As the Lord may be pleased to
help us this evening, I'd like to invite your prayerful attention
to the words we read together in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12. Acts chapter 4 and 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 four and verse 12. As we read, Peter and John had
gone up to the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth
hour. There were three times of prayer
in the Jewish procedure. It was nine o'clock, 12 noon,
and three in the afternoon. This must have been in the morning,
the ninth hour. And there was this poor man lame
from his mother's womb. He was born crippled. unable
to walk. His legs did nothing. And as
we well know, most of the work in those days was manual.
And so this man was unable to work. People disabled had to
resort to begging. I understand that if the Jewish
law was kept properly, these people would not have been begging. Because if I can just come to
my mind, I think we read in Leviticus 25, If thy brother be waxen poor
and has sold away some of his possessions, and if any of his
kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother
has sold. And also we read, if thy brother
be waxen poor and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve
him, yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live
with thee. Take thou no usury from him,
or increase, but fear thy God, that thy brother may live with
thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money with usury. That means
if you lend him something, just lend it to him. Don't expect
him to pay interest. I am the Lord your God, which
brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the
land of Canaan, and to be your God. But this man was resorting to
being a beggar. But just as the Lord Jesus took
pity on those who were in great need, so in a practical way,
Peter and John saw this man who was at the temple, at the gate
of the temple, which is called Beautiful, which was the main
entrance, but not knowing that he was about
to meet, by the Spirit, with our Lord Jesus, who alone is
able to do wondrous things. The Lord Jesus, of course, was
ascended to glory, but he did say, I will not leave you comfortless,
I will come to you. He also said, Lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the world. And Peter, fastening his eyes
upon him with John, said, look on us. And he gave heed to them,
expecting to receive something from them, some money or something
to eat, just to tide him over for that day. Then Peter said, silver and gold
have I none. But such as I have, I give to
thee, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. In the same way as the Lord Jesus
spoke to that man with a crippled hand, a hand that didn't work,
he said, stretch forth thine hand, that which the man could
not do, but which when he did, he could stretch it forth and
his hand was healed. And as we mentioned this morning
about Bartimaeus receiving his sight, Jesus said to him, what
wilt thou that I should do unto thee? What a wonderful question. Jesus knows our need, doesn't
he? But he still requires us to ask. Rather like as children sitting
around the tea table, mother always knows what we need. It's
all on the table. but we're brought up to ask for
things to be passed to us. Now, the same, the Lord Jesus,
of course, being God, has a boundless store to meet our need. And our every need, we read,
he richly will supply, nor will his mercy ever let us die. In him there dwells a treasure
all divine, matchless grace, the hymn writer says, has made
that treasure mine. What a blessing that that boundless
supply is there. And this poor man was told to
rise up and walk. Peter took him by the right hand
and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received
strength. What a miracle. A man who had
never walked, and with no physiotherapy, no further treatment, he was
not only able to walk, but able to leap and praise God. And he went into the temple.
Of course, the people saw him walking and praising God. They looked at Peter and John
as though they were some sort of heroes. But we should never
take any praise to ourselves. Peter's aim here, and we read
it in verses 10 and 11 very clearly, Peter's aim was to convince them
of their sin and then lead them to Jesus Christ. That's what
comes over when we read these verses. As the lame man which was healed
held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them
into the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.
And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, ye men of Israel,
why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye earnestly on us? As though by our own power or
holiness we have made this man to walk. And then he goes on
to begin with Abraham. where the promise was given and
the promised son was given, even Isaac. And that promise that was given
to Abraham in him and his seed, and notice it's seed, singular,
speaking of the one and only Lord Jesus Christ, shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed. He puts the crown on the right
head This is all, all the praise is to Jesus. God in heaven has
received Jesus who you people have rejected. That same Lord
Jesus of whom we read in that first chapter in Revelation when
he was made known to the Apostle John who was in exile. He was
in the spirit on the Lord's day and the Lord Jesus came to him
and made himself known. And what did he say of himself?
I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. That is the very same Lord Jesus
who was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. And that same Lord Jesus is he
who is that chief cornerstone. And we read in the Psalms these
wonderful words. The stone which the builders
refused has become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's
doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord has made. We will rejoice and
be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord.
