Now, if you would tonight take your copy of the Scriptures, turning with me to the book of Acts, and we are in chapter 4 tonight, Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4, let's commence our reading at the verse number 1. We're looking particularly at verse 12. but it's good to know the setting and look at the context as well. So if you're on Sea of Tonight, we would urge you to pay special attention to God's word tonight and think about your own soul. Like that maid we just mentioned there a minute or two ago, when she listened to Horatius Bonner praying, if he prays, so much what will happen to you who have never prayed. So tonight let's think seriously about our salvation and our needs of mercy from the Lord. Acts 4 verse 1, and as they spent on to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them. This is Peter and John. being grieved. This is the Sadducees and priests and so on. Verse 2, they were grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Because you see, the Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. They didn't believe in a bodily resurrection. Verse 3, And they laid hands on them, and put them in holds unto the next day, for it was now eventide. Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed, and the number of the men was about five thousand. And it came to pass on the morrow that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, and Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have ye done this? What are they referring to? Well, in the previous chapter, Peter and John had seen a man, a lame man, given strength to walk, and he was leaping and jumping in the house of God. And they're asking, well, by what power did you do this? So verse seven, and when they had sent them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have ye done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, By what means he is made whole? Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone. which was set at naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled, and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. So again, just to mention this, here's Peter and John. They were very ordinary men, uneducated men. And they saw, perhaps by the way they spoke or whatever, they perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men. Yet it says they took knowledge of them because they had been with Jesus. There was a glow about them. There was a presence about them that people who aren't walking close to the Lord don't have. And men and women, you can't fake this. When it says they took knowledge of and they've been with Jesus, you cannot act or in some way put that on. It's either there or it's not. And we would encourage you, let's walk with the Lord closely. That is evident that we have been with Jesus. Verse 14, and beholding the man which was healed, standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? Now you get a little bit of an insight into the thinking here, for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. They are categorically stating that this was a miracle. Verse 17 should then say, well, let's listen to them. Let's receive Christ. But verse 17, buts. that it spread no further among the people. They want to hinder the work of God. Let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. So they are deliberately and specifically wanting to stop the spread of the gospel. And they knew it was true. They knew this man was healed. They didn't want other people sharing in the gift of salvation. You do not get more demonic and devilish than this. And these men are Jews. Men of Israel. Abraham's family. Verse 19. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them because of the people. For all men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was above 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing was showed. Amen. We'll end the reading there. Just read with me again the verse number 12. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Let's bow together in a word of prayer, please. Our Lord and our God, We look tonight at the narrow way of salvation. We are not here to bring a plethora of options. Lord, there is but one Savior and one salvation. Lord, tonight we pray that everyone will Be on that path, that way, that one way whereby souls can be saved. So Lord, answer prayer for us here tonight. Lord, take away, Lord, the distractions that the devil and the flesh and the world would just put in our hearts tonight. We know that the devil loves to steal the good seed of thy word. It may not be the preaching as such, just the reading of the word even, and the devil would love to remove it. Lord, tonight we pray that thou would prevent the strong one from coming and hindering the work of God. Lord, advance your cause, save souls tonight, right across our land. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. If you go back just for a moment to chapter three, you'll read of the marvelous scene where Peter and John saw this lame man raised. Now, Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. That's an interesting hour as well. Brings into view the crossword of Christ, the ninth hour. Verse two, and a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried. whom they lay dearly at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms to them that entered into the temple." So here's a man sitting outside the beautiful gate. He didn't go through the beautiful gate. He's just outside of it. And outside of it's not enough. Verse three, who's seeing Peter and John about to go in the temple, ask an alms. And what he means is he's asking them to give some money, some silver, something just to support him in his needs. Now, Peter, verse four, fastening his eyes upon him with John said, look on us and he gave heed onto them. What that means is the man didn't even look at Peter and John. He probably was, They'd be a little embarrassed and downcast. They just sat there looking at a wee basket, which is so empty. And men and women, that's so often the case with people. We spend our time looking at the empty basket instead of looking up and seeing the grace and the goodness of God. These men were the Lord's image bearers. These were his representatives on earth. And they said, pay attention to us. We have the answer. Don't be fixated upon your wallet. Don't be fixated upon what you don't have. So they said to him in verse 4 to look upon them. Verse 5. And he gave heed unto them. He obeyed. He did it. He responded. But he was expecting to receive something of them. He anticipated some little relief. That's what people view the church as being today. It's an organization to relieve the poor. It's an organization to send humanitarian aid. And yes, there is certainly a place, obviously the Bible is full of it, where we ought to serve those who are less privileged. There is the need for humanitarian aid. Yes, there is the need for helping the poor, but that's not the core work of the church. We could move far beyond people's temporal needs to think about their spiritual eternal needs. And that's what Peter and John is doing here. Verse 6, the emperors said, I don't have enough to give you. I'm not a wealthy businessman. That's not why God sent me. And what a scene this would have been. So he took him by the hand, lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. Now Peter didn't do that. Peter had the ability to generate strength in someone's bones and ligaments and limbs. He didn't have that ability. This was a miracle. God, the creator, worked through the apostle Peter. You see, a few chapters ago, the Lord had said that he would be ascending up into heaven and the work would now be done through individuals, through men. And Peter and John are those men. So, like I said, after this happened, they went into the temple. This man was no longer sitting outside the beautiful gate. He walked in through the beautiful gate. He went into the house of God and he was leaping, verse 8. and he was leaping for joy and rejoicing and praising God because the Lord had changed him. And I put it to you tonight, if you were to take your eyes off your empty basket and look heavenward to Christ, you too would leave no longer miserable, no longer cast out, but rejoicing that you have peace with God. Leaping as it were in your heart that you know what it is to be genuinely saved now a great Congregation gathered rounds and Peter and John began to preach and declare what had just happened You can read the sermon later on when you go home Verse 12 and when Peter saw it he answered on to the people ye men of Israel Why am I the at this and so on and so forth preaches the gospel to them there now That brings us then to our text tonight. Well, at least the chapter in which our text is found. These high priests, these Sadducees were in the temple and they saw the commotion. They saw the happening and they went to Peter and John and they restrained them. They imprisoned them. They were interfering in the work of God. Just because a man has a religious career just because a man has a position in the church does not mean he is a man or she is a woman of God. That's the reality. I don't need to elaborate on that anymore. Certainly thinking on Horatius Bonner, who we mentioned at the very beginning, who separated from the Church of Scotland. He recognized that there was great problems, and just because you have religious rule doesn't mean you're walking with God. So be very cautious indeed. Now, Peter and John were arrested, and they began to preach to these men. There's a court called, if you like. Verse 5, here you have the rulers that are gathered around them. They sit down to assess these men. Verse 7, and when they had sent them in the midst, that's Peter and John in the midst of this company, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this? Verse 8, Peter responds, being filled by the Holy Ghost, He spoke to the elders, verse 9, if we this day be examined of the good deed which is done, the curing of the man, verse 10, be it known unto you all, and here's the point, be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, he is risen. hits the nail in the head, if I can use that phrase here, he gets right to the heart of the matter, whom ye crucified by kneeling him to a cross, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you. Just pause for a minute. Remember I told you during the reading, Who was arrested, Peter? It was the Sadducees. The Sadducees who didn't believe in the resurrection. They didn't believe that anybody would be resurrected. They didn't believe