"The Only Savior"

Well, good morning, church. Let me invite you to turn to Acts chapter 4, verses 1 through 22,! as we continue our series in the book of Acts today. That is page 857 or 868 in the pew Bible, depending on which edition you have. Acts chapter 4. So we're picking up in the middle of the story.

Last week we saw in chapter 3 how the risen and ascended Jesus performed a miracle through Peter and John by healing a man who had been lame since birth. Then in the rest of chapter 3, Peter went on to explain the significance of this event, this healing. And the significance was this, that the crucified and risen Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the one appointed by God to bring about the restoration of all things, and that the healing of this man was a sign confirming the truth of what the apostles were teaching about Jesus. Now chapter 4 continues the story of that day in the temple courts. What happens when the ruling authorities start to catch wind of what the apostles are teaching? What happens when the message about Jesus reaches the ears of the powers that be? All right, well, let me pray for us, and then I'll read our text. Father, we thank you that we get to come to your word this morning, this life-giving word that for generation after generation has proclaimed your saving power in Christ our

Lord. Lord, we ask for the Spirit's help this morning. Lord, that we would be able to truly hear what it is you are saying to us, and that in hearing we would believe, we would respond in repentance and faith, and that we would glorify and worship you with our whole lives. Father, we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. All right, Acts 4, 1 through 22. And they, oh, sorry, and as they, that is Peter and John, as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of the high priestly family.

And when they had set them in their midst, they inquired, By what power or by what name did you do this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, what should we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them as evidence to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.

So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened, for the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old." So apparently there was an English bishop who once complained, he complained that he didn't seem to be having the same impact as the first apostles.

Everywhere they went, he said, there was a riot. Everywhere I go, they serve tea. How about us today? What sort of impact does our message in our life together have?

The earliest Christian movement was full of a message so dynamic and so transformative that when it came into contact with the status quo, with the powers that be, with the ones who were kind of comfortably in charge, there was resistance, there was opposition.

At times there was a riot. Why? What was it about the Christian message that made it so disruptive? Well, part of the message that made it disruptive then and that still makes it disruptive today is what we find in verse 12.

Look again at this verse in the very middle of our passage. According to the apostles, Jesus is the world's only savior. There is salvation in no one else.

For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Now, I want to spend some time this morning unpacking that central verse.

And after we unpack it, then I want to walk briefly through the rest of the passage and look at some applications that this text has for us today. So we have a really kind of simple outline this morning. We're going to look at verse 12 and then we're going to walk through the passage and apply it.

Okay? So, verse 12. Look, I think we have to admit, right, that at first this verse strikes us as incredibly challenging, does it not?

Because it is saying in no uncertain terms that Jesus is the world's only savior. There is salvation in no one else. Now, there might be some helpful teaching. There might be some good advice.

There might be some practical wisdom in other teachers and other philosophers and other world views. But there is salvation only in Jesus. Now, that, of course, runs right up against the religious pluralism of our day, doesn't it?

We like to think that there are many paths up the mountain, as it were, right? And that if someone is sincere and if someone is well-meaning, then they'll eventually get to the top, right?

There isn't one way. There are many right ways. But I think we have to examine that belief for a second that we have.

Let's examine that belief for a second. Let's examine the belief that there are many paths and that they all lead to the same place if you're sincere and well-meaning. I think, first, it's worth pointing out that that belief is itself a particular and even exclusive belief.

I think it was Leslie Newbigin who pointed this out with particular power. Leslie Newbigin was a 20th century theologian and missionary, and he spent a lot of time on the mission field and then came back to the West and realized that the West was also a mission field.

And Newbigin said, you know, he said, here's what we tend to think. He said, in our pluralistic society, we tend to think that the different world religions and different life philosophies are all sort of grappling different aspects of the same reality, but that none of them can claim to grasp ultimate truth.

He said, we sort of think that we're all kind of like blind men grabbing different parts of an elephant, right? One of them grabs the leg and says, oh, absolute truth is a tree, right?

One of them grabs the trunk and says, oh, this animal must be a snake, right? One of them grabs the tail and says, oh, no, it's a rope. But, of course, none of them grasps the whole truth.

None of them sees the truth absolutely. And that's how it is with different religions, different worldviews. They all see only part of the truth. Newbigin says that's how we tend to think.

And at first that sounds kind of plausible, right? It sounds kind of nice. Makes some sense to us today. But here's the problem.

That whole picture, that kind of metaphor, it assumes something. It assumes that you, that you actually can see absolute truth, doesn't it?

That you, the religious pluralist, are able to step back and see the whole picture as it really is. You can see the whole elephant, and you can see those blind men trying to grasp it.

You claim to see the whole mountain that those paths are trying to climb. In fact, you claim to have the ultimate view that takes it all in. The view that is really true for everyone.

So you see what that means? It means that the kind of pluralist view, that at first sounds kind of broad and inclusive at first, actually does the very same thing that other religions and philosophies, according to the pluralist, can't and shouldn't do, right?

The pluralist view is making an absolute claim. Right? Do you see that? And it means that the pluralist view and the Christian view are actually doing the same thing.

They're both making an absolute claim to reality. And that claim to reality inevitably excludes other views. Think about it. If you say to me, hey, did you hear that the Brewers won the series against the Dodgers?

And I say to you, no, no. I believe all the teams won the series against the Dodgers. Like, both of our views exclude the other, right?

They're both kind of narrow and exclusive in their own way because they're both making a claim to what's really real. Now, why am I saying all this? I'm saying all this because as we come to a text like Acts 4, we can't just dismiss Christianity out of hand by saying, oh, it's so narrow and exclusive.

Every view of reality excludes some other views. We're all kind of exclusive in that sense. We have to be. And the real problem with the pluralist view that we all sort of have this default in, in our culture, is that honestly, it's a bit narrow and exclusive without even realizing it and without even admitting it.

It's fine if you want to think that all religions are blindly grasping an elephant or charting a different path up a mountain. But you have to also admit that when you claim that, you are claiming to have the God's eye view of everything, just like the other religions are.

No? No? Okay, so with that being said, what are the apostles claiming here in Acts 4? Why? Why are they willing to say that there is salvation in no one else but in Jesus alone?

Why do they make that particular claim? And why should we consider it this morning? Well, this idea that there is salvation in Jesus alone is what's sometimes called in theology the exclusivity of Christ.

Now, what does one mean by that phrase, the exclusivity of Christ? We have to be really careful because it does not mean that Jesus is a Savior for some people and not for others, that Jesus sort of excludes people by who He is.

That's not what we mean by the exclusivity of Christ. Rather, it means that according to Christianity, humanity cannot find salvation anywhere else except in Him, that He is the one and only Savior.

That's what we mean when we talk about the exclusivity of Christ, that salvation is only found in Him. But here's the important thing to realize. Why does the New Testament make that claim?

Why is that what the apostles taught? We have to understand that for the apostles, for the whole New Testament, the exclusivity of Jesus Christ in that sense, that He is the only Savior, is rooted in the singularity of Jesus Christ.

In other words, salvation is only found in Jesus because no one else is like Jesus. He is utterly unique.

So let's consider then the uniqueness of this claim. And the first thing we have to consider when we think about Jesus being the only Savior is that Jesus claims to offer a unique salvation.

Look at verse 2. What is it that made the temple authorities so greatly annoyed at the apostles? Well, because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

That's what annoyed them. They were proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. You see, friends, Christianity holds forth a very unique salvation. Why? Because the Christian view of salvation is not just spiritual or emotional, but material and tangible.

The Christian understanding of salvation is that God will put the whole world, the whole of creation, right again. He will not just restore our souls, but our bodies too.

Not just our minds, but our relationships. That's why the healing of the man in chapter 3 is such an important sign that we looked at last week. What is a sign? Well, a sign isn't the reality itself, right?

But it points to that reality. The wholeness of this man's body in chapter 3 is a sign pointing to the reality of the complete restoration that Jesus will bring when He returns and makes all things new.

When sickness, death, and decay will be no more, and creation will be liberated to sing in freedom. Because the curse of sin and death is banished once for all. You know, it's interesting. You read the story in Acts 3 of the man rejoicing because he's been healed.

And then you go back in the Psalms and you read these Psalms where it says, when God finally comes in fullness, the trees are going to clap their hands and the mountains are going to rejoice. All of creation is going to sing like this man who had been set free from this disability.

But how can we be sure that's going to happen? Because in Jesus' own resurrection, it's already happened.

His own resurrection, when God the Son took on human flesh, took on our nature, and rose from the dead, it is as if the thick ice of sin and death had been cracked once and for all.

And what's true of Him because He has united Himself to us will be true of all creation one day because He is creation's Lord. But friends, at the center of this unique salvation that Jesus offers isn't just the healing of the material creation, as glorious as that is.

At the center is the healing of our relationship with our Creator. At the heart of the unique salvation that Christianity holds forth to all who believe is nothing less than reconciliation with God.

To know God. To really know Him. Not as some distant force, not as a stern judge, but as a loving heavenly Father who forgives all your sins and faults and flaws, who provides comfort in every trial, who rejoices over you with love.

Christianity offers this unique salvation. It says, God will now be your God and you will be loved as His son, as His daughter, and nothing will separate you from this love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So this is what Christianity means by salvation, reconciliation with God, and the renewal of all creation. But this unique salvation is found in a unique Savior.

Why is salvation found in Jesus alone? What makes Him unique? Well, three things, actually. First, He has a unique identity. Jesus is a unique person.

He alone is fully human and fully God. Two natures in one person. No other religious leader, no other wise philosopher was ever the incarnate Son of the Father.

Only in Jesus Christ did the one true eternal God take on human flesh and live our human life in every way. The book of Hebrews even says that Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, except without sin.

Right? Now, of course, there have been people throughout history who have claimed to be God, right? Most of them were rightly dismissed as being mentally unstable. But for the followers of Jesus, they saw His deeds and they heard His claims and their conclusion was not that He was out of His mind, but that in Him they were, impossible as it might seem, beholding the glory of God in human flesh.

And consider the claims that Jesus Himself made. John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.

Or Matthew 11, 27, where Jesus says, all things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and no one knows the Father, no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

Could you imagine hearing Jesus on that day saying, no one knows the Father except the Son? Okay, Jesus, you have a unique knowledge of God. But then He turns around and says, no one knows the Son except the Father.

His being is so glorious, so deep, so profound, that the only one who could possibly comprehend Him is God Himself. Could you imagine if I said that?

What a crazy thing to say. And yet, as the disciples follow Jesus throughout His ministry, they start to think, goodness gracious, I think He might be right. Jesus was stating very clearly that He was equal to the Father, and therefore, no one could know the Father except through Him.

So when Peter says in Acts 4 that there's salvation in no one else, He's actually proclaiming what Jesus Himself taught, that Jesus, He alone, is the way back to the Father.

But you see, it's not just Jesus' unique person. That makes Him the only Savior. It's also His unique work. Because He is a unique person, fully God and fully human, He can accomplish a unique work.

Listen to how Peter sums it up in verse 10. He says, Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man is standing before you well.

Whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. What makes Jesus different than some of the other religious leaders, even those who have made claims to be divine? You know, there have been others, people who have claimed to be divine, and not all of them were written off as mentally unstable.

What makes Jesus different than the Egyptian pharaohs who claim to be divine? What makes Jesus different than the Buddha, who even if the Buddha didn't teach that He was divine, a lot of other people around Him thought that He might be?

Friends, is it not this, that Jesus Christ came to do a unique thing amidst all the world religions, He came to lay down His life in the place of sinners.

He didn't come just to teach a way of godliness or teach a way of enlightenment. He came actually to stand in the place of the condemned and to be judged and punished in their place so that they could be forgiven and set free from the penalty of sin and death.

In short, friends, no other religious leader died for your sins. Who else saw us in our plight as lost sinners under the just sentence of death?

Who else emptied himself of heavenly glory and honor and took the form of a servant for us? Who else didn't just come and say, well, if you want to get out from under that, you've got to do all these things, but said, I'll do the thing.

I'll stand in your place and bear the wrath that you deserve. Who else loved us that much? Loved us to the point of laying down His life for us. Only Jesus Christ.

Why is He the only Savior? Because only He atoned for our sins through His death and only He rose again on the third day for our justification. And He rose so that all who trust in Him, all who come to unite themselves to Him through faith, all who do that will receive the same verdict that the Father spoke over Jesus on that first Easter morning.

You see what was being said in the resurrection? The powers that be said Jesus was guilty, He was a criminal, He was condemned, He was a blasphemer, but in the resurrection the Father spoke over the Son this word, He is the righteous one.

He is my Son. Death has no holder over Him. He lives no more to die. And in His life we live. His was a unique work.

Only Jesus died and rose again for our salvation. And you see, because of His unique work and because of His unique person and because of His unique person having accomplished that unique work, Jesus now occupies a unique office, a unique standing.

In verse 11, Peter quotes Psalm 118.22. He says, this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

Quoting Psalm 118.22. You see, the rulers and authorities of Jesus' day refused to receive Him and instead they rejected Him. But when God raised Him up, God was declaring that Jesus is indeed all that He claimed to be.

And God made Jesus, according to Peter, that cornerstone. Or actually, better, it's a capstone, right? It's the rock that sits at the top of an arch and it holds it all together.

In other words, God has made and God has established the risen Jesus as the key figure in His plan for the restoration of His people and the renewal of the whole creation.

That's why in verse 12, Peter can say, there's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. The Father gave His one and only Son for this role and He demonstrated it by raising Him from the dead.

The Father has seated Him at His right hand. Listen to how Paul speaks to the same thing in Philippians 2, 8-11. He says, of Jesus being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So on the basis of His unique identity, His unique work and His unique status, Jesus is the only Savior. So friends, what are you trusting in today?

Perhaps on the one hand, our vision needs to be expanded so that you can see the fullness of this unique salvation that God has in store. God's plan is to remove all sin, death, and decay from His creation.

He's working to reconcile sinners to Himself not so that they can grovel in fear before Him but so that they can worship and love Him as His children. But if that is the salvation that God has in store, what are you trusting in to be a part of it?

The truth is, friends, we need a Savior. We need someone to forgive our sins. We need someone to remove the curse of death from us. We need someone to bring us out from under the wrath of God that our sins deserve.

But what will do that? Will our good works be enough to kind of cancel that debt that we owe? No. Will sincere religious effort be enough to work our way back out from under the curse of death?

No. And if you trust in any of those things, you will remain in your sins, alienated from God and far off from His salvation. But friends, here's the good news.

That great debt that we owe, Jesus paid it all. What you could not do, He did in your place. And if you entrust your life to Him, He will clothe you with His righteousness.

And His saving death will wash away your sins and you will be saved. Jesus is the only Savior, yes, and He receives everyone who comes to Him. No one who comes to Him will be turned away.

And if you have trusted in Christ as your and the only Savior, what do we see in the rest of this passage? What does living in light of this truth that Christ is the only Savior mean for us as we live for Him?

Well, let's walk through the passage and just point out a few things as we wrap up. First, consider that our message about Jesus ought to both annoy and attract.

We saw in verse 2 how the message of the gospel greatly annoyed the temple authorities, right? I love that word that Luke chose there. But look at what Luke tells us in verse 4.

The temple authorities were greatly annoyed, but many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about 5,000. The message of Jesus and the resurrection was both challenging and compelling.

It was both greatly annoying and wonderfully attractive all at the same time. And friends, that's how it will always be. Every time, every place, every culture will have things within it that when confronted with the gospel, it will find both attractive and repulsive.

Right? Think of us today. The gospel is a message of forgiveness, of love, of unity, of misdifference. And those things resonate deeply with our culture, do they not?

But the gospel is also a message that says you are not your own. You were bought with a price. Your personal freedom and expression must come under the lordship of Christ. And we don't like that one bit. Right? No thanks.

And so, as we are sharing the gospel and living the gospel as a church, we shouldn't be surprised if people are offended by the claims of the gospel.

People will be greatly annoyed. That's how it always been. But, we should also expect that the gospel will at the same time attract. Right?

Because it's a life-giving message. And if we find, if we find that there's only one or the other, people are only kind of comforted and attracted, people are only kind of offended and repulsed, if we find that it's only one or the other, we may be missing something in our message.

Second application. Not only does the message of Jesus both annoy and attract, but we should also be praying and looking for opportunities to turn our conversations and interactions explicitly to who Jesus is and what he's done.

Notice how in the second paragraph of our passage, Peter and John are brought to trial and the authorities say, tell us by what power and by what name, that is, tell us by what authority you're doing all this. And think about Peter.

Peter could have said, well, gee, you know, we prayed and look what happened. God just happened to heal this guy. I don't know, it's pretty surprising to us too. I mean, you're not going to just punish us for a good deed, right?

I mean, we're all in agreement that people need to be helped, right? Peter could have answered that way. But instead of kind of backtracking, what does Peter do? He says this, he says, well, if you're really asking me how this man was healed, I'll tell you, Jesus did it.

The same Jesus you crucified a few weeks ago. God raised him from the dead. And now, just like the psalm said, he's the capstone of God's people and there isn't salvation in anyone else.

Ouch. Ouch. In other words, when asked about what was really going on, Peter made Jesus the hero because he is.

Now, we don't always get the chance to be as forthright as Peter, do we? You know, sometimes our conversations are a little further upstream. But the same spirit that filled Peter in that moment to speak what he ought to say to testify to Christ also fills us.

You know, Jesus promised in Luke chapter 12, back in the gospel of Luke, the first chapter of Luke's two-part work. In Luke chapter 12, verse 11 through 12, Jesus said, when they bring you before the rulers and authorities, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you ought to say.

