Turn back with me to Acts chapter
four. My text will be in Acts four,
verses 11 and 12. And my subject is this, no salvation
in any other. Now that's what Peter's telling
these Jews. He said, this is the stone. Now this is a quote from the
Old Testament, and those men who were gathered around him,
there was no New Testament at this time, and they knew that
Old Testament forwards and backwards, and they knew exactly this verse
of scripture. And he said, this 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. What, when you think about Christ
coming into this world and living here for 33 and a half years
and then suddenly taken captive by these Jews and these Romans,
held in a Roman prison and then tortured and then nailed to a
cross and taken down and then resurrected from the dead. The
witness of God, he was not only raised from the dead but ascended
into heaven, seated at the right hand of God. the giving of the
Holy Ghost after his ascension, the establishing of the preaching
of the gospel in New Testament churches all over the land. What do you think when you think
about that? God has established his name
through his son. Now that's what Peter's talking
about in these verses. And to get a right understanding
of the context of these verses, you need to go back to chapter
three. I'll just briefly try to get
you up to speed on it. This is where Peter delivered
the first gospel message at the giving of the Holy Ghost on the
day of Pentecost. And he said, hey, he said, this
is what Joel was talking about. You know, we've been wondering
what that verse of Scripture meant. This is what he's talking
about, the giving of the Holy Ghost. And he brought this wonderful
message, being filled with the Spirit of God. He stood before
Israel in the midst of Jerusalem. Man, Jerusalem is where they
crucified Christ. That's where they took him out
and nailed him to the cross. He was despised. This was the
county seat, so to speak, of all the religious hierarchy of
the Jews. This is where the temple was,
this was the very heart of this false religion. And Peter stands
up in the middle of Jerusalem and declared the resurrected,
glorified, now seated at the right hand of God, that Christ. And over and over, at least three
times, in chapter three and chapter four, when he talks to them about
Christ, he calls him Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified. Over and over. The foretold Christ, the crucified
Christ, the confirmed Christ, the Christ whom they ignorantly
murdered, and sent to the grave. And now he said, let all the
house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. That same Jesus,
the one you lied on, the one you sold out to keep favor with
the priesthood and the Pharisees, this same Jesus whom you despised,
God raised him from the dead. made him Lord of the dead and
the living. Our Lord said, before he ascended
up into glory, he looked at his disciples and he said, all power. Now listen to this. All power
in heaven and earth is given unto man. That power, ain't it? All power
in heaven and earth is given unto man. Now you go preach. That's all you need now. That's all the assurance you
need. Now you go preach. I want you to show to as many
as will hear you how this name is manifested and you baptize
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost
because that's what I established. And 3,000 souls at one time was
added to the church. And then he went on to say that
the Lord added daily to the church such as should be saved. And
then it says Peter and John went up to the temple at the time
of prayer, and a certain lame man, been lame from his mother's
womb, and they carried him up and set him outside the door
there at the temple so he could ask alms. That was his living. That's all that he had. All the
income he had is what people would give him. And there he
sat. They'd known him. They'd known him since he was
just a little fella. Been sitting there all these years. And this
man, seeing the disciples about to go in, they ask of them alms,
and Peter, fastening his eyes on him, said, silver and gold
have I none. But what I got, such as I have,
I'm gonna give to you. Now listen to this, in the name
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took
him by the hand, he rose up, and it said he leaping. He didn't
just stand on his feet, he began to leap. And when he entered
into the temple, he was still leaping. He walked and entered with them
into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. And
to say the least, that crowd gathered around John and Peter
and started to look on them like they did on Christ when he cleansed
the lepers and when he raised the dead. And Peter said, why
look you so earnestly on us as though by our own power and holiness
we made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son, Jesus
Christ, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of
Pilate when he was determined to let him go. But you denied
the Holy One and the just and desired a murderer to be granted
unto you, and you killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath
raised from the dead whereof you're all witnesses. And his
name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom
you see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him
hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of y'all. And
about that time, here come the priest and the captain of the
temple and the Sadducees, and they came upon him. Powerful
groups of men. Powerful. Intimidating. Influential men. Men to be feared
by the people. Men who had strong political
connections. Men who were convinced of themselves
that they were servants of God. And they laid hold on Peter and
John and locked them up till the next day. It was evening
when all this took place. But an amazing thing happened
while all this was taking place. While they were locking them
up, they surrounded them, took them into custody, locked them
up. And an amazing thing happened.
