The first persecution of the early church, as recorded in Acts chapter 4, demonstrates the boldness of Peter and John in proclaiming Jesus Christ as the cornerstone and the only means of salvation. When confronted by the religious authorities after healing a man at the temple, Peter boldly declared that the healing was accomplished through the name of Jesus, whom the authorities had rejected but God had raised from the dead. The sermon highlights that Jesus is the chief cornerstone upon which the church is built, emphasizing that salvation is found in no other name. This foundational truth serves as a call to stand firm in faith against any movement that denies Christ's unique role in salvation.
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Now we're going to read this morning from the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Remember last Sunday we were speaking on the third chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Acts chapter three. And as they speak 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, emphasize the word from the dead. and they laid hands on them and put them in hold unto the next day, for it was now even tied. Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed, and the number of the men was about five thousand.
And it came to pass on the morrow that the rulers and elders and scribes, and Anas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. When they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have ye done this? And 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 ye 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.
And this is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven. Wonderful words, underline them. 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 behold, 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 straightly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak a tone or 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 hearten unto you more than unto God, judge she, 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 which the miracle of healing was showed. And being let go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
May God bless the reading of his own precious words. Blessed God, we ask for thy blessing now. We thank thee for the boldness of these early disciples. They suffered for thy name's sake, but they had the courage to go on, and we thank thee for this. And as we see the early church taking shape and form, we marvel at thy wondrous ways, and we pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit of God might take the things of God and reveal them to our hearts this morning and show us new things, precious things from thy precious word. Speak to our hearts, Lord, and grant that each one of us might make decisions for thee and decisions for eternity this morning.
We ask it in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. Now we have been making a few studies here in the Acts of the Apostles. I think this is probably the fifth talk we've been giving, maybe the seventh, I'm not sure. Last week we were talking about from the third chapter, we have said over and over again that we believe the Acts of the Apostles is a pattern which God has given us for his church. The church came into being on the day of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit was sent down from heaven, then the church came into being and three thousand souls were saved that day and added to the already a hundred and twenty or so disciples and believers who were at Jerusalem at that time.
And now God is going to show us as we open these chapters and look into them how he started to build his church. And he has given us a pattern, a pattern which I believe stands good for the whole history of the church. Down through the ages, nearly two thousand years, various great men of God have come up, and they have had their own ideas, and men have followed them. That's natural. If you get a leader, people follow him. They follow a leader. Now the problem is, if we can be leaders, if God can raise up men to be leaders, and those leaders can guide them in the pathway laid down in the New Testament, that's wonderful.
But it's when they set up their own ideals and form their own groups and patterns and that's when the thing goes wrong. But here is the pattern which God gave us in the New Testament for his church. Now the Lord did tell us, he told them, let me read to you from John chapter sixteen. The Lord told them in John chapter sixteen. These things have I spoken unto you that he should not be offended.
Verse one. They shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. And these things were they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me. And these things have I told you. that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told you of them. Go back to chapter fourteen of John and read verse eighteen. If the world hates you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Remember the word that I said unto you. The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my sayings, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. I would say that our subject this morning, if you want a title, will be the first persecutions. There have been many persecutions down through these two thousand years of church history, and there's persecution going on today, very much of it. I've heard it said that there have been more martyrs in the last fifty years than in all the church's history.
I can't prove that, but I read it. Behind the iron curtain, behind the bamboo curtain, in various places throughout the world, men are dying for Christ's sake today. Men are imprisoned and suffering for Christ's sake. But here's the first persecution against the new church at Jerusalem. They had met this man as they were going into the temple. By the beautiful gate of the temple, there was a man lying, an impotent man, thirty-eight years, was it? It said he'd been lying there. Am I mixing that up with the other man? It was thirty-eight years. Anyhow, this man was over forty years of age, we read, and he was lying there, and he asked, He was begging there, and he asked alms from Peter and John, Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. He took him by the right hand, and immediately he jumped up, leaping and praising God. The man was healed. Now this caused a great stir. We talked about it. We read about it last week. The people gathered around, and Peter made a speech. Peter's made a number of speeches so far. He seems to be the spokesman here in the early days of the Acts of the Apostles. And he made a wonderful speech there, and he told them that they had, you men of Israel, don't look at us, he says, not by our power or our might or our holiness, but it's by the name of Jesus of Nazareth that this man is made whole.
And he tells them that they, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob, has glorified his son Jesus, whom he delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate, and he crucified the Son of God, the Messiah. And he charges them again, the men of Israel, with the crucifixion, with the death of the Son of God, their Messiah. As we were saying in the earlier meeting, their minds were blinded, they didn't know, they never expected he come to die, they thought he'd come to reign, and they were the ones that put him to death. In the second chapter when he charges them, he speaks to men and brethren, and they said, what shall we do?
