I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 3. Acts 3 as we read that chapter, and then a few verses from Acts chapter 4. And also, if you would turn in the back of the Psalter hymnal to page 18, where we find Lord's Day 11. We've been reminded this morning of God's promise given in His name, the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. I thought it might be appropriate then to consider this morning the name of Jesus as we continue on our consideration of the Catechism as well. Tonight, the Lord willing, we will begin on that journey, I promised, some weeks ago, the Lord willing, on Joseph. Normally I would have done that in the morning and the Catechism at night, but today we reverse them. So tonight, the Lord willing, we begin to consider the history and the story of Joseph. Acts chapter 3, beginning at verse 1, as we hear now the Word of God. One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, look at us. So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them, Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the holy and righteous one and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through Him that has given this complete healing to Him as you can all see. Now brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what He had foretold through all the prophets, saying that His Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you, even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything as He promised long ago through His holy prophets. For Moses said, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people. You must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people. Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed. When God raised up His servant, He sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways. And picking up at verse 8 of chapter 4 through verse 14. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, There was nothing they could say. Again, page 18 in the back of the Psalter hymnal, Lord's Day 11, questions and answers 29 and 30 as we confess together the answers to these questions. Question 29 asks, Why is the Son of God called Jesus, meaning Savior? Because He saves us from our sins. Salvation cannot be found in anyone else. It is futile to look for any salvation elsewhere. Do those who look for their salvation and security in saints, in themselves, or elsewhere, really believe in the only Savior, Jesus? No. Although they boast of being His, by their deeds they deny the only Savior and Deliverer, Jesus. Either Jesus is not a perfect Savior or those who in true faith accept this Savior have in Him all they need for their salvation. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, what's in a name? How important can a name really be? You see, when a name is being considered for something like a school or a church or a bridge or a business or a building or even an expected child, if there are too many choices and there is disagreement, someone might say this exact thing. Well, what's in a name anyway? It really doesn't matter, right? But boys and girls, you know that a name, your name, is an identification tag. It identifies you. We have our names. First, last, even middle. Caitlin has a name. First, last, middle. Caitlin, Amber, Roost. And our names, especially our last names, distinguish each of us, our families, we might say, from each other. However, we must admit that there is some truth in that statement, right? What's in a name? Because there was a time when the giving of names was taken a lot more seriously than it is today. And when we as parents try to decide on what name to give a new child, we often decide on that name based on a number of things. We decide on a name based on what we think sounds good. We might choose names that are after one of the parents or after a grandparent or someone else that is special to us. We might choose a first name that goes well with our last name. We do our children a favor by choosing that, don't we? We might choose names based on if they have a certain number of syllables or names that begin with the same letter as every other name in our families. And that's all fine and good. But how often do we choose names that really, truly mean something? Oh, some of us do. Maybe Arden and Amber looked in the book of names to see what all these different names mean. We did some of that too when we were naming our children. We like a certain meaning. And many of us still like those meaningful biblical names. In fact, many of the names given in the stories of the Bible were given for a particular reason. And they reveal something in many cases about those people who were given those names. Elijah, we know, means my God is Yahweh, the Lord. Samuel means asked of God. And Jacob's wives Leah and Rachel, we read in Genesis, gave their sons names that meant something considering the circumstances that they were facing at the time. And in God's Word, we also find that our Lord was called by many names. Emmanuel, God with us, Prince of Peace, Son of David, Lamb of God. And of course, all of those names have meaning, but there is no name so sweet as Jesus. Our confession about the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ is the second part of the Apostles' Creed. You recall, that's what we're considering now in this