Sermon Text: Acts 4:8-12
Date: May 3, 2026
Event: The Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A

Acts 4:8-12 (EHV)

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, 9if we are being questioned today for a kind act that was done for the lame man, as to how this man has been healed, 10let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that it was by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead! By him this man stands before you healed. 11This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.

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

There Is Salvation In No One Else

Throughout the Easter season, our First Readings have been selections of the history of the earliest days of the Christian church after Jesus had completed his work. We heard a few selections from Peter’s Pentecost sermon and also the loving, sharing attitude the first Christians had, while they were also fully devoted to the proper teaching of God’s Word.

Our First Reading for this morning takes a turn in the narrative as we hear about the very beginnings of opposition to the fledgling Christian faith. Many of those who saw Jesus as a threat would have seen the teaching about him as just as much—if not more—of a threat than Jesus himself. After all, according to the conventional wisdom, in having him executed, they had essentially made Jesus a martyr, a move that typically strengthens a movement rather than weakening it. And that is to say nothing at all about the talk of a supposed resurrection from the dead!

Of course, the apostles knew, as we know, that the gospel message is not about winning the spirit of the times or amassing a big enough following to stand toe-to-toe with established power. The gospel is about saving souls; it’s about pointing to Jesus, not as a threat to someone’s geopolitical power and stability, but as the way into a kingdom that is not of this world.

We should set some context for our brief reading. A chapter before this, in Acts 3, Peter and John were going to the temple for worship and prayer. As they entered, they saw a man sitting at the gate who had been unable to walk since birth; he was there in this high-traffic area, begging for donations. Peter and John looked at him, and though they didn’t have money to give him, they had something much better. Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I will give you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” (Acts 3:6). So complete was this healing, done in Jesus’ name and his power, that there was no need for this man who had never walked before to go to physical therapy. The miracle not only enabled him to walk but also fully strengthened the related muscles, so that he immediately began walking, jumping, and praising God (Acts 3:8).

This miracle had the intended effect: While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people came running toward them in utter amazement (Acts 3:11). Peter takes the opportunity afforded by the miracle to preach another brief sermon, much in the same vein as his sermon on that first Christian Pentecost day. He points them to Jesus as the source of this healing, brings the law to bear on them for their sin of rejecting Jesus, but then also points to Jesus as the solution for that very sin.

As you can imagine, there’s a whole group of people that would not be happy about this. Luke spells that our for us in the opening verses of Chapter 4: the priests, the commander of the temple guard, and the Sadducees approached them. They were very upset because Peter and John were teaching the people and proclaiming the resurrection from the dead in connection with Jesus (Acts 4:1-2). This is exactly what they feared when they spoke to Pontius Pilate on Good Friday after Jesus had died, “Sir, we remembered what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give a command that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise his disciples might steal his body and tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead.’ And this last deception will be worse than the first” (Matthew 27:63-64). They thought they had finally gotten rid of this Jesus problem, and here are his disciples, continuing what Jesus had started, causing problems for these leaders that terrified them. And the connection of the idea of the resurrection from the dead would be an even more powerful message than Jesus’ other, more “familiar” miracles. Luke tells us that God used this single event to bring the total number of Christians up to 5,000.

All of that sets the stage for our First Reading this morning. The leaders had put Peter and John in jail, and then the next day brought them out to figure out what to do. So, Peter and John have an opportunity to address a different crowd than they had the day before, a crowd very much like the one that had presided over Jesus’ “trial” late on Maundy Thursday evening or very early Good Friday morning: The group consists of the rulers, the elders, and the experts in the law assembled in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the rest of the high priest’s family (Acts 4:5-6). Their question for Peter and John was essentially, “How did you do this?” and our First Reading is Peter’s reply.

It’s notable that this is not a simple question-and-answer session; Peter is not going to just go through the mechanics of what happened. Luke notes for us that before Peter spoke, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. God was going to use this time to witness in a special way to the leaders of the Jewish people.

