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 is 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. 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? 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. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly 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. 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 forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.
Only One Name Leads To Heaven
Beloved of the Lord……The word discriminate is a catch phrase in our society. For
decades we have been brainwashed to believe all discrimination is evil.
But the word discriminate is not evil, nor are we evil if we
discriminate in various situations. To discriminate means to distinguish or differentiate, to make a distinction of good judgment. If
we are shopping for groceries, we might discriminate against higher
priced goods because we don't have much money, or we might discriminate
against cheap goods because of taste or quality. Is that evil? When we choose our friends, we should discriminate against drug-users, alcoholics, fornicators, or blatant unbelievers. When
it is time to marry we might discriminate against a woman with tattoos
or multiple piercings, or we might discriminate against a proud or
worldly woman who is not a Christian. That's good discrimination, even good judgment. A
white man might also discriminate against a woman of another race, just
as a black man might discriminate against a white woman. Neither is evil as long as neither is high minded. Mixed
marriages of race often bring all kinds of hardships, and every man or
woman has the right to choose and discriminate, though God certainly
forbids us to look down upon a person because of color. "Love they neighbor as thyself." After his first wife died, Moses for example, married a black Ethiopian. And both Abraham and Joseph married Egyptian women. These men did not discriminate regarding color, though we might assume the women were converted before or during marriage.
But let us now ask another question: does God discriminate? Our first answer here would be no, in the sense that God is not a respecter of persons. The color of a man's skin makes no difference to God, for He is the Creator of all. Nor
does God distinguish or think less of a person if they are rich or
poor, black or white, powerful or lowly, talented or simple. Black
and white and every shade between, is immaterial to God, for Christ
"died for all" and "God would have all men to be saved" and "God so
loved the world." The blood of Christ is red, as is the blood of every man on earth for whom Christ died. Though all this is true, God does discriminate however on the Last Day which is called Judgment Day. He makes a judgment at that time, a distinction between two classes of people. "When
the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him
shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." What will be the cause of this discrimination, this distinction and separation? The answer is faith or unbelief concerning the Son of God. The Bible says, "He
that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." There
is then ONLY one name which leads to heaven, and those who despise His
name will be damned, but "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved."
I. The teaching that salvation is free through the name of Jesus offends the world. It was by the power of the name Jesus Christ, that a poor and lame man had been healed and made whole. Once healed, he was walking and leaping and praising God. Even
more glorious, after the miracle Peter preached a sermon concerning
Christ as Savior and "Many of them which heard the word believed, and
the number of the men was about five thousand". But not all believed. "As
they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple,
and the Sadducees, came upon them, Being grieved that they taught the
people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead." The two teachings upon which these men stumbled was the name JESUS, and the RESURRECTION of the dead. Yet Peter did the unthinkable. Peter taught the name of Jesus alone saves and Jesus Himself rose from the dead! Such was blasphemy, the greatest crime in the eyes of the Pharisees and Sadducees. We should note the very men who apprehended and accused Peter, were the very same enemies who had crucified the Lord of Glory! Peter, who once ran in fear from his enemies, now stood face to face with both Caiaphas and Annas.
But Peter was now filled with the Holy Ghost. He rebuked these wicked rulers without fear and makes a powerful argument. "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." Note Peter calls the miracle of healing a GOOD DEED which no one could deny. These rulers knew well it was a good deed, yet they were challenging Peter as if he had done evil. Moreover besides stating the obvious, Peter hammered their guilty conscience. They were murderers of Christ with blood on their hands, and Jesus alone could heal them. How
furious and angry these enemies must have been, for their hypocrisy was
exposed before the people, and on top of this, the name of Jesus Christ
alone could save them!
Truly, Peter was doing a good deed, by revealing the evil deeds of these unbelievers. Hence we are the salt of the earth, but if this salt has lost its flavor, it is good for nothing. When
we rebuke the darkness of this world, when we condemn homosexuality,
same-sex marriage, adultery, fornication, etc., we are doing a GOOD DEED
just like Peter. When we teach Christ alone is the only name which saves, we are doing a good work. There are not many paths to heaven as Satan teaches, but only ONE, and Jesus is that ONE AND ONLY WAY. Rightly
dividing the Law and Gospel, we harm neither the body or soul of our
neighbor, but such is true and godly love of body and soul. It is the love of Christ, for Christ did not discriminate against sinners but He showed mercy to all sinners on the cross. Then and there God reconciled the whole world unto Himself, "not imputing their trespasses unto them." When
our neighbor then is living in sin, living an obvious wicked life not
confessing Christ, godly love will rebuke their sin nothing sparing. If you are not willing to rebuke the impenitent, you do not love them at all and have fallen. While
there is a time and place, sometimes you must say outright, "If you
continue in this evil, without repentance, you will be eternally damned
when you die. Turn from your sin to Christ who paid for your sins on the cross, for He that believeth on Him is not condemned."
God's Word then is a sharp and powerful two-edged sword which we dare not underestimate. If they hear we rejoice, but if they reject the Cornerstone, we cannot be surprised. As far as we know Caiaphas and Annas went to their graves rejecting Christ and they have been in hell for some 2000 years now. Is that where we wish our neighbor to be? Will we let them perish without saying a word to the benefit of their soul? Do
we want them to be tormented, when we know Christ was tormented on the
cross in their place so they would be forgiven and go to heaven? If
we were still in unbelief, wouldn't we want someone to come to us and
admonish us, and teach us about the great love of Jesus? If
they say "How could a loving God send anyone to hell?" can't we answer
"The same loving God who gave His life in sacrifice for your sins on the
cross, enduring your hell for you so you would be given heaven." How could they argue with that? But most will. Hence we must not only admonish their sin, but tell them "Neither is there salvation in any other". Jesus is the ONLY NAME which saves. You have, dear Christian, the only God with the power to save, and His name is Jesus Christ. His
blood has power to make the filthiest clean. Oh how we can rejoice
knowing, though our forgiveness of our neighbor's sins is poor, shallow,
and superficial, Jesus' forgiveness of our sins is perfect, spotless,
and undefiled. There is no flaw or defect in how God forgives our sins. "Their
sins and their iniquities will I remember no more", God says, and "I
have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud,
thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee."
II. Boldness and willingness to suffer. Our last point for the day, is that we too are to be bold, even fearless. God
may one day call us to bear witness before the high priests of this
world who have power over our bodies, but we must not fail to speak God's Word for the benefit of all souls. Even if they hurt, injure, or murder our bodies, Jesus is the Savior of our soul. Murdered martyrs enter heaven more quickly. That is all. We must then be like Peter who spoke without fear, filled with faith. We too must say, "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." When Peter spoke God's Word, "they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus."
You
too dear believer, "have been with Jesus", or better Jesus has been and
always will be with you, in, by, and through the Word. He
came to us first with His grace and forgiveness in our Holy Baptism,
for "now ye are clean through the Word I have spoken", and He is still
with us today, strengthening and comforting us in His Means of Grace. God is not apart from His Church, but God lives "in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early." Knowing this, you must therefore be bold as a lion, wise as serpents, but harmless as doves. Though they might harm us, we neither harm nor injure anyone but we heal with the holy name of Jesus. We reveal sin only so we can reveal God's grace through Jesus Christ. And
though we are all guilty of that sin of omission, namely we have sinned
by silence when we ought to have spoken up, these sins also are
forgiven and put away through the holy blood of Jesus Christ who
suffered all thing in silence without complaint. Therefore
by His blood, through His name, you and I are forgiven of our silence,
but let us keep silence no more, "for the blood of Jesus Christ His Son,
cleanses us form all sin." "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
Finally, let us close today on that subject of being bold with God's Word and not fearful. Let us close with God's Word spoken to the fearful prophet Jeremiah, who was called to speak without fear, in Jeremiah 1:6-9. "Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am
a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and
whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their
faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. Then
the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said
unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth." Amen.
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