O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. And that was
written in the Psalms many years before the Lord Jesus came to
this world. He who said, I am he that liveth
and was dead, And behold, look, I am alive forevermore. He is the fount of every blessing. He is the fount of all power. By him and through him and to
him are all things. And God's word, the holy scriptures,
we have before us day by day. We can wake up in the morning
and read We can pray over it. We come to the close of the day,
we can do the same again. And it's been rightly said that
it's no end of a book. Some books we read, and we find
them interesting, we put them down. But this one we can pick
up every day, and it's refreshing. It is food to our souls. It edifies our minds. and we
trust it will set our affection on things above. But the Holy Scriptures teach
us in this precious truth regarding this man being healed where there was a great challenge going
on. The Apostle Peter preaches the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And these people are convicted
and convinced of their sin. Beginning at verse 12, we have
a record of his sermon there. When Peter saw it, he answered
the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why
look so earnestly on us as those by our own power or holiness
we have made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, of Isaac,
and Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus,
whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate,
when he was determined to let him go. Remember, Pilate said,
I find no fault in this man. 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 up from the dead,
whereof we are witnesses. And in his name, through faith
in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him
hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Peter goes on to say that Lord Jesus' life was taken,
there was so much ignorance involved. But he said, through ignorance
did it, as did also your rulers. But those things which God before
hath showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should
suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Our dear Lord Jesus made that
tremendous statement once, referring to his death, which he knew was
in his pathway. He said, 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. But he called these people to
repentance, to repent, is to do an about turn and go
back to where you should be. 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. And he shall send
Jesus Christ, which was before preached unto you, whom the heaven
must receive until the time of restitution of all things which
God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the
world begun. And he goes on to teach these
people. He says, it shall come to pass
that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed
among the people. And he goes on to say about what
was foretold. And ye are the children of the
prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers,
saying unto Abraham, in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the
earth be blessed. Unto you first, God, having raised
up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning away every
one of you from his iniquities. Now these things came into the pathway of those
apostles And when they were challenged,
as we read in chapter four, and as they spoke to the people,
the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees
came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people and
preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Now they touched
something that disturbed the same council, I believe, that
tried our Lord Jesus. The chief priests, captain of
the temple, and the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection. And if we study God's word, we
see a pattern forming here. In Mark chapter 13, we read these words of our Lord
Jesus. Mark 13 verse nine, but take
heed to yourselves for they shall deliver you up to the councils
and in the synagogues you shall be beaten and you shall be brought
before rulers and kings for my sake for a testimony against
them. And the gospel must first be
published among all nations But when they shall lead you and
deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak,
neither do ye premeditate, but whatsoever shall be given to
you in that hour, that speak ye. For it is not ye that speak,
but the Holy Ghost." The Lord Jesus foretold what would happen. Because of this, he told them,
don't start rehearsing a speech beforehand, but when these things,
when this trial comes, and it will come, you will be tried
for preaching the glorious good news of the gospel. We read in beginning of chapter 4, verse
7, when they had set them in their midst, they asked, by what
power or by what name have you done this miracle? In other words,
they were saying, well, what authority have you got? We haven't
sent you on this mission to preach in this way. And the resurrection, of course,
we know what happened. If we go back to the Gospels
and look at Matthew's Gospel in chapter 27, and we see there
as we come towards the end of that chapter, the last paragraph,
begin at verse 62. Now the next day that followed the
day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together
unto Pilate, saying, sir, we remember that that deceiver What
an awful name to give our dear Saviour. He who is God, the Son. And they regarded him as a deceiver. While he was yet alive, said,
after three days I will rise again. Command therefore that
the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples
come by night and steal him away and say that he is risen from
the dead. So the last error shall be worse
than the first. Pilate said unto them, ye have
a watch, go your way, make it as sure as you can. So they went
and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting
a watch. They thought that the Lord Jesus had been
taken He was dead, he was buried, not realizing that he had power to lay his
life down, he had power to take it again. And it is through his death and
glorious resurrection that our salvation is secure. And by his grace, we trust that
we will endure to the end and be blessed with a saving knowledge
of him. What we read is, having set a
watch, they guarded the tomb with soldiers. They put a seal
on the stone so that if it was disturbed, they would know. What we read is, at the end of the
Sabbath, as it began to dawn, toward the first day of the week
came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And
behold, there was a great earthquake. For the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door
and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning
and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers
did shake and become as dead men. Who can withstand the power
of almighty God? But you know the same angel with
this great power, the angel being the messenger from God, is the
same angel who answered and said to the
women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, fear not ye, for
I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. God is almighty, and God is almighty
to comfort and bless The angel answered and said unto
the women, fear not, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was
crucified. He is not here, for he is risen.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay. But those who paid great money
to the soldiers and said to them that if there's any questions
asked, you just keep quiet, we will secure you. And they said that the disciples
came by night and took him away. And this we know is not true,
because our Lord Jesus rose with power to save. And he was alive
on this earth, I think, for 40 days before he ascended to glory.
