Sermon for MHBC (25 October 2020). You can listen on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or our website. Live at 11:00am on Sundays.
I grew up going to church and being pretty involved in the church. But my faith never seemed to click. Essentially, I had this vague notion of God and that was about it. But when I was in high school, I had this profound experience of faith where I felt I had truly come to know God and be known by God. And the key factor in that experience was a recognition that Jesus is more than a man, that he is God in the flesh, and that as God, he really had the authority to save me.
I have a pastor friend with a similar experience. The critical factor in his conversion experience was a recognition of Christ, not just some sort of vague belief in the existence of God. Still further, I have another friend, who is an OT scholar, who had the exact same experience.
This used to be more curious to me, but it is less so today because Christianity is not founded on the basis of a belief in God. Sometimes people talk as though that’s all Christianity were, but believing in God is only theism not Christianity. It’s a good start to be sure. Christianity, however, is about recognizing the saving power of Christ. The critical question is: What do we say about Jesus?
One of the solas of the Reformation was “Christ alone.” The significance of this statement lied in recognizing that there is only one mediator between God and man. As the London Baptist Confession of 1689 puts it, “Christ, and Christ alone, is fitted to be mediator between God and man. He is the prophet, priest and king of the church of God.” The Christian faith rests on Christ and his saving work on the cross and in the empty tomb.
This morning I want to look at Acts 4:1–22. Before we get into the text, you need to know the background. Peter and John were headed to the temple for prayers. They encountered a crippled beggar in front of the temple. Peter says to the man, “I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And the lame man walks. In fact, he doesn’t just walk. He leaps up[1] and continues leaping all the way into the temple, a place he couldn’t enter before as a cripple. Obviously, this creates a disturbance. It also gives Peter an opportunity to preach. What does he preach? He preaches the power of Jesus Christ. Remember what he says, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” Listen to what he preaches to the crowd in 3:16: “And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.” This miracle proves the power and sufficiency of Jesus. In Christ, the new age has come. God is doing what he promised to do.
But the religious leaders are bothered by this display and the preaching. Pick up with me in Acts 4:1–2: “And 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.” The specific mention of the Sadducees has to do with the resurrection. The Sadducees were the elites in the society. Theologically, they denied the resurrection. As one of my professors liked to remind us, they were sad, you see. Look what Luke says about their response. “They were greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” If resurrection is available in Jesus, if Jesus really is alive, this is a big problem for the Sadducees. It means they are wrong. More than that, it means the resurrection has begun. It has been inaugurated. If this is true, the Sadducees have no authority. It means salvation is in Christ alone.
So what do they do? They arrest them, but even the arrest cannot stop the message of Christ. Look at v. 4: “But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” What is the word? It is the word about Christ. Isn’t it amazing that in spite of serious and concerted attempts to crush the early Christian movement, it becomes the greatest phenomenon the world has ever seen? A group of rural fisherman in a small pocket in the Roman Empire preach a message about Christ rising from the dead that has rushed like a mighty waterfall down to us almost 2000 years later.
On the next day, there is this interrogation before the religious leaders. The question they ask is especially important. Look at v. 7: “By what power or by what name did you do this?” They want to know who authorized this miracle. On what authority did they make a lame man walk.
Verses 8–10: “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.’”
Did you see it? “By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth … this man is standing before you well.” The name of Jesus carries authority. This miracle validates his ability to save. This healing validates that through him, God is doing what he promised to do all through the OT—namely, redeem his creation from the effects of sin.[2]
And this is the promise to us. In Christ, we can be redeemed. In Christ, we can be healed. In Christ, we can be reconciled to God. In Christ, we can be righteous and holy. In Christ, we can have hope because in Christ, we will be raised.
Christ alone means salvation is found nowhere else. Look what Peter says next in vv. 11–12: “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 Peter is quoting Psalm 118:22 here, and he identifies Jesus as the stone rejected by the builders. This metaphor is that these builders have failed to recognize the significance of Jesus. They have been blinded. And unlike Peter, who being full of the Holy Spirit confesses that Christ alone can save, they do not have the Holy Spirit because they reject Christ.
