Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Acts 4:7-12

Theme: What we believe about Christ is of supreme importance in the believer's life.

Do not be deceived into seeing Him as anything less than Completely God, Completely Savior, and Completely Lord.

Date: 11/03/2019 File name: SolaCristus-2.wpd

ID Number:

Once upon a time, many years ago, there lived a farmer who owned a mule.

With that mule the man did all his plowing and cultivating.

On Saturdays he would hitch his mule to the wagon and go into town for groceries and necessities.

But the farmer, being the frugal man he was, grew increasingly concerned over the rising price of the oats and hay that he fed his mule each day.

He decided upon a simple plan.

In order to save money, he would substitute sawdust for some of the oats, and straw for some of the hay that he fed his mule.

So that evening, instead of giving his mule a full gallon of oats, and half-a-bale of hay, the farmer only gave him three-quarters of a gallon of grain, the remaining one-quarter gallon being sawdust.

He also replaced a third of the hay with straw.

It worked.

The mule didn't seem to mind the leaner meals.

Well, over the course of several months the old farmer began to substitute more and more sawdust for oats, and more and more straw for hay.

He was, of course, pleased with the money he was saving in oats and hay.

Everything went fine for a long time.

The mule became satisfied with sawdust and straw.

The problem was that the poor ‘ol mule eventually dropped over dead of starvation.

What’s the moral of the story?

The same leanness can happen spiritually to the Body of Christ.

The changeover from truth to error in the Church is sometimes a slow, but gradual process, and the Body of Christ doesn't always perceive the change in spiritual diet.

They become satisfied with the error that has replaced the truth.

But, before they know it, they're dead.

This is what happened to the Church in Europe.

Between A.D. 400 and A.D. 1500, church leaders gradually exchanged truth with more and more error, so that one the eve of the Reformation, very few professing Christians actually knew what the Bible taught, and that much of what they were being taught by their priests and bishops simply could not be defended Scripturally.

The Gospel had essentially been lost.

The decisive issue of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was this—how can sinful man be right before a holy God?

On one side was the Roman Catholic Church which held that—salvation was in Christ, and good works which included baptism, and church membership, and confession, and penance, and pilgrimages, and alms giving.

The problem was that no one could ever know for sure if they had “done enough” good works to go directly to heaven.

Virtually all Christians could expect to go to a spiritual realm called purgatory, where they would suffer until finally being purified of all sin.

A Spanish theologian from the late Middle Ages once argued that the average Christian could expect to spend between 1000 and 2000 years in purgatory.

On the other hand, the Protestant Reformers spoke with one voice and that was the voice of the Scriptures.

The men of the Reformation insisted that salvation is in Christ alone.

Standing on solo scriptura, the reformers said that Christ’s atonement alone is sufficient to bring the sinner into the Father’s Kingdom.

This morning I’d like to say three things about the salvation the God offers.

1.

The priority of salvation.

2. The exclusivity is salvation.

3. The necessity of salvation.

I. THE PRIORITY OF SALVATION

“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.””

(Acts 4:12, HCSB)

ILLUS.

Let me begin by giving you the back-story of this event.

It begins back in Acts, chapter three.

The Apostle’s Peter and John have gone to the Jewish Temple to pray.

It’s about 3:00 PM.

They are about to enter through the “Beautiful Gate”—the gateway between the Court of the Gentiles and the Court of Jewish Women.

It was a massive gate, some sixty-feet wide supported by pillars made of bronze.

During the morning and evening sacrifices it was an area or worship.

At the gate is a man lame from birth, laid there daily by his family to beg for money.

Peter looks at the man, tells him “we have no money, but in the name of Jesus rise up and walk.”

And he does.

Well that draws a crowd in a hurry, and Peter takes the opportunity to preach to the people.

That message is found in Acts 3:11-26.

The result is that abut 5,000 hear and believe upon Jesus.

Now, I just really like how Acts, chapter four begins ... “And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed ... ” (Acts 4:1–2, ESV).

Peter and John are arrested, and spend the night in jail.

The next day they are brought before the most august group of men in Israel.

This is were we pick up our text ...

1. as the Apostle Peter utters his words of witness in vs. 7-12, he and his fellow Apostle John are standing before the most aristocratic, blue-blooded, wellborn group of Jewish society—the Sanhedrin

a. they are joined by the High Priest and others of the high-priestly family

1) this is a gathering of the movers and shakers in Jewish society

2) this is our Executive Branch, Legislative Branch, and Judicial Branch of government all rolled up into one group of men

b.

John and Peter are placed in their midst ... it’s meant to be intimidating

2. Peter’s witness is bold and direct

a. this healing was done in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—he is directly asserting here that Jesus is Messiah

b. you crucified him

c.

God raised him from the dead

d.

Jesus is the stone you rejected, which has become the cornerstone

e. there is salvation in no name but his

A. THERE IS A SALVATION THAT MEN CAN HAVE

1. as Peter stands before the hierarchy of Israel, and the Sanhedrin he begins by saying and there is salvation

a. man's greatest need is to be saved

b. man's greatest need is spiritual

2. in Christ, salvation was accomplished and is now offered to man

a. this message, proclaimed by simple men, but men who had walked with God’s Anointed One, is the greatest declaration ever made to man ... there IS salvation

B. WHAT IS THIS SALVATION THAT MEN CAN HAVE?

1. the word saved is a good biblical word

a. the Apostle uses it here in vs. 12

1) in his era, in that culture every Jew knew what Peter meant

2) that’s not so true in 21st century America

ILLUS.

For the first time in our nation’s history, we have a generation of Americans, the majority of who, have never been in a church in their life, and are biblically ignorant.

It’s the Millennial Generation, those aged 23-38.

In an Washington Post article from Oct. 27 of this year, columnist Christine Emba, herself a Millennial, wrote, “Here are a few things we’ve learned about millennials ... We don’t have time to relax or think, but we do like to sleep.

We’re less interested in television than our parents.

We hate vacations, weddings, car commuting and other traditional activities.

And, apparently, we’ve stopped going to church.”

She sites a Pew Research Center poll that reveals that 40% of millennials have never attended church, and the majority of the remaining 60% maybe, maybe go to church a few times a year.

3) Millennials are the most un-church, non-religious, un-evangelized age group in America

b.

I tell you that to say this, even though “saved” is a good biblical word, a good chunk of our culture has no idea what evangelicals mean by that

2. Peter says, there is salvation, but what does “salvation” mean?

a. negatively, salvation means to be saved from something, and positively it means to be saved unto something

b. negatively: Salvation means to be delivered—we need to be rescued from spiritual peril