in the rising of the dead. Remember we said that in verse one. It specifically says the Sadducees came upon them. And so Peter gets right to the heart of their error. These weren't Bible-believing, God-fearing men. When a religious leader begins to even suggest that the resurrection of Christ was not real, you run for the hills. Have nothing to do with them. They are out and out heretics to be despised. That's most important. They wouldn't accept the resurrection. But the Lord raised, and here's the grease in this. The Lord, through Peter, raised this man from the ground. He was lying on the ground, never could walk. He raised him up. There's a resurrection picture there. This man's legs were dead. He couldn't walk. And the Lord raised them up to walk. And then the Lord had the Sadducees there to witness this, to see this, and gave them the clear preaching of Peter. Do you see God's grace toward these heretics, these Sadducees? The Lord here is witnessing to them. The Lord is demonstrating before them in the clearest of terms that He is Jehovah, He is the Savior, He is the one who can help them, and yet they just rubbish the whole thing. The Lord's merciful. He's long-suffering. These men deserve to be cut off a long time ago, but the Lord keeps speaking to them. And maybe that's just like you tonight. You deserve to have your life removed a long time ago. You deserve to be cast into a lost eternity, but the Lord's been long suffering with you. He still gives you the opportunity to hear the gospel, and the Lord speaks to you. Maybe even recently, something has pinged in your conscience, and it's caused you to think again. That's what the Lord is doing here. He is pricking the people's conscience. And they even recognize that God healed the man, and still their hearts are hard. A hard heart is an awful thing, men and women. Even the apostle Peter's preaching couldn't deal with it. It required the Holy Ghost. Anyway, these men, Peter and John, preached and proclaimed that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And what they are teaching then is that Jesus Christ successfully paid the price for our sin. Therefore, he came out of death. When someone, remember a few weeks ago we spoke about hell and how hell isn't a place of payment. It's a place of punishment. It's not somewhere to appease God. It's a place where you are oppressed by God. Well, when Christ was on the cross, he was there and he was, he was paying for sin. And if you go into a shop to buy something, you can't leave with that object until you've paid for it. Christ hung on the cross. He entered into death. And the fact that he came out of death is like someone coming out of the shop. They have purchased it. Prevealed they have taken what they want and they have bought it and they leave with it the Christ was leaving he was successful in providing Salvation that's what Peter and John is preaching here. This is a savior. He is able to see if he is willing to see you So I suppose the climax to their message is verse 12, or text. So here is the climax, read verse 12 with me. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Two things I want to leave with you in this text tonight. Firstly, an exclusive saviour. An exclusive saviour. There is only one who is able to save. And that is Jesus Christ alone. That's what Peter and John are proclaiming here. Whom ye crucified. Who rose from the dead. He died for our sins. He paid for our sins. He rose again. He is the only saviour of men. Now that's just worth for a minute or two, meditating upon here. He's the only saviour. Read the first part of verse 12. Neither is there salvation in any other. That's very general. There's no salvation in any other. There's no other creature. There is no angel. There is no extraterrestrial saviour out there that we're going to discover by space exploration. There is no other creature in existence that can provide salvation. Only Jesus Christ. That's huge. But the verse goes on to make it more precise. because that's just stick amongst men. Verse 12, the next part of the verse, for there is none other name under heaven. So now we're on earth here, we're in the sphere in which we live, for there's none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. None other name given among men, there is no man. And again, think about that for a minute here. Currently, and I understand that The population, and I don't doubt this for a moment, obviously, but the population on Earth now is larger than it has ever been before. 7.7 billion. Now think about that for a minute. 7.7 billion people on Earth. And there is no single man, woman, boy or girl who is able to save, not even themselves, let alone somebody else. Think of that, 7.7 billion, not 7.7 thousand, not 7.7 million, 7.7 billion. And that's just, you know, we can't really picture that. Can't really get our heads around the mass of people living on planet Earth now, but this verse doesn't just mean people that are on Earth now. Out of the whole human race, there is no other man except this Jesus of Nazareth who conceived. Now, again, I just spent a little bit of time, I suppose, out of curiosity in my own mind, just to work out, well, how many humanoids have been in existence? Is there a calculation that can suggest how many people have actually been alive? Well, There are, and of course, when you go into sciences, very often they'll go back hundreds, or hundreds of millions of years, and I'm deleting all that information, but the nearest mark that was given by the scientific counter was 8,000 years before Christ. That's when their nearest calculation for biblical from a biblical standpoint, at least, which would suit us. So 8,000 years before Christ, up until today, they calculated that on Earth, there's been approximately 108 billion people. 