, my dear Friends, it is a greatdeal better–whenwe are dealing
with these subjects–notto talk upon speculative matters but to come home
personally to ourselves. And let me now ask you this question, have you ever
proved by experience the truth of this great negative fact, that there is no
salvationin any other? I canspeak what I do know and testify what I have
seenwhen I solemnly declare in the presence ofthis congregationthat it is
even so. Once I thought there was salvationin goodworks and I laboredhard
and strove diligently to preserve a characterfor integrity and uprightness.
But when the Spirit of God came into my heart, “sin revived and I died.” That
which I thought had been goodproved to be evil. Wherein I thought I had
been holy I found myself to be unholy.
I discoveredthat my very best actions were sinful, that my tears needed to be
wept over and that my very prayers needed God’s forgiveness. I discovered
that I was seeking aftersalvationby the works ofthe Law–thatI was doing all
my goodworks from a selfish motive–namely to save myself and therefore

28. they could not be acceptable to God. I found out that I could not be savedby
goodworks for two very goodreasons–first, I had not any, and secondly, if I
had any, they could not save me. After that I thought salvationmight be
obtained partly by reformation and partly by trusting in Christ. So I labored
hard againand thought if I added a few prayers here and there, a few tears of
penitence and a few vows of improvement, all would be well.
But after forging on for many a wearyday like a poor blind horse toiling
round the mill, I found I had gotno farther, for there was still the curse of
God hanging over me–“Cursedis everyone that continues not in all things
that are written in the Book ofthe Law to do them.” And there was still an
aching void in my heart the world could never fill–a void of distress and care–
for I was sorely troubled because I could not attain unto the rest which my
soul desired.
Have you tried those two ways of getting to Heaven? If you have, I trust the
Lord, the Holy Spirit, has made you heartily sick of them, for you shall never
enter the kingdom of Heaven by the right door until you have first of all been
led to confess thatall the other doors are barred in your teeth. No man ever
will come to God through the straight and narrow way until he has tried all
the other ways and when we find ourselves beatenand foiled and defeated,
then it is that pressedby sore necessitywe betake ourselves to the one open
Fountain and there washourselves and are made clean.
Perhaps I have in my presence this morning some who are trying to gain
salvationby ceremonies. Youhave been baptized in your infancy. You
regularly take the Lord’s Supper. You attend your Church or Chapel. And if
you knew any other ceremonies youwould attend to them. Ah, my dear
Friends, all these things are as the chaff before the wind in the matter of
salvation. They cannot help you one step towards acceptancein the Personof
Christ. As wellmight you labor to build your house with water as to build
salvationwith such poor things as these. These are goodenough for you when
you are saved, but if you seek salvationin them, they shall be to your soul as
wells without water, clouds without rain and withered trees, twice dead,
plucked up by the roots.
Whateveris your wayof salvation–forthere are a thousand different
inventions of men whereby they seek to save themselves–whateverit may be,
hear its death knell tolled from this verse–“Neitheris there salvationin any
other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby
we must be saved.”

29. II. Now, this brings me to the POSITIVE FACT which is inferred in the text,
namely, that there is salvationin Jesus Christ. Surely, when I make that
simple statementI might burst forth with the song of the angels and say–
“Glory to God in the highestand on earth peace, goodwilltowards men.”
Here are a thousand mercies all bound up in one bundle in this sweet, sweet
fact–thatthere is salvationin Jesus Christ! I shall endeavornow merely to
deal with any soulhere present who entertains a doubt as to his own salvation
in Jesus Christ. I shall single him out and address him affectionatelyand
earnestlyand endeavorto show him that he may yet be saved and that in
Christ there is salvationfor him.
I know you, Sinner! You have long been trying to find the road to Heavenand
you have missedit. You have had a thousand dazzling gimmicks to deceive
you and never yet one solid ground of comfort for your poor wearyfoot. And
now, encompassedaboutby your sins, you are not able to look up. Guilt, like a
heavy burden, is on your back and your finger is on your lip for you dare not
cry for pardon. You are afraid to speak, lestout of your own mouth you
should be condemned. Satanwhispers in your ear, “It is all over with you.
There is no mercy for such as you are–youare condemned and condemned
you must be. Christ is able to save many, but not to save you.”
PoorSoul! What shall I say unto you but this–Come with me to the Cross of
Christ and you shall there see something which shall remove your unbelief. Do
you see that Man nailed to yonder tree? Do you know His character? He is
without spot or blemish, or any such thing. He was no thief, that He should die
a felon’s death–He was no murderer and no assassin, thatHe should be
crucified betweentwo malefactors. No–His originalwas pure, without a sin.
And His life was holy, without a flaw. Out of His mouth there proceededonly
blessing. His hands were full of gooddeeds and His feet were swift for acts of
mercy. His heart was white with holiness.
There was nothing in Him that man could blame. Even His enemies, when
they sought to accuse Him, found false witnesses but even they “agreednot
together.” Do you see Him dying? Sinner, there must be merit in the death of
such a man as that! Without sin Himself, when He is put to grief–it must be
for other men’s sins. Godwould not afflict and grieve Him when He deserved
it not. God is no tyrant that He should crush the innocent. He is not unholy
that He should punish the righteous. He suffered, then, for the sins of others–
“Forsins, not His own, He died to atone.”
Think of the purity of Christ and then see whether there is not salvationin
Him. Come now with your blackness aboutyou and look at His whiteness.

30. Come with your defilement and look at His purity. And as you look at that
purity like the lily, and you see the crimson of His blood overflowing it, let this
whisper be heard in your ear–He is able to save you, Sinner, inasmuch as He
was “tempted in all points like as we are,” yet He was “without sin.”
Therefore, the merit of His blood must be great. Oh, may Godhelp you to
believe on Him!
But this is not the grand thing which should recommend Him to you.
Remember, He who died upon the Cross was no less than the everlasting Son
of God! Do you see Him there? Come, turn your eye once more to Him. Do
you see His hands and feet trickling with streamlets of gore? ThatMan is
Almighty God! Those hands that are nailed to the tree are hands that could
shake the world. Those feetthat are there piercedhave in them, if He willed to
put it forth, a potencyof strength that might make the mountains melt
beneath their tread.
That head, now bowedin anguish and in weakness, has in it the wisdom of the
Godheadand with its nod it could make the universe tremble. He who hangs
upon the Cross is He without whom was not anything made that was made–by
Him all things consist–Maker, Creator, Preserver, Godof Providence and
God of Grace–He who died for you is God over all, blessedforever. And now,
Sinner, is there any power to save in such a Savior as this? If He were a mere
man, a Socinian’s Christ, or an Arian’s Christ, I would not bid you trust Him.
But since He is none other than God Himself incarnate in human flesh, I
beseechyou, castyourself upon Him–
“He is able,
He is willing, doubt no more.”
“He is able to save unto the uttermost, them that come unto God by Him.”
Will you remember again, as a further consolationfor your faith, that you
may believe that God the Fatherhas acceptedthe sacrifice ofChrist? It is the
Father’s angerthat you have the most cause to dread. The Fatheris angry
with you, for you have sinned and He has sworn with an oath that He will
punish you for your offenses. Now Jesus Christwas punished in the place of
every sinner who has repented, or ever shall repent. Jesus Christstoodas his
Substitute and Scapegoat. Godthe Father has acceptedChrist in the place of
sinners. Oh, ought not this to leadyou to acceptHim? If the Judge has
acceptedthe sacrifice, surelyyou may acceptit, too!And if He is satisfied–
surely you may be content also.
If the Creditor has written a full and free discharge–you, the poor debtor,
may rejoice and believe that that discharge is satisfactoryto you because it is

31. satisfactoryto God. But do you ask me how I know that God has accepted
Christ’s atonement? I remind you that Christ rose againfrom the dead.
Christ was put into the prison of the tomb after He died and there He waited
until God should have acceptedthe atonement–
“If Jesus never had paid the debt,
He never had been at freedom set.”
Christ would have been in the tomb this very day if God had not acceptedHis
atonement for our justification. But the Lord lookeddown from Heaven and
He surveyed the work of Christ and said within Himself, “It is very good. It is
enough.” And turning to an angel, He said, “Angel, My Son is confined in
prison, a hostage for My elect. He has paid the price. I know He will not break
the prison down Himself–go, angel, go and roll awaythe stone from the door
of the sepulcherand setHim free.” Down flew the angeland rolled awaythe
massive stone. And rising from the shades ofdeath the Savior lived. “He died
and rose againfor our justification.” Now, poor Soul, you see God has
acceptedChrist–surelythen, you may acceptHim and believe on Him.
Another argument which may perhaps come nearer to your own soul is this–
many have been saved who were as vile as you are and therefore there is
salvation. “No,” you say, “none are so vile as I am.” It is a mercy that you
think so, but nevertheless it is quite certain that others have been saved who
have been as filthy as yourself. Have you been a persecutor? “Yes,” yousay.
Yes, but you have not been more blood-thirsty than Saul! And yet that chief of
sinners became the chief of saints.
Have you been a swearer? Have you cursed the Almighty to His face? Yes.
And such were some of us who now lift up our voices in prayer and approach
His Throne with acceptance.Have you been a drunkard? Yes and so have
many of God’s people been for many a day and many a year. But they have
forsakentheir filthiness and they have turned unto the Lord with full purpose
of heart. Howevergreatyour sin, I tell you, Man, there have been some saved
as deep in sin as you are. And if none have been saved who are such great
sinners as you are, so much the more reasonwhy God should save you–that
He may go beyond all that He ever has done.
The Lord always delights to be doing wonders. And if you stand the chief of
sinners, a little ahead of all the rest, I believe He will delight to save you–that
the wonders of His love and His grace may be the more manifestly known. Do
you still say that you are the chief of sinners? I tell you I do not think it. The
chief of sinners was savedyears ago–thatwas the Apostle Paul–but even if you

32. should exceedhim–still that word “uttermost” goes a little beyond you. “He is
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.”
Remember, Sinner, if you do not find salvation in Christ it will be because you
do not look for it, for it certainly is there. If you shall perish without being
savedthrough the blood of Christ, it will not be through a want of powerin
that blood to save you, but entirely through a want of will on your part–that
you will not believe on Him but do wantonly and willfully reject His blood to
your own destruction. Take heed to yourself, for as surely as there is salvation
in none other, so surely there is salvationin Him.
I could turn to you myself and tell you that surely there must be salvationin
Christ for you, since I have found salvation in Christ for myself. Often have I
said I will never doubt the salvationof anyone, so long as I can but know that
Christ has acceptedme. Oh, how dark was my despair when I first soughtHis
mercy seat!I thought then that if He had mercy on all the world, yet He would
never have mercy on me. The sins of my childhood and my youth haunted me.
I sought to getrid of them one by one, but I was caught as in an iron net of
evil habits and I could not overthrow them. And even when I could renounce
my sin, yet the guilt still did cling to my garments. I could not washmyself
clean. I prayed for three long years–Ibent my knees in vain and sought, but
found no mercy. But, at last, blessedbe His name, when I had given up all
hope and thought that His swift anger would destroy me and that the pit
would open its mouth and swallow me up–then in the hour of my extremity
did He manifest Himself to me and teachme to castmyself simply and wholly
upon Him. So shall it be with you, only trust Him, for there is salvation in
Him–rest assuredof that.
To quicken your diligence, however, I will conclude by noting that if you do
not find salvation in Christ, remember you will never find it elsewhere. What
a dreadful thing it will be for you if you should lose the salvation provided by
Christ! For“how shall you escape if you neglectso greata salvation?” Today
very probably I am not speaking to very many of the grossestofsinners, yet I
know I am speaking to some even of that class. But whether we are gross
sinners or not–how fearful a thing it will be for us to die without first having
found an interest in the Savior!
Oh Sinner! This should quicken you in going to the mercy seat. Remember
that if you find no mercy at the feet of Jesus you can never find it anywhere
else. If the gates ofHeaven shall never open to you, remember there is no
other gate that ever canbe opened for your salvation. If Christ refuses you,
you are refused. If His blood is not sprinkled on you, you are lost, indeed. Oh,
if He keeps you waiting a little while, still continue in prayer. It is worth

33. waiting for–especiallywhen you have this thought to keepyou waiting,
namely–that there is none other, no other way, no other hope, no other
ground of trust, no other refuge. There I see the gate of Heaven and if I must
enter it, I must creepon my hands and knees, for it is a low gate. There I see
it, it is a strait and narrow one–Imust leave my sins behind me and my proud
righteousness andI must creep in through that wicket.
Come Sinner, what do you say? Will you go beyond this strait and narrow
gate, or will you despise eternal life and risk eternalbliss? Or will you go
through it humbly hoping that He who gave Himself for you will acceptyou in
Himself and save you now and save you everlastingly?
May these few words have power to draw some to Christ and I am content.
“Believe onthe Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” “Forthere is none
other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Amen. Amen! Adapted from The C. H. Spurgeon Collection, Version1.0,
Ages Software, 1.800.297.4307
BRUCE HURT MD
Acts 4:12 "And there is salvation in no one else;for there is no other name
under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."
KJV Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvationin any other: for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
• there is salvation in no one else Acts 10:42,43;Mt 1:21; Mark 16:15,16;
John 3:36; 14:6; 1 Cor 3:11; 1 Ti 2:5,6;Hebrews 2:3; 12:25; 1 John
5:11,12;Rev 7:9,10;20:15
• there is no other name under heaven Acts 2:5; Genesis 7:19;Job 41:11;
Ps 45:17; Col1:23
• Acts 4 Resources -Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
JESUS IS THE SAVIOR
THE ONLY SAVIOR
No Other Name

34. • Before you study this passage,take a moment to worship - Play this old
Don Moenchorus - No Other Name - It will make you want to pause
and praise His glorious Name!
This passageis not narrow minded. It is wide open grace!Peterin essenceis
issuing the Sanhedrin an offer to be repent and lay hold of the Stone and be
savedfrom eternal punishment and being crushed by the Stone.
This passageis one of the greatestpassagesin the entire Bible. I agree with
Lenski who wrote "In plain, literal language Peterpresents the fulness of the
gospelwith its mighty call to salvation." (Ibid)
John Stott - We notice the ease withwhich Peter moves from healing to
salvation, and from the particular to the general. He sees one man’s physical
cure as a picture of the salvationwhich is offeredto all in Christ. His two
negatives (no-one else and no other name) proclaim the positive uniqueness of
the name of Jesus. His death and resurrection, his exaltation and authority
constitute him the one and only Saviour, since nobody else possesseshis
qualifications. (The Message ofActs)
And there is salvationin no one else - Literally this reads in Greek "the
salvation," (he soteria)the idea being this is the specific salvationof mankind,
the Messianicdeliverance brought about by the Stone, Jesus Christ, the
Nazarene. The Greek is difficult to translate literally into English, but there
are actually two words for "no" in this first phrase (ou - no, oudeis - no one)
and both signify absolute negation. Lenski says that what Peteris saying is
that "No second, no substitute, no alternate to Jesus exists."
Salvation(deliverance, preservation))(4991)(soteria from soter= Savior in
turn from sozo = save, rescue, deliver) (Click here or here for in depth
discussionof the related terms soterand sozo)describes the physical rescue or
deliverance from danger, destruction and peril (Acts 27:34, Heb 11:7). This
Jews had been looking for deliverance by the Messiah, but they repeatedly
failed to understand that their greatestneedwas for spiritual deliverance
found only in Jesus.
Salvationis a broader term in Greek than we often think of in English. Other
concepts that are inherent in soteria include restorationto a state of safety,
soundness, health and wellbeing as well as deliverance from danger of
destruction resulting in a state of preservation. One of my favorite uses of
soteria is by Paul who describes the glorious Messianic deliverance atthe end
of this present evil age - "Do this (love Ro 13:10), knowing the time, that it is
already the hour for you to awakenfrom sleep;for now salvationis nearer to
us than when we believed.(Ro 13:11HYPERLINK"/romans_1310-

35. 11#13:11"+).Are you a sleepysaint? Paul would say "Wake up!" redeem the
short time left in this age!(Eph 5:16HYPERLINK "/ephesians_515-
16#5:16"+).
Other than Jn 4:22, it is surprising that the only Gospelwriter to use soteria is
Luke. Here are all his uses of soteria in his Gospeland in Acts - Lk. 1:69; Lk.
1:71; Lk. 1:77; Lk. 19:9; Acts 4:12; Acts 7:25; Acts 13:26;Acts 13:47; Acts
16:17;Acts 27:34.
William Barclay(who himself may not have been saved! See fascinating
article The Enigmatic William Barclay)writes that "In classicalGreek soteria
means 'deliverance'or 'preservation'. It canbe used for a man's safe return to
his ownhome or his own country after an absence anda journey. It can mean
a 'guarantee of safety'or a 'security againstdanger'. In the papyri by far the
commonestmeaning of soteria is 'bodily health'. For instance, a member of
the family writes home, 'Write me a letter about your soteria,'or, as we would
say, 'Let me know how you are.' (New TestamentWords)
For (gar) - A term of explanation. What is Peterexplaining to the Sanhedrin?
This must have been a "tough pill for them to swallow!"
IN CHRIST ALONE
IS HOPE
There is no other name under heaven - In other words there is no other name
like this in the entire world. NotConfucius. NotBuddha. Not Mohammed.
Every other name is absolutely excluded. This verse is "intolerant" of
pretenders, regardless oftheir name or claim!
Worship Him in spirit and truth:
• Play Robin Mark's Be Unto Your Name.
• No Other Name - Hillsong
RelatedResources:
• Inclusivism vs. exclusivism - what does the Bible say?
• Is Jesus the only way?
• What is the way of salvation?
• With all of the different religions, how can I know which one is correct?
• Is Jesus really the only way to Heaven?
• What did Jesus meanwhen He said “I am the way and the truth and the
life” (John 14:6)?
• Just how narrow is the narrow gate?

36. • Why did God make salvationsuch a narrow path?
• Why is being a good personnot enough to getyou into heaven?
That has been given among men - We againsee God's magnificent grace, His
unmerited favor. Peteremphasizes this is a gift given to sinful mankind, a gift
given to a godless world that otherwise has no hope of eternal life. The verb
has been given is in the perfecttense (and passive = "divine passive" = God
the GreatGiver) indicating that the Name has been given at a point in time
and having been given it remains permanently the means of salvation. Indeed,
it will remain throughout eternity!
Barnes on given - The Lord Jesus is thus uniformly representedas given, or
appointed by God for this greatpurpose, John 3:16, 17:4, 1 Corinthians 3:5,
Galatians 1:4, 2:20, Ephesians 1:22, 5:25; 1 Timothy 2:6, Romans 5:15-18,
6:23 and hence Christ is called the "unspeakable gift" ofGod, 2 Corinthians
9:15. (Barnes'Notes onthe New Testament)
Among men recalls a similar declarationin Acts 2:39HYPERLINK "/acts-2-
commentary#2:39"+ that "the promise is for you and your children (Jews)
and for all who are far off (Gentiles)."
By which we must be saved- Peteruses the pronoun "we" thus joining the
two apostles to their opponents, in a sense appealing to them. We signifies they
all have the same need for salvation.
As someone has well said "The Name of Jesus is profanity to the sinner but
heaven's passwordto the saint." Hallelujah!
Must be saved- "By which it is fit or proper that we should be saved." If one
is to be savedfrom eternal death to eternal life, it MUST be by this way, by
this Name. Note the passage doesnot say"will be saved," or"might be
saved," but MUST BE SAVED. The verb for must is dei which speaks ofan
obligation, an absolute necessity, the logicalnecessity. As Lenski says it is "an
absolute fact of necessityon which hangs eternal salvationor eternal
destruction. Since salvationis possible only in connectionwith Jesus, allwho
desire to be savedmust embrace His Name."
Horton adds a note on the verb must - Must (Gk. dei) is an emphatic word
indicating compelling necessity. If we do not find salvationthrough the name
(Person)of Jesus, we shall never find it. Nowhere in the entire world is there
another Savior—there never has been and never will be. (Acts: A Logion
Press Commentary)
Albert Barnes - To show the failure of all other schemes ofreligion was the
greatdesign of the first part of the Epistle to the Romans. By a laboured

37. argument Paul there shows Romans 1 that the Gentiles had failed in their
attempt to justify themselves;and in Romans 2, Romans 3, that the same
thing was true also of the Jews. If both these schemes failed, then there was
need of some other plan; and that plan was that of salvationby Jesus Christ.
(Barnes'Notes on the New Testament)
There is no skirting around the Name of Jesus. There is no entrance into the
Kingdom of God and the presence ofthe Fatherbut through the "Door" of
the Name Jesus Who clearly declared...
"I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will
go in and out and find pasture." (John 10:9)
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father
but through Me." (John 14:6)
Jesus'made these exclusive, "narrow minded" (but open hearted) claims as
He warned his Jews atthe conclusionof His Sermon on the Mount
"Enter through the narrow gate;for the gate is wide and the wayis
broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through
it. Forthe gate is small and the wayis narrow that leads to life, and
there are few who find it." (Mt 7:13-14HYPERLINK"/matthew_713-
14#7:13"+, cfPr 14:12)
In one passageJesus"doubly warned" His Jewishhearers
"Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you
believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (Jn 8:24)
Jesus couldnot have statedit more clearlythat He is the only Name by which
lost men must be savedand yet the lost world sees it as narrow minded. And
actually they are correct!Their problem is that they love their sin way too
much! Jesus explainedtheir "spiritual pathologicalcondition"
“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men
loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For
everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light
for fearthat his deeds will be exposed(THERE IT IS! THEY DO NOT
WANT THEIR SINS EXPOSED!). “But (BLESSED, MERCY-FILLED
TERM OF CONTRAST!)he who practices the truth comes to the
Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in
God.”(John3:19-21)
The apostle John spoke ofthe exclusivity of Jesus in his first epistle...

38. He who has the Sonhas the life; he who does not have the Son of God
does not have the life. (1 Jn 5:12)
Paul describedthe exclusivity of the Gospelthis way
For there is one God, and one Mediator(One Who intervenes between
two parties to resolve a conflict) also betweenGod and men, the Man
Christ Jesus,(1Timothy 2:5)
Savedis the verb sozo (see previous note), which Peterhad used to describe
the lame man's healing in Acts 4:9. Peteruses the same verb sozo, to deftly
move from the irrefutable evidence of a beggar's physicalhealing, to the
greatermiracle of spiritual healing found only in the Name that brought
about the physical healing. His logic could not have been more "air tight!"
Luke has already used sozo twice in the contextof spiritual salvation...
Acts 2:40HYPERLINK "/luke-2-commentary#2:40"+ And with many
other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying,
“Be saved(aorist imperative = "Don'tDelay! Don't wait until tomorrow
for tomorrow may be too late!") from this perverse generation!”
Acts 2:47HYPERLINK "/luke-2-commentary#2:47"+ praising Godand
having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their
number day by day those who were being (present tense, passive voice =
Salvationis an "inside"job wrought by an "outside" Power!) saved.
Compare other uses of sozo - Acts 11:14, 15:11, 16:30, 31
The first use of sozo in the entire NT clearly links the Name Jesus with
spiritual salvation. Matthew recorded the angel's conversationwith Joseph
"She (Mary) will beara Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, forit is He
who will save (sozo)His people from their sins." (Mt 1:21) In Mt 1:21 sozo is
equated with deliverance from sins (guilt and powerof). Jesus'Name (Iesous)
is a transliteration of Joshua meaning "Jehovahis salvation".
Boice is right when he says "“Oh, how the world hates such statements!If you
want to be laughed at, scorned, hated, even persecuted, testify to the exclusive
claims of Jesus Christ.”
A T Robertson- It is amazing to see Peterspeaking thus to the Sanhedrin and
proclaiming the necessityofsalvation(dei sōthēnai)in the name of Jesus
Christ and in no other. If this was true then, it is true today. There is no
second(heteron) name to go beside that of Jesus in India, China, Japan, or
America. (Word Pictures in the New Testament)

39. David Guzik says "If someone wishes to believe that all are savedor that there
are many roads to heaven or that one can take the best of all faiths and blend
them into one; fine. Believe so and bear the consequences;but please do not
claim this is the teaching of the Bible."
F F Bruce -- If the rulers persistedin their repudiation of Jesus, no such
deliverance could be hoped for from any other quarter or by the powerof any
other name . . . The course of duty and wisdom for the rulers was therefore
clear;if they refused it and persistedin their present attitude, they would
involve their nation as wellas themselves in destruction.
John MacArthur aptly sums up this greatpassagewriting "The exclusivism of
Christianity goes againstthe grain of our religiously pluralistic society. A
chapel built at the North Pole in February 1959 by the men of Operation Deep
Freeze 4 typifies the prevalent attitude today toward religious belief. The
structure contained an altar, over which was hung a picture of Jesus, a
crucifix, a starof David, and a lotus leaf (representing the Buddha). On the
wall of the chapelwas an inscription that read "Now it can be said that the
earth turns on the point of faith."Christians preach an exclusive Christ in an
inclusive age. Becauseofthat, we are often accusedof being narrow-minded,
even intolerant. Many paths, it is said, lead to the top of the mountain of
religious enlightenment. How dare we insist that ours is the only one? In
reality, however, there are only two religious paths: the broad way of works
salvationleading to destruction, and the narrow way of faith in the only
Savior leading to eternallife (Matt. 7:13-14HYPERLINK"/matthew_713-
14#7:13"+). Religiouspeople are on either one or the other. Sadly, the
Sanhedrin and all who followedthem were on the broad road to hell."
(MacArthur New TestamentCommentary – Acts)
Of course the exclusivity of Acts 4:12 always raises questions - what about
infants who die? what about the native who never heard the Name?, what
about OT people who never heard the Name of Jesus?, etc See the resources
below.
RelatedResources:
• What happens to babies and young children when they die?
• What does the Bible say about the evangelizationof children?
• Do the souls of aborted babies go to heaven?
• What happens to those who have never heard about Jesus?
• Can a person be savedthrough generalrevelation?
• How were people savedbefore Jesus died for our sins?

40. Ian Paisley- The Where Gospel
"Neitheris there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:10
Wherein
"Neitheris there salvation in any other"
Salvationis in Christ and Christ alone. It is not in the church, in the
sacraments, in goodworks nor in the creed. It is in the living Personof the
Son of God alone.
Wherefore
"for there is none other name under heaven given among men"
Wherefore?
1. Becausethere is none other name. Jesus means Saviour.
2. Becauseunder heaven you will find none other.
3. Becausenone other is given. He is the only Saviour.
Whereby
"we must be saved"
Salvationis not only in Christ but by Christ. He is not only the Life but He is
the wayto Life. If you are not savedin Him through Him and by Him you will
be forever lost. (A Text a Day Keeps the Devil Away)
JoshMcClellan:Are there really many roads to God – the question of
religious pluralism -- Commonly askedquestions:
1) What if someone is sincere in their belief? Would God really send them to
hell?
2) Isn’t it arrogant for one group to claim that they have the right answer?
3) Is there anything right in other religions?
4) If only one religion is right, why are there so many religions?
5) What about all of the people who never did or never will hear about Jesus?
http://joshmcclellan.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/are-there-really-many-roads-
to-god-thequestion-of-religious-pluralism/
Paul Apple has examples of wellknown individuals who were confronted with
questions about the exclusivity of the Gospel...

41. Exclusivity of the Gospel -- Look at waffling statements regarding that
exclusivity –
1) Larry King interview with JoelOsteen:
KING: But don’t you think if people don’t believe as you believe,
they’re somehow condemned?
OSTEEN:You know, I think that happens in our society. But I try not
to do that. I tell people all the time, preacheda couple Sundays about it.
I’m for everybody. You may not agree with me, but to me it’s not my
job to try to straighteneverybody out. The Gospelis calledthe good
news. My message is a messageofhope, that’s God’s [message]foryou.
You can live a goodlife no matter what’s happened to you. And so I
don’t know. I know there is condemnation, but I don’t feel that’s my
place. . . . . [Later in the interview]
KING: What if you’re Jewishor Muslim, you don’t acceptChrist at all?
OSTEEN:You know, I’m very careful about saying who would and
wouldn’t go to heaven. I don’t know . . .
KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They’re wrong,
aren’t they?
OSTEEN:Well, I don’t know if I believe they’re wrong. I believe here’s
what the Bible teaches andfrom the Christian faith this is what I
believe. But I just think that only God will judge a person’s heart. I
spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don’t know all about their
religion. But I know they love God. And I don’t know. I’ve seentheir
sincerity. So I don’t know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I
want to have a relationship with Jesus.
2) President George W. Bush – interviewed by prominent news anchor:
News Anchor: Do Christians and non-Christians, do Muslims go to
heaven in your mind?
Bush: Yes they do. We have different routes of getting there. . . I don’t
get to decide who goes to heaven . . .
3) President Obama:
PresidentObama’s brand of Christianity leaves enoughleewayto cause
confusionand concernamong evangelicals.
“My particular setof beliefs may not be perfectly consistentwith the
beliefs of other Christians,” Obama told Newsweek. “There’sthe belief,

42. certainly in some quarters, that if people haven’t embracedJesus Christ
as their personalsavior, they’re going to hell.”
In a discussionwith Franklin Graham, Mr. Obama explained,
“I do not believe that my mother, who never formally embraced
Christianity as far as I know, went to hell.”
http://www.standingforgod.com
ONLY ONE WAY - Many people reactnegatively to the claim that salvation
is found in Christ alone ("There is salvationin no one else!"). "How narrow-
minded, exclusive, and arrogant!" is the common charge leveledagainst
Christianity. But two facts are worth remembering: First, this is not
something the church arbitrarily decided; it is the specific teaching of Jesus
himself (John 14:6). Second, rather than reacting to the phrase, "in no one
else," people would be better served to focus on the wonderful promise,
"There is salvation." Thatis the goodnews of the gospel!God has provided a
way for sinners to be forgiven and granted entrance into eternal life! To be
sure, it is a narrow way(Luke 13:24), but it is a way nonetheless. Ifyour
cruise ship is sinking, it is foolish to remain on deck criticizing the emergency
evacuationplan. The wisercourse of action is to take a seatin the nearest
lifeboat! (Life Application Bible Commentary – Acts)
Paul Apple - Tactics ofthe Enemy:
1) Threatening the Preachers -- example of Peterand John we will study
today
2) Killing the Missionaries
Karen Watsonwas one of our young missionaries to Iraq. On March15, 2004,
she was killed by unknown assailants. Lateran envelope was found that said,
“Open in case ofdeath.” Inside was a letter that said in part: “DearPastor
Phil and PastorRoger, Youshould only be opening this in the event of death.
When God calls there are no regrets. I tried to share my heart with you as
much as possible, my heart for the nations. I wasn’t calledto a place;I was
calledto Him. To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, His glory my
reward,. . .The missionary heart: Cares more than some think is wise;Risks
more that some think is safe;Dreams more than some think is practical;
Expects more than some think is possible. I was callednot to comfort or to
successbut to obedience. ...There is no Joyoutside of knowing Jesus and
serving Him. I love you two and my church family. In His care, Salaam,
Karen.”

43. 3) Burning the Bibles
a. We are familiar with the fact that the EnglishReformer William Tyndale
was burned at the stake for his labours in seeking to provide a faithful
translation of the Scriptures in the English language. In fact, Rome persecuted
the translationand circulation of the Scriptures in all the countries of the
European Reformation. The persecutionwas particularly fierce, however, in
England and Scotland. The threat of being put to death as a heretic did not
extend merely to translating the Scriptures into the English language, but also
even to reading or possessing sucha translation or any part of it. As Tyndale
translated and published portions of Scripture in English it was eagerlytaken
up and read. Although many thousands of copies of Tyndale's translation
were printed, so fierce was the persecutionthat only one complete copy of the
first edition has survived the systematic destructionordered by the Romanist
clerics. Tyndale knew that the Roman Catholic authorities would go far
beyond destroying the printed copies of his translation: 'In burning the New
Testament, they did none other thing than I lookedfor; no more shall they do
if they burn me also, if it be God's will it shall so be. Nevertheless in
translating the New TestamentI did my duty and so do I now...'.
When askedabout his impressionof "born-againChristians," George Brown,
a Presbyterianreal estate seller, has this to say: I am not a born-again
Christian and don't know any to my knowledge. Christians have talked with
me severaltimes but they came across sortof narrow-minded. It made me feel
like they were condescending and wouldn't recognize otherpeople's
beliefs....Inmany ways I considermyself a Christian, just not a born-again
one. I've already been born once. Why would I want to be born again? I think
that too many Christians will not believe that there are other religious faiths
in the world. To me that's the greatestshortcoming ofthe Christian church.
Christians should be something we often are not: humble. D.T. Niles:
"Evangelismis one beggartelling another where to find bread."
An illustration from conceptof law. 1) Some laws are determined by society -
stop lights. 2) Other laws cannot be determined by society - law of gravity. 3)
Spiritual laws are inherent, like gravity. a) God has revealed himself to us
through Jesus. b) Christ's death is the only way our sins can be paid for.
Out of thousands of religions in world, how can Christians saythey are only
way to heaven? We are not the only ones - Muslims do as well.
Today’s The Day

44. Read:Acts 4:1-14
There is no other name under heavengiven among men by which we must be
saved. —Acts 4:12
During a televisioninterview, a comedian was asked, “Whatdo you intend to
say when you meet your Maker?”The comedian, assuming possible rejection
by God and reflecting today’s mindset, quipped, “I’ll simply ask for a second
opinion!”
There was a time when the opinion of an expert in any field was takenas
correctand final. But today we often seek the advice of many professionals
until we find the one we think is best. This has given us many valuable
benefits. But when we are looking for answers aboutour eternal destiny, only
one opinion matters. God has the final answer.
In Acts 4:12, Peterboldly declared that Jesus is the only name given by God
through which we can be saved. We stand condemned before a just and holy
God because ofour sin. But the goodnews is that His love has found a way to
save us. He sent His Son Jesus Christto take our place of punishment. We
need only to acknowledgeoursinfulness, ask for His forgiveness, and trust
Him to save us. There’s simply no other way to heaven than through Jesus
and His sacrificialdeath on the cross.
What will you saywhen you meet your Maker? If you’re unsure, settle it
now—forit will be too late then.
It's foolishto say "tomorrow" when Godsays "today."
By Joanie Yoder (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
The Only One Who Saves
Read:Acts 4:1-12
Whoevercalls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. —Romans 10:13
A book in my library describes a marshal in Napoleon’s army who was
completely devoted to the emperor. One day the marshal was mortally
wounded in battle. As he lay dying in his tent, he calledfor Napoleon, who
sooncame.
The officerthought the emperor could save his life. But Napoleonjust shook
his head and turned away. The book describes the tragic scene:“As the dying
man felt the cold, merciless hand of death drawing him irresistibly behind the
curtain of the unseenworld, he was still heard to shriek out, ‘Save me,

45. Napoleon!Save me!'” In the hour of death, that soldier discoveredthat even
Napoleoncould not rescue him.
Similarly, when a person seeksdeliverance from spiritual death, he finds that
no human being has the powerto save—no minister of the gospel, no priest,
not even those who are greatprayer warriors. Only Jesus cansave a soul. The
Bible says, “Noris there salvationin any other, for there is no other name
under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Have you askedJesus to save you? If not, do it now! He always answers those
who plead for His mercy and put their trust in Him. He is the only One who
saves.
There is no other name on earth
By whom salvation's given
Save Jesus Christ the Lamb of God,
God's precious gift from heaven. —Stairs
Christ believed is salvationreceived.
By Richard DeHaan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
SupermarketReligion
Read:Acts 4:5-12
There is no other name under heavengiven among men by which we must be
saved. —Acts 4:12
It’s amazing how many brands of breakfastcerealare offeredby a typical
American supermarket. And regardless ofthe countless ads that extol the
virtues of one cerealoveranother, most brands are comparably nutritious
and hunger-satisfying.
Is the salvationof our souls like that? In the supermarketof religions, aren’t
all beliefs and dogmas spiritually nourishing and true?
Absolutely not! But that’s the common conclusionof many people—including
some so-calledBible scholars. One theologianwho clings to such a radically
wrong view of Scripture wrote, “If ‘saved’means being united and reconciled
with God, then Acts 4:12 is palpably false. There are many authentic roads to
God, and no religion holds the franchise for illumination.”
The writer’s insistence is an outright denial of God’s Word, which tells us that
Christ’s sacrifice for sin is the only waywe can gain a right relationship with

46. God. Salvationis available through faith in Jesus Christ(Jn. 14:6), and it is
absolutely free to anyone who accepts it by faith.
Finding spiritual truth is not like shopping for cereal. There’s onlyone right
choice. Make sure you, and those around you, know the difference.
Sincerity is no substitute for truth.
By Vernon Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
Mention the Name
Read:Acts 4:5-20
I am in the Father, and . . . the Father is in me. John 14:10
A church group invited a speakerto address their meeting. “Talk aboutGod,”
the group leadertold him, “but leave out Jesus.”
“Why?” the man asked, takenaback.
“Well,” the leaderexplained, “some of our prominent members feel
uncomfortable with Jesus. Justuse God and we’ll be fine.”
Accepting such instructions, however, was a problem for the speakerwho said
later, “Without Jesus, I have no message.”
Something similar was askedof followers ofJesus in the days of the early
church. Local religious leaders conferredtogetherto warn the disciples not to
speak about Jesus (Acts 4:17). But the disciples knew better. “We cannothelp
speaking about what we have seenand heard,” they said (v. 20).
To claim to believe in God and not in His Son Jesus Christ is a contradiction
in terms. In John 10:30, Jesus clearlydescribes the unique relationship
betweenHimself and God: “I and the Father are one”—thus establishing His
deity. That is why He could say, “You believe in God; believe also in me”
(John 14:1). Paul knew that Jesus is the very nature of God and equal with
God (Phil. 2:6).
We need not shy awayfrom the name Jesus, for“salvationis found in no one
else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we
must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Jesus, You are God. Thank You for showing Yourself to us in the Bible and in
our lives. You have done so much for us. Help us to share with others what we
know of You and have experiencedof You.
The name of Jesus is at the heart of our faith and our hope.

47. By Lawrence Darmani (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
No Other Name
Read:Isaiah 9:1-7
There is no other name under heavengiven among men by which we must be
saved. —Acts 4:12
The angelannounced to Joseph, “You shall callHis name Jesus, for He will
save His people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21).
The name Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Joshua, which is a
contractionof two words, Jehovahand Hoshea, which means “God the
Savior” or “SaviorGod.”
This is His name. This is the name which is above every name, and the name
of the only One who can save us. No one can take His place or approachGod
without Him.
We respectthe names of the patriarchs of the Bible and the godly men and
women of more recent history, but everyone will one day bow before Jesus
(Phil. 2:9-11). Even His own mother acknowledgedher need of a Savior (Lk.
1:47). Jesus alone is the mediator betweenGod and man (1 Tim. 2:5-6).
Yes, we honor godly men and women of the Bible. And we give due respectto
those who throughout history have faithfully lived for Christ and proclaimed
the gospel. Butwe are not to worship them or pray to them. Jesus alone is the
One whose name means “Savior.” He is the Son of God, of whom Isaiah
proclaimed, “His name will be calledWonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”(9:6).
My heart is stirred whene'erI think of Jesus,
That blessedName which sets the captive free;
The only Name through which I find salvation;
No name on earth has meant so much to me. —Eliason
© 1950 Alfred B. Smith
For time and eternity, Jesus is all we need.
By M.R. DeHaan(Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
A PersonIs The Pathway

48. Read:John 14:1-6
There is no other name under heavengiven among men by which we must be
saved. —Acts 4:12
The pilot of a military plane was forced to parachute into a jungle in southeast
Asia. How could he possibly find his wayout? A localman saw whathad
happened and came to the pilot’s rescue, slashing through the tangled
underbrush. The frightened pilot cried out, “Where’s the road? Where’s the
way out?” The rescuershouted back, “No road!I’m the way! Follow me!”
The pilot trusted the man, who led him through the jungle to safety.
Some people have a difficult time accepting similar words spokenby the Lord
Jesus. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father exceptthrough Me” (John 14:6). Critics callthis teaching intolerant
and divisive. But because the Sonof Godsaid it, and the Word of God records
it, it is true no matter how much it is challenged. Faith in Jesus is the only way
to eternal fellowship with God.
The pathway to God is not found by following a creed, developing moral
character, orattending church. It’s found by trusting Jesus to forgive our sin
and reconcile us to the Father. When we open our hearts to the crucified and
risen Savior, we are on the only pathway that will bring us home to God.
Not all roads lead to God,
As many people claim;
There's only one true way—
Christ Jesus is His name. —Sper
No one can bypass Jesus and getto heaven.
By Vernon Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
Two Ways To God?
Read:John 14:1-6
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through Me. —John 14:6
In the marketplace ofideas, all vendors have an equal right to sell what they
believe. But that doesn’t mean all their ideas are equally right.
Christians proclaim that Jesus is the only wayto God not because they are
bigots but because they believe it is true. They take at face value His claim
that He alone is the true and living way to God.

49. Many people shrug off the claims of Jesus as the only Savior of the world by
saying, “Well, that’s all fine and good, but you have your wayto God and I
have mine.” Jesus stoodsuch thinking on its head when He said, “I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Fatherexcept through Me”
(Jn. 14:6).
If Jesus’claims are true, they are true for everyone. If they are false, the
soonerwe are proved wrong and put on the right road the better. As C. S.
Lewis put it, “Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance,
and, if true, is of infinite importance. The one thing it cannotbe is moderately
important.”
There are no two ways about it. Jesus doesn’task for our vote as the most
appealing candidate for Saviorof the world. He simply states His lordship of
the universe and demands our allegiance. DoesHe have yours?
THINKING IT OVER
What did Petersay about Jesus in Acts 4:12?
What did John the Baptistsay about Jesus? (Jn. 1:29).
What did Jesus sayabout Himself? (Jn. 14:6).
Christ is the only door into heaven.
By Haddon W. Robinson(Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries,
Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
Running For Nothing
Read:Romans 4:4-17
Nor is there salvationin any other, for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved. —Acts 4:12
As my friend RogerWeberstarted the 2006 ChicagoMarathon, he noticed
something on the ground. It was a runner’s chip—the device eachrunner puts
on his or her shoe to record progress atvarious timing stations during the
race. Apparently, one poor runner would be traversing the next 26.2 miles on
foot with nothing to show for it.
Officially, that runner did not run the race. There would be no record of his
participation. Even if he had finished the race in record time, it wouldn’t have
mattered. The folks who organize the race set the rules, and no matter how
well someone runs, if the officials say the runner doesn’t qualify, that’s the
way it is.

