I invite you again to turn with
me to Acts chapter four. I titled the message this morning,
That One Great Glorious Name. That name that is above every
name. Do you know in the book of Philippians,
after he tells us, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ
Jesus our Lord. He said in that day, that day,
when everybody's gathered around the throne and judgment is about
to take place, he said, this is gonna happen before any of
that. Every knee is gonna bow and every
tongue is gonna confess Jesus to be Lord. They're going to
confess Him to be Lord to the glory of God the Father. They're going to confess Him
to be Lord over His elect. They're going to confess Him
to be Lord over the dead and the living. They're going to
confess Him to be Lord of salvation in that He did not corrupt the
name of God when He saved those sinners. He lowered to the glory
of God the Father. If I can, I want to try to set
before you what had taken place and what prompted Peter to say
the words in my text in verses nine through 12. Peter and John
had gone up to the temple at the hour of prayer. They gathered
at the temple. God has always had a specific
place where He wants to be worshipped. Did you know that? When they
were out in the wilderness, God gave them the design of the tabernacle
and all the details to it. And you're to make this and make
that and put this here and a certain people to take care of it. They
were to tend it. Nobody else was to lay a hand
on anything that had to do with that tabernacle. Just the priesthood. Priesthood, the sons of Aaron
took care of it. They didn't worship God all over
the wilderness. They worshiped God in the tabernacle. If you wanted to bring the offering
that God demanded from you, you didn't just take it out in the
field somewhere and say, well, boy, here's just a beautiful
place. Got a big live oak tree here.
Got some azaleas growing. This is gonna be a good place,
I think, to worship God. No, you took it to the tabernacle. You took it to the tabernacle.
And you gave it to the man that God assigned to take care of
it. You didn't take that lamb in
and lay it on the altar. You gave it to the priest and
the priest laid it on the altar. They'd gone up to this temple
at the hour of prayer. You know the Jews, who were the
only people who knew anything at all about God, the Jews arranged their lives
around the worship of God. When it come the Sabbath day,
they stopped all work. When it come time to worship,
they went to the temple. They arranged their lives around
this. And when they arrived at the
temple, Peter and John, they found a lame man. He'd been
lame from his mother's womb. I read to you he was above 40
years of age, been lame his whole life from his mother's womb. And he was carried there at these
various times. They had no welfare in those
days. They had no other way of any kind of income. And they'd
take this man out to these public places or public crossings. You
remember Blind Bartimaeus, he was there. There was a crossroads
there, and they laid him at the crossroads. This is where he
could have the most traffic. And he would go out there and
ask alms from people that went by. And so this lame man was
carried up there by his friends or relatives and he was laid
at the gate of the temple called Beautiful. And as Peter and John
approached the gate, the lame man asked alms of them. Alms is a gift for the needy. And being asked, Peter responded,
And he told the man, he said, look upon us. John was standing
there beside him. He said, look on us. And the guy did. And Peter said, silver and gold
have I none. But I have something. I have
something. And I'm going to give it to you. 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. You reckon he was hoping to hear
that? Only thing he was expecting when
they took him there, Russell, was to get some alms. That's
all he was expecting. rise up and walk. And taking
the man by the hand they lifted him up and he received strength
in his ankle bones and in his feet and he stood up and he followed
them into the temple walking and leaping and praising God.
This man hadn't walked in 40 years. He was born lame. But he's not just standing up,
he's not just staggering into the temple, tripping and falling.
He's walking and leaping and praising God. And as the people
began to crowd around recognizing the healed man, Peter began to
preach Christ to that assembly. And as they spoke to the people,
the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees
came around. And they were upset because they
taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection
from the dead. And they laid hands on them and
held them till the next day. And on the following day, the
rulers, the elders, and the scribes, and Annas the high priest, and
Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, as many as were of the kindred
of the high priest, they were all there. They were all there.