While all of this was taking place, Acts chapter four, verse
four, many of them which heard the word believed and of the
men 5,000. 5,000 believed. We're talking about
in the heart of false religion. Be like you going into the Vatican,
preaching the gospel, and here comes the priest and the pope
and the cardinals and they're all rushing up on you and probably
some local officials and they're taking you into custody and all
this, but that big congregation out there, 5,000 of them believed. Unbelieving rebels cannot hinder
the work of the glorified Christ. They can't do it. They want to,
they try to, but they can't. You know what it says in Psalm
2? He said he'll laugh. Gotta laugh. He'll have them in derision,
publicly ridicule them. And neither do their persecutions
take away the power of the gospel. When the next day arrived, the
rulers, now listen to how many people gathered there. Their
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 All of
these people, must have been hundreds, and they took them
out in a big open place, and they put John and Peter out in
the middle, and they all got around them and glared, just
glared at them, just daring them to say a word, just daring them. And whoever their spokesman was, He asked, he said, by what power,
by what name have you done this? You're going here and you're
going there and you're preaching and these men are following you
and professing faith in Christ. By what name and what power do
you do this? Now listen to this. You talk
about an intimidating crowd. I mean, they was all the way
around him and these were bigwigs and they were in the heart of
false religion. And they were standing there
in that temple, and Peter being filled with the Holy Ghost said
unto them, if we be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means
he's made whole, be it known unto you and all the people of
Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you
have crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does
this man stand here before you whole. Now here's my text, and
that's the context. This is the stone which you builders,
that's what they claim to be, builders of godly men, builders
of the temple, builders of the church of God. This is the stone
which you set it not, you builders, which has become head of the
corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. They still look
for another. They still look for one like
David was gonna come. He's gonna be born of the tribe
of Judah and he's gonna become a king and he's gonna overcome
their enemies and overcome the Romans and he's gonna deliver
them and gonna return them again to that former state of glory
that they enjoyed back under David in Solomon. But he said,
there's no salvation in any other for there's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. God established
his name in Christ. Now let me give you a few things
here to consider about these verses. First of all, let's talk
about that name to which he refers. What is this name? There's some folks out there,
Pentecostals, And the only way I've ever heard them identified,
I don't think it says this on their church signs, but they
refer to them, where I grew up, as Jesus-only Pentecostals. And they think that the name
that he talks about over and over and over is Jesus. Jesus. He said the Father has
no name, they just call him Father. The Holy Ghost has no name. They
call him the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the only
one with a name. But that's not what he's talking
about here. This name is who God is. God is manifesting his
glory. Of Christ, who established this
name, it says in the book of Isaiah, his name shall be called
Wonderful. Counselor, now listen, the mighty
God. The everlasting father, the prince
of peace. All government shall be upon
his shoulder. He'll sit upon the throne of
David and upon the kingdom, upon God's kingdom to order it and
to establish it with judgment and justice from henceforth even
forever. His name is the name of God,
it's who God is. Who God is. It has to do with
the character and perfections of God, God's holiness, God's
justice. God's judgment, God's wrath,
God's mercy, God's grace, God's love. And his name has been manifest
in the earth. Paul said, God saved us, Timothy. God saved us. Now you think about that. I know
there's men out here who saved themselves. I understand that. They're not really saved, but
they think they are. And they look, well, I can tell you the
day. I walked that aisle. I can show you the bench I knelt
down at. I can on and on and on it goes. They saved themselves. Paul said
to Timothy, God has saved us, and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Now listen to the next verse.
But was manifested at the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. That salvation was manifested
in Christ. That name was manifested in Christ. Jesus Christ, the scriptures
teach, is God come into the flesh. He's God our Savior. He's the
only knowledge manifested in the earth of God. That's it. What will God, how will God treat
sinners? Well, I have to look to Christ
to find out. John said in the first chapter
of his gospel, verse 14, that the word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father. Full of grace and truth. But
his name is more than that. His name is also the way. He
said, I am the way. Except you believe that I am,
you'll die in your sins. Well, he said, I am the bread
that came down from heaven. And I am the way, the truth,
and the life. And no man cometh unto the Father
but by me. He's the way. His name is everything. It's not just a bare knowledge
of God. It's not just a way to God. His
name is everything. It's the gist of the word of
God. It's the end of all the types
and parables, all the symbols. It's the cornerstone of faith.
You're built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. And I told
you once, significance of that cornerstone. You stand behind
that cornerstone, and you can see all the way down this wall,
and all the way down that wall. And in Christ, you can look back
and see all of the Old Testament, and you can look down this way
and see all the New Testament, and he's the one who secures
it and makes it all one. He's the cornerstone. He's the
head of the corner. His name is everything. This is His name. This is what
He's talking about. He's talking about who God is.
He's talking about salvation. He's talking about the fulfillment
of the covenants. He's talking about the future
of his people, and he's establishing that in the earth, and he does
it through his name. And then secondly, I want you
to see that this name and the knowledge of it is critically
connected to salvation. It's not just a, what do people
call it, higher learning. We moved up a notch, you know.
No, no, it's critically connected with salvation. I live in a generation
that thinks believing is just believing. Whatever. Just believe anything. It's critically connected to
salvation. Walking down an aisle is not the way to life eternal. Signing cards and dedications
is not the way to God. And joining the church is not
the way of salvation. Listen to our text. Neither is
there salvation in any other. For there's none other name unto
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And then his name is not just
a way of salvation, it's the guarantee of it. He said there's
none other name given among men, now listen to this, whereby we
must be saved. You reckon all God's people gonna
be saved? They must be saved. How you know
that? His name guarantees it. Don brought a wonderful message
one time. He said, there's not going to
be a miscarriage. Not going to be a miscarriage. All those for whom this name
has been manifest must be saved. His name is synonymous with salvation. Nobody's gonna be saved who don't
call on that name. We're not saved by our will and
works or even in the name of religion, but by that name which
is above every name. And then thirdly, I want you
to consider this. This name and this salvation
is synonymous with Jesus Christ. And I've already read to you
two or three places, it's not just Jesus, who is called Christ,
but Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He's talking about a single individual
here, a specific individual. His name and his salvation is
synonymous with Jesus Christ, and several times leading up
to our text, he tells us by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
There's only one Christ, and that Christ is Jesus of Nazareth. Our Lord asked one time, asked
his disciples, he said, whom do men say that I am? I, the Son of Man. Whom do they
say that I am? And they said, well, some say
you're Elijah, certainly one of the prophets. He said, whom
do you say that I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ.
the Son of the living God. He said, blessed art thou, Simon,
by which on the flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, but
my Father which is in heaven. He's the Christ. He's the Christ. In him, God manifested his name
for the salvation of chosen sinners. I've quoted this to you so many
times, I'm not gonna have you turn to it. But I want you to
listen to this scripture in John chapter 10, verse 13. We're talking
about this name. This name's synonymous with salvation,
and that salvation is synonymous with Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus
Christ. In John 10, 13, he said, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whoever,
whoever. Whether you're a thief in your
dying hour or a young boy in your prime, male or female, rich or poor,
religious or heathen, black, white, yellow, or red, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But there's
a problem. How then shall you call on him
in whom you have not believed? You don't know that name. How you gonna call on Him in
whom you have not believed? And notice this, he starts out
talking about calling on the name of the Lord and then he
switches gears here and he said, how shall you call on Him? You
see what I'm saying? That salvation and that person,
they're synonymous, the one with the other. Now listen, How shall you believe
in Him of whom you have not heard? How are you going to do that? You're going to go down here
at some church, some religion, some auditorium and you're going
to sit down there and this man is going to get up and start
telling you you need to quit drinking and quit smoking and
join the church and start paying tithing and be a working member. in society and stop all these
things and we're going to help you do the best you can and we
want you to be a better person in this life and you take the
first step and God will take the rest. Where's God's name
in that? It's not in there, is it? How are you going to call on Him
in whom you have not believed? How are you going to believe
in Him of whom you have not heard? Somebody comes to you and tells
you he just sat down with his Bible one day and started reading
it and he came away with the truth. He's a liar. That's what he is, he's a liar.