50. In one sense, that’s also the wayit is with all of us. We canrun what appears
to be a goodrace by doing goodthings for others and obeying lots of rules.
But when we arrive at the final checkpoint—heaven—andhaven’t made sure
our name is recordedin the Lamb’s Book ofLife by putting our faith in Jesus
as our Savior, we’re disqualified to enter.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
exceptthrough Me” (John 14:6). Are you trusting in Jesus? If not, you’re
running for nothing.
It’s not what I achieve that qualifies,
It matters not if I gain wealthor fame;
The only thing I must be certain of
Is “Have I put my trust in Jesus’name?” —Hess
If we could earn our salvation, Christ would not have died to provide it.
By Dave Branon(Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
Nowhere Tickets
Read:John 14:1-6
Nor is there salvationin any other, for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved. —Acts 4:12
We kept getting tickets to nowhere. We had finished a missions trip to
Jamaica and were trying to gethome. However, our airline was having
problems, and no matter what our tickets said, we couldn’t leave Montego
Bay. Over and over we heard, “Your flight has been canceled.” Eventhough
we had purchased our tickets in goodfaith, the airline could not back up its
promise to transport us to the US. We had to stayan extra day before
boarding a plane that could take us home.
Imagine thinking that you are headed for heaven, but discovering that your
ticketis no good. It canhappen. If you trust the wrong plan, you will getto the
gate of eternity but be denied entrance into heavento live with God forever.
The apostle Petersaid there is salvationin no one else but Jesus (Acts 4:12).
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
exceptthrough Me” (John 14:6). The only ticket to heavengoes to those who
have put their faith in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross as payment for
their sin.

51. Some offer other ways. But those tickets are worthless. To make sure you’re
going to heaven, trust Jesus. He’s the only way.
Lord, I know I’m a sinner and cannot save myself. I need You as my Savior.
Thank You for dying in my place and rising again. I believe in You. Please
forgive my sin. I want to live with You in heaven someday.
Jesus took my place on the cross and gave me a place in heaven.
By Dave Branon(Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
The Wrong Stuff
Read:John 14:1-6
There is no other name under heavengiven among men by which we must be
saved. —Acts 4:12
It was a simple task, but I was in over my head. One of the items on the
grocerylist was soy. Problem was, I didn’t know what kind of soy my wife,
Sue, had in mind when she made the list. After searching the aisles and asking
the advice of a workerwho was stacking soupcans, I grabbed a bottle of soy
sauce, placedit in the cart, and went on my way.
Only after I unloaded my bags at home did I discoverthat Sue didn’t want soy
sauce. She wantedsoy milk for our granddaughter Eliana. I was sincere in my
search. I even askedfor help and confidently pulled my selectionoffthe shelf.
But it didn’t do me (or Eliana)any good. I had the wrong stuff.
Sadly, some people are walking through the grocerystore of life with
“heaven” on their list, but they are not getting what they need. Despite their
sincerity and the intended help of others, they grab something that won’t get
them to heaven because they find a “different gospel” (2 Cor. 11:4).
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
exceptthrough Me” (John 14:6). And Peter said, “There is no other name
under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Trust Jesus. Don’tsettle for the wrong gospel.
Not all roads lead to God,
As many people claim;
There’s only one true way—
Christ Jesus is His name. —Sper
Christ is the only door into heaven.

52. By Dave Branon(Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
Straight To Heaven
Read:John 3:1-8
Nor is there salvationin any other, for there is no other name . . . by which we
must be saved. —Acts 4:12
An old spiritual warns, “Everybody talkin’ ’bout heaven ain’t goin’ there.”
Since heaven is God’s dwelling place where His presence and glory are
manifested in all their splendor, He has the sovereignright to determine who
will be admitted and under what conditions. Any other beliefs about the how
and why of admissioninto heaven are sadly mistaken.
Take, forexample, the confidence expressedby a well-knownactress.
Questionedabout her faith, she replied, “I pray. I read the Bible. It’s the most
beautiful book ever written. I should go to heaven; otherwise it’s not nice. I
haven’t done anything wrong. My conscienceis very clean. My soul is as white
as those orchids over there, and I should go straight, straight to heaven.”
God alone determines who goes straightto heaven. In the Bible, God’s holy
Word, He tells us that only those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their
personalSavior will be admitted. The apostle Petersaid, “Noris there
salvationin any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among
men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Self-judgment regarding the purity of one’s soul and one’s heaven-deserving
characteris not the criterion. Only God’s Word gives us the standard for
admission.
I must needs go home by the way of the cross,
There’s no other way but this;
I shall ne’er get sight of the gates of light,
If the way of the cross I miss. —Pounds
Christ believed is salvationreceivedand heavengained.
By Vernon Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
None Other Name - Biblical Illustrator

53. A few persons were collectedround a blind man, who had takenhis stationon
a bridge in the City Road, and was reading from an embossedBible.
Receiving from the passers-byof their carnal things, he was ministering to
them spiritual things. A gentlemanon his way home from the City was led by
curiosity to the outskirts of the crowd. Just then the poor man, who was
reading from Acts 4., lost his place, and, while trying to find it with his
fingers, kept repeating the last clause he had read, "None other name, —
None other name, — None..."Some of the people smiled at the blind man's
embarrassment, but the gentleman went on his waymusing. He had lately
become convincedthat he was a sinner, and had been trying in many ways to
obtain peace ofmind. But religious exercises, goodresolutions,alteredhabits,
all were ineffectual to relieve his conscienceofits load, and enable him to
rejoice in God. The words he had heard from the blind man, however, rang
their solemn music to his soul — "None other name." When he reachedhis
home and retired to rest, the words, like evening chimes from village towers
nestling among the trees, were still heard — "None other name — None other
name." And when he awoke,in more joyful measure, like matin bell saluting
the morn, the strain continued, "None othername — None other name." The
music entered his soul, and he awoke to new life. "I see it all; I see it all! I have
been trying to be savedby my own works — my repentance, my prayers, my
reformation. I see my mistake. It is Jesus who alone can save me. To Him I
will look. Neitheris there salvation in any other: for there is none other name
— none other name — none other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved."
A young Frenchnobleman, a particular friend of NapoleonIII., becoming
unaccountably gloomy in mind, and threatenedwith insanity, was urged by
the Emperor to apply for advice and treatment to the celebratedDr. Forbes
Winslow. He came to London, and the greatdoctor, after careful questioning,
discoveredthe characterof his disease. He was tormented with a thought —
and the thought was "Eternity! where shall I spend it?" This haunted him day
and night. Dr. Winslow told him he could not help him. He had sought in the
wrong quarter for his cure. "Is there no hope, then!" exclaimed the nobleman
in despair. "Yes;listen to me, and I will tell you how I was helped and healed"
said Dr. Winslow. "When I was youngerI had your complaint; and I tried
every resource but the right one. At last I carried my case to the Lord Jesus
Christ in prayer, and He gave me health and peace. Go thou, and do
likewise."The nobleman was astonished, but he stayedwhile the doctorread
to him the portions of Scripture that had been blessedto himself, and after
prayer, light and comfort came to him. The new medicine had cured him.

54. It is not long since that a prominent business man, when closelypressedby his
pastor, who had lately come to the church, replied with a call force which was
meant to put an end to further pertinacity: "I am interested in all religious
matters; I am always gladto see the ministers when they call; but I have in the
years past thought the subjectover long and carefully, and I have come to the
decisiondeliberately that I have no personalneed of Jesus Christas a Saviour
in the sense you preach." Only two weeks from this interview, the same man
was suddenly prostrated with disease;the illness was of such a characteras to
forbid his conversing with any one, and the interdict from speaking was
continued until he was within an hour of death. A solemn moment was that in
which a question was put to him, intimating he might talk now if he could —
nothing would harm him. The last thing, and the only thing, he said was in a
melancholy and frightened whisper, "Who will carry me over the river?" (C.
S. Robinson, D. D.)
Standing opposite Fort William, a missionary heard the Mussulmans and
Chinamen saying, "There are very many gates into Fort William — there is
an hospital gate, a water, gate, and others. Now, Sahib, it is just the same in
regard to heaven. Chinamen getin at one gate, Mussulmans in at another, and
Hindoos in at another!" "Yes," the missionary said, "that is true; but there is
a sentinel at every gate, and every sentinel has the same watchword, and you
cannot getinto it without that watchword." There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but Jesus Christ, and
Him crucified."
"You have been a goodchild to your parents," saidthe venerable George III.
to his daughter, the Princess Amelia; "we have nothing for which to reproach
you; but I need not tell you that it is not of yourself alone that you can be
saved, and that your acceptance withGod must depend on your faith and
trust in the merits of the Redeemer." "Iknow it," replied the dying princess,
with gentle resignation, "and I could not wish for a better trust."
Dr. Jack L. Arnold Lesson#10
ACTS
The First Persecution Acts
4:1-12

55. The preaching of the gospelby the first century Christians produced
persecutionof those who claimed to be followers ofthe Lord Jesus Christ.
This first persecutiondid not come from the unbelieving paganworld but
from the religious leaders in Jerusalem. The church came up againstthe old
Jewishreligious establishment, a system which had originally been established
by God but had become so corrupt because oflegalismand traditionalism that
it was scarcelyrecognizable as the Judaism of the days of Moses andthe
Prophets. “But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as their doctrines the
precepts of men” (Matt. 15:9).
Persecutionwas a hidden blessing for the early church. Five times in eleven
years the enemy stretched forth his fangs to vex the church at Jerusalem. This
chapter records the first of these persecutions which were to grow in intensity
through the years.
Persecution, whichis a terrible experience, is always goodfor the church, - for
it causes the church to grow in purity and numbers. As Christians, we should
never be surprised that when we preachthe gospelit encounters persecution,
for the Apostle Paul wrote, “And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ
Jesus will be persecuted” (II Tim. 3:12). And yet, Paul also wrote, “But thanks
be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through
us the sweetaroma of the knowledge ofHim in every place” (II Cor. 2:14). If
Christians are to be faithful in proclaiming the gospelin our day, they can
always expectto be offensive to a greatsegmentof society. When Christians
are faithful, they will experience some physical persecution. Some may offer
up the extreme sacrifice and give their lives for Christ, but even in death there
shall be triumph. The gospelis offensive to the natural mind and will cause
opposition in some.
Dr. James Stewart, professoroftheologyat Edinburgh University, said, “It is
a terrible thing when the church is contentto cultivate inoffensiveness.”
The backgroundfor Acts 4:1-12 is that Peterand John have been instruments
in the healing of the Lame Man. He had been a cripple from birth. When
Petersaid, “In the name of Jesus the Nazarene -- walk!” he immediately had
strength come into his ankles and feet and he startedwalking, jumping,
running and leaping alloverthe temple. He was hugging Peter and John and
all this excitement drew a crowd. Peterseized the opportunity and told the
unbelieving Jews to repent and turn to Christ. “Repenttherefore and return,
that your sins may be wiped away. . .” (Acts 3:19).
ECCLESIASTICALPERSECUTION Acts 4:1-4

56. PromotedBy Religionists (4:1): “And as they were s pea king to the people,
the priests and the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees, came upon
them, . . .” -- The very first persecutionto Christians came from the religious
people. Christianity was threatening the religious establishment and their
incorrecttheology. The political, judicial and religious body in Jerusalemwas
the Sanhedrin made up of seventy rulers in Israel, and the High Priestacted
as the moderator of the group. The Sanhedrin, the power structure in
Jerusalem, was made up of elders, scribes, PhariseesandSadducees and their
priestly families. The controlling group of the Sanhedrin was clearlythe
Sadducees. Theywere the wealthy, intellectual aristocrats,who wanted to
preserve the status quo in Jerusalem, and they were ever ready to collaborate
with the Romanauthorities to maintain the establishment and keeptheir
comfortable way of life. These Sadducees were rationalists andmaterialists
who denied the supernatural in the Jewishreligion. They denied any belief in
a bodily resurrectionand denied any spirit world, whether angels or demons.
“Forthe Sadducees saythat there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a
spirit; but the Phariseesacknowledge them all” (Acts 23:8). They also
consideredthe Prophets and the Writings of the Old Testamentto be less
authoritative than the words of Mosesin the Pentateuch. The Sadducees were
not only the first foes of Christianity, they were the fiercestfoes of Christ's
cause.
These Sadduceesare equivalent to our modern day liberals in Christendom.
They hold to the ethicalteachings of Christ but deny the inspiration of
scripture and the supernatural. Even today the greatestopponents to Biblical
Christianity are liberal ministers. Liberals encourage Christto be spokenof
as teacher, healer, example and leaderbut they distain the whole idea that He
is the resurrectedLord, the Savior of all who believe. The greatestantagonism
to Christ comes from liberal theologians who will not bow down and call Him
Lord and Christ, who exalt their minds above the mind of God revealedin
Holy Scripture.
ProvokedBy Truth (4:2): “Being greatlydisturbed (aggravated, angered)
because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the
resurrectionfrom the dead.” -- The Apostles were merely teaching the
ordinary Jew about Christ and His resurrection, and for this alone they were
put in jail. The Sadducees hadthe powerto declare who would and who
would not be teachers in Jerusalem. The Apostles in their thinking were
uneducated and untrained men. “Now as they observed the confidence of
Peterand John, and understoodthat they were uneducated and untrained
men, they were marveling, and beganto recognize them as having been with

57. Jesus” (Acts 4:13). Peter and John had not been sanctionedby the Sanhedrin
but they had been sanctionedby God.
The Apostles were not proclaiming the overthrow of the Sanhedrin repression
nor rebellion againstRomantyranny, nor were they protesting against
slavery, even though at that time one half of the people in the Romanempire
were slaves to the other half. They were not preaching againstthe excessive
taxation by the Romans of the Jews. Theywere not advocating the violent
overthrow of the establishment. They were only openly declaring the
resurrectionof Jesus Christ from the dead, and for this they were thrown in
jail. This message ofChrist was obviously a greatthreat to the establishment.
Why? Christ sets men free from sin and when man is setfree on the in- side, it
is only natural for him to seek for external social, economic and political
freedom. Absolutely nothing is more threatening to religious establishments,
totalitarianism, dictatorships and tyrannies of this earth than the radical
messageofthe ResurrectedChrist. This is why Iron Curtain countries keep
the gospelout or repress those who hold it. This is why China today is
completely closedto the messageofChrist. This is why Mohammedan
countries are re-establishing the death penalty to any member of Islam who
converts to Christianity. This is why Roman Catholic countries keepthe Bible
out of the hands of the people. The messageofJesus and His resurrection
brings a radicalrevolution wheneverit is preached.
ProducedImprisonment (4:3): “And they laid hands on then, and put then in
jail until the next day, for it was already evening.” -- As Peterand John were
preaching to this huge crowdof people, there was a sudden display of
authority by the religious establishment. The temple guard led by the temple
chief or police, elbowedtheir way through the crowd, surrounded Peterand
John, arrestedthen and took then off to jail. The Apostles in no way resisted
the authorities because they believed in non- violence in the preaching of the
gospel. Since the Sanhedrin never met at night, the trial of the Apostles would
have to wait until the next morning. This was the first night spent in jail for
the cause ofChrist. Perhaps the Sadducees were justusing scare tacticson the
followers of Jesus to keepthem from spreading the news of the resurrection.
The Apostles must have recalledall the teaching Jesus Christ gave to then
about persecutions while He was on this earth.
“Rememberthe word that I said to you . . . If they persecutedMe, they will
also persecute you . . .” (Jn.15:20).
“These things I have spokento you, that you may be kept from stumbling.
They will make you outcasts from the synagogue;but an hour is coming for

58. everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God” (Jn. 16:1,
2).
“But be on your guard; for they will deliver you up to the courts, and you will
be floggedin the synagogues, andyou will stand before governors and kings
for My sake, as a testimony to them” (Mk. 13:9).
When the establishment is threatened by Christianity, the authorities get
annoyed and irritated. They often strike back by a show of force which only
causes true Christians to grow stronger. Persecutionis a help instead of a
hindrance to the purity and progress ofthe true church. Someone has said,
“We must bleed to bless.” Augustine said, “The blood of martyrs is the seedof
the church.”
Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, went to Rome at age 95 to offer himself as a
martyr for Christ.
Five years later he was brought before the proconsul and urged by him to
“swearby the fortune of Caesar. . swear, and I will release thee;reproach
Christ.” Polycarp, then about a hundred years old, replied: “Eighty and six
year have I servedHim, and He never wrongedme; how can I blaspheme my
King who hath savedme? I am a Christian, and if you desire to learn the
Christian doctrine, assignme a day, and hear.” “I have wild beasts,” saidthe
proconsul. “I will expose you to them unless you repent.” “Callthem,” replied
the martyr, “Our minds are not to be changedfrom the better to the worse;
but it is a goodthing to be changedfrom evil to good.” “Iwill tame your spirit
by fire unless you repent,” said the proconsul. “You threaten me with fire
which burns for a moment; but you are ignorant of the future judgment, and
the fire of eternal punishment reservedfor the ungodly. But why do you
delay? Do what you please,” answeredPolycarp.
As they were about to fastenhim to the stake, the old saint said, “Let me,
remain as I am, for He who gives me strength to sustain the fire will enable me
to remain unmoved.”
Placing his hands behind him, the heroic man then offered a prayer, closing
with these words: “O God, I bless Thee that Thou has counted me worthy of
this day and this hour, to receive my portion in the number of martyrs, in the
cup of Christ, for the resurrectionto eternallife both of soul and body, in the
incorruption of the Holy Ghost; among whom may I be receivedbefore Thee
this day as a sacrifice acceptable.Wherefore I praise thee for all things. I bless
Thee, I glorify Thee, by the eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, Thy well-
beloved Son . . . Amen.”

59. The fire was then lighted, but the rising wind sweptthe flame awayfrom his
body in so wonderful a manner that he was finally dispatchedby the thrust of
the executioner’s sword.
Profit from Crisis (4:4): “But many of those who heard the messagebelieved;
and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” -- These
unbelieving Jews had heard the messageand believed. They did not hear the
speculations and theories of men but they heard the gospel ofJesus Christ.
Furthermore, the Apostles did not defend the gospelbut declaredit with
boldness and men were saved. There were also five thousand savedthat day.
Some scholars believe this means that there were two thousand saved and this
number plus three thousand on the Day of Pentecosttotaledfive thousand.
However, there is no reasonnot to think there were five thousand saved, and
what we see is a rapidly expanding church as the Lord was adding to the body
of Christ daily.
This is the lasttime that numbers of converts are mentioned in the New
Testament, but we see there is nothing wrong with taking a count, especiallyif
these are truly convertedpeople. There was greatprofit from preaching
faithfully - five thousand souls were saved, but this blessing was not without
crisis. The Apostles suffered for their stand for Jesus Christ.
EXAMINATION BEFORETHE SANHEDRIN Acts 4:5-9
Place ofthe Trial (4:5): “And it came about on the next day, that their rulers
and elders and scribes were gatheredtogetherin Jerusalem.” -- This trial of
Peterand John and the Lame Man was conductedin the council chamber
which was a specialbuilding in the westernpart of the temple area.
Persons Examining (4:6): “And Annas the High Priest was there and
Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high priestly descent.”
-- For the Sanhedrin to be an official court, there had to be a quorum,
consisting of twenty-three members. This was a legalassemblyand the
Apostles were on trial. There was Annas, who was the honorary high priest
and the power behind the Sanhedrin, and the father of Caiaphas. Caiaphas
was the official high priest and there was John and Alexander, probably
brothers of Caiaphas. This confirms what we know from secularhistory. This
family of high priests intermarried with one another and constituted a ruling
class in Jerusalem, controlling the vast wealthof the temple and certain
profitable monopolies connectedwith the sacrifices. So here were the
aristocrats who satin power and authority in the city, who had greatpolitical
and economic interests in the city. They were threatenedby these Christians
who were proclaiming the truth of the resurrection. We now can see it was not

60. only the doctrine with which the Sadducees disagreedwith the Apostles but
there was also a threat to their plush way of life.
Many people do not come to Christ and acceptHim as Savior and bow before
Him as Lord because they know Christ does change one's life style and value
system and they would rather have a materialistic way of life than the
spiritual realities of heaven. So be it, for the only goodlife materialists will
know is this present life. The next life will only be hell for them.
Problem of the Sanhedrin (4:7): “And when they had placed them in the
center, they beganto inquire, ‘By what power, or in what name have you done
this?’” -- What a dramatic scene. Perhaps these seventyrulers of Israelwere
staring at Peterand John as they sat in the middle of the Sanhedrin.
Apparently none of the members of the Sanhedrin could deny a miracle had
been accomplished. “Whatshall we do with these men? For the fact that a
noteworthy miracle has taken place through then is apparent to all who live in
Jerusalem, and we cannotdeny it” (Acts 4:16). This was an embarrassing
situation. They did not believe in the supernatural and they could not accredit
this miracle to Satansince they did not believe in the spirit world. They were
undoubtedly fishing for a rationalistic answerto what appearedto be a clear
case ofsupernatural phenomena. The Sanhedrin, without realizing what they
were doing, gave Petera perfect opportunity to witness for Christ. They said,
“By what power, or in what name have you done this?” This was the
opportunity Peterwas waiting for and he was delighted to tell them.
Petercould have backedout at this point but he was as bold as a lion. When
askedto defend his faith, he was ready to give an answer. “But sanctify Christ
as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who
asks you to give an accountfor the hope that is in you . . .” (I Pet. 3:15).
Plea of Peter(4:8, 9): (1) “ThenPeter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them,
‘Rulers and elders of the people, . . .’” -- Notice first of all that Peter was
“filled with the Holy Spirit” in that the Holy Spirit so controlled Peterat that
moment that he was able very calmly to give an answerto the Sanhedrin. The
filling of the Spirit in this context, as it usually is in the Book ofActs, is related
to witnessing for Christ.
There is a specialpowerof the Spirit that Godgives to all Christians when
they are obedient in their witness for Christ. Notice also how respectfulPeter
was to the authorities because he knew that government was ordained by God.
Christianity teaches respectandobedience for those in power.
“Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution: whether to
a king as the one in authority; or to governors as sent by him for the

61. punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. Forsuch is the
will of God - that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolishmen.
Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it
as bondslaves of God” (1 Pet. 2:13-17).
(2) “If we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, . . .” -- Peter
questioned whether they were really on trial for healing a man, for who would
have someone in court for doing a gooddeed to mankind? There was
something much deeper than a healing which put them on trial, and the
Apostles knew this very well.
Notice the boldness of Peter. What a contrastwith the cringing, cowardly
disciple who denied the Lord and was afraid of a little maid in the high
priest's courtyard a few weeks earlier. Perhaps Peterwas reminded that when
his Lord was before the Sanhedrin the night of his betrayal, Peter was afar
off. But not now. He was filled with the Spirit and was bold to speak for Jesus
Christ. The Holy Spirit takes the resurrectedlife of Christ and gives it to the
Christian, empowering him, encouraging him and strengthening him to live
for Christ and to speak out for Christ.
EXPLANATION TO THE SANHEDRIN Acts 4:10-12
The Name (4:9b, l0): “As to how this man has been made well, let it be known
to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
the Nazarene, whomyou crucified, whom God raisedfrom the dead -- by this
name this man stands before you in goodhealth.” -- Holy Spirit boldness
causedPeterto say that the Lame Man was healed by the name and powerof
Jesus Christ the Nazarene. The Sanhedrin understood the word “Jesus” to
mean Savior and “Christ” to mean Messiahand “Nazarene”to be a title for
His manhood. They hated this title because theyknew it meant that the man
Jesus was both Lord and Christ (God and Messiah)and to them this was
blasphemy. The Lame Man was exhibit “A” of the powerand authority of
Jesus Christ. The whole purpose of this assemblywas to put Peter and John
on trial and ultimately to put Christianity on trial. The purpose of the trial
was to intimidate the Apostles and stamp out every vestige of Christianity.
However, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, turned the tables and put the
Sanhedrin on trial for the death of Messiah. Petersaid, “You crucified the
Messiah!” What stinging words! The Jews were guilty of the death of the Son
of God. The Sanhedrin was on trial and they were guilty.
God can always turn the tables on unbelievers when they are persecuting
Christians, and He will, if believers will trust Him to do so. After all, God is in
control of and rules over unbelievers.

62. The Shame (4:11): “He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTEDby you,
THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE VERY CORNERSTONE.” --
Peterquoted from Psalm118:22 to show that Jesus Christ, the Stone, was
rejectedby the leaders of Judaism. The “builders” are the leaders of the
Jewishreligion who had the covenants, the Law and the promises but they
rejectedthe Messiah, the Stone, who then became the cornerstone ofthe
church.
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow- citizen
with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built upon the
foundation of the apostles andprophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the
cornerstone” (Eph. 2:l9-20).
There is a Jewishtradition, which probably all in the Sanhedrin knew about,
concerning the cornerstone of the temple built by Solomon. During the
building of the temple, a greatrock was quarried out and shapedby the
masons. You remember how the temple was built in silence so there was no
sound of hammer or saw or chisel. They hewed out the rocks from a quarry
which was made into Solomon's stables a far distance from the temple site and
then moved them to the site. There was this one rock sent up but the builders
could not find a place for it. It did not seemto meet any of the blueprints so
they left it aside. It satthere for a long time, perhaps for years, for it took
sevenyears to build the temple. After a long time, someone pushed it over the
edge and it rolled down the valley of the Kidron and was lostin the bushes.
When the time came to put in the cornerstone, the greatsquare rock which
held everything in place, they sentword for the cornerstone to be sent up. The
quarry men sentback word that it had already been sent up some time before.
They lookedaround for it, and no one could find it. Then somebody
remembered the greatrock which had been pushed over the edge. Downthey
went to the valley of Kidron and found it in the bushes. With greateffort, they
raisedit againand brought it to the top and fitted it into place. It fit perfectly.
This was the cornerstone of the temple.
Peterwas saying to these Jews that Jesus Christis the chief cornerstone
betweenthe Apostles of the New Testamentand the Prophets of the Old
Testament. Christ is the Messiahwho bridges the gap betweenJudaism and
Christianity. Christ is the missing piece in the puzzle betweenthe Old
Covenantand the New Covenant. Jesus is the stone that the Jews rejected. To
the everlasting shame of the Jews, theydeliberately rejectedthe Stone of
God's own choosing.
Peterwas such a bold man to speak to the Sanhedrin this way, knowing that
they had the power to put him to death. We are not told but perhaps some of

63. the seventywho heard this message ofPeterwere savedthat day. If not, at
leastPeterhad a negative effectof condemning the Sanhedrin by the gospel
message.
“Forwe are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved
and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death,
to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things”
(II Cor. 2:15, 16).
The Claim (4:12): “And there is salvation in no one else;for there is no other
name under heaventhat has been given among men, by which we must be
saved.” -- Peter made it perfectly clearto these leaders in Jerusalem, who
were very religious, that salvationis found only in Christ, and if they persisted
in their rejectionof Jesus Christ, they would not be saved and bring eternal
damnation to themselves. The Jewishleaders were trusting their goodworks,
their religion, their tradition, their powerand their wealthto save them but
Petersaid salvationis only in Christ.
This claim of Peter’s is very startling and most certainly radical and
intolerant. There is no other salvation in any other religious or political
person or organization. Peter, being a goodJew, knew that Jehovahsaid,
“You shall have no other gods before Me.“ He also knew the claim of Christ
who said, “ am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father
but through Me.”
What are the implications of Peter's statement? Salvationis not in Buddha,
Confucius, Mohammed, Mahatma Gandhi, Rama-Krishna, Allah, Zen or the
Virgin Mary. Salvation is only in Christ who said, “I am the light of the world
and he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness” (Jn.8:12). Christ also said,
“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved” (Jn.10:9).
Enlightened Christians do not saythat there is no ethical and moral teaching
in other religions which may have value to those who follow these religions.
Greatreligious leaders have uttered some fine moral teachings and precepts
which have helped people. What Christians do sayis that Jesus Christ is the
only way of salvationand all other religions and religious leaders cannottake
a person to heaven because allreligions and religious leaders cannottake a
person to heaven because allreligions are basedon works and not on grace. In
the final analysis, Christians are intolerant of other religions because true
Christians are committed to Christ as the only way of salvation.
The liberal wing of Christendom (the modern day Sadducees)claimthat those
who believe in the Biblical position of Christianity are too bigoted and
narrow-minded. Yet no Christian can be more intolerant than Christ who

64. said, “No man comes unto the Father but through Me” (Jn. 14:6), or the
Apostle Peterwho said, “There is no other name by which we must be saved”
(Acts 4:l2),or the Apostle Paul who said, “Forthere is one God, and one
mediator also betweenGod and man, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim.2:5), or
the Apostle John who said, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not
have the Sonof God does not have the life” (1 Jn. 5:12). Peterwas no more
intolerant than Christ and the other Apostles. To Peterit was either Christ or
chaos, heavenor hell, justification or judgment. Salvationwas clearcut and a
black and white issue. Many modern day religionists claim if a man is sincere,
regardless ofhis religion, he will go to heavenwhen he dies. Nothing could be
further from the truth of the Bible! One must be touched by God's grace and
receive Christ as personal Lord and Savior before he can go to heaven.
CONCLUSION
Jesus Christ is the Eternal God who is able to save sinners. He is adequate to
meet a person's deepestspiritual needs. Jesus Christ can do what no other
person cando -- He saves!There is salvationin Christ. His salvationis
adequate for all who come to Him. Not one person who sees he is a sinner,
separatedfrom Godand under God's wrath, and honestly seeksChrist by
faith shall be turned aside. Christ never says to any soul longing for salvation,
“Go away;you are not one of the elect!” The very fact that a sinner desires to
come to Christ is evidence that God is drawing him to Christ. All sinners who
come are welcomedby Christ, who is adequate for all if all will lay hold of
Him by faith.
You sayyou are too sinful to come to Christ. The Bible says Christ saves
sinners. If He savedPeter the denier of Christ, and Thomas the doubter and
Paul the persecutorofChristians who claimed to be the greatestofsinners. He
can surely save you. Christ is ready and waiting for you to come to Him for
salvation. Won't you put your trust in Him. Acknowledge youare a sinner
and believe that Christ died for you an unworthy wretch. Place your faith in
Christ and you shall be saved, “for there is no other name under heavenby
which we must be saved.”
CHRIS BENFIELD
By What Name Have Ye Done This?
Acts 4:7-20

65. We are reading of time of greatexcitement and wonder for the church.
Jesus had risen from the grave and ascendedback to heaven. The Holy Spirit
had been poured out just as the Lord had promised. People were being saved
on every hand. The Gospelwas being preachedand the messagewas being
receivedand promoted. Peterand John were at the centerof all this
excitement.
Just the afternoonbefore, they were making their way to the temple at the
hour of prayer and encountereda lame man begging for alms. Peterhad no
money to give, but he shared Jesus with the lame man and in Jesus’name he
was healed. With that the lame man made his way to the temple walking, and
leaping, and praising the Lord. A crowdbegan to gatherwith all the
excitement and Peterused this as another opportunity to preach Jesus. The
preaching and large gathering caught the attention of the religious elite. As
they neared the scene, they heard Peterpreaching and proclaiming the name
of Jesus. Naturally this angeredthe religious crowdbecause they had
consentedto the crucifixion of Christ. Peter and John were apprehended for
their preaching and placed in jail until the next day.
It was then that the rulers, elders, scribes, high priests, and many of the
council brought them out to question them. They were concernedabout all
that had been taking place and they demanded to know by what poweror
what name they had done all of this. That was just the opening that Peter
needed to once againshare Jesus. Theyhad askedand he was obligedto
answer. I want to considerthe question that the council posed:By What Name
Have Ye Done This. As we look at the truths associatedwith this name, you
will find that it is a name that is above every name.
I. A PowerfulName (7-10) – These verses revealthe power that is associated
with Jesus’name. There are a couple of things we can learn.
A. It Empowers the Weak (7) – Here we find that Peterwas filled with the
Holy Ghost. He had been preaching in the name of Jesus. He had witnessed
His powerin the lives of others and now he experiences thatpower for
himself.
ep in mind that this is the same man that had denied the Lord. It is the
same man who fled in fear. This is the man who was about to abandon his
faith even after the resurrectionand return to the old life of fishing.

66. But here something has changed. He is filled with the Holy Ghost and
empoweredto stand and preach to the same religious council that casttheir
voice againstthe Lord.
and take a stand for Him? There is power in His name for you!
B. It Enables the Walk (10) – Be it knownunto you all, and to all the people
of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before
you whole. This was the same man who lay at the temple gate beginning alms
of those who came by. He was born lame, never had walkeda day in his life,
and was overforty years of age. He had lain there all those years, likely giving
up hope that he would ever walk, but one day Petercame by and proclaimed
the name of Jesus. It was the power in Jesus’name that enabled the lame man
to walk.
disease. He can still touch the crippled legs and provide healing. But more
importantly, He can heal those who are crippled by sin. Jesus canenable you
to walk free of sin and in fellowshipwith Him.
I. A PowerfulName (7-10)
II. A Precious Name (10) – Peterdeclares that it was the precious name of
Jesus that had brought healing to this man. It wasn’t in their preaching or
their ability; it was the name of Jesus. Petermentions a couple of names
associatedwith our precious Lord. He identified Him as:
Jesus – This was His earthly name, a reference to His humanity. The name
Jesus literally means “Jehovahis salvation.”
humanity. He bears the name that still brings joy to the hearts of believers. It
is the name that brings hope and deliverance to the sinful and wayward. It is a
name that stirs a vivid reminder in the heart of Satanthat he is forever
defeatedand that God is in control.

67. Christ – Peteralso identified Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the “Anointed
One.” He proclaims to the same council that desired His crucifixion, that He
was the promised One of God. Jesus is the Christ!
me to share a few of those names found in the Scriptures.
there upon the cross and was buried, but He didn’t stay dead. After three
days in the tomb, Jesus came forth victorious over death. He rose to live
forever, never to die again!
I. A PowerfulName (7-10)
II. A Precious Name (10)
III. A Preeminent Name (11-12)– This is the stone which was setat nought
of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neitheris there
salvationin any other: for there is none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved. Peterfurther declares Jesus as the
Christ. He proclaims that He is the Chief Cornerstone. He was rejectedby His
own, but He remains the Corner of the foundation. He is the only source and
means of salvation. The religious councilwas looking to their goodworks and
strict lifestyle, but Peterdeclares that salvation is only obtained by and though
the name of Jesus. He was in essencetelling them that they remained in their
sin apart from Jesus.
is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved. Jesus is not a goodway to
salvation;He isn’t even the best way to salvation; Jesus is the only way to
salvation!Apart from Him there is no way. Apart from Jesus sinremains and
ultimately leads to death.
h. They seek to find their own
way. Many believe that there are many ways, all of which, leading to the same
heaven. Consider the commentary of John MacArthur, “The exclusivism of
Christianity goes againstthe grain of our religiously pluralistic society. A
chapel built at the North Pole in February 1959 by the men of Operation Deep

68. Freeze 4 typifies the prevalent attitude today toward religious belief. The
structure contained an altar, over which was hung a picture of Jesus, a
crucifix, a starof David, and a lotus leaf (representing the Buddha). On the
wall of the chapelwas an inscription that read "Now it can be said that the
earth turns on the point of faith."’ 1
biblical. Jesus is the only way. There is salvation in no other!
IV. A Persuasive Name (13-14)– Now when they saw the boldness of Peter
and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they
marvelled; and they took knowledge ofthem, that they had been with Jesus.
And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say
nothing againstit. The presence and power that Peter spoke with baffled the
minds of the religious elite. These men were perceived to be unlearned,
referring to “one who is illiterate; one who doesn’t know letters.” They were
supposedto be ignorant men, “just common and unskilled men.” But there
was a presence that couldn’t be denied. They maybe didn’t possesa seminary
degree from the localRabbinical School, but there was something different
about these men. The council marveled because they understood that they had
been with Jesus!
been with Jesus? Doesthe world look at us and perceive that we know Him
and that we have spent time with Him? (Share a few names from the
congregationand make application.)
want our congregationto be knownas a people who have been with Jesus?
I. A PowerfulName (7-10)
II. A Precious Name (10)
III. A Preeminent Name (11-12)
IV. A Persuasive Name (13-14)

69. V. A PersistentName (18-20)– And they called them, and commanded them
not to speak atall nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peterand John
answeredand said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to
hearkenunto you more than unto God, judge ye. Forwe cannot but speak the
things which we have seenand heard. They had spent a night in jail for
preaching in Jesus’name. Now they are brought before the counciland once
againchargedto refrain from speaking in Jesus’name. Peterand John
declaredthat they had no choice but to speak the things they knew.
witnessedthe death, burial, resurrection, and ascensionofJesus. They
believed in Him as the Christ. They were determined to preachthe Gospel,
even if the counciland the whole world rejectedthe message. Theyhad not
been calledto please men, but to preach Jesus!
There is something about the name of Jesus that compels us to share Him
with others. There is something deep within that longs to tell of what Jesus has
done for us. I pray that we will continue to tell of the goodness ofour blessed
Lord. He is worthy of our praise and there is a lostand dying world that needs
to hear of His loving grace and mercy.
Have you experiencedthe power in Jesus’name? Have you been setfree from
the bondage of sin so that you can walk with Jesus? Whatdoes that precious
name mean to you? He is the only way of salvation. Do you know Jesus as
your personalSavior?
Is it evident for the world to see that you have been with Jesus? Do you live a
life that reflects and honors Him? I want to spend time with the Lord so that
others will know that I have been with Him.
1 The MacArthur New TestamentCommentary, Acts 1-12.
ALAN CARR
A MAN NAMED JESUS

70. Intro: There were tense times for the people of Israel. Rome was tightening
her grip on the little nation, insurrections and rebellions againstRome were
growing and a rag tag group of people were creating a stir in the name of a
man named Jesus. It seems that an amazing thing is happening in the city of
Jerusalem. Thousands ofpeople are turning from their Jewishbeliefs to
embrace a man name Jesus Christ, Acts 2:41; Acts 4:4. Of course, this is
upsetting to the leaders of the Jewishpeople. After the secondof these events,
two of the ringleaders Peterand John are arrested, 4:3, and calledto give
accountfor their actions and for the radical, new message theyare preaching.
To fully understand where we are in these verses, we need to look back for
just a moment. In chapter 3, Peterand John were going up into the Temple to
worship at the time of the evening sacrifice, about 3 PM. As they were passing
through the Beautiful Gate, they met a crippled man who had been lain there
so that he might beg for pennies from the people who were headed to the
Temple to worship. Instead of giving this man a few coins and passing right on
by, Petertakes him by the hand and heals him in the name of Jesus. When the
people, who knew this was the lame man, see this man leaping and jumping
and praising God, they gather and inquire as to what is going on. Peter seizes
upon this opportunity to tell them about Jesus. While he is preaching, the
leaders of the people, the Sanhedrin, come on the scene to see what the ruckus
is all about. When they hear Peterpreaching about that Jesus Whom they had
crucified they are livid. When they hear that Peter is claiming that this Jesus
arose from the dead, they are absolute furious and they arrestthe two
preachers. But, the messagehad already been delivered and 5,000 menwere
savedby the grace of God that day!
After spending the night in jail, Peterand John are brought before the council
to explain their actions to the council. We are told in 4:7 that this question is
asked, "Bywhatpower, or by whatname, haveye done this?" Friends, that was
the wrong question to ask a Spirit-filled preacher! That question openedthe
door for Peterto preach a fresh messageto these Jewishleaders. It was a
messageallabout a man named Jesus. It is that message andthat man that I
have the privilege of sharing this morning. So,. Let's listen in as Peter
preaches about the Lord. As he does, there are some precious truths revealed
about the Personof the Lord Jesus that we need to hear today.
I. V. 10 WE ARE TOLD OF HIS PERSONALITY
(Ill. His personality is written in His Name!Without even realizing it, every
time His name is mentioned, whether it be in cursing or in blessing, His glory
if revealed. Just the mention of His Name tells us much about Him. This

71. double Name for our Lord, used 256 times in the New Testament, tells of His
dual nature and His glory.)
A. The Name Of His Humanity - Jesus - this name means "Jehovah Is
Savior". It is the equivalent of the Old Testamentname Joshua. This is
the name Jesus bore while He was here on earth. It is the name that
identifies Him with humanity. It could be said that this is the name of
His humiliation. The name Jesus was a very common name in those
days. In fact, thousands of Jewishmen were named Jesus. This name
reminds us that He was a man. A man Who knew His share of sorrow
and rejection, Isa. 53:3; John 1:11. A man Who walkedin poverty and
loneliness, Matt. 8:20. It was this name that was chosenfor Him by His
Heavenly Father, Matt. 1:21. This was the name worn by the Man Who
came into this world for one purpose: that of going to the cross to die
for our sins, John 18:37. You see, Godcannotdie, yet men die every
day. Therefore, God became a man that He might die for men, so that
men might be free from the wrath of God. That is why the name Jesus is
so special. It reminds us that He was a man and that He died for all men
on that cross, Rom. 5:8.
(Ill. The name of Jesus is a name that thrills the souls of the believer. A
name at which the devils tremble. A name that gains man accessto the
God of Glory. A name that moves mountains. A name that convicts the
sinner. A name that opens the door to the blessings of God. A name that
is above every name. A name that causes sinners to bow in repentance.
Yes! There is something about that Name!)
B. The Name Of His Honor - Christ - this name means "Anointed One".
This name identifies Jesus as the Messiah. He is seenas the fulfilment of
all the promises of the Old Testament. He is:
Genesis - The Seed of the Woman
Exodus- The Passover Lamb
Leviticus- The HighPriest
Numbers- The Cloud by Day and Pillarof Fireby Night
Deuteronomy - Prophet likeunto Moses
Joshua - The Captain ofthe Lord's Host
Judges- Messenger of Jehovah
Ruth - The KinsmanRedeemer
1 Samuel - The Faithful Priest

72. 2 Samuel - The Tower of Salvation
1 Kings- A Greater Than Solomon
2 Kings- The Reigning King
1 Chronicles - The Ark of the Covenant
2 Chronicles - The Blood on the Mercy Seat
Ezra - The Return from Captivity
Nehemiah - The AwesomeGod
Esther - Our Mordecai
Job - The Risen and ReturningRedeemer
Psalms- King of Glory
Proverbs - The Friend that sticketh closer than a Brother.
Ecclesiastes - The Giverof Life and Breath
Song Of Solomon - The Altogether LovelyOne
Isaiah- The Suffering Substitute
Jeremiah- The Lord our Righteousness
Lamentations-The People's Portion
Ezekiel - The Riverof Life
Daniel - The Ancientof Days
Hosea - The Former and Latter Rain
Joel - The Refuge for HisPeople
Amos- The Rescuer of Israel
Obadiah- The Deliverer upon Mount Zion
Jonah- The Buried and Risen Savior
Micah- The God Who Pardons
Nahum - OurStronghold in the Day of Wrath
Habbakuk-The Anchor of our Faith
Zephaniah- In the Midst for Judgmentand Cleansing
Haggai - The Smitten Shepherd
Zechariah - The Branch
Malachi - The Son of RighteousnessRisen withHealing in HisWings.

73. In the New TestamentHisstory continues:
Matthew - King of the Jews
Mark - The Servantof Jehovah
Luke- The Perfect Son of Man
John - The Son of God
Acts - The Ascended Lord
Romans- Our Righteousness
1 Corinthians - The Firstfruitsof the Resurrection
2 Corinthians- The Exalted Son of God
Galatians- The End of the Law and our Redeemer
Ephesians- The Head of the Church
Phillipians - The nameaboveevery Name
Colossians- The PreeminentOne
1 Thessalonians - OurReturning Lord
2 Thessalonians - The Returning Judge
1 Timothy- The Mediator
2 Timothy- The Bestower of Crowns
Titus- Our Great God and Savior
Philemon -The Father's Partner
Hebrews- The Mediatorof the New Covenant
James- The Lord of Glory
1 Peter - Chief Cornerstone
2 Peter - The Brightand Morning Star
1 John - The Propitiation for our Sins
2 John - God's Son come in the Flesh
3 John - The Truth
Jude- The Believer'sSecurity
Revelation - The King of Kingsand the Lord of Lords
(Ill. That's Who He is in the Bible record!. There is none like Him
anywhere. He is the Anointed One, He is the honored One. He is the
fulfillment of all the promises, plans and types of God!

