Now, we're turning again in our
Bible to Acts, the fourth chapter. Acts, the fourth chapter. I'm
taking a title for the message from verse 12, where Peter and
John are standing before this council of men who hated what
they said, and they hated them. And Peter boldly declares, neither
is there salvation in any other. There is salvation in none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. For there is none other name,
no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must, we
must be saved. There is salvation in no other
person, Did you know that salvation is in a person? He that hath
the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son hath not life. Salvation is in Him, in His name,
and His name declares who He is. God has highly exalted Him
and given Him a name above every name, that that name every knee
should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. His name declares who He is. Hold your place there and find
Isaiah, Isaiah 9. Familiar scripture to most of
you, Isaiah 9. For unto us, verse 6, Isaiah
9 verse 6, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,
and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall
be called Wonderful. Notice that capital W, that's
his name, wonderful. I try not to use that word except
in reverence to him, in reference to him, and in reverence to him. His name is wonderful. In other
words, I wouldn't say, well, this is a wonderful day, even
though the Lord has made this day. His name is wonderful. His
name is Counselor. He's all the counsel of God.
He's a mighty God. He's the everlasting Father. How can He be the mighty God
and the everlasting Father? And yet the Prince of Peace,
our God is one. Our God is one, the Prince of
Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall
be no end. Upon the throne of David, upon
His kingdom, to order it, to establish it with judgment and
justice from henceforth even forevermore. The zeal of the
Lord of hosts. will perform His name. There is salvation in no other
than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is the Savior. Salvation is
being found in Him. Salvation is not in any church. I don't care what you call it.
Salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Now Peter and
John were going about to serve the Lord Jesus in declaring the
message of the gospel. They were obeying His command.
Do you remember His command? Go into all the world and preach
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to everybody you run into. Go preach. Go preach. On this
particular day, Peter and John went to the temple. And by the
sovereign providence and power of God, this man who had been
crippled from the womb, who was now 40 years old, a crippled
beggar, sits at the gate of the temple as a beggar begging for
money that he might eat and take care of his needs. This 40-year-old
cripple was totally and completely healed by the sovereign grace
of God, made whole. So much so that immediately he
jumped up. This man had never taken a step.
and he's so completely made whole that he jumps up, his ankles
are straightened, and he's walking and leaping, going into the temple,
and as he's walking and leaping and jumping up and down, he's
praising the Lord, saying, He knew who healed him. He knew
he was totally helpless. All he could do was sit and beg.
And one day God sent him a gospel preacher. This gave Peter and
John, as this man, everybody knew that this man was crippled,
everybody knew his condition, and when they saw him leaping
and jumping and walking and praising, well, it drew a crowd. Four or
five thousand people, maybe more than that. Five thousand of them
that heard believed the gospel. This gave Peter and John opportunity,
as this crowd gathered around this man, to preach the gospel. Peter and John were later arrested
and put in jail for preaching the gospel by the temple guards.
They were preaching salvation in Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. And although Peter and John were
arrested that day and put in jail, The Word was empowered
by God the Holy Spirit, and many were brought to the Lord Jesus
Christ in faith. Look at verse 4, Acts chapter
4. How many of them which heard
the Word believed? And of the men, about 5,000. They heard the Word. They heard
Peter and John, right? They heard Peter and John, but
they heard God speak through them the gospel of God's amazing
grace. The Word was just not in Word
only, they heard in power and in understanding. And that's
what happens when God sends out the gospel in the power of God
the Holy Spirit. Turn over to 1 Thessalonians
for a moment. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. You see, there were a lot of
folks there that heard just Peter and John, but there were some
there that heard God speak through these servants. And the Word
of God was made the power of God and the salvation. 1 Thessalonians
1, verse 4. Knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but in power. and in the Holy Ghost, and in
much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you
for your sake, and you became a follower of us, and of the
Lord, having received the word." These folks heard, and they received
the word, and they believed the gospel. They heard the word and
believed. About 5,000 of them. Some were glad, and some grieved. It says in verse 2, these Sadducees
and Pharisees and the priests, when they heard of the preaching
of the gospel, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and
salvation being in Him, they being grieved that they taught
the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection of the
dead. Some were grieved and some got glad. Who made the difference? God had made the difference,
my friend. The sovereign mercy of God. He
will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. We see that all the
way through the Scriptures. And that's what we teach and
that's what we believe. Now look at verse 5, 6 and 7
of Acts chapter 4. And it came to pass on the morrow,
that the rulers and the elders and the scribes, Annas the high
priest, his name's familiar, isn't it? Same one who delivered
the Lord Jesus Christ to be crucified. Caiaphas, same man. John and
Alexander, as many as were the kindred of the high priest, had
gathered together at Jerusalem. And the next morning, when they
had set them in the midst, that is, Peter and John, and this
man, crippled man with them, they asked, By what power, by
what name have you done this? And Peter said, Okay, let me
tell you. You want to know? I'll tell you.