And in that time, he, of course, had sent forth his apostles. An apostle is one who saw the Lord Jesus after his
resurrection and also who was sent personally by the Lord Jesus
and given power, God-given power, to work miracles according to
God's will and purpose. And we have in this chapter before
us this account of what happened. And be it known unto you all
and all the people of Israel, Peter said, 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. What a blessing it is that this
same Lord Jesus referred to here as in the Psalms, the stone which
the builders set at naught, which has become the head of the corner.
And then Peter makes this tremendous statement under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, because remember, these words are the result of
what the Lord Jesus promised in Mark chapter 13. Don't rehearse
what you will say. God will give you a message.
God will give you words by the Holy Ghost. That's why we read in that verse
eight in this chapter, then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said
unto them, ye rulers of people and elders of Israel, and so
on, he spoke very boldly. And then he said in verse 12,
neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none
other name unto heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. It's not a maybe. Those whom God eternally designs
to save, they will be saved. God in eternity planned the salvation
of lost souls. And by his grace, everyone whom
he eternally designed to save will come to a saving knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And just look how wonderfully
unique this gospel is. There is none other name than
Jesus, Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin. The first commandment says, thou
shalt have no other God before me. How many gods were there
in Egypt? They had numerous gods, didn't
they? When God sent those plagues of lice and flies and the water
turned into blood and the hail and the locusts and darkness, there was none of the Egyptian
gods that could reverse that plague that God sent. And Pharaoh would not believe
in God, who is God, that I should obey him. But there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. No savior but our Lord Jesus
Christ. He only is Jehovah Shekinu. I think it's good Murray McChane
wrote those wonderful verses. I once was a stranger to grace
and to God. I knew not my danger. I felt
not my load. Those friends spoke in rapture
of Christ on the tree. Jehovah Chikinu, that is the
Lord our righteousness, was nothing to me. Now what a blessing if
we have in our heart and soul that awakening power of this
same Lord Jesus showing us our need and directing us to our
Lord Jesus who gave his life a ransom for many. When he hung
on that cruel cross he bore the total weight of all the sin of
all who would come to trust in him. And then he rose from the dead
on that glorious Easter morning, having conquered sin and death
and hell, and as though he was a prisoner
having served his sentence, he was released from that tomb. I remember doing some work for
a man years ago, a very honest man, very upright, a God-fearing
man. And he phoned me up after a week
or two. He said, that work you did for
me, Phil, did I ever pay you for it? I said, yes, I'm sure
you did. Well, he said, can you check?
He said, I can't seem to trace it. And I looked through my receipt
book. Being a bit old-fashioned, I
still do a carbon copy. And sure enough, there was a
carbon copy with my signature to say it was paid. So I phoned
him back. I said, yes, you paid. I've got
the copy of the receipt. Oh, thank you, he said. That's
put my mind at rest. And look at it this way, dear friends.
