Acts chapter 4, we'll begin our
reading in verse 10. The scripture says, Be it known
unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God
raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand before
you whole. This is the stone which is said
it not 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." At
this time, the Apostle John and Apostle Peter were in the temple
and they saw this man begging alms. He had been laying there.
Scripture says he is lame from his mother's womb. And we know
that this man later on is above 40 years old. He had sat there
for many, many years begging for money. Couldn't work. So
he had to beg for his living. And he looked up to Peter and
John and he expected money from them. But they said, silver and
gold have we none, but what we have we'll give you. In the name
of Jesus Christ, rise and walk. And so by the power that was
given them by the Holy Spirit, this man a notable miracle had
been performed. And these rulers, these religious
men came to him and they said, by what authority By what authority
do you preach this gospel of Jesus Christ? And he said, well,
you've got your evidence. This man here is made whole by
the same man we preach, Jesus Christ. That's our authority.
And now, in this chapter, the gospel we may see is clearly
proclaimed. I like the way God uses miracles.
God doesn't use miracles in Scripture just to prove He can do miracles.
What He uses miracles for is to preach His Son. That's what He does miracles
for in the New Testament. Why are there not so many more
miraculous miracles today? He doesn't need to. He's already
proven these things. He doesn't need any... I like
this, the Apostle said, even if one rose from the dead. I
mean, Christ said that. He said, even if one rose from
the dead, they wouldn't believe. Man, if we went over to the grave
today and had everybody, news cameras come in, and we were
to say, hey, you, whoever it is, get up out of that grave,
and one person were to get up, listen, that would not generate
faith in anyone. So these miracles are meant to
declare the gospel of Jesus Christ. And He does so, so plainly here.
He said, this is our authority, be it known to you all, to everyone, that by the name, by the authority
of Jesus Christ, whom God raised from the dead, whom God set on
the throne of heaven, there is a man there, and by His authority
we preach. We preach. This man stands here
whole because of the authority. And look, spiritually, this man
stands before you whole because of the authority of Jesus Christ.
Because of His authority, His salvation. And this message that they preach
here, is the same message we preach. This man, Jesus of Nazareth,
was crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This is the one
that saves. This is the only one that saves
sinners. This is the stone which is set
at nought of the Jewish builders, who is the head of the corner,
and neither is there salvation in any other name." Listen, this
is the gospel message to you this morning. If you don't hear
anything else, listen to this. There is no other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. There's only one Savior. There's only one Savior. His
name is Jesus Christ. There is no hope in any other. That's our gospel message. That's
it. O sinner, behold, now I preach
to you this same gospel, that Jesus is the Christ, that He
is the stone of God laid before the foundation of the world. This man, Jesus Christ, who is
the God-man, God set Him as the chief cornerstone of His church,
of His elect. And God builds on Him all of
the souls of His church. Isaiah states this, Thus saith
the Lord, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone. Not just any stone,
a tried stone, a proven stone, a precious corner stone. He that
believeth shall not make haste. This building is pretty well
built. I've not seen one of these boards
jump up and get off of it. Have you? I haven't seen one
of these boards make any haste to get off of it. That's how
he builds his church. He builds it on Christ. And not
one person that is resting on Jesus Christ ever desires to
leave. I'm not going anywhere. To whom
shall I go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. His church is built on Christ.
And we don't want to make haste. We were built on this by God.
If any sinner is to be made whole, to be made righteous before God,
if any sinner is to be washed of the guilt and stain of sin,
it must be by the blood and righteousness of Christ alone. Salvation, listen,
is no cooperative effort. God is not asking you to participate
in this. Matter of fact, he's telling
you it's already finished. Everything is done. Nothing left
for you to do. Salvation is not a cooperation
of the work of man and the grace of God, but it is a work of God
alone, purposed from eternity. I like what the Apostle says
in 2 Timothy. 2nd Timothy chapter 1 in verse
9. I don't want to misquote it,
so I'm going to return to it. It says, 2nd Timothy, God who has saved us
and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, listen, which was
given us Given us. This salvation that God purposed
is given us. When was this salvation given
us? In Christ Jesus before the world
began. This salvation was purposed of
God before the world began. And listen, it was accomplished
when Jesus Christ died upon the cross. It was accomplished when He died
upon the cross. And salvation is applied only
when the new birth is given by the Holy Spirit, who calls us
by the gospel. This message I preach, you realize
that this is the means that the Holy Spirit uses to call sinners. by the preaching of the gospel,
which the world accounts for foolishness." The world and the
flesh despise the preaching of the gospel. They say, who are
you? By what authority do you stand up there and tell me this? By this man's authority, by Jesus
Christ. And this is the means God uses.
