As the Lord may be pleased to help us this evening, I'd like to invite your prayerful attention to the words in the fourth chapter of the book of Acts. And we read in our text verses 11 and 12. This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts of the Apostles, chapter 4, verses 11 and 12.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came to this world as was eternally planned by God's divine decree and when he began his earthly ministry at the age of about 30 years old he soon began to call disciples to follow him. We read that as he walked along the shore he saw those fishermen men in their nets, and he called them. We don't read that any of them refused to follow him. When the Lord Jesus calls, it is an effectual calling, whether it's to be called by salvation, by grace, or whether it is to serve him. He commands, and they follow. Remember, the Lord Jesus is God. And he was involved, being of the Godhead, in the creation of this world. And I think if we read the first chapter in the Bible, first of Genesis, 10 times in that chapter we read, and God said, and 10 times something was created, something came to pass. And what authority there is in our Lord Jesus Christ. He laid aside his glory in heaven. He came to this earth. But his power was divine. And he called these disciples, and they followed him.

A disciple is one who follows. A disciple is a learner. And they followed him about, and he taught them. And he showed them, and they were involved What he did, they heard him preach, they heard him command miracles. Miracles came about. And these disciples had first-hand information.

And then, we read, as we go into the New Testament, what happened was, what was spoken of in the beginning of John's Gospel. He came unto his own, that is, his own people, the Jews. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But we read, as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to those that believe on his name. His name is Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

And this same Jesus, having lived uniquely You boys know what unique is. There's nothing else to be compared with something unique, is there? It's once. And it is completely different. Now the Lord Jesus is he who on this earth lived a perfect life. No one before him and no one since can claim such perfection. But the Lord Jesus did. And he gave his perfect life a sacrifice to pay the price for sin. And no one else could do this, but Jesus. This he did. And not only that, he said to his disciples at one time, no man taketh my life from me. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. This have I received from my father. And we find times, as we read through the life of our Lord Jesus, times when they would have taken him and finished his work on earth. But this they could not do, even when they came to arrest him. They were thrown backwards. And even at his resurrection from the tomb, they guarded the tomb. What happened? Those guards. were thrown backwards, we read it, and they landed as dead men. And they were bribed to tell a big lie. You can read about it in the Gospels.

But our dear Lord Jesus gave his life to put away sin. And his work is still ongoing. People are still being saved by his wonderful grace. And of those disciples, the Lord Jesus formed the apostles. The apostles were those who were used in forming the New Testament church. And an apostle had to be one who was personally sent by the Lord Jesus and saw the Lord Jesus after his resurrection. And then they could tell firsthand who Jesus is, what he came to do, and that his finished work on earth is sufficient for every believer, those who come seeking to know their sins forgiven and to confess in true sorrow of heart and soul to God of their sin and to trust in the perfect, sinless righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And these people that they encourage in this way are the early New Testament church of which we attempt in our day and age to continue in that same pattern that was established by the Lord Jesus himself. And so, even as the Lord Jesus met with opposition, he told these apostles right back a year or two before, the taking and giving of himself to be that true sacrifice for sin, he warned them, he knew, because the Lord Jesus, we must remember, he is God, he knew all that was about to happen in their lives, he knew the challenges that He had, personally, and he knew that when they went to establish the New Testament church, they would be met with opposition.

He could foresee what would happen, and you can read about it in Matthew chapter 10. The Lord Jesus said to his followers, behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, they will scourge you in their synagogues, and you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given to you in that same hour what you shall speak, For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

And that's why it was that when Peter and John were so involved, as we read in the miracle of healing of that poor man, he had laid at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, and he lived as a beggar. He couldn't work. Most of the work was manual in those days. If he had a job where he could sit down and work, he might well have attempted to earn his living. But he was laid daily. He must have had a lodging somewhere, laid him at the gate of the temple, which was called Beautiful, and he was asking for enough money to buy a crust of bread and a bit of cheese or something to go with it, most likely, that he might just live for another day. What a sad situation.

And he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, and he asked them for some money or for something to eat. who seen Peter and John. And Peter fastened his eyes upon him with John and said, look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting something of them. Then Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I unto thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand Imagine Peter, a big strong fisherman, I expect his arms were well tuned up, and he stood him up on his feet. He took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength, and he, leaping up, stood and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him, walking and praising God. What a miracle. No physiotherapy, no. When God's hand is at work, God works and none can stop him. And this miracle was so remarkable that Peter and John would take no praise to themselves, no. When Peter saw it, he answered the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we have made this man to walk?

The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, and look at that list, you young people, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, All those three were given promises of the coming Lord Jesus Christ. It was hundreds of years they had to wait, done through history, but Abraham was singled out from a heathen nation. God said to him, go and look at the stars. And at that time, Abraham had no descendants. It was he and his wife and they were both getting old and they had no children. And Abraham said in his heart, well, how can this be? But he believed God. That's called faith. And faith is made up of F-A-I-T-H. Faith. And if you divide that up as an acrostic, it says, forsaking all, I trust him. Forsaking all, I trust him.

