Turn with me, if you would, back
to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. Let's read verses
10 to 12. 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 here before you whole. 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. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. I read
a bulletin article by an old writer and an old preacher from
the 1800s, and he made a few statements that were so thought-provoking
and so clear. So thought-provoking and so clear. And as I thought about what he
said, a few more thoughts along the same line came to my mind
and I put them all together and I want to bring them to you for
a message tonight. Look at this verse 10 again with
me. Be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, don't you love that
name? Jesus Christ of Nazareth, him specifically, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand
here before you whole. This, he, Christ, is the stone
which was set at nought 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. He
said there is no other name. No other man. Only one. That's what he's saying. Only one. That man is Jesus Christ
of Nazareth. Now our attention, and I say
our attention, meaning those of us who God has revealed the
truth to and have been called to Christ, our attention always
goes to Christ. Every time we start in on a message,
my goal is to get to Christ as fast as possible. We always go
to Christ. Always. He is the one. He's the only one. And what struck
me about what this man wrote, the man's name was Thomas Guthrie.
I've seen his name before, but I'm not really familiar with
him. But what struck me about what
he wrote was he pointed out four or five accounts in the scripture
that pictured Christ as not just being the one, but
being the only one. Christ is the one. But the way
that he wrote this article and the way that he worded it, it
really clearly showed not only is he the one, he's the only
one. And that's what I want us to
see tonight. That's what I want us to enjoy tonight. Christ is
the one. And Christ is the only one. Let me start by reading the article
to you that Mr. Guthrie wrote. It was titled
Christ the Redeemer. He said, this is how his article
started. He said, there is no other. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. All the types
and symbols of the Savior teach you this. Okay, now listen to
what he's saying right here, okay? He said, there's none other,
there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. All the types, look at the Old
Testament, types and symbols of the Savior teach you this.
He said, there was one ark in the flood. As soon as I read
that, you think about the whole world. All right, just think
about the whole world. He wrote, there was one ark in
the flood, but one. And all perished, save those
who sailed in it. There was one altar in the temple. But one. And no sacrifices were
accepted, but those offered there. The altar, as the Bible says,
that sanctified the gift. He said there was one way through
the depths of the Red Sea. But one. And only where the water, held
back by the hand of God, stood up in crystal walls was a passage
opened for those that were ready or about to perish. And even so, he said, there is
but one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. He said the only Redeemer of
God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that really struck
me. There is one and only one. But thank God there is one. Thank
God there is one. That's what he was saying. Noah's
Ark, as people call it, God's Ark that he put Noah in, that
Ark was a picture of Christ. Salvation was inside that Ark. Every person and everything that
was inside that Ark was saved from the judgment and the wrath
of God that rained down on this world because of sin. That ark
bore the reigning judgment and wrath for every living thing
that was inside that ark. Every living thing inside that
ark was under the judgment of God, just like the rest of the
world, but that ark was a covering for them. Don't you know in that moment
how thankful they were to have a covering? Don't you also know
that men and women in that moment ran to other coverings, all this
coming down? You know men and women got under
something, but it wasn't enough. It was not enough to survive
the judgment and wrath of God. That judgment stopped at the
covering of the ark. That's where it stopped. That ark took the beating before
it could get to those who were inside that ark. That ark was
Christ. That ark was a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And here is the thing that every
soul who has to go face the judgment of God needs to realize. There
was only one ark. There was only one ark. God only
provided one ark. Not two arcs. Not a fleet of arcs. God provided one arc for this
world. One arc. But thank God he provided
one. Thank God. When Moses led the
children of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness, God told
Moses to build a tabernacle and put an altar in that tabernacle
where a sacrifice for sin could be made. How many tabernacles and altars
did God tell Moses to make? One. One. One for the whole camp of Israel.
The whole camp. I did a search on this and apparently,
you know, I don't honestly believe much of what I read on the internet,
but apparently there are some ancient Jewish records. I don't
know. It was said that there was a,
Israelite encampment outside of Jericho that was known where
it was, and somebody from back then went and measured it and
wrote it down, and I don't know. But it's estimated, based on
what they say is recorded, it's estimated that the Israelite
encampment in the wilderness was 12 kilometers long by 12
kilometers wide. That's roughly seven and a half
miles by seven and a half miles. That's big. If it was indeed a square, somebody
had to live in the corners, which would be the farthest distances
away from things. And if the Lord put the tabernacle
in the center of the encampment, For those who lived the farthest
away, I got my ruler out, it would be roughly five and a half
miles one way to go to the tabernacle. 11 mile, that's an 11 mile round
trip to go to the tabernacle. I wonder why they didn't do things
then like we do things now. Now it's all about convenience.
