So we are in Acts chapter 4 as we continue our way through the book of Acts. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned to you that around the end of Acts chapter 2 through probably the end of Acts chapter 7 or 8, you've got this section of what we might call the good, the bad, and the ugly of this new church. And chapters 2 and 3 are very much the good. We saw how beautiful it was to see the new church together, loving each other, caring well for each other. Nobody had any needs that weren't being met by the church. They all were delighted to come together. They were devoted to the teaching of the apostles. They were devoted to worship. They were devoted to hospitality and love for one another. They were devoted to prayer. And then last week, or two weeks ago in chapter three, we saw just the beauty of God's showing his presence through performing an amazing miracle through the apostles, where they met a man whom the entire town, the entire city of Jerusalem knew this man, because every day he would come to the gates at the temple, and he had been lame since birth. This wasn't an accident, there wasn't just some temporary thing. This man who was, we'll read in today's passage, this man who was over 40 years old, had been lame for all of his life. And Peter and John give to him Healing words as they tell him in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk in and people see this and they're amazed. And Peter takes the opportunity to preach about how this is merely a reflection of the beauty of Jesus Christ, who, though crucified by the leaders of Jerusalem, was was raised from the dead and and more than just healing this man's legs, faith through faith in Jesus Christ. You can be healed of even your sin, that in repentance, God will blot out all of your sin from you. And this sounds wonderful, and you would think that this... What could possibly offend anyone by this? But today we'll see that the good news of the gospel, though it is incredibly good news and seems like it couldn't possibly be offensive, actually does offend quite a few. And we start to see some of the bad begin to creep in. So if you would stand with me for the reading of God's word. And we'll just look at the first 22 verses today. And if you're using your black Bibles, I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you this. It's on page one thousand eighty three. And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. On the next day, the rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of the high priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, by what power or by what name did you do this? Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, Let it be known to all of you 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 is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old. The grass withers, the flowers fade, and yet the word of the Lord remains forever. You may be seated. So although there's a whole outline in here to kind of walk through the whole passage, we'll probably park for the most part of this, our time in scripture today in that center portion on the offensive truth. This claim that Peter makes in verse 12, There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Some of you may have kind of heard of or talked about how we live in a, what's called a pluralistic society. Or maybe you've heard people talk about pluralism. Maybe you haven't, and that's okay. It's not a big deal. It's almost heady things. But pluralism, or the idea of a pluralistic society, the idea of it has actually evolved over time. So it used to be that to say that we live in a pluralistic society meant that no one can force you to believe something. No one can force a religion on you, whether that religion is true or false, no one can force that religion on you. You are free to follow your own path and your own journey. Now all that that meant was that it didn't mean that there isn't a right path. It simply meant that no one can force you to follow that right path. And so it was simply the statement of there's right and there's wrong. But you have freedom to choose how you live. Now, there will be consequences for those choices. So a pluralistic society, you know, our, you notice our cars, they don't have regulators at 65 miles an hour. Now, there's still a law that says you can't drive more than 65 miles an hour on some roads. but it's more of a law that you now may choose whether you live according to that law. And so that's sort of the idea of a pluralistic society. You don't have to follow the law, but if you don't and you get pulled over, you do have to submit to the consequences. You can choose your actions, you can't choose your consequences. But today pluralism tends to mean now not just that you that you have the right to be wrong. So that's basically like if you wanted a short sentence for pluralism, you have the right to be wrong. That's what it used to mean. Today, to talk about a pluralistic society is to say almost the idea that you don't have a right to think you're right. And so today, rather than a pluralistic society where it's okay for people to have different beliefs, today what we mean often by pluralism is it's not okay for you to think that you're right, especially when it comes to ultimate matters of reality. And to