portion of the Catechism, the Apostles' Creed. And now in this second portion, we begin with His personal name, Jesus. And this name too reveals something. In fact, it reveals to us everything we need for body and soul. I remember that for a number of years, The Calvinettes, now Jim's, their theme song used to be, Jesus is all the world to me. Well, why does the name Jesus mean all the world to Christians? Because, beloved, this name contains the whole Gospel in miniature. It means Savior. And therefore, beloved, we confess this Word of God, God's gift in confessing the sweet name of Jesus. this name reminds us of our sin. It reveals to us our salvation and it requires of us our service. Now, maybe you notice something familiar there. You notice those three divisions of the catechism, sin, salvation, and service are also called guilt, grace, and gratitude. And therefore, we can rightly say that in the name Jesus, we find those three things that answer to of Lord's Day 1 talks about, those three things we must know to live and die in the joy of the comfort of belonging to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Again, question 29. Why is the Son of God called Jesus? Meaning Savior. The answer begins, because He saves us from our sins. Again, Jesus means Savior. One who saves. And therefore, His very name defines who He is and what it is He does. He saves. Peter made that clear in Acts 3. As we know, his name was given by God the Father. Back in a day when naming was a significant detail, you remember John the Baptist's parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth. The people said, well, name him Zacharias. No, we're going to name him John. Naming, especially of the firstborn, was a significant business. But the name of Jesus also was given not first of all by Mary and Joseph, but it was revealed from heaven. An angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and said, You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins. But again, by the very fact that He is a Savior. That means, beloved, that saving was needed. He will save His people from their sins, the angel said. The name Jesus reminds us of our sins and our desperate need of salvation from our sins. Peter said there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. First of all, notice we must be saved. We need to be saved. And very simply, there's no other way than through Jesus. In our human frailty, mankind has always confused somehow sin with the effects or the results of sin. And even today, beloved, there are many who think that what I really need is salvation from the effects of sin. For example, we need to be saved, they say, from the misery that we endure because of sickness and disease or oppression or persecution. Or we need to be saved from the wretchedness of those who love evil and hate good. Or we need to be saved from the unhappiness we live with because others are better off than we are, financially speaking, or because my job causes me much stress and grief. Or simply, we need to be saved from the circumstances of life that just don't go according to our plans. But congregation, this isn't the right diagnosis. Without the proper diagnosis, the doctor cannot treat the root of the problem properly. If he doesn't know the root cause what it is, then he's only guessing and it's going to be difficult to cure the patient. Now indeed, the doctor can give the medicine to reduce the fever. But the pain returns and even gets worse because the heart of the sickness keeps burning. The correct diagnosis of our problem is sin. Not the effects of sin, but the sin itself which is a part of who we are by nature. By nature we are children of wrath conceived and born in sin. And our condition is so terminal, it is so deadly, that there's nothing that we can do about it. We need another. We need Jesus. That's one of the lessons, a very powerful lesson we learn from the crippled man at the temple gate in Acts 3. We know the disciples were commissioned to bring that message of our need for another, to bring that message to the people, and that's what Peter and John do. You know the story. The man is crippled from birth. He depends for his survival on his gift of begging as well upon the generosity of others. But by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, Peter and John give him so much more than he could ever think or imagine. Verse 5, So the man gave them his attention expecting to get something from them. Boy, can you imagine? He didn't expect what he got. Verse 6, Then Peter says, Silver or gold I do not have. Imagine the frown on the man's face. What in the world are you going to give me? But what I have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk. Peter and John could do nothing in and of themselves, as he makes clear, but they were sent to this man by the King of Kings with his Gospel message. And their power came from the very One who saves. And of course, this miracle brought about the occasion then of God's providence. In God's providence for a richer and a fuller preaching of God's work of salvation. The people knew who this man was and as we can imagine, they pitied his helpless, hopeless situation for many years. But you see, they never recognized at the very same time their own helplessness and their own