For those on the tape, CD, and
the Internet, our text is Acts chapter 4 and 1 through 12. And as they spake unto the people,
the priest 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. And they laid
hands on them and put them in hold until the next day, for
it was now eventide. Howbeit, many of them which heard
the word believed, and the number of the men was about five thousand. And it came to pass on the morrow
that the rulers, and elders, and scribes, and Annas the high
priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as
were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together
at Jerusalem. When they had set them in the
midst, they asked, By what power or by what name have you done
this? than 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 the good deed done to the impotent
man by what means he is 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 does this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set
at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. That's Psalm 118. Now look at 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." Now,
we'll eventually come to verse 12, and that is our subject today. But let me begin with this manner
of background and introduction. One of the first tasks for any
that would open up a passage of the Word of God, one of the
first things that ought to be done to any that would be a teacher
of the Scripture is to pay very careful heed unto the context. both the immediate and the overall
contact. Such things ought to be considered
as, who is the speaker? Who is it that is saying or that
is speaking these things? Secondly, who is being addressed? Who is he talking to as he says
the things that are in our text? Also, what is the subject that
is under discussion? What is it that is the subject
of discussion and contained in the words? And sometimes it is
even necessary for us to set or to consider the historical
setting of a passage of Scripture. One that applies to something
of that particular day and that particular time. Now that being
said, as a background, we have here in chapter 4 is a further
fallout from the incident that happened back in chapter 3. And
it just continues over into chapter 4. There is no new subject. There
is no break of the subject between chapter 3 and chapter 4. So that therefore, what happened
in chapter 3 is still going on and is spilling over and is having
effect and results even in chapter 4. What was that that occurred
in chapter 3 that is causing such a fallout and such a lengthy
mention here in the Scripture? Well, it was the healing of the
lame man by Peter and by John as they went up to the temple
at the evening or the hour of afternoon prayer." Now, this
particular man had been lame from his mother's womb. He had
been a lame man all the days of his life, and he was carried
by family or friends or neighbors or acquaintances every day and
laid there at the gate of the temple where people were entering
and exiting. There, as he sat upon his little
pallet, the man begged alms of those that pass by. We would call it perhaps panhandling
in our day. But he asked alms or offering
or help or money of those that were passing by and going into
the temple for worship. Perhaps he came here, perhaps
he acted upon the theory that those that are engaged in religious
acts, those that are going into a house of worship, might be
more easily disposed to look upon him with mercy and to help
him along the way. You know, like the panhandlers
on our corner do, they draw a little cross on their sign and then
they write the words, God bless. But when the man stood up on
his feet here in Acts chapter 3, not only did he stand up,
not only did he walk, which he had never done, but he leaped
and he praised God and as you can imagine it caused quite a
reaction from those in the temple who had known the man, known
his case and known about him. With wonder in the minds of the
people as they beheld this man who had never even walked on
his own now walking and leaping. And the man healed. And when
they knew that it was the lame beggar that had sat at the gate,
we read in verse 11, chapter 3, they ran together, they gathered
around, They circled themselves around the man and the apostles,
Peter and Paul. And with their gathering around,
Peter took the opportunity to speak unto them and to preach
unto them Christ, which message you have. in chapter 3, verse
12, down through verse 26. He begins by telling them two
things. There are two things in that
message of Peter that we want to know quickly before we move
along. Number one, he says to them,
you must not attribute this unto us. You must not look upon us
as though we, by our own power, had healed this man or had made
him to walk. They disavow any glory or any
honor unto themselves whatsoever. Secondly, we notice that the
apostle, the miracle they attributed unto Christ. He says to them,
the one that God raised from the dead, you know, the one you
as a people And as the nation put to death, that through faith
in His name does this man stand before you whole today. That's
in Acts chapter 3 and verse 16. Now let's make this point. The
apostle Peter was not shy, not shy at all, about charging the
Jewish rulers and the Jewish people with having a hand in
putting the Lord unto death. In Acts 2 and 23, you can read
this. He says to Israel, Him you have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Over in chapter 3 and verse 15,
there you can read, you desired a murderer and you killed the
Prince of Light. Chapter 5 and verse 30, he says
to them, concerning Jesus, whom you slew and hanged upon a tree."
