There Is No Other Name Series

A Study of the Book of Acts

Sermon # 8

“THERE IS NO OTHER NAME!”

Acts 4:1-12

The story began at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles. Filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter and John, were on their way to the temple to pray, at 3: 00 in the afternoon. As they came to the gate called “Beautiful” they came upon a man lame from birth. This man asked them for money, but he received much more. In the name of Jesus Christ, Peter commanded him to get up and walk. The spectacle of this man clinging to Peter and John as he continued to leap up and down praising God, caused a large crowd to gather. Peter then preached to the crowd, when a party of temple guards came up and arrested them. And this is where our story takes up in Acts 4.

(Acts 4:1-12)

“Now as they spoke to the people, the priest, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them.(2) being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus name the resurrection from the dead. (3) And they laid hand on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. (4) However, many of those who heard the word believed; the number of the men came to about five thousand. (5) And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders and scribes, (6) as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. (7) And when they set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?” (8) Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: (9) “If we this day are judged for a good deed done to the helpless man, by what means he has been made well,(10) “let it be known to you all, 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 stands here before you whole. (11) “This is the stone that was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ (12) Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which you must be saved.”

I. THE REACTION OF THE RELIGIOUS

LEADERSHIP 4:1-3

“Now as they spoke to the people, the priest, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them.(2) being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus name the resurrection from the dead. (3) And they laid hand on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.”

In Acts 1, the promise is given by Jesus that the disciples would receive power. In Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, they received that power. It was the power to become mighty witnesses for Jesus Christ. Thousands of people were saved that day and the power of God was unleashed. In Acts 3, we see the power of God used to help people. The man by the Temple gate called Beautiful was healed. Now, in Acts 4, we see the fallout of that healing among the religious leaders of the day.

What we see here is a confused inquiry. The religious leaders didn’t know what to do. They had never encountered this kind of situation. The power of God had come down, and now they had to deal with these people with power. The believers had been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and were now proceeding to live biblical Christianity in their secular society. Whenever that kind of radical transformation takes place, it always creates a stir. People living in the power of God stand out in the crowd, and the world doesn’t know quite what to do with them. This was the confused query of the religious leaders. In verse 16, we hear them saying, "What are we going to do with these men?" They didn’t know how to respond. God’s power had fallen and God’s people were on the move. Things were happening — things these religious leaders had not counted on. The disciples were preaching boldly in the name of Jesus. A notable healing had taken place right under their noses and they couldn’t deny it. What would they do with these men now? They didn’t have the answer. They were in a state of confusion.

The question they asked is the same question the world asks today. Just as the religious leaders did not know how to respond, so the world does not know how to respond. When a Christian attempts to live biblically, he stands out. When a believer attempts to live with high moral standards in honesty and integrity, in purity and holiness, refusing to engage in any activity or conversation which would violate the principles of God’s Word or hamper His testimony, this kind of person cuts across the grain of secular society. And what does the world do?