74. I. We Are Told Of His Personality
II. V. 10 WE ARE TOLD OF HIS PROVISION
A. He Provided A Payment - Peterreminds them of the death of this
name named Jesus Christ. He reminds them that is was a death on a
cross. The most horrible of deaths known to men. Jesus sufferedthis
death so that He might pay the sin debt of humanity. He did on that
cross becausewe are sinners and stand in need of a Savior, Isa. 53:4-6;2
Cor. 5:21.
(Ill. When Jesus completedHis mission on the cross, He was able to lift
His voice and declare that He had paid the price, John 19:30!He
suffered our penalty on the cross so that we might go free by the grace
of God, 2 Cor. 5:21.)
B. He Provided A Proof - Then, Peterdeclares the part of the Gospel
that bothered them the most. He reminded them that this same Jesus,
Whom they had crucified, had been raisedfrom the dead by the power
of God. This was a documented factand they could not deny the
resurrection, Matt. 28:1-6;Acts 1:9-11; 1 Cor. 15:6.
(Ill. Beyond that, the resurrectionof Jesus from the dead was proof
positive that God the Father had acceptedHis sacrifice as payment for
the sins of humanity, Acts 2:24; Psa. 16:10.)
C. He Provided A Promise - Peterdoesn't mention this in his sermon
here, but the Apostle Paul does in 1 Cor. 15:20. There, Jesus is called
"the firstfruits from the dead." This is a reference to the Old Testament
wave offering, in which the first of the grain harvest was wavedbefore
the Lord, Ex. 29. The firstfruits were a picture of the fact that more was
on the way. In the same manner, when Jesus arose from the dead, His
resurrectionwas a statementthat more would follow. The factof he
matter is that every personwho follows Jesus in salvation will one day
follow Him out of the grave in resurrection, 1 Thes. 4:13-18. Ill. There
will be what the old black preachers called "A great gettin'up
morning.")
(Ill. This is what the Lord Jesus has provided for all men. He paid for
our sins on the cross, offers us salvationthrough His name and promises
us deliverance from death and destruction at the end of the way. The
greatquestion is, "Are you trusting Jesus for your soul's salvation?"
Faith in Christ is the only thing that will save the souls of men!)
I. We Are Told Of His Personality

75. II. We Are Told Of His Provision
III. V. 10 WE ARE TOLD OF HIS POWER
(Ill. As Petercontinues His sermon, He tells the Sanhedrin that the cripples
man at the Beautiful Gate was healedthrough the powerof the name of Jesus.
This serves to remind us of the fact that Jesus has the power to change lives!
(Ill. How the crippled man life's may have changed.)Jesus Christis in the life
changing business, 2 Cor. 5:17.)
(Ill. The Gaderene Demoniac, Mark 5;The Leper, Matt. 8:2; Bartimaeus -
Matt. 10;The Thief on the Cross;Luke 23; Lazarus - John 11;Paul - Acts 9;
Me - May 23, 1983;You - ?)
I. We Are Told Of His Personality
II. We Are Told Of His Provision
III. We Are Told Of His Power
IV. V. 11-12 WE ARE TOLD OF HIS PREEMINENCE
A. V. 11 He Is The Lofty Savior - Peterrefers to Psalm118:22, a noted
Messianic prophecy, and applies it to Jesus. He is making the case that
Jesus is the Messiah. He is the promised One. He is the One Whom God
has exaltedabove all others. His is a name above every name - Phil. 2:5-
11. His is a glory greaterthan any other - Col. 2:13-15. He is the
preeminent One - Col. 1:18. He is worthy of our faith! He is worthy of
our honor. He is worthy of our praise. He alone is worthy to be exalted!
Therefore, let the redeemed of the Lord say so and magnify His Name!
(Ill. Friend, like Israel, you might turn your back on the word of God
concerning Who Jesus is, but that will never change the factthat He is
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! It will never change the fact
that He is the Savior of all men and then He deserves your faith, your
trust and your praise. He deserves nothing less than your all!)
B. V. 12 He Is The Lone Savior - Peterfinishes his sermonby reminding
these men that salvationcan only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ! He
and He alone is the source of salvationfor all men. Note the word
"must". If you will escape the fires of Hell and will enter into the glories
of Heave, you will do so through none other than the Lord Jesus Christ!
He alone cansave the soul of man, John 14:6.
Conc:What do you believe about this man named Jesus? Is He the Saviorof
your soul? Are you trusting His death and resurrection to getyou into
Heaven?

76. These men to whom Peterwas preaching were good men as far as their
cleanliness oflife was concerned. Yet, everyone of them was as lostas man
could be. They needed to hear what Peter told them that day and if you are
lost, you need to hear it today. Are you saved? Have you trusted Jesus? Will
you today?
The Bible tells us that this man who was healedhad been laid at this gate
daily, 3:2. After he had been healed the Bible tells us that all the people knew
who he was, 3:10. I gather from this that he had been coming there for a long
time. Now, Jesus hadonly been gone for a couple of months at this time.
Imagine how many times Jesus must have passedthis man by and yet He
hadn't healedhim. Why didn't Jesus healthis man? The answermay be that
Jesus was waiting for the precise time when God would get the most glory.
That happened the day God healedthis man through Simon Peter. His time
had come!
I said all of that to tell you this. Salvation may have passedyou by many times
before. But, today, the Lord is dealing with your heart. Right now is your
time! The Lord is calling. He is willing to save you if you will come. He wants
to save you. If you need to be saved, come to Jesus now and call on Him.
If you are saved, you might just want to praise His for Who He is! If so this
altar is open for your need right now. Will you just mind Him as He speaks to
your heart?
BOB DEFFINBAUGH
From the series:Studies in the Book of Acts PREVIOUS PAGE | NEXT PAGE
8. The First Opposition (Acts 4:1-31)
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Introduction1
For 40 days after His resurrection, the risen Lord Jesus appearedto men in
very convincing ways. He particularly ministered to His disciples, for they
would play a key role in His on-going ministry in and through the church. He
spoke with them about the kingdom of heavenand told them to wait in
Jerusalemfor the coming of the Holy Spirit. He commissionedthem to be His
witnesses whenthey were clothed with power from on high. Then Pentecost

77. came, and the Spirit came in greatpower. Peter’s preaching produced 3,000
converts. As a result of the healing of the man who was lame from his
mother’s womb, Peter seizedanother opportunity to preach the gospelto
those who had gathered.
Acts 3 ends somewhatabruptly, for we are not yet given any indication of the
impact of Peter’s messagein the temple precincts. Acts 4 begins with a strong
and sudden reaction, especiallyfrom those who were Sadducees.This is the
first instance of opposition and persecutionin the Book of Acts. It should not,
however, come as a surprise, to us or to the apostles.Jesus hadforewarnedthe
disciples that persecutionwas coming. Men would reactto the apostles and
their teaching because they had rejectedJesus and His teaching:
18 “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged
to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because youdo
not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reasonthe
world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greaterthan
his master.’If they persecutedme, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed
my word, they will obey yours too. 21 But they will do all these things to you
on accountof my name, because they do not know the one who sent me” (John
15:18-21).2
11 “But when they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the
authorities, do not worry about how you should make your defense or what
you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teachyou at that moment what you
must say” (Luke 12:11-12).
12 But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you, handing you over
to the synagoguesand prisons. You will be brought before kings and
governors because ofmy name. 13 This will be a time for you to serve as
witnesses.14 Therefore be resolvednot to rehearse aheadof time how to make
your defense. 15 For I will give you the words along with the wisdomthat
none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict (Luke 21:12-
15).
Among other things, our text has much to teachus about oppositionand
persecution. But there is much more to it than that, as I hope to demonstrate
in this lesson. Let us listen carefully to the words of our text, for it clearly
declares the gospel, andit models the boldness and confidence which we
should have as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission.

78. A Mixed Response
Acts 4:1-4
1 While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests and the
commander of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, 2
[greatly annoyed]3
because they were teaching the people and announcing in
Jesus the resurrectionof the dead. 3 So they seizedthem and put them in jail
until the next day (for it was already evening). 4 But many of those who had
listened to the messagebelieved, and the number of the men came to about
five thousand.
Luke begins by describing the response of the opposition to the preaching of
Peter. The priests, the commander of the temple guard, and the Sadducees all
“came up to them,” “greatlyannoyed because they were teaching the people
and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrectionof the dead.” These seemto be the
folks who would have been present at the time Peterbegan to preachto the
crowd. Mostlikely, they embraced the theologyof the Sadducees. This means
that they did not believe in the supernatural, in angels, orin the resurrection
of the dead (see Acts 23:6-8).
Two things “greatlyannoyed” these Sadducees. First, they were annoyed that
these unauthorized men were teaching the people in the temple precincts. In
the minds of the priests and the Sadducees,this was their turf, and they had
not authorized anyone to come and preach there without authorization. It was
like setting up business without obtaining a permit to do so. The religious
establishment had a monopoly on what took place here.
Secondly, the establishmentwas “greatlyannoyed” because of the content of
the teaching that was done on their turf. They were distressedbecause the
resurrectionof the dead was being taught. This was something the Sadducees
did not believe, and thus they did not want the people taught that the dead
would rise. Even more than this, Peterand John were proclaiming the
resurrectionof the dead “in Jesus” (verse 2). The dead would rise again, Peter
and John proclaimed, because Jesus hadrisen from the dead. The
implications of this were staggering to those Sadducees who had rejected
Jesus and takenpart in His death.
Becauseofthe intensity of their opposition, I believe the rendering “came up
to them” in verse one is an understatement. They came stomping up4
to Peter
and John, seizing them and putting them in jail for the night. It was already
evening, so they would hold them in confinement until they could hear their
case in the morning. We might therefore expectthat when these religious
leaders authoritatively pushed their way through the crowds, seizedPeterand

79. John, and led them off to jail, that those in the crowdwould be reluctant to
identify with Jesus and His apostles. Suchwas not the case, however. In spite
of the opposition, Luke informs us that many more came to faith as a result of
this miracle and the preaching of the apostles, preaching for which they were
arrested. Now there are 5,000 men in Jerusalemwho have come to faith.
In Acts 2:41, Luke informs us that 3,000 people came to faith on the day of
Pentecost. Here, Luke tells us that the number of believers has grownto 5,000
men. Thus, the total number of believers would seemto be even greaterthan
5,000. It is possible that more came to faith in Acts 4, in spite of the
opposition, than came to faith in Acts 2, where there was no opposition. The
lessonhere should be clear: oppositionto the gospeldoes not hinder
evangelismwhen the gospelis boldly and clearlyproclaimed in the powerof
the Holy Spirit.
A Challenge and a Bold Response
Acts 4:5-12
5 On the next day, their rulers, elders, and experts in the law came togetherin
Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander,
and others who were members of the high priest’s family. 7 After making
Peterand John stand in their midst, they began to inquire, “Bywhat power or
by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit,
replied, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today for
a gooddeed done to a sick man—by what means this man was healed— 10 let
it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of
Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raisedfrom the
dead, this man stands before you healthy. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was
rejectedby you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone [Psalm118:22].
12 And there is salvationin no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given among people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:5-12).
Observations
Our first observation in these verses is that this is the account of a closed door
confrontation. In Acts 2 and 3, the gospelis proclaimed in the open. Here,
Peterand John are brought before the Sanhedrin to give accountfor their
preaching. Either Peteror John must have been the source of some of this
information, but even they were not present when the members of the
Sanhedrin conferredprivately, behind closeddoors (Acts 4:15-17). Some
information in this accountwould therefore appearto have been divinely
revealed. No doubt, the church, composedprimarily of new believers, looked
on with greatinterest as Peterand John were seizedand hauled off to jail and

80. then brought before the Sanhedrin the next morning to stand trial. They must
have waited with greatinterest to learn what had happened, and the outcome
of it all.
Our next observation should be the identityof those who opposed Peter and John
in verses fiveand six of our text. Luke is very specific as to the identity of those
before whom Peterand John stood:
5 On the next day, their rulers, elders, and experts in the law came togetherin
Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander,
and others who were members of the high priest’s family (Acts 4:5-6).
These are the very same men who, just a couple of months earlier, had Jesus
arrested, tried Him before the Sanhedrin, and then demanded that He be
executed.
57 Now the ones who had arrestedJesus ledhim to Caiaphas, the high priest,
in whose house the experts in the law and the elders had gathered. 58 But
Peterwas following him from a distance, all the way to the high priest’s
courtyard. After going in, he satwith the guards to see the outcome. 59 The
chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony
againstJesus so that they could put him to death (Matthew 26:57-59)
1 Early in the morning, after forming a plan, the chief priests with the elders
and the experts in the law and the whole Sanhedrin tied Jesus up, led him
away, and handed him over to Pilate (Mark 15:1; see also Luke 22:66-23:1;
John 18:12-28).
These are the most powerful Jews in all of Israel. Acts 4:5-6 is the “Who’s
Who” of Judaism in that day. These are men who would settle for nothing less
than the death of Jesus. There was no reasonto assume that they were not just
as committed to kill those who preachedthe resurrectionin Jesus.
A third observation is that I believeour text indicatesthe Jewishreligious
leaders did not immediatelyrecognizePeter and John as disciplesof our Lord.
Notice carefully the way Luke has written verse 13:
When they saw the boldness of Peterand John, and discoveredthat they were
uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazedand recognizedthese men
had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13, NET Bible).
Now as they observedthe confidence of Peterand John and understood that
they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to
recognize them as having been with Jesus (Acts 4:13, NASB, emphasis mine).
The imperfect tense is used to conveypast action in a variety of ways. Here, I
believe the translators of the NASB have rightly captured the inference of the

81. imperfect tense when they rendered, “beganto recognize,”ratherthan merely
“recognized.”5
We must remember that the top religious leaders would have
had little or no direct contactwith the disciples of Jesus. Theyfled at the time
of our Lord’s arrest(Matthew 26:6). It was even necessaryfor the religious
leaders to have Judas present to identify Jesus at the time of His arrest(Acts
1:16; Matthew 26:48). It would thus appear that initially Peter and John were
simply viewedas two unauthorized men, authoritatively teaching that the
dead are raisedon accountof Jesus. Peter’spreaching was so powerful and so
skillful that they would not have knownhe was not trained in a religious
school. Theyseemshockedto learn who Peterand John are.
Fourth, I believethat the intentof the Jewishreligiouselitewasto so intimidate
Peter and John that they wouldbepermanentlysilenced. We should recallfrom
the gospelaccounts that the religious leaders had greatauthority, and that the
people (even those in leadership) greatly fearedthem:
11 So the Jewishleaders were looking for him at the feast, asking, “Where is
he?” 12 There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some
were saying, “He is a goodman,” but others, “He deceives the common
people.” 13 However, no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jewish
leaders (John 7:11-13).
20 So his parents replied, “We know that this is our son and that he was born
blind. 21 But we do not know how he is now able to see, nor do we know who
causedhim to see. Ask him, he is a mature adult. He will speak for himself.”
22 (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish
religious leaders. Forthe Jewishleaders had already agreedthat anyone who
confessedJesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Forthis
reasonhis parents said, “He is a mature adult, ask him.”) (John 9:20-23)
42 Nevertheless, evenamong the rulers many believed in him, but because of
the Phariseesthey would not confess Jesusto be the Christ, so that they would
not be put out of the synagogue (John12:42).
38 After this, Josephof Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus (but secretly, because
he feared the Jewishleaders), askedPilate if he could remove the body of
Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he went and took the body away(John
19:38).
Peterand John were abruptly interrupted and hauled off to jail. The next
morning they were brought before the highest Jewishcourt in the land. This
was the court that found Jesus guilty of blasphemy and which managedto
accomplishthe crucifixion of Jesus, eventhough Pilate was intending to
release Him (Acts 3:13). They purposely put Peterand John in their midst, so

82. that they were encircledby their accusers. Itwas all about intimidation. They
employed “shock and awe” tactics,expecting to silence these two, just as they
had silencedcountless others who disagreedwith them.
Fifth, observe how they carefullycrafted their question to Peter and John: “By
what power or by what name did you do this?” (verse 7) They carefully avoid
naming the miracle, even though it is an undisputed fact (verses 14-16).
Neither do they mention Jesus, His resurrection, nor their teaching on the
resurrection. I believe their hope is that Peterand John will “getthe
message,”recant, and slip awayin silence.
Sixth, weshould observe that Peter’s response is that of a man whois “filled
withthe Holy Spirit” (verse 8). I take it this means that God gave special
enablement to Peterat that moment to answerthe accusationsofthe enemies
of the cross. This is just as our Lord had promised:
12 But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you, handing you over
to the synagoguesand prisons. You will be brought before kings and
governors because ofmy name. 13 This will be a time for you to serve as
witnesses.14 Therefore be resolvednot to rehearse aheadof time how to make
your defense. 15 For I will give you the words along with the wisdomthat
none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict (Luke 21:12-
15).
Seventh, observe that there is an implied link between the powerof the apostles
and the resurrection of Jesus. Peter makes it clearthat the lame man was
healed in the name of Jesus. He also makes it clearthat Jesus has been raised
from the dead. Who could doubt the powerof one who was raisedfrom the
dead? I am fascinatedby Herod’s response to the reports of Jesus’words and
deeds after the death of John the Baptist:
1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard reports about Jesus, 2 and he said to
his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raisedfrom the dead! And
because ofthis, miraculous powers are at work in him” (Matthew 14:1-2; see
also Luke 9:7-9HYPERLINK l "6
).
Herod is no saint, and no theologian. Yet somehow he concludes that Jesus is
really John the Baptist raisedfrom the dead. John the Baptist performed no
miracles in his earthly ministry (John 10:41), and yet when Jesus beganto
minister in greatpower, Herod assumedit was John, raisedfrom the dead. I
find that fascinating.

83. PeterTurns the Tables
Are these fellows everin for a surprise! Peter and John do not cowerin fear,
but courageouslyturn the tables on their opponents. The very things that
appear to give the Sanhedrin the advantage suddenly work againstthem.
First, Peterpoints out the incongruity betweentheir actions and the religious
leaders’reaction. Since when is it a crime to do something kind for one in
need? What charges canpossiblybe made againstthem for helping a lame
man to walk? (It is the Jewishleaders who “do not have a leg to stand on”
here!) Next, Peter’s response raises the question of why they are brought for
trial before such an esteemedgroup. The Supreme Court of the United States
does not hear traffic cases, so why is the Sanhedrin ruling on the actions of
Peterand John?
These men have made it abundantly clearto Peterand John that they are “in
charge.” Theyare the leaders. Peterbegins by acknowledging this fact:
“Rulers of the people and elders . . .” (verse 8). The fact that they are leaders
makes their guilt even greater. These menwere the leaders who rejectedJesus
as the Messiahand orchestratedHis death:
10 “Let it be knownto all of you and to all the people of Israelthat by the
name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised
from the dead, this man stands before you healthy. 11 This Jesus is the stone
that was rejectedby you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone” (Acts
4:10-11).
Here is Peter’s bold and direct answerto the question these leaders have
raised. By whose power7
has this man been healed? He was healed by the
powerof Jesus Christ, the Nazarene.8
This Jesus is the One they, as Israel’s
religious leaders, crucified. God raised Jesus from the dead. And it is through
the name of Jesus that this man, who was lame for “forty years,” now stands
before them. Whether the healed man was arrestedwith Peterand John,
whether he was summoned independently, or whether he came on his own, we
are not told. But we do know that he “stood” there in their midst. He was
healed, and Jesus did it!
Peternow draws upon the prophecy of Psalm118:22.
This Jesus is the stone that was rejectedby you, the builders, that has become
the cornerstone (Acts 4:11).
The scope ofthis messagewill not allow me to pursue the broader implications
of Peter’s citation of Psalm118, but it seems to me that there are elements in
that psalm beyond verse 22 (the verse cited) which are relevant to Peterand
his situation.9

84. What is relevant is that this psalm prophesies not only that Messiahwillbe
rejected, but that He will be rejectedby “the builders,” the leaders ofthe
nation. What is also relevantto Peter’s situation, standing before the
Sanhedrin, is that God has made the Messiahthe chief cornerstone. The
opposition of the Sanhedrin is the fulfillment of Old Testamentprophecy.
They thought they were in control, and they wanted Peterand John (and the
rest who followedJesus)to know this. But the psalmist declares that God is in
control, for their rejectionof Messiahwas the fulfillment of God’s purposes.
Their rejectionfailed to achieve what they had hoped, for instead of being rid
of Messiah, they must now deal with Him as the One who sits at the right
hand of the Father, waiting for His signal to return to the earth to dealwith
His enemies (Psalm110:1; Acts 2:34-35).
Verse 12 is the knockoutpunch of this brief word from God to Israel’s
leaders:
“And there is salvationin no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given among people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The lame man was healedin the name of Jesus, the same Jesus the Jewish
religious leaders rejected, the same Jesus Godraised from the dead. It is in
this name and this name only—the name of Jesus – that men must be saved.
There is salvationin no other name. If these men would be saved, they must
repent; they must change their minds about Jesus. Theymust embrace Him as
God’s Messiahand trust in Him for salvation. To reject Jesus, therefore, is to
rejectGod’s only means of salvation. To rejectJesus is to embrace eternal
damnation. Here is true authority. No wonder Peterdoes not fearthese men,
even though they are laboring to intimidate him.
We might sum up Peter’s response in this way: “There are three things you
ought to know. First, Jesus the Nazarene is the source of the power that has
accomplishedthis man’s healing. This is the same Jesus you rejectedand
crucified, but Godraised Him from the dead. Second, what you did was
foretold in the Old Testament, specificallyin Psalm118:22. Third, the One
you rejectedis the only One through whom you must be saved. He is the only
way to heaven.
Truth or Consequences
Acts 4:13-22
13 When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discoveredthat they
were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazedand recognizedthese
men had been with Jesus. 14 And because they saw the man who had been
healed standing with them, they had nothing to say againstthis. 15 But when

85. they had ordered them to go outside the council, they beganto conferwith one
another, 16 saying, “What should we do with these men? Forit is plain to all
who live in Jerusalemthat a notable miraculous sign has come about through
them, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to keepthis matter from spreading any
further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this
name.” 18 And they called them in and ordered them not to speak orteach at
all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peterand John replied, “Whether it is right
before God to obey you rather than God, you decide, 20 for it is impossible for
us not to speak about what we have seenand heard.” 21 After threatening
them further, they releasedthem, for they could not find how to punish them
on accountof the people, because they were all praising God for what had
happened. 22 Forthe man, on whom this miraculous sign of healing had been
performed, was over forty years old (Acts 4:13-22).
If there ever was a time for the claims of our Lord’s resurrectionto be
silenced, it was here and now. All these men had to do was to produce His
body and that would have been the end of it. By divine revelation, Luke takes
us beyond the appearancesthe religious leaders wishus to see to the reality of
the situation. Luke takes us behind closeddoors to overhearthe conversation
of these men after they put Peterand John outside, so that they could talk
among themselves. Theywere taken aback by the boldness of Peterand John.
Neverbefore had they seenmen stand up to them as these two had done. Peter
and John were not intimidated. The religious leaders thought they held the
keys to the kingdom and that by excluding men from the synagogue they were
condemning them to eternity in hell. Now they are told that Jesus is the key to
heaven, and they have rejectedand crucified Him.
Becauseofthe boldness of Peterand John and the irrefutable message they
proclaimed, no one would have imagined that they were men without formal
theologicaltraining. To hear them speak was to be impressedwith both
content and delivery (remember, Peterwas filled with the Holy Spirit as he
spoke). It was only when the religious leaders beganto inquire about the
identity of these two men that they learned, to their amazement, these were
simple fishermen and not highly trained clerics. It was at this time, I believe,
that the religious leaders became aware thatthese two men were disciples of
Jesus. In other words, Jesus was notonly responsible for the miracles
performed by their hands, but He was also the explanation for their great
knowledge and skillin proclaiming the gospel.
If this were not enough, they were painfully aware that the man who stood
with Peterand John was the man who was lame from his mother’s womb. A
greatmiracle had been performed in their midst. Jesus was giventhe credit

86. for it. How could these religious leaders possibly punish the two apostles for
what they had done, when the crowds were on their side praising God for the
miracle that had been performed? The only thing they could do at this point
in time was to instruct the apostles notto speak or teachin the name of Jesus,
threatening them with punishment if they persistedto proclaim Jesus (Acts
4:18).
Peterand John made it clearthey had no intention of being silent. In fact,
they declaredthat it would be impossible for them not to speak of those things
of which they were witnesses(Acts 4:20). One must be careful not to
misinterpret the apostles’words in verse 19:
“Whether it is right before God to obey you rather than God, you decide”
(Acts 4:19).
They are not saying, “We don’t know whether to speak about Jesus ornot, so
you tell us; you be the judge.” They are saying, “There is no way that we can
be silent about the things we have heard and seenregarding Jesus of
Nazareth. Whether this is a crime that you must punish is a matter for you to
decide. Either way, we will continue to preachJesus.”
Severalthings should be said about the apostles’response to the religious
leaders’threats. First, this instance of “civil disobedience” (if that is what you
wish to call it) is the exceptionand not the rule. The rule is that we should
obey those in authority over us (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter2:13-17). Second,
their disobedience is selective. In other words, they do not feelfree to disobey
in any and every way, but only in those specific instances where obedience to
men would be disobedience to God. Third, their attitude is still one of
submission. They do not seek to overthrow these leaders. They do not speak
abusively to them, or of them. They are willing to suffer the consequencesof
their actions. Fourth, they are honest and forthright about what they intend to
do. Let all those who advocate civil disobedience take note of what Peterand
John are doing here, for it is a model for us all.
There is really nothing the Sanhedrin can do other than to utter threats and
let the apostles go. How ironic. This confrontation did not silence the apostles;
it left the religious leaders speechless. Theyhad nothing more to say. They
surely didn’t want to talk about this to anyone.
Notice one more thing about what happened when the Sanhedrin facedoff
with the apostles.The religious leaders had no evidence on their side; all the
evidence was in favor of the apostles. The Sanhedrin could not refute the
claim that Jesus had risen from the dead. They could not explain awaythe
incredible miracle that had just takenplace. They could not refute the words

87. of Peterand John. All the evidence was againstthem, and yet they only
became more resolute in their opposition to the truth. These men did not
believe. This was not because the evidence was lacking;it was in spite of the
fact that all of the evidence supported the apostolic preaching of the cross.
Men don’t fail to believe for lack of evidence; they refuse to believe in spite of
the evidence:
18 For the wrath of God is revealedfrom heaven againstall ungodliness and
unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, 19
because whatcan be known about God is plain to them, because Godhas
made it plain to them. 20 For since the creationof the world his invisible
attributes—his eternal powerand divine nature—have been clearly seen,
because they are understood through what has been made. So people are
without excuse. 21 Foralthough they knew God, they did not glorify him as
God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their
senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they
became fools 23 and exchangedthe glory of the immortal Godfor an image
resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles
(Romans 1:18-23, emphasis mine).
The enemies of the cross were notinterested in knowing the truth and
following wherever it led them. They were intent on covering up their error
and containing the damage resulting from what they had done wrong. In
other words, they rejectedtruth because they caredonly about immediate and
earthly consequences.
A Pious Response to Persecution
Acts 4:23-31
23 When they were released, PeterandJohn went to their fellow believers and
reported everything the high priests and the elders had saidto them. 24 When
they heard this, they raisedtheir voices to God with one mind and said,
“Masterofall, you who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything
that is in them, 25 who said by the Holy Spirit through your servant David
our forefather, ‘Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot foolish things?
26 The kings of the earth stood together, and the rulers assembledtogether,
againstthe Lord and againsthis Christ.’ 27 “Forindeed both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembledtogether
in this city againstyour holy servant Jesus, whomyou anointed, 28 to do as
much as your powerand your plan had decidedbeforehand would happen. 29
And now, Lord, pay attention to their threats, and grant to your servants to
speak your message withgreatcourage, 30 while you extend your hand to
heal, and to bring about miraculous signs and wonders through the name of

88. your holy servant Jesus.”31 When they had prayed, the place where they
were assembledtogetherwas shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to speak the word of God courageously(Acts 4:23-31).
You can imagine that there was greatconcernin the church over the fate of
Peterand John, and likely over the implications of their fate for the church.
Peterand John were arrested, jailed, and then put on trial (of some sort)
before the highest religious court in the land, the same court that condemned
Jesus to death. What a joy to see Peterand John emerge from their “trial”
without a scratch. It must have been amusing for them to hear the apostles’
report of what took place in that meeting.
What fascinates me is the word “they” in verse 24: “When they heard this they
raisedtheir voices to God with one mind. . . .” “They” refers to the saints, not
to the apostles. Peterdoes notgive them a sermon on facing persecution
(though he will teachon this subject in his first epistle, First Peter). These
folks praise God with one heart and mind, and they petition God for the right
things. Let’s first considertheir praise.
Notice that the praise offered up by the church is grounded in Scripture. They
cite from two of the Psalms. The church first praises God as the Creator:
23 When they were released, PeterandJohn went to their fellow believers and
reported everything the high priests and the elders had saidto them. 24 When
they heard this, they raisedtheir voices to God with one mind and said,
“Masterofall, you who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything
that is in them” (Acts 4:23-24).
This most likely is a reference to Psalm146:6, but there are many texts which
speak of Godas the Creatorof the heavens and the earth.10
The question is, “Whatdoes God being the Creatorhave to do with the
persecutionof the saints in Jerusalem?” There are many ways that the
creationtheme is employed in the Bible, but for the church in Jerusalem, the
primary biblical truth that sustains them is a realization that God is
sovereign, evenin their suffering. Look at the entire psalm from which this
citation seems to be drawn:
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live!
I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist!
3 Do not trust in princes,
or in human beings, who cannot deliver!
4 Their life’s breath departs, they return to the ground;

89. on that day their plans die.
5 How happy is the one whose helper is the Godof Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 the one who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who remains forever faithful,
7 vindicates the oppressed, and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord releasesthe imprisoned.
8 The Lord gives sight to the blind.
The Lord lifts up all who are bent over.
The Lord loves the godly.
9 The Lord protects those residing outside their native land;
he lifts up the fatherless and the widow,
but he opposes the wicked.
10 The Lord rules forever,
your God, O Zion, throughout the generations to come!
Praise the Lord! (Psalm 146:1-10)
The psalmist exhorts us to put our trust in God, rather than in men. It is God
who can and who will protect us. Mortalmen come and they go, but God is
eternal. God made the heavens and the earth. There is nothing outside of His
control. There is nothing beyond His power. The Lord particularly looks after
the needy and the oppressed. Why, then, should the saints in Jerusalemfear
mere men who rage againstthe gospel, whentheir all-powerful God is with
them?
The secondtext they cite is also from the Psalms, this time from Psalm 2:
1 Why do the nations cause a commotion?
Why are the countries devising plots that will fail?
2 The kings of the earth form a united front;
the rulers collaborate againstthe Lord and his chosenking.
3 They say, “Let’s tear off the shacklesthey’ve put on us!
Let’s free ourselves from their ropes!”
4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs in disgust;
the sovereignMastertaunts them.
5 Then he angrily speaks to them
and terrifies them in his rage.
6 He says, “I myself have installed my king
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 The king says, “I will tell you what the Lord decreed.
He said to me: ‘You are my son!

90. This very day I have become your father!
8 You have only to ask me,
and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,
the ends of the earth as your personalproperty.
9 You will break them with an iron scepter;
you will smash them as if they were a potter’s jar.’”
10 So now, you kings, do what is wise!
You rulers of the earth, submit to correction!
11 Serve the Lord in fear! Repentin terror!
12 Give sincere homage!Otherwise he will be angry,
and you will die because ofyour behavior, when his angerquickly ignites.
How happy are all who take shelter in him! (Psalm 2:1-12, emphasis mine)
What is interesting about the use of this psalm in our text is that it originally
spoke of the folly of Gentile kings plotting againstthe Lord and His Christ.
The church understands that the psalm likewise applies to the Jewishleaders
who conspiredtogetheragainstJesus Christ. In effect, they are no better than
Gentiles when they rejectJesus as the Messiah. As the psalm goes onto say,
God laughs at the futile efforts of men to resist Christ because He has installed
Him as His king. The best thing those who have foolishly resistedHim can do
is to repent and seek His favor, lest He return and destroythem. How
appropriate this is to the situation at hand.
The saints spoke of Jesus as God’s “servant” (Acts 4:27). Surely this is a
reference to Him as the “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah. Once againthe
opposition of wickedmen to Jesus is seenas part of God’s sovereignplan,
accomplishing what He had foreordained long beforehand(Acts 4:27-28).
The saints did not ask for God’s vengeance upon their opponents. Neither did
they ask to be delivered from all suffering and adversity. Instead, they prayed
for boldness to proclaim the gospel, and for His attesting signs and wonders
which would manifest the presence andpower of Jesus in their midst (Acts
4:29-30). Then, after they prayed, the place where they were staying shook,
and all were filled with the Holy Spirit. The manifestationof the Spirit was
courageousproclamationof the gospel(Acts 4:31).
Conclusion
This is a greattext, with many applications and implications for us. Let me
highlight a few of them.
First of all, the opposition of the Jewishreligiousleadersto the apostles is a
virtual rerun of their opposition to the ministryof Jesus. Notice the similarities

91. betweenour text in Acts 4 and Luke’s accountof the oppositionto Jesus as
recordedin Luke 20:
1 Now one day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and
proclaiming the gospel, the chief priests and the experts in the law with the
elders came up 2 and said to him, “Tellus: By what authority are you doing
these things? Or who it is who gave you this authority?” 3 He answeredthem,
“I will also ask you a question, and you tell me: 4 John’s baptism—was it
from heaven or from people?” 5 So they discussedit with one another, saying,
“If we say, ‘From heaven,’he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6 But if
we say, ‘From people,’ all the people will stone us, because they are convinced
that John was a prophet.” 7 So they replied that they did not know where it
came from. 8 Then Jesus saidto them, “Neitherwill I tell you by whose
authority I do these things.” 9 Then he beganto tell the people this parable:
“A man planted a vineyard, leasedit to tenant farmers, and went on a journey
for a long time. 10 When harvest time came, he senta slave to the tenants so
that they would give him his portion of the crop. However, the tenants beat his
slave and sent him awayempty-handed. 11 So he sent another slave. They
beat this one too, treatedhim outrageously, and sent him awayempty-handed.
12 So he sent still a third. They even wounded this one, and threw him out. 13
Then the ownerof the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my one
dear son; perhaps they will respecthim.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him,
they said to one another, ‘This is the heir; let’s kill him so the inheritance will
be ours!’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then
will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those
tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they
said, “Maythis never happen!” 17 But Jesus lookedstraightat them and said,
“Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders
rejectedhas become the cornerstone’? 18 Everyone who falls on this stone will
be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.” 19 Then
the experts in the law and the chief priests wanted to arresthim that very
hour, because they realizedhe had told this parable againstthem. But they
were afraid of the people (Luke 20:1-19, emphasis mine).
Luke even uses some of the same words when describing these two instances
of persecution. Luke introduced the Book of Acts with these words:
1 I wrote the former account, Theophilus, about all that Jesus beganto do and
teach2 until the day he was takenup to heaven, after he had given orders by
the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen(Acts 2:1-2).
The inference is that what Jesus “began” to do and to teach, the apostles
continue to do and to teachafter His ascensionand the coming of the Holy

92. Spirit. Just as the Jewishreligious leaders in JerusalemopposedJesus, so they
opposedthe apostles. This was just as Jesus had indicated before His death:
18 “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged
to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because youdo
not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reasonthe
world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greaterthan
his master.’If they persecutedme, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed
my word, they will obey yours too. 21 But they will do all these things to you
on accountof my name, because they do not know the one who sent me” (John
15:18-21).
There is one significant difference betweenthe gospels andActs, however. In
the Gospels,the disciples fled when things got rough, and Petereven denied
His Lord. Here, the apostles standfirm, boldly proclaiming the gospel.
As the argument of the Book of Acts unfolds, I believe we can see a crisis
ahead. On the one hand, the Jewishreligious leaders have closedtheir eyes to
the truth and have determined in some way to silence those who would preach
Christ and the resurrection. On the other hand, the apostles have been
transformed by the events that have takenplace in the past few months, and
especiallyby the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Theyare no longer
afraid of the Jewishreligious leaders, or of any retribution they might mete
out because oftheir preaching about Jesus. Boththe church and the Jewish
religious leaders have become strong in their resolve. A confrontation is
coming soon.
Second, the opposition of the JewishreligiousleadersprovidesPeter withthe
opportunityto demonstratehis own repentance. One way of defining repentance
would be to say that it is a change of mind which would result in a different
decisionif you had the opportunity to do it all over again. This was the case
with Josephand his brothers in Genesis 37-45.11
Josephorchestrateda
situation in which his brothers could relive (so to speak)their decisionto
betray him, but this time, it was his younger brother Benjamin whom they
must embrace or deny. When Judah offered himself in his younger brother’s
place (Genesis 44:18-34), itwas clearthat he had truly repented of his earlier
sin (Genesis 37:25-28). Only when this repentance was evident could Joseph
truly enter into fellowship with his brothers (Genesis 45).
As I was preparing to teachthis text, it occurred to me that our Lord was
exceedinglygracious to Peterto give him this opportunity to stand firm in his
commitment to Jesus. In the Gospels, Peterhad spokenwith great confidence
concerning his commitment to Jesus. He had assuredJesus that he would be

93. true to Him, even unto death (Luke 22:33). Jesus knew better; we do too. At
the time of His arrest, Peter fled from His Lord12
and later denied Him three
times. Peterhad greatremorse for doing so (Luke 22:62). What a gracious
thing it was for Godto give Peterthis opportunity to face greateropposition
and dangerand to stand fastin his faith. Now, insteadof denying His Lord,
He boldly proclaimed Him to be God’s Messiahand the only means of
salvation.
Third, weshould learn something from the early church aboutour response to
persecution. The church (which was composedprimarily of new believers) was
not shockedby the oppositionof the religious leaders. They did not find
suffering for the sake of Jesus anunexpected surprise. They did not pray for it
to end, or for their adversaries to be banished to hell. They rejoiced. After
Peterand John were released, the church joyfully praised God and askedfor
the gospelto be advanced. They were convincedthat God is sovereign, and
that any oppositionwas in accordance withHis will.
I would like to suggestanotherfactorin their joyful celebrationin the face of
opposition. Because theybelieved in the sovereigntyof God, they were assured
that their persecutionwas a sure signof the progress of the gospel. I see
similar themes elsewhere in Scripture:
3 Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering
produces endurance, 4 and endurance, character, and character, hope. 5 And
hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our
hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6 Forwhile we were still
helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 (For rarely will
anyone die for a righteous person, though for a goodpersonperhaps someone
might possibly dare to die.) 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in
that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, because
we have now been declaredrighteous by his blood, we will be saved through
him from God’s wrath. 10 Forif while we were enemies we were reconciledto
God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been
reconciled, will we be savedby his life? 11 Not only this, but we also rejoice in
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now receivedthis
reconciliation(Romans 5:3-11).
18 For I considerthat our presentsufferings cannot even be comparedto the
glory that will be revealedto us. 19 Forthe creationeagerlywaits for the
revelation of the sons of God. 20 For the creationwas subjectedto futility—
not willingly but because of Godwho subjected it—in hope 21 that the
creationitself will also be setfree from the bondage of decayinto the glorious
freedom of God’s children (Romans 8:18-21).

94. 11 For we who are alive are constantlybeing handed over to death for Jesus’
sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal body. 12
As a result, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 13 But since we
have the same spirit of faith as that shown in what has been written, “I
believed; therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak. 14 We
do so because we know that the one who raised up Jesus will also raise us up
with Jesus and will bring us with you into his presence. 15 Forall these things
are for your sake, so that the grace that is including more and more people
may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do
not despair, but even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner personis
being renewedday by day. 17 For our momentary, light suffering is
producing for us an eternal weightof glory far beyond all comparison18
because we are not looking at what canbe seenbut at what cannotbe seen.
For what canbe seenis temporary, but what cannot be seenis eternal (2
Corinthians 4:11-18).
10 My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to
share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to
attain to the resurrectionfrom the dead. 12 Not that I have alreadyattained
this—that is, I have not already been perfected—but I strive to lay hold of
that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me (Philippians 3:10-12).
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body—for
the sake ofhis body, the church—whatis lacking in the sufferings of Christ
(Colossians1:24).
3 We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so,
because your faith flourishes more and more and the love of eachone of you
all for one anotheris evergreater. 4 As a result we ourselves boastabout you
in the churches of God for your perseveranceand faith in all the persecutions
and afflictions you are enduring. 5 This is evidence of God’s righteous
judgment, to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which in fact you
are suffering. 6 Forit is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict
you, 7 and to you who are being afflicted to give rest togetherwith us when
the Lord Jesus is revealedfrom heaven with his mighty angels. 8 With flaming
fire he will mete out punishment on those who do not know God and do not
obey the gospelofour Lord Jesus. 9 They will undergo the penalty of eternal
destruction, awayfrom the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his
strength, 10 when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired on
that day among all who have believed—and you did in fact believe our
testimony (2 Thessalonians 1:3-10).

