In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy spirit. Amen. We are asked to rejoice and to be glad in this day when we recognize and proclaim the resurrection of the lord, of Jesus Christ. Then, we had that little text this morning that only in his name is there salvation. Do we believe that?
Only in the name of Jesus is there salvation. From what? For what? What does salvation mean? What are we being saved from?
Well, whatever it is, we're here the text says that it's only in the name of Jesus that there is salvation. Now, in order to think about that question, have to ask yourself, what am I being saved for? If you need food, then you're going to be saved by getting some food. If you need drink, water, you're going to be saved by getting some water. If a family needs more money to support its itself, then what it needs is money.
Its salvation is going to be money, plain, filthy lucre. A young man and a young woman, in the course of events, discover that life will absolutely be empty without each other. Their salvation, they think, is going to be in each other. And they get together and, you know, may last, may not last. But anyway, at the moment, salvation seems to be in this particular person.
And in in a sense it is. If you need water, your salvation is going to have to be water. If that's what salvation means. This is not an easy question. Oh, the question is very easy if you think about it.
Trouble is, you know, we we just skim along like skaters on the ice. You just glide along, and if it's good, as we used to say, good green ice, you scarcely knew if it were night that you were moving. You didn't know what was underneath, you had no idea what made ice. You didn't ask yourself, it was just the the exaltation, the exhilaration of a cold winter starry night guiding on this, what we call, green ice. So what do we mean when we say rejoice and be glad for the Lord has come and all of this, and we say it only in the name of Jesus is their salvation.
And if we if we mean it, what are we talking about? You see, what we have to do is to set our priorities. What are we being saved from? What are we being saved for? And of course, the the more important of the two is the four.
And then, if if that is to be attained only through Jesus Christ, how do I do that? You say, only in the name of Jesus am I saved. How? How does this work? I can't go into the temple and throw myself before Jesus over there in the temple.
It's a little it's a little trouble getting in there these days, you know. So what does it mean in my daily life on Friday, today the April 16? What does this mean? That only in the name of Jesus is my salvation. Remember, I'm not gonna be saved tomorrow, and I can't be saved yesterday.
If this means anything, it means here and now. The only reality of time is the present, and time is a nothing anyway. All we have are events. So, what are we talking about When we say I'm to be saved and only in the name of Jesus, is it just enough to holler the name or what? And if I speak, do I get an answer?
And if I do, where's it coming from? See, what I'm coming down to is this, as I've said many times, is there a living voice of Jesus Christ in your life? A living voice. A living a voice that you can depend on. A voice that is infallible.
A voice that speaks truly for Jesus Christ on 04/16/1982 for you. Because if this is if this is if this if there's any truth to that, then your salvation is in hearing that voice. I think there is. When Jesus came on earth, when he suffered and died, when he rose from the dead, when he ascended into heaven, he did not leave his people orphans. He said that.
I will be with you all times even to the consummation of the world. What does it mean he's gonna be with us? As a memory, as a dream, as an echo, or what? Dreams don't save us, echoes don't save us, shadows don't save us, memories don't save us. That's not the name in which there is salvation.
That's a myth. As I call it myth. So it's this living it's the Jesus who is present. And where is Jesus present? Where can we go into the temple?
Where and and where where Jesus sees a cripple, and where he can cure us? Because we're told that only in him's name is their salvation. So, we've got to find him someplace. Otherwise, if this is true, there's no salvation. So, let us let us not wander around like lost souls.
There is a living voice of Jesus Christ. There is there is this embodiment. There is a physical reality in this world, contrary to what the early reformers would have. There is a visible reality of the living Christ. And it's tough for us to recognize that, to see it, and to hear it.
These disciples in the boat on the lake, remember, this is at the end of a night. And if any of you have had any experience, you can see all kinds of funny things in a dolman. Things take funny shapes. It's very uncertain. Clouds can look like land, look like buildings.
Oh, it's Mirages are commonplace. And so, here they see somebody on the shore. It's not immediately recognizable, but it does become completely recognizable. How? In some kind of a very spiritual way, some kind of a great illumination, some kind of a personal revelation?
No. In a little old fire with some fish cooking on it, And you can see them and you can smell them and you can eat them and you can handle them. Christ says, come on, have eat something. That's how spiritual it was. See, this spirituality isn't enough for some people.
See, the Gnostics, they thought they had had something something different. They said, it doesn't make any difference whether Christ had a body or not after his resurrection. What's up? It's it's the revelation, it's the spirit that counts. Not the way Christ did it.
He built a fire, he cooked a fish, he says, come on gang and eat it. And there's where our salvation is. Outside of Jesus, there is none. We must hear his voice, and you're not going to hear it unless you discover it in the living church of Jesus Christ. In the name of the father, and the son, and the holy spirit.
Amen.