And they came together to question these preachers about what had
taken place and by whose authority they did it. Peter being filled
with the Holy Ghost said unto them, you rulers of the people
and elders of Israel, we be examined this day. By what authority we
did this? It's in the name of Jesus of
Nazareth. That's the same Jesus that you
sold out. That's the same Jesus that when
set before you and your ruler was willing to let him go, you
chose a murderer to be released and killed him. This Jesus. Let's don't be confused about
which Jesus. There's a lot of Jesus being
preached today. Let's don't get confused about
it. Here's the Jesus that I'm talking about, Peter said. The
one you crucify. One you wouldn't have nothing
to do with. That's the one. And it's by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from
the dead, even by him does this man stand before you whole. Now
the Apostle Paul said in Romans 2.17, he's talking about the
Jews, just try to follow me here. He said, behold, thou art called
a Jew. Well, what's that mean? Well, you rest, he said, in the
law. That's your glory, that's your
salvation, that's your hope. You rest in the law. And you make your boast of God. God is our father. God is our
father. We be not born of fornication,
the Jews said. We have one father, even God. You make your boast of God. We're
his people. We're guardians of his truth. He's our father and we're his
children. You make your boast of God, he
said. And knowest his will and approvest
the things that are most excellent being instructed out of the law.
And you're confident that thou thyself art a guide to the blind. a light of them which sit in
darkness, an instructor of the foolish and a teacher of babes,
and has the form of knowledge and of the truth of the law."
Now, the Jews are a picture, or at least symbolic, of false
religion today. False religion will talk about
Jesus. They'll talk about him. They'll
talk about being saved. They'll talk about his death.
They'll talk about his resurrection. They'll use the name Jesus time
and again. False religion believes they're
the children of God. They believe that they know God's
will. They believe that they know and teach right things,
moral things, and honest things. They're a guide to the blind.
They think by their keeping the traditions and holy days and
so on, they're a guide to the blind, instructors of the foolish,
and teachers of babes. About this time of year is when
they start having those gatherings where they get all the children
in. Get them all into the church. And then you'll see about a week
later, you'll see out on their little sign out front, 10 conversions,
20 conversions. They've been around, been associated
with God for thousands of years. Anybody's anybody, you start
talking about the Hebrew God, yeah, yeah, that's them. That's
them, they knew that. Everybody knew that. You ask
somebody today, who are the Jews? And they'll tell you without
winking, that's God's elect. Huh? This wasn't some new fad. This
wasn't some new movement. But they not only didn't know
God, they didn't receive his son in whom all the heavenly
blessings were dispensed. They rejected him. Peter said,
you denied the Holy One and the just, and you desired a murderer
to be released unto you. And you killed the Prince of
Life, whom God raised from the dead, and we're his witnesses. And religion today, no different
from that of the Jews, except in their professions, the Jews
believed in the Christ of God. They just didn't believe that
Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ. Religion today believes that
Jesus is the Christ, but not in the name that was manifest
in him. So what is this name? I'm gonna
tell you something. This name is all important. It's
all important. This name. Peter said his name
through faith in his name. hath made this man whole. His name. Yea, and the faith
which by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence
of y'all. You was right there. You was
looking when God did this work. His name, Acts 4, verse 12, he
said, There is none other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved. This name. There's no other name. Do I have to know this name?
If you're going to be saved, you do. Religion knows nothing about
this glorious name. His name has to do with his character. with his character. As unbelieving
men are known by their character, even so the name of the Son of
God has to do with his character. Man wears the name of the beast.
666. And he tells you in Revelations
that that number six is the number of man. Man, man, man. Everything he preaches is oriented
around man. The Son of God, our Redeemer,
is known by His name, God, God, God. He's God our Savior. God come into the flesh, the
Word made flesh and dwelt among us. And when Jesus Christ came
into this world, it was not the value of souls that motivated
him. Religion would have you feeling
sorry for sinners, and that's why he came. The Lord felt sorry
for him, he pitied him, and so on. And I'm not saying that he
didn't. But I'm saying that's not what brought him into this
world. He came into this world not because of the value of souls
That wasn't what motivated, but the glory of his father's name. The real thing, the real glory
about the salvation of a sinner is God is manifesting his name. If he don't manifest his name,
you can't be saved. God is holy. Well, what's that
mean? Holiness has to do with the wholeness
of God. The wholeness of God. And he's not gonna save anybody
at the expense of his character. All his holy character works
together in perfect, unbroken, eternal harmony. It's never out
of tilt, never. God's character is set before
us in what men call attributes. The dictionary defines an attribute
as a characteristic of a person. Or as an object associated with
and serving to identify a character or a name. And to name only a
few, here's some of God's attributes. God is righteous. What's that
mean? That means everything God does
is right. There's not right and then God
ascends to the right. It's right because God does it.
