My old mother, who is 92 years of age, but very sharp and quick on it, asked me a few weeks ago, she said, Ian, when I close my eyes in death, what will it be like really when I awaken? What indeed? I think we have some answers here. Acts chapter 7 verse 54 and we'll read down to verse 60. We'll look at this chapter tonight before we go forward with our studies. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." Not sitting, but standing. Twice over, he sees him standing. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. We have in this closing section of Acts 7, one of the longest chapters in the New Testament, the martyrdom of Stephen who was the first martyr of the New Testament church. It's a story of a victim but it's also the story of a victor. Although it's not said that a vote of the Jewish council of Jerusalem preceded the death of Stephen, remember it was before this council in the previous chapter, chapter 6 verse 9 to 13 and verse 15 that he was called to give an account. And so it is very likely and probable that it was by a vote, a majority vote of the religious Jewish council at Jerusalem that Stephen was condemned to die by stoning, which was the method under Jewish law that blasphemers were put to death. Stephen was ushered to his death by, in reality, the professed upholders of religion in his own day and in his own generation. they had condemned the Saviour to die and now likewise they condemned Stephen to die and he gladly followed in his master's footsteps. Though Stephen was crushed by the stones that rained down round about him, Stephen was not conquered by those stones and the victim became a victor in giving his life for Christ and his cause. And I think it behoves us tonight, those of us who have followed the Master, to consider how Stephen laid down his life for Christ. We're given a remarkable glimpse here of the dying moments, the dying seconds of a child of God. What will it be like when we come to the crossing of the river? What will it be like just in those final moments between time and God's great eternity. There are not many passages in the Bible that open it up to us as these closing verses of Acts chapter 7 do. And as we meditate upon them tonight I trust that it will be an encouragement to you because we are, all of us, marching toward that river and one day we'll have to cross it and in those final moments it's reassuring to know that we're not victims but we're victors through the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to notice firstly in Stephen's circumstances the satanic malice that was already against him. Satan was after him. The Bible assures us that Christ loved the church and he gave himself for it. He loved the church and yet the same scriptures warn us concerning the hatred of Christ for the cause of Christ and the hatred of Satan for the cause of Christ and his church and if we are to trace it right away back to Genesis chapter 3 from the very gate of the garden of Eden the serpent has been aiming his venom at the church of Jesus Christ and the hatred of hell it knows no boundaries or it knows no limitations against those who are the heirs of salvation so when you and I come to die The stones might not be railing round about us but when we come to die you can rest assured in this thing that you will have to face the satanic malice of Satan just as Stephen did and all of those who have crossed over ahead of us. Verse 54 tells us when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. This same phrase is translated in Hebrews 11.37 as sawn asunder. Their minds were filled with indignation. They were not pricked in their hearts with sorrow as in Acts 2.37 but with rage. Here was a dear Christian dying, giving his life for Christ, witnessing the gospel to them, but it was with rage that these men approached the death of this dear child of God. Others in the church mourned and made lamentation over him but these men rejoiced over the fact that here was a child of God who was being taken. Of course we know that that anger had been simmering for some time. Chapter 5 and verse 33 tells us concerning the opposition that was wrought. When they heard that they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. So the plans came to fruition in chapter 7 and when Stephen stood before them the Bible tells us he was to them as an angel and he sounded like one. But he met with those whose minds were so corrupted by Satan that they refused to yield to his message. Why? Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. The carnal mind of the natural man cannot understand the things of God. And when you go to talk to the carnal mind about how a child of God dies, do you know what you're doing? You're casting pearls before swine. Because they don't understand it and they can't comprehend it. And until their mind is illuminated, they'll never understand it. It tells us here in verse 54, They gnashed on him with their teeth Job 16.9 tells me he tarries me in his wrath who hateth me he gnashes upon me with his teeth mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me gnashing of teeth of course is equated with the damned and now such hellish malice is unleashed against the angelic Stephen and with hellish forces they bare their teeth and they want to gnash