Since it’s been a few weeks since we have looked at Acts together I want to quickly recap what has been happening to put everything in context. If you remember, Luke opens up the book of Acts by telling the story of Jesus’ return to heaven as the disciples stood and watched. An angel appears to them and tells them to quit sitting around and instead to go back to Jerusalem, await the Holy Spirit and prepare to do God’s work.
The Holy Spirit comes in power on them in the sound of a mighty rushing wind and what looks like tongues of fire falls on the disciples. Because of the loud wind, people from all around come running to find out what happened and it is there that Peter stands up and delivers his first sermon to the people.
Shortly after that sermon, Peter and John are going to the Temple when they pass a crippled man who is begging for money. They tell the man that they have no money to give him but instead give him what they do have – the power of Christ in their lives. They tell the man to get up and walk and the man is healed, thus providing another opportunity for Peter to preach to the people. 5,000 men, not counting women and children, begin a relationship with Christ during these times and all the people were amazed at the power of God. Well…not quite everyone.
Let’s open our Bibles to Acts 4:1-12 to pick up where we left of and continue this story through Acts.
***Read Acts 4:1-12***
Let’s read verse 12 all together. “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” If you are using your own Bible right now, grab a pencil and underline that verse. As we look forward to our week of 24-7 prayer it is so important to remember the fact that there is no God like our God and salvation can be found no where else because as we “call out” to God as Jeremiah 33:3 says, we need to make sure we know who we are talking to. On the count of three, I want everyone to yell out as loud as they can, “There is no God like our God!”
The world around us everyday is constantly trying to tell us that this isn’t true. Just yesterday in the Boson Globe Parade Magazine, the front cover was about an article with Tom Cruise and the basis of it was that there is no such thing as “normal” so people can believe whatever they want to believe and that is a right belief for them. This is so far from the truth of what the Bible teaches.
Again, listen to verse 12. “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” In the book of John, Jesus claims, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In Psalms 86, David prays that, “Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.” Say it with me again, “There is no God like our God!”
Because of what scripture says about our God, there is not more than one path or more than one way to God. The only way is through Jesus Christ and a relationship with Him! If we try to get to God by good deeds and being really good people, we will fall short and at the end of time Christ will claim that He never knew us. If we try to get to God by being successful, powerful, and rich you may find some thrills for a while but in eternity you will fall short and be left with nothing. If you try to get your way to God by being a good religious person and being in church as much as you can and doing a ton of church things, again you will fall short because those things are not enough in themselves. We must grab hold of Christ and accept His Word and His presence in our lives as we stumble through life at His side. Say it with me again, “There is no God like our God!”
One of the other difficult questions that I know some of you have asked and our world definitely pushes is, “What about other religions? We can’t say they are wrong?” Unfortunately, this is one of the tough teachings of the Bible that is hard to understand and accept. But there is a massive difference between a relationship with Christ and all the other religions that you could choose from! There are bits of truth in some of these other religions but again, they fall short from fully knowing God for who He really is because they reject Jesus Christ.
The two religions that cause the most confusion are Judaism and Islam because semantically, meaning at face value of words, they follow the same god we do. Both have the same roots coming from the Old Testament but yet deviate when it comes to Christ and a personal God.
People of Jewish faith are still waiting for their savior or messiah to come. They still live by following a strict law of do’s and don’ts and when they break that law a blood sacrifice is still needed because they know their disobediences to him are deserving of death. To many Jews, God is impersonal, unknowable, and defined in a number of ways. The god of the Jews is nothing like the God we have the privilege of knowing.
Muslims also follow a strict set of rules and guidelines called the Five Pillars, from their god, Allah. Allah is impersonal and hard to please. Jesus is looked at as merely a great prophet and nothing more. They are waiting for Jesus to come again and play a special role before judgment day to finish the work of Allah. The god of the Muslims is nothing like the God we can know.
When it comes to all the other religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Scientology, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, etcetera; they too completely reject who Jesus is and the need for the Jesus because there is no sin that can’t be overcome by personal works. The other thing to think about is that all of the leaders and founders of every religion, from Muhammad, to Buddha, to Moses and Abraham are all dead. Their graves are out there in the world and could be visited at one time or another. None of these gods that are portrayed are anything like the God that we can know! Say it with me again, “There is no God like our God!”
The God that we can know and have a relationship with is first and foremost, personal. He is a God of relationship that wants to interact, talk, and spend time with the people He created. As He created Adam and Eve the Bible tells us God used to take walks with them and spend time with them. He is not a God that is up in the sky and distant but instead a God that is available to all who call out to Him. “There is no God like our God!”
The God that we know came down to us to make this relationship possible. Jesus was born of a virgin and was truly God made man. He came down to earth, walked in our shoes and knows what is like to have feelings, emotions, pain, and doubts. There is nothing we can do to make our way to God because we don’t have to. God has come down to us and simply offers out His hand for us to take hold of. “There is no God like our God!”
The God that we know sacrificed himself for us. Because of our sin and disobedience we deserve nothing but death and the sacrifice of blood. Jesus, during his life on earth, took the pain, the beating, the death that we deserved as he was placed on the cross in our place. The death that Jesus died on Good Friday, which we celebrate this week, was what we deserved and there is no other god that we could find that would be willing to sacrifice themselves for us! That is a love that is astounding and amazing. “There is no God like our God!”
The God that we know is still alive today! Yes, Jesus was killed on the cross in our place, but three days later, on Easter, he was raised from the dead. Two women went to go to visit the grave and mourn but instead they found the rock covering the tomb rolled away and an empty tomb except for a pile of rags that Jesus’ body had been wrapped in. Still to this day, Jesus’ tomb can be visited in Jerusalem but you will still find it empty…“There is no God like our God!”
The God that we know has finished his work for our salvation. There is nothing left to do or be added by Him or by us. Jesus’ death and resurrection was a one time deal, once and for all, that covered our sins and allowed us to approach Him in relationship. “There is no God like our God!”
As we approach this week of 24-7 prayer and actually as we do anything else in life. We need to know the God we are serving because there is none like him. Everyday we need to remind ourselves of who He is and clothe ourselves with Him because there is nothing that can rip us apart or tear us down when He is with us. Now, that doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen, but it does mean that we will be ready for them and protected. On the back of your sermon outline, there is a prayer that is about putting on the armor of God mentioned in Ephesians which I strongly encourage you guys to pray each and every morning reminding yourselves of the great God that surrounds you everyday! There is no God like our God!
