Acts 4:12 (NIV) 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 (NIV) Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

QUICK POINTS: Salvation is ONLY through Jesus Christ. Salvation is a GIFT made possible through Jesus. Salvation through Jesus is AVAILABLE for all mankind. We must live our lives in honour of His NAME.

What makes Jesus Christ so SPECIAL?

1. The HISTORICITY of His life and ministry. ( Acts 4:26)

1.1. His life and what happened to Him is undeniable. 5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: By what power or what name did you do this?

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 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. 11 Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.

16 What are we going to do with these men? they asked. Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.

1.2. His death burial and resurrection was a public knowledge. Acts 26:26 (NIV) 26 The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (NIV) 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

2 Peter 1:16-18 (NIV) 16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

1.3. Contemporary historians vouched for his life and what happened to Him.

1.3. Contemporary historians vouched for his life and what happened to Him.

Julius Africanus and Tallus Sextus Julius Africanus (c.160 c.240) was a Christian traveller and historian of the late 2nd and early 3rd century AD. He is important chiefly because of his influence on Eusebius, on all the later writers of Church history among the Fathers, and on the whole Greek school of chroniclers Julius Africanus quotes the writings of Tallus, who was a first century non-christian historian. In his Chronicles, Africanus quoting the historian Tallus, explains the reason for it being so dark during the day time on the day of crucifixion of Jesus Christ:

Julius Africanus and Tallus Sextus Julius Africanus (c.160 c.240) An eclipse of the sun unreasonably, as it seems to me (unreasonably of course, because a solar eclipse could not take place at the time of the full moon, and it was at the season of the Paschal full moon that Christ died. Julius Africanus, Chronography, 18.

The importance of this quote is two fold as it shows: 1) non-christian proof of Jesus existence and 2) yet another confirmation of the Bible s account of Jesus crucifixion. The Bible states in reference to the time Jesus was put on the cross: Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour The sixth hour is noon and the ninth hour is 3:00PM. Thus we see that the historian Thallus was trying to explain the odd occurrence of the sky being dark at noon during the crucifixion of Jesus as an eclipse. Africanus also quotes the secular scholar Phlegon, a Greek Historian who lived in the 2nd century AD and also wrote of an eclipse occurring on the day Jesus was crucified. This again provides proof from a non-christian source that confirms the account of Jesus being a real person who lived as well as confirming the account of His crucifixion straight from the Bible.

Tacitus Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman Historian who lived from 55-120AD. In 115 AD, P. Cornelius Tacitus wrote the following passage that refers to Jesus (called Christus, which means The Messiah ) in book 15, chapter 44 of The Annals after a six-day fire burned much of Rome:

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.

Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.

Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, (61 AD ca. 112 AD) : better known as Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. According to Wikipedia: Pliny is known for his hundreds of surviving letters, which are an invaluable historical source for the time period.

In his correspondence with the emperor Trajan (Epistulae X.96) he reported on his actions against the followers of Christ. He asks the Emperor for instructions dealing with Christians and explained that he forced Christians to curse Christ under painful torturous inquisition:

They were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and bound themselves to a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft, adultery, never to falsify their word, not to deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of a meal but ordinary and innocent food.

Josephus considered one of the greatest historians of antiquity, independently provides proof and evidence that Jesus was a real person who did exist and also confirms the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross under the orders of Pontius Pilate, thus confirming the Biblical account as well.

Flavius Josephus According to his Wikipedia entry: Titus Flavius Josephus (37 c. 100), was a 1st-century Romano- Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70. Josephus was a Jew who did not believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God or Christianity. In The Antiquities of the Jews, book 18, chapter 3, paragraph 3 the famous historian Flavius Josephus writes:

Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

2. His REDEMPTIVE mission. Acts 4:10-12 10 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. 11 Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. [a] 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

2. His REDEMPTIVE mission. Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

2.1. He is the Christ or the Messiah or the Anointed One. ( Matthew 16:16) 2.2. The anointed priest to offer: (1) sacrifice (Hebrews 10:12; John 1:29) (2) propitiation (Romans 3:25) (3) redemption or ransom for us. (Romans 3:24)

3. The TRANSFORMATIVE effect of His life and ministry. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

3.1. He changed the course of men s lives (Acts 4:10) 3.2. He turned the ordinary into extraordinary people (Acts 4:13) 3.3. He turned unbelievers into worshippers (Acts 4:21-22).

So not only was Pliny aware of Jesus Christ, he also provides description of the activities of the early church. In a later writing he details persecution against Christians: (A vivid picture of an extraordinary transformation of thinking and life choices)

Even this practice, however, they had abandoned after the publication of my edict, by which, according to your orders, I had forbidden political associations. I therefore judged it so much more the necessary to extract the real truth, with the assistance of torture, from two female slaves, who were styled deaconesses: but I could discover nothing more than depraved and excessive superstition.

In the meanwhile, the method I have observed towards those who have denounced to me as Christians is this: I interrogated them whether they were Christians; if they confessed it I repeated the question twice again, adding the threat of capital punishment; if they still persevered, I ordered them to be executed. For whatever the nature of their creed might be, I could at least feel not doubt that contumacy and inflexible obstinacy deserved chastisement. There were others possessed of the same folly; but because they were Roman citizens, I signed an order for them to be transferred to Rome.

OBVIOUSLY, something changed in our first Christian brothers and sisters when they encountered Jesus. His life, sufferings, death and burial and resurrection became special to them that it affected their: Priorities The things they value Life s direction and purpose Even their view of life and death

1 Corinthians 15:19 (NIV) If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Philippians 2:9-11 (NIV) 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.