And he said to each one of them, repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, believe the gospel, and three thousand were saved. But now he's speaking to the nation, and he says to the nation, that you did this through ignorance. Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And so they went on speaking there. But the captain of the temple and the Sadducees, they moved in on them. And they were very upset that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
I emphasize the word from the dead. All the Jews believed in the resurrection. Job, the earliest book in the Bible, he talked about resurrection. I know that if worms destroy my flesh, this body in my flesh I shall see God. He knew that there'd be a resurrection, be raised. But they never talked about the resurrection from the dead. From the dead. They believed in a general resurrection. Mary said to the Lord at the gravesite of Lazarus, She puts just what they believe very clearly.
She said, Jesus said unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, Mary, Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. They believed in the last day resurrection. All will come up in the last day. But he's talking about the resurrection from the dead. Now, the Greek word here is ek. Out of. Out of the dead. There's going to be two resurrections.
There's going to be a resurrection of the dead in Christ who will rise first when the Lord Jesus comes back for his church. They will be cover. All our friends who have died in the Lord, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord comes and he may come today and calls us to meet him in the air, he says the dead in Christ shall rise first. They're coming out from among the dead. That's what happened to the Lord Jesus. He came out from among the dead, from the dead. Now there will be a general resurrection, yes. But that's of those who have died not accepting Christ. They won't be raised. If you were here this morning, and you die having never believed in the Lord Jesus if you're not saved, you won't be raised when the Lord Jesus comes back and call his church to be with himself.
You'll be left in the grave for over a thousand years, the millennial reign of Christ. And after the thousand years, then there'll be a general resurrection and the dead will all stand before the great white throne. We read that in Revelation. But the resurrection from the dead refers to the Lord Jesus and to the church, the resurrection from the dead. And he preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid their hands on him and put them in ward until the next day. Here's the first persecution they went to prison for Christ's sake.
Who went to prison? Peter and John and the impotent man. He was there because the next day when they talked to them, it says seeing the impotent man with them, where is that? Verse sixteen, I think. Yeah, verse fourteen. Beholding the man which was healed with them, healed standing with them. So Peter and John and these three, he began to suffer persecution right in the very beginning. He just got his healing and got saved there on the spot and immediately he put him in prison with Peter and John.
I bet they had a good reading. I bet they had a good Bible reading that night. The impotent man began to learn something about the Word of God, I'm sure, in prison that night. He got early instruction, I'm sure. And he was suffering with the others for Christ's sake. Now the Lord had promised it. He said, don't be afraid when they persecute you. If they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you also. And that has been the part of the church all down through the eighties. Persecution. We have a book in the bookstore in there called Fox's Book of Martyrs. Now it used to be sold. It's a very thick volume, expensive. There's a cheap one.
I think it's a dollar fifty in there now. Paperback. Fox's Book of Martyrs. Every Christian should read it. The story of men and women who've given their lives for Christ's sake, been martyred, tortured, put to death, down through the ages. The Lord promised this. We in the United States are favored people. We don't know what persecution means. I don't think that when you get sick, that's persecution. I don't think that when you get pain, that's suffering for Christ's sake. That's not it. Persecution. is when you get beaten, imprisoned, tortured for Christ's sake, that's persecution. And that's what's going to come as the days grow darker, I'm sure.
And as I said just now, all over the world today, there are many suffering for Christ's sake. But here's the first time they were put in prison. And of course, all these disciples ultimately were martyred and gave their lives for Christ's sake. So they were in prison all night and on the morrow, the rulers and the elders and the scribes, look at this click here, just the same click that put the Lord to death. See the names there, Anas, Caiaphas, the Lord appeared before Anas, he appeared before Caiaphas, he appeared before the high priest. It says Anas, the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and the kindred of the high priest, They were gathered at Jerusalem.
And when they set them in the midst, they asked them, By what power and what name you've done this. And Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel. I like the way he addresses it and makes it very definite. Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel. We noted in the second chapter, in verse fourteen, he says, Ye men of Israel. of chapter two, fourteen, ye men of Judea. And then in verse twenty-nine he says, men and brethren, he makes it clear to whom he's speaking.
And in the second chapter he speaks to men of Israel. Now in the fourth chapter he speaks, very definitely. Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel. He's not speaking generally to Israel now. He's speaking to the rulers and the elders, the men who put Christ to death. Now, they didn't do it with their own hands. He told them in the second chapter, whom ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slayed. They took him, but they didn't saw their hands. They got the Gentile hands, the wicked hands, to crucify him. So, he says...
Ye rulers of Israel and elders of Israel, rulers of the people, if we be examined of the good deed done by the impotent man by what means it is made, be it known unto you and to all the people of Israel. Peter says, I want everybody to know all Israel to know. It's not by us. But it's done by the name of Jesus Christ. I think a great title for this chapter would be the name of Jesus Christ. It comes over and over again. The name of Jesus Christ. Be it known unto you 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 does this man stand here before you whole.