In Psalm 118, the king is celebrating an unthinkable victory that the Lord had given him. So it is with Jesus. On the surface, it seems too good to be true. Jesus was crucified. And all of Hell celebrates. But the story does not end there. Three days later, the earth begins to quake, hungover demons are stirred from their stupor, and Jesus rises from the grave. To take a line from C. S. Lewis, death itself began to work backward.
Here is the victory that is in Christ alone. Salvation is in Christ alone because he has done what we could never do. Now this is so freeing once we realize this. Most of us are well-acquainted with failure, and we might beat ourselves up for it. We might say, “Why am I not making any progress?” This is why the gospel is so amazing. It is constantly telling us to quit looking at ourselves in the mirror and look to Christ. Our identity is not rooted in who we see in the mirror, it is in Christ.
If you’ll allow me to, let me apply this truth to myself. Perhaps it will help some of you. Pastoring is a daunting task. There’s a lot of pressure—to preach, teach, counsel, lead. There’s pressure “to be successful.” And here is what I must remember. There is salvation in no other name than Jesus. He alone makes me worthy. My value is not in what I do or fail to do. It is in what he has done. This is the path to freedom.
If you’re a mom or dad, you need to know that your salvation and your value are not in your children. They’re in Christ. If you’re a success or a failure in your career field, you need to know that your salvation and your value are not in your career. They’re in Christ. If you’re facing the valley of the shadow of death, Christ alone can light the way through.
I also want you to understand what it means to have faith. Christian faith is not merely an optimistic outlook. It is faith in a person. Scripture repeatedly says “believe upon” or “believe into” Christ Jesus. Salvation in no other name means relying on him entirely. Spurgeon once told his congregation: “Both feet must be on the Rock of Ages.” B. B. Warfield wrote, “The saving power of faith resides thus not in itself, but in the Almighty Savior on whom it rests.” Faith is not an abstract concept. It is faith in Christ. “On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.”
Christ will prove himself entirely sufficient. Let’s finish this passage by looking at a few verses. The religious leaders are astonished by the boldness of Peter and John. Look at v. 14: “But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.” They had nothing to say because it is clear testimony to Jesus’s sufficiency. The same thing is in v. 16: “we cannot deny it.”
So what do they do? They try to silence the preaching of Jesus. Verses 17–18: “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.”
This attempt to silence the preaching of the gospel has occurred throughout history. And yet, the power of Jesus Christ is undeniable. Where you would you be without him? Look what he has done in your life. Look what he has done around the world. Demons shudder at his name. Addicts are set free. People who seem to have it together are given peace with God. Others sell everything they have and move across the world, risking their lives, even giving their lives, to make him known. It’s undeniable.
And that’s what Peter says. Verses 19–20: “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.”
Chelsey and I have several good friends who are missionaries in Asia. One couple is in a somewhat hostile country. A few years ago, they had some difficulties that threatened to keep them off the mission field permanently. But they were absolutely tenacious about going back. They fought and worked and now they are planning their return. What causes someone to live life that way? Only seeing the sufficiency of Jesus for our salvation can explain it. They have seen that there is salvation nowhere else, so they will give their lives to making him known.
It’s the same with Peter in this passage by the way. Do you remember his story? He was so scared of death that he denied Jesus three times. And yet, here he is, speaking fearlessly to religious leaders who are threatening him. And he says, “I will not stop.” Church history tells us that Peter would be crucified upside down. What causes a fearful man to fearlessly become a martyr? Only the power of Jesus.
Look at the last two verses with me: “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 happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.” They had seen something undeniable. Christ has done what we could never do for ourselves. See his sufficiency. See his power. See the salvation that he offers.
“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; there’s just something about that name.” There is no other name.
[1] Actually, this Greek word is significant because it is rare, but it is a likely a reference to Isaiah’s messianic vision in 35:6.
[2] It’s also significant that in v. 8, Luke tells us that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. He tells us this right before Peter makes this bold confession about Jesus before the religious leaders. This confession is a mark of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Cor 12:3, Paul writes, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.”