Solus Christus - Christ Alone

This morning’s Scripture text is taken from Acts 4:1-12. The text will be displayed as I read, but if you would like to read alone in one of the pew bibles, the passage can be found on page 1160. To properly understand this passage, I need to give you a brief overview of the events recorded in Acts 3. Shortly after the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and the launching of the public ministry of the Apostles, we find Peter and John going to the temple to worship. On the way, they encounter a man who had been lame since birth. In the name of Jesus they heal him. This was such an astonishing miracle that soon a large crowd gathered. Seeing the size of the crowd, Peter takes the opportunity to address the crowd and summarizes how Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament expectations concerning the Messiah. Peter and John are still preaching as chapter 4 begins. Let us now turn our attention to our text:

Acts 4:1–12 ESV

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 their 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.”

Our key verse this morning is verse 12, which states, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” This verse summarizes the Reformation doctrine of Solus Christus—Christ Alone. The problem that plagued (and still plagues) the Roman Church is what the theologian Michael Horton likes to call, Jesus Plus. The Roman church certainly will not deny that faith in Jesus is necessary of salvation, but what they deny is that faith in Jesus is enough—to Jesus they add a host of other things: Good Works, Prayers to Mary and the Saints, the ministry of Priests, etc.

This tendency to add to the work of Jesus is not limited to Rome. Sadly, many who call themselves Protestants or Evangelicals add something to the work of Christ. To see what I mean, ask a person what their hope of salvation is based on you will discover that very few people will simply say, “Because Jesus died and rose from the dead for me.” No they will “add” to Jesus things like:

Church Membership and Attendance

Trying to be a Good Person

Reading Their Bible and Praying Daily

Giving to the Poor and Supporting Missionaries

The list could go on, but I think you know what I mean.

Part of the problem as I see it is that people do not have an appreciation for how great and comprehensive the work of Christ is. We have lost this appreciation because preachers don’t preach like Peter and John did. Notice that I said they began with the Old Testament and showed the people how Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament expectations? Beginning in Genesis and continuing to the last prophet Malachi, God sets up three expectations for what it means to be “saved”. These are as follows:

To be in Fellowship with God

To be a Perfect Image Bearer of God

To have Dominion over the Whole of Creation as Vice-regents in God’s Kingdom

Then follows one human failure after another. First Adam, then Noah, then Abraham and His Sons, then the Nation of Israel, then David and the Kings After Him. In the midst of all this failure was a recurring promise of “one born of women, but who would be the Son of God.” Granted the Old Testament revelation was always in types and shadows, but if you read the Old Testament carefully and honestly, it is clear that the sin problem is so big that only God himself can solve it.

So let’s move to the first expectation:

Christ Alone Can Heal Your Broken Relationship with God

From the very beginning humanity was created to be in fellowship with God.

Genesis 3:8–10 ESV

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Apparently God would come daily to walk and have fellowship with Adam and Eve, because on this occasion He is surprised that they are not there to greet Him. Why, because their relationship with God had been broken by sin!

This longing to love and be loved by God is in every human heart. Most people are not aware of why their hearts are so unsatisfied. They think they can fill that longing with other people or things. You see this in all the addictive and compulsive behavior that is all around us. As the old country-western song says, “We are looking for love in all the wrong places!” But our situation is even more dire, sin has not only misdirected our desires, it has broken our relationship with God and placed us under his judgement and wrath. Paul summarizes the human condition like this:

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

One of the lessons the Old Testament drives home is this—God is holy. He will not compromise His holiness, He must be true to Himself. People assume God can simply overlook our sin, but to do such a thing would mean God would have to compromise His own holiness and perfection. However, God is also merciful and gracious as we have been learning the last two weeks. Moreover, He is faithful to His covenant promises to His elect people. The solution to this tension is that God Himself, in the person of God the Son, will become the sacrifice that atones for His people’s sins. Isaiah the prophet foretells of the work of this Servant of the Lord.

Isaiah 53:4–6 ESV

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Only through faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can you have your relationship with God restored. By believing in Jesus, your sins are washed away and you become what Adam and Eve once were—children of God.

John 1:12 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

As children of God, we can enjoy unending fellowship with God and will culminate in eternal life with Him.

However, for most people, this is where their expectation of “salvation” ends. Because they are ignorant of the Old Testament expectations, they don’t fully appreciate the work and necessity of Christ.

Humanity was not created just to have fellowship with God, but also to hold the honored position as image bearers of God!

Genesis 1:26 ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Sin has distorted this image—rather than display the spender of God’s holiness, we display the ugly face of sin! No amount of effort on our part can refocus the brilliance of God’s holiness. This is a work only Christ alone can do.

Christ Alone Can Refocus the Distorted Image of God in You

Earlier I mentioned that the Old Testament makes it clear that God is holy and He will not compromise His holiness. The Old Testament also makes it clear that we are called to be holy. This is especially evident in the book of Leviticus were we find this famous commandment:

Leviticus 19:2 ESV

“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

But as the story line of the Old Testament makes clear, God’s people failed miserably at this. In perhaps the most famous verse in the bible regarding sin, the Apostle Paul wrote...

Romans 3:23 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

This too touches at the deepest desires of our heart, we all long to be more than we are—we are created for greatness—and we dwell in the swamp of mediorcity and depravity! Even the best of us are but dim shadows of who we should be. This same Paul expresses his frustration with these famous words:

Romans 7:19 ESV

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

We just can’t refocus the lens of our life so that it shines forth the glory of God! But thank God there is someone who can—Jesus Christ! He is the perfect image of God.

Colossians 1:15 ESV

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

To see Jesus it to behold the glory of God the Father, because the Father and the Son are one. Now the Father, through His Son, Jesus, is working all things together in our lives to refocus us after the perfect image of His Son.

Romans 8:28–29 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

This too is what it means to be “saved,” our hope is not that we will live forever with God in perfect fellowship, but that we will gloriously perfect as God is perfect!

But the hope of salvation does not end here, there is another Old Testament expectation most are ignorant of and which only Christ can fulfill.

Christ Alone Can Renew this World and Usher in the Kingdom of God

Earlier I read from Genesis 1:26, let me read that verse again:

Genesis 1:26 ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Notice that as God’s image bearers we are to spread God’s dominion over all the earth. The third great longing of the human heart is for a perfect world. The history of the world is the history of how miserably humanity has failed to meet this longing. As you read the pages of the Old Testament you can see this failure played out there. First the failure of Adam in the garden, then the failure of Israel as they took possession of the Holy Land, and finally the failure of David and the other kings. The Old Testament ends with Israel still “in lonely exile,” longing for a Messiah.

It is into this longing that Jesus step in proclaiming the Kingdom of God was at hand. In rising from the dead, Jesus signaled that He had decisively defeated both death and the Devil.

Colossians 2:15 ESV

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

God’s Kingdom has been inaugurated and we but wait for Christ to fully consummate His Kingdom.

Revelation 21:1–4 ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Why is Christ waiting? He is waiting until the full number of the elect have been gathered into His Kingdom.

But what of you? Are you in His Kingdom? Scripture says today is the day of salvation. By this it means that you might be dead tomorrow and it will be too late for you to repent and believe in Christ alone for your salvation. It also means that today might be the day of the Lord’s Second Coming. Tomorrow you might find yourself forever outside the gates of God’s Kingdom.

As our text this morning says...

Acts 4:12 ESV

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.”

Only Christ can Heal Your Broken Relationship with God.

Only Christ can Refocus the Distorted Image of God in You.

Only Christ can Bring You Into the Blessing of the Kingdom of God.

Trust in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!