We turn in God's inspired word this morning to Acts chapter 4, reading the first 12 verses of Acts chapter 4. 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. They laid hands on them and put them in hold unto the next day, for it was now eventide, albeit many of them which heard the word believed. And the number of the men was about 5,000. And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, and Annas 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? Then 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 he 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. This is the stone which was set at nought 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 given among men, whereby we must be saved. So far we read this morning. We turn to the instruction in our Heidelberg Catechism this morning as found in Lord's Day 11. Continuing the unfolding from scripture, the truths we confess in the Apostles' Creed, particularly in the second article now of the Apostles' Creed, I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord. Lord's Day 11, why is the Son of God called Jesus? That is a Savior. Because he saveth us and delivereth us from our sins. And likewise, because we ought not to seek, neither can find salvation in any other. Do such then believe in Jesus, the only Savior, who seek their salvation and welfare of saints, of themselves, or anywhere else? They do not. For though they boast of him in words, yet in deeds they deny Jesus, the only Deliverer and Savior. For one of these two things must be true, Either that Jesus is not a complete Savior, or that they who by a true faith receive this Savior must find all things in Him necessary to their salvation. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have noticed in your bulletins this morning that the theme of the sermon is what's in a name. We can tend to be quite protective of our names, but what is the importance of your name or mine? When we ask that question this morning, we do so knowing that the catechism, having pointed us to our only Savior, begins to call our attention to the names by which he is revealed to us. And today, Lord's Day 11, asks the question, why is the Son of God called Jesus, that is, a savior? And when we contemplate from that perspective the question, what's in a name, we are told in Acts 4 verse 12 that salvation is in the name we consider this morning. Immediately, we are reminded that this name is above every name. You can go through your contact list and consider every name. You might think of all the names that are familiar to you through news reports or those who might have provided for your medical care. or anyone who comes to mind among all your acquaintances, but you will find none whose name speaks to your salvation and mine." The truth we consider this morning is important. It's important that we look at the name Jesus and ask, what's in a name? the devastation and despair in the world around us is palpable. And from that despair, people long for deliverance. But that devastation and despair that surrounds us is the consequence of the fall and of the guilt that consumes every human being. So to long for deliverance is to long for that which delivers from sin and guilt. The problem is most want salvation without deliverance from sin and guilt and therefore they look for a savior with a small S as it were. Rejecting the truth that God alone can save, that there is One name under heaven by which we must be saved, they look for that salvation in themselves or in others. What about you? This morning we are brought before the name Jesus, and we face the question, what's in a name? As we consider that theme, that question The Catechism, examining that name in the light of Holy Scripture, points us to Jesus the perfect Savior, Jesus the powerful Savior, Jesus the only Savior. God himself revealed that the name Jesus is that of the perfect Savior. Although there were others in Jesus' day who bore the same name, or the Hebrew name Joshua, which has the same meaning, God himself explained the significance of the name given to this one particular person named Jesus. The name means Jehovah saved. or Jehovah's salvation. The name was ordained and given by God himself. When he sent the angel Gabriel to Mary to reveal to her the wonderful place she would occupy in the Council of Redemption, we read in Luke 1, verses 30 through 33, And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. And when Mary wondered how this could be, the angel told her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Furthermore, upon Mary's conception by the Holy Spirit, God sent his angel to Joseph in a dream, explaining to him the wonder that had begun in the woman to whom Joseph was engaged. And we read about that in Matthew 1, verses 18 through 25. In Matthew 1 verse 21, Joseph was told concerning Mary, and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And so the name Jesus, given to the one whom we consider this morning, was not merely the name given him by Mary and Joseph, but it is the revelation of the eternal purpose and work of God himself as the God of our salvation. Jesus is himself Jehovah's salvation, the one who reaches down to us in our misery to redeem and deliver us from the power of sin and death. Jesus is, as the catechism will explain from scripture in a coming Lord's Day, God become flesh. The eternal Son of God come into our flesh to take our guilt and our sin upon himself. He's the one who will give himself to the death of the cross in perfect obedience to the