Greetings and welcome to White's Run Baptist Church as we cover the Witnesses of the King. This is part 15 in this installment of an exposition of the Book of Acts. Hope you're enjoying it thus far. It's going to pick up speed from here, covering approximately a sermon, a chapter or so, and so be reading ahead so that you'll be ready for the material that we're about to cover. Today what I want to talk to you about is I want to talk to you about following Jesus. And this is a powerfully important thing to everyone who is a true believer in Jesus Christ. All of us understand that the Lord Jesus told us to follow Him, and that this was the main part of being a disciple. In fact, this was the identifying mark of a disciple, is that they were like Him, and indeed they follow Him in all things. And so they're not only obedient to His commands, True disciples follow Jesus in His work. And as the Apostle Paul tells us in more than one of his letters, that true believers will follow Jesus in His suffering as well. Well, we're going to see that exact thing happen today. In the book of Acts, we're starting in chapter 6, and we're going to go to the beginning of chapter 8. So we're going to cover a lot of material today, but I pray that it will be very helpful to you. And so turn in your Bibles or grab the online notes to help you along. I'll be sharing the scriptures with you on the screen if that'll be helpful to you, but we'll be in Acts chapter 6 starting in verse 8. And something I want to talk about before we get into the scriptures here is I want you to pay attention to several things. I'm going to stop as we go through particularly the sermon part of what we're talking about today because what this contains is a sermon of the deacon that we met earlier in Acts chapter 6. His name is Stephen, and he ends up giving a sermon before the council and all those that accuse and bring him forward. And the content of that is profoundly important, but our main point we're going to see, we find near the end of it, in the response of the Lord Jesus Christ to what happens here. So, let's begin by taking a look at this a chunk at a time and let's say a word of prayer before we get into the scriptures. Father God, we praise your name this day and we put you first in this. We pray that you will have first place in all that we're about to do as we endeavor to understand the scriptures as we endeavor to be encouraged and molded and shaped and equipped by them. I pray that you'll just have our way with us, that you will make the teachings of Scripture plain on all that we're about to see. So illumine your witness here and your servant here to properly bring this forward, and illumine all in your audience to see and understand the Word of God. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we begin in Acts chapter 6 and verse 8, and I want to take you to that. And here's what it says about this servant Stephen here. It says, And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, and of the Cyrenians, and the Alexandrians, and those of Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly instigated men, who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes. And they came upon him, and seized him, and brought him before the council. And they set up false witnesses, who said, this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel." Now what I want to do in this section is I want to interrupt this occasionally to give us the understanding so we're all on the same page as to the flow of what's happening here, the flow of the action, because it's very important in understanding the Scripture. I want to point out first of all that they could not withstand the wisdom and spirit of Stephen. In other words, they were reasoning about these things and they couldn't beat him at reasoning. And I just want to say that this is very common when preaching the gospel, because it is impossible to leave the author of the universe. It is impossible to be separated by him, or from him, by our sins, and not lose some of that benefit of being with Him. The fact is, as the author, designer of the universe, as the maker of the human frame, that God is even the author of things like reason and logic. These are establishments of God. God did not have to make his created order according to some set of external standards. He made the standards. He's the standard maker. So when we depart from God, we become unable to reason, and this is precisely what we see going on here. They couldn't handle his wisdom and spirit, and so they began to persecute him. And as you'll notice in the scriptures here, they began to twist his words. They were saying things that he didn't truly say. Although what he said was truly, shall we say, scandalous enough. But let's take a look and keep going here. Okay, in this next section here. The high priest said, so they brought him before the council. So these men that he was disputing with, they got frustrated with them, made some accusations, got him brought before the council. So they bring him again in front of the council and the high priest says to him, are these things so? And Stephen said, brothers and fathers, so he's acknowledging their authority and he's giving them respect. He says, hear me, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you. Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. God spoke to this effect, that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. But I will judge the nation that they serve, said God, and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. And so what we see Stephen doing is giving them a history lesson, beginning with Abraham, all the way back to Genesis chapter 11. We meet Abraham in chapter 12. God makes his covenant with him. And this is found in the Old Testament book of Genesis, chapters 11 and 12. He's going to go on from there. Abraham had a son Isaac, who had a son Jacob, the promise always being passed on. Jacob had 12 sons, and then the next part picks up there in verse 9. He says, and the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, So the eleven brothers, take the twelfth, Joseph, sold him into Egypt, but God was with him, and rescued him out of his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers. And