upon him, gnaw upon him. They want him to feel that pain. Their intention is one of solid evil. Verse 57 tells us they cried out with a loud voice. False religion is always loud religion. It is. You study it in the Bible, it's always loud and noisy. And it was their intention to, of course, by crying with a loud voice, to drown out Stephen. They didn't want to hear him. Even as he died, they didn't want to hear him. Just like the martyred, the covenanters of old, as they went to die, before they would listen to them, they had the drum roll. They didn't want to hear any last message that they had to give. They drowned out what they had to say. And what was wanting in their arguments against Stephen was made up in their war-like voices. They were working themselves up into a frenzy into their murderous state. And murderers usually do that. There are very few who can go out in a cold, calculated manner. Most of them have to go out and work themselves up to do the deed. Verse 57 tells us they also stuck their ears Here was a dying man, a dying sin. He had preached one of the most eloquent sermons recorded in the New Testament that heard enough and they didn't want to hear any more and they were determined not to obey. They stopped their ears. They closed their ears. They didn't want to hear anything more. What a precursor to judgment. It was a foreshadowing of that judicial judgment because as they stopped their ears God was going to stop his to their pleas and to their cries and a generation down the road Jerusalem would be wiped out they ran upon Stephen with one accord verse 57 this was religious fanaticism and now the people and the judges and the false witnesses and the spectators they all flew in rage against this one dear child of God We've seen it before on our screens. I remember watching those two brave young soldiers being pulled out of the car, you remember, by the mob. They were just lynched there and then. This is what happened to Stephen. Verse 58 tells us they took him out of the city and they stoned him. There's one thing about the Jews, these Orthodox Jews, They believed in what they were doing, and though they were murdering an innocent man, they believed they were fulfilling the law of Moses, and they took the law of Moses as their justifying step. We read in Leviticus 24, 16, He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall be surely put to death under the old law. And all the congregation shall certainly stone him, as well as the stranger, as he that is born in the land. When he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall he be put to death. And of course the false witnesses had to take the lead in the execution and we read in verse 14 in Leviticus 24. This is what they were basing what they were doing on. Bring him forth that hath cursed without the camp and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head and let all the congregation stone him. As we read down this Closing section of chapter 7. Such was the amount of physical energy required in doing to death this dear child of God. The Bible tells us that they took their coats off. They had to gather the stones. It wasn't some little small pebble they were gathering remember. They had to gather these stones. And such was the effort required under the hot eastern sun. They took their coats off in case they would get in their way and they led them at a young man's feet. Verse 58, whose name was Saul. This young man was to become one greatly feared amongst the New Testament Christians and then greatly revered amongst them. The persecutor was by the grace of God transformed into the preacher. But that day he kept the clothes of the men who had worked up such a sweat and a frenzy that they wanted to take those stones and to hurl them at that first martyr of the New Testament era. But God was overruling here at the death of Stephen. God was overruling as God always overrules in all of our circumstances. I thought of Wealthy Macfadyen and of the whole church gathering together on Saturday night, forty years as clerk of session. Those who have served in the session know just how difficult it is and especially a clerk of session is a most difficult task. Forty years and the church met together to send him off and the next day the Lord took him home. God overruled And even in the most tragical circumstances God overruled. And that young man who held those coats was to become the greatest soul winner, missionary and preacher that probably the New Testament Church has ever seen. We all have to face death, brethren and sisters. But if at our death such a work of grace is wrought as was wrought at the death of Stephen, it will be to God's glory and the advancement of God's kingdom such as never before in life and in death. Let us seek to glorify and to live for God. When we come to die expect malice. I've been reading again a pilgrim as he crossed the river and as Pilgrim crossed the river his whole mind was saturated with all of the sins and how he had failed the Lord and he took his eyes of the Lord and the river he couldn't feel the bottom and he felt himself sinking, sinking in the river but Hopeful told him keep your eyes on the Lord don't let your mind be preoccupied with your failures let it be upon the Lord And then his faith