be, to live in a pluralistic society is to accept that, you know, there are many roads that lead to heaven. There are many paths up the mountain that as long as you, as long as you're sincere in your beliefs, that's really all that matters. The problem is that that doesn't help you even through non-ultimate matters, does it? Take, for example, the simplest of equations of truths or truth claims anyway. There is a truth claim that shows up when you're about four or five or six years old on one of your first ever math tests. And it is a truth claim that two plus two equals Good job. So Bob remembers. Do you know that there is an infinite number of answers to that question? Have you ever thought about that? Two plus two equals, there's an unending number of answers you could put in there. And strangely, all but one are wrong. And nobody considers, is just nobody, very few sane people consider it oppressive that you are forcing your truth on me when you put that little red X next to my 5 or my 3 or my 7. Everyone accepts that there's truth when it comes to 2 plus 2. And when it comes to mathematics, there's a right answer and a gazillion wrong answers. It seems, I know kids, as you start thinking about it, it seems unfair. Like, you have so many options for being wrong and only one option for being right. But that's the way of the world, isn't it? That's the way of logic and of how things work. And interestingly, we have decided that The things of far more significance than how many apples do I actually have in my bag. Things that have to do with the eternal value of your soul. The state of your soul after death. We've decided that those things that are so much more important than simple math. Well, they're too important to, sorry, Jerry, I apologize. Wow, Jerry almost walked out. Jerry is our mathnasium owner. Of almost as significant as math is the state of your soul, or what happens to us when we die. What's wrong with this world? and how do we fix it, or how does it get fixed? These are ultimate questions, and if there are a thousand answers, then that would be one thing, but oddly, or maybe not oddly, the entire Scripture, the entirety of Scripture, from the Old Testament, from Genesis to the maps, all of Scripture says there's one answer. There's one answer to how we got here. There's one answer to what's wrong with this place. There's one answer to how does it get fixed and what happens when you die. It's interesting that the leaders of Jerusalem aren't upset with the exclusivity, this idea of exclusivity or singular focus. So the leaders aren't upset. They aren't thinking, oh, shouldn't we just all let bygones be bygones? No, the leaders of Jerusalem also believe that there's one way. They just believe that that one way excludes Jesus. And so there's two things that they're upset about. You know, it tells us that, you know, the leaders. So look at this group that comes together, they're speaking as Peter and John are speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple. So the captain of the temple is sort of like the policeman of the temple. He's the second in command under the high priest. He was also a priest, but his job was enforcing the law. So all of the priests, plus the number two in command, and the Sadducees came upon them and they were greatly annoyed. And why were they greatly annoyed? Two things were told. They were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. So one, they're in the temple yard, the temple courts, and they're teaching. So in one sense, they're doing the priest's and the scribe's jobs. So they're like, they're outside of their lane. It's like, hey, that's our job. We teach the people, you are the people, you stay and you be quiet and listen to all the smartness that we can give you. But there's something more specific. They were upset that they were proclaiming, they were preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And to understand this a little bit, you have to understand who the Sadducees were. So the Sadducees, you could think of it like this. In Israel, they were led by two groups of people. There were the Pharisees and there were the Sadducees. And these two groups of people hated each other. So the Pharisees were the super conservative, we got to live according to the old ways, we got to get back to the law of God, we got to make sure that if God's law says this, we make it say this, just to make sure people are at least close to keeping God's law. And so if God's law has a fence here, then we should probably put the fence here, if you're over here, because then you'll be super sure of keeping God's rules. And so they were very conservative when it came to those things, to obedience and following God and following the letter of the law. And the Sadducees were a little more loose. The Sadducees just thought of religion as just kind of this helpful thing. The Sadducees worked hand in hand with the Romans and thought, listen, if we could just get along with the Romans, everything would be fine. The Sadducees thought that all of the teachings of Scripture were just more most of it was just really air quote teaching. And so they didn't believe in any of the spiritual realm. Like, they didn't, like, when the Bible talks about angels, like, we all know, you know, we're smart enough to know