Nobody wants to drive too far to go to church. So we just throw
up churches all over the place. Why didn't Moses put up a tabernacle
with an altar in it about every quarter mile? They were there
a long time. Here's the reason why. God said,
I will only accept one. That's the reason why. He said, there is only one altar
that I will accept a sacrifice from that will appease me as
an offering for sin. There was only one, one altar. That altar is Christ. That altar
represented Jesus Christ. Through that picture and that
type, God was saying, if you want your sin offering to be
accepted, You have to come to Jesus Christ. That's it. You
have to come to Jesus Christ. There was one place of sacrifice
for sin. One. But thank God there was
one. God provided one. By the one sacrifice of himself,
Christ entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. There was one door into that
holy place. Christ said, I'm the door, the
door. There was one way in. Our Lord
said, no man comes to the Father but by me. There's only one way
in. Thank God there's a way. Thank
God. Christ is the way. There was
one serpent lifted up on a pole. Just think about this. There
was only one serpent lifted up on a pole. Don't you know Moses
could have gotten an assembly line going, hammer and brass. Let's make a bunch of poles and
a bunch of serpents and scatter them all over this 55 square
mile encampment. For every soul who had been bitten
by the curse of death, there was only one place to look, just
one. Our Lord said, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. That one place to look is Jesus
Christ. This is the way of our God. This
is what really struck me. This is the way of our God. Our one and only God, the only
God that there is. Beside Him, there's no other. There's only one truth. I know that people don't believe
that, but it's so. There's only one truth. There's
only one true gospel. There is not another. There's
not another. There's one gospel truth and
that truth is Jesus Christ. He is the truth. There's only
one life. Christ who is our life. There's
only one. What that means is Christ is
all. Christ is all. No matter what we're talking
about, Christ is all. Christ is the one thing needful. One thing. Turn over to Ephesians
4 with me. Ephesians 4 verse 1, it says,
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you
walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called with all lowliness
and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace, for there is one body. I love that. That is so sweet
to me. I'm so thankful for that. There's
only one body. Let's remember that when we're
dealing with each other. There's one body. It's not that
I'm a part of this body and you're a part of that body. In Christ,
there's only one body. Verse four says, and one spirit,
one spirit of unity, one spirit of love, That's how it is with
God, one. In John 17, our Lord said, Father,
I want them to be one with us. One body, one spirit, one unity,
one love. Verse four says, even as you
are called in one hope of your calling, there is one hope of
our calling. One Christ. Christ in us is the
hope of glory. Us in him, him in us. Verse five
says, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. All that is Christ.
Christ is our Lord. Christ is our faith. He's the giver of it, he's the
author of it, he's the performer of it, he's the finisher of it,
he's the object of it. Christ is our baptism. We're
baptized into him. Verse six says, one God and father
of all, who is above all and through all and in you all, one. One mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus the Lord. God provided one. He provided one. Only one. But how amazing it is that He
provided one. How amazing it is. He provided
a redemption. He provided a sure foundation
for God's people to stand on. He provided a hope of glory no
matter what comes, no matter what trial, no matter what trouble,
no matter what affliction comes, even unto death. In Christ, God
provided a blessed assurance for all of his people to cling
to. Listen to this right here. I
read this for you after I heard this. I'm gonna read it again. During the war in the Transvaal,
if I'm saying that right, that's a province of South Africa. During the war of the Transvaal
of South Africa in 1880, It is said that the soldiers
that were going to the front, the front of the battle, the
front of the war, when they would pass another
company of soldiers, they would greet them, 494, boys, 494. The return greeting would be,
six further on boys, six further on. The meaning was, in their
little hymn book that had been sent to the front, number 494
was, God be with you till we meet again. And six further on,
number 500 was, Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. No matter what we run into, no
matter what we face, in him and in him alone, I have assurance. In him, I have a hope. All of
my hope is in him. It's all in Him. There is a holy God that I cannot
please, but Christ did. This is what it means. There is a holy law that I can't
keep, but Christ did. There is a perfect righteousness
that I cannot earn, but Christ did. There is a convicting record
of sin that I can't erase, but Christ did. There is a great judgment that
I cannot endure, but Christ did. There is an eternal death that
I cannot rise from, but Christ did. And if he is our all and
in all, he will raise us up with him at the last day. There is
salvation in no other. No other than Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, for there is none other name under heaven given among
men, whereby we must be saved. Thank God. Amen.