they were carried back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. And so what happened here is, what we're going to see is a pattern. A pattern of the vision or the prophetic message of God being ignored, and then God himself being rejected by the people of Israel. And the first case study in that pattern that Joseph brings forth is this situation with Joseph. which they rejected his brother Joseph. Now if you go back and read the background, you go into the book of Genesis and you read what happened, Joseph had a dream and this dream essentially showed that his brothers and his father and his mother would end up bowing down to him. That's to Joseph, the second from the youngest. Okay? And so Joseph, you know, reveals this dream to his siblings, perhaps unwisely, but when we see what unfolds, we realize it wasn't unwise, like Stephen's situation here. And so his brothers, instead of accepting this, instead of trying to understand it, they reject him. They sell him into slavery in Egypt. That starts the plot of the entire story there in the book of Genesis, a very rich and powerful and personal story. But nevertheless, it's this pattern. They reject the Word of God that says what he's going to do. They reject God when he shows up. And indeed, this is what happens. So the brothers reject him, and we pick up in verse 17, and it says, But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had promised Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt. And so essentially what happened was Joseph was second only to Pharaoh in the land in his authority. And his brothers, when they came during the famine to get food, they essentially ended up kneeling before him, just precisely as Joseph's dream had said. but they rejected it. But then they end up in Egypt, increase in numbers of course, and here's where we pick up in verse 18, until there rose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. He dealt shrewdly with our race. it says, and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive. At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God's sight, and he was brought up for three months in his father's house. And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deed. When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand. But they did not understand. And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other? But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. So, now when 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him, to Moses, in the wilderness of Sinai, in a flame of fire, in a bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. And Moses trembled, did not dare look. Then the Lord said to him, take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I will come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.' This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? This man God sent. as both ruler and a redeemer, by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt, and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years." See, the Israelites rejected Moses once. He fled into the wilderness, but he was the one that ended up bringing them out. Once again, we see the one that was rejected is the one that ends up ruling over them. Moses predicted that another would come like him. In Deuteronomy 18.15, he said, a prophet will come after me, and he's the one you have to listen to. And that must be listened to. Why were the people there not looking for this prophet that Moses spoke of? Many prophets came, but none of them really appeared after the fact to be the one that Moses spoke of. And so the Israelites ought to still be looking for that prophet at this time. And Jesus showed them everything they needed to see. To see that indeed He was that prophet. But let's pick up there. at verse 37. He said, this is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. And there he quotes from Deuteronomy 18.15. This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give us. Our fathers refused to obey him. But thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away. and gave them over to the worship of the host of heaven. As it is written in the book of the prophets, did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Molech and the star of your God, Raphael, the images that you made to worship, and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. And so they essentially rejected Moses a second time, truly rejecting the law, saying, make us a golden calf, which is something they learned about while they were in Egypt, and we'll go and worship that. And we see that this idolatry, this difficulty of theirs, continues all through their time in the promised land, even after God gave him the entire promised land, everything he'd promised to him. It was everything he had promised and more, and yet they still struggled with idolatry, eventually earning exile into Babylon. And Stephen here has accounted for most of the plot of the entire Old Testament. And so if you understand what he's saying here, you've got a good bead on the Old Testament. But let's go on. It says, our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers, in turn, brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before the fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands. As the Prophet says, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things? So God gave them a dwelling place. This was the tabernacle in the wilderness. He gave them very specific designs how to build it. They built it. They worshiped there. The visible presence of God came down upon a tabernacle and indeed came to the temple in the time of Solomon when Solomon built it. And through the prophets, it was very clear. And he even told Solomon, when the temple was dedicated at that time, God says, you know, it's not like I can dwell in a house. And by saying this about the temple, you know, a house made with hands, I'm the one who made these things. God was indicating very clearly that there would have to be something different come. that his very establishment of the tabernacle and the temple was under this cloud of the fact that this has got to be temporary. Because this can't really work. This can't really hold God. so this is very important to understand. They had to have something better to replace it. Why were they not looking for it? Why were they not looking for that which would come after the temple? That which would be the true way to dwell God with man and man with God. All these things were prophesied in the Old Testament. by the prophets who said there would be a time when man would dwell with God in a new and special way, and yet they didn't appear to be looking for it. And so what Stephen's sermon is showing us is the Israelite pattern of rejecting God and ignoring his predictions of the future Messiah, the future situation in which God can truly be with man. So he goes on, and here's where he starts to really get in trouble. He says, you stiff-necked people. So all this time he's been accounting Israel's history, and now all of a sudden he's going to point this right squarely at his opposition. He's going to point the finger in their faces, so to speak. And he says, you stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist. the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered. He speaks of Jesus, of course. You who received the law as delivered by angels, and did not keep it. Stephen turns a sermon on them. He lumps them in with all the Israelites of history, rejecting God over and over, and ignoring his predictions of this future Messiah that would come and make things new. And then it goes on. He says, now when they heard these things they were enraged. No kidding, right? and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Behold, he says, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. We'll get to him later. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Well, what I'd like to do is I'd like to do a profile of Stephen. We'll talk about who Stephen was through all this. Let's go on and finish the last few verses here as chapter 8 starts. Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house. He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. So the love of Jesus Christ was shown in Stephen here as he preaches this to the undeserving. R.C. Sproul said it this way, he said, no man was ever more loving than Jesus Christ. Yet even his love made people angry." And we see that fulfilled in Stephen here. He was passionate to see his people saved, and that's why he was arguing with the men in Acts chapter 6. That's why he proclaimed truth to men in Acts chapter 7, right in front of the council and everyone. He told them the truth, and he prayed at the end for their forgiveness. So, Stephen was passionate. Let's look at the details of what Stephen was really like, and this will find some powerful insight into what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Stephen was, first of all, of good repute. And that's shown us in Acts chapter 6 verse 3. The qualifications for deacons, the first thing listed, that they be of good repute. So as the people looked around for these people to nominate to handle the problem they were having in the beginning of chapter 6, they look around, they find Stephen. He's of good reputation, they say. and he serves the church. He was full of the Spirit. This is mentioned not just once, but it's mentioned twice that he was full of the Spirit in Acts 6.3 and in Acts 7.55. It's also in verse 10 of chapter 6, it's mentioned that the Spirit was with him, that they couldn't come against his wisdom and his spirit. Three times he is mentioned in association with the Holy Spirit for what he does here. A very important point. He was also full of wisdom. Now this brings up a very interesting point, because when I say he was full of wisdom, some people would say, look, going and wagging your finger and your tongue at the same people that crucified Jesus doesn't sound really smart to me. I don't think there's a whole lot of wisdom at play there. But let's say this. God knows what He's doing. Wisdom and foolishness are upside down when the world compares to God. When He was disputing with the Cyrenians and the freedmen and all the others, a lot of people surely could have criticized Him and say, look, that argument's not really going anywhere. You're not going to change their mind. You can never make a difference in what they think. because look how much they argue against you. Now they're making up lies about you. But Stephen kept going. He kept refuting what they were saying and kept arguing the truth from the scriptures. Some will say to this day that arguing with unbelievers is a waste of time. Now I'm taking the word argument in its old sense in English. The sense that we understood 70, 80 years ago. And it is the sense of this. Now mind you, I wasn't live. I've read. And the sense of the word of argument is this, that you and I can discuss a thing, and that I raise some points, and then you take a turn and you perhaps refute my points, or you ask questions to clarify my points, then you present your own points. And I do the same thing. I look at those. I think about them. I compare them to what I understand is the truth. I ask questions. I try to refute your points. And we don't have to get angry about it. We can just share the truth, and as we see it, as we understand it, and hopefully between the two of us, find the things in which we are in error that the other person could show us the contradiction or the fallacy in what we believe, and we can both come out of the conversation edified and improved. you. But those days, as you know, are almost gone. It's hardly possible to dispute anything with anybody without it coming to hostility, without it becoming insulting. Matter of fact, to disagree with someone this day is practically considered violence. And you might laugh at that, but that's exactly how they're identifying it on certain college campuses, is they're saying, look, expressing a disagreement with someone else is a form of violence. Now, it's been in most of the history of the world that words are not violence. Now, we know that certain words have responsibility. As the old image goes, the old example goes, you can't cry fire in a crowded theater. But these days, it seems like everything's a crowded theater, and everything says fire. But he was disputing. He was explaining. He was reasoning with them. But from the worldly perspective, Stephen was foolish to pursue this. Why poke the bear is a saying we use in my household. Why would you go and someone that's already agitated continue to speak with them about it? It can only make it worse. Just leave it alone. And look what happens. But I want you to see something that might be unnoticed to you. Luke carefully compiled his book from eyewitness accounts. There in Acts chapter 6, we saw that the Cyrenians, the freedmen, others that they instigated, some other men, the elders and the scribes, and the council, all these groups of people are there hearing Stephen's sermon. They hear this. and eventually Luke somehow got the full account of what Stephen said in the council. Now, they were in the closed doors of the council area when this happened. When they were enraged, they took Stephen outside, outside the city, to stone him because they wouldn't want to make their council chambers, heaven forbid, unclean. And so they took him outside the city and stoned him in their rage. That part was public the rest of this was private. How did Luke get it? unless someone in that room believed what Stephen was saying, unless someone in that room really thought about what he was saying, really saw the point in what he was saying, and as the people enraged began to drag Stephen away, they realized it's happening again. It's exactly like Stephen said. They are rejecting God, violently rejecting God, and dragging him out of the city and stoning him. Not that Stephen was God, but he had God's message. Somebody there, I believe, was converted. And as Luke was doing research for this, he was like, I want to go back to the first one. Who was the first one among you that was killed? Oh, it was Stephen. Well, who was there? Well, these people were there. Hey, Paul was there. You can ask him. And of course, that's all that we saw. And, you know, in checking this out, they go, oh, so-and-so was actually there in the council at the time. Why don't you go find out from him? And then the promise kicks in that Jesus Christ gave that He told His disciples, look, the Holy Spirit's going to bring to remembrance all the things I've told you. The Holy Spirit's going to help you, in other words, compile what must be known to the rest and bring those things to remembrance that they must share with the others. It was brought to remembrance. It was written down, and Lucas brought it to us in the book of Acts. And so here's Stephen arguing with these people. Someone there, I believe, was converted. They weren't told to change their mind by Stephen, if you're paying careful attention. And we're not told that we can. Jesus did not tell us to go and persuade people. He said, go and make disciples. Teaching them. Baptizing them and teaching them. He says, you will be my witnesses. Okay? These things are to be proclaimed. He tells us, you know, go and preach the gospel to every nation. You know, these are the commands of Jesus. We can't change someone's mind. Only God can do that. but it won't happen unless they receive the message. Paul made this very clear. The message must be preached. The message must be given so that it can be received and believed. Now if something were to be said about Jesus Christ in your presence, believer, that's untrue, I hope you correct it. You'll say, well, I don't want to be argumentative. I don't want to put people off. No, we're talking about the reputation of Jesus Christ. Remember, he said, if you deny me before men, will I not deny you before my Father? So if something is said that's untrue about him, it needs to be corrected. We need to talk this out with people. We need to explain to people the truth about Jesus Christ. If someone has the wrong idea, we must do our best to correct it. And the most important thing we have to understand is, although we may never influence that person or change their mind, there will be people that will witness our conversation with them. And that could be what God uses to bring someone else to faith. It's not just about your opponent and making the argument. It's about those who may be bearing witness of these things. It's about your calm demeanor in the face of these things. Now from a worldly perspective, Stephen was foolish. He should have just ignored the people and moved on. There's a time to do that, but this time was not that time. How do I know? Stephen was full of the Spirit. He was following what God wanted him to do. He had not been told to stop, but to proclaim something all the way to his death. There's a wisdom of God, and there's a wisdom of the world. Paul talks about these in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. From the worldly perspective, Stephen may have been foolish, but from God's perspective, he was quite wise. He was quite wise. The next point is this. He was appointed to serve, and serve he did. We won't spend much time on that, but this is part of who Stephen was, his biography. so to speak, he was full of grace. And this is a description of him in verse 8 of chapter 6, but it's also seen very clearly in chapter 7 verse 60 here. Falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord do not hold this against them. And here He was showing great grace. He was hoping that God would extend the grace of not holding this sin against His people. Does that sound familiar to you? Does it sound like Jesus on the cross saying, Father forgive them for they know not what they do? Indeed it should. It does. It is familiar. And look at this as we see He was also full of power. And him being full of power is an important thing. How was this powerful? Wasn't he a victim? This just enraged the opposition and it sparked persecution. That's influence. That's power. What happens following is this. It emboldened the believers in Jesus Christ to be like that, to stand up to these things. It gives us boldness to this day. 2,000 years of inspiration that God has gotten out of what Stephen did. That's power. Stephen was powerful, and he was powerful, of course, in doing great signs and wonders, as we're counted in chapter 6, verse 8. Such was the power of God working through him. And perhaps the greatest act he did of all, like the Lord Jesus Christ, his greatest miracle was rising from the dead. Here at the end of his life, Stephen gives us this incredible testimony, this powerful insight to the Old Testament, and leaves it to inspire us for 2,000 years. That is real power. That's a real sign and wonder. And I hope you can get your mind around that idea. Stephen was doing great signs and wonders, but for it he was slandered. And this is interesting because even in the face of him doing great signs and wonders, these men were bold enough to suggest that he was lying, to suggest that he was blaspheming. And yet how could he do these things? It's the argument that came with the apostles when they healed the man in chapter 3. It's the argument that Jesus gave while he was doing his earthly ministry. and yet he was slandered for it. Sometimes that's the thanks we get as believers. Age to age, place to place, this is constant. Christianity will be misaligned and misrepresented in order to persecute it. So he was slandered, but ultimately we know that he was innocent. He had nothing to fear. He had a clear conscience before God. And here's the one verse that I had to struggle with and really work hard to get my mind around is this, gazing at him. So these men bring him before the council, and the council says, what's going on? You're bringing this guy in here, and everyone there at the council looking at him saw that his face was like the face of an angel. Now, you ready for this? It's the interactive part of the video. What I want you to do right now is turn to the person with you or to some stranger you're walking past while you're listening and make your very best angel face. Ready? Okay, I don't know how to do it either. I have no idea what an angel face looks like, and I don't think they had any idea what physically an angel face looked like. And so I had to really ponder this. Well, when you go through the Old Testament and you really look at the appearance of angels and what happens to those, you'll notice a few things about angels. You'll notice that first of all, They never have fear. Matter of fact, the very first thing they have to say usually is, don't be afraid. They have to tell the people when they show up, don't be afraid. The angels themselves never express fear. They have absolute confidence in the message that they have from God, because that's what they generally were, were messengers. They show up and they give the message. And they're like, hey, this is the Word of God. You know, they don't mess around. They don't doubt their situation. It's not like these movies where angels are caused to doubt, and hmm, I think, and they go rogue or something. No, that happened one time with Satan who led many others out of heaven in this way. But no, these angels that we see in the Bible, they show up, they have no fear. They have confidence in the message that they have. And so I want you to picture then Stephen standing before this council, and he has absolutely no trace of fear on his face. He sees this as an opportunity to preach the gospel. How do we know he saw it that way? Because he does it. And so he has no fear. He has total confidence in the word of God and complete confidence in what the Holy Spirit will give him to say in fulfillment of what Jesus told them. He also has no guilt. The angels that show up during the gospel accounts and during the Old Testament, these angels show up without sin. These are not fallen angels. They've never sinned against God. So they have no guilt whatsoever. And this is Stephen's place, blameless, knowing that his sin was paid for on the cross by the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever known such great confidence? He was fully in control. And I think that's what it means when it says he had the face of an angel. He was innocent. He was also very bold, as we see. He was also extremely skilled in the Scriptures. Stephen gives an account that ranges from Genesis all the way through Kings and Chronicles. And so he covers Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Genesis, all the way through Deuteronomy. He counts some things there from Numbers. And it's important that we note that because that means he took all of that as history. He's accounting these things as if they really happened, and he fully expected his audience to accept that these things really happened. happened. And then he throws in a few quotes from the prophets, from Amos, a minor prophet, from Isaiah, a major prophet, from the book of Psalms, which we know contain many prophecies. And so he takes the entire Old Testament scriptures that we have today, and he endorses it by what he says here. He takes it as historical, just like Jesus did. So he was skilled in the scriptures, and most importantly, Stephen was right. Stephen was right about what he preached. He was absolutely right about his audience, and it shows in how they responded to what he taught. And then Stephen was ultimately faithful, and that's the real point of the Stephen biography here. He saw the glory of God. This was his reward for what he had done faithfully. And Jesus said that the faithful will meet him and will see him, and he will say, well done, good and faithful servant. And he saw the glory of God, and he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus is spoken of after his ascension into heaven, returning to the Father, being seated at the right hand of the Father. And that's a symbol of his work being accomplished. He had a seat. It's like the seventh day. He's going to rest. He's done with his first go at planet Earth, his earthly ministry here. And so here he is, though, standing. Why is Jesus standing? Well, this one and only time that he's seen standing, I believe he's standing in respect for Stephen. He's standing to give him the ultimate well-done, good and faithful servant. This is the standing ovation of his Savior that we're seeing here. This is a powerful testimony to the faithfulness of Stephen that he has given his glimpse. And I want you to see, and I want you to understand what it says in the Bible about the people of God. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. And it says in Psalm 72, from oppression and violence, he redeems, that is God redeems their life. And precious is their blood in his sight. boy this is powerfully important for us to see. That indeed he's respected. That Jesus stands for him. That Jesus reveals himself to them. I want you to realize that he saw the glory of God. I want to go back to that Scripture momentarily here. It'll take me a moment. All right. And he was full of the Spirit, gazed into heaven, and saw the glory of God. Do you realize Moses asked to see the glory of God? He said, show me your glory. You know, the Lord's like, what do you want me to, you know, what do you want? And he said, show me your glory. And the Lord tells Moses, basically, you can't handle my glory, but here's what I'll do. I'll put you in a cleft of a rock. Now this is important, because it was a rock, and Jesus often called a rock, and it was cleft, which means it was broken. Okay? Jesus' body was broken for us. So he puts him in the cleft of a rock. and he says, I'll put my hand over you and I'll pass by. And after I pass by, I will remove my hand and you may see my backside. And so he goes by Moses. He removes the hand. Moses sees this. The time that Moses spent on the mountain with the Lord so influenced him, so affected him, that it says that his face shone. When he came down, saw the Israelites again, it kind of freaked him out. This shining that Moses had about him, and so Moses had to wear a veil. Maybe this is a little bit of what they meant about Stephen, is that it just doesn't look right. Well, he's been in the very presence of God. He's full of the Spirit. But you notice this. He doesn't get filtered glory. He sees the glory of God. He sees Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. And we understand this from everything we understand the Old Testament. Should a sinful person be found in the presence of God, they ought to expect to just die instantly, because sin can't be in the presence of God. Well, what is it that is different about Stephen? Well, his sin was atoned for by Jesus Christ. The price paid on the cross, and here he is able to stand in the presence, and kneeling at this point, I think, in the presence of God Himself. Why? Because of the work of Jesus Christ. Because His sin has been atoned for. He's already full of the Holy Spirit of God. Now, for this passage, we need to reconsider how we define redemption. We need to really take a look at... Sorry, I'm changing my light because it's too dim. I hope that's better. All right. We need to reconsider the way that we view the redemption and the purposes of redemption and what true blessing is. If you read the Sermon on the Mount, you find that the blessing is, the inheritance is, God himself. It's that privilege to have that relationship, to be connected to God. Stephen was humiliated before people. No one else saw this vision. As far as they knew, he was delusional in the last moments. Maybe the first stone hit him on the head, and they're like, yeah, he's had it. He's out of his mind already with what he said, the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand. But he saw that indeed the glory of God. This is why God saved you. He saved you to be with Him. He didn't save you because He needs you to do any particular thing. Yes, He's given you things to do before the foundation of the world. He laid out some good things, particular things for you to do. But those are for your benefit and for His glory. The greatest thing we get as believers in Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ. The eternal life, the heaven, the rewards, all that stuff, it's all nothing. That's why you look into heaven and what do you see the saints doing? In the book of Revelation, they're laying down their crowns at the feet of Jesus Christ, because he's ultimately the one that deserves them all. And there's so many people going around the world right now preaching that we will have temporal blessings. We will have a good and happy and healthy life if we just have enough faith. If we just obey Jesus, everything will go well. Well, theirs is an immature and a partial faith because it cannot account for what happens here with Stephen. Stephen was full of the Spirit. There's no question that he was doing the right thing. This was not unwise. How can he be full of the Spirit and do something unwise? Stephen went right to his death. It must be that the things of this world don't matter that much compared to being faithful to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And this is exactly what the scriptures say. Romans 8.18 says this. Paul says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Stephen saw that glory and he realized none of this compares to it. He didn't seem at all distracted. by what was going on, he was focused on the Lord Jesus. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and speaking on the subject of suffering, Paul says, everything this side of heaven is a light, momentary affliction. Stephen was indeed faithful. And then Stephen was also obviously killed. He was killed for this. He fulfilled what we see in Philippians chapter 1, verse 21, when it says, to live is Christ, to die is gain. He had a great life and he had a greater one after this day. And so Saul was one of the people standing there giving approval. We know he is the one we know as Paul. Later he's called Paul more often than Saul. He didn't change his name. He had two names like many in that time. But Paul's there, and he's witnessing this. He's becoming part of Stephen's murder, in essence, by approving of it. And we see later, he writes this, to live is Christ, to die is gain. I think he reflected on this day often. And I think he saw in Stephen something that was worthy of note. and I think it inspired him in many ways. He was like his Savior in his death. Look in verse 60 here, and 59 really, we see first of all this. He cries out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Just like Jesus did on the cross, into your hands I commit my spirit, he said to the Father. And then he says this, Lord do not hold this sin against them. Just as Jesus said on the cross, that Father forgive them, they know not what they do. He was like His Savior in His death. His last word, forgiveness for those very ones who were stoning Him. His desire from beginning to end was clear. It was their salvation. And despite His strong words and accusing tone, again I believe it worked, it did its work for someone there, that He desired most of all their salvation. Which is why Jesus came. This is why Jesus came. Now, Stephen's actions had results, and let's take a look at those very quickly. Stephen's actions precipitated what we see. First of all, the rage of the opposition. This is the biggest worldly result. The opposition is sparked into more persecution by this episode because Stephen poked the bear. And this is the blindness of God-hating that we see age to age in this world. They stoned him. Now, this is a major point. The fact that the Jewish leadership approved of dragging him out in a rage and stoning him, because if you remember, they took Jesus to Pilate to have Pilate crucify him. Why? Because it was illegal for the Jews to carry out a capital punishment without the Roman approval. And here, in a rash decision, without Roman approval, they take him outside the city and stone him. What they weren't willing to do to Jesus, they now have done to Stephen because of their rage, because of their God-hating rage. It was not lawful for them to do this. And this is the ironic thing, and this is what happens to those who hate God and oppose God, is they begin to have all these contradictions in their lives. Because you could well ask them. You'd say, well, you know, you didn't kill Jesus directly. You took him to Rome. Why did you do that? Well, it's Roman law. We can't break that law. But you broke it with Stephen. Why did you break it with Stephen? You could argue with them and they would just get angry at you too. Because they can't explain the contradiction because they're not acting rationally. They're opposing God. It's impossible to oppose God and act rationally. But the most important thing about inciting the opposition here is that it sparks this persecution, and that persecution scatters the church, and therefore scatters the gospel, spreading it more around the Roman Empire. That's what we account for in the following verses here. Chapter 8, verse 2, we see this. We see that, indeed, they went out from them, devout men buried them, made great lamentation. Saul was ravaging the church, entering house after house and dragged off. And those who were scattered, verse 4, very importantly, went about preaching the word. So I want you to connect this to something. I'm about to make a really strange connection for you, because God knew there was going to be opposition to Stephen, and he sent him in there. And Jesus had told his disciples at the very beginning of the book of Acts, in Acts 1.8, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Well so far they've done a great job in Jerusalem, but they hadn't gone much into Judea, Samaria, or to the ends of the earth yet. But guess what happens when Stephen pokes the bear? Sure enough, it begins to spread more and more. And the parallel I'm going to strike is this, hardening Pharaoh's heart. See, Pharaoh was not going to let the people go. The scripture says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. And then as God sends Moses, God tells Moses, I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart. In other words, Pharaoh wasn't going to let him go. Pharaoh had already hardened his own heart. But God hardened it even more. Why? So that it would become an escalating contest because God had certain things he wanted to show the Israelites and the Egyptians both. And it would not have gone through all 10 plagues. Pharaoh would have caved in at some point without this hardening. He would have sent the Israelites away and he would have chased them down with his army earlier before getting through all the plagues and all the things God wanted to show them. So what does God do? God hardens his heart. You say, well, that's not fair. Pharaoh hardened first. He wasn't going to let the people go no matter what. And ultimately he was going to have them chased down with an army. He'd rather destroy them than let them go. But look here. God sent Stephen in there to the council knowing it's going to end Stephen, but knowing that Stephen would be better off for it anyway. Stephen's going to be in the bosom of Christ, and he sends him into this council knowing that this is going to start persecution against the people. It's going to hurt them, but you know what? It's going to make them stronger, and it will spread this gospel. So many more lives are going to be saved, and so many other people. See, God understood the long-term game plan. And here his opposition is always playing a chess match with him, and God is always 10 moves ahead and winning. And we know the end of the story, and we know that he ultimately wins. And so this precipitates the spread of the gospel, which precipitates the saving of many souls. Read the rest of chapter 8 as your homework. And in this, of course, what Stephen did met the approval of his Savior. There is no greater thing than to enter into the presence of Jesus and hear these words, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master. And this brings us to what I want the first encouragement to be, because ultimately the most important thing is the faithfulness of Stephen. And we look at this, understand and trust Jesus' love for his people. The most important point of all that you'll hear today is this, that Jesus Christ loves his people. Jesus did not take this stoning of Stephen lightly. This is why he revealed himself to him, and that he showed him his glory from heaven, standing at the right hand of the Father, because it's true what we saw in the Psalms, that precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Precious is their blood in his sight. Jesus loves you and will equip you. Now if I were to end this sermon right here and just say, so be a good Christian like Stephen, go be like Stephen, I would rob you. I would do a great injustice to you because the most important point is this, Jesus will equip you to be faithful. Now Stephen was Stephen and his situation was his situation. It was unique to him. You are unique. You are you and your situation is unique. what I want you to do, and what I want to do for you, is point you to the Savior. It is Jesus that empowered Stephen. It is Jesus that equipped Stephen. It is Jesus that gave Stephen this opportunity. It is Jesus that gave him the wisdom It is Jesus that gave him his own spirit, and it's Jesus that gave him the power to endure, the power to stand before these men with the guiltless face of an angel and proclaim to them the truth, the mysteries of God, to the God's great glory. We, likewise, can trust Jesus to equip us for our situation as well. Look how much he loves his people to stand at the right hand of the Father for Stephen, to give him this glimpse of heaven, to get him through the difficulty, because he had been faithful. It is in Christ that you will find all that you need. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. And that song has a line in it that I just love. The line says, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. We can survive anything when we behold the glory of Jesus Christ. It is his power, his spirit, his wisdom, coupled with your faithfulness, that he will accomplish great things. And he will do it. Understand and trust that Jesus loves his people. Secondly, what I want to point out is I want to warn you not to recheck the continuing witness of God. When we read an account like this, we automatically put ourselves in the place of Stephen. But sometimes, from time to time, I know I am one of those guys resisting God. I am resisting something from God, not in the ultimate way of the gospel. The gospel, he settled that with me. But we all resist God on some level. Don't be found resisting God. Don't be one of those of whom it is said that you resist me all the day long, as the Lord says. We must be careful to see that we are accepting of what God is showing us. The keys to overcoming, as we look at the life of Jesus, are this, be full of the Spirit and of wisdom. And those come from the basics of the Christian life, from understanding and studying the Scriptures, from spending great time with the Lord in prayer, being in fellowship with His people who will set us straight on things, by witnessing and being faithful in small things so that God can ultimately trust us. with larger things. Don't reject the continuing witness of God. He may be speaking to you by the scriptures today to take you to that next step in your faith, whether it is accepting Him for the first time, or whether it is to put your trust in Christ, begin to witness to your family or friends, or to join a new group of Bible study or anything, join a church, whatever it is. Trust Him and take that next step that He is showing you today. Don't reject the continuing witness of God because look how it hardens the hearts. Look how it causes them to operate in a fit of rage without any kind of reason to what they're doing. Don't reject the continuing witness of God. and also faithfulness is God's standard for his people. Stephen, from a worldly point of view, had a horrible day. Ended in failure. None of those people repented of their sins, at least that we saw, and in fact they ended up stoning him for it, and so big loss to the church. Now they're going to have to find a replacement for Stephen in the daily distribution of things. They're going to have to find someone else to do all his work and all that. Big loss for the church. No, we can't think that way. Stephen was faithful, and there is no greater success in the Christian life than to do what God has told you to do, and that is to be faithful. So no matter what it costs us, we need to be faithful. God will see to the results. God will take care of that, and God will see to it. Faithfulness is rewarded. with the glory and presence of God. You say, well Stephen had a special case. He got to see the glory of Jesus in heaven. We all do. Read the book of Revelation. That's where we are. We're gathered around a throne. We're worshiping God. We're in His very presence. And in a new heaven, a new earth, you know it doesn't even have a sun anymore because it's not necessary because the light of God is there. we will forever be in that light. We'll forever be in the very presence of God Himself. Faithfulness is rewarded with this great presence of God. God will see to the results. You don't have to worry about the results. Don't worry about if it looks like a losing day. Do it anyway, and go and make disciples. Well, I hope it's been a benefit to you. There's so many more things I'd like to show you and teach you about this, but you'll just have to come to our church on Sunday nights to see them. So hopefully you do some time. Hopefully you can pay us a visit, but until then, Go and make disciples. Go into confidence that to know that no matter how it might turn out for you personally in the short term, in the long term it's planting seeds, in the long term it's going to be an encouragement to others, and you're just being faithful to attempt it will be used greatly by God and will bring Him great glory and bring you great reward. Let's end with a word of prayer. Father God, we praise you this day, and we thank you for your servant Stephen. We thank you for all that you accomplish through him, and we thank you, Lord, that the offer extends even to us. Though we are earthly vessels, though we are flawed, and Lord, we fail sometimes. You are good and gracious. You're the one who gives the increase. And we might sow, or we might water, or we might just plow the fields ahead of time, which it looks like is what Stephen has done here. But Lord, it's you ultimately. You give the increase of the crops. You bring in your great harvest. And I pray, Lord, that all of us be found faithful in that. We take the next step in knowing You and following You. We thank You in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I thank you for joining us. I know that went very long that time, but I hope it was worth it, because there's so much to see from this great example we have in the Scriptures. And I encourage you to read over the material again, and then read ahead into Chapter 8 to see what else happened as a result of this. And finally, I encourage you, if you have any questions or comments or concerns, contact us. You can find out more about us at whitesrun.org. You can email me personally at whitesrunbaptist at gmail.com. I pray that that finds you well, and may God bless you until the next time.