hopelessness. But now, through Peter and John, the Lord Jesus Christ confronts them with their sin and misery. Only then could the full Gospel be proclaimed and by God's grace become truly fruitful unto salvation. Only when we are confronted with and come to know our sin and misery, that we are crippled in thought, in word, in deed, and that we live day by day in this crippling effect of sin, then and only then will we understand our need to be saved from the destroying power of sin. A little earlier we sang, My transgressions I confess. Grief and guilt my soul oppress. I have sinned against Thy grace and provoked Thee to Thy face. I confess Thy judgment just, speechless. I Thy mercy trust. When we truly confess the sweet name of Jesus, we are necessarily reminded of our sin. But then too, beloved, we receive that precious revelation of our salvation through that name. Answer 29 says again that the Son of God is called Jesus that is Savior because He saves us from our sins. Salvation cannot be found in anyone else. It is futile to look for any salvation elsewhere. Now really, there are two ideas present in the first part of that answer. And the older version spells it out when it says, He delivers us from all of our sins and saves us. Now the new version didn't get rid of that idea. They've transferred it to the second answer. The answer 30 where it speaks of the only Savior and Deliverer, Jesus Christ. You see, there are two fancy biblical theological terms that we use. Expiation and propitiation. Expiation is the removal of the liability accruing from sin. What's that liability that accrues, that builds up? Guilt. Guilt builds up day by day because of sin. In other words, it is the removal, the taking away of the guilt of sin. When Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins, He removed the guilt of those who believe in Him and therefore He delivered His own from sin. And at the very same time, then He also removed the wrath of God from us. That's propitiation. Removing God's wrath. And when He removed God's wrath, He also then removed God's punishment from you and me and took it upon Himself. In other words, He saves us. By removing our guilt, He delivers us. By removing the wrath of God, He saves us. The two go together, you see. Well, how comprehensive, how complete, or how full is this salvation? The Catechism says our sins, period. It's very simple, beloved. Nothing less than all. On the cross, Jesus said, it is finished. And we know that He was talking about His work of paying the ransom price for His sheep. He paid it completely and perfectly. No debt remains outstanding for you and me. Nothing more could be paid. Nothing more needed to be paid. You see, Jesus doesn't prescribe simply some temporary painkiller that only eases the pain for a short time. He goes for the root, the heart of the problem, and delivers us from all our sins. He not only goes for the cure, I remember my doctor saying that, We're going to hit Phil hard with chemo. We're going to go for the cure. Jesus not only goes for the cure, He is the cure. Congregation, Jesus is the complete Savior. He delivers His people from all their sins. Think about that. Think about your sin daily. Day by day, from morning till evening. Day by day by day. year after year after year from all of our sins. And He is the only hope for mankind under heaven in all of God's creation. There's only one hope. And that's Jesus. And therefore, we rightly confess salvation cannot be found in anyone else. It is futile, foolishness to look for any salvation elsewhere. There's no need for this. There's no need to go looking around anywhere else. But so often we fail in this too, don't we? We confess His complete salvation, but somehow we sometimes tend to think that this just means for our souls and not for our bodies. We tend to separate the spiritual from the physical. But His salvation is complete for body and soul. It is He who cures us from our illnesses and sicknesses. But also there have been false messiahs who have entered the timeline of history and some of these false saviors have promised and provided peaceful and safe environments for those who are homeless and have no place to turn. Others have offered safety for those who are being oppressed. If you think about it, in a way, the government is a false messiah that tries to reduce the painful effects of homelessness and hunger and other oppression. And indeed, God does work on behalf of His people through these means. But these things don't touch at the real illness, sin. They can't remove sin and they don't seek to lead you and me to the One who can. Only Jesus is the true and complete Savior. And the crippled beggar is a sign of this too. The people witnessed this. By bringing life into the legs of the crippled man, God in Jesus Christ begins a work of complete restoration, pointing forward to the glorified bodies that we look forward to that our Lord has promised us one day. And we read that almost immediately in verse 8, He jumped to His feet and began to walk. Then He went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God. This healing miracle, beloved, was for the benefit of those people, but also for us today. Peter preaches the fullness of Jesus' work of salvation, boldly laying before the people their sinfulness. Notice how bold he is. Peter, remember? Cannot forget Peter, the one who ran. Peter, the one who denied his Lord three times. Peter now looks the people in the eye and says, you handed him over to be killed. You disowned him before Pilate. You chose a murderer instead of him. You killed the author of life. But he doesn't stop there, you see. Then he goes on to preach complete salvation for those who repent and believe. Chapter 4, verse 12. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. You cannot find salvation anywhere else. So don't bother looking anywhere else. Only Jesus by which we must be saved. Notice He doesn't say by which we can be saved. Because that would presuppose some ability on our part. He doesn't say by which you may be saved, which might bring into question some uncertainty whether Jesus really can do it, but must be saved. Jesus delivers us from all our sins and saves us. Now there is both comfort and a warning here. This is comforting, beloved. In that Jesus will never say to a single sinner who comes to Him in faith, He will never say, I cannot help you. Or He will never say, Have you done all that you can do? He will not say that. Not to you, not to me, not to anyone who comes to Him in true faith. Jesus, remember, had the power over the demon called Legion. But there's also a warning here. It's not a sign of humility when one says, My sins are too great. I'm the worst of sinners. I've heard people like this. as if to say that there is no hope for them and no assurance for them. That's not humility. That's pride. Because if you say that, beloved, you are saying either that Jesus can't help you, or you are saying He won't help you. First of all, Jesus will not turn away anyone who comes to Him in true faith. Paul says in Romans 10, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. But if you are implying that Jesus can't help you because your sins are too great, then you are robbing Him of His power. You are robbing Him of His majesty. You are robbing Him of the cross, of His cross. And you are denying the sufficiency of His saving work. You're saying it's not enough. It's kind of like when you say you need a specialist instead of a general practitioner. You think you need more than Jesus. But there is no one else. And beloved, that's nothing less than insulting to Jesus. He saves and delivers from all sin. But we must also heed the warning of thinking that we don't need His help. That was the problem with the Pharisees. Jesus had said, It's not the healthy who need a doctor. It's the sick. And they weren't sick. They were quite healthy. But they hated Jesus because He came to save sinners. They didn't see themselves as lost sinners. They needed salvation to be sure, but the salvation that they thought they needed was from the Roman government. And that was the Messiah's job, they thought. Not to save from sin. Why would He come and save us from a problem we don't have? People of God, the beauty of the name of Jesus and the preciousness of the Savior will only be seen and be understood by those who know their sin and their misery and their need for a Savior. If we don't understand that we are lost and that our sinfulness is great, then Jesus won't mean anything to us. And He won't be anything more than maybe a buddy or a pal who might be there for us in a pinch. And you can sit here Sunday after Sunday, service after service, looking as if you desire to hear the Gospel message of salvation, of repentance and faith. But if you don't see yourself as a sinner, and instead you see yourself as a cut above your neighbor, then you are nothing more than a Pharisee in a tax collector's posture. We must never forget, beloved, that Jesus didn't come to save those with high standards. or the faithful, or even the Reformed. He came to save sinners. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom I am foremost of all. I am the chief, he says. But, you see, Paul trusted in the salvation program of the Savior. And he lived in the joy of salvation. Jesus is the only Savior. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me. Don't forget the antithesis, the battle between good and evil, between right and wrong, between that which is true and that which is false. Every other attempted way is wrong. Every other promise is a lie. In Acts 3 and 4, the visible proof was in the crippled man who was walking and jumping and praising God. And today, the proof is in the changed lives of those who have been born again by the blood of the Lamb, sinners saved by grace, whose lives include hope in the midst of adversity, joy in the midst of sorrow, strength and contentment in the midst of toil and tribulation, whose lives reflect the assurance of the one and only saving work of Jesus. You see, beloved, confessing the sweet name of Jesus also means that our service is required, but not to get saved. Instead, because we are saved. What is this service? It's complete, uncompromising devotion to Jesus Christ. Question 30 asks, Do those who look for their salvation and security in saints, in themselves, or elsewhere really believe in the only Savior Jesus? No. Although they boast of being His by their deeds, they deny the only Savior and Deliverer, Jesus. Either Jesus is not a perfect Savior, or those who in true faith accept this Savior have in Him