95. 12 Dearfriends, do not be astonishedthat a trial by fire is occurring among
you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice in the
degree that you have shared in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory
is revealedyou may also rejoice and be glad. 14 If you are insulted for the
name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, who is the Spirit
of God, rests on you (1 Peter4:12-14).
Suffering for the sake of Jesus and the proclamation of the gospelis a
privilege, for which we should rejoice. It is also grounds for rejoicing because
it demonstrates the power of the gospeland anticipates the victory our Lord
has won at Calvary, which will be fully realized at His return. Opposition to
the gospeloftenbegins with intimidation, but when that fails to accomplish
the desiredend (silencing those who proclaim the gospel), then persecution
comes. Persecutionis the result of failed oppositionon a lowerlevel. We see
this a little later on in the Book ofActs with the persecutionof Stephen:
8 Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and
miraculous signs among the people. 9 But some men from the Synagogue of
the Freedmen(as it was called), both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, as wellas
some from Cilicia and the province of Asia, stoodup and arguedwith
Stephen. 10 Yet they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with
which he spoke. 11 Thenthey secretlyinstigated some men to say, “We have
heard this man speaking blasphemous words againstMoses andGod.” 12
They incited the people, the elders, and the experts in the law; then they
approachedStephen, seizedhim, and brought him before the council. 13 They
brought forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stopsaying
things againstthis holy place and the law. 14 For we have heard him saying
that Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and change the customs that
Moses handeddown to us” (Acts 6:8-14).
In the end, the only way to silence Stephenwas to kill him. They tried to
oppose him by debate, and this failed, so they intensified the level of
opposition to persecution, and then death. My point is that when we are
persecuted, we should rejoice, just as the early church did, because they saw
this as a sign of victory, not of defeat.
Fourth, power and authority are found in the nameof Jesus. I was impressed
when I discoveredhow often our Lord instructed His disciples to ask and to
serve in His name. In our text, Peter is very specific in his choice of words;he
makes it very clearto all that this lame man was healedin the name of Jesus
of Nazareth. This is what Peter reaffirmed to the religious leaders who were
members of the Sanhedrin. The New Testamentepistles also speak ofdoing all
in the name of Jesus:

96. And whateveryou do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Fatherthrough him (Colossians 3:17).
Somehow I have tended to reactto ending every prayer, “in Jesus’name,” but
God has used this text to exhort me to do so, every time I pray. It has also
encouragedme to minister in His name, being sure that others know it is by
His poweror to His glory that ministry is done.
As we approachthe Christmas season, we canobserve the many ways our
culture is seeking to remove the name of Jesus from our conversationand
communication. Merry Christmas has all too easilybecome “Happy
Holidays.” Let us not ceaseto name the name of Jesus, for it is He who is to be
preeminent (Colossians1:18), and only in His name canmen be saved.
Fifth, our text has a very clear and concise declaration of the gospel:
“And there is salvationin no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given among people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Look no further than Jesus for salvation. Look to no other than to Jesus for
salvation. It is by faith in His name that we must be saved. What does this
mean? It means that we must acknowledgethat apart from Jesus, we will
never be able to earn our way to heaven. It means that by means of His death,
burial, and resurrection, the punishment for our sins has been paid. It means
that His righteousness canbe ours, if we acceptit. Among all of the good
things we find in our text, don’t forget that it all begins when you
acknowledge yoursin, and when you acceptthe salvation which Jesus offers
freely to all who believe.
Sixth, take note of whathappenswhen men and women arefilled withthe Spirit.
To be filled with the Spirit does not mean that we become exempt from the
trials and tribulations of this life. Indeed, those who are Spirit filled may
experience greatertrials and testings than others. They will likely experience
persecution(see 2 Timothy 3:12). Spirit-filled Christians may not experience
health and wealth. But what Spirit-filled Christians will experience is joy in
their faith and boldness in their witness. At leastthat is what we find in this
text.
Finally, Iwantyou to take note that it is not the Holy Spiritwhois prominentin
our text; it is Jesus. If there is any book of the Bible in which the presence and
powerof the Holy Spirit is emphasized, it is the Book of Acts. And yet it
occurredto me that here in our text, where the Spirit’s work is so evident, the
Spirit Himself is not the centerof attention. It is not the Spirit’s task to glorify
Himself; it is the work of the Spirit to glorify Jesus:

97. 26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father—the
Spirit of truth who goes outfrom the Father—he will testify about me, 27 and
you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning”
(John 15:26-27).
13 “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whateverhe hears,
and will tell you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will receive
from me what is mine and will tell it to you” (John 16:13-14).
There is a chorus that we sometimes sing. It begins, “Father, we love you. . .”
and this stanza ends, “Glorify Thy name, Glorify Thy name, Glorify Thy
name in all the earth.” The next stanza says the same thing, but now it is the
Son of whom we sing. My problem comes in the third stanza. Is it right to sing
that the Spirit should glorify His name? I think not. His mission is to glorify
the Son, just as the Son’s passionis to glorify the Father (see also John7:18;
8:49-50, 54;12:28;12:31-32;14:13;15:8; 17:1, 4).
As I close, I think that American Christians are beginning to experience
intimidation for the sake of the gospel. This should not silence us. And when it
does not, persecutionwill follow, here, as it has elsewhere. We should expect
persecution, and when it comes, we should rejoice in it, because it has come as
part of the divine plan, and it is an indication that victory is ahead. May God
give us boldness to proclaim the name of Jesus to a lost and doomed
generation.
1
Copyright © 2005 by Community Bible Chapel, 418 E. Main Street,
Richardson, TX 75081. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson8 in the Studies
in the Book of Acts series prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on December11,
2005. Anyone is at liberty to use this lessonfor educationalpurposes only,
with or without credit. The Chapel believes the material presented herein to
be true to the teaching of Scripture, and desires to further, not restrict, its
potential use as an aid in the study of God’s Word. The publication of this
material is a grace ministry of Community Bible Chapel.
2
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible.
The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also knownas THE NET BIBLE, is a
completely new translationof the Bible, not a revision or an update of a
previous English version. It was completedby more than twenty biblical
scholars who workeddirectly from the best currently available Hebrew,
Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translationproject originally startedas an
attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic

98. distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in
the world with an Internet connectionwill be able to use and print out the
NET Bible without costfor personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to
share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away
free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.
3
I have chosento replace the word “angry,” chosenby the translators of the
NET Bible, and to replace it with the expression“greatlyannoyed,” which is
indicated in a footnote as an alternative rendering. This term is found
elsewhere onlyin Acts 16:18, where it is rendered “greatlyannoyed.”
4
This term literally means to “standover.” With the exceptionof three
occurrencesin 1 Thessaloniansand 2 Timothy, the term is only found in Luke
and Acts. Every time it is employed in Luke, it describes a more intense or
dramatic “coming up” or “appearing.” It is used of the appearance of the
angelof God in Luke 2:9. It is used of Anna’s dramatic appearance in the
temple in Luke 2:38. It describes Jesus as “standing over” Peter’s mother-in-
law when He commanded her fever to leave her (Luke 4:39). It is used to
describe the time when the Jewishreligious leaders “confronted” (the same
word, in the NASB and NKJV) Jesus forHis teaching in the temple. It is used
of the dramatic return of our Lord, which may catchsome unprepared in
Luke 21:34 (and here the NET Bible renders the word, “come down upon”).
In Acts 6:2, the term is used to describe the approachof the religious leaders
who drag Stephen off to trial, after which they will kill him.
5
While the NET Bible does not render it this way in verse 13, it does render
the imperfect tense in this way in verse 7: “After making Peterand John
stand in their midst, they began to inquire, ‘By what power or by what name
did you do this?’” The NASB renders verse 7 in the same way.
6
In the Book ofMatthew, the emphasis falls on Herod, who interprets the
miracles of Jesus as evidence of John’s resurrection. Luke informs us that
Herod was not alone in this conclusion. A number of people thought the same
thing.
7
I understand that doing something in Jesus’name is to do it in His power.
8
I was fascinatedto find how often Jesus is identified as the Nazarene. Those
who soughtto arrestJesus were looking for “Jesus the Nazarene” (John18:7).
The sign on the cross identified Jesus as “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the
Jews” (John19:19).
9
For example, the psalmist speaks ofthe Lord’s help when nations
surrounded him and pushed him violently (Psalm 118:10-14). Does Petersee
any parallels to his circumstances,surrounded by these Jewishreligious

99. leaders? He speakswith assurance thathe will live and not die, and thus he
will proclaim the works ofthe Lord (Psalm 118:17-18). Is Peterspeaking of
his confidence that these men will not succeedin killing him? I wonder. This
psalm would be a source of greatcomfort to one suffering persecution.
10
Here are a few references to God as the Creatorfor your considerationand
study: Genesis 1:26;2:4; 5:1-2; 6:6; 7:4; 14:19,22;Exodus 20:11;30:17;
Deuteronomy 4:32-40;5:8; 32:6; 2 Kings 19:45;2 Chronicles 2:12; Nehemiah
9:6; Psalm74:17; 89;104:14, 24, 30;115:15;124:8;134:3; 135:7;139:13, 15;
146:6;148:5; Proverbs 8:26; Ecclesiastes 12:1;Isaiah 13:13;27:11; 37:16;
40:18-31;41:20; 42:5-13;43:1-7, 15; 44:24;45:4-18;48:7; 54:5, 16;57:16, 19;
65:17-18;66:22; Jeremiah10:11-12;27:5; 31:22;32:2, 17;51:15; Ezekiel
28:15;Amos 4:13; Habakkuk 3:6; Malachi 2:10; Acts 14:15;17:24, 26;
Revelation4:11; 14:7.
11
The story of Josephand his family actually continues to the end of Genesis,
but these chapters focus on the point I am seeking to make.
12
We should not forgetthat it was Peterwho drew his swordat the time of our
Lord’s arrest, removing the earof the high priest’s servant (John 18:10). He
was willing to die with Jesus, it would seem, but he could not cope with our
Lord’s surrender to death at the hands of His enemies.
GreatTexts of the Bible
The Saving Name
And in none other is there salvation:for neither is there any other name
under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.—Acts
4:12.
These words were uttered by St. Peter, as representing the young Church of
Christ, when, for the first time after her foundation, she stoodfairly face to
face with the hostile powerof the world. On the Day of Pentecostshe had
encounteredsome playful or scornful mockery, which was silencedwhen St.
Petercame forward and explained the true cause ofthe occurrenceswhich
excited it. But when the cripple was healedon the Mount of the Temple, the
Jewishworld roused itself in earnest. The miracle was performed in the most
public place in Jerusalem;and immediately afterwards St. Peter had

100. addresseda large multitude which gatheredround him. He pointed out that
Jesus, by the might of His Name, was the real workerof the miracle; that His
exaltation and power were in accordancewith prophecy; that it was a fact of
the utmost moment to every one of his hearers. Hereupon three classesof
persons became alarmed. The priests saw in the Apostles of Christ dangerous
rivals to their ownoffice and authority. The Sadducees—the unbelieving
sectionof the literary class—were angeredat the public discussionofa
miracle, which, if true, condemned their own denial of a resurrection, and
which they would gladly have buried beneath a contemptuous silence. The
Captain of the Temple, as the guardian of public order—a sort of chief
commissionerof police—wasapprehensive that the excitement might lead to
disturbances. These severalpersonagesand classes might wellhave taken the
miracle to heart; they might at leasthave askedthe question why it had so
impressive a significance foran increasing sectionofthe people. But questions
of this kind are not often consideredin moments of passion. The prejudices of
the past, combined with fears and resentment, carried the day; and they cast
the Apostles into prison.
This done, it became necessarythat the Apostles should be examined in
court—the Court of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was solemnly convoked;it
had, according to the law of Deuteronomy, to decide the point whether the
Apostles were to be regardedas true prophets or as seducers to idolatry. The
Court knew that the cripple had been healed by the Apostles—notin the
Name of Jehovah, but in the Name of Jesus. And this seemedto establishthe
charge of idolatry; since nothing could be plainer to the Jewishmind than the
distinction betweenJesus the Crucified Prophet and the Almighty Jehovah.
The first question, therefore, which the Court askedthe Apostles was, By
what power or by what name have ye done this? The Court, you will observe,
does not enter upon the generalquestion of the Apostles’teaching; it asks only
who had been invoked to work the miracle. And St. Peter, standing before
men who had his life in their hands, speaks directlyto the point: “Ye rulers of
the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the gooddeed
done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto
you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christof
Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raisedfrom the dead, even by Him
doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at
nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.” And then he
adds, “Neitheris there salvationin any other: for there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”

101. The text contains two important topics—
Salvation.
The Saving Name.
I
Salvation
What a greatword that word “salvation” is!It includes the cleansing ofour
consciencefrom all past guilt, the delivery of our soul from all those
propensities to evil which now so strongly predominate in us; it brings in, in
fact, the undoing of all that Adam did. Salvation is the total restorationof
man from his fallen estate;and yet it is something more than that, for God’s
salvationfixes our standing more securelythan it was before we fell. It finds
us broken in pieces by the sin of our first parents, defiled, stained, accursed:it
first heals our wounds, it removes our diseases, it takes awayour curse, it puts
our feetupon the rock Christ Jesus, andhaving thus done, at lastit lifts our
heads far above all principalities and powers, to be crownedfor ever with
Jesus Christ, the King of Heaven. Some people, when they use the word
“salvation,” understand nothing more by it than deliverance from hell and
admittance into heaven. Now, that is not salvation: those two things are the
effects of salvation. We are redeemedfrom hell because we are saved, and we
enter heaven because we have been saved beforehand. Our everlasting state is
the effectof salvationin this life. Salvation, it is true, includes all that; but still
it would be wrong for us to imagine that that is all the meaning of the word.
Salvationbegins with us as wandering sheep; it follows us through all our
many wanderings; it puts us on the shoulders of the shepherd; it carries us
into the fold; it calls togetherthe friends and the neighbours; it rejoices over
us; it preserves us in that fold through life; and then at last it brings us to the
greenpastures of heaven, beside the still waters of bliss, where we lie down for
ever in the presence ofthe Chief Shepherd, never more to be disturbed.
Let us group the uses of the word “salvation” under these three classes—(i.)
Salvationfrom physical infirmity; (ii) National Salvation;(iii.) Salvationfrom
Sin.
i. Salvationfrom PhysicalSuffering

102. The healing of the cripple was on the face of it a physical salvation. Bodily
pain and discomfort, continued through many years, unless it be transfigured
by patience and resignationinto a consummate blessing, may crush out its
very heart and hope from a human life. And anyhow, pain is a disorder and
anomaly in nature. When it is inevitable, we may be sure that God has some
high and merciful purpose in inflicting it. When it is not inevitable, our
business is, if we can do so, to cure it. Our Lord workedthen by the agencyof
the Apostles what He works now by the generous hearts, and kind hands, and
cultivated understandings of those whom He guides, in hospitals and
elsewhere,to the relief and cure of bodily pain. His precepts, His charity, His
unseen but energetic Spirit, are the source ofthe best and noblestinspirations
of our modern philanthropy, even where the cause is unrecognized or
unsuspected. And as the result is, in its degree, a salvation, so the inspiring
force is the grace and charity of the Saviour.
Europe was thrilled by the story of the steamerBerlin which fought its way
from Harwich across the North Sea to the Hook of Holland in the teeth of a
terrible gale. At half-past five in the morning (February 20, 1907)it was
dashed on the North Pier and brokenup. The fore part of the steamerwent
under and carried the greaterpart of the passengers andcrew to death. On
the following day elevensurvivors were rescued. Three women remained
behind, exposedto the biting cold and the terrific lash of the breakers. It
seemedimpossible that they should survive the long and exhausting exposure,
and hope of their being saved almostdied out. But Captain Sperling, as noble
a hero as ever facedthe perils of the deep, determined to make an effort on
their behalf. We are told he could not sleep for thinking of the awful plight of
these women, alone there on the wreck for two days and a night. And so he
matured his plans, and when the moment for actionarrived dared everything,
swamthrough seething billows to the wreck, and passedthe women one by
one along the rope to safety. And next day the world rang with the news that
the three womenwere saved by the heroic deed of this noble man. Saved! Yes,
it was a real salvation. There was no doubt about the meaning of the word and
the significance ofthe transaction. They were savedfrom hunger, savedfrom
cold, savedfrom death by exhaustionor by drowning. We can all appreciate
the nature of this salvation—the saving of human lives from the angry sea.1
[Note:A. R. Henderson.]
ii. NationalSalvation
When St. Peter talkedof “the salvation” in the Court of the Sanhedrin, he

103. would have meant and he would have been understood to mean something
much greaterin itself, and much wider in its range of application, than any
bodily cure; something of which a bodily cure was a mere figure and
presentment.
1. Salvationwas already a consecratedwordin the language ofIsrael. It had
been so for centuries. It meant very generally the deliverance of Israel from
outward and inward enemies;it meant the deliverance of Israelas a whole;it
meant especiallya national salvation. That was the point of St. Peter’s
reference to Psalms 118., whichwas composedforthe first observance ofthe
FeastofTabernacles in the newly rebuilt Temple, after the return from the
Babylonish captivity. St. Peterquotes the famous lines in which Israel, lately
restoredto the land of her ancestors, is spokenof as a “stone which the
builders rejected, and which had been made the head of the corner.” The new
Temple would have naturally suggestedthe figure. Israel, rejectedand
downtrodden by the proud nations who aspiredto build up the future of the
Easternworld, had been lifted by God into a place of honour: Israel was to be
in some way the corner-stone ofthat temple of souls which God would build
for the future of humanity.
2. The deeper Jewishcommentators saw that the words must really apply, not
to Israel as a whole, since the nation had morally fallen too low for such high
distinction, but to the expectedMessiah, its ripe product and its splendid
Representative. And accordinglyour Lord Jesus Christ, just after His public
entry into Jerusalem, whenthe people had saluted Him in other words of this
Psalm, applied to Himself what was said about the corner-stone;He was
Himself the corner-stone;and Israel, in rejecting Him, was repeating the
crime of the Gentiles in rejecting Israel.
3. When, therefore, St. Peter, standing before the Court of the Sanhedrin, said
that Jesus was “the stone setat nought by you builders,” he was following His
blessedMaster’s guidance. It had been Christ’s own way of saying as vividly
as He could to His countrymen, that although rejectedand crucified, He was
the true Hope and Deliverer of Israel. And thus the salvation of which St.
Peterspeaks was the salvationwhich Messiahwas to bring. It was the
salvationto which Israelwas looking forward. It was the salvationof which
the healing of the cripple had been a figure. Israelwas the real cripple after
all, and her rulers knew it.
4. To the nation, then, St. Peter preaches that the present is a time of

104. repentance, during which Godgives to Israelopportunity to return to Him,
and the Apostle consequently renews the call to repentance given by Jesus
Himself, promising to those who repent and are baptized the advent of the
greatMessianic salvation. Butthe repentance required is no longer only the
generalrepentance taught by Jesus. It is the specific wickednessofthe Jewish
nation, misguided by their rulers, in crucifying Jesus, that requires to be
repented of; and the positive side of this repentance is faith in Jesus as the
Messiah. He is proclaimed as the only Saviour in the approaching day when
those who rejectHim will be cut off.
iii. Salvationfrom Sin
There is one theologicalwordwhich has found its way lately into nearly all the
newerand finer literature of our country. It is not only one of the words of the
literary world at present, it is perhaps the word. For it represents something,
the reality of which, its certaininfluence, its universality, have at lastbeen
recognized;and in spite of its being a theologicalwordit has been forcedinto
a place which nothing but its felt relation to the wider theologyof human life
could ever have earned for a religious word. That word, it need scarcelybe
said, is Sin. Even in the lighter literature of our country, and this is altogether
remarkable, the ruling word just now is Sin. Years ago it was the gay term
Chivalry which held the foreground in poem and ballad and song. Later still,
the word which held court, in novel and romance, was Love. But now a deeper
word heads the chapters and begins the cantos. A more exciting thing than
chivalry is descriedin the arena, and love itself fades in interest before this
small word, which has wandered out of theology, and changedthe face of
literature, and made many a new book preach.
ProfessorHenry Drummond says that there are three deadly facts about sin—
its guilt, its stain, and its power; and there are three facts of salvation—
forgiveness, healing, redemption. These facts are statedin Psalm 103:3-4 :
“Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healethall thy diseases;who
redeemeth thy life from destruction.”
1. The first deadly fact of sin is its guilt—that is, the blameworthiness that
follows the doing of it. When we say that the sinner is guilty, we mean that he
is to blame for his sin. The responsibility for it abides on him. The wickedness
of it is his. And this guilt, this blameworthiness, is all the more terrible from
the factthat we are responsible to God. This is the most tragic thing about sin.
It is not merely a violation of our own nature or a breaking of an abstractlaw.

105. Sin is againstsomething—itis a pushing of the will againstsomething. Yes,
againstsome one. “Againstthee, thee only, have I sinned,” cries the Psalmist,
and all who have read deepestinto the human heart agree with him. Sin is
againstGod. It is a violation, a setting aside of the will of the living God, that
will in which alone we can have eternallife. God is absolutelyholy and good.
And sin is an offence againstHim, a disobedience to Him, a separationfrom
Him, a breaking up of the harmony that ought to be betweenman and God.
Now the question which we must ask in order to meet this first factof sin is,
Where canI get pardon? This is a question askedby conscience, andthe
questions which consciencesends up to us are always the deepestquestions.
The man who has never sentup the question, “Where can I getpardon?” has
never been into his conscience to find out the deepestwant he has. It is not
enough for him to look lifeward; he must also look Godward. And it is not
enough to discoverthe stain of his past, and cry out, “I have sinned.” He must
see the guilt of his life and cry, “I have sinned againstGod.” Now the
punishment of sin is death. “In the day that thou eatestthereofthou shalt
surely die.” Therefore death is the punishment which must be in one of the
facts of salvation. It will not meet the case if the sinner professes his penitence
and promises humbly never to do the like again. Death, and nothing less than
death, must be in the fact of salvationfrom the guilt of sin, if such salvationis
to be. This fact, this most solemn necessity, understoodand felt, the restis
plain. We all know who deservedto die. We all know who did die. We know
we were not wounded for our transgressions,we were not bruised for our
iniquities. But we know who was. The Lord hath not dealt with us according
to our iniquities; but we know with whom He has. We know who bare our sins
in His own body on the tree—One who had no sins of His own. We know who
was lifted up like the serpentin the wilderness—He who died, the just for the
unjust. If we know this, we know the greatfact of Salvation, for it is here.
2. The secondfact about sin is its stain. The soul is defiled by it. All sin is a
defilement. Your most respectable sinleaves a mark on the soul. The soul is
tainted by it as a glass of pure wateris tainted by a drop of ink. The virgin
beauty of the soul is lost. And sometimes the stain becomes so foul that we are
shockedby the uncleanness ofthe sinner’s speechand taste and actions. And
the stain of sin, like the spot of blood on Lady Macbeth’s hand, is something
that we cannot washout.
What must I do to be saved from the stain of sin? Gather up your influence,
and see how much has been for Christ. Then undo all that has been against

106. Him. It will never be healed till then. This is the darkeststain upon your life.
The stain of sin concerns your own soul, but that is a smaller matter. That can
be undone—in part. There are open sores enoughin our past life to make even
heaven terrible. But God is healing them. He is blotting them from His own
memory and from ours. If the stains that were there had lingered, life would
have been a long sigh of agony. But salvationhas come to us. God is now
helping us to use the means for repairing a broken life. He restoreth thy soul,
He healeth all thy diseases.But thy brother’s soul, and thy brother’s diseases?
The worstof our stains have spread far and wide beyond ourselves;and God
will only heal them, perhaps, by giving us grace to dealwith them. We must
retrace our steps over that unburied past, and undo what we have done.
A young man once lay upon his death-bed. He was a Christian, but for many
days a black cloud had gathered upon his brow. Just before his last breath, he
beckonedto the friends around his bed. “Takemy influence,” he said, “and
bury it with me.”1 [Note:Henry Drummond.]
The lostdays of my life until to-day,
What were they, could I see them on the street
Lie as they fell? Would they be ears of wheat
Sownonce for food but trodden into clay?
Or golden coins squander’d and still to pay?
Or drops of blood dabbling the guilty feet?
Or such spilt water as in dreams must cheat
The undying throats of Hell, athirst alway?
I do not see them here; but after death
God knows I know the faces I shall see,
Eachone a murder’d self, with low last breath.
“I am thyself,—whathast thou done to me?”

107. “And I—and I—thyself” (lo! eachone saith),
“And thou thyself to all eternity!”1 [Note: D. G. Rossetti.]
3. The third deadly fact about sin is its power. The sinner soonfinds that he is
in bondage to a habit. Sin has an enslaving power. The tragedies that have
arisenfrom this deadly fact of sin! The tyranny of evil that beganwith a single
sinful act! All human experience testifies to the factthat one sin makes
another sin easier. Eachsin weaves anotherthread in the rope that binds us,
the liberty is lost, and sin’s tyranny is complete, and the sinner seems to have
ceasedto be master in his house of life.
The third fact of salvationwhich is to be brought to bearupon this third great
fact of sin is not our own efforts, our own religiousness, ourown doctrine, the
Atonement, or the death of Christ, but the power of the life of Christ. “He
redeemeth my life from destruction.” How? By His life. This is the fact of
salvation. It takes life to redeem life—powerto resistpower. Sin is a ceaseless,
undying power in our life. A ceaseless, undying powermust come againstit.
And there is only one such powerin the universe—only one, which has a
chance againstSin: the powerof the living Christ. “As many as receivedhim,
to them gave he powerto become the sons of God.” “Powerto become the
sons of God”—the greatfact of salvation. Receive the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved.
II
The Saving Name
The words of St. Peter are emphatic. The clause blends togethertwo
statements:(1) There is no other name in which men can be saved, and (2)
This is the name given in which men must be saved.
1. Had St. Peterlived among us now, would he have put the matter in this
way? Would he not have avoided any appearance of comparisonor rivalry
betweenthe Gospeland other religious systems? Would he not have said: “It
is enough for me to proclaim that there is salvationin Christ; I do not know, I
am not concernedto determine whether other prophets, other doctrines, other
agenciescansave. I do not wish to claim for Him any monopoly of saving
power; I have no inclination to dispute the pretensions of Jewishrites or of

108. Greek philosophies. No doubt there is much to be said for every religion in the
world, and the professors ofa religion have only to be sure that they are
consistent;that they are careful to fashion their lives according to its law and
the light of nature. It is enough for me to say that the religion of Christ will
save you if you choose:I am not so illiberal as to maintain that you cannot be
sure of salvationwithout it”? Why did not St. Petersay this? Why did he state
the very converse of it—“Neitheris there salvation in any other; for there is
none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved”? It was because he had in his heart and on his lips, not a human
speculationor theory, but, as he held, the Truth—the One, Final, Absolute
Truth. The proof of that to his mind, the overwhelming proof, was the life and
teaching of his Master, crowned, attested, by the miracle—the recent, the
certain, the unassailable miracle—ofthe Resurrection.
We are able without confusionto associatefaith in the “All-Father” with
much of the picturesque and poetic beliefs of the ancientworld. They, too,
through the flimsy veil of grotesque mythology, lookedinto the heavens, and
believed God to reign there, with power overhuman destiny, the Arbiter of
fate and the Rewarderof the righteous. They, too, felt beneath the outspread
beauty of the earth a living presence ofGod. “Godis in everything you see, the
world is only the shrine of His presence and the veil of His glory.” So with
many of the greatsystems of nature-worship with which we are brought into
contactto-day in the march of our civilization: beneaththem there is the sense
of an overshadowing majestywhich can be used and elevatedand stripped of
its superstitious adjuncts and purged from its materialism. But “I believe in
Jesus Christ, God of God, Light of light, very God of very God, … being of
one substance with the Father, by whom all things are made,” is at once to
bring in a different element altogether. This sad, attenuated figure, with arms
outstretchedupon the Cross, seems atonce to drive awaythe nymphs from
the fountains, the dryads from the groves, andto pass like a cloud acrossthe
sun, “a Man of sorrows, andacquainted with grief,” crownedwith thorns, not
with roses;outcast, despised, rejected, crucified; at one time enwrapped in the
miraculous, at another apparently overwhelmedwith humanity and its
capacities forsuffering. At once we introduce with this Divine figure a history
which is challengedat every step, a history which cannot be dissolved into
poetry, or relegatedinto a mythology dear to the souls of those who think they
can believe and disbelieve at the same time.1 [Note: W. C. E. Newbolt.]
2. If we believe in Christ only as our Teacher, althoughwe spoke ofHim as
the greatestofall Teachers the world has ever had, we should stop short of the

109. conclusionat which St. Peterarrived. If we believe this, and observe all that
this belief in His teaching involves in our life and actions, it is much, but it is
not enough. We must believe in Jesus not only as our Teacherand Master, but
as our Saviour. May we not think that this is the very ground reasonwhich
led St. Peter to put his proposition in this form which has been called narrow
and exclusive? “Neitheris there any other name under heaven, that is given
among men, wherein we must be saved.” We must be careful, while we call
Christ Jesus the Teacher, not to forgetthat He is also our Saviour. That
postulates a greattruth which we cannotpush aside with the Athanasian
Creed. We listen to Him, it may be, as One who has said some very beautiful
things and has given us some very useful advice. Jesus Christ is placed, as we
may see, in a beautiful building near London, as one of the greatteachers of
the world, with SocratesandConfucius and Buddha and Muhammad. But it
is not what Christ has taught us, but what Christ has done for us, that the
Church and our Bible put before us as the object of our belief: “I believe in
Jesus Christ our Saviour”—nothing short of this.
The boldness of Peterand John in making this assertionappears no less
amazing to us, after these centuries have passed, than it did to the men of their
time. We can explain it only by the statementin Acts 4:8, that they were
“filled with the Holy Ghost.” To venture on the morrow of a criminal’s
execution, in the city where he was executed, and before the persons who had
condemned him, not only to vindicate his memory, and to asserthis innocence,
but to sethim forward as the headstone of the corner “the one man under
heaven whereby we must be saved,” argues aninspiration from God. If there
had been no truth in the bold attribution, it would have been the raving of
hallucination, and the world would have heard no more of it. But, as the claim
has been in these nineteen centuries substantiated by many and various
evidences, we may be sure that a power and knowledge more than human
instructed the minds of the Apostles.1 [Note:R. F. Horton.]
Did you ever notice the intolerance of God’s religion? In olden times the
heathen, who had different gods, all of them respectedthe gods of their
neighbours. Forinstance, the king of Egypt would confess thatthe gods of
Nineveh were true and realgods, and the prince of Babylon would
acknowledge thatthe gods of the Philistines were true and real gods;but
Jehovah, the God of Israel, put this as one of His first commandments, “Thou
shalt have no other gods before me”; and He would not allow them to pay the
slightestpossible respectto the gods of any other nation: “Thou shalt hew
them in pieces, thou shalt break down their temples, and cut down their

110. groves.” All other nations were tolerant the one of the other, but the Jew
could not be so. One part of his religion was, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy
God is one”:and as the consequence ofhis belief that there was but one God,
and that that one God was Jehovah, he felt it his bounden duty to treat all
other gods with contempt. Now the Christian religion, you observe, is just as
intolerant as this. If you apply to a Brahmin to know the way of salvation, he
will very likely tell you at once that all persons who follow out their sincere
religious convictions will undoubtedly be saved. “Here,” says he, “are the
Muhammadans; if they obey Muhammad, and sincerelybelieve what he has
taught, without doubt, Allah will glorify them at last.” And the Brahmin turns
round upon the Christian missionary, and says, “Whatis the use of your
bringing your Christianity here to disturb us? I tell you our religion is quite
capable of carrying us to heaven, if we are faithful to it.” Now hear the text:
how intolerant is the Christian religion! “Neitheris there salvationin any
other.” The Brahmin may admit that there is salvationin fifty religions
besides his own: but we admit no such thing. There is no true salvationout of
Jesus Christ. The gods of the heathen may approachus with their mock
charity, and tell us that every man may follow out his own conscientious
conviction and be saved. We reply—No such thing: there is no salvationin
any other; “for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved.”1 [Note:C. H. Spurgeon.]
Swami Vivekananda, the hero of the Chicago parliament of religions,
preaches to his fellow-countrymen the sinlessness ofman: “The worstlie that
you ever told yourself was that you were a sinner or a wickedman.… It is the
greatestofall lies that we are men; we are the godof the universe.”
Meanwhile Krishna, the favourite god of India, is the incarnation of
abandoned immorality. When some Hindus were remonstratedwith for
worshipping a being guilty of these shameless vices, theyreplied, “These are
but his sports, you English have your sports, you have the railway and the
steamboatand the telegraph, and no one blames you. Why should you blame
Krishna for sporting in his way?”2 [Note:R. F. Horton.]
3. Why does St. Petersay, “There is no other name”? Christ Himself suggests
to us the reason. When He said in His last prayer, “I have manifested thy
name to the men whom thou gavestme,” He did not mean that He had made
known simply what we callthe name of God. Men already knew that. He
meant rather that He had revealedthe fatherly characterofGod, the eternal
principles which the name of God represents. In modern speecha name is
merely a sortof tag or label. “A rose by any other name would smell as

111. sweet.” In the Scriptures a name connotes something characteristic ofthe
thing or person named. Thus Jesus helps us to the clue that leads out of all
misunderstanding of the Apostle’s teaching. The name of Christ is the saving
name because it stands for the saving thing.
The victory has been enshrined in a Name. All the power of the Nazareth
victory, and of the Wilderness victory, all the power of the greatclimax
victory of Calvary, and of the Resurrectionmorning—all is packedinto one
word, a Name, the Name of Jesus. There is far more, infinitely more, practical
help and powerin that Name than we have dreamed of; certainly far more
than we have ever used. The Name of Jesus is the most valuable assetof the
Christian life.3 [Note:S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks aboutthe Tempter, 202.]
I remember a young man coming up to me at the close ofa service in London.
He told me how sorelyhe had been tempted, how he seemedto make no
headwayagainstthe struggle in his Christian life, until the suggestioncame to
him of the practicalvalue of that Name above every name. Instantly he began
using it, reverently, prayerfully, eagerly, and relief and victory came. And the
look of eye and face revealedhow real was the victory and peace that had
come to him.1 [Note: S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks about the Tempter, 203.]
In One Name I have round the all in all.
It is enough, and It will never fail.
Here on the height, or there within the vale,
In this my strength I shall not greatly fall.
If on the dark hills here thy fears appal,
O thou mine Enemy! or there assail
My fainting heart, yet shall they not prevail,
For on the Name thou dreadestI will call.
Oh then rejoice not! for I shall arise,
And heavenly light shall stream across the gloom,

112. And heavenly music drown the voice of doom,
And a most blissful prospectcheermine eyes:
All from that Name belovèd and adored,
Thy sweetgreatName, O Jesus Christ, my Lord.2 [Note:S. J. Stone, Poems
and Hymns, 202.]
4. How shall we prove the truth of Christ’s claim? We shall prove it in our
life. As the Cross is the price of salvation, so, too, a cross will mark the life of
the Christian. The words of Jesus are:“Whosoevershalllose his life for my
sake shallfind it.” Salvationfrom sin means power over sin, and this salvation
Christ gives in His name. But the distinguishing marks of Christianity are
sacrifice and struggle. A Christian will be known from a non-Christian as one
who, having takena right view of life, knows that it means a long struggle and
perpetual sacrifice. Do not make the mistake of thinking that Christianity
means the pale face and the laceratedbody and the constantthwarting of
desires. If you cannot escape into life without these sacrifices, it does so mean,
but not otherwise. It means death to the lowerthat we may live in the higher.
It means a sacrifice ofmuch which the world values, because the Church has
found something higher. It means that the soul loves to be with God better
than eating the forbidden fruit. It means that the soul would rather be an
outcastwith Christ than be popular without Him. A Christian is one who is
able to say with all his heart: “Thou art worthy … for thou wastslain, and
hast redeemedus to God by thy blood.”
Christ’s Heart was wrung for me, if mine is sore;
And if my feetare weary, His have bled;
He had no place wherein to lay His Head;
If I am burdened, He was burdened more.
The cup I drink He drank of long before;
He felt the unuttered anguish which I dread;

113. He hungered who the hungry thousands fed,
And thirsted who the world’s refreshment bore.
If grief be such a looking-glassas shows
Christ’s Face and man’s in some sortmade alike,
Then grief is pleasure with a subtle taste:
Wherefore should any fret or faint or haste?
Grief is not grievous to a soul that knows
Christ comes,—andlistens for that hour to strike.1 [Note:Christina G.
Rossetti.]
5. And so the final thought is that this life of sacrifice is maintained by looking
unto Jesus. “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Php2:5).
It is “the mind that was in Christ Jesus,”when“for us men and for our
salvationHe came down from heaven, and was made Man, and suffered for
us.” Here was at once model and motive for the Philippian saints; for Euodia,
and Syntyche, and every individual and every group. Nothing short of the
“mind” of the Head must be the “mind” of the member; and then the glory of
the Head (so it is implied) shall be shed hereafterupon the member too: “I
will grant to him to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am
setdown with my Father in his throne.”
Oh, reasonof reasons, argumentof arguments—the Lord Jesus Christ!
Nothing in Christianity lies really outside Him. His Personand His Work
embody all its dogmatic teaching. His Example, “His Love which passeth
knowledge,”is the sum and life of all its morality. Well has it been said that
the whole Gospelmessageis conveyedto us sinners in those three words,
“Looking unto Jesus.” Is it pardon we need, is it acceptance, free as the love of
God, holy as His law? We find it, we possessit, “looking unto Jesus” crucified.
Is it power we need, victory and triumph over sin, capacityand willingness to
witness and to suffer in a world which loves Him not at all? We find it, we
possessit, it possessesus, as we “look unto Jesus” risenand reigning, for us on
the Throne, with us in the soul. Is it rule and model that we want, not written
on the stones of Horeb only, but “on the fleshy tables of the heart”? We find

114. it, we receive it, we yield ourselves up to it, as we “look unto Jesus” in His
path of love, from the Throne to the Cross, from the Cross to the Throne, till
the Spirit inscribes that law upon our inmost wills.1 [Note: H. C. G. Moule,
Philippian Studies, 102.]
O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me,
And all things else recede;
My heart be daily nearer Thee,
From sin be daily freed.
More of Thy glory let me see,
Thou Holy, Wise, and True;
I would Thy living image be
In joy and sorrow too.2 [Note:From the German of J. C. Lavater.]
The Saving Name
Rev. David Holwick ZR
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December31, 1995
Acts 4:12
ONLY ONE WAY?
I. The global village.
A. America is no longer a homogenizedsociety.

115. 1) It probably never was. And with new ethnic groups
have come new religions.
2) Personalexperience as I waited to visit a Baptist in the
county jail this week.
Man standing behind me was wearing a long black robe and
a high hat that was like a turban.
Curious, I ask him, "Are you an Orthodox priest?"
A thin smile came over his face and he said, "Guess again."
"A Moslem?"
He nodded his head.
3) In Parsippany, the Hindu temple jams residential streets
during their holy days.
4) A Moslemfamily lives right up the street. In ten years
there will be more Moslems in America than Jews.
B. A stumbling block for modern people.
1) When askedabouthis impression of "born-againChristians,"
George Brown, a Presbyterianreal estate seller, has
this to say:
I am not a born-again Christian and don't know any to my
knowledge.
Christians have talkedwith me severaltimes but they came
across sortofnarrow-minded.
It made me feel like they were condescending and wouldn't
recognize other people's beliefs.
[paragraph on attractiveness ofChristianity omitted]
In many ways I considermyself a Christian, just not a
born-again one.
I've already been born once.
Why would I want to be born again?
I think that too many Christians will not believe that there

116. are other religious faiths in the world.
To me that's the greatestshortcoming ofthe Christian
church.
#3377
2) In the face of all this competition, some Christians claim
that Jesus is the only wayto heaven.
3) Some of you believe this. But many do not.
Ravi Zacharias grew up a Hindu in a priestly family in
India.
As a teenagerhe had crisis and attempted suicide.
In the hospital he began a personalsearchfor the
meaning of life and ended up becoming a Christian.
Ravi now works full-time as an evangelistto secular
universities around the world.
He says his audiences are filled with "happy thinking
pagans."
In other words, they are contented with their lives,
they are intellectual, and have little regardfor God.
There is one question that always comes up in his open
forums:
"How can you possibly talk about one God or one waywhen
there are so many goodoptions?"
#3443
C. Is Christianity unique?
1) Is Jesus the only way to heaven?
2) Don't all religions worship the same basic God?
II. An emotional misconception.
A. We do not believe Christians are better than everyone else.
1) Claiming the uniqueness of Jesus does not mean we claim to
be perfect.

117. a) Today, sensitivities are at an all-time high - and
rightfully so.
b) Tolerance ofdifferent races and religions has been
lacking over the years.
c) Christianity is not a bigoted club, the KKK in disguise.
2) Christians should be something we often are not: humble.
D.T. Niles:"Evangelismis one beggartelling another
where to find bread."
B. But we do believe that absolute truth matters.
1) Tolerance and pluralism have given way to relativism.
a) No personor philosophy is wrong or right.
2) But not always goodto be tolerant - we must be intolerant
of error.
a) 2+2 does not equal 31.
b) We must respectother viewpoints, but we cannot claim
that all viewpoints are equally valid.
Such a position is nonsense.
3) Mostof the intellectual elite of this country completely
disavow the idea of absolute truth.
#3443
III. Some things are not up to a vote.
A. It is a problem of truth and logic.
1) There are some things we cannot change because we may want to.
2) Logic: the law of non-contradiction.
At a forum in Harvard, Ravi Zacharias respondedto some
critics by using the law of non-contradiction.
This law of logic simply states that no statementcan be true
and false at the same time and in the same relationship.
Zacharias saidthis law must apply to religion and reality.
If Jesus saidhe was God, he either is or he isn't.

118. You cannot have it both ways.
The same law applies to every other religion.
They are ultimately true, or they are not.
When he made this argument, the audience went silent for
severalminutes.
That the laws of logic apply to reality floors people, even
though they use logic to attack Christian truths.
Here's the rub: the average non-religious personwill
believe something WITHOUT thinking it through.
They will believe many things and never investigate if they
are rational.
But this same non-religious person will disbelieve things
on the basis that they are not logical.
So they will attack Christian assumptions using principles
of logic that they don't even apply to themselves.
#3443
B. An illustration from conceptof law. (???)
1) Some laws are determined by society - stop lights.
2) Other laws cannotbe determined by society- law of gravity.
3) Spiritual laws are inherent, like gravity.
a) God has revealedhimself to us through Jesus.
b) Christ's death is the only way our sins can be paid for.
IV. A question of sincerity, or truth?
A. Sincere belief does not make something true.
1) Hitler was sincere, but wrong.
2) Belief must be true to be real.
B. Faith is only as valid as the object you place faith in.
A nurse sincerely put acid in baby's eyes rather than
silver nitrate.
Her sincerity did not save the baby from blindness.

119. 1) Believing something doesn't make it true.
2) Facts are facts, regardless ofattitude.
3) In religion, basic question is always, "Is it true?"
V. We claim the uniqueness of Jesus because the Bible does.
A. The Old Testamentclaims the uniqueness of JehovahGod.
Isaiah43:10-11
"You are my witnesses,"declaresthe LORD, "and my servant whom
I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and
understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.
I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior."
B. Jesus claimeduniqueness for himself.
Matthew 11:27
"All things have been committed to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the
Father exceptthe Sonand those to whom the Sonchooses to
revealhim."
John 14:6
Jesus answered, "Iam the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father exceptthrough me."
C. The apostles made the same claim for Jesus.
Acts 4:12
"Salvationis found in no one else, forthere is no other name
under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
As the greatmissionary D. T. Niles also said,
"Jesus Christis not a value that we can negotiate, nor is he a
preference that we can reject.
He is the truth, and the truth cannotbe changed."
Niles was once asked,
"How do you presentJesus in Hindu Ceylon?"

