Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to Acts chapter 4 and reading from our text, verse 12. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Acts chapter 4 and verse 12. Salvation in no other, none other name. The Lord had given to the apostles, as recorded in chapter 3, a miracle to perform. something that drew the attention firstly of the multitude and then of the scribes and of the rulers and the chief priests. Our Lord had said that the disciples would do greater miracles, greater deeds than he himself had done. And I think in this that the case of Elijah and Elisha demonstrates this very well, because Elisha, when Elijah was to be taken up into heaven, he asked for a double portion of his spirit. And the sign that it would be given was if Elisha saw Elijah taken from him, and he did. He saw the chariot of fire, he saw him taken up by a whirlwind into heaven. And if you count them, Elijah performed some 8 miracles and Elisha 16. A double portion of the Spirit was given. And when we think of our Lord and Saviour, He raised the dead, He healed the sick, He preached to the multitudes. He gave to the apostles that same sign. It must have been a wonderful thing for the population there to, on one hand, have seen Jesus of Nazareth taken from them, crucified and slain, and you can think of those that maybe had heard of the healing but they hadn't been healed, had heard of the miracles but they hadn't seen them, and others that had seen them, And now these, his disciples, were performing the same. They were raising the dead, they were healing the sick, they were, as in this case, bringing a man that was lying from his mother's womb to be leaping and dancing to be fully healed. But there's one thing even greater that the apostles did than our Lord, and that is what the effect was of this miracle that gave them to preach Christ and Him crucified and risen again. That is something that they had a ministry that our Lord didn't. If you think our Lord's ministry was the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, the Kingdom of God is at hand. People were told that this was the time, this was the Messiah, this was the time that he was to come. But John the Baptist, our Lord said, that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. He was the last of the prophets, but he never saw Christ crucified or risen. But those that are in the kingdom, those who are in the church, they have been seen that full fulfillment of the scriptures of Christ crucified and risen again, and then these signs following them that believe. And so at the Day of Pentecost, chapter 2, 3,000 believed, here 5,000. It's hard for us to comprehend, to think of those multitudes. I can't think of being in a crowd or a congregation that been that big. I used to think when I was at school we had 500 boys and when we were all lined up on the assembly that seemed quite a big congregation. But you multiply that by 10 and then you have those, not just the congregation, but those were the ones that believed. And we read some believed the word spoken, some believed not. And it is hard to grasp the magnitude, It was given then to the apostles to have these signs and then to give them an opportunity to preach and to clearly set before the people. These things were not done in their own power. It wasn't them. They were pointing all the time to the Lord Jesus Christ and then they were adding the precept to it. What was required of the people, what they were set to, so you have in chapter 3 verse 18-19, but those things which God before has showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he has so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. You shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you." And like our Lord, like John Baptist, they preached repentance. The people were to turn from idols, they were to turn from their thoughts that Jesus was an imposter. They were to receive that He was the true Messiah, the only name given among men, whereby they must be saved. And in pointing to that way of salvation, they say, Their sins will be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. We are exhorted to repent, but evangelical repentance is the gift of heaven. But the message to this time and to the world now is to turn from the world, turn from empty things to the only name given among men. whereby we must be saved. There is salvation in none other." Well, as the Lord was pleased to bless the Word, we seem to have at first a real silence. You think, where are the scribes? Where are the chief priests? Where are the rulers? Why are they keeping silence? Well, they don't keep silence for long. And in our chapter, then they arise. I felt when reading it, what a sad thing. Here was the Lord doing a wonderful work. A man had been healed, a layman was now walking, and thousands had been blessed and believed, and then in comes the religious elite. In comes the so-called church and the leaders at that time, and try to blast it and ruin it. You know, you almost think this is going to be a pattern through to the end of the world. that the true church and God's work is persecuted by the false church, or by those that just had a name to live. It was with Christ, his greatest adversaries, with the Pharisees, with the scribes, with the chief priests, and it was the same here. Most solemn thing, isn't it? That it is those that actually have a profession of religion, that are the greatest ones that attack and adversaries to the true faith of God. And so this is the background. And Peter and John, they close as it were their testimony with these words, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name unto heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Now they couldn't go and say it, but even then they tried to stamp it out, tried to stop them. But the apostles, they would not hearken to them. We read that when they went back to their own company, then how they glorified God. and bless God, realise that this, what they were walking through, was fulfilling the second sack, and how then that the Holy Spirit was pleased to bless them, the place was shaken where they were, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. I want to speak to this verse, verse 12, and especially thinking of this, none other name, salvation in none other name. But I want to begin with the, our first point with the last clause in the text, a monumental truth, we must be saved. Those last four words of our text, we must be saved. And then secondly, the name, under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. And then thirdly, the exclusivity of Jesus Christ, going back to the beginning of the text, neither is there salvation in any other. But firstly we have this truth, this such a great truth, we must be saved. We might think, well, there'd be many people in this world that