The same ungodly man that put the Lord Jesus to death now questioned
Peter and John. They could not deny a notable
miracle had been done because that man was standing before
them healed. Notice, as it says in verse 13
of Acts chapter 4, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and
John, and perceived they were unlearned and ignorant men, they
marveled, and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with
the Lord Jesus, and beholding the man which was healed standing
with them. Well, they couldn't deny that,
could they? He's standing right there, made
whole. They could not deny a notable
miracle had been done, but they did not rejoice in the mercy
of God to this poor sinner." Now how self-righteous is that? They were grieved in their heart.
Their only object was to silence these preachers so as to protect
themselves and their jobs. Look at verse 17 of Acts chapter
4. Verse 16 says, What shall we
do, these men? For indeed a notable miracle
hath been done by them. It is manifest to all that dwell
in Jerusalem. We cannot deny it, but that it
spread no further. Let's stamp it out right now.
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 at all, nor teach in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They sought to silence them."
Look what Peter said. But Peter and John answered and
said unto them, 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. They were witnesses to the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and God gave them holy boldness to
declare the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. So what is
Peter going to say? What's he going to say? Now he's
got their ear. He's got their attention. Peter
and John standing right in the midst of all these self-righteous
religious Jews. Peter filled with the Holy Spirit
said to them, you rulers of the people, elders of Israel, if
we this day be examined of the good deed done to this crippled,
impotent man by what means and what by power, what power he's
made whole, be it known unto you all, 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." You see what he's doing here? He's declaring
again the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love
this answer. Now just think for a moment.
Just a few days ago, when Peter Standing before the Lord Jesus
Christ, when that crowd came and arrested Him, and they took
Him away, and Peter kind of followed from a distance, and then when
the little maid came around and said, Oh, you're one of those
disciples. Oh, no, no, no, not me. He denied
the Lord. not once but three times to show
Peter the weakness and frailty of the flesh and to teach us
that salvation is by His grace. But Peter now here Not going
to deny the Lord. He's filled with God the Holy
Spirit. Peter being filled with God the
Holy Spirit said unto them, Christ, Christ, Christ. Oh, by the way,
the one you killed. Oh, by the way, the one God raised
from the dead. This man is healed by the power
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now think about this. Peter could
have said, when they asked by what power or what name, Peter
could have said, well, the God of Abraham. And he would have
been right. He could have said the God of
Abraham did this. But that wasn't the point of
contention, was it? He said, the Lord Jesus Christ,
whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, Peter,
with unflinching courage, plainly confesses Christ. It's by His
power, and it's by His name. You see, we're going about to
do His business. He sent us to preach this gospel,
and we're going to do it. We're going to do it. Now, look
at verse 9 and 10. If we this day Be examined of
this good deed. I want to read this God deed. And that's what it is. There's
none good but God. This is God's doing. Remember
this is the Lord's doing. We read in Matthew 21. This is
the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. God did this. Peter and John didn't heal that
man. The Lord did. If we this day
be examined of this deed done by God to this impotent man,
you want to know what means he's made whole? Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ. This good deed was done to this
impotent man by the omnipotent God. You see, there is none good
but God alone." Anything too hard for God? He's Almighty,
He's Sovereign, the government's on His shoulder, He rules and
reigns in heaven and in earth. This poor cripple had never taken
one step from the infancy, and yet by the power of the Almighty
Savior, who is none other than the Almighty God, this man is
made whole. He says here, perfect soundness. And he walks and leaps and praises
his God. This is exactly how God finds
us. Crippled, helpless, impotent. And by the power of God, through
the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the preaching
of the gospel, blessed with God the Holy Spirit, sent to our
heart, He causes us to be made whole. complete with perfect
soundness in Christ. That's how he finds us. Poor
sinners justified and saved by the power of God just like this
poor sinner was saved. Salvation is of the Lord from
start to finish. With man it's impossible, right?