120. With a smile he said, "Oh, I repeatthe words of Jesus, 'No man
comes to the Father but by me.'"
#1723
VI. Jesus does not seek to exclude, but include.
A. Out of all religious leaders, only Jesus claims to be God.
1) Other religions emphasize teachings of leaders.
2) Christians emphasize Jesus himself.
B. Jesus came in order that we might have life. John 3:16-17
1) He does not wish to condemn.
2) But if we reject him, he has no choice.
C. We have an obligation.
1) If you are not a believer, Jesus invites you to believe.
2) If you are a follower, take it seriously.
a) Honor Jesus in all you do.
b) Share your faith intentionally.
c) Bumper stickerI saw on Friday:
"Realfriends don't let friends remain unsaved."
==========================================================
==================
Old sermon, "Why I Believe Christianity is Different," June 12, 1983. #3444
==========================================================
===================
Key resource:Paul Little (and James Kennedy?)
I. The global village.
A. Many nationalities, and religions, in America.
B. Is Christianity unique?
1) Do all religions worship the same basic God?
2) Is Jesus the only way to heaven?
II. An emotional misconception.
A. We do not believe Christians are better than everyone else.
1) Claiming the uniqueness of Jesus does not mean we claim to

121. be perfect.
2) Christianity is not a bigoted club.
B. We claim the uniqueness of Jesus because the Bible does. Acts 4:12
1) Jesus taught it. John 14:6
2) If he is God, then we have word from God himself on subject.
C. It is a problem of truth.
1) We cannotchange it just because we may want to.
III. Some things are not up to a vote.
A. Some laws are determined by society.
1) Stop lights.
B. Other laws cannot be determined by society.
1) Law of gravity.
C. Spiritual laws are inherent, like gravity.
1) God has revealedhimself to us through Jesus.
2) Christ's death is the only way our sins can be paid for.
D. Christians should not actsuperior.
1) D.T. Niles:"Evangelismis one beggartelling another
where to find bread."
IV. A question of sincerity, or truth?
A. Sincere belief does not make something true.
1) (Wrong medicine bottle in dark)
B. Faith is only as valid as the object you place faith in.
1) (Nurse sincerelyput acid in baby's eyes rather than silver
nitrate. Sincerity did not save baby from blindness.)
2) Believing something doesn't make it true.
a) Facts are facts, regardless ofattitude.
b) In religion, basic question is always, "Is it true?"
C. Example of resurrection.
1) Christians say it is at heart of gospel.
2) Moslems deny it.

122. a) One of these views must be wrong.
b) Both cannot be true, because they are contradictory.
V. Naive to assume all religions are basicallythe same.
A. Differences outweighsimilarities.
B. Example of Jesus'GoldenRule.
1) Mostreligions have it.
2) Wrong to assume it is essenceofChristianity.
3) Man's problem is not ignorance aboutwhat to do, but
willpower to do what we know we should.
C. Mostreligions are do-it-yourself propositions. (works)
1) They see a drowning man and tell him how to swim.
2) Christianity throws a life preserver.
D. Only Christianity offers assurance ofsalvation.
1) Salvation depends on what God has done for us.
2) Works religions cannot give assurance.
a) You have never done enough.
b) Fearwill always persist.
VI. The goalof religions differ.
A. Buddhists aim for nirvana, extinction of desire.
B. Hinduism also has nirvana, but sees it as union with oceanof
existence.
1) Achieved through reincarnation.
C. Islam yearns for paradise of wine, women, song.
1) Important to abstain from certain pleasures.
2) Five Pillars are followed.
3) No possibility of assurance.
VII. The fundamental conceptof God differs betweenreligions.
A. Buddha did not claim to be divine.
B. Hinduism is pantheistic.
C. Islam and Judaism are monotheistic, closerto us.

123. 1) But Islam totally removes God from humans.
2) Jesus says if Jews really loved God, they would love him.
D. Those who are sincerelyseeking Godwill acceptJesus.
1) Out of all religious leaders, only Jesus claims to be God.
a) Other religions emphasize teachings of leaders.
b) Christians emphasize Jesus himself.
2) Christianity differs radically from all others.
VIII. Tolerance.
A. It is esteemedin our world.
1) But not always goodto be tolerant - we must be intolerant
of error.
2) 2+2 does not equal 31.
B. We must respectotherviewpoints, but we cannot claim that
all viewpoints are equally valid.
1) Such a position is nonsense.
IX. Sincerity doesn't validate belief. [combine with above?]
A. Hitler was sincere, but wrong.
B. Beliefmust be true to be real. John 14:6
C. If you want to know God, know Jesus.
1) We cannotearn salvation.
2) We can have assurance.
X. Tolerance is esteemedis our world.
XI. If you want to know God, know Jesus.
A. We cannot earn salvation.
B. We can have assurance.
XII. Example of resurrection.
A. Christians sayit is at heart of gospel.
B. Moslems deny it.
1) One of these views must be wrong.
2) Both cannot be true, because they are contradictory.

124. XIII. Naive to assume all religions are basicallythe same.
A. Differences outweighsimilarities.
1) [Example of Jesus'GoldenRule...]
a) Mostreligions have it.
b) Wrong to assume it is essenceofChristianity.
c) Man's problem is not ignorance about what to do, but
willpower to do what we know we should.
B. Mostreligions are do-it-yourself propositions. (works)
1) They see a drowning man and tell him how to swim.
2) Christianity throws a life preserver.
C. Only Christianity offers assurance ofsalvation.
1) Salvation depends on what God has done for us.
2) Works religions cannot give assurance.
a) You have never done enough.
b) Fearwill always persist.
XIV. The fundamental conceptof God differs betweenreligions.
A. Buddha did not claim to be divine.
B. Hinduism is pantheistic.
C. Islam and Judaism are monotheistic, closerto us.
1) But Islam totally removes God from humans.
2) Jesus says if Jews really loved God, they would love him.
Copyright © 2018 by Rev. David Holwick
Rev. David Holwick * Evening study
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 25, 2006
Acts 4:12

125. IS THERE ONLY ONE WAY TO GOD?
I. The great presumption.
A. Out of thousands of religions in world, how can Christians
say they are only way to heaven?
1) We are not the only ones - Muslims do as well.
2) Hinduism tolerates anyone who accepts theirapproach
to syncretism.
B. Truth is, by definition, exclusive. It excludes the opposite.
1) But truth must be undergirded by love.
2) Christians have been guilty of smugness and harshness.
3) Yet our message, notthe messengers,is often the real
stumbling block.
II. Jesus himself claimed to be the only way to God.
A. His resurrection, and consistentmessage, supportthis.
B. Do other religions teachthe same thing at their core?
1) Fatherhoodof God - Buddhism doesn't really believe in God.
2) Brotherhood of humanity - apart from God, we are all
divided.
3) Other religions have aspects ofthe truth, but not the
whole.
a) It is not like a committee of blind men describing an
elephant, with eachbeing partially right.
b) It is not a bunch of parts, but an elephant.
C. Morality does not replace theology.
1) How we live is important, but it doesn't trump all else.
2) Dilemma of Gandhi being more "christian" than Christians.
a) Why would he go to hell and not us?
1> Only God sends people to hell.
2> God canbe trusted to do what is right. Gen 18:25

126. 3> Heavenis a gift of God's grace.
A> Are those who rejectthat grace "good"?
B> Only the redeemed can be righteous.
b) Salvation of notorious sinners like "Sonof Sam."
III. The dilemma of those who have not heard.
A. God sovereignlydecides which culture we are born into.
1) He canreach us with the gospelin his own way. Acts 17:26
a) Some believe because ofa loving Christian.
b) Others have visions or dreams.
2) All know enough to be condemned.
a) Do we all know enough to be saved?
B. Why people reject Jesus.
1) Other religions are easier.
2) Jesus calls us to die to ourselves.
a) He is the way, the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father exceptthrough him. John 14:6
b) There is no other name under heaven by which
we can be saved. Acts 4:12
================
This evening series was adaptedfrom Lee Strobel's book "The Case For
Faith."
Copyright © 2018 by Rev. David Holwick
The Ultimate Allegiance and the Ultimate Response:Acts
Acts 4:1-32
Dr. S. Lewis Johnsondiscusses Peterthe Apostle's conflictwith the Sanhedrin
as the result of his preaching and healing by the powerof the Holy Spirit.
SLJ Institute > Acts > The Ultimate Allegiance and the Ultimate Response:
Acts

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[Message]Let’s turn to Acts chapter 4, and today I’m going to simply read
verses 1 through verse 31, without comment for our Scripture reading, since
this is a little bit longer sectionthan we ordinarily read and study in our
expositions. Pentecosthas takenplace. A few days after Pentecost, Peterhas
healed by the grace ofGod, the lame man through the name of Jesus Christ.
He has preachedhis sermon, in which he has calledupon Israelto repent, that
they might be converted, that their sins might be blotted out, and that the
promises found in the Old Testamentmight be fulfilled, inclusive of the
secondcoming of Jesus Christand the kingdom that follows.
Now in chapter 4, after this preaching we read.
“And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the
Temple, and the Sadducees came upon them. Being grieved that they taught
the people, and preachedthrough Jesus the resurrectionfrom the dead. And
they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day, for it was
now eventide. Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed, and the
number of the men was about five thousand. And it came to pass in the
morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, and Annas the high priest,
and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred
of the high priest were gatheredtogetherat Jerusalem. And when they had set
them in the midst they asked, ‘By what poweror by what name have ye done
this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghostsaid unto them, ‘Ye rulers of the
people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the gooddeed done
to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole. Be it known unto you
all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raisedfrom the dead, even by him
doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at

128. nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is
there salvationin any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved.
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peterand John, and perceivedthat they
were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled, and they knowledge of
them, that they had been with Jesus. And beholding the man which was
healed standing with them, they could saynothing againstit. But when they
had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferredamong
themselves saying, ‘What shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable
miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in
Jerusalem, and we cannotdeny it. But that it spreadno further among the
people, let us straightly threaten them, that they speak henceforthto no man
in this name.’ And they calledthem, and commanded them not to speak at all,
nor teachin the name of Jesus. But Peterand John answeredand said unto
them ‘Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearkenunto you more than
unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen
and heard.’ So when they had further threatened them, they let them go,
finding nothing how they might punish them, because ofthe people, for all
men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was above forty
years old, on whom this miracle of healing was showed. And being let go, they
went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders
had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to
God with one accordand said, ‘Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven,
and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is. Who by the mouth of thy
servant David hast said, ‘Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine
vain things? The kings of the earth stoodup, and the rulers were gathered
togetheragainstthe Lord, and againsthis Christ. For of a truth againstthy
holy child Jesus, whomthou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gatheredtogether. Forto do
whatsoeverthy hand and thy counseldetermined before to be done. And now,
Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants, that with all
boldness they may speak thy word. By stretching forth thy hand to heal, and
that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.’And
when they had prayed, the place was shakenwhere they were assembled
together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the
word of God with boldness.”
One question that might come as you read this messageis the stress onthe
filling of the Holy Spirit. In fact, this morning someone askedme the question,
“Why are they filled with the Holy Spirit when on the Day of Pentecostthey

129. were filled with the Spirit? What is the point of being filled againor why is
this reference made to it here?” The “filling of the Spirit” is an expression
that ordinarily refers to enduement with spiritual powerfor specific tasks. It
refers essentially, to the control of the Spirit of God, and in the context, it
almost always refers to the control of the Holy Spirit for the performance of
particular tasks, oftenfor the preaching of the word of God, often for
witnessing, and sometimes for the performance of some miraculous miracle.
And that of course, seems to be the force of the word in this passagethatwe
have read. “Theyspake the Word of God with boldness” and that is the
product of the control, the specialcontrol, of the Holy Spirit. We are baptized
by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ once and for all, but “filling with the
Spirit.” Specific control for a specific task is something that a personas a
Christian, may experience more than once, and of course, it’s desirable as
occasionmay demand it.
May the Lord bless this reading of his word, and let’s bow togethernow for a
moment of prayer.
[Prayer] Father, we thank Thee for the word of God, and for the privilege of
reading it, for we know that faith comethby hearing, and hearing by the word
of God. We thank Thee for the ministry of the word of God to us, for we
recognize that the Holy Spirit uses the word of God to build us up in our faith,
and to transform us. We thank Thee for this day, and the opportunities of it,
and we are grateful for the knowledge, thatby Thy grace we may preach the
word of God and know that the Holy Spirit is in the word, and uses the word
as Thou dostwill.
And, Lord, we pray as it is preached today, whereverit may be preached, not
simply here, that the Holy Spirit may accomplishThy perfectwill through the
preaching. May there be faithful preaching of the death, burial, and
resurrectionof the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the forgiveness ofsins through
him. Bring convictionto us as we need convictionand then, Lord, bring the
facts of the gospelto the attention of all outside of Christ, and may there be
response;admission of our need, a fleeing for refuge to the one who has shed
blood for sins, and the receptionof the gift of eternallife.
We thank Thee too, Lord, for the promises of the Christian life, for the word
of God, for the presence ofthe Holy Spirit who guides us, and leads us, and
teaches us the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the assurance ofThy
presence through the experiences oflife, and, Lord, we pray that we may have
the experience ofThy presence with us in the trials of life as we face them. We
especiallypray for the sick and ill, and for others who need, it seems, special
ministry from Thee at this time. Lord, we commit them into Thy hands. We

130. pray that Thou wilt minister to them in a way that will draw them closerto
Thee, and give them deliverance. And Father we pray for our country, for the
whole body of Christ as well. We give Thee thanks for this day, the Lord’s
Day, in which we recognize the preeminence of Jesus Christ, and worship
Thee through him.
We pray in his name. Amen.
[Message]The subjectfor today in the expositionof Acts chapter 4, verse 1
through verse 31, is “The Ultimate Allegiance and the Ultimate Response.”
The interruption of Peter’s preaching by priestly persecutionillustrates one of
the greattruths of divine ministry. The Apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy,
the secondone, comments upon the principle when he says, “And yea, all that
will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” So we’re not surprised
when the apostles, preaching the Gospelofthe Lord Jesus Christ and laying
stress upon the resurrection, should have some experiences ofhuman
persecution. In fact, this should be the experience of the Christian church
always, and when the Christian church is not being persecuted, generallyit is
not being as fruitful as it often has been in its history.
When I was studying in Scotlandmany years ago, one of my teachers said,
“It’s a terrible thing when the church is contentto cultivate in offensiveness.”
And he went on to point out that, “It’s the natural thing for the church, in the
preaching of the Gospelof Jesus Christ, to be an offense to the people to
whom they are ministering, because the Gospelitself is an offense to the
natural man. It tells him, in effect, that all that he has, and all that he does is
unacceptable to God, so far as his eternal salvationis concerned. He must be
born again.” Eventually, of course, that kind of ministry is fruitful, and we
can expectit to be very successful, althoughthe offensivenessaccompanies it,
fruitfulness also accompaniesit.
I have a friend. He’s still preaching in the Southern Baptist Convention. He’s
spent most of his life ministering in Alabama and Georgia, andmany years
ago I was in severalconferences withhim in southern Mississippi. And in the
course of one of his messages,he made some comments concerning Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, and the fiery furnace. And you remember the story.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down to the image of King
Nebuchadnezzarand, of course, those who were the enemies of these three
Hebrews, went to the king and told him about it, and he gave them a second
chance. He told them if they would bow down to the image at the proper time,
that things would be all right, but they would not budge from their conviction.
They, of course, worshippedthe true God, and they were not going to bow
down to a false god or an idol. And the king then threw them into the fire, and

131. my preacherfriend said, “And then the king found out when they were
thrown in the fire, and the fire did not burn them at all, but rather, when he
lookedin, he was startledto see a fourth personwalking in the midst of the
fire, liken to the Son of God, the king found out from that experience that
those who will not bow or budge, will not burn either.” Well, that is the
experience of believers in Christ. They are going to experience persecution
when they stand for the truth, but at the same time, God has covenantedto
take care of them, and that is preciselywhat happened to Peterand John, and
the other early Christians as they facedpersecutionfollowing the preaching of
Jesus and the resurrection.
Peterhas just finished his ministry according to the historian Luke’s account.
And as they were speaking about the resurrectionand the Lord Jesus, the
Saduccees, the captain of the Temple, the priests, and others came upon them.
They were very much annoyed at the things that Peterwas preaching, and
attempting to teachthe people, because he’d preachedJesus and the
resurrectionfrom the dead, so “they laid hold upon them, and put them in
prison overnight, because it was in the afternoon.” Now the arrest, of course,
was causedby the fact that the apostles were preaching Jesus and the
resurrectionfrom the dead. The Sanhedrin didn’t like this for severalreasons.
The Sanhedran was composedofSaducceeslargely, who were the wealthy
aristocrats, the connaborationists. Theywantedthe preserve the status quo.
They were the establishmentin Jerusalem, and what Peterrepresentedat this
time, was an attack on the theologicalpositionof these men who has authority.
Furthermore, we learn from other parts of the New Testament, this particular
book actually, from chapter 23 and verse 8, that the Saduccees, who were the
leading men in the Sanhedran, did not acceptthe doctrine of the resurrection,
and in fact, did not even believe in angelor spirit. And, furthermore, those
who were teaching, Peter, and John, and the rest, were not rabbis.
If you think for a moment what preaching the resurrectionmeant, you can
understand how upset the authorities were, because the resurrectionfirst of
all, meant spiritual revolution. It meant, of course, that there was coming a
day when the Lord Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit, after the resurrection
from the dead, would settle the questions of inequities, and injustices that had
existed in the society, and that there was coming a time of ultimate judgment.
That’s one of the things that the apostles preachedtoo, incidentally. The
Apostle Paul, lateron in Athens preaches, “He has appointed a day in which
he is going to judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has
ordained, whereofhe has given assurance in that he has raisedhim from the
dead.” And those men saw the fundamental truth that if Jesus Christ has been

132. raisedfrom the dead by Godthe Father, then there is coming a time when
rights and wrongs are going to be adjusted, and therefore, this was a
revolutionary kind of preaching, spiritually revolutionary, in that the time is
coming when the truth of God will be ultimately the judge of all men.
Of course, it was not simply a spiritual revolution. It was a political revolution
too, in the sense that all of the wrongs committed by the authorities in the
name of God falsely were going to be righted too some day. And as a matter of
fact, even economic revolution, because if this doctrine were allowedto
permeate a nation, then all kinds of transformation would take place in that
society. You can see, that the apostles were not very much affectedby the
popular doctrine of our day, and that is, that we ought to be relevant to the
conditions of the people. They didn’t think about relevance. Theythought
about what was the word of God and their responsibility to faithfully preach
it. In fact, they were doing preciselywhat Paul told Timothy to do, and that
was “to preach the word in season, and out of season.” Thatis, the word of
God is to be preachedregardless ofhow it may affectthe societyin which the
word of God is. So one can see right here in the beginning, that the ultimate
allegiance ofthe apostles lay in the doctrine that had come to them through
the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, now, the Sanhedrin has called them up before them, and they are now
going to appear before “the rulers, the elders, the scribes, Annas the high
priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of
the high priest.” So all of the leading authorities in the land are gathered
togetherin their meeting the next morning, and when they all gathered
togetherin their room, you can imagine them singing first of all, before they
brought them in, “Hail, hail, the gang’s all here,” and so the apostles are going
to be brought in before this crowd, and one immediately thinks, “How are
these fishermen going to be able to stand againstthe political and spiritual
aristocracyofthe land.” And of course, I don’t know anything about the
media then, but if there was such a thing as the media then, they would be
there too. So here are Peterand John. They are just poor fishermen, and those
disciples, and they are calledin before the highestauthorities in the land. How
will they do?
Well, the first question that comes to them is the question askedthem by the
leaders, “Bywhat power, or by what name have ye done this?” They couldn’t
accuse them of being under the control of demons, because theydidn’t believe
in demons, and so since they didn’t acceptthe existence of angels and spirits,
they couldn’t accuse them, as they might have accusedthem, of being led by
the demons and the false gods. So they askedthe question, “By what power or

133. in what name have you done this?” And Peter, the spokesmanfor those who
are in prison, as he stands before them, filled with the Holy Spirit that is given
at this particular moment, words to say, as Jesus said, “When you appear
before the rulers and leaders, don’t worry about what you are going to say,
because atthat moment, the Holy Spirit will give you words to say.” And one
can have no objectionto the things that Peter said at this point. He said, “Ye
rulers of the people, and chiefs of Israel, if we’re examined of the gooddeed
done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole. Well, be it known
to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, this man has been made whole.”
But Peterdidn’t simply say that. He reminded them of their guilt. He said,
“Whom ye crucified,” and he reminded them of what God had done, “whom
God raisedfrom the dead. By him this man stands before you whole.” And he
did not stop with that. He said, “You claim to be followers ofthe word of God.
I remind you that your own word in the one hundred and eighteenthPsalm,
said that there was a stone which would be setat nought of the builders, and
that this stone would become the head of the corner, and I want you to know
that Jesus Christ is the stone promised in the Old Testament, and he has
become the head of the corner, and you have despisedhim.” And then coming
to the climactic text, the twelfth verse, he says, “Neitheris there salvationin
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved.” Now, whata bold statementfor a simple
fisherman to make in front of the leaders of the people, and of the media.
Now, I’d like you to look for just a moment at that twelfth verse, because it is
a magnificent statement on the part of Peter. He says, “Neitheris there
salvationin any other, for there is none other name under heavengiven
among men, whereby we must be saved.” I’ve often made comment about this,
and others have too in Believers Chapel, because it’s one of the greatdoctrines
of the word of God, repeatedover, and over, and over again;not simply in the
New Testament, but repeatedalso in the Old Testament, and it is essentially
this; the intolerance that is manifested in God’s truth. The arrogance, men
would say, manifested in the revelation of God’s truth. The intolerance. Let’s
think about that for a moment. We live in a day in which it is popular to be
tolerant. Toleranceis regarded as a virtue. Actually, tolerance under certain
circumstances may be a virtue. Sometimes it may be a very big sin against
God. And when we tolerate other doctrine, we’re not guilty of exercising some
virtue approved by God. We are guilty of compromise with the word of God
itself. Listen to some of the statements of Scripture, which you know as well as
I. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He that followethme shall not walk

134. in darkness, but shall have the light of life. I am the door. By me, if any man
enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. Neither is
there salvationin any other.” The prophets repeatthe same doctrine. They
say that the Lord God is the true God, and there is no other one beside him.
And so Peter, in a very, very difficult situation, very boldly states that, “There
is salvationin none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, and he alone is the way
to God.”
One of the characteristic things of the false gods and false doctrine, is the
tolerance that characterizes them. If, for example, in the days of the apostles,
and before the days of the apostles in the days of the prophets, if you would
ask the worshippers of the gods of Egypt, “Whatabout the gods of Ninevah?”
They would have said, “Wellof course, the Ninevites may be savedby the
gods of Ninevah, but we’re savedby the gods of Egypt.” So the gods of Egypt
toleratedthe gods of Ninevah, and so on. In other words, gods tolerate gods.
That’s characteristictoday. When you talk to individuals who do not have
Christian doctrine, they are tremendously upset if you affirm that there is
only one wayof salvationthrough the Lord Jesus Christ. You are accusedof
intolerance. Their god is a very tolerant god, and the gods, well, the gods of
the Mohammedan, the godof the Mohammedans is a very tolerant god. The
god of the Hindus is a very tolerant god. The godof the Buddhists is a very
tolerant god, and so on. Those who worship Moses orMoses’doctrine, they’re
very tolerant of others. In fact, it’s quite customarytoday for people to say,
“Well, Moses andthe doctrine of the Old Testamentwith the Law is the way
of salvationfor one people, but for Gentiles, well, the Christian doctrine will
do for them.
So Christianity is goodfor the Gentiles. Mosesand his doctrine is good for the
Jewishpeople.” All of this in the name of tolerance. Surely, you cannotreally
believe that salvation rests only in the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the reasons,
of course, why those gods tolerate the other gods, is that all of these gods have
the same father, and being relatedto the same father, I speak, of course, of
Satanhimself, they naturally are tolerant of one another, but the God of the
Scriptures is a God who insists that is absolutely unique. In fact, in the Old
Testamentrevelation, the Lord God saidto Moses, “Tellthe people of Israel
this truth too. You shall have no other gods before me.” And then of course, in
the New Testament, we’ve alreadyrepeatedthe texts that speak ofthe
exclusive position of the God and Fatherof our Lord Jesus Christ; the same
God who said to Moses,“Youshall have no other gods before me.” He is an
exclusive God.

135. Peteris only preaching the doctrine of divine revelation. “Neitheris there
salvationin any other, for these is none other name under heavengiven
among men, whereby we must be saved.” Positively, of course, as a necessary
consequence ofthis, salvationis in Christ, and so everything that is necessary
for salvationis in him. If you have any questions about whether he is able to
save you, maybe you’re thinking, “Well, I’m not really sure that he is the Son
of God.” Well, he is no Arian Christ. He is very God of very God. He is truly
God, just as much God as the Fatheris God, and the Spirit is God, and yet we
worship one God who subsists in three persons. If you think, for example,
“Well, I’ve persecutedthe Christian faith, and I wonder if he could save me,”
I remind you that he savedSaul of Tarsus. If you think, “I have denied the
Lord Jesus, I have denied the Christian faith, I have fought againstit,” I
remind you that one of his apostles was the Apostle Peterwho also, in a
moment of trial, denied the Lord Jesus Christ. If you say, for example, “Well,
I’ve doubted the Christian faith, and I’ve doubted it so often,” I remind you
that Thomas the apostle was a doubter, and he too was savedby the Lord
Jesus Christ. Perhaps you were thinking, “Well, I’m just the worstsinner that
a sinner could possibly be.” Well, it was the Apostle Paul was it not, who
claimed to be the chief of sinners, and also savedas a testimony to the depths
of the mercy of our greatGod in heaven. And my dear friend, he caneven
save you from your religion.
I like the statement made by an old woman who once was askedif she had
religion, and she said, “No, thank God. I’ve lostthat. It was nearly the death
of me, but now I have Christ.” So when we have Christ, we have him who
saves. While there’s no salvation in any other person, if we have him, there is
salvation. Peterboldly proclaimed this to the Sanhedran.
Well, the Sanhedrin found themselves in a very difficult position. They saw
Peterand John. They saw they were bold men. They saw also, that while they
were unlearned and ignorant men, nevertheless, they had beside them a man
upon whom a notable miracle had been performed, and there was really
nothing much that they could say, and so they were freed amid some threats. I
want you to notice the effectof the preaching of Peterand Paul, these
untaught laymen. “Theysaw the boldness of Peterand John, and they
perceivedthat they were unlearned and ignorant men.” That expression,
“unlearned and ignorant men” in the Authorized Version is perhaps
something of a mistranslation of the sense ofthese words. The first word
really is a word that means that they had no educationin the university. They
were, in that sense, unlearnedmen. They had not gone through the schools.
Now, the Lord Jesus, ofcourse, had not gone through the schools too, and

136. when he ministered, they marveled and they said, “How knoweththis man
letters,” the word is built on the same root as this one, “How knoweththis
man letters never having been taught?” And so they recognizedin our Lord,
that he knew the knowledge that one would have if he had been taught in the
university but, nevertheless, he had never been.
There’s a marvelous passage in the Old Testamentin Psalm119, which the
Psalmist, in this very lengthy Psalm gives us. He says in verse 99, “I have more
understanding than all my teachers, forthy testimonies are my meditation. I
understand more than the ancients, because Ikeepthy precepts.” The greatest
educationthat a person could possibly have, is education in the word of God,
and these individuals had been taught by the Lord God through the Spirit.
They had come to be very, very intelligent men, and have given us literature
that we have studied down through the years. In our theologicalschools,and
in our universities what is studied today? Well of course, we study lots of
things, but one of the things we study today, are the writings of the apostles. If
you were to go to the University of Iowa or the University of Pennsylvania, or
Harvard University or whateveruniversity, you will discoverthat most of
them have departments of religion, and in the departments of religion they
study the Books ofthe Scriptures, and the writings of the Apostle Paul, and
the writings of the Apostle Peter, and the writings of the Apostle John. As a
matter of fact, some of our leading scholars today, not simply study these
things, but specialize in them. Think of a man giving his whole life to the study
of the Johannine literature; the Gospelof John, the Epistles of John, and
perhaps the Book ofRevelation. And here are men who are thought to be
“unlearned and ignorant men.” Well, it was true. They had not been to the
university, but you canbe sure that they were very, very intelligent
individuals.
The secondword is a word, strictly speaking, from which we get the English
word “idiots.” It’s the word “idiotae.” So when we read here of “unlearned
and ignorant men,” if you wantedto just transliterate it, “unlearned and
idiots.” But that, of course, is not the sense of the word originally. It was a
word that simply meant, that they had not gone to the theologicalschools;that
is, they were laymen, and the New English Bible renders this, I think
accurately, by calling them “untrained laymen.” That’s what they were.
Untrained laymen.
Now, two weeks ago Iwas in Toronto, and ministered the word over the
weekendin a Bible conference,and some of the men who teach are laymen.
One of the laymen came up to me, and gave me a book on the personof Christ
which he had written. He is a man who’s been an outstanding officer in two of

137. our very large corporations;a very, very interesting man, and also a very
accomplishedman who has retired, but he has studied the Scriptures, and he
is an able minister of the word of God, and he has done this through his own
personalstudy. This is not the first book that he has written. He has written a
couple of books, and he gave me one of the books, and askedme that I would
read it. It’s on the person of Christ. I brought it home with me. You know, it’s
possible for a personwho studies the word of God to truly come to an
understanding of it’s meaning, without attending a theologicalseminary. In
fact, many people are corrupted by going to the theologicalseminary. Here
are individuals who are untrained laymen, and they have come to understand
the word of God. They’re not seminary men, and they’re not university men,
but they’ve studied the divine revelation, and have been taught by the Holy
Spirit, and they are effective servants for the Lord.
In fact, as those men stoodwith “Exhibit A” by their side, that lame man over
forty years of age, who had now been healed, they produced wonder, they
produced recognition, and they produced consternationin the lives and minds
of those men in the Sanhedran. Look at verse 13, “They marveled, and they
took knowledge ofthem that they had been with Jesus.”So they actually
produced wonder in these leaders in the nation. They also produced a
recognitionthat it was a true work of God. Notice the sixteenth verse. “What
shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle has been done by
them is manifest to all.” So recognitionand consternation. What are we going
to do? So they marveled, they recognizedthe reality of what had takenplace,
and then they themselves were all torn up within, because all of their world
was reeling, in a sense, through what had happened through the Apostle Peter
and others.
I mentioned in a sermon some time ago that many years ago I was in a Bible
conference nearClevelandby the side of Lake Erie, and after the meetings we
often would go over to a book table and look at the books which were for sale
in that Bible conference. And after one of the meetings, I went over and was
just looking at some of the literature, and there was a book there of sermons
by a well known preacher, and I picked it up and was just kind of thumbing
through it, and I lookedfirst at the Table of Contents. I was just running
down the titles of the sermon, and I noticed one sermon entitled “The Man
who Preachedwith his Feet.” Now, thatsounded rather astonishing to me, a
man preaching with his feet, so I quickly turned to see what text could you
possible use to preachon the subject “The Man who Preachedwith his Feet.”
And this was the text. Verse 14, “And beholding the man which was healed
standing with them, they could say nothing againstit.” You see, here are men

138. who have preachedthe word of God, and as a result of the ministry of the
Lord God, a man who had formerly been lame is now standing healed; a man
who has walkedinto the Temple leaping, and jumping, and praising God.
What can you sayagainstsomething like that? He is a man who preached
with his feet.
The church, incidentally, is most effective when it can point to individuals who
have been healed of the spiritual sicknesses. The greatesttestimonyto the
preaching that would come from this pulpit, is the testimony of individuals in
this audience who can say, “I was lost. The Gospelof Jesus Christ came to me.
I responded to the Gospel, and by the grace of God, I am alive in Christ.” And
with your lives testifying to what you say you believe, there could be no
greatertestimony to the doctrine proclaimed from this pulpit. That’ why it’s
so important, incidentally, for you in this audience, who come to Believers
Chapel and regularly attend here, to give testimony to the reality of the things
that are preached in the pulpit. “A Man who Preachedwith his Feet.” How
are you preaching? What kind of a messagedoes the community that you
come in contactwith get from your life, from your words, from your actions?
Well, what canyou do with men like this? Well, you acquit them, but they
want to warn them, and so they say, “We cannotdo anything about it, but we
don’t want this to spread any more among the people, so let’s threaten them,
and tell them not to speak any more in the name of Jesus.”Well, that’s one
thing you should never do to a person who has the conviction that he’s
preaching the word of God, for that only makes him more anxious to preach
the word of God. So if you should come to me and say, “Now Dr. Johnson, I
think you’re being a little too hard, and you should tone down your messagea
little bit,” there’s just something about a man who thinks he has a message
from God. His back becomes a little bit strongerwhen you say something like
that to him, and he just says, “I’ll just go out of my way to be sure to preach
that, because it’s obvious that it’s having an effect.” So here they were
warned, and Peterresponded by saying, “Look, whetherit’s right in the sight
of God to hearkenunto you more than unto God, you judge for yourself.”
They couldn’t answeranything like that. They would know they would have
to say, “No, you have to obey God rather than men.” And he goes onto say,
“We cannot but speak the things which we have seenand heard.” So the
words, “Hush, don’t use the name ‘Jesus’in your preaching,” the apostles say,
“Look, we’ve seenand heard certainthings. We cannot help but preach those
things.” What they in effectdo, is appeal to a higher court than the
Sanhedran.

139. This is not simply something that apostles do. Socrates, as it is mentioned in
Plato’s “Apology,” whenhe was given an ultimatum and was told that if he
did not tone his messagedown, and stop talking about the things that he was
talking about, things would not go very wellfor him, he replied many years
before the days of the apostles, “Ishall obey God rather than you.” There’s a
story that the papal envoy threatened Martin Luther with what would follow
if he persisted in his course, and warned him that in the end, he would not
only suffer himself, but every one of his supporters would ultimately depart
from him. “And where will you be then, Luther?” And Luther said, “Well,
just exactlyas I am now; in the hands of the Lord God.” So a servant of God
is responsible to God, and he has the greatsupport of being in the hands of
God.
John Chrysostom, the great4th Century preacher has a fine passagein which
he talks about these two groups;the apostles onone hand, and the Sanhedran
on the other, and he said, “The Sanhedrists were at a loss. The apostles were
joyful. The Sanhedrists were afraid to saywhat they thought. These were
speaking out openly. The Sanhedrists were unable to say what they really saw
and what they saw and heard. They are or I’m sorry. I put that wrong. “The
Sanhedrists were dreading to have the report spread. These were unable not
to say what they saw and heard. The Sanhedrists were not doing what they
wanted. These were declaring preciselywhat they wanted.” And then
Chrisisdom winds up by saying, “Who then were in bonds and in danger?”
And, of course, it was the Sanhedrists. They were the ones who were in
bondage to their false ideas.
Well now, they set them free, and so the apostles make their way back to their
own company as we read in verse 23, “And being let go, they went to their
own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto
them.” This was a critical moment in the church’s history. They now know
they are going to run counter to the highest authority in the land, and they are
going to have difficulties, and so what do you do when you know that you are
going to have difficulties, and you cannot turn from the course that is
obviously the right course? To whom shall you appeal? Well, they appealedto
God, and that, of course, is what we should do. They recognizedthe power of
the Lord. They pray. They say, “Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven,
and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is.” So they appeal to the Lord
God. They appealto his sovereignty. They recognize the fact, that things come
to pass as he wills, and nevertheless, the pray. They didn’t say, “Now let’s
rethink our stand, and perhaps we shouldn’t be too hasty about all of this.
After all, to say ‘resurrection’ infuriates them, so why shouldn’t we preach

140. the word of God in a different way? Why should we infuriate them? Let’s
abandon the doctrine of the resurrection, and talk about something else.”
That kind of thing constantlygoes onin the church of Jesus Christ,
unfortunately.
They didn’t say, “Let’s appoint a committee and study this thing out. They
didn’t say, “Let’s appoint a presidential commission.” Theysent messagesto
God, and in the course of the message thatthey sent to God by wayof their
prayer to him, they remind the Lord God that these people down on earth are
just puppets in the sight of him. They appeal to Psalm 2 and they say, “Look,
the Psalmistwrote a long time ago, ‘Why do the heathen rage, and the people
imagine vain things. The kings of the earth stand, and the rulers are gathered
togetheragainstthe Lord and his Christ,’ and Lord, these people have ranged
themselves againstyou, and they have been gatheredtogether, and they have
done preciselywhat you have determined should be done in the crucifixion of
the Lord Jesus. Now, Lord, behold their threatenings and grant to us that we
may speak the word of God with all boldness, and further, Lord, if it should
please thee, stretch forth thy hands, and let mighty signs be done in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
So they appeal to the God who is able to controlall of the affairs of men, and
if they are faithful to him, they have the confidence and the assurancethat he
will be with them. And God has a wonderful way of answering prayer. Do you
know what he did? He shook the building, and so as the people of Godprayed,
suddenly the place where they were began to shake. And he reminded them by
that shaking, of what he has promised that he’s going to do. For in the Book of
Haggaiand later the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews picks it up. God says
that, “He is going to shake the heavens. He’s going to shake the earth. He’s
going to shake men until he brings in his unshakable kingdom upon the
earth.” And so it was God’s wayof saying, “Peter, John, the rest of you,
you’re doing exactly what I want you to do, and the God of heaven and earth
is standing behind you, and I will shake, and I will shake, and I will shake
until my purposes are accomplished. Everything that I have determined to
come to pass, will come to pass, and you are responsible in the meantime to
preach Jesus and the resurrection. And you will be given answerin fact and
deed.” “They prayed. The place was shaken. Theywere filled with the Holy
Spirit. They spake the word of God with boldness, and signs and wonders
were done by them.” We read in verse 33, “Throughgreat power, given to
them as they preached the resurrection. So the ultimate allegiance is to the
Lord God, and the ultimate response is the personalone. I love that statement
in verse 24, “We cannot but speak the things which we have seenand heard.”

141. It was said of John Knox, the greatScot, “He feared God so much, that he
never feared the face of any man.” David Reid, a modern preacher, pastorof
MadisonAvenue Presbyterianchurch some years ago, was calledto address
the GeneralAssembly of the Northern Presbyterianchurch; the Presbyterian
church in the United States of America, it was knownat that time. And when
he preached, he reminded them that we are living in the days in which the
truth of God is not being preached. He said, “Do you know what we need
today? We need,” this, mind you, a man associatedwith a denomination that
you do not think as being in the forefront of the preaching of the word of God
now. He said, “Whatwe need in our day, is theologicalguts.” Thatis what we
need still; to preach the word of God as it has been given to us in Holy
Scripture. And when that preaching is accompaniedby an unforgettable
personalexperience of salvationthrough the Lord Jesus Christ then, of
course, we have that which will be effective in the hands of God.
I love that statementthat Paul makes to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 1,
when he says, verse 12, “He said he was not ashamed, but nevertheless, though
he was not ashamed, he had confidence in the one whom he believed.” He said,
“I know whom I have believed, and I’m persuaded that he’s able to keepthat
which I have committed unto him againstthat day.”
Many years ago, RabbiDuncan, the ScottishProfessorofOld Testamentat
New College was hearing a student make a resortation, and in the course ofit
the student said that, “The Apostle Paul had said, ‘I know in whom I have
believed, and I’m persuaded,’” and Rabbi Duncan interrupt him and said,
“Repeatthat text again.” And he said, “I know in whom I have believed,” and
ProfessorDuncansaid, “Waita minute. The text is not ‘I know in whom I
have believed’ but ‘I know whom I have believed’. We must not allow any
word, even a preposition, to come betweenus and our Savior.”
And ProfessorAlexander of Princeton TheologicalSeminary, when he was on
his death bed made the same comment, strikingly. The Scriptures were being
read to him, and someone read that text, “I know in whom I have believed.”
He stopped. He raisedup off of his bed and he died on that bed. He said, “It’s
not ‘I know in whom’ but it’s, ‘I know whom’.” We must not even let that
little word “in” stand betweenus and our Lord. The personalexperience of
our Lord, as he is revealedin Scripture is the source ofconfidence and the
source of fruitfulness. If Godin his spirit, should give us the strength to
proclaim him boldly, you have an opportunity to emulate the apostles in your
daily experience with others. May God give you grace to avoid being a
spiritual coward, and may God give you grace to boldly, and clearly, and
faithfully in the Spirit, preach Christ at his resurrection. If you’re here today,

142. and you’ve never believed in Christ, we invite you to come to him, and receive
forgiveness ofsins.
May we stand for the benediction.
[Prayer] Father, we are grateful to Thee for the one, who by Thy grace and
power, has been raisedfrom the dead. And we thank Thee, Lord, that
assurance has beengiven, that there is an ultimate judgment to be performed
by the Lord Jesus, and the resurrection is the evidence of it. And we ask,
Lord, if there are some here who have never believed, in marvelous grace
touch their hearts, show them their need and lostcondition, cause them by
their grace to flee to Christ who died for sinners, and may O God, they so be
enlightened, as to rest in him in what he has done for time and eternity. And
as we leave, Lord, help us to be faithful to the messagethat has come to us
[End of Tape]…
JOHN MACARTHUR
G r a c e t o Y o u R e s o u r c e s
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H o w t o H a n d l e P e r s e c u t i o n , P a r t 1
How to Handle Persecution, Part1
• Sermons
• Acts 4:1–12
• 1714
• Sep 24, 1972

143. H o w t o H a n d l e P e r s e c u t i o n , P a r t 1
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Okay, Acts, chapter4. I’ve titled this whole chapter – really through verse 37
– How to Handle Persecution, and we’re going to just begin to dive into a little
bit this morning, an initial statementthrough verse 12. And persecution, of
course, is a very, very intrinsic part of the Christian picture, and always has
been. And here we have some tremendous truths given to us in the example of
the apostles as they handled persecution. Now, persecutionwas a blessing to
the apostolic church, just as it is a blessing to all churches and all believers.
Five times in 11 years, hands were stretchedforth to persecute the church in
Jerusalemon an organized basis. And this chapter records the first of these
persecutions, and really, the beginning of the persecutions ofthe church that
are still going on today, some 2,000 years later. During the first 300 years of
the church’s existence, orthe first three centuries, really, there were ten
persecutions ofmajor proportions brought againstthe church. Beginning with
Stephen and extending nearly to all of the apostles, deathbecame the common
way to go, if you were a Christian.
The first persecution, for example, broke out under Nero Domitius, the sixth
Emperor of Rome, and about the time A.D. 67, which isn’t too long after the
church began. And Nero contrived all kinds of punishments for Christians; he
sewedsome up in the skins of wild animals, and then turned hungry dogs
loose onthem. He used others, dressedin wax shirts and attachedto trees, to
be lit as torches in his garden. The next persecutionunder Domitian was
perhaps even more inventive. Christians were imprisoned. They were put on
racks, they were seared, they were broiled, they were burned.
They went through scourging, stoning, and hanging. Many were lacerated
with hot irons, others thrown on the horns of wild bulls. In the fourth
persecution, beginning in about 162 A.D., some Christians were made to walk
with already-wounded feetover thorns, nails, sharp shells;some were
scourgeduntil their flesh was gone, others were beheaded, and so it went.

