Acts 4:1-22

Sermon Notes

Acts 4

No Other Name

Pastor Tom Yarbrough

The Power of the name of Jesus:

• Displayed through healing, signs, and wonders (V. 10)
• Recognized in the dramatic transformation of the apostles (v. 13)
• Silences religious opposition (v. 14)
• Catalyzed the rapid growth of the early church (v. 4)
• Offers the only way of salvation (v. 12)

“The revelation of God in Christ…necessarily entails the formation of a people who bear witness to God’s name.”
C. Kavin Rowe

The Challenge of the name of Jesus:

• Confronts empty religion
• Relativizes human authority
• Transcends our differences and unites us as His followers

“The real government of the universe, the final reality which in the end confronts every human being, is the crucified and risen Jesus.”
Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society

“If you care about diversity, don’t dismiss Christianity: it is the most diverse, multiethnic, and multicultural movement in all of history.”
Rebecca McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity

The Responses to the name of Jesus:

• Willful unbelief
• The illusion of neutrality
• Repentance and submission
• Worship, praise, and glory

“God could quite justly have abandoned us to our fate. He could have left us alone to reap the fruit of our wrongdoing and to perish in our sins. It is what we deserved. But he did not. Because he loved us, he came after us in Christ. He pursued us even to the desolate anguish of the cross, where he bore our sins, guilt, judgement and death. It takes a hard and stony heart to remain unmoved by love like that.”
John Stott, The Cross of Christ

“For many believers the Christian life is now the good life: It simply ‘goes better with Jesus’ even if there is no God and no Resurrection. The result is a series of adaptations of the Christian faith to modern man that are a capitulation with few rivals in two thousand years.”
Os Guinness, The Call

“Referring to the name of Jesus so often is a way of saying, ‘This person is not to be dealt with in private. He is not to be hidden, a hidden essence in your heart or in your closet. He is to be public, globally known, acknowledged as a person with an identity that people talk to and people talk about – that people praise and sing about.’ The emphasis on his name goes with an emphasis on his public, outward, globally known claim on people’s attention.” – John Piper

Questions to consider:

• What is my personal response to the name of Jesus?
• What is most clear about me to the watching world?
• What is keeping me from Spirit-filled boldness in the name of Jesus?

“We proclaim Christ crucified, and we take every opportunity to do so. This is what it means to offer our post-Christian world authentic and bold Christian truth.”
Rosaria Butterfield

“The Gospel is divisive, it’s inclusive; it’s comforting, it’s challenging; it’s complex, it’s simple; it’s broad, it’s personal; it’s life-changing, it’s eternity-altering; it’s the Best News for those who receive it, it’s the Worst News for those who reject it.”
Lee Strobel

“If Christ is not risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is risen, nothing else matters.”
Jaroslav Pelikan

“Great names come and go, but the name of Jesus remains. The devil still hates it, the world still opposes it, but God still blesses it and we can still claim it! ‘In the name of Jesus’ is the key that unlocks the door of prayer and the treasury of God’s grace. It’s the weapon that defeats the enemy and the motivation that compels our sacrifice and service. It’s the name that causes our hearts to rejoice and our lips to sing His praise.”
Warren W. Wiersbe, The Names of Jesus