was strengthened and Bunyan's wonderful narrative tells us how he found his feet again and he made his way across. John Trapp, one of the Puritans said, when he came to die the hounds of hell were still snopping at his heels. And there was snopping, there was mollusk right to the end but there was victory over the mollusk. God overrules even our very deathbed saints to his glory and to the praise of his great eternal name. I want you to notice secondly the strength of grace that was in the life of Stephen at death. Verse 55 tells me that he was full of the Holy Ghost. The persecutors of Stephen were full of satanic power but this man was full of grace and full of Holy Ghost power. When initially chosen chapter 6 and 3 tells me he was full of the Holy Ghost and now at death He is still full of the Holy Ghost. It's a wonderful thing, brethren and sisters, to live as you die and to die as you live. Those who are full of the Holy Ghost are fit for service, either to live or to die for Christ. And if your service is especially difficult in life, He'll equip you for it. And if your death is especially difficult, He'll equip you for it. That's what the promise of the Holy Ghost is. And it doesn't matter how we die. None of us know how we die. We say sometimes some Christians don't get away easy. Others get away harder. But irrespective of how the Lord takes us or how we cross over, there's grace in the dying. because there is the strength of God in the dying. He was full of the Holy Ghost. Our greatest requirement is to live for Christ in the power of the Holy Ghost and we read in 1 Peter 4, 12-14 that we are not to think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you. We read in verse 14, If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. In life as in death, let us ever glorify God. There is grace, there is strength of grace in the life of Stephen which enabled him to die well. Do you know how you die well, Christian? You live well. That's how you die well. You live well. Thirdly, notice the Saviour's manifestation of himself to Stephen. We're at the final moments, he's just at the river, he's crossing over. Death is about to usher him out from life completely into God's eternity. and facing death and the pain associated with it. There was pain and with some believers there is pain as they die. But facing death and the pain associated with it, Stephen was given a glimpse of the glory of Christ just prior to it. A glimpse that very few that we read of in the New Testament were so privileged with. And this experience I believe it was given to Stephen to fortify him that he might be enabled to bear a good testimony right to the very end that as those stones reeled in upon him that he would be enabled to keep the faith right to the very last moment. Stephen looked beyond his present circumstances into heaven. He saw what was ahead of him. and it's the heavenly gifts which enables us to face the trials and tribulations of life. Remember when Christian and hopeful were in Beulahland they looked toward the city and the city was so bright it dazzled them. Keep looking toward the city. Keep your eye on heaven. In looking heavenward he signified his sufferings were for the glory of God. Others would have to follow him. Like Saul. Saul one day would have to follow Stephen. He was being taught even before he enlisted in the school of Christ. And one day Saul would be able to say I am now ready to be offered. He learnt it from Stephen in Acts chapter 7. I have learned much from dying saints, and I have seen how God has glorified through them. In looking, God gave him a glimpse of Emmanuel's land. I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. here is a man surrounded by a mob they are baying for his blood stones are raining in upon him and what does he say? I see your venomous face I see your murderous intentions he has his eyes of all of time and he says I see heaven opened what a sight he had for he saw the son of God standing on the right hand of God. Stephen sees him standing. That's very unusual. The usual depiction is of Christ sitting but in this instance he's standing. He's standing up for his servant. All of this mob is against him but here we have one in heaven and he's standing up for this dear blood-bought child of God. He's standing up for him and he's saying he's mine. He's standing up for Stephen. He's looking out for him and he stands there welcoming him, ready to beckon him and to receive him in. When we come to die, there's a Saviour. the same saviour as Stephen had and he's standing up for us he's victorious over death he's victorious over the grave and through his victory we too shall be victorious and he's standing there ready to receive us and to welcome us in we could not even begin to imagine what this must have meant to Stephen Christ standing up for him. And when we come to die there's nothing that cheers that lonesome valley so much as the thought that there's a light in the valley of death now for me since Jesus came into my heart. This is the bright hope for all of the people of God. It's a lonesome valley and it's beautifully depicted by Bunyan in going over the river but it's not a dark valley. because the Saviour brightens it. He is our faithful shepherd, one that will see us through. We don't get grace today before we come today. You needn't look for it tonight. If you've got it tonight, you're saying something that the rest of us don't understand, you get it when you come to the river. Stephen saw this mighty picture of Christ standing in heaven, standing in heaven at the right hand of God ready to receive him just when he came to die. And when you and I come to die there will be one standing there too to receive us all. Fourthly I want you to notice Stephen's supplication in facing death. Verse 59 and 60. Oh how Christlike he was. As they stoned Stephen He prayed. He prayed for himself. And we are taught to commend our souls and our spirits into the hands of Christ at death. In Luke 23, verse 46, we read, When Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave up the ghost. His soul was his sole concern as he was dying. We leave these bodies. Our souls leave these bodies for death. The definition for death for the Christian is the moment the soul departs the body. They might keep the body alive physically by machines as they can do nowadays but the body is dead because the soul has departed. And the saviour is the only one who can help us in our dying moments. and it is sweet consolation in knowing that in death Christ receives these unworthy souls of ours into his presence. He prayed for himself, he prayed for his persecutors. Verse 60 Lord lay not this sin to their charge Be ye angry, Ephesians 4.26 says, and sin not, and let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Don't close the day, dear brother or sister, in anger or in wrath. But before you close the day, pray for those who have misused you today. Pray for those who have slighted you today. Pray for those who have wronged you today. Pray for them. Because that's exactly what Stephen did. at the very point of death. What an example he was following. Remember Jesus in Luke 24.34 he said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Fundamentalists are usually caricatured as angry people. Sometimes some Christians say they have every right to be angry. Well if you can be angry and not sin, you have a right to be angry. Because that's righteous anger. But I will guarantee you, 99 times out of 100, it's not righteous anger. It's just sin. I don't know what impression Stephen's death made on others, but it made a mighty impression on the soul of Tarsus. Oftentimes deathbed scenes you don't get an opportunity to preach but you'll get one to pray and on such occasions prayer can preach and his action was done so that all would hear. He must have prayed out aloud as recorded He prayed out aloud. What they had done needed God's forgiveness because it was sin. He prayed, forgive them. And if they had to answer for the charge, how great would be the reckoning? And he didn't wait until they asked his forgiveness, did he? They had no opportunity to ask his forgiveness. He prayed, Lord you forgive them. Proverbs 29.10 tells me the bloodthirsty hate the upright but the just seek his soul. Though their sin was great Stephen desired forgiveness from God for them even as he died. It is likely that Saul of Tarsus heard Stephen pray and was moved by it. But God answered that prayer of a deathbed. And we read of Saul's conversion just a few chapters over. I wonder when you and I come to die, will we still be praying? Will we be praying for ourselves? Will we be praying for those who have wronged us? will we be praying for those who need the mercy and the forgiveness of God. To such heaven is opened and to see the Saviour standing at the Father's right hand. Don't go through life, dear brother or sister, with anger or bitterness towards your fellow believer. Because of death it all fades away. or even toward your bitterest enemy don't be bitterer because a death that all fades away we see Stephen and he says Lord lay not this sin to their charge and when he had said this he fell asleep just another fatal blow struck him God said enough and took him out into his presence. His death is likened unto a sleep. It's not the sleep of the soul but it's the sleep of the body. When we put the body in the earth we're really in essence saying the body is sleeping because one day it's going to awaken again isn't it at the resurrection when the trump of God shall sound and the dead shall be raised. It's going to be raised again and be reunited with the soul and be perfectly made into the likeness and image of Christ. His departure was peaceful, he went to sleep. Though wicked men aimed their stones at him, they didn't achieve their objective. He was at rest and he was at peace in the Lord. When we come to die and depart this scene of time, may the peace and the grace that was exemplified in the life of Stephen, may it be likewise exemplified within our own lives. May we have rest at the end of the journey and peace. Peace with God but peace with each other and to leave behind a peaceful legacy and not full of bitterness or wrath or mass. I've looked at Stephen and I think he teaches us not just how to live but he shows us how we ought to die. May God give us the continued grace to live in the light of the life of Stephen. And when he comes he only brings us to the end of the journey to die the death that likewise this dear child of God experienced.