144. Under the eighth persecutionat Utica, 300 Christians were placed alive
around a lime kiln and told that they were to make offerings to Jupiter or be
pushed in. Unanimously they refused, and all 300 of them perished in the lime.
That was only the beginning of what the church has undergone, and Satan’s
persecution, as time has progressed, has become all the more subtle than it
was then. It’s not nearly as obvious how it is that Satan persecutes today. And
incidentally, today, apparently much more successfully, Satan’s techniques
are working. Now, our text records for us the first persecution. This is the
beginning of the steady streamof persecutionthat has gone on since the
commencementof the church. In one way or another, the Christian church is
always under persecution. It is not always political.
It is sometimes personal. It is sometimes religious. It sometimes comes from
illegitimate Christianity. That is the greatestpersecutorofevangelical
Christianity is probably liberal Christianity, at leastin the American
situation. In one way or another, then, the church has suffered persecution
ever since what we’re going to see in Acts, chapter 4, beganat all. And as I
said, persecutionis subtle today. It’s not what it used to be. Satanusually
directs the persecutiontoday not at the physical body, but at the ego.
He directs his persecutionat pride, or acceptance, orstatus, et cetera, and it’s
really very effective. He doesn’t threaten the Christian by saying, “If you
witness, I’ll cut your head off.” He threatens the Christian by planting within
his mind the fact that if you witness you might lose your job, or your status, or
somebody might think you’re strange. In these days, persecutionhas a
tremendous effect, in a very subtle way. The form of persecutionin the early
church made heroes out of those who died.
And it came to be such a normal thing for Christians to die that many
Christians developeda martyr complex, and just went around trying to put
themselves into positions where they could be martyred. I mean, they wanted
to belong, you know? But today, the persecutionthat comes is more effective;
it doesn’t make heroes out of anybody. And it’s a sadthing; while the church
today is not being killed physically, the church has succumbed to a kind of
living spiritual death.
I suppose the perfect illustration would be the church at Sardis, in Revelation,
chapter 3, verse 1, which says “‘And unto the angelof the church in Sardis
write; ‘These things saith He which hath the sevenSpirits of God’” – or the
Holy Spirit – “‘and the seven stars’ - the ministers of the seven churches – “I
know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.’” Satan

145. has killed the church in terms of its spiritual effect, without ever having to kill
the Christians in it.
In fact, by letting them all live in an insipid kind of godless Christianity, he
has a greatereffectthan if he wiped them all out, and had to face the issue
againthat the seedof the church is the blood of the martyrs. And so, Satan,
whose persecutionin the past has slaughteredChristians physically, has found
it much more effective to kill the church by making it complacent, indolent,
fat, rich, sociallyoriented, and accepted. And insipid, as it’s watereddown its
theologyto accommodate the world; much more effective than if all
Christians were boiled in oil.
Now, there are some places in our world where persecutiondoes reign,
physical persecution. Even some places here in America. But one way or
another, Satanis antagonistic to the church. He persecutes the church.
Obviously, and flagrantly, and blatantly physically, or subtly, by the
persecutionto become involved in the world, to strip off that which offends, in
order that you might maintain your prestige, your status, or whatever it is
that you desire from your ego. Now, Jesus,in John, chapter 15, warned the
church in the statementto His disciples that they might as well expect
persecution.
In verse 18 of John 15, we read this: “If the world hate you, you know that it
hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love
its own.” You see, that’s why, John says, “Love not the world.” What happens
when a Christian falls in love with the system is, the system no longer really is
hindered by this guy, they are no longer offended by this guy, and Satanhas
accomplisheda greaterpersecutionthan if you had takenthat guy and killed
him, physically, because he has destroyedhis effect. In fact, he has made him
a negative.
“If you are of the world, the world would love its own: but you’re not of the
world, but I have chosenyou out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
And they’ll persecute you. Verse 20: “Rememberthe word that I said unto
you, ‘The servant is not greaterthan his Lord.’ If they persecutedMe, they
will also persecute you.” Verse 2 of chapter 16, “They’ll put you out of their
synagogues:the time comes whenwhosoeverkills you will think that he does
God service.” Religiouspersecution. So, there is always persecution. Jesus
statedit.
Peterwent on a stepfurther, in 1 Peter2:21, and saidthis - and this is an
important statement. He, in effect, said we should expectit. “Forhereunto
were you called:because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,

146. that you should follow His steps.” If you confront the world, the world will
reactviolently, one wayor another. Now, you may succumb to the persecution
of Satan, so that you fiddle out and kind of get laid by the wayside, long before
you ever confront the world, because you’re really doing that to save your ego
from being persecuted.
But Paul said to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:12, “You” – pardon me – “Yea, and all
that live godly in Christ Jesus willsuffer persecution.” Now, that’s a very
clearstatement. “Yea, and all that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer
persecution.” You say, “Well, you know, I go along, and I don’t suffer
persecution.” Readthe verse again. “All that live godly in Christ Jesus will
suffer persecution.” If you’re not suffering persecution, why aren’t you?
Becauseyou’re not living godly in Christ Jesus, just that simple.
If you live the kind of life that God intends you to live in Christ, you will by
the very nature of that life butt heads with the world, and when I say world, I
mean the system. If you are not suffering some persecution, you have either
fallen right into the flow of the system so that they don’t know the difference,
or they haven’t discoveredyet who it is that you really are; you have hidden it
well. But you begin to live openly and godly in the world, and you’re going to
bang heads with Satan, and with his establishment.
You begin to confront the world, and the persecutionis automatic. Now, we
see this in the early church. First of all, it looks so great. You know, we always
say, “If you really live a Christian life, the world will be drawn to you.” Sure,
they’ll be drawn to the beauty of your person, but as soonas they find out
what it is, then, all of sudden, that which draws them to you - unless they come
to Christ - turns to be a negative. The early church, for example, in chapter 2
and 3, everything lookedreal positive.
Chapter 2, the world was amazedat them, and they found favor with all the
people, and everything lookedgreat. And all of a sudden, they found out what
it was they stoodfor, and everything shifted gears mighty fast. Now, in
chapter 3, you’ll remember that Peterhad gone with John to the temple, and
there he had healed a lame man. A crowdhad gatheredtogetherin the
courtyard. Peterand John had stoodin Solomon’s portico, up off the floor, a
little bit, of the courtyard, and he and John had betweenthem the lame man,
and Peterbeganto preach.
And he preached a powerful messageregarding Jesus as Messiah, orthe
Christ, God. And he indicted Israelfor executing Christ. He closedwith an
invitation to them, in verse 19 “repent and be converted.” And he really let
them have it. You see, he confronted the world. He stoodup in the middle of

147. their thing, right smack in their temple, where they were doing their religious
duties, and he said, “This is wrong. You have blown it,” and he confronted
them face to face. Now, that’s the kind of confrontation I’m talking about.
That’s the kind of confrontation that brings hostility. But that’s the kind of
confrontation that God expects us to be involved in. It is not that kind of a
mealy-mouth hiding, in order to protect our ego, our status, and our prestige,
and our name among the world. The response to what Peterdid was very
interesting. Look at verse 4 of chapter 4, and we’ll kind of begin to look at our
text. “But many of them who heard the word believed.” Now, that’s what
we’re trying to effect. We’re not trying to hide, because if we hide, not only do
we not suffer, but nobody gets saved, either; that’s the problem.
Sure, you say, “Well, if I do that, I’m liable to getreally messedup.” That’s
right. You’re liable to getmessedup, and somebody else is liable to get
straightenedout, and your life is expendable, my friend; so is mine. True? My
life is expendable for the sake ofsomebodyelse. As soonas I start trying to
live to protect my ego, and to protect my status, and to protectmy prestige,
then my life has become self-centered, andit’s no goodto Godor to anybody
else.
If I’m not willing to confront the world for the sake of the salvationof those in
the world, then I don’t have, really, anything to offer God or anybody else,
and I’m only kidding myself. Now, it says in verse 4 that “Many of them who
heard the Word believed, and the number of the men was about five
thousand.” Now, the word was about should be translatedcame to be five
thousand men. That means this is the total of men; at this point, this is the
membership roll of the church. This is the male volume, anyway.
And there are two words for men in the Greek, two really most dominant
words: anthrōpon or anthrōpos, and that word has to do with man
generically, man as a race. Thenthe other one is andros, or here, ton andrōn,
plural. This means man as opposedto female, and it would be best translated
males. And so, what it says is this, “And the number of the men came to be,”
or “the number of the males came to be five thousand.” That means, in
addition to that, they were probably at leastanother five thousand women,
and children.
That’s a large church for such a fast beginning, and you never hear another
listing of how many from here on out. It grew so fast from this point, that it
got pastthe possibility of keeping an accurate count. But many believed, and
that was the reaction. Now, that was worth the price that Peterpaid. It’s
always worth the price to confront the world, that God may do His work. If

148. we never confront the world, we’d blow it, because it is to the world that we
are sentwith the gospel.
You say, “Well, I might lose my job.” Praise the Lord, so lose your job - who
cares aboutyour job? I mean, God can handle you. He can provide everything
you need, and promises that He will. Now, this doesn’tmean you’re to be a
lousy employee, and waste all your time preaching the gospel;you better
reread Ephesians. You’re to work like you ought to, and give an honestday’s
work for an honest day’s earning. But wherever you are in this world, they
ought to know that you stand for Jesus Christ.
Now, let’s look at the text, and see two things: the persecutionmanifest, first
of all, in the first four verses, and then the persecutionmet. And then we’ll
look at the principles for meeting persecution, and just kind of look at a few of
them this morning; we don’t have much time to look at all of them. And I’m
excited about this, ’cause this is going to give you some practicalthings, some
real tools, that you can use. First of all, persecutionis manifest in the first four
verses.
Verse 1: “And as they spoke” - while they were speaking - “unto the people,
the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon
them.” Now, the idea of “came upon them” is with anxiety, anger, to arrest
them. I mean, they absolutelygrabbed them; this is the point. This crowdhad
been gatheredinto the temple courtyard. They had seenthe miracle, and the
official people of the temple and Israel were really getting uptight about it.
And so in the middle of Peter’s sermon – really, it isn’t fully the middle,
because he’s already wrapping up with his conclusion, but while he is yet
speaking - they arrive at Solomon’s portico, and they grab them. They “came
upon them,” it says. Now, I want you to see who’s involved in this. It doesn’t
say, “Oh, the robbers, and thieves, and crooks in town,” and so forth, and so
on. It says, number one, the priests, who were to representGod, which
immediately shows you where the priesthood had gone;long way from where
God intended it.
It’s interesting, too, that there were 24 courses ofpriests in the Levitical
order, and there were so many priests that they divided into 24 courses, andof
those courses, only certainpriests ministered every week. So, whenthe priests
were ministering in the temple, that meant it was their week, and you waiteda
long time for your week, and when your week finally came, it was a big deal.
And leastof all, did you want all of this commotion going on during your
week, that you’d waited so long for.

149. And so here, in the middle of the week ofthese particular priests, all of this
hubbub is going on, and they’re really concerned. This is religious opposition.
And remember as I said earlier, persecutionof the church often comes from
religious groups, still even often from Judaism. All right, secondperson that
we meet is the captain of the temple, the sagan, andthis is the head of the
temple police. Here is the political opposition. In some parts of the world,
there is political opposition againstthe church.
In China today, there is political opposition againstthe church. In Russia,
there is political opposition. Did you read in the Times the other day about the
big hassle in Russia now, because so many of the Russianleaders are getting
connectedwith religious groups. And now Russia is tremendously concerned
to untangle these people, who are in important positions in Russia, from
various religious groups. There are certain places in the world where there is
political opposition, and that we get from the captainof the temple, who was
the head of the temple police.
Now, the Roman government was very tolerant, but againstdisorder publicly,
they were merciless. And so, he wasn’t about to get himself in a position where
there was a riot, or he would really be in trouble. Then we meet the most
important group, and that is the Sadducees. Now,you say, “What are the
Sadducees?” Well, within the framework of Israel there were many groups.
There were the Pharisees,and there were the Zealots, and so forth, and one
interesting group was the Sadducees. Now, we don’t really know where that
name comes from; some say from Zadok, but there’s really no way to tell.
But Sadducees were a religious and a political group, so they combined the
worstof both in their persecution. They were the power sectin Israel. They
were the religious liberals. They were the high priestly family; all the high
priests at this point were Sadducees.Theywere the opposition party to the
Pharisees,like the Republicans and the Democrats, witha religious flavor.
They were the opposition. Now, the opposition of the Pharisees dominates the
gospels, andthe oppositionof the Sadducees dominates the book of Acts, so
both of them get into play.
It’s also very interesting that they were very wealthy. The Pharisees tended
not to be wealthy; they tended to be extremely wealthy. They were also the
collaborationistparty. They were the ones who were always scratching
Rome’s back for the mutual scratch, you know. They really didn’t care that
much about the common people; they only caredabout maintaining the status
quo, and keeping their power and their prestige in Israel.

150. So they maintained a collaborationistattitude with Rome, kept on friendly
terms with Rome, in order to maintain their prestige, power, and their
comfort. They were a small group, very minority, but were greatly dominant
in the political influence of Israel. They didn’t care for anything about
religion, other than the fact that it was socialcustom, and so they were strict
liberals. They were strict socialreligionists. In fact, I’ll give you just four
points of their theology - won’t take more time than that.
We’ll get into it a little later in the book. But number one, they believed that
only the written law was binding, and none of the oral tradition; that is, none
of the rabbinical laws were binding, all of those things that the Phariseeslived
and died by. Secondly, they believed there was no resurrectionof the body,
there was no future reward, there was no future punishment - a typical liberal
line. Thirdly, they believed that the existence of angels, and spirits, and the
spirit world, was a myth.
Fourthly, they believed that man was the master of his own destiny; that God
was not involved in calling the shots, that there was no such thing as
sovereigntyor predestination, but man mastered his own fate. So here they
are, the religious ranking liberals, the VIPs of Jerusalem, the bluebloods, and
they’re the ones that come after Peterand John. And the reasons they did it
are very clearin verse 2, and I want you to see them; it’s very clear. “Being
grieved that they taught the people, and preachedthrough Jesus the
resurrectionfrom the dead.”
Now, I want you to notice the word grieved. Now, that sounds, in the King
James, like “Oh, they were so sorry, they were so sadin their hearts.” But that
is not what the word means. It is a very strong word, and it means they were
thoroughly pained; they were in terrible mental anguish. It’s not the kind of
sorrow that, “Oh, things are getting all distraught. What a sad day for Israel.”
It’s the kind of anguish that’s basedon indignation and wrath; that’s the
word.
In fact, it’s used again, in Acts 16:18, where Paul saw the woman at Philippi
under the powerof an evil spirit, and he had the same kind of attitude. It’s an
angry indignation. It’s not just simple sorrow. Now, they were really angry;
this is standard bigotry, you see;they really got uptight. They got very
disturbed, very indignant, very angry, and they had three reasons. Number
one, let’s look at verse 2: “Thatthey taught the people.” First of all, they were
upset that they were teaching, Peterand John.
Now, you see they believed that they had the corneron all truth, that they had
all right to teach, and nobody else had a right to open his mouth. I mean, that

151. was all - that was the way it was. Theirs was the prerogative of teaching, and
nobody else had the right, and leastof all, to walk right in the temple where
all of these teachers were, standup, and teachcontrary truth to that truth
which they had been teaching. They were really upset because these two were
teaching. Who were they to teach? They’re not approved.
And, interestingly enough, look at verse 13:“When they saw the boldness of
Peterand John, and perceivedthat they were unlearned and ignorant men,
they marveled.” They were unlearned and ignorant; now, that’s two
interesting words, and you don’t getthe total impact by just reading those
words. Let me show you what it means. Unlearned means that they didn’t
know the sacredwritings and the Jewishlaw. They weren’t versedin Jewish
theology. “These guys are not even Jewishtheologians,” theysaid. “They’re
ignorant of rabbinic law. They haven’t been to the proper schools. How can
they know anything?”
You remember they accusedJesus ofthe same thing. “Who is He that’s saying
all of this? He’s never been to our school. Where’s He getting His
information?” And then Jesus answered, “Iget it directly from God.” Oh, you
know, schoolis a little extraneous. And secondly, it says not only were they
ignorant in terms of Jewishtheology, but the secondword, ignorant, means
that they are commoners; they are not professionals, they are strictly
amateurs. “Who are these uneducated amateurs?” That’s exactlywhat
they’re saying.
And to make it even worse, they were from Galilee, which, of course, was the
ultimate in despising. And so, they had no right to stepinto the narrow world
of the instructors, and stand up in the very temple, and teachdoctrines
contrary to their own. And they were mad, because they did not agree with
their theology. Now, wheneveryou stand up in the face of opposition, and you
proclaim a truth that they deny, you’re going to getin trouble, and so they
were angry. They had every reasonto be, from their perspective, because they
needed to preserve their own position.
So, it bugged them that they taught, that they even stoodup and taught.
Secondly, it bugged them what they taught. Look at verse 2. They preached
Jesus. They“preachedthrough Jesus the resurrection,” but they were
preaching Jesus, andthat, they hated. They had determined that Jesus was a
blasphemer, and here they were back, announcing all overtown that Jesus
was Messiah, andyou all have killed your Messiah. Now,that is not real
popular stuff. And you try announcing that today in the midst of a
congregationof Jewishpeople, and you’re going to find some reaction.

152. Peterproclaimed, “Jesus is Messiah,” andhe indicted the whole nation of
Israelfor missing the Messiah, and he got a reaction. So, they didn’t like that
he taught, and they didn’t like what he taught. And thirdly, they didn’t like
the resurrectionidea. He “preachedthrough Jesus the resurrectionfrom the
dead.” He kept announcing that Jesus was alive. Well, that’s a fearful
thought. I mean, if they have executed their Messiah, andHe’s back alive
again, that’s scaryfor them, because whatwould hinder Him from moving
right out to bring about the vengeance that they would justly deserve?
And let’s be honest enoughto think that they knew they were hypocrites. I
don’t think they coveredthat up very well. I’m sure they knew they were
hypocrites in their hearts, and they probably took a secondthought, and
thought, “Well, maybe we did blow it. Maybe we did execute our Messiah.
Boy, if we did and He’s alive again, this is bad news. Betterto shut these guys
up.” Apart from the fact that the Sadducees’theologydid not permit a
resurrection, which irritated them to death. And do they didn’t like the fact
that they taught, and they didn’t like the truths that they taught, and so they
reacted.
Now, watchwhat the results were in verse 3. “They laid hands on them” - and
as I say, that is not to ordain them. “Theylaid hands on them, and they put
them in custody in jail until the next day, for it was now eventide.” Three
hours had gone by - they came here, remember, about three o’clock in the
afternoonfor the afternoonprayers, and by this time it’s at leastsix o’clock,
which was eventide. So, three hours have gone by in this little incident, and
they finally laid hands on them.
And I don’t know how many of those three hours Peter spent preaching, but
nevertheless, they came to get them, and they put them in jail overnight. Now,
that was the reaction, so the persecutionbegan. But at the same time, I love
verse 4: “Many of them who heard the Word believed; and the number of the
males came to be five thousand.” Imprisoning the apostles didn’t nullify their
effect, and it didn’t prevent the progress ofthe gospel, yousee.
This was the first instance, which since has been so often repeated, in which
persecutionhas only led to the extensionand the establishing of the church.
Rather than destroyit, it has brought it growth. If trial - watch it - and
persecutionon a personal level is God’s way of maturing a Christian - and it
is, if you read James 1 - then trial and persecutionon a whole church-wide
level is God’s way of maturing His whole church, and building it up.
Persecutionalways results in growth - mark that. That has to be the beginning
thing, because that’s your commitment to do what’s right, even if persecution

153. is involved. Persecutionresults in growthfor many reasons. Number one, it
strips off all of the dead weight. If you’re a part of a group of people that are
having to lay their lives on the line for Jesus Christ, then we’re only going to
have people in that group who are willing to do that, right?
And part of the problem of the church today are all the tares that’s sown
among the wheat, and the easiestwayto get rid of the tares is just to make the
wheatpay the price, or make the church pay the price of total discipleship.
And the tares will just drop off, because they’re not really that committed,
and don’t want to get that involved. And so, as a church is persecuted, it is
purified. The waste is stripped off, false believers leave, the strong are left,
and God works freelythrough them.
So, we see persecutionmanifest, and persecutionpurifies the church, and it
greater- increasesits effectto a greaterdegree. Now, let’s see how they met
this persecution- just the first couple of points in our outline - and here are
sevenprinciples for meeting persecution. As I say, the first thing you’ve gotto
do is commit yourself to confront the world, or you’ll never have to run into
the problem. Now, here are some practicalthings. These are really practical.
In James, chapter1, you know, he says, “Countit all joy when you fall into
trials and temptations.”
That’s a wonderful opportunity to grow. That’s the way you grow, is by going
through the test, you see. If we live godly in the world, we will suffer
persecution. If we suffer persecution, we ought to be happy, because
persecutionwill make us grow, and it will reachothers for Christ, and that’s
what we’re all about. True? But somewhere, you’ve got to make the
commitment that you’re willing to do that; make your life expendable, rather
than to hide and protect yourself. So, we look forward to persecutionwith
greatanxiety and greatjoy, for righteousness’sake.
Now, watchsevenprinciples in reacting to persecution. Number one, be
submissive to it. If persecutioncomes, be submissive. Verse 5 - well let’s look
at verse 3. “And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody.” Does it
say, “They laid hands on them, and Peterand John hit back, and a brawl
ensued?” Doesn’tsaythat at all. They laid hands on them, and they just put
them in jail overnight. Verse 5, “It came to pass on the next day, that” - this is
the morning, after they’ve been in jail all night – “the rulers, and elders, and
scribes, and Annas, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander,” et cetera, et
cetera.
“When they had set them in the midst, they asked, ‘Bywhat power, by what
name, have you done this?’” Now, you see no resistancein any of this. Now,

154. this is more implied than stated, but it’s there. There is no resistance atall.
Now, I’m not talking about a martyr complex that goes in there and says,
“Yes, I’ll die.” You know, I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about trust
in God. They didn’t resist it, because they saw in it God’s greatopportunity,
you see? This is tremendous. I want you to see this. They knew that their
arrestwas in God’s hands.
They had been obedient in the proclamation, they would be submissive in the
arrest, assuming that since their obedience had brought them to that point,
that’s where God wantedthem to be; you understand that? If you’re obeying
the Lord and you wind up in a mess, you can assume that God ordained the
mess, so stick around; there’s something that’s going to happen in that mess.
Now, if you get yourself in a mess in disobedience, that’s another - that’s a
horse of a different color. That’s a whole different issue.
But if you have been obedient, and you have been confronting the world, and
proclaiming Christ, and you getinto a hassle, just praise God, and wait to see
what it’s all about, and be submissive. Don’t fight back. Now, look at this, this
is so interesting. Verse 5, they were - ”It came to pass on the next day, the
rulers, and elders, and scribes” - they brought them into this - into a counsel -
really the Sanhedrin. The scribes, the elders, and the rulers, along with the
high priest, made up the Sanhedrin, and the Sanhedrin was the high ruling
counselof Israel.
This is the Supreme Court of the Jews. And even in the Romantimes, they
had the right to arrest. It had 70 members, and then the high priest was ex-
officio president, so there were 71. And it included the priests and the scribes -
you remember the scribes were the ones who were the experts in the law - and
the elders, who were from the people. And then it included, in addition, the
people from the priestly family, and they were really a motley bunch, to say
the least. With this kind of leadership, it’s no wonderthey had their problems.
Verse 6 introduces Annas, and you remember Annas, who was the high priest
formerly, but had been deposedby the Romans. He was the seniorex-high
priest, but he really ran the show. He was the power behind the scenes.In fact,
when Jesus was takenin the Garden of Gethsemane in John 18, they
immediately took Him to Annas, because Annas was really the powerof the
whole structure in Israel. He was a Sadducee. Now, he had a son-in-law by the
name of Caiaphas, who was Roman- appointed high priest, and he was as bad
as Annas was.
Then it says “John, and Alexander.” Now, it’s very difficult to know who they
are; there’s no way to know. But it is interesting that Annas did have five

155. sons, one of his sons named Jonathan, and some of the manuscripts read
Jonathaninstead of John, so it may have been his son. And some say that
Alexander is a form of Eleazer, and Eleazeris a known son of Annas. So
perhaps they were two sons of Annas, perhaps we’re reading into it; that, we
just really don’t know. But anyway, they were of the kindred of the high
priest.
They all gatheredat Jerusalem. Now, they gottogetherin their counciland
their Sanhedrin, and they brought in Peter and John. Now, this is a tough pill
for them to swallow, because they’re still not rid of Jesus, you see. He’s still
the issue. Verse 7 says, “And when they had set them in the midst” – now,
that’s interesting, because they usually assembled - in the precincts of the
temple, there was an inner place calledthe hall of hewn stone. And they satin
a semi-circle, and they facedthe president, who satout here, and they always
stuck the prisoner in the middle.
So, when it says, “Theyput them in the midst,” that gives you a goodidea,
even, of the picture of Peter and John standing here, with a semi-circle of the
70, and the president behind them. Now, this is so exciting. Do you know what
God had just done? God had just given them the wonderful opportunity to
preach to the Sanhedrin. This is a goodcase ofSatanoverdoing it. Satandoes
this all the time. He gets himself into real trouble. By persecution, he opens
avenues that are never openedany other way.
Do you know that there was no waythat they could have set up an afternoon
to present the gospelto the Sanhedrin? There was no way possible to preach
to those men, exceptthis way. That’s why I say in the design of God, to submit
is the whole key. They submitted, and Godput them right where He wanted
them. It’s a fantastic thing. God allows them to carry their testimony to the
Sanhedrin itself. What an opportunity. And preciselywhy we must be
submissive in persecution.
In persecution, if you’ve been obeying God, and you’re persecutedfor
righteousness’sake, thenacceptit, because Godhas a design in it, you see,
that maybe could never be realized in any other way. Our resistance can
thwart God’s plan if we resistat the point of persecution. There was no other
way they could have gottenthere. And thus, Satan, in his opposition,
overreachedhimself, and as always, Godhas a wayof taking Satan’s best
efforts and turning them to His glory. All right, then it says that once they got
them in there, they then askedthe right question.
God setthe stage so perfectly. “By what power or by what name have you
done this?” What a setup; what a question. In fact, it is indicating in the

156. linear tense that they kept on asking them. They kept asking them. “Come on
now. Come on. Come on, tell us.” And it just may be that Peterwas saying,
“Well, I don’t know if we ought to sayanything about it.” And he just waited
until they eggedhim on, and then he said it. That’s possible; not necessarily
true. But anyway, they kept on asking him, and they said, first of all, “By
what power?”
In other words, they may be a contempt in that question; what magic are you
using? But the secondquestion, “By what name?” has to do with by whose
authority. A name representedauthority; “In whose name do you do that? By
whose - who gives you the authority to heal people, and to teachthe way you
do?” And so, they askeda simple, straightforward question; just exactlythe
question that setthe stage for Peterto preach. Now, I want you to see how
their submission at this point is the keyto everything.
If we submit in persecution, we’llfind ourselves in the place that God wants
us to be. Listen to what Peter says. In 1 Peter - and Peterwas there, so he may
have been reflecting on some of these things. 1 Peter 4, verse 12: “Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to testyou, as though
some strange thing happened to you” - I mean, you’re confronting the world,
you’re sure to getit. “But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s
suffering; that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with
exceeding joy.
“If you be reproachedfor the name of Christ, happy are you, for the Spirit of
glory and of God rests upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, on your
part He is glorified.” You see, in this, this kind of thing, God desires to gain
glory. And I love verse 19:“Wherefore let him that suffers according to the
will of God commit the keeping of his soul to Him in well-doing, as unto to a
faithful Creator.” Justsay, “Hey Lord You got me into this; here I am. You
better take care of me,” and God will be glorified in it.
You see, if you let this happen, submit to it, then the glory of God is a
possibility. Secondprinciple - in dealing with persecution, be submissive to it -
secondly, be filled with the Spirit, verse 8: “Then Peter” - what’s the next
word? - “filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them.” Now, you see, the keyto
anything in the Christian life is the powerof the Holy Spirit, right? And Peter
at this point has yielded to the Spirit of God. It’s an aoristpassive. It indicates,
perhaps, that he was alreadyready, because he was alreadyfilled with the
Spirit.
Now, we’ve talkedso much about the filling of the Spirit. If you are at all
confusedabout what that doctrine has to say to you, then you can get the tape

157. on Ephesians 5:18, or the one on Acts Chapter 2, the very beginning, and we
have an explanation of that in there. But let me just say this. Some have
thought that the filling of the Spirit is a kind of a trauma, or a kind of a
mourners’ bench experience, or a kind of an emotional thing. It is not. The
filling of the Spirit is not the result of lengthy prayer.
It is not the result of an emotional experience. It is not the result of some kind
of a highly exciting spiritual activity. The Spirit - the filling of the Spirit is
simply when a believer walks in obedience to the Word and the Spirit, you see.
Peterhad already takenthe steps to be Spirit-filled, because he was obedient.
He had preached, and he had submitted as God had brought the persecution,
and that was under the control of the Spirit, at that point. That’s why it’s an
aoristpassive;it had already been done. It is simply submission, is all it is.
It’s, “Here I am. What a wonderful opportunity; I submit to you, Spirit.
WhateverYou want to do through me, do it.” The Spirit-filled life is just that;
it is yielding everything to the full power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Every
Christian has within him the Holy Spirit. He is there to powerus, and as we
yield to His power, that poweris released, and Peterknew that there is no way
he’s going to get victory over this problem unless he was yielded to the Spirit
of God. You say, “Well, if I was there, I probably would have fallen over in
fear.”
Well, that’s possible. But instead of falling over in fear, Peterjust leaned his
whole weight on the Holy Spirit. There’s no other way for victory. And folks,
at this point, without the other five steps to victory, Peteris already
guaranteedvictory. Once he had turned this into that kind of thing, he had
won the victory. Becausewhat? If this experience had causedhim to yield to
the Spirit of God, then it’s a plus; would you buy that? Anything in my life
that causes me to be filled with the Spirit is a goodthing, it’s a victory, is it
not?
Step number two, Peterhas already got victory, because you know what
happened? This persecutioncame, and it drove him closerto the Spirit of
God. That’s victory. He was filled with the Spirit. At this point, the whole
thing had drawn him to the Lord, completely yielded to His will. That is
victory. And I’ll tell you something, this is what’s missing in the church today.
This is why the church isn’t victorious over its persecution, because they’re
not really leaning on the Spirit of God.
When somebody comes at you, and persecutes you, you getuptight, you run
and hide, instead of standing firm, and yielding to the Spirit, and saying,
“What’s your design? I submit to this.” You say - you tend to back off, you

158. know, “Wrr, wrr,” see. Orif we know there’s something offensive about our
gospel, oroffensive about what we believe, we tend to delete it, and we talk in
little innocuous, religious platitudes, so we don’t offend anybody.
Becausewe’re afraid, instead of boldly saying what we know is right, and then
yielding to the Spirit of God and watching Him work, we are defeated, first of
all, by the failing to saywhat we know is the truth, even though it offends.
Becauseif it doesn’t offend, you might as well not say it, because you need to
offend people, so you canshow them they’ve got a problem. But after that, we
fall apart in fear, and we make sure that we avoid the issue from then on.
That’s a backwards thing, but when the church is Spirit-filled, then it is going
to be uncomfortable in the world, but it is going to be victorious. Today the
church is comfortable;it is not Spirit- filled, it is defeated. Peterand John
found themselves out of step with the going pattern of belief. They collided
hard with it, and they didn’t run and hide. They stoodthere, they submitted,
they were filled with the Spirit, they were victorious. You better be out of step
with the world. You better be marching to the beat of a different drum.
You better be a constantthorn in the side of somebodyin the system. You
better be violating incessantlythe selfish, godless, immoral, materialistic,
indulgent societyyou live in, so that you do collide with it; or you really have
no reasonto exist. So, they were submissive, and they were Spirit filled. And
thirdly - this is good- the third principle of victory is boldly, they used it as an
opportunity. This is terrific.
Verse 8: “ThenPeter, filled with the Holy Spirit, saidunto them, “You rulers
of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the gooddeed
done to the impotent man, by what means he has made well; be it known unto
you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christof
Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raisedfrom the dead” – which, of
course, sets them at the opposite ends from God again, and which he does all
the time. “Even by Him doth this man stand here before you well.”
Boy, that is powerful stuff; here he goes again. Filledwith the Spirit, he uses
the persecutionas an opportunity for a bolder testimony. Insteadof getting
persecuted, and then clamming up, or falling apart, he just says, “Well, let me
tell you what it was that I was saying, so that you will really clearly
understand it. I said Jesus is Messiah, andyou crucified Him. And God had to
raise Him againfrom the dead.” Now, apparently in this message,whichis
only 92 Greek words, it embodies all of the apostolic preaching
characteristics.

159. It’s gotit all; the indictment of rejection, the presentationof Jesus as Messiah
from an Old Testamenttext, and then a goodnote about the resurrection. It’s
all there, and it’s even gota closing invitation, in verse 12. And in verse 9, he
says - he starts to preachin verse 8. In verse 9, he says, “If we this day be
examined of the gooddeed,” isn’t that interesting? In other words, he
establishes to begin with that there’s injustice, because whatis the thing that
they’ve just done? What does he call it there in verse 9? A gooddeed.
He just makes sure they understand that they’re doing unjustly. He
establishes the injustice of the persecutionby stating that all they had done
was a gooddeed. It certainly wouldn’t be evil to heal a lame man, would it? If
you want to know what it’s all about, verse 10, “Be it known unto you all” -
and then he announces - “to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth” - and you could just see them go, uck, you know - “whom
ye crucified” - and then the angerbegins to seethe - “whom God raisedfrom
the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you well.”
Now, that is boldness, friends. I mean, they - he put his head on the block. He
put his life on the line. In the very citadelof the enemy, he proclaims the living
Christ to them who killed Him. “Your own Messiahdid this, Jesus of
Nazareth, whom you killed, and God raised.” And he always puts them at
odds with God, ’cause they always thought they were plugged into God, see.
He constantly does that. And so even in the presence ofthe Sanhedrin, he
doesn’t back off at all on the resurrection.
He doesn’t back off at all on the indictment of Israel for executing Christ. Let
me give you a principle. Never, never, never accommodate the gospelby
deleting what offends somebody. You need to major on what offends them;
that’s the point. And so, Peterdoesn’t back off, and they knew they were
spiritual hypocrites, and the lingering fear that perhaps He was Messiahmust
have begun to eatinside. And then, as if to dig a deeper hole for them, he says
this. In verse 11, he quotes Psalm118:22, right out of their own prophecy.
Becausetheir question was, “Well, if this is the Messiah, He wouldn’t be dead
and brought back again. We don’t see that.” And so, he quotes, “This is the
stone which was setat naught of you builders, which has become the head of
the corner.” “Youknow, your own Psalm 118:22 saidthere would be a stone
to be the cornerstone, but the builders would rejectit, but it would be brought
back to be the head of the corner. That’s a prophecy of the death, resurrection
of Messiah. It’s right there. You’ve got it all.”
Buildings had cornerstones. In fact, they’ve found some from the original
temple - or one of the temples, I should say - that measures 38 feetin length.

160. They would run up to the corners. Theywere tremendous things. And one
that wasn’tperfect would be thrown away, because everything else would be
imperfect all the way up. They had to have a perfect cornerstone. And so the
prophecy simply says Jesus will be the cornerstone, but the builders would
rejectit, thinking it imperfect, but God would bring it back, and make it the
corner.
That’s exactlywhat happened with Jesus. Theythrew it away. “That’s not our
cornerstone.”GodraisedHim from the dead, and stuck Him right back in,
createda new temple - Ephesians 2:20 - the church. And in Matthew 21:42,
our Lord even claimed to be that stone. And in Romans 9:31-33, Paul saidHe
was that stone. And then his invitation comes powerfully in verse 12:“Neither
is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved.”
People always say, “Well, you can getsaved a lot of ways.” We were in Israel,
went up to Haifa, and they’ve got the Bahaism Temple up there, and it has
nine doors to God: Muhammadism, Confucianism, Buddhism, every kind of
ism there is. And that isn’t true; there aren’t nine doors to God. Jesus said, “I
am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father” – what? -
“but by Me.” There is no other name. There is no salvationin any other.
There is no other name under heavengiven among men whereby we must be
saved.
And Peteris saying, in effect, “People,if you don’t turn to Jesus, you will be
damned. There is no other way.” People always accuse Christians of being
narrow. We’re not narrow, friends; any more narrow than the word of God.
Unfortunately, the word of God is the most narrow book ever written. It’s
always right, and never wrong, and anything that contradicts it is wrong. It is
only in His name. They said to them - they said to him, “Who healedthat
man?” And he said, “Jesus did.” And he uses the same word for healing the
man that is used when it says it made him well.
How did you make this - the end of verse 9. “Whatmeans he is made well,” is
the same word as salvation, and so he does a play on words. This man was
physically healedby Jesus, andyou’ll never be spiritually healed, unless it’s
by Him. He’s the only way. There’s no salvationin any other. The word
salvationmeans deliverance from sin. No other name, no other name. I close
with this, very quickly. In February 1959, atthe South Pole, 17 men in
Operation DeepFreeze Number Four, took their spare time and built a 16-
foot-square chapel.

161. And on that chapel they put a sign, calledThe Chapel of All Faith. The
structure contained an altar, over which they had a picture of Jesus, a
crucifix, a Starof David, and a lotus leafrepresenting Buddha. The
inscription on the wall read, “Now it canbe said that the earth turns on the
point of faith.” An all-faiths altar was recently dedicatedat a university - it’s
calledan inter-religious center - at one of the Midwestern universities. The
altar, it revolves. One is for Protestant, one for Catholic, one for Jewish, and
then there’s one miscellaneous that’s adaptable to any religion.
That’s just exactly what the Bible says is so wrong. It would have been very
easyfor Peter and John to have mumbled innocuous platitudes about religion,
and won the smiles of all, and the early church would have been immediately
acquitted from the world’s hatred by a reasonable, broad-minded,
downgrading of Jesus Christ. But not so, not so. This is it. Be submissive, be
Spirit-filled, and boldly use it as an opportunity to preachthe gospel. That’s
the first three ways to be victorious over persecution.
Let’s pray. Father, we thank You this morning for teaching us from Your
book the truths You want us to learn. Sealthem to our hearts, and us to thy
use. We’ll give You the glory and the praise for it, in Jesus’name. Amen.
“175 and Counting: No Other Name”
Acts 4:12
The ReverendDr. J. Ligon Duncan III
If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to open them with me to Acts chapter4
verse 12, although we're also going to look back at verse 11 because it's very
important for the topic that we're going to be looking at today. We've been in
a series called, “175 andCounting.” I've had a number of you express
appreciationfor some of the topics we've coveredbut also puzzle at the name
of the series, “175and Counting.” It refers to the number of years the
congregationhas existed - 175 years. And the idea is to look at very important
issues for us as we go forward together, bearing witness to the Lord Jesus
Christ, living the Christian life, heralding the Gospelof the Word. And so
“175 and Counting” is the name of the series.
Now so far we've lookedat a number of things togetherbut I want to remind
you of two things in particular that we've thought about. We have thought
about what a Christian disciple is. Now there are many Biblicalways that you

162. can describe a disciple and there are many important Biblical truths that are
necessaryto understand all that goes into being a disciple, especiallyhow one
becomes a disciple because we become a disciple of God through His own
grace, through the Gospel, through the work of Christ. But as Jesus addresses
the issue of “Whatdo My disciples look like?” in Matthew chapter 7 verses 24
to 27, one of the things He makes clearto us there is that His disciples hear
and do what He teaches. Nowthat's actually very important for what we're
going to study today because Jesus is saying this — His disciples believe what
He teaches and they do what He tells them to do. That's one of the hallmarks
of real disciples of Jesus Christ. They believe what He teaches and they do
what He tells them to do.
Then, the last time we were together, we were thinking about what Jesus
taught about the Bible, what the Bible says about the Bible, especiallythe
Bible's truth claims, because we live in a day and time where not only
unbelievers but some professing Christians call into question the authority,
the infallibility, the inspiration, and the inerrancy of Scripture. And so we
spent some time thinking about what the Bible claims about itself, what Jesus
taught about the Bible, and we saidthat disciples of Jesus who hear what He
teaches and believe it and do what He says will have a high view of the
Scripture because Jesus hada high view of the Scripture and He wantedHis
disciples to have a high view of the Scripture too. Both of those things will
come to bear on the issue that we're going to look at today because today
we're going to tackle a very difficult issue — universalism.
Now you may be thinking to yourself, “Why in the world would Ligon address
universalism?” because there has not been so much as a syllable uttered from
this pulpit in 175 years in favor of universalism and that is true and I thank
God for it. But you live in a pluralistic culture which presents you with two
problems. One is, unbelievers look at you and if you believe that Jesus is the
only way of salvation, many of them sayyou are arrogant and hateful; you are
narrow-minded and bigoted to believe that Jesus is the only way. How
arrogantof you to think that the only way to God is the wayyou think the
only way to God is. And that poses a challenge to Christian witness. And very
often fine Christians waffle in the face of that challenge. Have you ever
watchedwhen the Larry King Live Show was running? Have you ever
watchedthe cavalcadeofreligious figures, many of whom are Christians,
many of whom are fine Christians, and Larry King will invariably ask them
what? “Do you believe that Jesus is the only way of salvation?” And most of
them say what? They waffle in their answer. Why do they do that? Because
they know that the answerthey are going to give if they are giving the Bible's

163. answeris going to be offensive to the audience that is watching that program.
In other words, they are influenced by the way the culture perceivedtheir
answerto that question and it makes them reticent to give the answer. So
that's one problem - the problem of the world looking at Christians who
believe that Jesus is the only way of salvation and saying you are hateful and
you are arrogant to believe that.
The other problem comes from with inside Christianity because there are
many Christians who, because ofthat very phenomenon I've just described,
have decided that they are embarrassedabout Christian teaching on this issue
and therefore they want to change Christianity from being exclusive to being
inclusive because they think that makes Christianity more loving. In other
words, they have acceptedthe critique of the world and they have decidedto
create a kinder, gentlerChristianity and so they have rejectedthe teaching
that Jesus is the only wayof salvationin the name of being more loving. But
consequently, they have undermined the foundation of the Christian faith
which is Jesus Christ - who He is, what He did, and why He came to do what
He did.
And that is why I want to address this question today. I want to address it
from both of those directions. Let me saythem againso you’ll understand
exactly what I'm trying to get at today. I'm trying to get at the issue first of
non-Christians who view Christianity and our claims of the exclusive way of
salvationthrough Jesus Christ, they view those claims as mean or hateful or
bigoted and they view those claims as arrogant. “How dare you say that
everybody else is wrong and you’re right! How could you be so dismissive and
condescending and bigotedtowards other people who have a different point of
view?” So I want to address the question from that standpoint but I also want
to address it from the standpoint of Christians who are embarrassedby
Christian exclusivism, by the exclusive truth claims of Christ as the only way
of salvation, and so they opt for inclusivism, that there are many ways to God
and Jesus is one of those ways or a bestway but just one of many ways to God.
So that's what I want to do togethertoday. Before we look at the Scriptures
and read them and considerthis important issue, let's pray and ask for God's
help and blessing.
HeavenlyFather, thank You for YourWord and thank You that as we think
through a thorny and difficultissue, an issue that faces us all if we're going to be
faithful to Jesus Christ in a pluralisticworld, wepraythat we would think Your
thoughts after You, that we wouldnot makeup our answersto this as wego
along butthat wewould goback to the sure foundation of Jesus and the
Scriptures. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

164. This is the Word of God. Hear it. Acts 4 verse 12. And just to note, Peteris in
the middle of a message as he says these words; he's preaching a sermon:
“And there is salvationin no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved.”
Amen, and thus ends this reading of God's holy, inspired, and inerrant Word.
May He write its eternal truth upon all our hearts.
The issue of the exclusive Christian claim basedon the teaching of Jesus and
the Bible that Jesus is the only way of salvation when it comes into contact
with a pluralistic culture that is relativistic and says, “All roads lead up the
mountain, all ways leadto heaven, every world religion has truth in it,
Christianity just as well as the others, and therefore we would be arrogant to
say that Jesus is the only way or that the Bible is the only wayof salvation.”
That issue of the confrontation, the conflict betweenthose two views is regular
for us in the culture today and it's not just something happening out there; it's
something happening in here.
Just within the last couple of years there was a death of a young personin our
community and that young person was from a non-Christian religion, but
many of our own young people were dear friends with that young man and
they thought very highly of him. He was an intelligent, wonderful person, and
it deeply disturbed many of our Bible-believing Christian young people as
they thought about the issue of what was this young man, who was not a
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, not a followerof the truth of the Gospel
revealedin the Scripture, what was his eternal destiny going to be? And they
wrestledwith that, some of them even saying, “You know, I'm not sure I want
to go to heavenif he's not going to be there.” This is not an abstractquestion
out there. This is a question especiallythat presses onthe younger generation
of this church because pluralism is dominant in our culture and the Christian
messagesounds odd and even mean to many in the secularaudience. We need
to understand how to respond to this in a waythat is God-honoring, that is
Biblical, and most of all that is loyal to Jesus.
THE REACTION OF NON-CHRISTAINS
TO THE EXCLUSIVE TRUTH CLAIMS OF CHRIST
So I want to look at this question today from two perspectives. First, from the
perspective of the reactionof non-Christians to exclusive truth claims of
Christ, the Gospel, and Christianity. There are many people who are offended
by a Christian praying in the name of Christ in public or by a Christian
sharing the Gospelto someone else who is from a non-Christian background
or an unbelieving backgroundbecause they view that as an act of dominance,

165. as an actof condescension, as an actof arrogance, andultimately a mean and
even a hateful attitude. So how does a Christian respond to that when
someone says, “Do youbelieve that Jesus is the only wayof salvation?” You’re
sitting in a university classroom;there are all sorts of people around you who
don't believe in Jesus Christ as the only wayof salvation. You, as a Christian,
you've just been asked, “Do you believe in Jesus as the only way of salvation?”
When you’re answering that question, “Yes,” and that's the right answer,
knowing that you are offending some people who are around you, how are you
supposedto take that in? How do you process that?
One important thing for you to remember, my friends, is as believers, we
believe this not because we thought it up. Not only have two thousand years of
Christians believed it before us, but the Bible teaches it, the apostles taughtit,
and Jesus Himself taught it. The reason, ultimately, that we believe that Jesus
is the only wayof salvationis because Jesus saidHe was the only way of
salvationand we trust in Him for salvation. Remember, let's go back to what
Jesus said. “How do you know one of My disciples? He hears what I teachand
he does what I say.” So our believing that Jesus is the only way of salvation,
far from being from a stance of arrogance,is because we humbly acceptwhat
Jesus has claimed about Himself. We humbly believe what the Bible says from
Genesis 1 to the lastchapter of Revelation. The whole Bible is one long
argument againstidolatry. From Genesis 1:1 on, the Bible claims there is one
true God and all other gods are false gods. Did you notice that was in the call
to worship today? It comes right out of Psalm 95. That in a call to worship
Israelwould remind all the people gathering in Jerusalemthat the God that
they were about to worship is the only true God and that all other gods are
false gods. That has been taught from the very first chapter of Genesis all the
way through to the lastchapter of Revelation. Christianity is basedon an
exclusive truth claim about God. There is one true God and all other gods are
false gods.
But we believe that not because we thought that up last week but because we
believe the authority of Scripture and we believe what Jesus has taught. And
Jesus taught this so clearly. For instance, in John 14 verse 6 what did He say?
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Fatherbut by
Me.” When I say that I believe that when I'm askedI'm not being arrogant,
I'm listening to what Jesus taught me to believe. So the reasonthat we say
what we sayand believe what we believe is because we love Jesus and because
we love the people that we're sharing the Gospelwith. Sharing the Gospelis
not an act of hate; it's the ultimate act of love.