Therefore, as a result of the power and grace of God, He creates
in us a new heart, and we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Now listen, this is message that
he preaches, this salvation that's found in no other. We who've
been called, we believe that. I believe that. Completely, absolutely,
I'm sold out to it. There is no salvation in any
other save Jesus Christ. I believe that. I know that to
be true. But my faith in Christ, my salvation
in Christ is not a result of my faith. Rather, my faith is
a result of that salvation. Over to Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2. Paul tells us in this chapter,
he says, you're dead in trespasses and sins. God quickened you by
His mercy and by His grace. You are saved by grace. And in verse 8, he tells us,
for by grace you are saved. By grace you are saved. We were
dead, haters of God. We were like that man that was
lame on his feet. You know, he wasn't looking that
morning and saying, well, I'm gonna go to the temple and somebody's
gonna come in and heal me. I just got a feeling. No, he
went there just like he did every day. He was expecting money like
he did every time. But what did he get instead?
He was made whole. A miracle happened. You know
what it was happening to me? I went to church one day. Because
my parents made me go. I went to church probably just
because I wanted to see my friends. I don't remember. It was some
reason other than the gospel. I didn't expect the Lord to save
me. I didn't know that. But He did. He did. He called me. He called me by
His grace. He saved me by His grace. I wasn't
looking for it. And yet, I found it. I found
Him that I didn't even look for. Because He found me. He sought
me. And He gave me life. He saved
me by His grace. And yet, how and through what
means did He save me? Through faith. You are saved
by grace. Listen, through faith. Through faith. Listen, no one
is saved without faith in Jesus Christ alone. No one. Faith in Christ is most necessary
for salvation. Without faith, the scripture
says it is impossible to please God. You're not gonna please
God without faith in Christ. Now, listen, you may know a lot
about doctrine. That does not save you. Your
knowledge doesn't save you. There's a seminary two blocks
from here full of knowledge. But that knowledge, no matter
how great and how high it is, it could never save a man. Never. They can learn to conjugate verbs
in Greek and Latin and Hebrew and all other languages. That
will never save anyone. You may know TULIP. You may know
the acronym, total depravity. Unconditional action. Limited
atonement. Irresistible grace. Perseverance
and preservation of the saints. And you may say, I know that
gospel. I know it. But that knowledge
of that doctrine doesn't save. Only through faith in Jesus Christ. It's not a combination of your
knowledge plus Jesus Christ. Not a combination of your works
plus Jesus Christ. It is faith in Christ alone. Absolutely, completely, and solitary,
all by Himself. He is all my righteousness, sanctification,
and wisdom, and redemption. He's everything. He's everything.
That's what faith is. And the elect and redeemed of
Christ, those called by the Holy Spirit, listen, we fall out on
it. It's more I'm standing on this
stage. I've got all my weight right here on this thing right
here to hold me. I tell you more than that, I'm
not just standing on Christ, I'm laid out. He is holding every
ounce of my body weight. Every ounce of my soul is resting
completely on the finished work of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And resting none in my flesh. None in my works. Faith is wholly
seizing on to Christ. And nothing else. That's what
faith is. And I'll tell you, when the Spirit of God calls
you, faith in Christ is not a decision or an option. Was it a decision or an option
with you? Were you weighing it out? Well,
yeah, I'm a sinner. Yeah, I know I'm going to hell. And in an eternal life, that
sounds pretty good. Okay, I guess I'll take eternal
life. Oh, no. Oh, no. It was not a decision,
it was a necessity. A necessity. There is none other name given
among men whereby, listen, I must be saved. So faith is not an
option or a decision, but rather faith is a desperation. A necessity! Go over to Luke. Go over to Luke chapter 8. I
want to show you a picture of this. The Lord gives us a picture
in this woman. Luke chapter 8. And verse, Verse 43. And a woman having an issue of
blood twelve years. This woman was bleeding for twelve
years straight. She had no strength to do anything. Her life was miserable. It was
ruined. She had nothing. She could do
nothing. Bleeding and bleeding and bleeding
and bleeding and nothing could stop the bleeding She had an
issue of blood 12 years and she spent all of her living upon
physicians Neither could they heal it neither could be healed
of any But she heard of a man called
Jesus and how he did heal others and And she, seeing him in the press,
knowing that he was dealing with a very important man. A very
important man had a daughter that was sick at the same time.