will of his father, satisfying God's holy justice in our place and on our behalf. He's the one who would impute his righteousness to all for whom he died, who would also rise from the dead on the third day as the testimony of his perfect satisfaction. and who in doing so would open the door to heaven for all who believe. Jesus is the one who ascended to take his place at God's right hand and to whom has been given all things. He's the one who rules over all on behalf of his Father and who accomplishes all God's purpose so that we know even as we confess last week that nothing shall separate us from his love. Jesus is the name above every name. What stands to be emphasized, though, in this name Jesus is that he is savior and perfect savior. Salvation is an important concept to understand. It's not to be equated with rehabilitation. A person might fall into the bondage of some addiction, say to alcohol or mind-altering drugs. A person might even be willing to go to rehab. and perhaps even acknowledges a need for a higher power, and after counseling, is able to turn from his or her addiction. But that's not salvation. We can only pray that such rehabilitation is part of salvation for that person, and that's our prayer especially for a loved one or an acquaintance, But salvation is much more broad and addresses what is a life and death situation for every one of us. We sometimes speak of salvation as deliverance from the greatest evil and being made partakers of the greatest good. Being brought out of the greatest evil and raised up to the greatest good. And if you want to speak of that as the definition of salvation, that's all right, so long as you define what you mean by the greatest evil and the greatest good. What are those extremes? You see, perhaps one is born into extreme poverty. Say, living on the streets as a child. and scrounging through the landfills for something to eat. And that child is taken to an orphanage and cleaned up and presented to a couple who are looking to adopt a child. They are a very wealthy couple. And they adopt this child so that he is taken from the streets and looking for remnants in the landfill to eat, to living in a mansion and feasting on such things he could never dream that he would eat. Quite the extreme, isn't it? But taken by itself, the story doesn't speak of salvation. We could use it to serve as a parable even a picture of what we have been given in our salvation in Jesus Christ. But we have to understand that the greatest evil which salvation addresses is that of separation from God. You realize that sin brought separation from God. And as we sing from that versification of Psalm 73, Psalter number 203, to live apart from God is death. That's the greatest evil. The fact that we have to face suffering, the fact that we have pain and sorrow, the fact that Some have to live as that child that I described. Those are all results of that sin that brought separation from God, the creator, who had given us every good thing to enjoy. No matter your circumstances, if you are not living with Jesus, You're consumed by the greatest evil. And if you have a friend in Jesus, if you have fellowship with God, then you have been delivered from that greatest evil. and therefore salvation is deliverance from that greatest evil, to be brought into the highest good, which is fellowship with the living God in Jesus Christ. And you who believe know that. You know that living in fellowship with God, living in the knowledge of the righteousness that is yours in Christ, in his cleansing blood of atonement, you have been able to endure the most difficult circumstances you have faced in life. We have often said, in fact, in the face of death and in the midst of very difficult trials in life, what would we ever do without our Heavenly Father being near? How do those without Jesus face such circumstances? And when we speak about fellowship with God, it isn't just a matter of saying, I know God is near. God is always near. Even in hell, even those in hell have a sense of God's nearness, even as they endure his wrath into eternity. that he is near in his wrath, yet separated from them is their very torment, God's just judgment for their having rejected him. But when we speak of the highest good, in terms of having fellowship with God, we speak of a tremendous gift of grace, of which we deserve the opposite. God has taken us into the fellowship of his own perfect life, his triune covenant life. He has taken us into his covenant family and has bestowed his love upon us in a way that is immeasurable. He has said, you are my sons and my daughters. For Jesus' sake, Jesus is the one who has perfectly accomplished your salvation by his perfect work on the cross and who also perfectly brings your salvation to realization in your own life. What is in the name Jesus? That he is our perfect savior. The name Jesus is also the name of our powerful Savior. Let's understand clearly that Jesus, whom we confess and whom we love because he first loved us, is the Savior who powerfully accomplishes the salvation of all those whom he came to save. Note well, when Joseph heard the angel of the Lord announce that He must give that son that Mary would bear the name Jesus. He heard with all certainty that the child must be named Jesus for, that's a reason, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's quite different from he shall make it possible for anyone to be saved. Today, there are many who would speak of Jesus as Savior, but deny him the power that belongs to his name. The