Please open your Bibles to Acts 4:5-12 which we will read in a few minutes.
A couple of weeks ago we took a look at the five “Solas” that were established after the Protestant Reformation came along in 1517.
The Latin word Sola simply means something that stands alone, something that is the only authentic one of its kind, something that is totally unique.
So, within the framework of the Christian faith these are the “Solas”
Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone
Solus Christus, through Christ alone
Sola Gratia, by grace alone
Sola Fide, by faith alone
Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone
When we took a look at the first “Sola”, Sola Scriptura one thing I forgot to mention is that if you read through the Bible, whether it be KJV, NKJV, NIV, NASB, ESV, RSV or any one of the other faithful translations you will arrive at the same conclusions.
Do not be deceived into thinking there is only one faithful translation of the Bible and by doing so cause others to doubt other faithfully translated Bibles.
Today we’ll be looking at the second of these Solas, Solus Christus.
In the second Chapter of Acts we see about 120 disciples of Jesus come pouring out of the upper room after the Holy Spirit is given to them and about 3,000 men come to salvation through placing their faith in Jesus Christ.
In the middle of the third chapter of Acts we see Peter preaching again to a great crowd and in the fourth chapter it is both Peter and John who are preaching.
By this time about 5,000 men had placed their faith and trust in Jesus for salvation and this was getting the Jewish leaders all riled up so they had Peter and John brought before the very council that had put Jesus to death.
With that in mind let’s pickup at Acts 4:5-12
From that passage we want to focus on
Acts 4:11-12 NIV
“Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Now you may say, “But that’s just one verse!”
There is a danger we call proof-texting and that is taking one verse out of context and using it to say what you want it to say. Is that what we are doing here with this verse?
God is Truth and the Bible is the truth about Truth or the truth about God.
The Old Testament repeated points to the coming Messiah.
The New Testament is saturated with Jesus.
We see the holy Scriptures pointing to Jesus from the third chapter of Genesis where the Lord declares that the offspring of Eve would crush the head of the evil one.
We see other great passages in the Old Testament clearly defining the suffering the Messiah would endure.
The entire 53rd chapter of Isaiah is a magnificent prophecy of the suffering that Jesus would endure for your sins and for mine.
The last verses of Psalm 16 speak of the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah, the Christ and is quoted and explained by Peter in the sermon found in Acts 2.
Now, I challenge you to read through the New Testament and find that there is any challenge to the foundational truth that salvation is found through anyone other than Jesus.
As you read you will find different names used for Jesus:
Jesus -1,310
Christ (Greek) - 469
Messiah (Hebrew) - 74
Son of Man - 85
Son of God - 42
Nazarene - 4
Alpha and the Omega - 3
1,984 Total
And that doesn't even include the pronouns such as He, Him, You or I that are found referring to Jesus!
There are literally thousands of those as well!
Sometimes these are used in combination with Jesus Christ appearing 129 times.
But anyone can obviously see that Jesus is the main focus of the New Testament.
Now, what other Scriptures can we see that say that salvation is only found in and through Jesus?
(Read or (better yet) recite some of the following Bible verses)
John 3:16, 18
Romans 10:9-10 If you confess
John 15:5-8 I Am the Vine
Galatians 2:20 Crucified with
John 16:7 I Am the Way
How else is Jesus found in the New Testament as the one and only way of salvation?
Jesus declares Himself to not only be the Good Shepherd but that He, Himself is the gate to the sheep fold and He says, “I Am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved.” – John 10:9a
In John 6:35 Jesus declares, “I Am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.”
In John 7:38 Jesus says, “Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
This past week I was looking at the calendar for Houghton College and saw that they were having a special lecturer from Asbury Seminary and I saw that he had written a book about the historical Jesus.
There are many books coming out in recent years about the historical Jesus ranging from authors who are atheist to those who are ardent followers of Jesus and I wanted to find out where he stood on the subject. So, I went to Amazon.com to read some of the reviews on the book. Most of them were positive but a few were negative.
Out of those who wrote negative reviews this was their main criticism: he relies too much on the Bible for his information. Wow.
There is a song which we sing here at Crossroads that is saturated with Holy Scripture regarding Jesus and the salvation that is only found in Him.
Jesus Messiah
He became sin, who knew no sin
That He might become our righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21)
He humbled Himself and carried the cross (Luke 23:26)
His body the bread, His blood the wine
Broken and poured out all for love (Matthew 26)
The whole earth trembled (Matthew 27:54)
The veil was torn (Mark 15:38)
Jesus Messiah - Name above all names - Blessed Redeemer - Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners - The ransom from heaven - Jesus Messiah – Lord of All!
All our hope is in You – All our hope is in You – All glory to You, God –
The light of the world
If the praise team would come forward, let’s go ahead and sing that song to the glory of God!
Closing comments – prayer - dismissal