And so, without even thinking she was worthy of disturbing
him or stopping him, she said, if I could just touch the hem
of his garment, I must have his garment, I must touch it or else
I'll die. And so in desperation, she gets
up behind him and crawls through the crowd and touches it. Out of desperation. Isn't that
desperate? Isn't that desperate to think
that just touching the man's garment would heal her? Her faith,
she had faith if this man could heal her. But the desperation
was shown in how she did it. She snuck up behind him. She
didn't even want to ask him. She was unworthy to even ask
Him. She's touched it. And you know
what happened? She was healed. She was healed. When a man is quickened by the
Spirit of God to see our condition of utter depravity and sinfulness,
Christ is not an option, He's a necessity. I must have Him. Because, listen, there is none
other name given among men whereby we must be saved. Why must I
have Christ? Because he's it. He's all. He's all God's salvation. And listen, when we know our
depravity and then we hear of pardon, free pardon, kids always getting
on the phones and stuff I gotta watch out because they they see
these things and say free games and oh my goodness free well
this is too good to be true I gotta just click on that and sure enough
put in your credit card information. No I'm not talking about that
kind of free I'm talking about absolutely free Completely free
of charge. Nothing that you have could pay
for it. It's far too valuable for you
to pay for. It's way too high. You can't attain it. Yet it is
given to those who have need of it. Free. Free pardon. And when we hear
of free pardon, what do we do? We grab hold of it with all our
hearts. and cling to Him. We receive
Him gladly. We cling to Christ by faith. But to no praise or honor do
we give to our faith. No praise. No praise do we give to our faith. We, as a starving man, would
receive a loaf of bread, as a drowning man would receive a life raft. Even so, do we by faith believe
on Christ, cling to Christ, and give no confidence, no assurance
to our faith, no praise to our faith, just as a starving man
would give no praise to his hands to receive the bread. Therefore, we who believe on
Jesus Christ alone know this, that even our faith is a gift. I do believe, I now believe that
Jesus died for me. But listen, that faith that I
have is so precious. but it was not a product of my
own. Even today, as you believe, your
faith is no product of your own. It, faith, is a gift of God,
not of works. Why? Lest any man should boast Behold, the freewill works religion
is a product of boasting in faith. It's nothing but works religion.
The work is their faith. See, my faith is not a work.
My faith is a grace. It's a grace. It's given of God.
And I don't boast in it. Jesus said this, This is the
work of God. You wanna know how much of a
miracle your faith is? This is the work of God that
you should believe on him whom he has sent. So the faith that
you have this morning, it's a work of God. It's a work of God. It's a miracle. It's more of
a miracle than him raising that lame man to his feet. It's a work of God. And Jesus said, I am the bread
of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst. I was
a hungry sinner. I was hungry for righteousness.
I was starving for righteousness. I couldn't satisfy righteousness
by the husks of religious deeds. No matter how many I did, no
matter how many religious deeds I ate, I never could satisfy
righteousness. Always working, always doing,
never growing better, only growing worse. And I tell you, I couldn't quench
my thirst by the law. The law was as sand in my mouth. It only made me thirst for more. But grace in Jesus Christ, who
is the bread of life, when I did eat him by faith, he satisfied
all righteousness, and his blood did cleanse me from all my sins." All of them. All of them. And He did it so freely. So freely. He gave me everything
to satisfy my soul. Have you believed on Jesus Christ? If you do, I know this, you gladly
forsake everything else. If you've ever known Him, if
you've ever experienced this grace, You gladly give up all
self-righteousness. Over in John, for our comfort,
the apostle John writes this. Go to 1 John. Listen to what
the apostle writes for us. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 13. Now he's writing to
us. He says, I have written these
things, verse 13, these things have I written unto you that
believe on the name of the Son of God. You've believed on the
name of the Son of God, the only name given among men whereby
we must be saved. You've believed on that by the
free grace of God, by the mercy of God. You have believed. And
he writes this only to believers. This is not for everybody. This
comfort is not for everyone, just you. Just you who believe. He writes
these things that we may know that you have eternal life. That you may know that you may know you have eternal
life. Listen, believer, all this world
is fleeting and passing away, and listen, everything you feel
and see are nothing but shadows. Can you hold a shadow? Is a shadow
a real thing? Neither is anything else in this
world real. Because it passes away. You that are healthy today, you
will be sick tomorrow. You that are beautiful today,