there's no angels. When the Bible talks about the resurrection, they're like, listen, I mean, that's nice and helpful and it gets the people in line, but we all know there's no such thing as a resurrection. And so this is why, so kids, here's how you figure this out, and I've said this before, but so the Sadducees didn't believe in an actual resurrection, and that is why they were so sad. You see? So Sadducees, no resurrection. That's why they're so sad, you see? So that's how you get it. And I haven't figured out a Pharisee one, so it's not fair. Be better, do good. Be fair, I see. Never mind. So, but now we get a clue then. Like two things, you know, you're teaching, but also you're teaching, you're proclaiming this resurrection of the dead. And so that's really irritating to the Sadducees. And so they arrest Peter and John. It's evening, and so they throw them in prison. Now, we're in Jerusalem. These are just some things that I've been wondering about, and there's no answer for it, but don't you wonder where? Where were they thrown in prison overnight? And how many prisons are there in Jerusalem? And did they spend the night in the very same dungeon that their Savior spent the night on the night he was betrayed? And would they have sat there? Would that have even as frightening as it was, would it have been? A little encouraging. To know that, well, this is where Jesus was held. The night he was betrayed. And now the encouragement might only last a little bit because then they would also go to the next place of like, oh, and then he was killed. And so there's no, you know, there's no sense that like Peter and John are thinking, it'll be fine. God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God, who are chosen by him. And so it's gonna be fine. It'll be great. No, I have a feeling that they are anticipating And if they weren't anticipating that night, then the next morning, they're brought in to this court area where it's this half circle, and they're surrounded by the rulers, which is the Sanhedrin, and the elders, so all of the tribal leaders, and the scribes, so all of the teachers, these are all the PhDs, the academics, And then we're told that Annas, the high priest, he has the title high priest, sort of like how we still call all of our past presidents, we still call them president. So Annas was actually, he was no longer the high priest, but he's called the high priest. He was done being high priest in, I think, AD 15, and then Caiaphas, his son-in-law, became the high priest, so that's the reigning. And then we're told these two guys, Alexander and John, and we know from history that the next high priest after Caiaphas will be a high priest named John or Jonathan. So what you have here is the past, present, and future of the high priests. So now you've got the rulers of the people and the tribal representatives of the people and the teachers of the people and all of the priests of the people. And this group is gathered together in this semi-circle and Peter and John are put in the midst of them. And whether we speculate about where they spent the night, we don't have to speculate that this was where Jesus was put on trial. And so here they are in this same place. And they're asked, by what power or in whose name did you do these things? And it's not a very fair question, is it? Or it doesn't seem. Does it seem like a fair question, I should ask? It's a strange question because there's no doubt that Peter wasn't very quiet about how this man was healed. The crowd is praising God like this is a very loud activity that happened the day before. And so even asking, by whose power, by whose name did you do this? Either it's this fake question because they want to trap them, get them to state officially. Maybe they want to intimidate them so that they won't speak of this Jesus. Maybe they're just trying to give them one last out. Listen, Just, all right, so here's your chance. It's on official record now. By whose name did you do this? And like if you, like if you just say anything else, we can just all move on. And isn't it fun how Peter first starts, well first notice how Peter is respectful. Like he doesn't angry tweet. He doesn't, like he just says, rulers and elders. He is respectful in addressing them. Now he's also a bit ironic. He says, so are we on trial for doing a good deed? Is that where we've come? Like, so is that, did I miss the part where helping a lame man walk is now against the law? Is that why we're on trial here? Now we saw when we were looking at Luke before we came to Acts that Luke loves in healing moments, he loves to use this one Greek word that's so beautiful because in some contexts it's just talking about healing, but the word is literally sozo or to save. And so it's just this beautiful place here where Peter says, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, and by what means this man has been healed. I'm sure that is the correct translation, but the word literally means saved. If we are being examined today, by what means was this man saved? Let it be known to all of you and to all of the people that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him, this man is standing before you well." You know, if the group thought they would intimidate Peter, They must have been slightly surprised. If they expected that Peter would maybe, maybe like. Some of us here. Being put on trial, would Peter simply say, hey, come here. Just between you and me. It was. It was Jesus. It was Jesus. But Peter's not in any way intimidated by the reality in his mind that this may be the last thing he says. He's okay with that. He says, let it be known to all of you and all of Jerusalem. that this man was made well by Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. And again, if you're kids, Christ is not Jesus's last name. Christ is a title for Jesus. So Jesus Christ is the same as saying Jesus, the Messiah, Jesus, the anointed one, all of Israel, including these men in this room who are who have Peter and John on trial are looking for the Messiah. And so Peter says in no uncertain terms, this Jesus is the Messiah, this Jesus of Nazareth, this Jesus, this very specific man, Jesus. There were many people named Joshua or Jesus at the time. This Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified. And do you wonder if maybe as he's saying these things. Does he turn and lock eyes with Caiaphas at that moment? This Jesus of Nazareth, this Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And does he turn and look at Caiaphas and say. Whom you crucified. But whom God raised from the dead, it is by this man that this man has been made well. And he goes on and explains and he says, in fact, this Jesus. Is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone, and he's quoting from Psalm. 18, the Psalm that we just use on 118, excuse me, that we just use as our call to worship, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. A cornerstone is the first stone that you place for built for a building. And now we've got all the laser levels and everything, so you can get the foundation all perfect. But when you didn't have those things, the cornerstone was absolutely essential. Because the cornerstone had to be the most perfectly shaped stone you could find, because it was going to set the plum for both vertical and horizontal. And so if your stone was off, your vertical would be off. Or if the stone was nice and level, but it was off horizontally, then all of the relationship to the other stones would be caddywampus. Is that a word still? Let's bring that back. So caddywampus. So now think about that. This is just, here's a freebie for you. What does it mean that Jesus is the cornerstone? Well, he sets the perfect vertical Without him, your vertical is going to be off. And it sets the perfect horizontal so that every stone after him relates to each other in this perfect way because of that perfect stone. It sets both how we relate to God, how we relate to each other. I said it was a freebie. Don't go too far into it, but it's at least, I mean, you could put it on a poster anyway. It might not make it into other sermons, but Peter goes beyond just that, though, and he says that there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name given under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Today, sadly, even in many churches, we think of religion as just this personal, psychological, pragmatic feeling. Religion is personal. You know, it's just, well, what works for you? I'm so glad for you. You know, we can talk about our salvation, we can talk about Jesus, but so many times it comes down to, oh, that sounds really good for you. I'm really glad that you have that. It seems to really be working out for you. It's personal. It's psychological. Well, does it make you feel better? Well, then good. Keep doing it. It's all psychological. It's pragmatic. Are you a nicer person for it? I mean, religion ought to have some impact on society. I mean, so is it personal? It's just, it's between you and whatever you want to call God. It's psychological. Does it make you feel good? Oh, I'm so glad for you. It's pragmatic. Did it make you a nicer person? Peter says, there is salvation in no other name. For there is no other name given under heaven. So in all of the created realm, given among men, there's no other means of salvation that any man can come up with. by which we must be saved, not even by which you might be saved or which you may be saved, but this is it. It is Jesus. This is the way we all must be saved. Every other religion, in answering the question, how can I know I'll be okay when I die? Every other religion says essentially, well, you can't just be really good. You can't ultimately know, so just do your best. Here are some rules. do the best you can, and then when you die, you know, let's hope. You know, this is interesting, like, there's so much of our life, this is the reason we don't, we have a problem with this in religion, because most of our life, actually, this works, right? So like some of you are thinking about going to college. So college, some of you are in college, So college is this place where you have to be good enough to get in, be good enough to stay in, and be good enough to get out. That's a lot of pressure. So I take some of us squeezed college four-year degrees into six and seven and eight years. So you have to measure up to get in. Turn in your applications. Oh, I'm good at this. I'm good at this. I'm good at this. I'm very serving. I serve so many people. Now that you're in, be good enough. We can kick you out at any