And then God gives him, brought to his memory, because the Lord had told them, the Lord had told them, when you were arrested, don't take any thought what you're going to say. Don't be worried. He said, the Holy Spirit will give you words to speak. when the time comes. And the Lord brought to their remembrance, to Peter's remembrance, these words. This stone, which was said of naught of you builders, has become the head of the corner.
Now in Psalm hundred and eighteen, which is the last of the Messianic Psalms that we're talking about in the evenings here, Psalm hundred and eighteen, the Lord is called the stone which was set at naught. I'll read it to you. Psalm one hundred and eighteen and verse two. Verse twenty-two, the stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing.
It is marvelous in our eyes. And the Lord referred to that himself in Matthew's Gospel, and he said, I'm the stone the builders rejected. Now there is a tradition among the Jews, a story which they tell. It's not confirmed in Scripture except that it's referred to. The stone which the builders rejected. All the stones of the temple, Solomon's temple, were built, were prepared before. When I went into Solomon's quarry under Jerusalem, you go down under the northern wall of Jerusalem, go down in a quarry right down. And they call it Solomon's Quarry.
And they tell you there that's where they prepared the stones. And sometime then when they were prepared they passed them up through a shaft up to the temple area and they were put in place. And the temple was built without the sound of a hammer. All the stones were chipped and formed and shaped beforehand and then put in place. And up came the various stones. It took seven years to build the temple. But one stone came up and it didn't fit anyway. They didn't want it. The builders looked at it, they said there's a mistake, here it doesn't fit. It's not the right stone. And they threw it over, they say, the story says, they threw it over the cliff to the rock, down to the valley of the Brook Kedron, down to the Kedron Valley.
The stone which the builders rejected. And then they went on building. And the time came when they, it just wouldn't go together anyhow. There was something missing. And one of the workmen thought of the stone they threw away. And they went down to the valley and found the old stone and brought it in. And it was the keystone of the corner. They couldn't put all the finish off the roof and so on until they put the keystone in. And that was the main important stone. And Peter is saying to them that Jesus Christ is the keystone. You people have been talking about the stone which the builders rejected all down through your tradition and your stories all these years.
This is the stone that the builders rejected. This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, of you builders, you Jews, which has become the headstone of the corner. Now let's look a moment at one Peter chapter two, one Peter chapter two. And it says there, therefore also it is contained in the scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion chapter two, verse six. Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone elect precious. and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious.
But unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corn, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of a fence, even to them which stumbled at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were called. Look at Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two, and you get another reference here, and it says, verse nineteen, now therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens were the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself, being the chief cornerstone.
in whom all the building fitly framed together,grows unto a temple of the Lord. He's talking about the church as a house of God, and it's all based and all built on the Lord Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. And Peter is saying to them, this one whom you've rejected is the chief cornerstone. It's on him that God is building his church. The Lord Jesus said, upon this rock, upon this stone, will I build my church? And then he states his wonderful verse, Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
We'd have to stop with this verse. Our time has gone so fast. But let's think of this for a moment. There's no other way to be saved. Neither is there salvation in any other. We live in an age when they talk about the ecumenical movement. One religion is as good as another, and we all join together to form one great, big ecumenical church. And Buddha and Confucius and all the other gods of the heathens are all on the same level with the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter says, no. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved.
So we can stand up today and defy, and we've got to, if we can understand, like Peter did, we've got to defy the movements of our day. It's coming in. There will be a one-world church. We know that. When the church is gone, anyhow, and how much there'll be before the church goes, I don't know. It's coming in. We can see it. But we have to stand solid and firm on the Word of God that there is none other name. The only way to be saved is by the Lord Jesus Christ. Neither is there salvation in any other. Now, I suppose everyone here this morning is saved. Looks like it to me, as I know most of you, we are all saved.
But if there are an unsaved one here this morning, I don't care where you're going or where you've been searching for salvation. Let me tell you, this is the Word of God, and this is the only way. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Let's thank God for that. Let's go forth every one of us to preach this gospel and to tell this wonderful story. Peter is working the way which God taught him. The Lord said, On this rock I'll build my church. And here in the early days of the church's history, Peter confirms and affirms the fact that Jesus Christ is the rock and the church is built on him.
Shall we pray? Blessed God, our Father, we thank you for thy precious word. Our time has gone so quickly, but we thank thee, Lord, that thy word... and the entrance of thy word giveth light. And we thank thee that we understand and we know that thou art the chief cornerstone. Thy church is built on thee. And we thank thee for the boldness of Peter and John as they proclaim to the chief priests and the father of the chief priests, the father and law rather, and the scribes and the rulers of that day. that Jesus Christ, the stone whom they had rejected, has become the chief stone of the corner.
Help us, Lord, to take these things into our heart and to stand boldly, and let no one change our minds or alter us or move us from the solid foundation that he is the head of the corner. We bow before thee now and seek thy parting blessing in our Savior's precious name.