age will come and beauty is vain. It's empty. It's passing. You that have riches, they make
for themselves wings and fly away. Listen, parents and children
die. Husbands die and pass away. Our minds become feeble, our
sight grows dim, our foundations begin to shake. Linda's got some
knee spurs. Start to feel your foundation
shake a little? Don't worry, it'll completely
go. Soon enough, it'll completely go. And we won't have any foundations
to stand on. Therefore, the wise man says,
all is vanity and vexation of spirit. If you've not found that
to be true, if you've not, you've just plain ignored it. Because
that's just so. Everything is vanity and vexation
of spirit. When you seek it, you work for
it, you earn it, you get it, and it's gone. You seek it, you
work for it, you earn it, you get it, it's gone. Everything
is fleeting and passing, but listen, what Christ gives to
us never goes away. Ever. I give unto you eternal life. Not just life like this. Imagine
if you had to live in this body eternally. What a miserable thing
it would be, wouldn't it? If he said, I give you eternal
life to be just like you are right now. That would be the
most miserable thing ever. I don't know how many people,
but the saints of God, when they get so old and feeble, they just
beg God to take them. Because they can't stand this
existence anymore. Now, some of you are young, you
don't understand that. I imagine I don't understand
that yet, but I've seen it. But yet this eternal life that
He gives to us is eternal, abundant life. A life full of joy and
contentment and peace that passes understanding. This eternal life
He gives to us, gives it freely, and no man can take it from you. That's what John wants you to
know. He said, I write of you that believe on the Son of God.
Listen, you have eternal life. You have it in possession right
now. Well, you know, I don't feel it. What do they say? Feelings are fleeting, aren't
they? They're shadows. You don't grab onto a feeling.
What you grab onto is this word. You hang onto it. You hold it. You embrace it. You don't let
it go. It is my only source of comfort
in this feeble existence, is the promise of God. And everything else are nothing
but shadows. Let the shadows go. And cling to what's real. Christ
is real. His promise is real. And you know what? You have it.
I just don't care what your experience is or your feelings are. You
who believe, you got it. You have it. and no one can take
it from you. This foundation of Christ, go ever so far as you will, you'll
never fall off of it. You'll fall on it and be broken,
but you who believe will never fall off of it. You didn't put
yourself in it, and you can't take yourself from it. And you
know what? I don't want to. I don't want
to. I have eternal life. That you
may know that you have eternal life. And, listen, that you may
believe on the name of the Son of God. Why is he writing this?
He writes this to people who already believe. He writes it
for their comfort that you have eternal life. And then what does
this do? It goes back. to giving us a
rule of life. What is your rule of life? That
you may believe on the name of the Son of God. You see, Christ
didn't come and die for us and rise again for our justification,
redeem us, sanctify us, cleanse us, give us faith, and then point
us back to the law. No. Faith in Christ gives us
assurance. And assurance points us back
to believing in Christ. That's what the Holy Spirit,
you are led by the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit does not testify
of Himself. You see men talking about the
Holy Spirit and how they're filled with the Holy Spirit and how
they're jumping up and down and doing all kinds of things. That
is vain religion. That's another spirit. Because
our spirit The Spirit of God that dwells in us points us back
to Christ constantly, daily. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do I do now? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And what about my trouble? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. This is the rule of
our life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why these things are written. That you should believe on the
name of Jesus Christ, for there is none other name given among
men whereby we must be saved." Now, what is the result of this
faith in Christ? Go back to your text. I'm going
to just go quickly and show you some things in this. As he preaches the gospel, and
those that believe on the gospel like Peter and John here, when
they preach this gospel, They declared so plainly, so clearly,
Jesus Christ, you crucified, God raised from the dead, God
set him on the throne, no other name given among men whereby
we must be saved, he's it. That's as plain as you possibly
can get it. There he is, this is the one that saved sinners.
And you know what they did? They didn't fall down and cry
for mercy. No. What they did is tried to
shut them up. They couldn't deny their message. They had a miracle that was evident
right in front of them. They went away and said, what,
in verse 16, what shall we do to these men? For that indeed
is a notable miracle which had been done by them as manifest
to all that dwell in Jerusalem. We can't deny it. Listen, no
false religion can deny what I've said. What they can do is hate it.