But with God all things are possible. Peter meets these men at the
point of their rebellion, doesn't he? Verse 10, be it known to
you all, all the people, that by His name, His name, that name
which is above every name, Peter identifies the Savior as the
Messiah, doesn't he? Christ, Jesus Christ, He's the
Messiah, who these men rejected and who these men killed. This
is not the first time he says this. Turn back to Acts chapter
2. Acts chapter 2, look at verse 22, Acts 2, 22. You men of Israel,
hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man, The God-man, approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders, and signed which
God did by him in the midst of you. As you yourselves also know,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain,
whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should be holding of it." He preached
unto them the person, the work, and the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look in Acts chapter 3 verse
13. The God of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob, the God of our
fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom you delivered up,
and you denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he determined
to let him go, but you denied the Holy One, the Just One, desired
Barabbas, a murderer, to be granted unto you, and you killed the
Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead. Look over here
at Acts chapter 5 for just a moment. You see, you read all through
the preaching through the book of Acts, and you'll find this
theme, God raised him up. God raised him up. God exalted
him. He's a victorious Savior. In
Acts chapter 5, look at verse 29. In verse 28 it says, in Acts
5, Didn't we straightly command you that you should not teach
in this name? And behold, you filled Jerusalem
with your doctrine and intent to bring this man's blood upon
us. Then Peter and the other apostles
answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted
with his right hand to be Prince and Savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sin. And we are witnesses of
these things. And so is also the Holy Ghost,
whom God hath given to them that obey Him. Read over in Acts chapter
5 verse 40, and they called the apostles, verse 40, Acts 5, and
beaten them, They commanded they should not speak in the name
of the Lord Jesus and let him go. And they departed from the
presence of the council rejoicing. They were counted worthy to suffer
shame for his name. And daily in the temple, wait
a minute, we just beat you. We commanded you to hush. We're
gonna put you out of business. And daily in the temple, publicly,
and in every house, privately, they ceased not to teach and
preach. Jesus Christ. They declared the
Lord Jesus Christ is the victorious Savior, that He put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself, and there is salvation in no
other. Our message today is the same. You see, the gospel doesn't
change. I'm the same the Lord said yesterday,
today, and forever. What was true then is true now.
We declare that the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the Savior of sinners. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. And oh by the way, He's God.
He's got our Savior. You remember back in, look in
the book of Acts chapter 2 verse 36. He is our Savior who is the Lord
our God. Peter declared Acts 2.36, Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom you crucified Lord and Christ. He is the Lord. He is God. He is Jesus. That means Savior. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. He is what He's called. He saved
His people with His own blood. He bought us. He is the Lord. He is God. He is Jesus. He's our Savior. God our Savior.
And He's the Christ. He's the Christ. Now those Jews
over there in Jerusalem right now, you know, they're still
waiting for the Messiah. They still think He's coming.
My friend, He's already been here and accomplished God's purpose. And He's coming again. He is
the Christ. What does that mean? He is the
Messiah. He is the anointed of God. He is the anointed prophet
to reveal unto us the way of salvation. He is the anointed
priest to make full sufficient atonement for our sins, to represent
us to God. And He is our King. He rules
and reigns over us. He is the Lord Jesus Christ whom
we declare. Salvation is in Him. We say with Peter, thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. We believe and we're sure
you're the Christ. We also declare that the Lord
Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. He was delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification. What does
His resurrection say of His person and of His work and of His Word?