Now, Abraham was given that grace from God to believe that although it seemed impossible to him, he believed. And it's recorded in scripture that it was counted to Abraham for righteousness, that he believed God. Eventually, Isaac was born. Isaac was given that same promise that was a savior coming. And Jacob was given such a wonderful vision of that ladder going up to heaven, and the foot of the ladder was on the earth. That is God standing on this earth. He had a visible picture, a dream with a vision given to him. And truly, Jacob believed. And it was through Jacob's son Judah and that tribe that eventually became the royal family of David, of whom the Lord Jesus came to this earth.

They believed. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye received up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses." They said, yes, we are witnesses. We saw the Lord Jesus after his resurrection. And they preached the resurrection to that vast multitude who had gathered, and they were around the temple where this man, who was a helpless cripple, was now athletic enough that he could leap and walk. And they preached the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then they said, repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. Now these people believed and we understand that many were brought out of darkness into the glorious light of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter was told by the Lord Jesus Christ after his resurrection he challenged him. Sadly the Apostle Peter before the crucifixion denied that he knew the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus knew that Peter would be so affected by the power of the devil who does all he can to turn people away from Jesus. The Lord Jesus knew this because he said to Peter, when Peter said so boldly, though all men forsake thee, Lord, yet will not I, the Lord Jesus took him to one side. Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you with wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And the Lord Jesus knew what was going to happen to Peter. And now we see Peter boldly declaring, strengthening the people around him. Here we see Peter feeding the sheep. Feeding the sheep, yes. Just as the Lord Jesus said to him, he said, lovest thou me? Three times he said this. He said, feed my sheep, feed my lambs, feed my sheep.

And the result was at this time that the High Priests, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were the kindred of the High Priests, were gathered together at Jerusalem. Then they set Peter and John in the midst of them, and they were sitting round them like taking them to court for preaching the Gospel, just as the Lord Jesus said. in Matthew's Gospel, that they would be challenged in this way. And the remarkable thing is, what happened was almost word for word what the Lord Jesus said would be. And they steadfastly listened to the charge that was brought against them.

Because the Lord Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, verse 14, and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in that day, in the day of judgment, Then for that city, behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as dove. But beware of men, for they shall deliver you up to the councils.

Now here we have a council sitting round these two men of God and opposing what they are doing. When they sent them in the midst, they said, by what power or by what name have you done this? And this was a question they put to them. And the remarkable thing is that Peter and John knew because they were there when the Lord Jesus said to them that they will be like sheep among wolves. But don't rehearse anything beforehand, no, it will be given to you at that time.

Then Peter, we read, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, this is verse eight in Acts four, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of a good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he was 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 raised from the dead, even by him Doth this man stand here before you whole? This they said. Why? Well, because they were filled with the Holy Ghost. God was working in them to his glory and praise. He told them, it will be given to you what you will say. And he goes on to speak of the Lord Jesus.

In verse 11, this is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. What a wonderful word that is. What a wonderful word. There is none other name. There's no salvation and no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Not might be saved, but when God begins a work, he continues it. There's a place in the Bible where we read of a man that started to build and he didn't complete it. And those that looked at it said that man started to build but he hasn't completed it. It's not so with God. No, we read these words in the scripture, he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And those words were written to the church at Philippi. And those first members of that church were the Philippian jailer, a hard man, Lydia, who comes over as a quiet sort of person. Her heart was opened and she received the word and then she acted with her Christian generosity and made a home for those apostles. The other one was a poor, demented servant girl who was possessed with an evil spirit and they cast out the evil spirit. Those three were the founder members in that Philippian church. And the apostle wrote a wonderful epistle to them. And we have it in the scriptures. The very first chapter in the Epistle to the Philippians.

He said, I thank God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. God who begins a new work, a good work, a work that he has begun, a work that he has eternally designed, it will come to pass. He will perform it. These people will grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and be brought to salvation by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus.

Why? Well because neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And I was looking at this yesterday and it seemed to me That title, name, there is none other name, is a precious thing for us to consider. It is an eternal name, an eternal name. We can trust with complete confidence and it is interconnected and is before us now preserved in Holy Scripture given to the dear faithful apostles as promised by the Lord Jesus. And may God be pleased to work today even as he did 2,000 years ago and with the same word that there is none other name under heaven given, it is a name given It costs us nothing because he has given himself a ransom for many, and it's among men. He's made known to us, even in the day in which we live, through the Holy Scriptures. It is an enduring, an enduring name, a name which cannot fade away.