think, I don't have any need of being saved. I don't come under this, that we must be saved because I don't believe that there's anything to be saved from. It's a most solemn thing that there are countless millions that do not realize their danger, they do not realize their condemnation, they have no idea of what hell is, eternity, to be banished from God, to have it described in the various ways and we cannot fathom it. On one side it is set forth as outer darkness, which to us is terrifying, an outer complete darkness, and on another it's the fire that is not quenched. You say, how can you reconcile darkness with fire that comes alight? And then the worm that dieth not, and the effect of those that you're enduring at, or what is said of them in their terror, the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And you think this, not like things on earth that we might have that are terrible, that we have a prospect they'll end, they'll finish. Even death will put an end to the pines that we have here, but nothing will put an end to the pine for eternity. And when we think that the resurrection is of the just and unjust, that it shall not just be in a soul, but in a body, that we endure that. We are under the curse, we are under the sentence of death, the soul that sinneth it shall die, in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, and the wrath of God against all ungodliness and all the iniquity of men. God is angry with the wicked every day. It is a most solemn thing to be under the sentence of death, to be heading for eternity, to heading for the grave with no hope with no prospect, with only a fearful, fearful eternity set before us. We can hardly grasp it. And I hope, or sometimes it certainly does with me, the lines of the hymn writer come, but can I bear the piercing thought, what if my name should be left out, when thou for them shalt call? Truly it is the Lord's people alone that really know what is at stake. They know the worth of their souls, they know the truth of God, they know what is set forth of hell and of heaven, and they know that they need to be saved. They need a saviour. They personally need to be saved, and I hope That is what each one of us here realises, that we need to be saved. If we are not saved, we shall be lost eternally. But looking at this word, we must be saved. And I thought of a picture. Say if you had a rock in the sea, a long way out perhaps, and There was a person that had been near drowning, they managed to perhaps hold on to that rock, but there they were stranded, the tide was coming in, soon that would be overwhelmed, and they could not save themselves. They could not swim out, they could not rescue themselves. They would be in a position, like our text, They must be saved. Someone must go and save them. They cannot save themselves. And looking at this, we must be saved. God must save us. He must come and save us. It's a very big difference if that person must save themselves, or they must be delivered, It is pointing to another doing the saving and of course that is the Gospel. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. His name shall be called Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. And so there is a must here. It must be done. It must be accomplished. We must be saved. There's another aspect of this, that this saving and this salvation is this side of the grave. We do not have to wait until death to realise whether we are saved or not. Thinking of another hymn, more happy but not more secure, the glorified saints above. In Psalm 84 we read, He shall give grace and glory. The two go together. In Romans 8 verse 28-29 we have the beautiful chain where we have the full knowledge of God, predestinating and then calling and justifying and glorifying. In time, we know the calling linked on that chain. And where we know the calling, we know that the Lord has foreknown us and has predestined us to be called while here below. And where we are called, we know that we are justified, where we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we're justified from all things whereby we could not be justified by the deeds of the law, We are counted sinless, counted guiltless, accounted free from condemnation. You think of the opening of Romans 8, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, to them that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, sin, condemn sin in the flesh. The Apostle is very clear that here, this side of the grave, we may know that we are saved, that the Lord does save his people here below, and it is through faith, through the gift of faith, but by grace you are saved through faith and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And so this statement, may it really be burned to us and really rest upon us, we must be saved. It is the one thing, sometimes I get real piercing temptations and thought, yes, you'll succeed, you'll be able to do this and this and this in this life, but you won't be saved, you'll miss out. And even though he made profession, you know, it doesn't stop there being times you get these piercing thoughts, you get these fearful, what if? What if I've missed the mark? And the reason is because of the sin that works within. We feel that within. It takes a lot of faith to believe that the Lord has put away our sin and yet it still remains. It still is a conflict, still is a battle, still is wrestling within. The apostle says that, the good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that I did. A wretched man that I am. But it's faith that looks and says, if I do that which I would not, it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth within me. But for us it's hard to distinguish this. We don't want to excuse our sin. We don't want to sin that grace might abound. And yet, we are sinners. But the Gospel is for sinners. And when called and given grace, it doesn't make us sinners. It doesn't make us spotless. And so we need to be clear. We must be saved. And it is to be saved by faith in this life, given faith in Christ and rest in Him in this life. It's a wonderful witness, and when you see those and you hear of those that Bethesda recently taken, as they come down to their journey's end, that they have peace, and they look forward to being with Christ. You know, I hear these testimonies, I see them, And my prayer is, Lord, that I might have that. Dying grace in a dying hour. It's a wonderful thing. People might not have, may be able to articulate a great testimony and great things that the Lord has done, but when the Lord gives peace and quietness to a soul that does know the worth of their soul and knows that they need to be saved, That is a wonderful testimony. It's a thing to be desired and asked of the Lord that we might live by faith and die in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must be saved.