He's righteous. He righteous. He can't do anything
wrong, Luke. He can't do it. It's an impossibility. He can't do it. Everything he does is righteous. And he's the standard of righteousness. When we talk about righteousness,
your righteousness is gonna have to be equal to his or you ain't
gonna have a righteousness. That's why all of our goodness,
all of these things, all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. And God's just. Now I want you
to listen to this. He's declaring his name to Moses. And he said, Moses, he said,
I'll keep mercy for thousands, I'll be gracious, I'll do all
these things. But he said, you better understand something.
I will by no means clear the guilty. If any man is guilty of anything,
God must and will condemn him. You say, I don't know if I agree
with that. Well, you look at Christ on the cross. He spared not his own son. See that justice manifested on
the cross, that justice of God poured out upon his son until
God was satisfied. God's wrath. Did you know God
is wrath? Oh, how these words ought to
send a cold chill down our back. He that believeth not the sun
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. He that worships the beast, the
God of false religion, and his image and his name, the same
shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured
out. Are you listening to me? Without
mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with
fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and before
the Lamb. God's wrath. And God's sovereignty. What's that mean? That means
he does anything he wants to do. He's sovereign. Well, God
can't do that, really. He's God. Paul said, here's what you, I'm
preaching a sovereign God to you, there in Romans 9, and he
said, and here's what you're gonna say to me. This ain't the
first time I preached it, and not the first time I got this
throat back in my face. He said, here's what you're gonna
say. If nobody has resisted his will, why does he yet find fault? And here's what he said. Who
art thou, old man, that replies against God? Huh? He's God. When are we gonna understand
that? When's that gonna go home to the heart? We're a bunch of
maggots and he's God. He's God. I don't understand all these
things that you're talking about, preacher. I don't understand
sin. I don't understand all these
things that you're talking about. How can these things be? He's
God. He's God. He's sovereign. None can stay
His hand or question His will. He does all He pleases. The powers,
he said there's no power. All the powers that are are of
God. There's no power out here but
of God. If there's a nation, a power, an authority, God put
them there. He can take them out, it's as
easy as he put them there. If you don't believe me, read
the history books. In Colossians 2, he said he's
the head of all principality and power, all of it. And God is love. You'll never really know love
until you know God. We'll know the word, but we won't
know its meaning until we know God. His love is eternal. It's everlasting, it's unchangeable,
it's fixed, and it can't fail. That's the love of God. Now listen
to this passage. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. We're talking about his attributes.
wrath, justice, righteousness, sovereignty, love. God's merciful. Moses said, show
me your glory and God proclaimed his name to him and he said,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. That sounds cold to a proud Pharisee,
don't it? But oh, how sweet it is to a
sinner. God gonna be merciful to somebody.
And I tell you, when you see nothing but God's wrath on you,
a little glimmer of that mercy, well, you'll jump for it. You'll
hang on to it. And God's gracious, I'll have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. God's kind. He said
that he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. Every kindness was extended to
Mephibosheth because of Jonathan, for Jonathan's
sake. And God is all-knowing. That's
something we talk about all the time, but I don't know if we
really believe it or not. God knows everything. He knows
the end from the beginning. Nothing takes God by surprise. It surprises us, but it don't
surprise God. He has infinite wisdom. He knows
all things. He's never taken by surprise
or disappointed by circumstances. And God is everywhere and at
all times present. Everywhere. Listen to this. David said, whither shall I go
from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee from thy
presence? If I send up to heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, behold, thou art
there. And that right hand holds me
up. It holds me up. In Him, Paul said, we live and
move and have our being. Now to name just a few, these
are some of the attributes of God. And all of these things
are working in Him in perfect harmony. They're all working
in absolute, total perfection. Infinite perfection. and they're
working in perfect harmony. Nothing's out of tilt. Add to this the solitariness
of God, His self-sufficiency, His eternality, His will, His
purpose, His faithfulness, and on and on it goes. My friend,
when Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, He did
not compromise the character of God. He was manifesting that
name to us. He manifested that character
in the accomplished redemption of his people. In Romans 3.24
it says this, being justified, justified, cleared of all charges,
freely by his grace, through the redemption that's in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and justify. God not
only justifies sinners, but he's just when he does it. You see
what I'm saying? He ain't gonna compromise. He's
not gonna compromise his righteousness. He didn't come here to do the
best he could do. He didn't come here to try to
save as many as he could. He did not submit himself to
such humility in an attempt to save everybody knowing that he
couldn't do it. That foolishness. God gave him power, he said,
over all flesh and glorified him that he might glorify the
Father on that cross. and that he should give eternal
life to as many as the Father had given to him. That's John
17, 1 and 2. It's the very name of God manifested
by the Son as God come into the flesh that manifests the election
of the saints, the predestination of his sons, the life, death,
and resurrection of Christ, his ascension into glory in his present
reign. And there's none other name.