moment. So be good enough to stay in. And then you want out. You want to get out onto the path of, Streets paved with gold and 401ks? Well, you got to be good enough to get out. Christianity, aren't you so glad that Christianity has nothing to do with college, even the Christian colleges? Christianity says you'll never be good enough, so come to me. See, if Jesus did some, It's because of our mentality toward our sin. Like, I lost some. Jesus did some. And so now I get some. But what if the reality of the gospel is I lost it all. Jesus did it all. And now I gain it all. It was never about my record to get in. It was never about my record of belonging to Christ. And so it won't be about my record when I do finally get to heaven. The only right answer when we get to heaven of why should a holy God let you into His presence? The only answer is, because of Jesus, because of what Jesus did for me. We're talking a little bit about this in Sunday school. A recent Barna survey, not very recent, but this Barna survey that asked Americans, like how many Americans believe that there is an actual hell, an actual place of judgment for sin and sinners? And interestingly, about 71% of Americans in that study believed that there is a place of hell for judgment for sin and sinners. Then asked how many in the survey thought that they were personally in danger of going to hell, The answer was .005% of those surveyed thought that they might be in any danger of hell. So put that into our modern numbers. 165,000 people live in Stafford County. 71% of them means 117,500 people acknowledge that there is more than likely a hell, which is a place where sin and sinners are punished. Eight people in Stafford County are concerned that they might be in danger of going to hell. Eight out of 165,000. We believe that there's right and wrong to a certain level, and anyone who claims they don't believe that there's an actual right and wrong, just borrow their car for the next six months and see if they change their mind. See if there is an actual right and wrong. Or get your name on their checking account. We believe that there's some level of right and wrong, but what we don't understand is what is the answer to what is wrong with this world? Every single one of us unless we're deluding ourselves, recognizes that we still struggle with sin. I still struggle with sin. Every one of us struggles with bitterness or selfishness or anger or greed or deceit or lust Or hatred? Many of us, if we had written down that list, we'd have to say, do I only get one? And for God to look on our sin and require payment for our sin is just. Sin must be paid for. For God to require that payment for your sin from you is just. For God to look on our sin and simply forgive our sin without payment is unjust. Consider even just the people that your sin has affected. Is God loving to them, those whom you've treated with anger or lust? Is God loving toward them when he simply sweeps our sin under the rug and says, it's okay. Boys will be boys, girls will be girls. No, but for God to require payment for sin and not require it from you. So the requirement for the payment for sin is still just. But he accepts the payment from someone else, is merciful, and there's only one person who satisfied the justice of God, Jesus Christ. And he literally is telling that group, whom you crucified, but as we've seen time and time again, this is the third time he's talked about how Jesus died at the hands of others, and he's speaking to people in the first two sermons that may not have had anything to do with it, but he's saying, you killed Jesus. And I can say from scripture, This Jesus whom you crucified, your sin, my sin, our sin, is why Jesus died, yet whom God raised to life. There's only one name under heaven. by which we must be saved. That name is Jesus, the Christ crucified for our sins and raised for our lives. Isn't it interesting that these leaders thought that they could put the fear of man into Peter and John and stop them from talking about Jesus? But Peter and John have a higher regard for God than they do for man. They have a regard for man, they're respectful. But when it comes to listening to obeying man rather than God or God rather than man, the path is clear to them. We must obey God. The irony is that these leaders who try to intimidate Peter and John with the fear of man, are filled with fear of man, aren't they? If they think they're in the right, they certainly aren't going to act on it because they're afraid of the people. So they're filled with this fear of man. Peter and John are only filled with a fear of God, a love for God, a respect of God. I mean, the question is to ask ourselves, Who, first, who are you relying on? Are you relying on yourself to be good enough to get to heaven? Have you submitted to the only name under heaven given among men by which you must be saved? Are you more concerned with public opinion? Are you more concerned for public opinion of yourself than for lost souls? Sometimes I wonder if as Christians we love our friendships more than we love our friends. We love the comfortable relationship and to admit to them that I actually fear that you might be facing an eternity without God. Well, that would be uncomfortable. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you.