It means everything He said was true. It means that everything
He did was accepted of the Father, because we read in Scripture,
He's seated at the right hand of the throne of God on high.
He's the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the theme of the apostles
all the way preaching through the book of Acts. They declared
that the Lord Jesus Christ is a successful living Lord, not
a defeated, frustrated reformer. He didn't come here to try to
make a down payment or an effort to accomplish salvation. He accomplished
it by the sacrifice of Himself. It's even by this Lord Jesus
Christ, look what it says in the last part of verse 10. It's
even by Him that this man stands here before you whole, complete. In the Lord Jesus Christ dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in
Him. Look at verse 11, this is a stone,
The foundation, which you wanted nothing to do with. This is that
foundation that God had lay in Zion, that you said, away with
him, crucify him, we have no king but Caesar. This is that
very foundation, this is that very Savior, this is that very
Christ, which you said at not. You said that the Lord Jesus
Christ is not. that he is nothing and a nobody. But my friend, he's the head
of the corner. He's your Lord. Now bow to him. That's what Peter's saying. Don't
you admire his boldness? I mean, these men had the power
with a word to put these men to death. And yet in the face
of death, with boldness and courage by God the Holy Spirit in them
and dwelling in them, they could not deny the gospel of Christ. Now, look at verse 12. He puts an exclamation mark upon
what he just said. Neither is there salvation in
any other. He's not only the Lord, and He's
the Savior, and He's the Christ, but my friend, there's salvation
in no other person. than the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord Jesus Christ. Neither is there salvation in
any other. You see, what does a sinner need? Well, I need to have a new car. I need to have a good job. I
need to have an education. Well, you can get by without
all that stuff. I'll tell you what you need.
You need Christ. You need the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. Neither is there salvation in
any other name. Salvation is in a person, my
friend. In a person. Salvation is of
the Lord. in it's planning, salvation of
the Lord, salvation of the Lord in it's execution, salvation
of the Lord in it's application, salvation of the Lord in it's
sustaining power, salvation of the Lord in it's ultimate perfection,
salvation is all of the Lord, from election to glorification,
salvation of the Lord, and there's salvation in no other, and certainly
salvation is in Him, in Him. Turn back over here to the book
of Acts where we were a couple weeks ago, chapter 13. This is
Paul's first sermon. There in Antioch, look at verse
38, Acts 13, 38. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sin, and by him all that believe are justified
from all things which you could not be justified by the law of
Moses. Salvation is of the Lord and
salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And salvation is all
of grace. Turn to Acts 15 verse 11. Acts 15 verse 11, salvation is
of the Lord, salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ, and salvation
is by His grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself, but it's a gift of God, not of
work that any man should boast. Acts 15 verse 11, but we believe
that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be
saved, even as those Gentile dogs were saved, by the sovereign
grace of God. You know, grace in its very character
is sovereign. He'll have favor upon whom he
will have favor. Now, let me close with these
statements here. There is no other Savior. That's what he's saying. Neither
is there salvation in any other. There's no other Savior but the
Lord Jesus Christ for us to look unto. Is there? Salvation's in
a look. It's looking at Him. Turn to
Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. The Lord said, I am God, beside
me there is no other. Isaiah 45, the last part of verse
21, there is no God else beside me, a just God and Savior. He is God our Savior, there is
none else. Now he says, look, look to me
and be saved. Salvation didn't look. This is
a look of faith, looking unto Jesus, who is the author and
finisher of our faith. All the ends of the earth, for
I am God, and there is none other. Oh, for eyes of faith to look
at Him. There is no other Savior but
the Lord Jesus Christ to look unto. Secondly, there is no other
sacrifice for sin but Christ's redeeming blood to put away our
sin. Turn to Acts chapter 20. There
is no other sacrifice for sin. Is there? The blood of bulls and goats
can't put away sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Bought by one offering hath he perfected forever them that are
sanctified. We are bought with the precious
blood of Christ. There is no other sacrifice for
sin. None. Acts chapter 20 verse 27. For I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. What is all the counsel of God
