18/05/2025
"NEITHER IS THERE SALVATION IN ANY OTHER"
A TEACHING DELIVERED BY PASTOR J .T. OLORUNMOJO AT TACN OYO AREA WITNESSES' CONVENTION TACN OYO AREA HEADQUARTERS„ KOSOBO„ OYO ON SUNDAY 18/5/25 BY 9 AM
TEXT:- Acts 4:12.
PREAMBLE
The word 'Salvation' is derived from the Greek verb σώζω (sózó), meaning "to save" or "to deliver."
The word (Yeshua) from the Hebrew is often translated as "salvation" or "deliverance"„ is used throughout the Old Testament to describe God's saving acts.
In the New Testament, "sótéria" primarily refers to the deliverance from sin and its consequences, brought about by faith in Jesus Christ. It encompasses the ideas of rescue, safety, and preservation, both in a spiritual and eternal sense. The term is often used to describe the comprehensive work of God in saving humanity, including justification, sanctification, and glorification.
CULTURAL-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In the Greco-Roman world, the concept of salvation was often associated with physical rescue or deliverance from danger. However, in the Jewish and early Christian context, salvation took on a more profound spiritual dimension. It was understood as deliverance from sin and death, a theme deeply rooted in the Old Testament's anticipation of a Messiah who would bring ultimate redemption. The early Christians proclaimed Jesus as this Messiah, whose death and resurrection provided the means for eternal salvation. Moreso„ Quran 4:171-172 and 174 corroborated the Old Testament Messianic of Jesus Christ which read thus:
O people of the Scripture do
not commit excess in your
religion or say about Allah
except the truth.The Messiah
Jesus„ the son of Mary was no
more than a messenger of Allah
and his Word (Be! and he was)
which he He bestowed upon
Mary and a Spirit (Ruh) created
by Him; we believed Allah and
His messenger....The Messiah
will never be proud to reject to
be slave of Allah nor the Angels
are near to (Allah). And whoever
rejects His worship and is proud
and then He will gather them all
together unto Himself. O man-
kind! Verilythere has come to you
a convincing proof from your
Lord and we sent down to you
a manifest light.
INTRODUCTION
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved".
EXPLANATION AND COMMENTARY ON ACTS 4:12
The above statement came after the healing of the lame man from birth by Peter at the beautiful gate of the temple. And then„ the religionists put Peter on trial. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:8), he proclaimed that it was by the name of Jesus of Nazareth that the man was healed, by whose name only mankind can be saved. When Adam rebelled against God by rebelling against his righteous command, God put in motion a redemptive plan, the stages of which would span thousands of years.
First, through a vicarious man, Abraham, he called a people. From Abraham’s seed, he raised up a king after his own heart (1 Sam 13:14) from the tribe of Judah. From David’s line the Son of God, the Word, was incarnated in human flesh (Jn 1:14) and came to save us. Jesus Christ of Nazareth was his name. He lived a perfect life and is the way, the truth, and the life (Jn 14:6). If any will come to him, they can be saved, but as Peter says in this passage, there is no other way. The wrath of a holy and just Creator, our Father in heaven, is indeed coming (Col 3:6) to make all things right and judge sin, and the power of Christ and his finished work on the cross will be for believers, like Noah’s ark, when the world was destroyed by a great flood because “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Gen 6:5).
But God, rich in mercy (Eph 2:4), would not send another world-destroying disaster, not without a plan to save many more people. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (Jn 3:16-17).
BREAKING DOWN THE KEY PARTS OF ACTS 4:12
1 “Salvation…”
Since God has wrath for sin, no one can be saved apart from God’s help. Sending his one and only Son to die for us, God made a way for us to impute our sin onto Christ, who paid the penalty and imputed to us his righteousness by faith. If we do not repent and put our faith in Christ for our sins, we will pay our own punishment in hell.
2. “…is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven…”
There is truly no other way to be saved, since we are born in Adam, in sin, and all die. Our sinful nature is inherited since the fall, and we sin because of our sinfulness. Our salvation cleanses us from our sin by only one name, Jesus Christ. Since we must have an ultimate sacrifice, only the Son of God, who is the only one born sinless, can save us.
3. “…given to mankind by which we must be saved…”
It is right to remember that our salvation is a total gift from our Father in heaven. Undeserved, it is a complete work of grace and mercy. We must be saved by this name alone, and the free gift of life that is promised to those who believe in this name.