166. Many of you love the secularcomedianPenn Jillette. Now Penn Jillette is an
atheist. And there's an interesting story on the internet and I’ll link to it for
you in The First Epistle this week and you cango look at it. It will only take
you five minutes to look at the video. There was a Christian who went to see
Penn Jillette's comedy routine in Las Vegas a couple of years ago. And Penn is
part of the comedy team Penn and Teller. And after that comedy routine this
Christian went to Mr. Jillette just to say, “I loved your comedy routine. I've
always loved your comedy, I find you intelligent and witty and funny.” And he
used very complimentary words. And then the man went awayand after the
line had gone through speaking to Mr. Jillette this man circledback around
and very humbly and very carefully the man said, “Mr. Jillette, I wonder if
you wouldn't be offended if I gave a Bible to you.” And the man gave Mr.
Jillette a GideonBible. Now how do you think the atheist, Penn Jillette,
thought about a Christian giving him a Bible? Well, you can go see his
thoughts on this event on YouTube. And here's what Mr. Jillette said. “If that
man believes that Jesus is the only wayof salvationand that believing on
Jesus is the only thing that can save a person from an eternity of hell, then the
most hateful thing that man could do would be not to give me a Bible and not
to tell me about the Gospel. If that man believes what he believes, the most
loving thing that he cando is give me a Bible and share with me about the
Gospel.”
Now isn't that an interesting response from an atheist? A much more clear
headed response than many people who profess to be Christians give to this
issue. The atheistunderstood if you really believe that there is a hell — and
there is — and you really believe the Gospeland you really trust in Christ and
you really believe what He teaches then because you love people and you want
them to be blessedwith God for eternity you will share the Gospelwith them,
not as an act of arrogance andhate but as an actof humility and love. Why is
it that we, as Christians, stand up in a pluralistic world and say, “Yes, Jesus is
the only way”? Becausewe didn't think it up ourselves, we learnedthis from
the lips of Jesus, and because we love people and we want them to be with God
forever. And by the way, if our non-Christians don't know that we love them
that way then we need to do a better job of loving them. They ought to know
that we genuinely, tangibly love them and that when we speak the Gospelto
them we speak it not out of hate and contempt and arrogance, we speak itout
of love.
CHRISTIANS EMBARRASSEDBYTHE
EXCLUSIVE TRUTH CLAIMS OF CHRIST

167. What about Christians who are embarrassedby this teaching? I'm going to
tell you two stories and just two stories that have happened in the last year,
both words from ministers. But before I tell you that let me say, when you as a
Christian are embarrassedin your current cultural situation, your current
societalsituationwhich is pluralistic and relativistic and thinks that
exclusivism is bad and inclusivism is goodand its exclusive about exclusivity,
that is, it cantolerate anybody except somebodywho makes an exclusive truth
claim, when you are embarrassedabout the exclusive truth claim of the
Scriptures that Jesus is the only way of salvation and that's what Peterhas
just said here, don't answerthat question socially;answerit Biblically. When
you’re wrestling through the claim, don't answerit socially. Don't answerthat
question basedon the way you think societywould want you to answerthat
question or don't base your answerto that question basedon your personal
experience;base it on the Scripture.
In fact, I think it would be a wonderful thought exercise for every believer
from time to time to think about the bestunbelieving friends that you have,
the personthat you think of most highly, the person whose intelligence and
friendliness and friendship and characterqualities you admire the most who
is not a Christian, and in your mind picture standing at his or her grave and
answering this question. “Even standing at my friend's grave, my friend who
didn't believe in Christ, who didn't believe the Bible, who didn't acceptthe
Gospel, do I still believe what Jesus saidor will I change my belief because I'm
standing here in a scene that I don't want to have to think about?” I think it
would be a goodthought experiment for us all to think about where our belief
ultimately derives from. Does it derive from what we want to be true or does it
derive from what the Bible says?
Now with that as a preface to this story, my exhortation is simply this — don't
think through this socially;think through it Biblically. Let me point you to
Acts 4:12. Peteris speaking to a multitude of Jews. Now letme ask you a
question. Do you think that Peterthinks that what he says is going to be
offensive to the Jewishpeople that he's preaching to at Pentecost? Or, this is
after Pentecost — in the days after Pentecost? Yes, he knows that what he's
about to sayis offensive. Does that stop him from saying it? No. Why?
BecausePeteris talking about the only way of salvation. Look at what he says
in Acts 4:12. “There is salvationin no one else.” Now stopright there. In who?
Go back to verse 11. “This Jesus is the stone that was rejectedby you, the
builders, which has become the cornerstone.” So do you think that Peterknew
that what he was going to saywas going to be offensive? The Jesus that I'm
proclaiming to you is the only way of salvationyou rejected. Ah, yes, he knew

168. that it was going to be offensive. Why did he say it, because he was hateful?
He was a Jew. Becausehe was mean? He loved them and was ready to die in
order for them to come to faith in Jesus Christ. He told them because it was
truth and because it was loving. What did he say? “There is no other name
under heaven.” And if you go look at that phrase, “under heaven,” it's a
Hebrew idiom. You’ll find it in the Old Testamentand the New Testament. It
means, “absolutelyeverything and everyone.” There's no other name among
absolutely everything, everyone, anywhere by which a person may be saved
but through who? Verse 11 — Jesus.
Now many Christians are embarrassedby that and typically here's how it
happens. They encounterpeople that they love and they cannot bring
themselves to bear the thought that those people that they love who are
without Christ could be lost and they don't want them to be offended. Two
stories. SusanStrouse is an ordained minister and she is the head of an inter-
faith ministry in San Francisco. And in her testimony about a year ago she
tells the story of how she moved from traditional Christianity to what she calls
a more progressive inter-faith view of Christianity and she says, “Here's how
it started: I was at a funeral of a friend in an Episcopalchurch. I was sitting
next to my very bestfriend who is Jewishand as the priest read John 14:6, ‘I
am the way, the truth, and the life,’ for the first time in my life I heard those
words through the ears of my Jewishfriend, my best friend sitting next to me,
and I knew then that I had to change my belief.” In other words, she was
offended for her friend by what Jesus saidand she chose to believe something
that was more comfortable for her experience even though it was in
contradiction of what Jesus said. And so she actually went through a process
of trying to show that the Bible speaks withan uncertain sound on this issue.
But notice how it happened. It happened out of friendship. It didn't flow out
of a deep Bible study that led her to say, “Well, you know I've been studying
the Bible for five years now and I just can't believe that Jesus is the only way
of salvationanymore.” No, it happened when she realized that what Jesus said
was offensive to a friend and she decided to change what she believed.
Now another story. A minister who grew up in a Christian home recently told
his congregationthat he could no longerbelieve that Jesus was the only way of
salvation. Why? Because he said as he grew up, and I think I’ll just quote here
so I don't get these words wrong. As he grew up he “came to know people of
other faiths, people in whom the Spirit of God was beautifully, powerfully,
undeniably present and then I had myself a big problem.” He could no longer
believe in the exclusive claims of Christ as the only way of salvation. In fact,
he tells the story of going to the bar mitzvah of the child of a friend and he

169. said, “I could not go to that bar mitzvah and come awaythinking that my
friends were outside the pale of God's saving love and so I simply had to reject
that part of my belief.” But notice what's happening there. The belief is being
shaped by the experience, by the relationship, by the social setting, not by the
Bible. Now he too attempts to try and provide evidence that the Bible speaks
with an uncertain sound on this question. Sadly, that is an absolutely
impossible feat. The Bible is crystal clearon this from beginning to end.
The way to answerthis is not to try and mute what the Bible says, it is to
humbly acceptthat Jesus teaches this and there is no possibility in the world
that there is someone out there more loving than Jesus. Youknow, if you want
to put your money on somebodythat you think is more loving that Jesus, I’ll
pick Jesus. I'm sticking with Him. I'm going with Him. I don't think there is
anybody more loving than Jesus. Butthe other problem with this, of course, is
that it doesn't acceptwhatthe Bible says about all people. As wonderful as
unbelievers are, what does Paul say about all of us in Romans chapter 3 verse
10? All of us are sinners. “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Not one.
Even the most lovely unbeliever that you've ever met is a sinner in need of
God's grace. And what does the Bible say about Jesus? He is God's only
begottenSon. He's come into this world to do what? To bear our sins. Romans
5:10 — “At the right time, Jesus came” to do what? “To die for the ungodly.”
It's because we believe that everybody's problem is sin and that Jesus is the
only solution, God's own Son who came into this world to die for that sin, that
we receive the truth that Jesus is the only way of salvation. Jesus taughtit, His
apostles taught it, the Bible teaches it from beginning to end. We believe and
proclaim it not out of hate but out of love, not out of arrogance but out of
humility.
It's so important for Christians to understand this. This is important both for
our witness and it is important so that our faith is not undermined. You live in
a world that forever and ever, as long as you live, is going to challenge and
question and generallynot like your exclusive truth claims. But they’re not
your exclusive truth claims; they’re Jesus’. All you’re doing is hearing your
Masterand listening to Him and doing what He says. And when you hear Him
and do Him - do what He says - there is no possibility that you will be
unloving towards anyone. We ought to be more evident and tangible in our
love for unbelievers than unbelievers. You know, one of the things that I say
to this dear brother who grew up in a Christian home and then encountered
nice unbelievers is, “We need to getout more if that's your experience!We
need to have more relationships with pagans who we like and they need to see
our love and we don't need to be shakenup by the factthat there are nice

170. people out there that don't believe what Jesus says.”That's why Jesus has us
in the world — to bear witness to those things, not because we hate them but
preciselybecause we love them.
Oh my friends, it's so important for us to have the foundation of our faith
squarely laid, not on our experience, not on what the societyaccepts, but on
the Bible and on Jesus. That's where we started singing, hymn 94, “How firm
a foundation ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent
Word.” And where are we going to end? “Christ Is Made the Sure
Foundation.” Our key in this area is that we want our minds to be the mind of
Christ our Savior and we're going to sing that too at the end of the service.
Let's pray.
HeavenlyFather, thank You for YourWord. Help us to faithfullybelievewhat
Jesus taught, to hear Him and then do whatHe tells us to do out of humilityand
love butwithboldnessand courage. In Jesus' name, amen.
Now take your hymnals in hand and turn with me to number 343, “ChristIs
Made the Sure Foundation.” Let's sing the first stanza.
After the benediction make sure to take out your bulletins and sing that
stanza of “Maythe Mind of Christ.” Receive now God's blessing. Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our Fatherand the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Chuck Smith
Sermon Notes for Acts 4:12
Intro. Peterand John were going into the temple at the hour of prayer when a
beggarsoughtalms from them. Petersaid, "I don't have any silver or gold,
but what I have, I will give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
rise up and walk." The man who was over40 years old and had never walked
in his life was immediately healed and he beganto walk and jump up and
down. A greatcrowd of people gathered and Peter, never a one to miss an
opportunity, beganto preach to them about Jesus Christ affirming that he
had risen from the dead. Peterand John, along with the lame man now
walking were arrestedand placedin prison over night and in the morning
were brought before the religious council of Jerusalemfor arraignment and
the prosecuting attorney asked, "Bywhat poweror by what name have you
done this?" This was a question that required Peter to incriminate himself in
answering it. In Deuteronomy13 the law statedthat if a prophet or dreamer

171. gives a sign or wonder and it comes to pass, if he encouragesyouto go after
another god, that prophet was to be put to death. Peterwith great boldness,
filled with the Holy Spirit, answered, "Be it knownunto you and to all Israel,
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, whom God
raisedfrom the dead, even by Him does this man stand here before you whole.
This is the stone that you builders rejected, but He has become the chief
cornerstone, neitheris there salvationin any other for there is no other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."
I. THERE IS SALVATION IN NO OTHER.
A. Jesus made this exclusive claim.
1. "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh to the Father but by
Me.
2. Paul wrote, "There is one God and one mediator betweenGod and man, the
Man Christ Jesus.
3. This claim angers many people.
a. We hear so many people voicing their angeragainstthose who believe that
their religion is the only true religion and are thus seeking to convertothers to
their religion.
b. Everyone has a right to believe what they want.
c. They refer to it as narrow bigotry.
d. Jesus said, "Straightis the gate and narrow is the way that leads to eternal
life and few there be that find it."
e. He said that He was the door to the sheepfold, and if a man sought to come
in any other way, he was a thief and a robber.
B. Peteris just echoing what Jesus had said. "Neither is there salvationin any
other."
1. That means that you cannotbe savedby being good.
2. You cannotbe savedby keeping the law.
a. Paul said that if righteousness couldcome by the law then Christ died in
vain.
b. He also said, "Bythe works of the law, shall no flesh be justified."
3. You cannotbe savedby being religious.
4. You cannotbe savedby being sincere.
5. You cannotbuy your salvation.

172. "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus'blood and righteousness,I dare
not trust the sweetestframe, but wholly leanof Jesus'name."
C. I believe that the Cross ofJesus Christ is the greatestevidence that there is
only one wayby which a man can be saved. Maybe that is why the cross is an
offense to so many people.
1. The night Jesus was arrestedto be crucified, He had gone to the garden of
Gethsemane with His disciples and there He prayed, "Fatherif it is possible,
let this cup pass from Me."
a. If what is possible? The redemption of mankind.
b. What cup? He had told the disciples at dinner that night that the cup was
God's new covenantin His blood which was to be shed for the remission of
sins.
2. The fact that He went to the cross indicates that there was no other way for
the redemption of man, no other way to be saved from the punishment for sin
which was death.
a. God saidthat the life of the flesh is in the blood and that He had given it to
them upon the altar for the atonement of the soul, for it is the blood that made
atonement for the soul.
b. In the book of Hebrews we read for without the shedding of blood, there is
no remission for sin.
c. Petersaid,
1PE 1:18 Forasmuchas ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things, [as] silver and gold, from your vain conversation[received]by
tradition from your fathers;
1PE 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot:
3. It would be interesting to know on what basis are you trusting that God will
acceptyou.
a. How will you plead your case before God?
b. What will you offer to God as an atonement for all your sin?
c. Look at Billy Graham, when he stands before God do you think that he will
say, "Look at all the work that I did for the kingdom of God. I preachedthe
gospelto more people than any other person in history." NO, he will not try to
plead his case before God, but will allow Jesus to plead his case.

173. II. "NO OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN GIVEN TO MEN, WHEREBY
WE MUST BE SAVED."
A. You cannotbe savedby the name of Buddha.
B. You cannotbe savedby the name of Mohammed.
C. The powerof the name of Jesus had just been proved in the healing of the
lame man. He was over 40, had never been able to walk, yet through the
powerof the name of Jesus he was now standing whole beside the two
disciples.
D. Paul said concerning Jesus,
Phl 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Phl 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God:
Phl 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness ofmen:
Phl 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Phl 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name
which is above every name:
Phl 2:10 That at the name of Jesus everyknee should bow, of [things] in
heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth;
Phl 2:11 And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ[is] Lord, to
the glory of God the Father.
E. The name Jesus is a Greek translationof the Hebrew name Yahoshua,
which in Hebrew means, Jehovahis salvation.
1. When the angelsoughtto assure Josephconcerning Mary's pregnancy, he
said, "Thatwhich is conceivedin her is from the Holy Spirit, and she shall
bring forth a son and shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins."
2. His name implies His mission.
3. The angels announced to the shepherds, "Forthere is born to you this day
in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord.
4. In the next chapter we will see Peterstanding again before this same council
being arrestedonce again. This time he will declare to them concerning Jesus,

174. Act 5:30 The God of our fathers raisedup Jesus, whomye slew and hanged on
a tree.
Act 5:31 Him hath Godexalted with his right hand [to be] a Prince and a
Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
F. Petersaid, "Whereby we must be saved." Thatbrings it down to the big
question, are you trusting in Jesus Christ for your salvation?
1. It is interesting how that in the death of a loved one, we do not want to
think that they have ceasedexisting, we desire to believe in life after death is
some form or other.
2. We somehow want to think of them as being in heaven, we do not want to
think of them as lost. Even people who were very wicked, they will sometimes
say of them, "Well, they had a goodheart." Goodintentions do not save,
neither a goodheart, not even goodworks."
3. Only Jesus Christ cansave you from your sin. "Who for the joy that was set
before endured the cross, despising the shame." What joy? The joy of saying
to you as He did to so many, "Your sins are forgiven you."
G. God has made only one way for salvation, and there are no short-cuts.
Jesus is that way whereby you must be saved.
C. SIMEON
SALVATION BY CHRIST ALONE
Acts 4:12. Neither is there salvation in anyother: for there is none other name
underheaven given amongmen, wherebywemustbe saved.
FROM the accountgiven us of the miracles wrought by our blessedLord, we
should be led, not only to acknowledge him as the true Messiah, but to
considerwhat we ourselves may expectat his hands. His Apostles, Peterand
John, had healeda man who had been lame from his birth. The spectators,
filled with astonishment, were ready to ascribe the honour of this miracle to
them: but they told them by whom it had been effected, evenby Jesus, whom
they had rejected;but who, notwithstanding their contempt of him, was, and
by this miracle had proved himself to be, “the head-stone of the corner[Note:
ver. 11.].” They then directed the attention of their auditors to their own
eternal interests, and assuredthem, that as Jesus alone restoredthe cripple to
the use of his limbs, so Jesus alone could save them from everlasting perdition

175. [Note:It is evident that the text refers, not to bodily healing, but to a salvation
which the Apostles themselves, and all their hearers, stoodin need of.].
In discoursing upon the words before us, it will be proper to notice,
I. What is implied—
Nothing can be more clearly implied than that there is salvation for us in
Christ. It may be thought that it is unnecessaryto insist upon so plain and
obvious a truth, more especiallyamong those who call themselves Christians:
but this truth is far from being universally known; and the grounds on which
it stands are very little considered:and, if it were as well understood as we are
apt to imagine, still there would be a necessityfor dwelling frequently upon it,
on accountof its vast importance, and of “determining with St. Paul to know
nothing among our people but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”
In confirmation of it, we shall appeal,
1. To the typical representations of Christ—
[There were a greatvariety of sacrificesunder the law, which typified the
Lord Jesus Christ. The lamb that was offered every morning and evening,
foreshewed“the Lamb of God that should take awaythe sin of the world:”
and the scape-goat, whichbore the iniquities of all Israelinto an uninhabited
wilderness, exhibited in yet more striking colours the removal of our guilt by a
transfer of it to the head of Jesus. To dwell on all the ceremonies that were
appointed on different occasions forthe expiation of sin, is needless:suffice it
to observe, that “the blood of bulls and of goats could not take awaysin;” and
that if those offerings had not respectto Christ, they were altogether
unworthy, either to be prescribed to man, or to be acceptedforhim. But the
efficacyof those sacrifices forthe ends for which they were instituted, proves,
beyond a doubt, the infinitely greaterefficacyofthat sacrifice which Christ in
due time offeredon the cross [Note: Hebrews 9:13-14.].]
2. To the positive declarations concerning him—
[Nothing can be conceivedmore clear and strong than the Scripture
declarations ofChrist’s sufficiency to save. How forcibly has the prophet
marked the extent [Note: Isaiah 45:22.], the fulness [Note: Isaiah 1:18.], and
the freeness [Note:Isaiah55:1-2.] of his salvation!He invites “all the ends of
the earth,” even persons defiled “with crimson sins,” to acceptallthe benefits
of the Gospel, “withoutmoney and without price.” In the New Testamentthe
same things are spokenwith all the energythat language canafford. All,
without exception, are exhorted to come to Christ [Note: Matthew 11:28. John
6:37.], with all assurance thathe will cleanse them from all sin [Note: 1 John

176. 1:7 Acts 13:39.], and bestow upon them freely all the blessings of grace and
glory [Note: John 4:10; John 7:37; John 7:28.]. Is all this a mere mockeryand
delusion? It surely is so, if Christ be not “able to save to the uttermost all that
come unto God by him [Note: Hebrews 7:25.].”]
3. To matter of fact—
[We can draw aside the veil of heaven, and point to some before the throne of
God, who are such monuments of grace as leave no doubt respecting the
sufficiency of Christ to save any others whatsoever. Beholdthat man, a
murderer; a murderer of no common stamp: he was not satisfiedwith
shedding the blood of a few of his fellow-creatures, orof those who were
deserving of death; but he “made the very streets of Jerusalemto run down
with blood, and that with the blood of innocents.” Moreover,this was but a
small part of the guilt he had contracted;so various and so enormous were his
crimes. Yet is he, even Manasseh, a chosenvessel, in whom Godis, and for
ever will be, glorified.
Seestthou that woman also? We know not the particulars of her conduct; but
she was so vile and notorious a sinner, that it was a disgrace to notice her, yea,
our Lord’s condescending to notice her was made a ground of doubting his
divine mission: nevertheless she also, though once possessedby seven devils, is
now in glory. She received, while yet upon earth, an assuredtestimony, from
our Lord himself, that her sins, numerous as they were, were all forgiven
[Note:Luke 7:47-48.]:and now is she singing the triumphs of redeeming love,
as loud as any in heaven.
We could easilyrefer to a multitude of others, whose enormities were beyond
all measure great, who nevertheless were “washed, justified, and sanctified, in
the name of the Lord Jesus, andby the Spirit of our God [Note: 1 Corinthians
6:9-11.].” But enough has been saidto put out of all question the blessedtruth
we are insisting on, namely, that Jesus is a Saviour, and a greatone, and able
to deliver all who trust in him [Note: Isaiah19:20.].]
Let us now turn our attention to,
II. What is expressed—
What solemn asseverations are these in the text! One would have supposed
that the former of them would have been quite sufficient: but the Apostle
thought no repetitions superfluous, nor any accumulation of words too strong,
on such a subject as this. Indeed, it is of infinite importance to every one of us
to know, that, as there is salvationfor us in Christ, so “there is no salvationin
any other.”

177. 1. There is not—
[In whom else can we find the requisitesof a Saviour?In whom canwe find a
sufficiency, either of merit to justify, or of power to renew, a sinner? If we
should apply to the highestangel in heaven to give us of his merit, he would
tell us that “he himself is only an unprofitable servant; for that he does no
more than is his duty to do [Note: Luke 17:10.].” If we should entreat him to
change our hearts, he would confess his utter inability to effectso great a
work. Shall we then look to ourselves? We are full of sin. Our merit is found—
where? not in heaventruly, but in the lake that burneth with fire and
brimstone [Note: Romans 3:19.]. “Norhave we in ourselves a sufficiencyeven
to think a good thought [Note: 2 Corinthians 3:5.];” much less to renew
ourselves afterthe Divine image. None but Jesus could atone for sin: none but
Jesus couldyield such an obedience to the law as should be capable of being
imputed to others: none but Jesus cansend down the Holy Spirit into the souls
of men, or say to them, “My grace is sufficient for you [Note: 2 Corinthians
12:9.]:” and therefore “there is no other name under heaven given among men
whereby we canbe saved.”
If there were any other Saviour, the most eminentof God’s servants wouldhave
had some intimation of it. Abraham, the friend of God, and the father of the
faithful, would probably have heard of him: but he knew of none other; for he
sought acceptance throughChrist alone, and was justified solely through faith
in him [Note:Romans 4:3-5.]. David too, the man after God’s own heart, who
was inspired to write so much respecting Christ, would probably have been
acquainted with such an important fact in order to his own salvation;but he
sought refuge in none but Christ; “Purge me with hyssop,” says he, “and I
shall be clean; washme, and I shall be whiter than snow [Note: Psalms
51:7.].” We might hope at leastthat some information of this kind would have
been given to the Apostle Paul, who was more fully instructed in the mind and
will of God than any other person: yet he knew of no other name but that of
Jesus;he renouncedall hope “in his own righteousness, thathe might be
found in Christ [Note: Philippians 3:9.];” and “he determined to insist on
nothing, in all his ministrations, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified [Note: 1
Corinthians 2:2.].”
Whether therefore we considerthe insufficiency of all the creatures to stand
in the place of a Saviour to us, or the utter ignorance of all the Prophets and
Apostles respecting the appointment of any creature to sustain that office, we
may be sure that there is none other than the Personmentioned in the text,
who is a man indeed, but is, at the same time, “Godover all blessedfor
evermore.”]

178. 2. There cannot be—
[We presume not to be wise above what is written; or to say what God might
have done if he had pleased:but we are fully warranted by the Scriptures to
say, that, consistentlywith God’s honour, as the Moral Governorof the
universe, man could not have been savedwithout a Mediator:nor could any
mediator besides Jesus have been found to execute all that was necessaryfor
our salvation. It was necessarythat the justice of God should be satisfiedfor
the violations of his law; that his holiness should be displayed in a marked
abhorrence of sin; that his truth should be kept inviolate by the execution of
his threatenings;and that his law should be honoured, as well by an obedience
to its precepts, as by an enduring of its penalties. Now none but Jesus, who
was God as well as man, could effectall these things, and therefore none but
he could save us.
But there is yet anotherground on which we may deny that any other could
save us; namely, that if we were indebted to any other, either for
righteousness orstrength, we could not join in the songs ofthe redeemedin
heaven, but must separate from the heavenly choir [Note: Revelation7:9-10.],
and ascribe to ourselves, orto some other, (inasmuch as we were indebted to
ourselves or them,) the honour of our salvation. And how would this comport
with the dignity of Jehovah, who has determined “that no flesh should glory in
his presence?” Itis in vain to say that the glory would ultimately accrue to
him: for if we be saved by, or for, any thing of our own, we may, and must, so
far take the glory to ourselves [Note: Romans 4:2.]: and that would create
discord in heaven, and be irreconcileable withthe honour of the Divine
Majesty.]
Address—
1. The careless—
[Wherefore are men so indifferent about their spiritual concerns? Is it that
they are in no danger of perishing? If that were the case, why is so much said
respecting salvation? and why are we cautionedso strongly againstrelying on
any but Jesus Christ? Surely the very circumstance of Christ being sent down
from heaven to die for us, is enough to alarm all our fears, and to convince us,
that, if the salvationoffered us could be procured by none but him, the danger
of those who are not interested in him must be inexpressibly great. Let the
carelessthen considerthis; and flee for refuge to the hope that is set before
them.]
2. The self-righteous—

179. [It is difficult to convince those who are looking to Christ in part, that they are
really renouncing Christ altogether. But the Scriptures are so plain on this
point, that there cannotbe the smallestdoubt respecting it. Salvationis “of
faith, on purpose that it may be by grace [Note:Romans 4:16.]:” and if it be,
whether in whole or in part, by our own works, it ceases to be of grace:it must
be wholly of grace, orwholly of works [Note: Romans 11:6.]: it must exclude
boasting altogether, or else admit it. But boasting must be excluded wholly
[Note:Romans 3:27.]: and therefore all dependence whatsoeveronour own
works must be wholly and for ever renounced[Note: Romans 3:8.]. If we will
not acceptsalvationon these terms, “Christ shall profit us nothing [Note:
Galatians 5:2; Galatians 5:4.].”]
3. The desponding—
[The person healedby Peterand John was a very fit emblem of our state by
nature and practice. “We are transgressorsfrom the womb.” But, desperate
as in appearance ourcondition is, there is in Jesus a sufficiency of power and
grace to make us whole: “his name, through faith in his name, shall give us a
perfect soundness in the presence” ofGod and man [Note: Acts 3:16; Acts
4:10.]. Let none complain as though they were beyond the reachof mercy: for
there is nothing impossible with Jesus:“with him there is mercy; with him is
plenteous redemption; and he shall redeem Israelfrom all his sins [Note:
Psalms 130:7-8.].”]
What Is Salvation
Acts 4:12
One of the common mistakes that we often make is assuming that people
know what we are talking about. I have a bad habit of thinking about
something and then saying something to Patassuming that she knew what I
was thinking. We need to realize that everyone may not understand our
terminology when we talk about the Lord.
A most important term is the word "salvation". The dictionary definition is as
follows:preservationor deliverance from destruction, danger, or great
calamity. A man is drowning, going down for the lasttime, a lifeguard dives
into the water and pulls him to safety;a child is trapped inside a burning
building and a fireman rushes in and rescues the child from certain death; or

180. a man is facing bankruptcy in his business and a friend gives him enough
money to prevent it from happening...allof these are examples of salvation.
But the salvation which Christ offers to a sinner involves much more than
this. It involves all that happens to a person from the time they trust Christ
until the time they meet Him face to face in glory.
I. Salvationis an Experience.
A. Something happens betweenGod and the sinner.
1. They meet eachother in a very real way.
2. The person places his faith in Christ and God forgives them.
3. If you have never had this experience, then you have never been
saved.
4. Note the Scriptures:
a. John 1:12
b. John 3:36
c. John 3:18
B. God takes the first step in salvation.
1. He calls sinners, sinners do not seek God.
2. When Adam, the first man, sinned we do not hear Adam crying
out to God for forgiveness.
3. As a matter of fact, Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves and it
was God who cried out to Adam, "Where art thou?" cf Ge. 3:9
4. When Jesus came into the world He said, "The Son of Man is come
to seek and to save that which was lost."
5. In John 6:44, Jesus said, "No man can come to me, except the
Father which hath sent me draw him."
C. We are savedwhen we respond to that drawing power.
1. We are lost if we refuse to come to Christ when He draws us.
2. The Holy Spirit convicts us, shows us our lost condition, and then
we respond to His convicting powerby exercising faith in Christ as
Savior.
3. Faith means trusting our lives to God.
a. We exercise faith every day of our lives.

181. b. We get on an airliner and trust our lives to the pilot and the
aircraft.
c. We get on an elevatorand trust the cables and motors.
d. Faith is a committal of our life to Christ.
4. Some time ago there was a serious forestfire in New Jersey.
a. Soldiers were sent in to help fight the fire.
b. Eighty soldiers found themselves trapped by the fire unable
to see there way out.
c. A plane flying overhead saw their plight and radioed this
messageto them.
d. There is only one way out and if they would follow him he
would lead them to safety.
5. That is exactly what the Lord wants us to do...He said, "I am
the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me." Jn 14:6
II. Salvationis an Expression.
A. The Word of God instructs us to make a public confessionofour faith in
Christ.
1. Some may saythat this just isn't necessary.
2. But God does not have any secretagents in His army.
3. We ought to want to declare our faith in Christ to others.
4. We will not hesitate to express our allegiance to a particular sports
team or political party.
B. Note Romans 10:9-11
1. We find here that salvationis an experience of the heart and an
expressionof the mouth.
2. In verse 11 the Scripture says that "Whosoeverbelieveth on Him
shall not be ashamed."
3. Someone who is ashamedto confess Christ to others may not have
experienceda change in their heart at all.
C. Other outward expressions of salvation.
1. Certainly we should desire to make a public professionof our faith
in Christ through obedience in the matter of baptism.

182. 2. However, there are other ways that we outwardly express our
faith.
3. We do so when we openly take a stand againstsin.
4. We do so when we witness to others about Christ.
5. We do so when we gathertogetherfor worship services.
6. We do so when we give of our means to meet the needs of others.
7. We do so when we getinvolved in ministering to others in a variety
of ways.
III. Salvation is an Expectation.
A. Life truly worth living.
1. All too often people get depressedand discouragedand say that
they have nothing to live for.
2. Unfortunately without Christ there is certainly nothing to look
forward to in this life or in eternity.
3. But for the believer, there is everything to look forward to.
4. Every day with Jesus is sweeterthan the day before!
B. A home in heaven awaits us.
1. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you."
2. There are two avenues that can lead home for the Christian.
3. One is the avenue of death:
a. One day we will say our lastword, breathe our lastbreath
and our eyes will close in death.
b. But praise God that won't be the end of it!
c. If we have been born again, redeemed by the blood of Jesus,
our body may be buried in a grave, but we will be with the
Lord!
d. To be absentfrom the body is to be presentwith the Lord.
4. The other avenue is the return of Jesus Christ.
a. The Word of God tells us that He will come in the air and
catchawaythose who are in Christ.
b. We call it the rapture.
c. "The dead in Christ shall rise first, Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up togetherwith them in the clouds

183. to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the
Lord." 1 Th. 4:16
What is salvation? It is an experience betweenan individual and the Lord. It
involves an expressionof our faith in Christ. And it means an expectationof
what the Lord has in store for us in the future.
Have you trusted Jesus Christas your Savior? Have you publicly confessed
Him before others? Are you looking forward to His coming or your going?
Christian, are you living a life that exalts the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you
pointing others to Him? Whatever your need today the invitation is for you to
come and meet God.
http://www.brandonweb.com/sermons/sermonpages/acts13.htm
The Only Name Acts 4:1-12
This entry was postedin Acts (Rayburn) on October25, 2015 by Rev. Dr.
Robert S. Rayburn.
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Acts 4:1-12
We read these verses lasttime and, indeed, to the end of the paragraph at v.
22. This morning we read the first twelve verses againin order to pay
attention to Peter’s monumentally important statementin v. 12. As I
commented on the text lastLord’s Day morning, I’ll read these verses without
comment this morning.

184. Before I say anything else let me draw your attention to the context of Peter’s
remark in v. 12. He was explaining to the religious leadershipthat it was by
the name of Jesus ofNazareth that the lame man was healedof his congenital
deformity. Jesus whom they had crucified but whom God raisedfrom the
dead was alive and welland at work in the world by his Holy Spirit. The one
they had rejected, – most of those men to whom Peterhad been speaking had
been involved in the crime of the Lord’s murder – the Author of life (Peter’s
description of Jesus in the sermon in chapter 3, the sermon that had gothim
arrested), is nothing less than the hope of salvationfor every human being on
the face of the earth. The galactic blunder of these men was that they rejected,
indeed had murdered the only one who could get them to heaven!
That is clearenough. But Peter surely did not realize that with this remark
made to the Sanhedrin he had begun a theologicaldiscussion among
Christiansand Christian theologians thatcontinues to our day. I’m sure he
thought his conclusionobvious and unavoidable. To be sure, Peteris hardly
the only one to have said such a thing. In fact, taking the Bible as a whole, it is
neither an unusual nor a controversialstatement.
Jesus himself said what would seemto be virtually the same thing. In John
14:6 we read his famous remark: “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” So
far so good. But he went on to say, “no one comes to the Father butby me.”
There is Peter’s “salvationin no one else,” but on the lips of the Savior
himself.
Paul makes the same point in his own way.
“There is one Godand one mediator betweenGod and man, the man
Christ Jesus.”[I Tim. 2:5]
And in Acts 20:21 he summarized his message:
“I have declaredto both Jews andGentiles that they must turn to God
in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Indeed, Paul says that God’s instructions to him, at his conversionwere
preciselythese: “I am sending you to [the Gentiles]to open their eyes and turn
them from darkness to light, and from the powerof Satan to God, so that they
may receive forgiveness ofsins and a place among those who are sanctifiedby
faith in me.”
This fact, that salvationcan only be found in Jesus and by faith in him only, is
made the basis of the church’s evangelistic witness andmissionary obligation.
The reasonwe must getthe gospelto the world is preciselybecause unless

185. peoplebelievein Jesus they cannot be saved. Is this not what Paul said with
what would seemto be unmistakable emphasis?
“Foreveryone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How
then will they callon him in whom they have not believed? And how are
they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are
they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach
unless they are sent?” [Rom. 10:13-15]
Paul’s logic is irresistible. If men and women must believe in Jesus then they
must hear about Jesus so that they canbelieve in him. Untold multitudes of
Christian men and women have left their homes and families and undertaken
dangerous journeys to distant parts of the world preciselybecause they
understood in their minds and felt in their hearts the inescapable obligationto
make sure that people hearof Jesus so that they might be saved. Countless
numbers of them have given their lives to get the goodnews to those who had
not yet heard. And everywhere they went, people believed and were saved,
until the Christian church is everywhere in the world!
Searchthe Scriptures high and low and you will not find, no one has ever
found a reasonto believe that people have been or canbe savedapart from
the saving work of Jesus Christ and apart from faith in him. This is why
evangelismat home and abroad is the greatcalling of the church.
But it remains a hard thing to believe, does it not, that no one canbe saved
apart from faith in Jesus Christ? And doesn’tit become harder the more we
travel, the more people we meet whom we like but who do not know the Lord
Jesus Christ and have not believed in his name? What of all those human
beings who lived and died in the world without once ever hearing the name of
Jesus Christ? Can we believe that they must all be lost? Well, it is easierfor a
Calvinist to answerthat question, because we understand the Bible to teach
that in any and every case the salvationof a human being is the gift of God’s
grace and the work of his power. That is, no one everfailed to find salvation
because he or she didn’t have a chance to believe!Unless that personwas an
objectof God’s saving love, unless Christ had gone to cross for that person’s
sins, and unless the Holy Spirit had been sent into his or her heart to open it to
the truth, that person would never be saved, no matter how often or how
clearly he or she heard the gospeland no matter how many times someone
urged him or her to believe in Jesus. We know that not only from the
emphatic teaching of the Bible but from our own experience.
It is not the hearing of the gospelby itself that makes a man or a womana
Christian. Millions upon millions of people have heard the gospelto no effect.

186. They have been urged to believe in Jesus and refused. They have receivedthe
news of Christ and his cross with indifference in some cases, positive
repugnance in others. They have knownChristian people, even attended
Christian churches, they may even have a Bible of their own, but they might
as well have lived on the moon, utterly cut off from human civilization for all
the goodhearing the gospeldid them.
No human being has a claim on God’s grace. There are no human beings who
want to submit their lives to God, who would love to believe in Jesus Christ
apartfrom the Spiritand the grace of God working in their hearts. What does
the Bible say? There is no one, left to himself, not a one, not a single human
being who seeks afterGod;no one who does what is good. The heathen man
or woman in some distant land who seeksafterGod, who does everything he
possibly can to find God with the light that he has, does everything that he can
to please God to the extent that he knows God, I say that person doesn’t exist.
On the other hand, reading the Bible we are given to understand that if there
were a person anywhere in the world, in any period of human history, whom
God intended to save, whom Christ had redeemed, and whose heartthe Spirit
was going to change, God would make sure that the gospelgotto that man or
woman so that he or she might believe in Jesus and be saved. Indeed, if it took
moving entire civilizations out of the wayto getone evangelistor one
missionary to that man or woman, Godwould have seento it. Such is the
history of Christian missions!
Acts, after all, is the opening chapter of that glorious history. First Peter, then
Paul would travel hither and yon taking the goodnews of Jesus and salvation
to people who had never heard of Jesus or of the salvationthat could be
obtained only by trusting in his name. Why did they undertake such an
arduous life? Why did they risk their health and safetyat every turn? To
bring men and women the news of salvationin Jesus Christ so that they might
be saved. Or, as Paul once put it, “that by all means I might save some.” [1
Cor. 9:22]
Having said all that, clearlyas the gospelimperative is taught in Holy
Scripture, clearly as its logic is workedout in the church’s evangelistic and
missionary enterprise, it may surprise you to learn that there has always been
among some Christians the hope that people who never heard of Jesus Christ
and certainly never believed in him might somehow be saved.
In our relativist day, of course, it is widely assumedthat such an exclusive
messageas Peterpreachedand Paul, and even Jesus would, of course, be
rejectedby intelligent people as hopelesslyout-of-date and repugnant to

187. modern sensibilities. Who were these people to suppose that they aloneknew
the wayto God and that everyone else was wrong? How arrogant!How
condescending!Don’t they understand that all religions are equally valid
manifestations of man’s searchfor God? Do they not realize that truth is a
highly individual matter and that what is true for one may not be true for
another? Those men lived so long ago that they never appreciated the
fact/value distinction which is now a cornerstone ofour modern Western
worldview. They never realized that facts are what science alone canteachus
but that religious beliefs are mere opinions, a wayof our coping with the
unknown, opinions to which all men have an equal right and concerning
which no one can judge.
Well, that is right. Neither Jesus nor Peter acceptedthat religious knowledge
is not true knowledge.Theyboth believed that in religion as in science itis
possible to be right and equally possible to be wrong. What is more it was
obvious to them that being wrong in religion was far more dangerous than
being wrong in other areas of human knowledge.
What is more they would tell us, as many wiserpeople do in our own day, that
the fact/value distinction, the notion that concerning God, salvation, and the
eternal future we canhave only personalopinions, only preferences, nottrue
knowledge is absurd. Either Jesus came out of the tomb alive, or he didn’t.
There is either a final judgment of human life or there isn’t. Jesus is either the
saviorof the world or he isn’t. And if he did rise did from the dead – as he did
–, if there is a last judgment, and if Jesus is the only one who can rescue us
from condemnation at that judgment, then obviously there is sure and certain
knowledge aboutsalvationand how to obtain it, as certainas any other
knowledge that we possessand terribly more important!
The fact/value distinction is a fantasy. The distinction betweenscientific
knowledge and religious knowledge is a modern dream. The fact is, we are as
frequently wrong about so calledscientific knowledge as we are about
religious knowledge. If God made all things; if he made us, if he sent his Son
into the world for our salvation;if he calls on all men to repent and believe in
Jesus Christ; if the issue of human life is to be settledat the last judgment;
that is knowledge, pureand simple, ashard as rock and as clear as glass. The
fact/value distinction is nothing more than comforting nonsense for a culture
that wishes to do what it pleases without worrying about the consequences.
This world is God’s world. We are his creatures. We have rebelled against
him and are guilty of persistentand willing violations of his law. In his great
love God sent his Son, Jesus Christinto the world to save sinners, which he
did by suffering the penalty of their sins on the cross and rising from the dead.

188. He calls upon all men everywhere to repent and believe in his Son. That is the
messageofthe Bible. And that is the truth in the same way that it is true
wateris two atoms molecules ofhydrogen and one of oxygen or that the earth
revolves around the sun.
Obviously if this is true, if God himself entered the world he had made, took
upon himself a human nature, and suffered and died for his rebellious
creatures, there is not some other wayfor people to be reconciled to God! God’s
way – a way of such titanic achievement and that costhim so dearly – must, in
the nature of the case, be not only the right way, it must be the onlyway of
salvation, the only way to obtain eternal life.
About that believers in the Word of God have almostalways been in
agreement. There is and can be no salvationapartfrom the work of Jesus
Christ. Nevertheless,there has always beendebate about the possibility of
people being savedby Christ who never heard of Jesus Christand never put
their faith in his name.
I’m not talking about wishful thinking here. There have been, to be sure,
those who cherishedthe hope that at the last everyone would be saved. They
did not doubt that they would be savedby the work of Christ but that in some
way all would finally be found in heaven. Some goodmen have held this view,
the church father Origenchief among them, though the Christian church has
always repudiated it as unbiblical, as it certainly is. The Bible teaches not only
that there is a last judgment but that many will condemned in that judgment,
not only that there is such a place and condition as hell, but that many will be
found there at the end. This is said many times in the Bible in many ways,
indeed the Bible doesn’t hesitate to say that there are many alreadyin hell.
Nor am I speaking of Christian thinkers through the ages, menwho should
have known better, who have imagined that Plato or Cicero or Seneca were
Christians because they had such high-minded ethics, or who, like Karl
Rahner, the 20th
century Roman Catholic theologian, who imagined classesof
so-called“anonymous Christians” who were supposed to be followers of Jesus
although they themselves believed that they were devoted Buddhists or
Muslims. These views are utterly lacking biblical support and threaten to
undermine any sense ofobligation to evangelize the world. If you can be a
Christian as a Muslim, as a Buddhist, as a Hindu, why, pray tell, do you need
to be a Christian at all? The Bible would not read as it does if such a thing
were possible.
We must certainly rejectthe notion that there are some unbelieving men or
women who are savedeven without the knowledge ofChrist because of their

189. virtueor because theydo the best with the light they have. That idea has often
surfaced, as in Dante’s Paradiso(xix, 66ff.)when the poet puts this question to
the eagle:
A man
Is born on Indus’ banks, and none is there
Who speaks ofChrist, nor who doth read or write;
And all his inclinations and his acts,
As far as human reasonsees,are good;
And he offendeth not in word or deed;
But unbaptized he dies, and void of faith.
Where is the justice that condemns him?
But the Bible emphatically denies that any such person exists or ever has
existed. Man is not virtuous – even as his life is viewedonly from the outside
by other human beings; he is not virtuous – he is sinful and selfish. What is
more he doesn’t do the best he can with the light he has. He has knowledge of
God in his soul but he suppresses thatknowledge and does not live according
to it. He knows the goodand doesn’t do it. He knows that there is a true and
living God but does not revere him. As Bernard of Clairvaux tartly put it:
“Many laboring to make Plato a Christian do prove themselves to be
heathens.” [Cited in John Owen, Works, X, 111]
But that there may be others who are savedwho have never expressedor been
able to express faith in and love for Jesus has been acknowledgedby even the
best and most faithful of Christian theologians. Theywould say that while
what Petersays here is undoubtedly true, that there can be no salvation apart
from Jesus Christ, Christ’s salvation may sometimes be granted without
conscious faithin Christ’s name.
The obvious example of such a class ofpeople or such a situation is the
children of Christian parents who die in infancy, who never reachedthe point
where they could understand the gospelor articulate their own faith in Jesus.
That the infant children of true believers in Jesus who die in infancy are saved
our church has never doubted. It is the inevitable implication of the Lord’s
promise to his people, repeatedso many times in Holy Scripture, “I will be
your God and the God of your children after you.” There canbe no doubt
that such infants are savedby the grace of God and the work of Christ, but
they certainly died without a visible faith in Christ. That conviction is so
settled in the Reformed tradition that it is found expressedin the great

190. confessionsofthe ReformedChurch: in the canons of the Synod of Dort and
in the WestminsterConfession of Faith.
But if they, what of others? What of the infant children of unbelievers who die
in infancy. After all, through the ages thathas been an enormous number of
such human beings, probably larger than the total number of human beings
who ever reachedadulthood in those past times. Reformed theologians have,
by and large, spokencautiouslybut have not denied the possibility. The great
Dutch Reformed theologianVoetius, the John Owenof the Dutch Puritans in
the 17th
century, expressedhis opinion this way: “As to whether they are lost
or some among them are electand were regeneratedbefore they died, I would
not wish to deny nor am I able to affirm.” Many have followedhim in saying
something similar. They are cautious because the Bible does not give us an
answerto that question, but they cherish the hope of the salvation of some, if
not many such little children.
But if we may have hope for such infants, may we also cherish the same hope
for others, for those who are mentally ill or otherwise incapable of
understanding the gospel, and perhaps even for some among the unbelieving
masses ofhumanity in general? Again, there has been a willingness to believe
that it is at leastpossible that some are savedby Christ who have never known
of his saving work and who were never summoned to believe in his name. The
Second HelveticConfession, a very important early ReformedCreed, reads:
“At the same time we recognize that God can illuminate whom and
when he will, even without the external ministry, for that is in his
power.” [Art. I]
Indeed, you would be hard pressedto find a Reformedtheologianof note who
is unwilling to saythat, at the very least, itis possiblethat some are saved
apart from their knowledge ofthe gospeland their active faith in Jesus Christ.
One of the strictestof all Reformed theologians, JeromeZanchius was willing
to say:
“…it is not indeed improbable that some individuals in…unenlightened
countries may belong to the secretelectionofgrace and the habit of
faith may be wrought in them.”
By habit of faith, Zanchius meant the Latin habitus, a technicaltheological
term for the inward disposition of the heart to believe in Christ, a disposition
which the Holy Spirit creates by regenerationor the new birth, a disposition
that may exist before there is any knowledge ofChrist, as it often does in the
case ofthe infant children of believers.” Zanchius was saying that people

191. might have that God-given disposition of faith without the actual exercise of
faith.
It is a question one must approach very carefully, because we all find
ourselves wishing that it might be true that many more people are savedthan
we fear may be the case. We too feelthe burden of the judgment of the
unbelieving world. Christians, more than others, precisely because they believe
in the existence of hell, want as few as possible finally to be there. What is
more, it is perfectly obvious that Holy Scripture does not address this
question. Theologiansare cautious because theyknow they are speculating!
The questions we ask ourselves andone another: how about these people?
What of those people? The Bible does not answer. It never speaks directlyof
the possibility of people being saved without the knowledge ofChrist. If God
has chosento be silent, we must be carefulnot to speak as if somehow we
knew what God alonecan know.
What is more, the urgency of the gospelproclamationin the New Testament
very clearly rests on the absolute necessityof people coming to put their faith
and trust in Jesus Christ. Any thought that people are being savedin large
numbers around the world apart from personalfaith in Jesus Christmust be
rejectedpreciselybecause sucha belief must in the nature of the case
undermine what the Bible plainly teaches:that we must tell people of Christ
because they must believe in him to be saved. Paul and the other New
Testamentwriters obviously did not think that the peoples of the world were
being saved without the knowledge ofJesus Christ and his cross and
resurrection. It was preciselythat conviction – that people musthear the good
news– a conviction basedon the clearestteaching ofthe Bible that propelled
them and the generations who followedthem to the far corners of the earth.
On the other hand, it is certainly a striking thing that even our most
conservative theologians have not denied the possibility that some people may
have been savedwithout any personalknowledge ofthe gospelofJesus Christ.
If so they would have been savedby Christ, to be sure – Peteris absolutely
clearthat no one can be savedby any other name, that there is but one savior
of sinners – but savedwithoutknowledgeof his name.
I tell you frankly that I am not persuaded that we should believe it possible for
someone to be saved– particularly for some adult to be saved – apart from the
knowledge ofJesus Christ, his cross, andhis resurrection. However, the fact
that so many great Christian minds have at leastremained open to that
possibility gives me pause. Not just the church fathers, but the Reformers, the
American Presbyterians, and the greatpreachers of our Christian faith. Here,
for example, is John Donne.

192. “To me, to whom God hath revealedhis Son, in a Gospel, by a Church,
there can be no wayof salvation, but by applying that Sonof God, by
that Gospel, in that Church. Nor is there any other foundation for any,
nor any other name by which any can be saved, but the name of Jesus.
But how this foundation is presented, and how this name of Jesus is
[made known] to them, amongstwhom there is no Gospelpreached, no
Church established, I am not curious in inquiring. I know God canbe as
merciful as those tender [Church] Fathers present him to be; and I
would be as charitable as they are. And therefore…Ileave God to his
unsearchable ways of working upon others, without further [inquiry].”
[Cited from his Sermons, vol. IV, 77-78, by D. Kelly, Systematic
Theology, I, 222]
God is mighty love; he is also perfect justice. We leave the matter in his all
capable hands. What we take from Peteris what we know his words mean and
mustmean. There is no other way for sinners, guilty before God, to be
reconciledto God than through the sacrificialdeath of the Son of God and
there is no one who can reconcile them to God except the risen and glorified
Son, Jesus Christ.
In that sense, this is and must remain in all ages and in our age the scandalof
our faith as Christians. We do believe, we must believe that there is no
salvationin anyone else, by any other means. To believe otherwise would be to
deny Christ, his cross, his resurrectionfrom the dead, and his coming againto
judge the living and the dead.
In this sense, the Bible is intolerant, as all truth must be intolerant of error.
What we are taught in the Word of God and what the Gospelof Jesus Christ
demands that we believe is that the truth lies behind us in one name, one
person, and one complex historicalevent: the incarnation, life, ministry,
death, resurrection, and ascensionofJesus Christ the Sonof God. The
inexorable logic of Peter’s statement, as the Anglican Archbishop William
Temple once expressedit is that the gospelis true for all or it is not true at all.
Jesus Christ is the savior of sinners because only the God/man suffering and
dying for sin could deliver us from our guilt and satisfy the justice of God on
our behalf.
People so desperatelyneed to know that that Peterwas willing to tell it to the
Sanhedrin even though he knew very well they would hate him for saying it.
Some truth is simply too important to keepto oneself!

193. There Is Salvationin No One Else
• Resource by
John Piper
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• Scripture: Acts 4:1–12 Topic:The Gospel
And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of
the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, annoyed because they
were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection
from the dead. And they arrestedthem and put them in custody until
the morrow, for it was alreadyevening. But many of those who heard
the word believed; and the number of the men came to about five
thousand. On the morrow their rulers and elders and scribes were
gatheredtogetherin Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and
Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high priestly
family. And when they had setthem in the midst, they inquired, "By
what power or by what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with
the Holy Spirit, saidto them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are

194. being examined today concerning a gooddeed done to a cripple, by
what means this man has been healed, be it knownto you all, and to all
the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christof Nazareth, whom
you crucified, whom God raisedfrom the dead, by him this man is
standing before you well. This is the stone which was rejectedby you
builders, but which has become the head of the corner. And there is
salvationin no one else, forthere is no other name under heaven given
among men by which we must be saved."
RadicallyContradictory Claims on Our Lives
l "
The Star TribunecalledattentionFriday to a change in Saddam Hussein's
rhetoric from a secularstrategistto a Muslim zealot: "With the outbreak of
war, some sense analmost messianic tone—particularlyin his speech
Thursday after the first wave of allied bombing raids, using images of
PresidentBush as Satanand courageousIraqis as 'descendants ofprophets
and believers.'"
What this does is make more and more clearthat in this global village called
earth, where we canfollow minute by minute developments in a war half way
around the world, there are powerful and radically contradictory claims being
made on our lives. Is our president Satan? Are zealous and patriotic Muslim
Iraqis the true sons of the prophets and the true believers? This is another
way of saying: Is Allah, as he is knownin Islam, the one true God, and is
Mohammed a true prophet whose writings are the final decisive revelationfor
faith and life? Or another way to put it: Is the Muslim religion another valid
pathway to salvation and heaven?
A Radically Pluralistic Age
l "
Let's be clear, I am not saying that this war is a conflict betweenChristianity
and Islam. I do not see America as a Christian nation. I do not see
Christianity embodied in any nation or any ethnic group. One of the glories of
our faith is that there is no geographic center. There is no holy shrine. There
is no national identity. We are aliens and exiles on the earth out of step with
every human authority and institution, even when we submit to them for
Christ's sake. And we come from every race and all socialstrata and every
nation. This is not a war of Christians againstMuslims.
But it is a war with powerful religious impulses. PresidentBush did call Billy
Graham. Hussein did kneel on his prayer rug. And he does want to castthis

195. war in terms of a holy war. But all I am saying now is that this factmakes
more plain than ever that our world is radically pluralistic. There are
contradictory religions calling for absolute allegiance.
This pluralism is more and more manifest in our own land as well. The old
consensus thatenabled us to function with some coherencyof moral
expectationin our legaland socialsystemis rapidly disappearing. And what
we are finding is that the new atmosphere of pluralism is not a tolerance ofall
views, but rather a new secularorthodoxy. There is in its claim to tolerance an
emphatic discrimination againstold views that threaten the morally empty
relativism of today. This is the atmosphere—a hostile atmosphere—inwhich
we will more and more have to live as Christians and bear witness to Jesus—
the absolute uniqueness of Jesus, the global uniqueness and supremacy of
Jesus.
That is what today's text is about. And it is extremely relevant. Globally
relevant! At this moment.
A Healing with Global Implications
Let's recapwhat is happening in Acts. In chapter3 the risen Jesus heals a
man through the faith and words of Peterand John. The man had been lame
from birth, but he gets up and runs through the temple praising God. A
crowdgathers and Peterpreaches. As he preaches, youhear that what is at
stake here is not a merely a localreligious phenomenon. It has to do with
everybody in the world.
For example, Peter says things like this: the Jesus who healed this man is "the
Author of life" (3:15); he was raised from the dead by God (3:15); he is the
fulfillment of 1,500-year-oldprophecy (3:22); he is waiting now in heaven
until the time when he will come and restore all things to what Godmeant
them to be (3:21); and in the meantime "all the families of the earth are to be
blessed" through him (3:25)—including families from Iraq and Saudi Arabia
and Israeland America and the USSR. This little out of the way healing that
took place in Jerusalemhas globalsignificance. Jesusis no tribal god. He is
the Author of all life and the Lord of the universe.
Peterand John Arrested and Interrogated
l "
At this point Acts 4:1 says that the priests and the captain of the temple and
the Sadducees came andarrestedPeterand John and put them into custody
overnight. They were angry because PeterandJohn were telling everybody
that Jesus was alive and that they could rise from the dead too if they believed

196. in Jesus. In fact verse 4 says that the number of the disciples increasedto
5,000—that'swhatcan happen after two sermons when the power of the Holy
Spirit is poured out in fullness.
From Local to Universal
The next morning the rulers and elders and scribes gatherand interrogate
Peterand John. Verse 7: "By what power or by what name did you do this
[that is, heal this man]?" Now watch how Petermoves againfrom the localto
the universal. Verse 10:"Be it known to you all," Petersays, "that by the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, whom God raised from
the dead, by him this man is standing before you well." So Peterstarts with
the offensive fact that Jesus is from a particular, localvillage that nobody
expectedany goodto come from—Nazareth. "Can anything goodcome out of
Nazareth?" Worse yet, this Jesus was less than a localnobody. He was such a
menace you crucified as a criminal. He's gota common name, Jesus, (Joshfor
short!); he's from a no count town, Nazareth; he was executedlike a common
murderer. That's who healedthis man. This very Jesus.
Becausehe is alive. And now the unheard of claim comes out: "God raised
him from the dead." Now that is not so localanymore. Because Godis not
local. God is universal. God knows everything and is everywhere and runs the
world. If God took note of this man and raisedhim from the dead, then there
is something very non-local, non-provincial, something very globalabout who
he is and what he does.
Then (in verse 11)Peter uses the words of Psalm118:22 to saythe same thing
in a word picture: "This is the stone which was rejectedby you builders, but
which has become the head of the corner." If you compare the kingdom of
God to a building, then the builders are the religious leaders. Theyexamined
the stone calledJesus of Nazarethto see if he could be a brick in the wallof
truth. They said No and rejectedhim and threw him out as unusable. But
God, the main architect, came along and saw the stone lying in the grave and
picked him up and made him not only a brick in the wall, but the head of the
corner—the chief stone in the building. Men rejectedJesus as a merely local
menace with no significance beyond the killing hill of Golgotha. But God has
made Jesus the universal head over all his house. As Acts 2:36 says:God has
made him both Lord and Christ."
Jesus as the Only Way of Salvation
Peterdraws out the implication of this universal lordship of Jesus in verse 12:
"There is salvationin no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved." Since God raisedJesus of

197. Nazarethfrom the dead and since God has made him head overall his
house—overall the kingdom and all the redeemed—therefore Jesusis now the
only way to heaven, and the confessionof his name is the only hope of
salvationfrom sin and judgment.
We need to feel the force of this universal claim in our pluralistic age. "There
is salvationin no one else!" Do you really mean no one, Peter? Or are you just
speaking in a limited Jewishcontext—onlyamong the Jews there is no other
way to heaven than their true Messiah?No, he says, the reasonthere is
salvationin no one else is that "there is no other name under heaven [not just
no other name in Israel, but no other name under heaven, including the
heaven over Iraq and the heaven over America] given among men [not just
among Jews, but among humans] by which we must be saved."
No Other Name
But there is even more here that we need to see. Sometimes people will say,
"Yes, Jesus is the only source ofsalvation, but you don't have to know him in
order to benefit from the salvationhe offers. In other words, if you are a
faithful Muslim or Hindu or Jew or animist, you will be savedby Jesus. There
is salvationin no one else, but you don't have to believe on him in order to be
savedby him."
But that is not what Peter meant. Peterfocusedon the NAME of Jesus.
"There is no other NAME under heavenby which we must be saved." He is
saying something more than that there is no other source of saving power that
you canbe savedby under some OTHER name. The point of saying, "There is
no other NAME," is that we are saved by calling on the name of the Lord
Jesus. His name is our entrance into fellowship with God. The way of
salvationby faith is a way that brings glory to the name of Jesus. Petersays in
Acts 10:43, "Every one who believes in him receives forgivenessofsins
through his name." The name of Jesus is the focus of faith and repentance. In
order to believe on Jesus forthe forgiveness ofsins, you must believe on his
name. That is, you must have heard of him and know who he is as a particular
man who did a particular saving work and rose from the dead.
Paul put it this way in Romans 10:13–15:"Everyone who calls on the name of
the Lord will be saved. But how are men to call upon him in whom they have
not believed and how are they to believe in him of whom they have never
heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how are they to
preach unless they are sent?" There is salvationin no one else—andthat
means there must be missionaries, who make him known by name so that

198. people canbelieve and callon his name for salvation. Jesus is the way, the
truth, and the life, apart from him no one comes to the Father(John 14:6).
A Truth That Either Makes Converts orEnemies
Peterpushed the universality of Jesus from the no-count town of Nazareth as
far as it could be pushed. Jesus is absolutely unique. He is absolutelysupreme
among all the gods and lords of the world religions. Knowing him and
believing on his name is absolutelynecessaryfor salvation. For since the cross
and resurrectionthere is no other way to God and to heaven. Therefore, as
Paul says in Acts 17:30–31,"Godcommands all men everywhere to repent,
because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness
by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all
men by raising him from the dead."
This is a fundamental biblical fact that we have to come to terms with if we
aim to be biblical Christians in a pluralistic nation and a pluralistic world. It's
the kind of truth that either makes converts or makes enemies. It is not a live-
and-let-live truth.
What Does It Call for in Our Lives?
l "
1. Understanding
It calls for understanding—the understanding of our faith. If there are not
many ways to God, but only one way, then the highest priority in life is to
understand what that way is and to follow it. If all sincere roads lead to
heaven, then understanding the road you are on to make sure it is the right
one is not very important. The supremacy of Christ as the only way to God
calls for understanding.
2. Courage
It calls for courage. The uniqueness and supremacy of Jesus Christis the
cause ofall Christian martyrdom. There is no point in dying for one faith if
another will lead you to God. What gets you killed is believing that reality is
one way and not another way. So when the state says:"Confessthat Caesaris
Lord," or: "Confessthat Allah is the one true God and Mohammed is his
prophet," the Christian says, "I will not and I cannot." Why? BecauseCaesar
is not Lord and Mohammed is not a true prophet. Jesus is Lord, and Jesus
alone.
3. A RadicalInterpretation of the War in the Middle East

199. This truth of the uniqueness and supremacyof Jesus calls fora radical
interpretation of war in the Middle East. Is there a war going on in Saudi
Arabia and Iraq and Israel? No, there are two wars.
One is being fought with cruise missiles and scud missiles and fighters and
bombers. It is not a war betweenChristians and Muslims. The greatmajority
of the American and allied troops are secularrelativists who believe less in
Jesus Christ than the Muslims believe in Mohammed. This war is betweena
Muslim state and secularstates. Itis a warabout national boundaries, the
rights of nations, the security of states, andthe availability of natural
resources.It is not a confrontation of Christianity and Islam.
But there is another war going on. A far more important one. A war for the
hearts of men and women. The stakesare higher because they are eternallife
or eternal judgment. The war is not being fought with missiles and bombers
and tanks. Norany other material weapon. It's being fought on the Christian
side with the weapons of love: prayer, faith, spiritual wisdom, sacrifice, and
the glorious goodnews of Jesus Christ. The Christian goalis salvationfor
Arab peoples. The war is being fought on the Muslim side in Iraq and Saudi
Arabia with oppressionand anti-Christian state sanctions.
In Iraq, Patrick Johnstone says (in Operation World, p. 242), "It is virtually
impossible for a Muslim to confess Christ and live." No open Christian
witness is allowed. Missionarieswere expelledin 1969. 14,000Christians fled
the country between1972 and 1977. There are 12 million Arabs, 2.8 million
Kurds, and numerous minority groups in Iraq without Christ and without
hope.
Saudi Arabia is one of the leastevangelizednations of the world. There are no
known Christian believers among the Saudis, no Christian workers are
allowedto enter the country, and no Christian is even allowedto set footin
the city of Mecca. Christianliterature and Bibles are banned. And expatriate
Christians live under strict surveillance. Tenmillion Muslims in Saudi Arabia
live without Christ and without the hope of eternallife.
BecauseJesus Christis the only hope of the world, and "there is salvationin
no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by
which we must be saved."
There are two wars going on in the Middle East. The one threatens the earthly
life of thousands. The other seeks the eternallife of millions. Does not God
want to deal with us this morning about how utterly preoccupiedwe are with
the one war, and how relatively ignorant and indifferent we are about the
other?

200. OUR DAILY BREAD
Christ believed is salvationreceived.
Read:Acts 4:1-12 | Bible in a Year: Psalms 33-34;Acts 24
Whoevercalls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. —Romans 10:13
A book in my library describes a marshal in Napoleon’s army who was
completely devoted to the emperor. One day the marshal was mortally
wounded in battle. As he lay dying in his tent, he calledfor Napoleon, who
sooncame.
The officerthought the emperor could save his life. But Napoleonjust shook
his head and turned away. The book describes the tragic scene:“As the dying
man felt the cold, merciless hand of death drawing him irresistibly behind the
curtain of the unseenworld, he was still heard to shriek out, ‘Save me,
Napoleon!Save me!'” In the hour of death, that soldier discoveredthat even
Napoleoncould not rescue him.
Similarly, when a person seeksdeliverance from spiritual death, he finds that
no human being has the powerto save—no minister of the gospel, no priest,
not even those who are greatprayer warriors. Only Jesus cansave a soul. The
Bible says, “Noris there salvationin any other, for there is no other name
under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Have you askedJesus to save you? If not, do it now! He always answers those
who plead for His mercy and put their trust in Him. He is the only One who
saves.
There is no other name on earth
By whom salvation's given
Save Jesus Christ the Lamb of God,
God's precious gift from heaven. —Stairs
PHIL NEWTON
NO OTHER NAME

201. ACTS 4:1-12
JULY 7, 1996
The use of a name conveys meaning to those who hear it. For instance, if you
use the name, Adolf Hitler, certain negative feelings of uneasiness and disgust
arise. The name of Winston Churchill immediately brings to mind positive
feelings of statesmanship, courage, and impassioned speeches. But when you
mention the name of Jesus Christ the Lord, there can be a multitude of
reactions, both positively and negatively.
While some of the religious leaders mentioned in our text were afraid to even
mention the name of Jesus Christ, the disciples boldly proclaimed Jesus
Christ and the gospel which represents Him and His saving work. It is only
through the name of Jesus Christ that you can be made whole for all eternity.
His name represents the entire revelation of Jesus Christ and His saving work.
Though His name has been cursed by kings, blasphemed by multitudes, and
misused by charlatans, we gladly proclaim to you today that there is salvation
in no other name than Jesus Christ! This is the gospelwe preach.
The gospel is synonymous with the Person and work of Jesus Christ, along
with His invitation to repent and believe. Let us see how this name, that is, the
gospel of Jesus Christ, confronted the lostness of mankind with a solitary
hope.
I. An attempt to silence the message ofthe gospelvv. 1-4
After the healing of the lame beggar, Peter used the interest of the multitudes
for an opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. The central message
of the death and resurrection of Christ stirred the minds of the crowd. Peter
called for repentance and returning to God through faith in the name of Jesus
Christ. Obviously, there was a deep stirring of the Holy Spirit in their midst.
Peter and John continued "speaking to the people," according to the first
verse of our text. They were probably answering questions and giving further
exhortations concerning the need for the hearers to come to Jesus Christ.
It was in the middle of such a gospel-dialogue that a group of priests and
Sadducees came suddenly upon them to thwart their work of evangelization.
These were the main religious leaders of the nation. Twenty-four groups of
priests served in rotation for the temple duties. The captain of the temple
guard was one of the priests who was considered second in authority only to
the high priest. The Sadducees made up one of the four parties of religious
leaders in Israel (along with Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots). They denied the
supernatural, denied the resurrection of the dead, and believed that Israel had
been in the Messianic age since the time of the Maccabeans 150 years earlier.

202. They saw no need for a Messiah and were offended by the apostolic message
of the gospel. Their interest was simply to maintain their political power by
not rocking the boat with the Romangovernment.
It was in this setting that we see the attempt by the religious leaders to silence
the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We find such attempts to be
repulsive! Yet that is still the pattern by governments and religious authorities
who have not believed the gospel of Christ. Hardly a week goes by that I do
not read of some political or religious body in the world trying its best to rid
its jurisdiction of Christianity. Why does this happen?
1. The gospeldisturbs v. 2
There is a sense in which this scene is almost comical. Peter and John boldly
proclaim the gospel, the people hang onto every word showing a great
interest, then the religious leaders jump into the story with all of their
outrage. They were red in the face, veins in the neck were protruding, eyes
were full of rage, yet their hands were tied by the interest of the people. The
gospelhad disturbed them!
Luke brings this out with his word "greatly disturbed." It implies that they
were extremely annoyed or 'worked up' or even indignant by what they saw
and heard. These same people had just a few weeks earlier rid the world of
Jesus Christ. Now, that's all they hear: Jesus Christ!
You will notice that the thing that disturbed them was the "teaching" and
"proclaiming" in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. The teaching involved
the doctrinal groundwork of the gospel while the proclamation offered
exhortations to respond to the gospel. We can simplify it by saying that they
were just preaching the gospel. While the gospel is "good news" it is also
disturbing news to those who are stubborn and stiff-necked.
Why is the gospel disturbing to so many people? It exposes the heart. Any
clear gospel preaching will of necessity explain the reason for the gospel. You
cannot explain the "why" of the death and resurrection of Christ without
giving some explanation of the Law and God's righteous demands upon His
creation. When you begin to explain man's failure to obey the Law of God and
failure to live up to the perfect standards set by the Creator, any attentive
person will realize that this puts him under serious condemnation and
judgment.
Everyone would like to live with the mentality, "I'm okay, you're okay," with
the obvious stress being on the "I'm okay" part. Men love darkness rather
than light, Jesus told us, so when the light of the gospel begins to expose the
darkness of the heart, most people run for cover! The reason for the gospel of

203. Jesus Christ is because you and I have wretched, corrupt hearts that contain
no saving merit. And that is disturbing!
This message of the gospel reveals the hopelessness of any person trying to
create his own way to salvation. The religious leaders had their salvation
system down-pat and no one threatened them until Jesus Christ came along. I
would propose to you that the pedigree of those religious leaders extends to
our own generation. There are plenty of people who think they have devised
their own fool-proof way of salvation. And it sounds good, until it gets
confronted with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then they, like their predecessors,
are "greatlydisturbed."
Some of you are "disturbed" by the gospel. May I tell you that you are
fortunate that the gospel at least disturbs you! It is those who are never
disturbed by the gospel that go blindly to hell. But being disturbed does not
automatically mean that you will be saved. Are you disturbed enough to
repent of your own wrong-way of salvation and embrace the cross of Christ?
You who are disturbed by the gospel, quit battling it, denying it, and trying to
get around it. You cannot silence the message of the gospel! Every pounding
blow of the gospel is a mercy drop of God to you, calling for you to repent and
believe so that you may be saved!
2. The gospelcannot be imprisoned vv. 3-4
The religious leaders thought that the best route would be to put these
'gospelizers' in jail! They could silence them and put the gospel out of
circulation. That is the same tactic utilized by Hitler in Nazi Germany, by
Lenin and Stalin in the former Soviet Union, by Idi Amin in Uganda, by Mao
in Communist China. All of these dictators, and many more, imprisoned some
of God's choicest servants in attempts to silence the message of the gospel.
Some of the messengers were put to death. Others were left to rot in horrid
prisons. But their beloved gospelcould not be silenced!
It is a fascinating truth that the gospel of Christ has impacted multitudes in
Communist China while the gospel preachers were in prison or martyred. The
church in China grew by exponential proportions after the missionaries were
removed and measures taken to oppose Christianity. You can imprison the
preachers and teachers, but you cannot imprison the gospel and its power to
save sinners.
Our text brings this out so clearly. Though Peter and John were thrown into
jail, the multitudes responded to the gospel and five thousand men came to
faith in Christ! The jail could hold the messengersbut not the message!

204. Let me express it like this. You may be disturbed by the message of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. You may think that if you can run from it you will silence the
gospel. Or if you can muzzle the preachers you will silence the gospel. Or if
you can distract yourself with all kinds of busy activities you will silence the
driving force of the gospel. But my friend, by the mercy of God, the gospel
continues to come to you to awaken you to your lostness and to the saving
power of the Lord Jesus Christ toward you as a sinner. Run to the gospel of
Christ! See that it is good news, the best news your ears have ever heard!
Discover that Christ alone can liberate you from the tyranny of yourself and
the sin that rules over you.
II. A defense of the messageofthe gospelvv. 5-12
We must recognize that the early believers learned to use every opportunity as
a door for proclaiming the gospel. Even in the face of public humiliation and
arrest, the gospel was proclaimed! Even when their lives were on the line by
the same killers of Jesus Christ, they boldly proclaimed the gospel. These
brethren lived with eternity in mind and the message of the gospel on their
lips. They saw their mission in this world and followed it in spite of all the
odds. Perhaps one reason we see so few lives changed by the gospel in our day
is that we are looking for convenient opportunities instead of just
opportunities to present the gospel. Maywe learn from our early brethren!
Just how did they "defend" the message of the gospel? Please understand
what I am implying by the word "defense." This means that you give a clear
"reason" for the gospel. Peter expressed it like this, "But sanctify Christ as
Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who
asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and
reverence" (I Peter3:15).
1. The gospel's positive effects vv. 5-9
The whole setting of this story centers on the healing of the lame beggar at the
temple. This story's physical healing is simply an illustration and
demonstration of the greater spiritual healing. We saw that the beggar, after
being healed, went "walking and leaping and praising God." He was a
changed man, inside and out. He was a new creature in Christ for his was
more than just a physically improved man; his whole lifestyle became one of
"praising God." I believe the Scripture brings this out by the choice of words
used to describe the man's condition.
In verse 9 we see Peter discussing a "sick man" that "has been made well."
Again, in verse 10, he points out that "this man stands here before you in good
health." The words that he uses to describe the man's new condition implies

205. "wholeness." The gospel of Jesus Christ affects the whole person! The fact
that this lame beggar was healed was not the main issue. He was indeed
healed, but more important, he was made "whole" by Jesus Christ. Healing is
always temporal. Wholeness in Christ is eternal.
The religious interrogators could not deny that this man had been healed.
They even privately admitted this, as we see in verse 16. The point we must see
is that the effect of the work of Christ in the beggar's life impacted everyone
who saw him. That does not mean that everyone believed in Christ as a result
of it, but it does imply that they were at least open to discussion concerning
Christ.
Do you live like a "whole" person? The world is still straining its eyes to find
"whole" people. There is no more potent instrument in the hands of the
Christian witness than living a life that has been made whole through Jesus
Christ. Perhaps people know that we actively attend church. Certainly that is
good, but a lot of unbelievers actively attend church too! Can those around us
see our lifestyles, listen to our conversations, observe our countenance and
attitudes, and watch the way we treat our families and friends, then still have
"ears" to hear our witness?
When you respond in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ the Lord, your
whole life is affected. You are a "new creation" (II Cor. 5:17), a person
"created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Eph. 2:10), one that "has been
created in righteousness and holiness of the truth" (Eph. 4:24). Your desires
have been affected so that you "hunger and thirst after righteousness" (Matt.
5:6). You have a new love for the brethren (I John 2:9-10), a thirsting for the
truth of God's Word (I Peter 2:2), a delight in fellowshipping with God's
people (I John 1:3). Your joy is in the Lord, not in the things of the world
(Phil. 4:4). Your fixation is Jesus Christ and desiring to be like Him. Such a
desire purifies you in character and behavior (I John 3:2-3). Those are just a
few of the positive effects of the gospel! They help to provide the Christian
witness with a clear defense of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ in
saving sinners.
2. The gospel's foundation v. 10
But our business in presenting the gospel is not to major on talking about
ourselves. When I was a young believer it was very popular to have testimony
meetings. Young people would gather night after night and give their
"testimonies." After you had been to a few of these meetings you had pretty
much heard what everyone was going to say. One of the guys who used to give
a testimony opened with the dramatic lines in a distinct monotone voice, "I

206. am David Young, ex-sot." He continued by giving the sordid details of his life.
Another young lady used to bring her notebook of poetry, stand in the pulpit,
and say, "Lord, which one do you want me to read tonight?...Oh, I'm glad
that you picked this one!" Then she would read her poem. On one occasion a
young lady took the microphone in an open air testimony meeting and
literally went on and on, rambling about every detail of her life so that the
whole group was restless. While the testimony meetings were a lot of fun and
sometimes quite interesting, the problem is that there was very little gospel
shared. All the time was spent in talking about your ownlife.
My brethren, that is not our business as Christian witnesses! It is certainly
fine to give a brief word about how we came to Christ and I encourage you to
do this, but we must get on to Christ and His gospel! It is the gospel of Jesus
Christ that "is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes"
(Rom. 1:16), not our life story. Always move from "your story" to "His
story."
Notice how Peter moved from the testimony of this man made well, in verse 9,
to Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead, in verse 10. He tells the
positive effects of the gospel, but quickly moves to the gospel's foundation.
Unless a person understands that Jesus Christ died for him in a
substitutionary manner, bearing God's judgment for him at the cross, then
conquering death through the resurrection, he really does not understand the
gospel. When you present the gospel you do not want that person to leave
being impressed with what a great person you are as a Christian. You want
them being overwhelmed by the fact that God has come to us, as sinners, to
bring about our salvation through the agony of His Son's death on the cross.
Thus far in the book of Acts, we have three gospel presentations or sermons.
In each of these Peter is the preacher or evangelist. And in each one he makes
a bee-line for the cross of Christ (2:23-24, 36; 3:14-15; 4:10). This shows us
what is foundational to our gospel presentations: giving an understandable
explanation of the reason for the cross and resurrection, as well as what was
accomplished by Jesus Christ through them. Without the cross and
resurrection we have no gospel. May I suggest that if you are having a bit of
trouble thinking through on the details of the gospel that pick up and study
one of our The Way to Life booklets on the book table. I think you will find
this, along with other materials, to be very helpful in your Christian witness.
3. The gospel's solitarynature vv. 11-12
One thing that is popular in our day is to offer multiple ways to God. To dare
suggest that there is only one way to salvation is considered to be in bad taste

207. and exclusive. I had an interesting conversation with a lady a few months
back who was amazed that I thought there was only one way to God. She
thought that as long as you were sincere about what you believed, whether
you believed in multiple deities, Allah, Buddha, or Jehovah, you would be
okay. She is not alone. Mostof our societyhas that same kind of mentality.
"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under
heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved." Those
words are extremely exclusive! This means that if you are trying to find
eternal life in yourself or your church or your religious behavior, it is not
there! If you are trying to find eternal life in another god, you will not find it.
Now this does not mean that some of these people do not find a kind of
satisfaction in themselves or in worshiping another god. They may be very
satisfied because their hearts have become callused to the things of God. They
do not understand the holiness or justice of God. They do not want to
understand their sin and the high price of it. And they certainly do not
understand the cross and resurrection. Even if they are quite satisfied in their
religion, do they still need Jesus Christ? YES! Their only hope of eternal life is
in Jesus Christ alone!
Peter quotes from Psalm 118 in explaining who Jesus Christ is. "He is the
stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the very
corner stone." Jesus Christ was rejected by the very people who were
supposedly expecting Him! Even though He fulfilled every prophecy
concerning the Messiah, they still rejected Him. Even though Jesus verified
and authenticated His divine office and mediatorial role, they rejected Him.
And people are still rejecting Him.
It is appalling to see how Jesus has been essentially removed from a number
of churches. Sure, He is kept in name only for ceremonial purposes, but He is
never proclaimed. Most church people cannot explain Who Jesus Christ is,
giving explanation of His Incarnation and His divine person in the Godhead,
and what He did through His death and resurrection. Quite frankly, if we
cannot explain this then what business do we have calling ourselves disciples
of Jesus Christ? The "real Christ" is rejected for a substitute Christ that is
appealing to the modern palate. Accepting anything less than the Jesus Christ
revealedin the Word of God constitutes rejection!
But this One who was rejected by the "builders" became "the very corner
stone." The word pictures an arch that is held together by one, solitary stone.
If you remove that stone, the corner or key stone, the entire structure falls
apart. This corner stone is Jesus Christ! He may be rejected by the

208. multitudes, but that does not change His position as the corner stone. Apart
from Jesus Christ you cannever be made whole and never have eternal life.
Jesus made it quite simple when He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the
life; no man comes to the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). He did not say that
He was 'one of the ways to the Father', but "the way." That is the gospel's
solitary nature.
I would be remiss if I did not ask you as pointedly as I can, "Are you trying to
get to God some way other than through Jesus Christ and His cross?" My
friend, I plead with you, lay aside your vain attempts to find favor with God
through your own effort. No one ever has; no one ever will. Your hope rests in
Jesus Christ alone.
4. The gospel's necessityv. 12
Peter was not offering a nice suggestion when he told the religious leaders that
there was a solitary Person, Jesus Christ, "by which we must be saved." I call
this word "must" a 'divine necessity'. That is God's way for us to come to Him
and receive pardon, through faith in Jesus Christ. It is a necessity to have
Jesus Christ as your mediator to God. "For there is one God, and one
mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself
as a ransom for all" (I Tim. 2:5-6a).
A necessity is something that you cannot do without. In order to live you have
several necessities: oxygen to breathe, food to eat, water to drink. I've heard
people say they cannot live without their televisions or their stereos! But those
are not really necessities. When it comes to the air we breathe and basic food
we eat, then we are speaking ofnecessity.
In relation to eternal things, it is absolutely necessary for you to be saved
through Jesus Christ and His substitutionary death. Just as oxygen is
necessary to breathe and water is necessary to drink, Jesus Christ is necessary
for your salvation. And I do not mean Jesus Christ plus something else or
Jesus Christ in addition to your own merits. I mean Jesus Christ alone. That's
what faith is anyway. It is coming to that place where you trust in Jesus Christ
alone for your eternal salvation and as the only way for you to come to the
Father.
Conclusion
Perhaps the gospel has been disturbing you. I remind you that such
disturbance is God's gracious conviction in your heart. But you must not
ignore or try to run from what He is doing in your heart. Flee to Him! Find
Jesus Christ as your solitary refuge for all eternity through faith in His name.

209. Repent of your sins. Trust in Jesus Christ and His merits for you as the only
means for you to be saved. There is no other way. If you are contemplating
'another way' of salvation, I plead with you to cast it aside immediately and
come to the only "name under heaven that has been given among men, by
which you must be saved," Jesus Christ the Lord.
May we who know Christ as our Mediator consider the issues of declaring the
gospel message which were raised in this text. Let us seek, by God's grace, to
live as whole people who share a whole gospelto the whole world.
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