When the Lord Jesus rose again from the dead, it's as though
the receipt was there, God's Righteous justice was completely
satisfied. The perfect righteousness of
Christ is that which is acceptable to an almighty, holy, eternal
Lord God. It is only in Jesus that salvation
is. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. And this invincible grace can
speak to our innermost heart and soul. And what a blessing
it is that this wonderful blessing is made known to people on this
earth by our Lord Jesus, who is ascended to heaven. This poor lame man, who was lame
from his mother's womb, he had no ability to motivate himself,
did he? It was only by this wonderful
miracle, which took place, and by nature, we not only have
no ability to save ourselves, but also we're not born with
a desire. But if we are given a desire
and a concern for our never-dying soul, this is a miracle. This is how people are born again,
born from above. They're given a desire, and that desire causes them to
seek. And we do read in the scriptures that those that seek shall find
that is one of God's promises and God has said I will work
and who shall let it who shall hinder it what a blessing it
is that God has power to save and he singles out his people
and you might say well how am I going to know if I'm one of
his people well have you heard the voice of the shepherd In
John chapter 10, and we do well to read those words, the Lord
Jesus is the good shepherd. And I understand from sheep farmers
that a sheep cannot manage to look after itself. Other animals,
if they're turned out into the wild, they can exist. They can cope somehow, but a
sheep can't. A sheep needs its feet to be
attended to. It has to be given treatment to its fleece. Otherwise,
they get infection in the wool and in the skin. A shepherd is
a busy man. It's not by mistake that God
singled out a sheep to be the type of his people. And a sheep
knows the shepherd's voice. What a blessing it is when we
hear, it may be through the preaching of the word, it may be through
the reading of God's word, and something speaks to our innermost
heart and soul. That's the voice of the shepherd,
dear friend. And the good shepherd himself
said, my sheep hear my voice, And I know them. Yes, He's known
His sheep from all eternity. And they follow me. What a blessing it is that our
Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is He who knows His sheep. He's known them for all eternity.
And it is He who is the only way of salvation. Neither is
there salvation in any other. There is no other name given
among men, maybe men, women, boys and girls, but it is given
that they might hear the voice of the Son of God and live. This wonderful truth of the Lord
Jesus is a unique truth, isn't it? There is only one door of
salvation into the fold of the sheep, And the Lord Jesus said,
I am the door, by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved. None other could be equal to
him. None but Jesus came to this earth
as the only savior of mankind. None but Jesus rose again from
the dead. None but Jesus established the
New Testament church of which we have read those apostles establishing
it this evening. You think 5,000 people in that
crowd were affected by the preaching and teaching of Peter and John. None but Jesus ascended to glory
and there he ever lives to make intercession. We plead his perfect
righteousness and he hears and makes our prayers acceptable.
I remember a good friend, Mr. Ramsbottom, saying years ago,
and it's something that's just stuck in my mind, he said, if
we could see our prayers when they arrive in heaven, we would
hardly recognize them because the Lord Jesus has made our prayers
acceptable by his perfect righteousness. But we can continue to pray And
we can seek to know a pattern of prayer and to pray in the
name of our Lord Jesus, in his name, and plead his perfect righteousness
because he is seated at his Father's right hand. And there he lives
to make intercession for us. No other name. compares with
the name of Jesus. It is given among men, whereby we must be saved. Must because there is no other
name and no other way and the Lord Jesus himself is he who,
having begun a good work in you, will perform it, will continue
it, until the day of Jesus Christ. Do remember, dear friends, that
we're not there in our own strength. Our Lord Jesus is he who continues
to dwell in his people. I heard a, you may have heard
this before, a man who, came to a saving knowledge of our
Lord Jesus, and he went to one of his friends. He said, I'm
so afraid I'm not going to hold on my way. He said, I've come
to trust in our Lord Jesus, but what about if I can't hold on
my way? And this man fumbled about in
his pocket. He got his pen out, and he held
it up like that. He said, why isn't that dropping
out of my hand? And the man answered, he said,
well, you're holding it. He said, and you're safe. He said, while you trust in Jesus,
he will hold you in his strength. You won't be in your own strength.
And some years later, these people hadn't met for a long time. This
man was just boarding a train on a busy railway platform, and
he heard someone call his name out. And he looked across, and
there was someone the opposite side of the platform going on
another train. And he held his hand out with
his pen in his hand so that the man could see it. And he waved,
he said, yes, I'm still being held. Now, that's how God works. And all the power, all the glory
belongs to him. He who inspired these words to
be included in scripture Neither is there salvation in any other,
for there is none other name under heaven given freely by
his wonderful grace, given among men whereby we must be saved. May the Lord bless these few
remarks and may his name be honoured and glorified.