What they do do is hate it. Verse 17, but that it spread
no further among the people. Let us straightly threaten them
that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them and commanded
them not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter
and John answered and said, Whether it be right in the sight of God
to hearken unto you more than unto God, you judge. For we cannot
but speak the things which we have seen and heard. And you
know what they did? They went back to preaching.
And eventually those people caught them again, threw them in prison.
God delivered him out of the prison, and where'd they go?
They went right back to preaching. I remember the story of Bunyan,
John Bunyan, when he was put into prison. 12 years he was
put in prison for preaching the gospel. And you know what they
said to him? All they said was, John, look,
just don't preach anymore, and we'll let you go. You know what
he said? You let me go, and I'll go back
and preach the same message. Why? We can't do anything else! We know who the Savior is, and
we can't point men to anyone else but to Christ. And we won't. We won't compromise. And so what'd
they do with them after that? They beat them. They beat them. They whipped them. They tortured
them. Eventually, they killed them.
Listen, when you believe the gospel, This world and its religion
will hate you. They will not receive our gospel,
but rather they will first try to marginalize you. You know what they first hear when
they hear the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace? They say,
well, man, that's just a little sect. They're just a cult. And so they try to marginalize.
They can't deny what you're saying, so they marginalize you. But
listen, when the word of God is not kept in a closet, it won't
be. They can marginalize us all they
want to, but I know this, this message will get out. This message
will go forth in power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit to save God's
elect. It will go out. It will accomplish
what God sends it to do, no matter what men do. And when that happens,
they'll become more bold in their persecution of you. So what's the result of believing
this gospel? Persecution. What's a result
of persecution? Notice what they do in verse
23. After they were threatened, they let them go, and they went
to their own company. They went to their own company. You know how you can tell the
difference between goats and sheep? Now, I'm not a goat and
a sheep expert, okay? So I really, looking at them,
I don't know. They're white or black or whatever
color they are and you put them out there in the field and you
ask me to pick them out, I couldn't do it. But you know what I can
do? I can watch them for a little while and I can pick them out.
You know why? The sheep are very picky about
what they eat. Goats will eat anything. I see
something out there eating on a tin can. I know that's not
a sheep. It's a goat. Goats will eat anything. Sheep won't eat anything. They
must have grass. Sheep only hear the gospel of
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They eat anything else, they
get sick. Get sick. You know how else I know that
the sheep from the goats? Sheep always need a shepherd.
They always need one. Now, a goat can take a shepherd
or leave a shepherd. He can have him or do without
him. Believers, we cannot do without Christ. If a sheep is without a shepherd,
he's either lost or sick. We cannot do without Christ our
shepherd. And where does Christ reside?
He resides in us, but in a special way. Does he not reside with
us in our own company? Among the church when the gospel
is preached? This morning he does. He is in
a special way among his people. And listen, sheep, I know that
they're sheep because they're gregarious creatures, they flock
together. Sheep need each other. I don't suppose how much you
realize I need you. And I know this, you need me. And we love one another. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. And we
desire to be among believers. And look what the believers did
when they reported. What did I do to you this morning?
Didn't I just give you a report? I gave you a report of God's
word. There's none other name given among men whereby we must
be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And you that believe, you have
eternal life. And you that believe, believe. They just gave you the
report. And what did you do? You rejoiced
in the report. They rejoiced and said, thou
art God. They gave glory to God. What
do you do? Do I want you to give glory to me? No, give glory to
God. That's what we do. We give glory
to God when we meet together. and will meet together in one
heart. And notice that they said that in verse... Lost my place, just a second. Oh, wrong chapter. There it is.
Verse 31. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken. They were
assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost, And they spake the word of God in boldness, and most
of them believed were of one heart and one soul. You know
how attached I am to you? As attached as I am to Christ. We're one body and He's our one
head. You suppose you can do without
your arm? No. And Christ won't do without His.
and we all have one heart to praise God. This is the result
of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. There's none other Savior
but one. By the grace of God, we believe
in Him. We have eternal life, and we that live, believe, and
we rejoice together. Is that not exactly what happened
this morning? Over 2,000 years and the church
hasn't changed, has it? The gospel hasn't changed. I'm
thankful for it. None other name. Believe on Him. Believe on Christ. I pray God
will bless this to you.