REASONS JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO SALVATION
1. Jesus Was Chosen By God to Be the Savior
Jesus is the only way to salvation for several reasons. One is that He was chosen by God to be the Savior. The Bible tells us, “As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious…” (1 Peter 2:4). Jesus is the only One to have come down from heaven and returned there (John 3:13). He is the only person to have lived a perfect human life (Hebrews 4:15). He is the only sacrifice for sin (1 John 2:2; Hebrews 10:26). He alone fulfilled the Law of the Prophets (Matthew 5:17). He is the only man to have conquered death forever. He is the only Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). He is the only man whom God has “exalted…to the highest place” (Philippians 2:9). From this, we know that Jesus is the access point to God. corroborating this is Quran 3:55 which reads thus:
God said„ O Jesus„ I shall take
you to Me and will raise you up
to me and shall clear you of the
disbelievers and shall place
those who follow you above
those who deny the truth„ until
the day of judgment; thren to
Me shall all returns and I will
judge between you regarding
your disputes.
2. Jesus Knew From the Beginning Who He Was Called to Be.
One reason we know Jesus is the way of salvation is because this is what Jesus claimed about Himself. He declared that He is the way, the truth and the life, that no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). He knew He was the unique Son of God, sent by His Father into the world to save us from our sins. The only thing that separates us from god and keeps us out of heaven is our own sin. This is one of the reasons why our greatest need is to have our sins forgiven and cleansed, for only then can we be reconciled to God and go to be with Him throughout eternity. No matter how good we are, we can
never erase our own sins. Only God can do this and that’s exactly what He did by sending Jesus Christ into the world for us. More to this is„ Quran 4:171& 174:
O people of the Scripture„ do
not commit excess in your
religion or say about Allah
except the truth. The Messiah
Jesus the Son of Mary„ was but
a messenger of Allah and His
Word which he directed to Mary
Soul (created at a command)
from Him....O mankind! Verily
there has come to you convonci-
ng proof from your Lord and we
sent down to you a manifest
Light...
3. The Apostles’ Preaching Focused on the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
The apostle Peter, speaking to the Sanhedrin, clearly proclaimed Jesus as the only way to heaven: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Paul, speaking to the synagogue in Antioch, singled out Jesus as the Savior: “I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is set free from every sin” (Acts 13:38-39). John, writing to the church, specifies the name of Jesus as the basis of our forgiveness: “I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name” (1 John 2:12). No one but Jesus can forgive sin.
4. Jesus Taught Repentance.
One of the first steps to take against sin is to repent. The importance of repentance is hard to overstate. After all, Jesus’ first public exhortation was “Repent!” (Mark 1:15). If repentance was this high on Jesus’ list, we probably should pay attention to it. Repentance requires honesty. The Bible tells us, “How happy is the man the LORD does not charge with sin, and in whose spirit is no deceit!” (Psalm 32:2). No one comes to God with true repentance in their heart unless they’ve first acknowledged their need for forgiveness and reconciliation with Him. Only those who have ceased trying to cover up their sin with self-righteousness and deceit can experience the deep and lasting change that comes only through repentance. It’s importance that you acknowledge the danger of sin and the damage of guilt. We must honestly assess the consequences of our sin, which means assessing both personal consequences and impact it has had – and will continue to have on others.
5. Jesus Breaks the Barrier Between Sin and God
As Christians, we are to avoid sin but this can be quite a task because we are sinful beings. As much as we don’t want to, we still sin in our daily lives because of the sinful nature that was injected into us through the fall. Because God is holy, He cannot tolerate sin, and our sin separates us from him, becoming a barrier to our fellowship with Him and even causing us to lose the joy of our salvation. Isiah 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have become a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that He does not hear.” The seriousness of sin should make us realize we cannot tolerate it or give sin any ground in our lives. But there is hope. We have the power to shake sin from our lives when we turn to Jesus. When we do
this, we are removing the barriers that sin has created that have taken us away from God.
6. Jesus Defeated Sin.
We know from Scripture that we can escape the chains of sin through Jesus. Backsliding refers to going backwards spiritually and morally. When a believer backslides, he falls back in some way into a less desirable condition; his lapse may be a relatively minor one and unintentional. He may simply fall back through neglect by not praying, reading the Bible, and keeping his focus on living for God. On the other hand, a believer may backslide by deliberately choosing to indulge in this life’s sinful pleasures. This type of backsliding can carry disastrous consequences. It can bring dishonor to the One who laid down His life for us. But there is good news for us when we backslide. God doesn’t condemn him. God’s loving concern for backsliders is steadfast and sure. A big step you take to escape the tangles of sin is turning to Jesus, the only One who has defeated sin and death out of His deep love for us.
CONCLUSION
In order to understand salvation, it’s imperative that you understand the death and resurrection of Christ which points to our salvation. To be saved is to accept the plan of salvation that Jesus offers us. The Son of God was made human, and during His earthly life, he lived a perfect life, and died not because He wanted to but because we needed salvation. He was made to die for us. Amazingly, God raised Him from the dead into new life, and promises to resurrect us when Jesus comes again. The salvation we need is Jesus, and can only be accessed through Him.
Minister: PASTOR J .T. OLORUNMOJO
