“Salvation In
No Other”
Acts 4: 8-12
8)
Then Peter,
filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders
of
9)
If we this
day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is
made whole;
10)
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.
11)
This is the
stone which was set at nought of you builders, which
is become the head of the corner.
12)
Neither is
there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved.
|
T |
he
Word of God teaches us that there is only one way to be saved. Why? Because we have been given only one Savior—the Man Jesus Christ.
Today,
Man is frequently confused about not only Who the
Savior really is, but also, because
of his view of what salvation is to provide. That is, too often, Man lives his
life believing that the “world” revolves around him and therefore, whatever he involves himself in will
“cooperate” with him.
Upon
coming to salvation, Man is frequently “frustrated” because he expects to be
able to “call the shots” in salvation, as he believes he does in other areas. What he finds is that “God is not
going for it!” What a surprise! His
plan is laid out to take all “guesswork” from the question of from Whom salvation comes.
All men are “born in sin and shapen in iniquity.” This means that we are all “sinners
from conception.” All that Man (fleshly man) desires is against the plan of God
for his life. Therefore, it is not surprising that he finds that he cannot
solve his problems or “fix” his life.
Abraham
was a man chosen as a result of his obedience to God. Appropriately, Christ was
to come through his seed. Here, too, we find the “spiritual component” at work,
for God called what was “not” as if it “were” before it was ever completed.
Man
“misses” what he must know of God precisely because of the “state” in which he
is born. That “state” is one of “spiritual blindness.” Frequently, in his
frustration Man will question why “things” are as they are and why obedience
and
contentment cannot simply “fall into our laps.” We
know enough now to know that what takes place in our lives frequently does so
that we might come to the understanding of just how much we need Jesus.
All
of us come “into” the Lord at the same “level.” Since all
have sinned and fallen short of His glory, so all need salvation. The
very salvation for which He died will remain beyond us until we accept that
there is “salvation in no other.”
Created
Man was given a code of laws to show him that he was not able at that time and
never would be able to serve Him in a
human capacity. We know that from the 10 commandments came 613 ordinances. Even
before those ordinances were
introduced, the commandments from which they came were broken before they could
be presented to the people. Because God knew that it would be the “death” of
Man should he ever become “satisfied” with “doing better,” He established that
if one law were broken, all were to
be considered broken—and will be as
long as Man operates in the flesh.
It
should be glaringly apparent to us at this point that the human will cannot be controlled. Man is incapable
of directing his steps into anything but sin because of the inclination of the flesh. It is for this reason that
God must direct his steps.
Frequently,
our problem comes from the way that we “process” opposition. You see, when it comes, as opposed to seeing it as an
opportunity from the Lord, we believe
that He has “missed” something. Then, we become disillusioned and bitter and
find ourselves complaining against God.
The
only way “out” of this is to accept that what has come has come because God has allowed it. We must accept that it is He
Who brings correction and that only
correction will make us fit for heaven. Any man who is “left
alone” will “self destruct.”
Our
problem with correction is that all too often, we are spiritually immature.
Just as with natural children, we fail to recognize the benefit of what is
spiritual. In that the human senses are inadequate to handle spiritual “data,”
they cannot be relied upon.
In
our scripture text, today, those brought in for examination made it clear that
what had been done had been done by the Holy Ghost—and by no other means.
When
we refuse to accept the sovereignty of God in our lives, we are the ones who
will suffer. You see, not “agreeing” with Him neither changes His Word nor
makes it not true. No matter what one believes or how he would prefer things to
be, for whatever we hear of God, we will be held responsible.
We
are given the Holy Spirit because God expects us to empty ourselves and He
knows that once we are no longer “in charge,” we need direction. All too often,
though thrust into completely unfamiliar “territory” through salvation, we will
still attempt to “navigate” on our own. Doing this indicates a rejection of
Jesus. Whenever one rejects Him, he
will “stumble.” This is no accident, for the Lord cannot allow us to believe
that we can follow our own direction and “be straight.”
The
life of one who has accepted salvation is to be about “Who Jesus is.” Who He is
will be exemplified in us as we depend upon Him after salvation. You see, though
we had nothing to do with salvation, we still often feel that its “burden”
rests with us. Mistakenly, we take that burden to be that we must do something
in order to be saved.
Verse
12 of our text is that which contains the point of our address. We are told
that “neither is there salvation in any other,” meaning that there is no other
person or personality that provides salvation. There is No Other Who died and
rose again but Jesus and no other Who possessed the
“payment for salvation” but Him. No other person was born the Son of God, born
of a virgin and without sin. This is why salvation is about “more than just a
name,” but rather, the person of Jesus Christ. n