I try to talk with those I know in the town A man that has done much work in our chapel. I interview painting, he's done a lot of work on our pews. We've worked together and over years I've tried to speak to him again and again. Met him this morning, walking down to the chapel. I'd invite him to the chapel, no, not interested. And I think, what's wrong? I'm not getting the message across. Am I serious enough? Am I really conveying? that we must be saved. This is not just you have your life and I have my life and all be well.

And there's several around us in our street, some that have got terminal illnesses and I can't impress upon them, I try to, but it falls on deaf ears and it burdens me, it does. We must be saved and it's not just Some people, it's not just, well, you can have your life, I'll have mine. It is we all under condemnation, all of the sons of Adam, we must be saved.

I want to look then, secondly, at the name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Now we said that we can know that we are saved here, this side of the grave. And the wonderful thing that is set forth in this text is that there is a name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. One name. We read in Matthew when Our Lord was to be born, His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. The same was said to Mary, named before He was conceived in the womb. And the wonder is here, it is a name unto heaven and given among men. really comprising the incarnation, Emmanuel, God with us. Not a name in the heavens, not a name outside of time, but in time. And I believe that's one thing that's so emphasised is that the name of Jesus is not given until our Lord came into time.

We have many other names given, I think it was said recently that there are some 308 names of our Lord in the scriptures, and many of those are in the Old Testament, in the prophecies, but there is only one name given, and that name of Jesus is the one that is lifted up. Paul, when he rides to the Philippians, he speaks of him as that one name given among men whereby we must be saved. He hath given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. And so it's pointed to our Lord coming into this world, being made flesh and dwelt among us, given a name like we have a name. and being amongst the brethren, partaking of our flesh.

We read this morning at Cranbrook of Psalm 139. It's a psalm I've read many, many times. It's been a very precious psalm. It's a psalm, actually, the first reading I ever read in my pulpit at Cranbrook and preached from verse 2. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, Thou understandest my thought of her wrath." The first text I ever preached in England, I preached at Cranbrook, and it was the one that was laid on the hearts of the friends there to call me to the pastoral. You can listen to it on our website.

And that son, precious as well, my dear wife, with congenital heart, It speaks of the Lord seeing one in the womb. But this morning as I read it, and read it in a view of a son pointing to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Pointing to the birth and the conception of the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost. And if you think of that, and then these verses here, my substance was not hid from thee. When I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written, but incontinence were fashioned when as yet there was none of them. You think of that as our Lord. all my members, the members of our Lord, the manhood of our Lord Jesus Christ. All my members were written, which in continuance is formed in the womb, just like we were, just from conception and then brought to birth.

And I read this psalm, seemed to see such a beauty in it. There are many, so many of the psalms. You've got to look past David. and you see Christ there, you see who is being set forth. And so, with our text and name, given under heaven, given among men, on this earth, all of those prophecies, they were brought to pass with our Lord coming into this world. We read of that long cloud in Hebrews 11, that died not having received the promises that saw them afar off and were persuaded of them. They died in faith that He would come and that He would take their sins and bear them in His body on the tree, that He would be made sin for us that knew no sin.

You think of some of the Psalms as well that speak of the Lord and that are very clearly, like Psalm 69, very clearly of the Lord Jesus Christ. They gave me also gall for my meat, in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. But then you read, O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from thee. How does that fit with the Lord Jesus Christ? Him foolish? When we read that the thought of foolishness is sin, if our Lord was, and He was, bearing the sins of all of His people, He was bearing their foolishness. He was bearing every part of their sin, made sin, as if to look upon the Lord was to look upon a sinner. in all their sin. He was spotless, He was pure, and yet has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. It's hard for us to comprehend how much of sin He partook, but when we think that we, in exchange, we partake of His righteousness, do we only partake of a little bit, or all of it? On the other side then, He partook of all of our and bore it all, no wonder he was so amazed, no wonder he swept drops of blood in the garden.