second question and answer of Lord's Day 11, question and answer 30, addresses this sad error when it asks the question, do such then believe in Jesus, the only Savior, who seek their salvation and welfare of saints, of themselves, or anywhere else? And the answer is, they do not. They do not. They don't believe in Jesus. You find that answer shocking? Does that go overboard? They do not believe in Jesus, the only Savior. But they are church people. They even say, I believe in Jesus. They often confess, Jesus is my Savior. If they confess that, how dare we say with our catechism, they don't believe in Jesus, the only Savior. Catechism explains. Let me read that once again. Do such then believe in Jesus, the only Savior, who seek their salvation and welfare of saints, of themselves, or anywhere else? They do not. For though they boast of him in words, yet in deeds they deny Jesus, the only Deliverer and Savior, For one of these two things must be true, either that Jesus is not a complete Savior, or that they who by a true faith receive this Savior must find all things in him necessary to their salvation. So there are those today who claim Jesus as their Savior, but they deny the efficacy of his work. They deny that he alone is the all-powerful Savior who accomplishes the salvation of his people. They point to his death on the cross and say, yes, Jesus is Savior. But in their minds, he doesn't finish the work. He needs help, and the help that he needs is man's help. Jesus does just so much. He makes salvation possible, but man must make that salvation effective. Jesus is willing to save. If only the sinner gives his consent and shows himself willing, If not, Jesus is powerless to save. Many speak of a Jesus who desires to save all, who pleads that his people come to him, to accept him, to let him into their heart that they might be saved. You realize when they teach this, they are really saying You have to let him into your heart in order that his name be Jesus. Otherwise, he doesn't save you. Catechism also addresses that thinking that's foreign to us, but common in the religious practices of the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy of praying to saints and honoring also them by calling upon them in prayer. The reformers had to address such errors as they labored with those who had their roots in such idolatrous practices. It had to be pointed out from scripture that you deny Jesus as the all-powerful, all-sufficient Savior when you limit his salvation to providing us a way to heaven. And when you say in times of sickness and difficult circumstances, on the pathway to heaven, there are various saints to whom we may go. Jesus alone is the one who powerfully accomplishes the salvation of all those whom he saves and he alone is the one who powerfully saves us completely. The entire work of salvation is and must be accomplished by him from beginning to end. For he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1 verse six. That salvation, in the words of Romans 9 verse 16, is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Jesus saves. The powerful nature of his work in our salvation, that which reveals his name is that above every name, is revealed in that he is the one who powerfully accomplishes salvation for us and who powerfully and irresistibly works that salvation in us and through us. The wonder work of salvation that Jesus worked for us was accomplished by his death on the cross in perfect obedience to the will of his heavenly Father. And when I say that he powerfully accomplished that salvation for us, I refer also to the fact that it is only by the power of his divine nature that he could sustain the weight of the wrath, the infinite wrath of God that he had to bear in our place and on our behalf. He came into the prison of sin and death that held you and me. He came and redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. When we confess, I believe in Jesus, we are confessing that in Him, I am free from the guilt and power of sin and am perfectly righteous before God. My Jesus, by his atoning sacrifice, has fully satisfied for all my sins. There is therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. By Jesus' death on the cross, he atoned. fully satisfied God's justice in bearing his just wrath while bearing our sin and guilt. His resurrection was God's testimony of the accomplishment of Jesus' perfect work. Our Savior powerfully bore that infinite wrath that you and I deserve. He crushed the head of the serpent He broke the power that Satan held over us as the prince of this world and the one to whom we had given ourselves. The world, after all, was never Satan's. The devil seized it, as if it were, the deceiver that he is. But we had also willingly given ourselves to his deception and to that imposter. Jesus crushed the serpent's head, even as God had promised in the very first gospel promise to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, verse 15. In the words of Hebrews 9, verse 12, He obtained eternal redemption for us. But our Savior, Jesus is His name, didn't merely accomplish salvation for us to leave the participation and enjoyment of that salvation up to us. He doesn't merely offer salvation that he has accomplished in his death and resurrection to leave its enjoyment up to us as if there are certain conditions that we have to fulfill before we might be saved. Three or four years ago, I think it was three years ago, when we were in Michigan, we spent the afternoon and early evening at the Lake Michigan Beach in