These apostles, Peter and John, were questioned by the authorities and the powers that be about who made this lame man to walk. And Jesus in all his power is still able to work on earth although he is now ascended to heaven. When God works a work of saving grace in whosoever he will, what we read of And we sometimes sing it, don't we? Whom once he loved, he never leaves, but loves them to the end. That enduring name which is forever and ever. A work of God's grace in those who love him. Why? Because he first loved them. We love him because he first loved us.

He's also an effectual name. It comes with almighty power, and none can argue against it. Paul the Apostle wrote to the Ephesians, and Paul felt unworthy of the office that he was given as an apostle, didn't he? He said, I'm not worthy to be an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of Christ. We might even question, is he really an apostle? Because an apostle saw the Lord Jesus after his resurrection. But he did, didn't he? The Lord Jesus, in all his glorious splendor and glory, even as he was shown to the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration the brightness of himself and his glory was more than they could withstand. They fainted. They heard God's voice.

Now here, at the conviction and conversion of Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the Apostle, he got documents in his hand to go and arrest Christian people for worshipping the Lord Jesus and believing in the resurrection. While he journeyed with his documents in his hand to arrest them, who should he meet with but the Lord Jesus himself? A light shone round about him, brighter than the noonday sun. We can't look at the sun midday, can we, if it's shining out of a blue sky? More than we can do. The light is too intense for us. But brighter than that was the glory of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ. And he showed himself to the Apostle Paul. And he was struck down, blinded by the light. Another had to lead him. And he called out. He said, who art thou, Lord? And the answer came from the divine lips of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus. I am Jesus. whom thou persecutest." He didn't say, notice, I'm Jesus and you're persecuting my church. No, Jesus feels for his church when they suffer. He feels for all our pains and all our feelings. And he said, I'm Jesus whom thou persecutest. It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks, that is, the goats that they use for driving animals. If you kick them, you damage your toe. And there was the Apostle Paul completely prostrate before a holy, heart-searching saviour. And he said, it will be shown unto you what you must do. From that he was raised up to be a missionary to the Gentile church. What an effectual name.

And in all these things, we can seek to know the wonders of grace in our Lord Jesus Christ. Because even today, as we read the scriptures, as we are blessed to have a hunger and thirst for the word of God. That's put there, that hunger, because God has put it there and it's an effectual name of Jesus that is preached and held forth in the holy scriptures. It's an effectual name because it takes effect. We read that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

And what a blessing it is every time a soul is saved. Because in Luke chapter 15 we have a list of miracles and parables, parables given by the Lord Jesus of things that were lost and then found. And you remember in that parable, there was a man that had a hundred sheep, and he lost one of them. It went off, it strayed off on its own. And did he say, well, I've still got 99 sheep? No. He left those in the wilderness, and he went seeking for that one that was lost.

And what we read is something remarkable. And we should take our hat off to the translators for the clarity of the word of God. He went seeking for that lost sheep, we read, until he found it. Not he went looking in case he might find it, no. He searched until he found it. It was an effectual blessing. It took effect, it made a difference, that sheep was found. And when he had found it, he picked it up and carried it home and invited his friends and neighbors, he said, come and rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost.

And so it is, to those who look to Jesus, there is an effectual call that he can perform with, because it is of him to whom be all the praise, the honor, and the glory. My mind has just gone back to the words that were given to Nicodemus, who we were looking at this morning. And we read that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but shall have eternal life.

As we read in that account from Nicodemus, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but shall have eternal life.

When Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness, that was because a type of sin was amongst the children of Israel. Those fiery serpents were biting people, poisoning them. The people cried to Moses. Moses cried to God, he said, what shall I do? The Lord Jesus told him, make a serpent of brass, that means a shiny metal, polish it up and hold it up, and everyone that looks to that will live. The poison will not kill them. just as sin is put away by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now you can imagine these people bitten with snakes and thinking, well, this poison might well kill me. But they obeyed, and there were thousands of these people. Moses held it up, and you can imagine these people obeying his word. Look to that brazen serpent. Some might have been right at the back of the multitude. They might not have been able to see it clearly. But if they looked in that direction, they would be saved.

And we cannot always see clearly what we would love to know more of. We have the scriptures to search, but God shows us, in a remarkable way sometimes, exactly what we need. Those people who looked, it doesn't say everyone that saw clearly was saved. No, everyone that looked lived. It's so clear to read. We can read about it in the Book of Numbers.

And these precious truths are there recorded because that which was written the fore time we read was written for our learning. that we, through patience and comfort in the scriptures, might have hope. And Moses made a serpent of brass and put it on a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, that is, man, woman, boy or girl, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

What a blessing, what a favour, what a saviour we have to praise God from whom all blessings flow. And so, if we can go home with this wonderful Word of God that neither is there salvation, that is, God's ability to save, in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

May the Lord add his blessing to these few remarks. Amen.