And here in Acts 4, we see that Jesus' promise is coming true. And that same promise is true for us. The Spirit helps us in our everyday moments with what we ought to say.

He will help us to turn our conversation to the things of the gospel in a way that's fitting and natural to the moment. We might not get a chance to say everything that we want to say about Jesus or that we hope to say about Jesus, but we can still pray for the opportunities to draw people a little closer to the unique Savior who holds out this unique and beautiful salvation.

So I think we learn from this text to be praying, to be depending on the Spirit, to turn the corner of our conversations to make Jesus known. Right? How many of you, when you, you know, run into friends or things like that, and you're like, oh, I was, you know, I was, what were you doing this weekend?

Oh, I was at church. Oh, it's nice to have community, isn't it? Right? I hear that a lot, actually. And it is nice to have community. Isn't it wonderful? Yeah? Yeah? Oh, what would the Holy Spirit prompt us to say in that moment?

You know, community is great, but I'll tell you, the one at the center of our community is even better. I don't know. The Holy Spirit will lead you, brothers and sisters. Third and last, we should not only pray for opportunities to speak about Jesus.

If He is indeed the only Savior, then the most important thing we can do is spend time with Jesus. Notice the last paragraph of our passage.

The rulers and authorities are sort of surprised at the boldness of Peter and John. They speak not just with courage, but that word there, that word there, courage or boldness also means clarity and insight and freedom, freedom of speech.

Right? And the authorities are surprised at that courage, at that boldness, because Peter and John are uneducated, common men. That is, that is, technically what that means is that they hadn't gone through the formal rabbinical training that the religious authorities had.

They hadn't been schooled in their schools. They hadn't been trained in their methods, right? They hadn't gotten their certification. Peter and John, in other words, were not religious professionals. They were just lay people.

And yet, they spoke with insight, with conviction, with courage. How could that be?

What gave them that boldness? Well, the rest of verse 13 reads, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

They had been with Jesus. You see, Jesus also hadn't been trained in the rabbinical schools of the day. He also hadn't gotten their same credentials. And yet, no one taught with the authority and the clarity and insight that Jesus did.

In Jesus, all the wisdom, all the fullness of wisdom and truth and goodness dwelled. In Jesus, the very radiance of the glory of God shone forth in human form. And Peter and John, that they hadn't been trained in the schools, had been with Jesus.

Now, friends, of course, there is great value in learning, in study, in education. Most of you are here in New Haven to do just that. And these are good gifts, and they're worth pursuing.

And Christianity has always been a learning and teaching faith. But, friends, what matters most is if we have been with Jesus. Jesus is the only Savior.

And if He is, then the great pursuit of our earthly lives ought to be to commune with Him in prayer, to learn of Him in His Word, and to worship Him in fellowship with His body, the local church.

The passage ends with the authorities threatening Peter and John to never speak about Jesus again. And then they say this in great courage, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

Wow! Where did they get the courage to go on preaching and to suffer the consequences? Friends, it's because they had been with Jesus.

They had been with Him, and they had to speak of what they had seen and heard. And that's where our courage, that's where our boldness will come from too.

Brother, sister, if you feel weak or weary, if you feel timid or afraid, spend time with your Savior. Be with Jesus. Learn to worship and love Him in prayer.

Read and meditate on His Word until it starts to warm your soul. Spend time with fellow believers who can encourage you. Spend time with Jesus Himself. And may it be said of us as a church as it was said of Peter and John, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

And if that is true of us, then more and more and more, our message and our life together as a church, it won't only be disruptive to the status quo, right?

It won't just maybe bring a riot or two every once in a while instead of tea. It won't just be disruptive to the status quo, but our message and our common life will also be transformative and healing.

It won't be something that simply tears down, but something that builds up. Because it will be Jesus Himself that we bring to others.

And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. May God grant it to be so with us, friends. Let's pray. Lord, we are so grateful that You are indeed a unique Savior, that the great need that we had to be reconciled to God for this world to be renewed and healed.

You have come, Lord Jesus, and accomplished all that was required. So we worship and we praise You. May our witness to You, Lord Jesus, in lip and in life be fueled not by fear, not by pride, but may it be fueled by that rich communion with You.

O Lord, help us even this week to be with You, to commune with You, to walk with You, to keep in step with Your Spirit.

Lord, I pray that You would open the eyes of those who are far from You, who are seeking You. Help them to see in Christ the only Savior, to trust in Him and be saved.

Lord, we pray this in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen.