Perhaps you've noticed the new sound system this
morning that has begun to be installed. We appreciate
Mark Allard and those who've assisted him in
getting this work done. It's got a little ways
to go yet, so we appreciate your patience, but
I think you should be able to hear a little better
on the sides than you have in weeks past. Would
you open your Bible, please, to the book of Acts
and the sixth chapter? Have you ever seen an
artesian well? I remember several years ago when
I saw the first one. I was amazed that all that
was necessary was for a valve to be opened and
that the water flowed naturally from the ground
without having to be pumped. On the farm where
I was raised, we had muscles specifically for
the pumping of water for the cattle. An artesian
well is the result of a boring, a perpendicular
boring into the earth. into an underground water
source which is under pressure. The result is
that the water is forced up then through the
hole naturally. The greater the pressure on the
water in its source, the more force with which
it comes out of the boring. I believe that there
is a parallel picture there to the life of the
church. When the enemy... of souls places pressure
on the church. It results in the witness of the
church, the expression of the life of Jesus Christ,
flowing out with even greater force than ever.
That is true of the Jerusalem church. We read
in Acts chapter 6 and verse 7, and the word of
God kept on spreading. And the number of the
disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem.
Now notice that that is despite the pressure
of persecution from the Sanhedrin and the stress
of conflict from within. Despite these, the church
continued to increase as the word of God kept
on spreading out from it. That leads me to observe.
that a church may never be in greater danger
than when there is no pressure on it. In fact,
complacency and stagnation have killed more churches
than persecution. In the Jerusalem church, there
was so much power and fruit to God's glory that
the intensity of the spiritual battle with the
enemy was inevitably going to grow more fierce,
and it didn't take long for that to occur. We
come to one of the most remarkable chapters in
the entire book of Acts. It contains the longest
sermon in the book, and probably the most profound.
It is the sermon of Stephen, who was the first
martyr of the church. Beginning in verse 8, we
see how it leads up to his message. And Stephen,
full of grace and power, was performing great
wonders and signs among the people. But some
men from what was called the synagogue of the
freed men, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians,
and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued
with Stephen. And yet they were unable to cope.
with the wisdom and the spirit with which he
was speaking. Then they secretly induced men
to say, We have heard him speak blasphemous words
against Moses and against God. And they stirred
up the people and the elders and the scribes,
and they came upon him and dragged him away and
brought him before the council. And they put
forward false witnesses who said, This man incessantly
speaks against this holy place and the law. For
we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus,
will destroy this place and alter the customs
which Moses handed down to us. And fixing their
gaze on him, all who were sitting in the council
saw his face like the face of an angel. And the
high priest said, Are these things so? And that
leads us to Stephen's sermon. The theme of the
sermon is the glory of God and the nation of
Israel. The purpose of the sermon is to act as
a final appeal to the Jewish nation to understand
God's dealings with them, to repent and to receive
their Messiah. final indictment of their crime
of apostasy against their God. It becomes the
turning point in Israel's history, the occasion
for a fall from which they have never yet recovered.
But may I insert even here early in the message,
someday they will. Our God is the God of glory
and grace. That is how Stephen begins his message.
Hear me, brethren and fathers. The God of glory
appeared to our father Abraham. This God of glory
of whom Stephen speaks is the same God that you
and I worship. It is the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. He is the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Our God is a God of glory. and
grace. We see this illustrated throughout this
lengthy lesson in history in Acts chapter 7.
Now before I begin this message, let me say that
I was puzzled as to how to handle this chapter.
It is a wonderful chapter. It includes so many
beautiful details in the history of Israel that
are worth talking about. The lessons in here
for us are many. I had the choice either to segment
Stephen's sermon, take it a bite at a time, or
to do the whole thing at once. And I chose to
do the latter. Now that doesn't mean that we're
going to be here till three this afternoon talking
about it. But it means that rather going through
it verse by verse, we're going to look at it
as a whole. We're going to analyze it, and then
talk about it, and then we'll move ahead. I would
encourage you, though, to read through this sermon
of Stephen's carefully and thoughtfully on some
occasion. First, let's talk about the background
of the situation. We've read something of that.
Luke immediately focuses in verse 8 on one of
the seven appointees who had been chosen to oversee
the conflict earlier in chapter 6. This one man
is Stephen, a remarkable... young men. Remember
that this man had only been converted, listen
to this, only been converted for a few weeks
when he gave this message. Of course, he drew
upon a vast store of his own knowledge before
he was converted of Jewish history. But he was
able to stand for Jesus Christ in a pressure
-filled situation. and speak for his faith intelligently,
convincingly. He is described in verse 5 as a
man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. In
verse 9, he is described as full of grace and
power. Think of those words being applied to
a new convert, basically. It says that he was
full of these characteristics. It means that
he was complete with them. Filled out with them
is the thought. It was a word that was used in
that day of the filling out of an ear of corn.
It was also used in classical Greek literature
of the manning of a ship by a full crew. Everybody
was on board that was necessary. And so you have
the idea of a young man who stands before a council
to give answer to his faith, who is completely
filled out in that which he needs. He has been
endowed with graces and gifts from God to be
able to stand for Jesus Christ in this situation.
Remember that when God gives us gifts, abilities,
and graces, that these are never ends in themselves,
but we are filled with them, that we might then
speak for the Lord. They are the means to the
end that God may be glorified in our lives. So
it was with Stephen. His opposition sprang forth
from what was called the synagogue of the freedmen.
It is uncertain as to who the freedmen were that
are spoken of here. But probably they were persons
who themselves had been freed from Roman slavery
or whose descendants worshipped there in the
synagogue. as freedmen. There were a number of
these apparently throughout the city of Jerusalem,
and they became meeting points for various culture
groups. In this particular synagogue, there were
people from the northern part of Africa as well
as Asia Minor. It is these people who, it is
said, argued with Stephen. They questioned him.
They disputed with him. But they were unable
to cope with the answers that he gave because
of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life.
God gave him the words to say. Have you ever
been in a situation like that? A situation perhaps
you had no chance to prepare. Someone asks you
a question. What are you going to say? And in
that moment, the Spirit of God brings to your
mind something that you've read or studied or
memorized in the past, maybe even forgotten about
it. He made you sufficient for that challenge.
So it was with Stephen, time and time again,
as they argued with him. They could not silence
him by argument, so they decided to silence him
permanently by death. Therefore they schemed
and they brought together some false witnesses
who basically made three accusations against
Stephen for which he was brought to trial. Number
one, blasphemy against God, verse 11. That was
punishable by death according to Jewish law.
Number two, blasphemy against Moses and against
the law. Twice they say that in verse 11 and
again in verse 13. And the third charge was blasphemy
against this holy place, speaking of the temple,
the temple of God in Jerusalem. Now with that
bit of background, let's analyze the sermon.
Again, we don't have time to read through this
verse by verse, but follow with me, if you will,
something of an analysis. It is a brilliant overview
of Israel's history in which Stephen deftly and
cleverly weaves a defense for himself against
the accusations that were leveled against him.
Charge number one was, this man has blasphemed
God. Stephen's response in his sermon, is such
that he asserts, in fact, that he worships the
God of glory, the same one who has revealed himself
in Jewish history. If you look through the sermon,
you will find eight times at least in which Stephen
identifies himself with the mainstream of Jewish
history. He speaks about our fathers. And another
time he uses the term our rulers. And so he identifies
himself with the mainstream of Jewish history.
He's preparing to say to them, I am not the one
who is blasphemed. You have. He says, I worship
the God of glory. Now what does he say about
the God of glory? Well, he says in verse 2 that
he appeared to Abraham. And in verse 5 he says
he promised Abraham a possession. and an offspring.
The possession was the land of Palestine. The
offspring was a son. And then the son came, and
God gave to Abraham, in verse 8, the covenant
of circumcision. And so very quickly, Stephen
hits several of the main points for Jewish history.
The God of glory, he says, appeared to Abraham.
He gave to Abraham the promise of a seed and
of the land in which we're living. And he gave
to Abraham the covenant of circumcision, which
was passed on to Isaac and to Jacob. He speaks
about these events to Jacob's family down through
verse 16. Not only did the God of glory appear
to Abraham, but beginning in verse 17, He speaks
about Moses, to whom the God of glory appeared.
Skip on down there to verse 30, where it says,
Now this angel that appeared is not just any
angel. It is the angel of the Lord. It is a pre
-incarnate appearance. Of God the Son, Jesus
Christ. The God of glory, says Stephen, appeared
to Abraham and he appeared to Moses. And then
he goes on to say that this same God of glory
revealed himself through the tabernacle of testimony.
Verse 44. Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony
in the wilderness. just as he who spoke to Moses
directed him to make it according to the pattern
which he had seen. Why is it called the tabernacle
of testimony, of witness? It is because the tabernacle
served as a testimony to what? The presence of
God, right? It was there that God revealed himself
when the tabernacle was dedicated. And from then
on, with a fiery... pillar at night and a cloudy
pillar in the daytime, God appeared over that
tabernacle and went with the children of Israel
through the wilderness. And so he doesn't explicitly
state it, but he reminds us that this was a testimony,
a tabernacle of testimony to the presence of
God. So he says the God of glory appeared to
Abraham, to Moses, and to the people of Israel
in the wilderness. And then he mentions the temple
in verse 47. And once again, a good Jew would
remember that when the temple was dedicated,
what happened? The place was filled with the
Shekinah of God. The presence of God, the glory
of God filled that temple when Solomon prayed
his great prayer of dedication. So Stephen's
point is that this God that he's accused of blaspheming,
the God of glory, is actually the God that he
worships. And God not only leads him to say these
things, but God does something very special in
verse 55. For when he was being martyred, it
says that Stephen gazed intently into heaven
and saw himself the glory of God. They said,
you have blasphemed God. Stephen stands before
them with a face that is aglow with the glory
of God. And he says, brethren, the God of glory
appeared to our father Abraham and to Moses and
in the wilderness and the tabernacle and when
the temple was dedicated. And he says, in essence,
this is the God that I worship. I do not blaspheme
him. They, of course, disagreed with that and
took him out to kill him. But even while he was
standing there, Stephen gave expression of the
fact that he looked into heaven and there he
saw himself, the glory of God. The second charge
that we want to talk about is the charge of blasphemy
against the temple. Stephen traces the tabernacles.
construction in the wilderness, on down to the
temple, the permanent structure in Jerusalem,
in just two or three quick verses. But the thing
that he wants to point out to his accusers is
this. I am charged of blaspheming this structure.
But he says to them, I want you to remember what
Isaiah the prophet said, that God cannot be contained
in structures such as this. Now it may be difficult
for us to appreciate how these Jews who accused
him were thinking. For you see, to them, the
outward ritual had long ago substituted for inward
righteousness. Form and tradition had eclipsed
faith and truth. So for them, this building was
something extremely precious and sacred. They
had forgotten about the God of the building and
worshipped the building itself. No longer did
they consider the meaning of the sacrifices that
were brought. They were totally involved in the
ritual of offering up of these sacrifices. And
here's a man who comes along and says in his
preaching that God doesn't dwell in this structure.
No structure on earth built by men's hands can
contain him. Stephen goes on in his sermon to
say that God's blessing in history has not been
limited to this temple either. He points out
that Abraham was called in Mesopotamia at the
other end of the Fertile Crescent. He points
out that Joseph, whom they revered, was not blessed
even in the land of Canaan, but down in Egypt.
He says that Moses was not called from the land
of Palestine, but down in Midian to go back to
Egypt. And it was there in Midian that he was
blessed with two sons who were born there. Verse
29. He goes on to talk about the law being given,
not at the temple in Jerusalem, but down in Mount
Sinai, away from the land. And he says the tabernacle
was constructed and God appeared in the wilderness.
not here in Jerusalem at this temple. And so
he is saying to them, you have made too much
of this structure. And of course, they brought
up the charge that was even laid against Jesus,
and that was that Jesus would tear down this
structure, this building. Now, Jesus had made
a statement like that, but he was talking about
his own body, that temple, which would be destroyed.
in death, and then would be raised again in three
days. Jesus had not predicted, in that statement
at least, the destruction of this physical temple
in which they were standing. But that was the
accusation against Jesus, and that was the accusation
against Stephen, that he was saying those kinds
of things. And so he averts that he is not guilty
of blasphemy against the temple, but in fact
they had exaggerated the purpose of the temple.
But then he answers the third charge, and with
this one he gets himself into real trouble. They
charged him with blasphemy against Moses and
against the law. Stephen is now going to assert
to them that in fact it was the nation of Israel
itself which blasphemed Moses and the law in
their long history of rejecting the prophets
of God. It is interesting as he goes through
the history of Israel, Stephen takes note of
those individuals that Israel rejected. For example,
Joseph. Look back in verse 9. He says, He is
pointing out the fact that their fathers had
rejected Joseph. and had sold him into Egypt
out of jealousy. In verse 27 he says, But the
one who was injuring his neighbor pushed Moses
away, saying, Who made you a ruler and judge
over us? And tied together with that in verse
35 he says, This Moses whom they disowned, saying,
Who made you a ruler and a judge, is the one
whom God sent. And so he says, Not only did our
fathers reject Joseph, But they rejected Moses.
Again in verse 39, he says that they rejected
Moses when he says, And our fathers were unwilling
to be obedient to him, to Moses, but repudiated
him, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.
So you see what he's doing here? He's saying,
you're accusing me of rejecting Moses, the patriarchs,
and the law. But he says, I want you to know
that in fact it is the nation itself which in
its history has rejected the prophets of God.
For example, here's Joseph and here's Moses.
And now in verse 51, he gets right to the heart
of the issue. He says, you men who are stiff
-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are
always resisting the Holy Spirit. That was not
a statement intended to make them feel real good.
You are doing just as your fathers did. In other
words, he's saying they rejected God's sent prophets.
Now you are rejecting God's sent prophets. He
says, which one of the prophets did your fathers
not persecute? And they killed those who had
previously announced the coming of the righteous
one. And they had. They had rejected, even killed
their own prophets. But then notice what he says.
In talking about the righteous one, that's the
Lord Jesus, he says, whose betrayers and murderers
you have now become. And so here is the prophet.
By the way, he points out that verse from Deuteronomy
chapter 18 in verse 37 of Acts 7. He says, this
is the Moses who said, God shall raise up to
you a prophet. Talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he says, now you have rejected through your
fathers, the prophets in the past, you have now
rejected the prophet, prophesied by Moses, the
righteous one, the Messiah, and you have murdered
him. And he goes on to say in verse 33, and you
who received the law as ordained by angels and
yet did not keep it. And that was as far as he
got. In his defense, he defended himself against
the charge of blasphemy against God. He says,
in fact, I worship the God of our fathers, the
God of glory, who appeared to Abraham, who appeared
to Moses, who appeared to the people of Israel
in the wilderness, and again to our people of
the dedication of the temple when Solomon built
it. I am not guilty of blasphemy. They said,
you have blasphemed. this temple. He says, you've
made too much of it. Think of all that God has
done when this temple didn't even exist. They
said, you have blasphemed Moses and the law.
And he says, you people have rejected your prophets
in the past, including Moses. You have rejected
the prophet prophesied by Moses, the Messiah,
the righteous one, and you yourselves have failed
to keep the law. And that was all it took. When
they heard this, they were cut to the quick,
and they began gnashing their teeth at him. And
being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently
into heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing
at the right hand of God. And he said, Behold,
I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man.
standing at the right hand of God. When Stephen
used that term son of man, he was using a term
that was definitely messianic. It is a term that
is found only here outside of the Gospels. It
was the term that Jesus most frequently used
in referring to himself. Now Stephen employs
this term. which, by the way, goes back to the
book of Daniel, where Daniel has a vision of
this one standing before the throne of God. Now
Stephen brings that same picture, that same illusion
to mind when he says, I see the Son of Man standing
at the right hand of God. And they cried out
with a loud voice and covered their ears and
rushed upon him with one impulse. When they had
driven him out of the city, they began stoning
him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes
at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went
on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord
and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And
falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud
voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
And having said this, he fell asleep. How wonderfully
the Spirit of God records Stephen's death. He
fell asleep. Despite the violence, despite the
fact he was being murdered, it says he fell asleep,
indicating the peace that was his as he laid
down his life for the sake of his Savior. The
first one since the church was born to do so.
I'd like to make four observations regarding
our study this morning. We'll be on our way.
Observation number one is that our God, the God
of glory, is a pardoning God who is rich in grace.
That is illustrated in this chapter. Again and
again we see the mercy and the grace of God.
For example, Joseph was rejected by his brothers
and cruelly treated and sold into slavery. Yet
God mercifully and graciously chose Joseph to
prepare the way in Egypt for Jacob and his sons
in later years. And in those later years, his
brothers would receive him when they saw him
the second time. Moses was God's appointed deliverer
for the people of Israel. He understood that.
They did not when he was 40 years of age. So
they rejected him. And for 40 more years, he
was out there in the wilderness taking care of
the sheep. But God called that man after 80 years
of life and 40 years of absence from his people
to go back to Egypt to deliver the Jewish people.
And so when he appeared the second time, they
accepted the one they rejected. Do you see a
certain pattern there? It is the pattern that
we followed regarding Jesus Christ whom they
have rejected. For when he came the first time,
he was rejected by the Jewish nation. Just as
Joseph was rejected the first time, and just
as Moses was rejected the first time. But as
they were received the second time they appeared
to the people of Israel, so the Lord Jesus Christ
will be received the second time He appears to
them at His second coming. He will be received.
The spirit of supplication will be poured out
upon the nation, and they will repent of their
rejection of their Messiah, and this Jesus Christ.
will be received as their own. God is a pardoning
God who is rich in mercy. He is a God who will
pardon the people of Israel when they turn to
Him. Israel still has a future in God's plans
and His purpose for history. May I say to you
that God is a pardoning God who is rich in mercy
for you as well. For though you may have rejected
him in the past, you have turned from him, not
heeding the conviction that he has brought upon
your heart. Still today he loves you, and he
pleads with you, and opens his arms to you to
receive him. He desires to pardon you and to
forgive your sins. He desires to pour out His
mercy upon you. Do not turn away from Him to
certain judgment. Receive Him today. There's
a second observation I want to make, and that
is this, that when God is going to use a person,
He calls that one out from His comfort zone.
That is His place of security. Consider with
Abraham. He was at home there in Mesopotamia,
but God chose him and called him out from there.
Consider the same regarding Joseph. He was secure
within his father's home as the apple of his
father's eye, but God took him out from that
home, that place of comfort, to become a slave.
Moses was called out from the palaces in the
learning of Egypt to the wilderness. Stephen
was singled out from the comfort of six other
men with whom he oversaw a portion of the church
and made to stand alone in order to be used by
God. Shall we talk about Noah? Or Samuel? David?
What about Daniel? Or Esther? Or Mary? When God
is going to use a person, he calls that person
out from the comfort zone where he has been.
That is because the walk with God is an adventure
of faith. And God will not allow us to hold tightly
to our security blankets. He will not permit
us to stay holed up in our... comfortable, secure
circumstances. Because if He is going to use
us, it must be by faith that we will be used.
And faith demands risk, not security. How is
it that God is working in your life? Calling
you out from your comfort zone. That place where
you have been secure up to this point in your
life. How is it that God is saying, come out
from there to follow me? However it is, I want
to challenge you to do it. You will never regret
it. Never. And you will find that your walk with
God from here on will be hastened to become a
more exciting adventure of faith than you have
ever dreamed possible in your life. The spirit
of some may be that of the Jews in Stephen's
day, which basically was, don't rock the ship.
Let's keep the status quo. Let's hang on to our
traditions. My friend, God rejects that kind
of a spirit. He seeks out that one who will trust
Him, obey Him, be willing to take the risk. A
third observation for our application is this.
that the servant of God must learn to look at
history from God's perspective. That's what wisdom
is. It's learning to look at history from God's
perspective and to see the fact that God is at
work in our lives and in the current events of
our world. Consider how these men did that. Abraham.
Abraham was promised a land, but all of his life
long he did not own it, but he walked in it as
a pilgrim, never having received that promise
from God yet. How was Abraham able to trust God
when God didn't give him the land? Because Abraham
saw it all from God's perspective. And he looked
ahead by faith and saw that someday it will belong
to him and to all of his descendants. What about
Joseph? Instead of becoming a bitter old man
because of the way he was cruelly treated by
his family, Joseph rather was a gracious and
wise individual. He responded to God's dealings
in his life by faith, according to Hebrews chapter
11, so that he was able to say, although you
intended it for evil, my brothers, God meant
it for good. The servant of God must learn to
look at what's going on in his life from God's
perspective. Moses. Moses thought that the people
would understand. That he was the one who was
going to deliver them. When he took his very
first even small step in that direction, he was
rejected. How unexpected that was. He fled into
the wilderness. Forty years later, God called
him. Moses had seen God's perspective on it.
Can you look at your life's circumstances? That
way? The disappointments, perhaps, that you face?
Maybe you didn't get the job that you were counting
on. Or you weren't accepted at that college that
you wanted to go to. Perhaps it's a broken engagement
that has shattered your life. Or maybe a divorce
that has cut deeply into your soul. A broken
home. The death of a parent. Perhaps it is the
disappointment of singleness when you've desperately
wanted to be married. Can you look at the circumstances
that God has allowed in your life from His perspective
and say, Lord, thank you? Perhaps you've had
cruel experiences such as child abuse in your
past. And some of us have. Or maybe you've been
unjustly fired from some position. Or you have
suffered from some disablement. Are you able
to accept those things from God and surrender
to Him? And say, Lord, You are loving and You
are sovereign in my life, and I accept Your design
for what You made me to be. The servant of God
must learn to look at history, including his
own history, his own life, from God's perspective,
and accept it. And finally, and there's not a
more important application than this one, God
-given spiritual privileges do not guarantee
one's acceptance with God. Think of this. Israel
had the promises. Israel had the prophets, not
the Gentiles. Israel had the law. Israel had
the tabernacle. Israel had the temple. Israel
had the Christ himself. And yet with all of those
spiritual privileges, the nation was disobedient
and rebellious against God. God -given spiritual
privileges do not guarantee one's acceptance
with God. You say, then what does? Heart attitude.
There are some of you who have been raised in
Christian homes, a Bible -teaching church. You
may have even gone to a Christian school. You've
had a godly heritage. But your heart, like the
heart of the people of Israel, has been rebellious
and disobedient. All of those privileges you've
had in your past mean nothing as far as your
acceptance with God is concerned. God is looking
at your heart attitude. If, in fact, that is
your heart attitude, will you today repent of
that disobedience and rebellion? And surrender
yourself to the Lord in faith. Receive Him. There
are some of us who know Jesus Christ as Savior,
whose sins have been forgiven, who have a home
in heaven, who have access to the throne of grace,
who own a Bible filled with God's promises, who
belong to a Christ -honoring church, and yet
we waste our lives living for ourselves because
our heart attitudes are wrong. And all of those
spiritual privileges that we have as children
of God will mean nothing when we come to the
judgment seat empty -handed and ashamed. Spiritual
privileges in themselves do not guarantee us
anything. God looks for the heart attitude. Is
your heart right with God today? I hope it is.
Let's pray. Lord, we've covered a lot of ground
this morning in this chapter. We've only skimmed
the surface of the content of it, yet we've drawn
from it some applications that are rather pointed
and which all of us have to search out for ourselves
and give answer for to you. And I pray that you
would today, by your Holy Spirit, tenderly and
graciously reveal our heart's needs. And wherein
we need to make some changes, wherein we need
to make a decision, or we need to surrender,
I pray that you will give us grace to do that.
Lord, you are the God of glory, but we bless
you that you are also the God of grace. Now graciously
work in our lives to meet our needs and cause
us to respond to your spirit. You may have your
way with us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.