Acts 4:12
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Church, several years ago, my wife and I and my mom, we found ourselves at the most magical place on earth, Disney World. And at this moment, it was not that magical. It was the end of a long day, and we were in the line for the Peter Pan ride. And it was hot. We had our three bundles of iniquity that felt fully the heat. And, you know, what we needed most at that moment was Mickey to come and grab us by the hands and take us right to the Peter Pan ride and lead us off into a magical evening, maybe put some ears on us, and the day would have been perfect.
That did not happen. We sat there, miserable, waiting in this line, the last ride of the day, and then up pull two carts past the big long line past us to the little access way where the cast members come in and out and out come the property brothers from HGTV with their two lady friends wives girlfriends whatever and they pass the whole line up and at that moment I thought mickey would not like this mickey would not think that this is magical for us and our children our need was to get through this line and we needed it met and they had it now in acts chapter 4 verse number 12 peter gives us access and meets our greatest need with what many call a linchpin
verse of Christianity, what Martin Lloyd-Jones called the litmus test of all Christianity. Anything that you see, say, and do around the Word of God should measure up to Acts chapter 4, verse number 12. It's found on page 912 of the Red Pew Bible. And as you're turning there, I just want to remind you what's going on in this passage. Peter and John had healed the lame beggar outside the temple, someone that everyone knew and saw, and he'd been lame for his whole life.
And the passage is very descriptive there as it tells that his knees and ankles got life in them as he got up. And then he clung to them. And as he was clinging to them, Peter shared the gospel. and 5,000 people were saved. Just a regular preaching for any of you all, right? 5,000 people just saved right there. Well, the powers to be didn't like this. They felt their power was being torn from their hands and really the first persecution of the early church, they were arrested.
And the question that came to Peter and John is found in verse number seven, where they're asked, by what name and what power did you do this? Peter sees a golden opportunity as he's filled with the Holy Spirit to answer back with far more than what they asked. And the pinnacle of his answer is found in our verse. His answer is verses 8 to 12. But the climax of his answer says, 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. The main idea of our verse this evening is, your great need is salvation. And it is met in your great Savior. Your great need is salvation. And it is met in your great Savior. We'll take just the two points to that. is your great need and your great savior. Peter starts and says, or he's ending his answer and says, and there is salvation in no one else. They were asking about the healing of this man and thinking of on physical terms, but Peter moves from the lesser to the greater very quickly. He moves from the healing of the body to what we all need, the great need
of salvation. Salvation simply means to rescue, to be delivered from. In this context here, we clearly see it's more than just being rescued from a dangerous time or war or anything along those lines. It is eternal salvation, being rescued from your sin. Church, we need to remember that we were dead in our trespasses and in our sins. Ryan said this morning that a dead person can do nothing. Something has to happen to them from outside of themselves. And I realize that we're speaking tonight to mostly Christians and mostly members of Third Avenue Baptist Church.
How can we take our great need and apply it to what we're doing in our daily lives? I think, first of all, we need to be reminded of where we came from. You need to be reminded of where you came from. I love being a member here at Third Avenue, And it's people from so many different ages and backgrounds and different places in the world. And if you like one of those places, come see Greg and you can be part. So people are proud and they're thankful and they don't forget where their roots were.
Church, your roots were deep in sin. dead spiritually speaking but god had made you alive we need to remember where we came from that person in your life that is a somewhat of a sandpaper person you know they just rub you the wrong way that person how you treat them matters you need to remember that that you were once and dead in sin, and they may be that now. It's a whole lot easier to share the gospel with someone if you've not been a jerk to them. You build that relationship and love them and are kind to them the way God was when you were his enemy. That person is never your enemy.
They may be an enemy of God, but they're not your enemy. We need to remember and be kind and gracious to them because God was kind and gracious to us. If it's another Christian who you struggle to get along with, remember that the world will know you by how you love your brothers and sisters. What a testimony it is for you and I to look at someone that we're completely different from and have unity and love with them in the gospel.