in salvation? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Take heed therefore unto yourselves,
and all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseer, to feed the church of God, which he purchased with
his own blood. There is no other Savior but
Christ. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. There's no other sacrifice but
Christ's redeeming blood that will put away our sin. He appeared
once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. And there is no other. Don't
look for another. There is no other Savior. There
is no other sacrifice to redeem us. There is no other substitute
but Jesus Christ to establish a justifying righteousness for
us before God. He's the only substitute. God
made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. There is no other Savior,
there is no other sacrifice, there is no other substitute,
but the Lord Jesus Christ. He suffered once for our sin,
the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. Fourthly,
there is no other surety, is there? But the Lord Jesus Christ that
guarantees our salvation. He is the surety of the everlasting
covenant. The God of peace brought him
from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant make
you perfect in him. You see, there is no other. That's
what Peter is saying. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there's none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must, we must have salvation in Christ. So
there's no other Savior, no other sacrifice, no other substitute,
no other surety, Number five, there's no other shepherd. There's
no other shepherd, but the Lord Jesus Christ to provide all things
in salvation for us. The Lord said, I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd laid down his
life for the sheep. He is the great shepherd of the
sheep. He's the chief shepherd. He is a shepherd who David said,
the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. This is the Shepherd
that provides all things for us according to the riches of
His glory in Christ Jesus. You see, there is no other. I'm
narrow-minded. I am. I have one message. It's Christ. Christ and Him crucified. we watched last night, that Fourth
of July celebration in Washington, D.C. last night. And they had
such a big orchestra and they just playing that tune and it
was so good. You know there's one old guy
I noticed in that band, he just sat there with that bass fiddle
and he played one note. One note. He played, everybody
else, I mean they're playing, this guy standing here, one note.
Bong, bong, bong, bong. You know what he said? They asked
him, they said, why are you just playing that one note? He said,
them other fellas is looking for the note. I found the note.
And it's Christ. Now that's a made up story, but
it gets my point across. Now, you see, our one message,
our one note is Christ, Christ, Christ and Him crucified. That's
why Paul said, I'm determined not to know anything among you
but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So He's the Savior, the only
one. He's the sacrifice, the only one. This is God's Lamb
that takes away our sin. He's the only substitute that
establishes justifying righteousness for us. He's the only surety
that guarantees our salvation. He's the only shepherd. that
provides for us. I've got one more. There's no
other sure foundation but the Lord Jesus Christ. Is there?
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a sure
foundation. There is no other. There is no
other. Don't look anywhere else but
to Christ. Remember this, as sure as there
is salvation in Him, the Lord said, I am the way, the truth,
the life, no man come to the Father but by and through me.
Remember this, as sure as there is salvation in Him, there is
no salvation apart from Him. Is there? There is no salvation
apart from Him. No wonder the Apostle said, oh,
I count everything else lost, dung, ruin, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. In Him. Not according to what I've done,
but according to His purpose. According to His grace. There
is salvation in no other Then the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no salvation apart from Him. So I say again, salvation is
in a person. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that
believeth not shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on
him. Salvation is in a person. Not
in a position. Not in a position. Not in a persuasion. Not in a petition. Salvation
is not in my prayers, not in my work, not in my doing. Salvation
is in Him. In Christ alone. The Lord. Now make sure you got the right
one. Make sure you're not trusting the counterfeit. This is the
one who is the Lord of heaven and earth. This is the one who
is called the Savior. He is the Savior. of His people. And He is the Christ. He's anointed
of God. He's successful in all that He
has ever undertaken. He said, I've glorified Thee
on the earth. I've finished the work You gave Me to do. Now,
you see verse 12 again? I mean, this is clear as words
can be. There's salvation in no other.
That means there's salvation in Him. In Christ. Christ alone.