Oh, he's a sincere preacher. He's a sincere liar. How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a
preacher? I'm not asking you these questions, the Holy Ghost
is. It's the Holy Ghost who inspired these men to write his word.
And the Holy Ghost is asking these questions, how, how, how? And how in the world is that
preacher gonna preach? How's he gonna preach the name
of God if God don't send him? If he don't equip him, if he
don't qualify him? If his providence is not arranged
to bring you and him together, how you gonna hear? How's he
gonna preach? You see what he's saying? This
name, this name, this name. Please God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And every preacher's
sin of God has one message, Christ crucified. God manifests the
glory of his name and the crucified, resurrected, glorified Christ. To him, Paul said, give all the
prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall have remission of sins. I look back on my early
days in false religion, and I look back on the first time I ever
heard the truth. And I hem-hauled around, and
oh, I wanted to defend my belief so bad because what was being
told to me was so foreign to me. And I wanted to defend these
things that I was clinging to. And now that I see it in its
proper light, I wonder what it was I was struggling to defend. A false refuge? A religious profession, a church
doctrine, the theology of the world? What is it I was trying
to defend? A law I couldn't keep, a work
I couldn't do, a hope with no basis whatsoever? A walk in darkness
and ignorance, a life of fear and dread? Did I really want
to defend these things? No, I was just as ignorant of
those things as I was of the truth. just as ignorant. Oh, how lost the sinner is, but
how gracious, powerful, and merciful the Lord is. Man is a pitiful creature. He's
fallen, depraved in his nature, ignorant of God, and ignorant
of the Word of God. He's under the influence of satanic
and worldly religion. He's blind to the gospel. He
said, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to the lost in whom the God
of this world hath blinded their minds. Blinded their minds. Religious men under that influence
are blind to the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ. And
it's my prayer this morning that our great Savior and Lord might
intervene in my life and in your life and in everyone's life in
this place today and bring us to him and reveal this precious
name to us that we can call on it and keep calling on it and
keep talking about it and keep rehearsing these things in men's
ears until somebody does. You got something else you think
a preacher can do? That's all you can do. You see,
this is how it pleased God to save sinners. This is how he's
gonna do it. How he's gonna do it. He may
not do it today, he may not do it tomorrow, but this is how
he's gonna do it when he does. When he does. Well he said, I
think we ought to do this and I think we ought to do that.
But his thoughts are not our thoughts. We do what he commands
us to do, what he tells us to do. And in love we obey him and
we just keep on doing it. Preacher, you know how silly
that appears to the world? I don't care. You trying to impress
the world? The world who knows not God? John said, we know that we are
of God. Now listen, the whole world lies
in wickedness. Is that who you're trying to
impress? Is that who you're worried about? I don't care what they
think. Neither did Peter this day. He
stood out there and here's all these intimidating people and
the high councils and the high priest and all the relatives
and friends and they all gathered around him and Peter just told
him exactly what I told you. There's only one name by which
you can be saved and the man who manifested that name, you
crucified him. You culled him out. You didn't
want him in your heart and in your religion. And then when
the Holy Spirit convicted him, I said, what are we gonna do? We killed a prince of life, what
are we gonna do? He said, repent. Leave that garbage where you
found it, repent. Believe on him, believe on him. All right.