And for the gospel's sake, we needed saved. That was our biggest need, and it's met in Jesus Christ. The other aspect of that for us as Christians, not just being reminded of where we come from, but also being reminded that the road is narrow. That verse says that salvation is in no one else. Most of us as members here would never ever dream of saying that salvation comes from somewhere else.
But often our life, your life, says something different. If you go through your daily life, your spiritual life, you're weak, not in prayer, not being joined together with God's people, you're essentially telling God that I've got this, God. I can do this on my own. And church, you can't. You can't and I can't. We cannot live the Christian life without being empowered by the Holy Spirit.
We need to remember that the path is narrow and be reminded of where we came from. Secondly, we need to remember that this need is met in point number two, your great Savior. It says, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. One's name included much more than what they were called.
One's name is their identity, their power, their authority. It states this in the story here when they're like, by what name or power did you do this? By the name of Jesus. His name is Jesus, and he shall save his people from their sins. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess.
Peter proclaimed this boldly here. Paul was bold when he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God into salvation. The gospel is Jesus Christ. The name of Jesus Christ is his person and his work, and he's done it all. He paid it all. There's other names that they were believing in. They wanted to believe in Moses or Abraham.
And we may not hear, you know, tonight many of us are not, would never believe in the power of Buddha. or Muhammad, but others we come in contact with, and we need to be steadfast that there's no other name under heaven which men must be saved than the name of Jesus Christ. Be steadfast in what you believe in the gospel. Be steadfast in your own personal life that it's not your knowledge.
It's not your theology. It's not your ecclesiology. Don't tell Alex I said that. It is the name of Jesus that saves. There's no other name under heaven which men must be saved. Not a possibility. It is a certainty that if you're in the name of Jesus Christ that you are his and you are his forever. We need that great Savior. My question is, is he?
Is he your Savior this evening? If not, he can be. If not, that's why you're here tonight, to hear of the good news of Jesus Christ. No matter where you've come from or what you have done, Jesus stands knocking at the door of your heart saying, come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest there's no other way he's telling you that i am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father but by me and if that's you tonight literally everyone in this room would love to talk to you about their Savior, Jesus. Somebody who prayed this evening, somebody that stood up, somebody that received a book, or you heard them cheer, they would love to talk to you and show you in the scripture that Jesus Christ died for your sins, that he became sin, who knew no sin, that you
might become the righteousness of God by simple faith and turning from your sin and your way and trusting the Lord to save you but the rest of us that are here and who have done that we still need to take the rest of this verse and and apply it to our life the the name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved if that is you you are saved tonight I implore you to live like it. Jesus Christ did not die for you for you to live like the world. Jesus Christ died for you to save you from your sins and for you to live conformed to his image each and every day. Pursue a life of holiness. Pursue a life as we talk tonight about bold prayer. Do you know that God performs miracles still? You better believe it because
he saved you. That is a miracle in and of itself. And church, be constant in your evangelism because you are saved, because you have connected with the name that no other name will people be saved from you're connected with that be constant in your evangelism talked about people to about jesus everywhere you go church because you're saved because you're connected to jesus because he is your great savior connect in deep discipleship i heard one of our pastors say one time i never have enough people come to us and say who can I disciple for you? He said, we always have plenty of people saying, I need to be discipled. Church, that's why we're here, to love and grow in Christ together with other believers.
Passionate worship. Each and every aspect of our life should be given over to our Lord Jesus in worship. You're giving. You're loving and caring. You're being part of your church. Be passionate in your worship of our Lord Jesus, because he is your great Savior, and he met your greatest need in salvation. We have an opportunity to do that right now after we pray as we sing together.
Let's pray. Father, we need you as Christians now more than ever to live a life that is holy unto you. And Lord, those names that come to our heart and mind that don't know you, Father, And press upon us to pray boldly and constantly for them.
And for us to live a life that impacts them in a way for the gospel. Only because of your power in and among us. Lord, as we sing, come behold the wondrous mystery. We're thankful for all that you've done for us. And all that you're going to do. And it's in the name of Christ Jesus we pray. Amen.