Salvation In Jesus' Name

Salvation In Jesus’ Name Acts 4:12

INTRO.: Background; the 3rd and 4th chapters of Acts find the Apostle Peter preaching the Gospel before two vastly different audiences. The first is a crowd of worshipers, travelers, merchants, etc. who gathered in the temple area called Solomon’s porch to find out about a crippled man Peter had healed. The hear him gladly and hundreds are converted.

Peter and John are arrested and thrown into jail by the Jewish leaders because they are teaching in the temple and proclaiming through Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They are left overnight and the next day brought before the Sanhedrine, where Peter proclaims the Gospel before a vastly different audience. Read Acts 4:5-12.

These were Israel’s rulers. The most powerful, August group of Jews that could be assembled, and Peter knew they were hostile to him and his message. There were 71 men in the Sanhedrine and some visitors present. This was the same group that sentenced Jesus to death. When he finished, not one of them was converted.

Peter appears before them as their judge. He tells them they have rejected the One Who could bring them redemption and opposed God directly by putting Him to death. In these circumstances, he utters the words of our text and he reveal the greatest good news the world has ever heard. (Read Acts 4:12.)

I. There is salvation:

A. The story is about more than just the physical healing of a cripple:

1. It’s about salvation from death, spiritual and eternal.

2. It’s about deliverance from confusion, meaninglessness, anxiety that fills our lives from time to time.

3. It’d about salvation from sin - the underlying cause of all grief.

B. This salvation is supremely important:

1. The world we live in is utterly sinful and threatening.

2. Salvation is worth more than silver or gold and more than physical healing.

3. In 3:12, Peter rejects personal acclaim to present Jesus and salvation.

4. In 4:20, he rejects political favor.

5. In 4:31 he rejects personal safety.

6. Because God sent His Son to die for us, there is salvation.

II. There is salvation in Jesus Name

A. This idea came from Holy Spirit inspired men:

1. The religious leaders rejected and became hostile. It certainly didn’t come from them.

2. Apostles were under compulsion to preach it. 4:20

3. The apostles told what they saw and heard. They were eyewitnesses.

4. The Holy Spirit guided them in recalling and proclaiming the message.

B. Salvation is in Jesus’ Name and the Name stands for the man.

1. In vv. 7-10, Peter uses the word "name" to refer to the power and authority of Jesus.

2. In His Name we are saved and in it we appeal to the Father for blessings.

3. Christianity is an exclusive religion. Don’t let anyone convince you there are many roads to Heaven. There aren’t. John 14:6.

III. Salvation is in Jesus’ Name alone:

A. This excludes a lot of common ideas:

1. Trusting in keeping the 10 commandments.

2. Knowledge and science: Some think eventually these will save us. So they have their bodies frozen, their DNA preserved, etc.

3. It excludes personal religious feelings or philosophy. If you think you have life all worked out in your mind and it isn’t based o God’s Word, you are wrong.

4. Pagan religions like Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.

B. ILLUS.: Story of the brass snake in the wilderness. Num. 21:1-8

1. The Israelites angered God with their grumbling. He sent poisonous snakes among them to bite them.

2. There was only one cure for such a snake bite. V. 8

3. Jesus mentions this in Jn. 3:14-16. As there was but one way in Moses’ day, so there is but one today.

C. Someone has said, "A man may go to Heaven without health, without fame, without great learning, without a great name, without big earnings, without culture and without friends, without a thousand other things. But he will never get to Heaven without Jesus Christ."

IV. There is salvation in Jesus Name for everyone:

A. ILLUS.: "One size fits all" is a description that actually is true if we are talking about salvation in Jesus.

1. His invitation is to all and all are offered salvation as a free gift.

2. Not like many good earthly things that go only to those who can afford them.

3. We do not get what we earn but much better.

B. Jesus’ invitation is to desert a lost cause:

1. Stop trusting things of this world and using our strength to gain them.

2. Leave the temporal for the eternal. Give up grudging, half hearted religion.

3. The answer to the question of Rom. 7:24 "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" is God.