And in Acts 4.11, we read it, he frames this incident around
a prophecy from the Psalm 118.22. This is the stone. Notice how
he says, that was set at naught of you
builders, and yet is by God made the head of the corner. God raised Him up. You crucified
Him. God raised Him from the dead,
and He sits in power and glory at the right hand of God. Also
in chapter 3 and verse 18, the apostle tells his audience, All
that the prophets have spoken concerning Messiah has been fulfilled
in the person that they knew as Jesus of Nazareth. Then in chapter 3, verse 19 through
verse 26, the apostle Peter turns up the heat. He says to them
that it is Jesus, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth,
the one that the prophets spoke about from the beginning. The
one that Moses predicted and spoke about. The one that God
sent into the world to take away their sin. Now by this time,
in Acts 3, a rather large crowd has gathered around them. We
can almost hear them murmuring and talking in their wonder and
in their amazement. But coming to chapter 4, the
apostle preaching of Christ to them is interrupted, abruptly
interrupted. Peter and John are arrested. They are taken into custody,
but notice very carefully, not by Roman authority, not by soldiers
or magistrates of the government, not by the authority of Pilate
or even in the name of Caesar. Not by government were they taken
into custody, for they were accosted, as we read, by a three-fold contingent
from the Jewish religion. Look at chapter 4, verse 1 again. There were priests there. There
was the captain, that is, the margin has it, the ruler or the
overseer of the temple, and there was some from that group that
were called Sadducees. And they were motivated by two
things to make their bold move against the apostles of the Lord. A. Because they taught the people,
Peter and John, ignorant, unlearned men, are taking upon themselves
the office of a teacher, as if they are usurping by making announcements
to the people on religious matters. Now these laymen, these illiterates,
that's how the Jews looked upon them, not having any formal rabbinical
training at all, not having been to school, not having made a
study of letters, and with no formal training as teachers or
rabbi, and yet here they are making pronouncements to the
people and of all places in the temple and in public. And then B, there's another thing
that was a factor here. They announced by Jesus the resurrection
of the dead. Now, preaching the resurrection
from the dead gave an offense to two sorts of Jews that were
there that day. Number one, the priests and those
of the Pharisees, because they had taken the lead in putting
the Lord unto death. And now the apostles are proclaiming
that God has raised Him from the dead. This was an affront
to their action. Their view was to put Him to
death and to be rid of Him. God's view of Him was to raise
Him from the dead and sit Him at His own right hand in the
heavenlies. That's one affront to those that
were there. Secondly, let's focus our attention
now upon those called Sadducees there in verse 1. Now, the Sadducees
were a sect or a part of Judaism that denied the resurrection
of the dead. The Sadducees said there is no
such thing as a resurrection from the dead. Matthew 22 and
verse 23. The Sadducees which say that
there is no resurrection. Do you remember their question
on a certain occasion unto the Lord? They came to the Lord in
order that they might entangle him about the matter of the resurrection
because they did not believe in it. And they gave him the
example of a woman who was seven times widowed. Her first, second,
third, fifth, seventh husband all died. And then the Sadducees
very smugly said to the Lord, in the resurrection, whose wife
shall she be? She has had seven husbands. And the Lord, of course, answered
and confounded them in the resurrection They neither marry nor are given
in marriage. We read again in the book of
Acts, chapter 23 and verse 8, the Sadducees say that there
is no resurrection and that there is no angel and that there are
no spirit. That was their belief. That when
one is dead, they are just dead. They are gone. You know, Paul
used that upon that occasion to bring a divide between them
as they were trying him. John Gill said of the Pharisees,
and he was pretty much up on the history of the Jew, and he
wrote it in chapter 3 and verse 7 of Matthew, that they believed
not in faith at all, but they believed in free will, affirming
that there was no resurrection of the dead, that the soul or
the spirit dies along with the body, that there is no future
state and no future life to come, neither are there angels or spirit,
the words of John Gill. Now, they lay hold upon Peter
and upon John, and since it was too late in the day to do anything
about it, they put them in a holding cell overnight. In spite of the
opposition by the muckety-mucks of Jerusalem, a large number
that heard Peter and John preach about Christ and the resurrection,
and that saw the miracle upon the lame man they believed."
In fact, they glorified God in verse 21 on account of the healing
of the lame man. It was undeniable. in verse 16. The man had been over 40 years
in that same pitiful condition. No one had ever seen him walk
before in his life. And the miracle was too evident
for them to deny. But look at Acts 4, verse 5. Because the next day, the Jewish
religious leader convened again to consider the matter. And present were those mentioned
in verse 5. There were rulers, there were
elders, there were scribes, there was the high priest at that time,
and some of his kinfolks who were there in Jerusalem. Now,
Peter and John are brought before this body
of religious dignitaries and magistrates who demanded of them,
who demanded to know of them Acts 4 verse 7. By what power
or by what name have you done this? Now as to their question,
remember chapter 4 verse 16 and the last part, they could not
deny the miracle. Here it says this, for that indeed
a notable miracle slash sign had been done, they could not
deny, unquote. James A. Alexander in his commentary
on the book of Acts understands their question to be after this
order. In the use of what mysterious
power and as whose representative and by the invocation of whose
name have you effected this extraordinary cure?" Peter is filled with the Spirit
of God. And look at verse 8. And he gives
them a summation of it in verse 9 and verse 10. He says to them,
look, if we are being examined for this act, if we're being
questioned for the act of healing this lame man, I do with some
commentator see a bit of sarcasm in this part of the apostle's
answer. as if they say to their questioner,
have you kept us overnight? Have you thrown us in the cell
overnight? Are we being called in question
for an act that has proved so beneficial to this poor man as
if to say, has it come down to this, that if one is called to
answer for a good deed made unto a helpless man, For making a
lame man whole are we called in question this day. Is this
what this is about, that we have seen a lame man healed of his
affliction? As Calvin wrote, as though they
had committed some heinous offense in giving a lame man his healing. or some reason, I don't know
why, this made me think of some of our Houston politicians, which
as you might know from the news and such like, have almost conveyed
sainthood upon the homeless. And yet I remember about a year
ago, some people out of the goodness of their heart prepared food
at their own expense, took it down, and gave it away free unto
the homeless people on the street. And the city jumped in and said,
oh, hold on. Wait just a minute. You can't
do that. This food has not been properly
inspected and approved by the government. Then do you remember
not too long ago, a few weeks ago or so, a cop gave a homeless
man a ticket because he was scrounging for food in a dumpster downtown. It just shows you what idiots
some leaders and politicians can become when they really give
it a try. And the apostle Peter says to
them in verse 10, that then if we are called in question for
this, then let it be known unto you, and all that are here, and
all that are present, that this was done in the glorious name
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and to His glory." And by the
way, as you read the text here, the healed man was present in
verse 14. He was standing right there in
the midst. Now the answer in verse 10 is
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth does this man stand
before you whole here today. But this kernel of truth is well
supplemented if you look in verse 10. The person is Jesus Christ,
the Nazarene. Then look at the descriptive
terms that the apostle attaches unto it. He means Messiah, the
Christ slash anointed one of God. And now look, the apostle
strikes them, smites them, as it were, with a hot iron. And
he lays a very heavy charge against the people, especially against
the rulers of Israel. Look what he says. whom you crucified,
the one you slew and hanged upon a tree, the Prince of Life, the
Holy One of God. And when Pilate was determined
to let Him go, you desired instead a murderer, Barabbas, to go free
and demanded that the Christ be crucified upon the cross. Now, the first guilt for this
is laid at the feet of the Jew and at the feet of their ruler. But there is more in verse 10.
Look, not only the one you crucified, but the one God raised again
from the dead. He is alive. He's alive and it
is by Him and in His name and to His glory. that this former
cripple stands here before you made whole this day. Now, let's
notice something along in this section of the book of Acts,
especially when Peter preaches on the guilt and the part of
the Jew in the death of the Savior, which is Peter invariably, Peter
is constantly attributing the resurrection of Christ unto God. And the contrast being, you killed
Him, God raised Him again from the dead. And not only raised
Him from the dead to walk again and live on the earth among men,
but raised Him to highest glory, exalted Him to the very right
hand of God. Other places you will read that
Jesus raised up Himself. You will read that Jesus raised
Himself again from the dead. He took up His life again. John 10, 18. I lay it down. I have power to take it up again. John 2, verse 18 through verse
22. Jesus said one day, destroy this
temple and in three days I will raise it up again. But He spoke
of the temple of His body, not of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem."
Now the context here is the work of the Spirit, that same Spirit
that raised Christ again from the dead. So the Spirit is said
to raise Christ, Romans 8. He is said to raise Himself,
while in the context in early part of the book of Acts, a strong
contrast is drawn between God's view of Christ and the people's
view of Him. Now, these Jews, see, to aggravate
their guilt, claim to be worshipers of God. They claim to be zealous
for His honor. Zealous defenders of His Word
and of the law of God. And yet, they kill the one that
God sent into the world calling Him an enemy of Moses rather
than the one that Moses wrote about and prophesied would come. They crucified Him. God raised
Him up. God revered him and nullified
their action. They put him to death. They put
him in the grave. But God raised him out of the
grave, out of death, and to his own right hand in glory. Please notice how this is put
in verse 11 of Acts chapter 4 that we read. This is the stone which
is set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the
corner. Now the apostle matches their
acts with the testimony of the scripture. He brings the scripture
to bear upon their acts. And by the way, If you're keeping
count, this is now the sixth Old Testament prophecy that Peter
has referred to in the book of Acts. And that one in verse 11,
as I've said twice, is taken from Psalm 118 and verse 22. This is the Lord's doing, it
is the marvelous in our eye. The stone set at naught by the
builder is made the head of the corner. Now I know there are
some commentators that apply the original text unto David. He had many enemies, but God
put him on the throne, made him the king, made him the king over
the people of Israel. Some say it is only a parable
that had become famous in Israel. But the Lord Jesus Christ uses
that Scripture and that prophecy in connection with Himself in
Matthew chapter 21 and verse 42, in Luke chapter 20 and verse
17. He gave the parable of the vineyard
and then he said, have you not read, is it not written in scripture,
the stone which the builders rejected is become the head of
the corner. But here in verse 11 of our text,
Peter directly applies it unto the Lord Jesus Christ himself. This is the stone. Now notice the word this. or
implicit. This, literally, the One, this
One, the One, literally, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now all that
Peter has said about the Lord Jesus Christ and about their
view and their treatment of Him, this One is the stone set aside. The implication is it is set
aside as unworthy and as unfit to have a part in the building. Notice the next words, by you
builders. This stone is set at naught by
you builders. The ones building the priests,
the scribe, the elders, the rulers, as they were the pretended builders,
and yet they rejected the chief cornerstone. I Peter chapter
2 and verse 6 speaks of the chief cornerstone. They had charge
of Judaism. as the officials of that religion,
but they for the most part were but blind leaders of the blind. Yes, they sat in Moses' seat
and they had that authority. And when Messiah appeared among
them, bearing messianic credentials beyond any denial. They put him to death by the
wicked hand of the Romans and the Roman government. Christ
is likened to a stone, not only to a stone, but to a living stone. And in 1 Peter 2, the apostle
speaks of our having come to a living stone, chosen of God,
precious. Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief
cornerstone, elect and precious. And in his first epistle, the
apostle Peter has the same text from Psalm 118, And verse 22,
very much in his mind as he writes in chapter 2 and verse 4, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. And in 1 Peter
2 and verse 7, the stone which the builders disallowed, the
same is made the head of the corner. And this stone is precious
unto them that believe, but is a stone of stumbling and a stone
and rock of offense to the disobedient and to the unbeliever. They stumble
at the Word. And listen to what Peter said.
1 Peter 2, verse 8, Whereunto they were appointed. being disobedient,
stumble at the Word, being appointed. The Lord Jesus Christ said much
the same in Matthew 21 and verse 44, Whosoever shall fall on this
stone, he shall be broken, but on whomsoever it, that is the
stone, shall fall, it shall be grounded unto powder, shall utterly
destroy them. Now, must we not admit, as then,
so always, as then, so it is now, and that is that the leaders
most often, when they get big and famous and powerful and wealthy,
turn liberal and modernistic. Look at the big, major religious
bodies of our day and see if that is not true. That the leaders,
that the one in charge, that the one who have control of the
money and such like, put more emphasis on the outward than
they do on the spiritual and water down the gospel. Oh, how
they water down the gospel. Charles Spurgeon wrote on Psalm
118 and verse 22, and he lived quite a ways ago, quote, even
to this day, he said, the professional teachers are more apt to fly
to any and every new philosophy than maintain the simple gospel
which is the essence of Christ." But now, let's take a look at
verse 12 as we make our way to the end and the apostles' tart
summation of all that has been said. Look at verse 12 again. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Now,
not only was the lame man healed by the name of Jesus Christ,
but there is, was, and is no salvation apart from that Christ. Peter is very dogmatic. Not only is Jesus made the headstone
of the corner, but there is none other who is fit or able for
salvation. In rejecting Him, therefore,
they have set aside the only saving one. In rejecting the
Lord Jesus, the only one that God has ordained and that God
has provided to be a Savior of sinners. The only one that has
the proper relationship to both God and to man so as to become
A reconciliator of us unto God is Christ, the only one in that
position and able that has the right relation to God or man
to be a Savior, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here we have occasion
in verse 12, Again, to look at a little word. A little word,
we. Let's don't stumble over it.
We. Used by the apostle in verse
12. Whereby we must be saved. Or whereby it behooves us to
be saved. I think it might be in the Greek. You know that I'm not good at
English or grammar. evidence of that every Sunday. But it seems that we here is
the first person plural of I. I, we. We, us, as we look at
the scripture. So that we can be used in two
ways. We can be used, A, as the speaker
plus the people to whom he is speaking to. And secondly, to
him and what he is speaking about the speaker in general, including
the speaker such as we, you know, sometimes we say, we as a society,
we as the American people, and we include everybody in that. But here in Acts 4 and verse
12, in its context, the strongest emphasis is, there is no other
way of salvation far us Jews, or for we Jews. And the word
must in Acts 4 and verse 12 is a word frequently in the New
Testament. And it is translated in different
ways. It is translated ought. It is
translated behooved. in Luke 24, verse 6. It behooved
the Lord to suffer. It is translated should. It is
translated must needs. Must needs go through Samaria. It is translated was meet. But it is often translated simply
by the word must. By which we must be saved. Now granted, the same is true
of all people on the face of the earth, that there is no salvation
for Jews apart from Christ, but neither is there salvation for
Gentiles apart from Christ. nor any race, nor any religion
or nationality, neither Catholic nor Protestant, if you want to
make that distinction. Absolutely none of any class
can be saved apart from Christ. Just as sure as there is one
God and one Lord Jesus Christ, so there is but one manner or
one way of salvation. Still in Acts chapter 4, the
apostle is speaking primarily unto the Jew. Look at chapter
2 and 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. 2 and 29. Men and brethren, 2 and 36, let all the house of
Israel know assuredly. 3 and 12, ye men of Israel. And in Acts chapter 4, Peter
is speaking to the top Jewish leaders gathered together. And
in verse 10 he said, let it be known unto you and to all the
people of Israel, not only was the lame man whole, by and through
Jesus Christ. But verse 12, he goes further,
neither is there any name under heaven whereby we must be saved
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. There's none other deliverance
from sin and from bondage. There's no other condition of
salvation and of safety. Not even a Jew with his Abraham
descendancy and his fleshly circumcision or his adherence to the Jewish
law could be saved apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. That such salvation is not to
be had in connection with a single other one. Now, not only is salvation
to be had in Christ as a way or one of the way, but there
is no other way apart from Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said so
in John 14, verse 6. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. Jesus taught the very same thing,
that He is the only way. I am the door, He said in John
chapter 10 and verse 9. He is the only way to God. There are no exceptions. You'll not see heaven apart from
the Lord Jesus Christ. you will be eternally lost, apart
and without Christ. Peter faithfully warns the Jewish
builders that their mistake about Christ, if they continued in
it, would be fatal to them as well as to the people. Now, I
realize that this, saying this, is a transgression of political
correctness of our day. You can't criticize certain religions
today. You can criticize Christianity,
you can criticize it all you want to, but you can't criticize
certain religion. And they use political correctness,
and they use the speech police to stifle the truth of Christianity
and to block any criticism of themselves. One of the worst
at this time, or two of the worst rather, are the Jews and the
Muslims And the third one, the homosexual, which used political
correctness to shut us up from preaching the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And Christianity once again is
under oppression, forbidding us to speak the things of Christ
in public. No Ten Commandments in school.
No prayers in Jesus' name. So silly have they become. You
can't even say, Merry Christmas, and you can't be against homosexuality. You can't call it the Easter
break. It's the spring break. You can't call it a Christmas
tree. It's a holiday tree and such like. You can't call it
murder. It's choice when it comes to abortion. Concerning our text
and our subject, Maybe we should point out the speaker in Acts
chapter 4 that says these things was himself a Jew speaking unto
Jew. He was a Jew after the flesh. So was our Lord. And so was Paul. But he wrote of the era of his
kinsmen in Romans chapter 10 and verse 3 this, they being
ignorant of God's righteousness, going about to establish their
own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. And as a result, they left themselves
without a saving or a justifying righteousness. Now we should
add, there is only one true and living God. And this is the Christian
view because it is the Bible view that there is one God and
one Lord Jesus Christ. Some professing Christians today
are willing to compromise that truth and allow or admit that
there are other gods and other religions that have the way of
salvation. But upon this let us close. There
is no other name unto heaven given among men whereby sinners
must be saved. I ran across a verse in Hosea.
I'd never seen it before. Chapter 1 and verse 7. I will have mercy upon the house
of Judah and will save them by the Lord their God. and will
not save them by the bow, nor by the sword, nor by battle,
or by horse, or by horseman. I will save them by the Lord,
that is, by His power." And of course, he's talking about temporal
deliverance out of the captivity there. But the same is true. The Lord will save us by Jesus
Christ. Not by our works, not by our
goodness, not by our merit, but by and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. That only worthy name whereby
sinners must be saved. And this, says Paul, is a comfortable
and a fit saying.