108 billion. Now, like I said, there's 7 billion Earth in a minute, and this is the biggest population there's ever been. You can think about when Adam and Eve was alive, there was just two and throughout their lifetime they spread and then population grew and then the flood came and again that would have brought population vastly down to know his wife and their three sons and their three daughter-in-laws and then and life began to spread again, so it's probably a fair estimate. So let's just say 108 billion people have walked on planet Earth, and every one of them, some living for great lengths of time, some living short, some of them very notable, some of them very noble, but out of them all, no man, no man is able to save me from my personal sin except Jesus Christ. So, you know, don't sit in God's house tonight and think that you're going to be different. That you can save yourself. There is no one ever born who's been able to save anybody, either somebody else or themselves. Never one human. Out of 108 billion attempts, every one of them lost. Except for Christ. All would be lost eternally, but the Lord has been pleased to save some, and flat we are thankful. I say that to emphasize the point here. Neither is there salvation any other. There is none other name, none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. So to put it rather bluntly, if you are not trusting in Christ tonight, you're heading to hell. If you're not trusting on the Lord and walking on the narrow road, you're on the broad road leading to a lost eternity forevermore. There's plenty of verses that back up this very truth. John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. That simply means Christ says, I am the way. There is no other route. I am the truth. That means any other message is a lie. I am the life. That means every other suggestion leads to certain and eternal death. First Timothy 2.5, it says, for there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. God the Father sent one mediator, one savior, one deliverer. That's all God ever sent. There is no more. But we only need one because in Christ is everything required to provide our salvation. He is the exclusive saviour, but even where we're thinking about that, he is the sufficient saviour. He's able to save all that come on to him. Now again, thinking about Christ, and we've said this before, Christ is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. He's one of the three. He's either telling lies, he's either insane, he's a lunatic, or he is indeed the Lord. Now, the Lord's birth, The Lord's life, His miracles, His death, His resurrection prove that the first two are not correct. He was not a liar. He was not a lunatic because a liar and a lunatic could not do what Christ did. He could not fulfill everything that the Old Testament said the Messiah would fulfill. The place of His birth, the manner of His birth, the way He lived, the miracles He did, the death He died, the resurrection that many witnessed. prove that he's not lunatic, that he's not a liar, but he is the Lord. He is the only saviour of men. Now, go back to our text again as we continue to work our way through it. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name, name under heaven, given among men whereby it was saved. Now, what's the emphasis on the name for there? Well, I'll illustrate this way to you. If you were going to, let's say you wanted access to Buckingham Palace, and you walk up to Buckingham Palace and you said to the guards there, David Brown sent me to go and see the Queen. Well, they'll be a little bit amused and baffled by your statement. And, well, let's just say I don't anticipate you getting very far, to be honest. But if you go to the gates and you say, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth invited me to come and see her, equally, they'll probably be a little bit baffled at that. But inquiries would be made. And if it's true, They will turn around and say, yes, the Queen has invited you, in you come. What makes the difference? The name, the name. It's not in David Brown's name you get into the palace, but when there's a royal individual in a place, a position of power and authority, then you get in. And listen, what's the name to get into heaven? Jesus Christ. We can enter into glory through His name, trusting in Him, depending on Him as our Savior. Christ, Christ, as the Deliverer, He's the key to open heaven's gates. But again, keep looking at this. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men. This name is given to man. This sea of yours is given to men. Now think that through. It's not earned. It's a gift. The deliverer has been given to you. That means he's done the work. There's not a work for you to do. He's done it on your behalf. It's a gift for you to receive. And this is God's appointed way. It's not a man-made way. It's a God-given way. And so God declared, That Jesus Christ is the way. Remember how that voice came from heaven? This is my beloved son and whom I am well pleased. Trust in him. He is the savior. He is the redeemer. You know, Rome, when coming to this text, they will add a little bit that, yes, there is none other name. Give them all men whereby must be saved. That's true, but it's incomplete. You also need to be on good terms with the Pope. You need to be in agreement with him to really have, you have to be in union, actually, I believe the term is. You have to be in union with the Pope to have any hope of heaven. I find that disgusting. I also find it a little bit amusing here because Peter was the first Pope, wasn't he? Apparently. And he's the one saying that there is only one Savior, and it's Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, when it comes to the doctrine of you need a Pope as well as Christ, I would rather put my trust in the Word of God than some dirty, perverted Pope. I think the Word of God is much more reliable than the filth that would come out of the Church of Rome. They're leading men and women to hell and have no respect, no regard, no interest in such devilish heresy. They're every bit as corrupt and ungodly as the Sadducees here, which contended against God and do nothing but interfere with God's work. Someone who leads souls to hell is to be contested against, not given permission to continue anyway. The Word of God says, That leads us just secondly and very quickly to your Final thought here, we saw the exclusive saviour, but look at the exclusive salvation here. This is the unalterable way of salvation. Why would the Lord give another way of salvation? There is one way to be saved, and it's in Christ, depending on Christ. This is the way whereby we must be saved. This is the way, no other way. Why would the Lord give you multiple ways to heaven. Remember a few weeks ago we thought about the cross. Was it necessary for Christ to die on the cross? Was there any other way that Jesus Christ could have prevailed for our salvation? Why would God put his son through the crucifixion and drinking the wrath of God dry and then give you another way as well? That's not even reasonable to suggest. This is the exclusive way of salvation, and you must be saved this way. To suggest any other is absolutely absurd and ridiculous. The thing about it is, there is one way of salvation, but this one way isn't for everybody because not everybody takes it. That's sad. Not everybody embraces Christ. Not everyone receives this invitation. We sang that song of invitation at the beginning, Horatius Bonner's hymn of invitation and response, as I explained to you. Here's the thing, men and women, the gospel is offered to all. That's why as a preacher, we go into all the world and we preach to all different kinds of people. We give the offer to everyone, but few there are who receive. And tonight, here you are. you're hearing the gospel again and you may or you may not receive it. But let me say this, the end of the verse makes it very clear here. If you're going to be saved and must be this way whereby we must be saved, and you must be saved. There's a few ways to take that. But if I was to say to you tonight, this is right, you must be saved. You must be saved. If you continue to live the way you were born and just live a life whereby you go through life, you live well, you're never changed. You're never converted. You never have the experience of a new birth. If you continue that way right throughout your life, you're lost. You must be born again. There must be a change that happens. The Spirit of God must do a work in you. It is not sufficient to just live and be nice and be good if there's no change. That means the sin and the hereditary nature of your sin that you're born in has not been removed. The debt has not been paid. There must be a change. You must be made a new creature in Christ Jesus. You must be given a new heart, as Ezekiel puts it. If not, you're lost. You must be saved. You must experience the new birth. And so be in no doubt tonight, there is only one savior and there's only one way to be saved. And verse 12 is it. I hope tonight you will give serious consideration to this. As we close, every other suggestion, every other hope is a hoax. It's fake. It's not real. But in the gospel, you find the genuine, real way of conversion. And it is through Jesus of Nazareth. Now tonight, the invitation comes. Because you might be sitting there thinking, well, I mean, would the Lord have me? Would the Lord save me? Read your Bible. Would the Lord save you? Would He be interested in you? Read your Bible. For God so loved the world, He gave His Son. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. From Genesis to Revelation, the Word of God appeals to you. Come, come, come. Revelation closes, telling the church to go into the world. and to tell the world they ought to come. Through the spirit of God, preach all men to come. So yes, the invitation is there. You come tonight. He will receive you. He will see of you. Without him, you're lost. So tonight I would encourage you, come to Christ and be a new creature. Amen and amen.