This is what I'm getting at. This is where Peter was going
with this. He went back and captured some
of their history, and he told them the present history and
the crucifixion of Christ. And then he comes down to this.
He said, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby you must be
saved. If that name is not manifested
in your salvation, you're not saved. Because this is the whole
purpose of salvation. None other name given. And the only reason we have a
gospel freely preached to us and we're graciously drawn to
hear it is because God was in Christ reconciling us unto himself. Now I want you to listen to something.
Not charging us. with our sins. When did that take place, Caleb?
Way back yonder. He chose us in his son. Ephesians chapter one, read it
for yourself. He chose us in his son that we
might be holy without blame before him being loved. He chose us
in His Son. God's not gonna compromise His
nature. You're gonna be holy. Holy. Our sins were never charged to
us. They were always charged to Him.
Did we fall in at Him? Absolutely. Did we bear a nature
of sin? Absolutely. We were children
of wrath by nature, even as others. But He never charged us with
those sins. None of His elect was ever charged
with sin. Did they sin? Absolutely. Every
day. Are they still sinning? Absolutely.
Every day. But they're without sin. How
can that be? He charged their sins to His
Son. And that's why His Son had to
die on the cross. He was guilty. as their substitute. And he tells you that. When he
gets done, he tells you that. For he hath made him to be sin
for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And you see that name, Russell?
That name is, it's everything. That name, that name. God can
save you, but he's not gonna compromise his name. Not gonna
do it. Not gonna do it. And he said, they had none other
name given. This stone that you builders,
you looked at this stone and you said, this ain't gonna look
good in my temple. And you threw it out in the coal
pile. You just called it out. I don't need it. Don't need it. He said, that's the head of the
corner. He said, there's no salvation in any other. It's in Him. It's in Him. God commanded His love toward
us, commended His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. He so reconciled us in the body
of His flesh through death that we're now presented to God as
holy Listen to this, unblameable. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? That's what he says over in Romans
8. God to justify. God to justify. And not only
are we holy and unblameable, but here he says we're unreprovable
in his presence. God can't even find any fault
in you. Somebody said justification is
just as though you'd never sin. No, that ain't. Justification
is you'd never sin. That's justification. God examines
you, he finds absolutely nothing. Nothing. How can that be? One place, in
Christ. In Christ. In Christ, I have
no sin. My sin has been paid for. Justice
has been satisfied. Righteousness has been established.
Love has been manifested. Oh, the whole character of God,
working in its perfect harmony, hath redeemed me from my sins,
saved me from this present evil world. And there's only one place
where that name is manifested, and that's in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I know the name. I know the name. Jews believed in a coming redeemer,
a savior and king, but they were ignorant of his character and
person. Religion preaches of Jesus, the gospel and salvation,
but they're also ignorant of his name. And I'm not trying
to be offensive or cruel or anything like that toward men out here
in the world, but Satan is a master at drawing people after an image
of his own creation. He's a master at it. A universal effort to save somebody. Now you try to make that fit
the character of God that I've just told you about. An all-knowing God, he's trying
to do something. An all-powerful God, he's attempting
to do something. No, he's doing it. He ain't trying
to do anything, he's doing it. You know what the Lord said?
It's finished. He's not trying to do anything.
He's not hoping to do something up there in glory. He sat down.
He's expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. He finished
the work. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now listen to what this says.
This is in Romans chapter 10. But how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they had not heard? And how are you going to hear
without a preacher? If somebody don't stand up and
preach to you that precious name, you'll never call on it. You'll
call on the God of religion, you'll call on the God of this
world, you'll call on the God of your imagination, but you'll
never call on that name until somebody tells you what that
name is and where it is, it's in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
on that day, every knee gonna bow, every tongue gonna confess,
all gonna confess. That's how he did it. And he
did it to the glory of God.