Holland. Nancy and I and our daughters went for a walk on the pier. And as we were coming back from the end of the pier, we came upon a high school boy who was swimming near the pier and who was in trouble. The wave action and the undertow had put him in danger and he was crying for help. Well, thankfully, there are posts along the pier where there are life preserver rings and ropes attached. And I quickly freed up one of those rings and threw it toward the boy. But I couldn't throw it past him. It kept coming up short. He couldn't just grab the rope. He had to swim toward it. And he couldn't. Another man quite a bit taller than I came along and gave it a try and threw the ring just past the boy. So he was able to grab the rope and the ring we were able to pull him to shore and help him up on the rocks. Now I mention this because many would describe my preaching as throwing the life preserver ring to the floundering sinner. That ring would then represent the work that Jesus has done and the salvation that he offers. but the floundering sinner has to reach for that rope. Sometimes that rope falls short. It's up to the sinner to swim toward that rope, to lay hold of it in order that he might be saved. Well, I want you to remember that my preaching and the preaching of God's faithful servants is not throwing a rope to floundering sinners and hoping that when I fall short, they might swim toward it and grab it and not drown. That's not the biblical presentation of salvation. I testify with the Apostle Paul in Romans 1 verse 16 that I preach the power of God unto salvation. to everyone that believeth, I proclaim to you the one who's powerful to save, whose salvation doesn't depend upon what we must do, I proclaim to you Jesus, the Savior. Jesus powerfully and irresistibly works that salvation in us He not only has accomplished that salvation for us by his death and resurrection, he applies that salvation by working in us that wonder work of drawing us unto himself. He has given us to see the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power, Ephesians 1 verse 19. For God not only raised him from the dead, but set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, continuing now that section in Ephesians 1, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. The Jesus whom we proclaim and in whom we believe is the Jesus who powerfully and irresistibly works that salvation in us. He calls us with an almighty calling out of darkness into his marvelous light by regeneration giving us life everlasting. That out of death he humbles us in true repentance. compelling us to cry unto Him. He implants in our hearts saving faith and calls that faith to our conscious awareness, giving us the knowledge and confidence that lays hold of Him and all His benefits. He justifies us, giving us peace with God, the knowledge of the forgiveness that is only in Him, He sanctifies us, living in us by His Holy Spirit in such a way that in response to the Word and through the Word, we bear the fruit of the Spirit, the fruits of faith. He continues to work in our salvation, work in us His salvation, giving us the endurance which is perseverance. He works all things together for our good as he continues to work in us his saving grace. Our Jesus never fails us. And the time is coming, he is seeing to it, that you and I receive the perfection of that salvation that is ours in him. No wonder that our catechism says We ought not to seek, neither can find salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Do you believe that? That means finally, as we saw in Acts 4 verse 12, and it's emphasized in question and answer 30, that Jesus is the name of the only Savior. Don't be an idolater when you contemplate your needs. Don't put your trust in other persons as if your deliverance depends upon them. Don't put your trust in physicians. Don't be so foolish as to base your hope for the future upon certain politicians. Again, let us remember that all the difficulties that we face, all the trials in life, all the misery we experience, all the sorrows that we bear are symptoms of the wages of sin, which is death. We need far more than any human being can give us. God uses means, it is true. And we recognize that and are thankful for those whom he places on the pathway of our lives to serve us, whether it be physically or spiritually. What a blessing is a godly spouse. But God doesn't always give a spouse. Don't make a spouse your idol. The day comes when those of us who have a spouse are separated by death. You see, we need a friend closer than a brother closer than a spouse, a husband or wife, we need one who cannot fail us, who can never be taken from us in death. We need one whose name is above every name. We need Jesus, Savior. Do you confess this Jesus as your Savior? What a comfort it is to know that I belong to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. What a comfort it is to know that He died for me, that He has given me life everlasting, that He is with me through all the trials of this earthly soldier. What a comfort to know that he is leading me and working all things for my sake and for the salvation of his church, the body of which he is the head. What a comfort to know that I belong to him, body and soul. both in life and death. That's my only comfort. Is it yours? Amen. We thank Thee, Father, for the privilege of proclaiming and hearing the gospel of our salvation in Jesus. Sanctify that word unto our hearing. Bless us. by the spirit of our exalted Christ, for thy name's sake, amen.