And so this given, our Lord Jesus Christ, this is the name that in the light of this miracle given, the apostles were pointing to the name as the one that did it, in the name of the Holy Child Jesus was this done. And pointing to that same that is the name of salvation. The only way of being saved is that sin be put away by another, by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that His righteousness be imputed to us, and that He gives us faith to believe that He has put away our sin, and to believe in His name. This is the name, under heaven, given among men to be preached unto heaven, to be received by sinners under the heaven, and to be blessed that they might be saved by faith here below. The name unto heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Now I do like how plain, how simple the scripture way of salvation. You ever notice that? The Lord gives one name. The Lord gives one way, I am the way, the truth and the life. He gives one means, it is by faith. He sets before us those things that are very clear, very simple. He says before us that the way of salvation is by believing. Whosoever believeth, go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. And you think, is that just such a simple thing? Well, the Lord said to those that believed in John 6, He didn't just say, well, just believe. He said to them, if ye continue in my word, then shall ye be my disciples indeed. Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

I saw a picture one day, and it was quite a powerful picture. There was a signpost, and it pointed to two roads. One road it said, Believe Us. The other road it said, obedience. And in the belief road, there was crowds walking in that way. And in the way of obedience, there were just a few. And some had begun, but then they were turning back to walk the other way. There's countless millions in this world who say that they believe, but they want it on their own terms. They do not want to obey the They do not want to be fettered by the Word of God. They want to have their lot in this life and they don't want to have the restrictive as they view it commands and directions and precepts of the Word of God.

Speaking together with my dear one over those that were in the town and I said, You know, in a way, we need to focus on what is set before them outside of Christ, and to emphasize also the freeness of the Gospel. But then I said, the path of obedience, and immediately there's the point that the world say, no, however free the Gospel is, If it involves obeying the Lord and fastening our lives according to Him and separating from sinful things and the way of the world, then we're not interested, however free the Gospel is. And so, that which is joined with our Lord's name, He shall save His people from their sins. taking away the power and dominion of them, taking away the love of sin and directing us in a path of obedience. Yes, the way is simply set forth, but how vital that we need the grace to walk in and grace to embrace it on God's terms, not on ours.

I want to look lastly at the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. The beginning of our text says, neither is there salvation in any other. I must admit, as I was prayerfully considering coming here earlier in the week, and I thought of the temple that overshadows the chapel here, And I thought of many different places of worship that I would pass on my journey here. Some of which, even though they bear the Christian name, and I passed their doors, saw them open, saw the people assembling, but I know what they, how they carry on their worship there. I wouldn't want to go in there. And I thought what a narrow way it is. But how vital that it is this one name. And I believe if ever there's to be persecution, it will come under this very point. Our present king, he seeks not to uphold the faith, but faiths. And talk I had once with someone at the door of our chapel, we seemed to get on very well at first. But when I said that there was salvation, in only the Lord Jesus Christ. She became so angry. She said, what are people who have never heard of his name? What about the Muslims? What about people of other faiths? Isn't there something good with them? Couldn't they be saved in that way? And very often you find it is actually so-called Christians that have these objections, not those of other faiths. They'd be very clear that theirs is the only way, but is a so-called Christian, and that will be where the persecution comes.

Our text is full of the exclusiveness of Christ. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Jesus only. John in his epistles, he brings it even closer to the doctrine of Christ. In the second general epistle of John, he says there are many deceivers entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Then he says, Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. When he speaks about the doctrine of Christ, you think of errors that have been amongst our churches, that the place of the soul is taken by the divinity of God, that there is no soul, supposedly, but God's divine nature is joined with flesh, that is a most serious error, because our Lord must be at the seat of Abraham, our soul is saved and redeemed, our body is saved and redeemed, the eternal Son of God must be united to humanity. And we must hold that doctrine. any other that come, Jehovah's Witnesses that would testify that our Lord is not God, He is just created, no, they are in error of that. When we speak about the name of the Lord Jesus, we must remember the whole doctrine and whole teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ is not just a name without what that name means and who He is. We think of the testimony of the eunuch, if thou believest thou must. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That was the vital thing and this is of course what Peter is aiming at here, is that Jesus Son of God. He is the Messiah. He was the one that was foretold. This is the comfort they have in Psalm 2, that it is fulfilling these scriptures in these days. And it is the uniqueness of Christ. A solemn thing with the Jews. They're looking for another Jesus. But the temple is destroyed. There's no possibility of another coming, the conditions have already been fulfilled, the scriptures have been fulfilled, and in vain they look. But there is only one, and it's a blessed thing then, to have this name preached, and to believe in his name, and to be in that place that Peter says, unto you which believe, He is precious. Those are sweet moments when the Lord is precious to us. He's precious in His blood. He's precious in all that He's done. He's precious when we think of what He's done for us and in us and in calling. All things that have been done in His name, chosen in Christ from the foundation of the called by Christ, redeemed by Christ, fed by Christ, given through the Lord Jesus Christ eternal life and salvation. May we truly know this name and may He be precious to us. Neither is there salvation in any other For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Amen.