all they need for their salvation. And the language of Belgic Confession, Article 22, is very, very similar. Salvation, again, apart from Jesus, just can't be found. Yet there are some who deny this by their actions. They confess with their mouths that salvation is only in Christ, but their lives and their deeds tell a different story. There are those who have looked to popes or to saints or to the Virgin Mary or to their own good works to help out with the salvation of their souls. Or they have looked to governments or investments or any other means for the salvation of their bodies. Or very simply, they confess Jesus Christ with their lips, but they live completely opposite of Him anyway. There are those who believe that Jesus does 99% of the saving, but we must do that 1%. In other words, instead of saying, Jesus saves, period, they are saying Jesus is willing to save. But it's up to me whether I choose to accept His benefits or not. Congregation, those who believe these things believe that Jesus is not quite complete. He's just not quite enough. His work needs to be supplemented. As the Catechism rightly says, those who believe this way deny the only Savior and Deliverer, Jesus. It's an either-or, not a both-and. Either Jesus is not a perfect Savior, or those who in true faith accept the Savior have in Him all they need for their salvation. He is the complete Savior. And therefore, this fact that salvation can be found in no other must be manifest in the lives of those who possess it. It must be seen. How? Through calm peace in all of life's situations. Through light and joy shining from your eyes and lives. By telling others. He's the only One. He's the only One. And we allow people to look elsewhere. We are called to tell others about the only One in whom there is salvation. And also by serving others in the name of Jesus. If the salvation of Jesus Christ is yours, then all of your life should cry out, Praise God, it's Mine! Don't cover up that light. Jesus said, Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Boys and girls, I don't know if you still learn the song that many of us sang as kids. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Hide it under a bushel. No! I'm going to let it shine. By the grace of God, let it shine. Beloved, does this describe you? Does this describe the kind of relationship you have with Jesus? Is He your Savior? Jesus said you will know them by their fruits. He was talking about false prophets, but the same is true for compromising Christians. What was the first thing the former crippled man did? Again, he went walking and jumping and praising God. On his way to the temple, he went to church to worship God. And you can be sure, beloved, that he never forgot about this wonderful turning point in his life. He was given a new life. But you know what? One who truly repents of his or her sins and by the grace of God embraces Jesus Christ and receives the assurance from Him when He says, I am sufficient for you. That one will never forget that either. That's a baptism blessing, isn't it? It's a blessing for us as parents to be able to teach our children with confidence, without a doubt, that Jesus Christ is sufficient for them. That's what baptism means. That's God's promise. You don't need to look anywhere else. You need me, and I'm all you need. I am sufficient. If you are searching for your salvation or your welfare in some place other than Jesus Christ, then you're looking in all the wrong places and there's no sweetness in His name for you and you don't have the comfort of His saving hand. And if He's not your Savior, then you still face the eternal wrath and punishment of God. But there is hope. Because even this morning, God has come to you with the promise of His Gospel, of His salvation. And even to those who have wasted their time and energy, may be all of their lives searching in all the wrong places, yet Jesus says, without a doubt, come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. And none who come in repentance and faith will be cast away from Jesus Christ. You see, beloved, we all want to die in the Lord, don't we? When He comes again, either through our death or on the clouds of heaven. We all want to be found in Him, don't we? But we must also live in the Lord. And you can only do that by true faith in Him. Let the world see not what you have done or what you are, but let them see what Jesus has done for you and what He means to you. Jesus, the sweetest name I know. Why? because salvation is found in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given to man by which we must be saved. Jesus. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, again, how should we respond to Your Word but to walk, to jump, to praise the Lord for such a great salvation. May it be, O Lord, that we would not kick against the truth that we are sinners and in need of salvation, that we are desperate in and of ourselves, but may we rejoice, O Lord, in your blessed work in us, for us, on our behalf. O Lord God, we thank you for Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. May his name indeed always be precious and sweet to us. May we protect that name. May we not take it in vain. May we honor that name in all that we think and say and do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.