Peter’s message is biting, yet not without hope. “Jesus, the one you all murdered, did this. He is no longer dead, but raised. He fulfills the promises God had made about the Messiah, including that he was rejected by his own yet became the most important piece of the spiritual building.” But Peter puts no limits on the forgiveness here. He doesn’t say that the religious leaders’ actions put them outside of God’s grace. Far from it in fact! But he is clear that there’s only one way out of this mess: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

Peter offers hope, but he directs them to the only place they can go: Jesus. His words address the delusion that Jesus had often addressed with them, the idea that they were good enough for God. Jesus had warned them that they were whitewashed tombs, that their works only made them look good on the outside but did nothing to solve the internal spiritual rot their sin caused. That they pressed for Jesus’ crucifixion is just another sign of that rot, but rot that Jesus had, in fact, already solved. But Jesus was also the only solution to that rot.

Peter is exclusive in a way that does not mesh well with modern-day American sensibilities. In a nation so focused on the freedom of the individual to think, speak, and even confess as they wish without hindrance from the government, we tend to chafe at the idea of one particular path being the only right one. Beyond any governmental design, the philosophical ideals of post-modernism govern so much of current thought. Post-modernism is the idea that each person has truth unique to them. What is true for you may not be true to me, what is right for you may not be right for me. And in some situations, that’s absolutely fine. Your favorite sports team and my favorite sports team may not be the same—they may even compete against each other! I may not groove with your favorite foods, and some of my favorites may be entirely unappealing to you.

But postmodernism and freedom of speech run into problems when it comes to matters of faith. Because while it’s very tempting to have a kind of universalist idea that “all steeples point to heaven” or “all paths lead to God,” the idea that if you try your best, you will find reward and blessing after this life, we know from God’s Word that such a teaching is incompatible with what God has said and done.

Where do we look for security in spiritual matters? If it’s anything within us—strength of faith, amount of good works, a desire to live in a way that pleases God—we’re focused in the completely wrong place. Because, unfortunately, you and I have the same spiritual rot inside of us that the Jewish religious leaders, that the healed man did, that even Peter and John did. That sin is death and decay inside of us that we cannot clean out. No amount of spiritual sanitation that we could try could ever make us pristine again.

But Jesus can. Jesus’ life and death for us is not only a solution to our sin, but the only solution to our sin. We need him fully and completely; we contribute nothing, he contributes everything. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved. If you want forgiveness, if you want to be rescued from this life of sin and misery, and ultimately to be rescued from the eternal punishment of hell, Jesus is the only way. This is the same message we heard last week, as Jesus boldly declared himself not only the Shepherd for the sheep, but the very door or gate through which they go in and come out.

This should leave us with a couple of thoughts. First and foremost, it should leave you with the grand assurance that you are the forgiven child of God. There is no limit on Jesus’ work, no restriction on who his life and death is for. So, no matter what you have done, no matter what is in your past, present, or may come in your future, Jesus remains your complete forgiveness and assurance of peace and eternal life.

There is salvation in no one else for you, or for anyone. Peter knew what those who were questioning him needed. He wasn’t defending himself or protecting the other Christians. He was boldly, clearly, and lovingly sharing God’s Word that people in front of him so desperately needed. He was sharing Jesus as the exclusive way to salvation so that those listening might believe and have eternal life.

That is still our role today: to take the joy and confidence that we have in Jesus and share it with others. One issue is that we’re not all Peter, able to boldly and confidently preach Jesus when in some really serious trouble. So, we need to tackle this task with the unique skills God has given us, within the setting he has provided for us. That may not mean traveling to faraway lands to proclaim Jesus as Savior; it may mean a kind word to a neighbor that could lead to a deeper conversation about your faith.

This week, I’ll be sending out a few emails with a couple of very easy things to spur your gospel contacts to reach out to the people around you and in the world at large. There will be things we can do to raise awareness of Jesus in general, of our congregation’s ministry, and even to equip others to go where we cannot, so that in some way, shape, or form, we can join Peter in proclaiming Jesus the only name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.

We have Christ crucified and risen as our eternal possession! We get to share Christ crucified and risen with the world whom he saved! What a joy and privilege! Thanks be to God!

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria