This is Stephen's great sermon. In chapter 6, We have the introduction of deacons, and the leader of the deacons is Stephen. He becomes this character that we learn that he's not only waiting tables, that was part of what the deacon's job were to do, to help with the food was passed out to everybody there. But he also goes around teaching, that he does signs and wonders in himself. But he goes specifically into different of different ethnic backgrounds. They're kind of like clubs. They're kind of like, oh, we're the Jews for, what was the one, I forget their name. This is the Cyrenians and there's the Libertines and the ones of Sicily and so they each have their own little ethnic thing that was put together and he would go there and he would go and say let's ask me some questions. I'm going to tell you about who Jesus Christ is and he would go through it enough that he starts stirring them up and they get aggravated. They bring charges against him. because he's going around stirring up enough because it talks about how they try to answer him but they can't. His reasons and his answers are too good and he's pointing right to Christ and they're getting frustrated by it because they're like we have to be right even though it seems like he's right you know and so they become angry and try to fight against him and so they bring charges against him and they don't really have any good charges to bring so they get false charges against him and they get people to lie, false testimony, they pay for it. The main charges that are brought is that he has blasphemy, he's blaspheming the Jewish faith in a sense, that he is speaking against the temple in particular, this is gonna be one that he really addresses, it seems like it's one that they're going after and he's like, you're bringing this against the temple. and that he's also saying that we don't need the law anymore and he's also against Moses and so they bring these things and we talked about how you can kind of see how they could twist what he was saying to say that. He's saying these things are fulfilled, these things are done and I'm not saying that Jesus is destroying the temple, Jesus was talking about his body and that you did destroy it and in three days he did raise it up again and he does tell us that he will destroy this temple, the building that was there. because of your rejection, you know, that this is one of the things that are going to happen, that you're going to be encircled by Gentiles. He's going to destroy you. We're going to be dispersed because of the rebellion and the rejection of Jesus Messiah. And so they're taking these things and they're twisting them in a sense. And he doesn't back down. He takes it and says, as a matter of fact, he says, he gives these answers. They said he had a face like an angel. So he looked like me as he's there presented. No, I don't know what an angel's face looked like. I don't know if it looked scary. If it looked, I'm not sure. Had a bunch of eyes. No, I don't think so. Chapter 7 verse 1, so that leads us into chapter 7 where we get one question and then we get 52 verses of an answer. So the questions in verse 1, then said the high priest, Are these things so? And so they brought these charges against him. So now the high priest comes forward. He's got the big dogs here taking him on. They put it together. We have already seen that they're in town. They're already all kind of riled up because who Christ is, because what Peter's done, because they had a lame man over here that's walking. And all these things that they just can't stop. It seems like there's power. They're laying out people so that Peter's shadow would get on them. The city's in an uproar. So all the bigwigs are in town to do something. So they pick Stephen and they pull him out. He says, are these things true? And he's like, let me give you a 52 verse answer. And he gives him a doozy. Look at verses two through four here, it says, and he said, men and brethren and fathers, and so he acknowledges who they are, your fellow men, your brethren, you're all Jewish, your father's patriarch, you're leaders in this community, he hearken, the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran. He said unto him, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and come into the land which I shall show thee. Then he came out of the land into the Chaldeans, and he dwelt in Haran. And from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land wherein we now dwell." So this is his opening salvo, so to speak, as he brings it. And he starts all the way back. He's like, oh, we're all Jewish. You're attacking me for saying I'm attacking Jewish things. He goes, let me just tell you where I stand. I'll give you my viewpoint on this. So he goes back. But the thing that we miss through this, and I think a lot of people miss through this, It's very subtle. It's a very subtle point, but it's a point that when I got it, it was like, wow. It comforted me in who I am and the failures that I feel that I have. It comforts me in showing me who God is and how God dwells. And one of the biggest miracles when I think about our God is that he forgives and forgets. I remember, I bring up, and I'll be, you know, Lord, I did that, though, and he'll be like, you confessed. I forgave, I forgot. Let's move forward. We get that kind of played out for us in this, and I think it's, it's a breath of fresh air. It's wind in your sails as a believer. And so, what's he say? You're like, I read that, that seemed like a lot of King James stuff, and I didn't get much, and so, it can kind of be that way. It's about, he does, He points out something, but we miss it if we don't concentrate on it. So, what do we know about Abraham? What's a highlight you can tell me about Abraham? Something that Abraham's known for. That's the song. Okay, thanks mom. Peanut Gallery. She, I get this every, I spoke at the locker today and I get this every time. Although she didn't do it today, I end up bringing it. She's always like, I want to introduce, he's the fruit of my loins. And so she calls me a fruit in front of people in public all the time. But that's our little private joke that she does. But that's it. He was a warrior. He had the 318 men and he goes and takes it. He's nobody's pushover, that's for sure. He's known for his faith, right? What's the big saying that goes with Abraham? It's quoted in the New Testament a lot. He believed and it was counted to him as righteousness. He believed, he has his faith. That's what we think of, right? I mean, we can think of these nuanced things that are there, and he has a lot of them that we can think of. Do you think of anything negative and bad? Does he have the Bathsheba story? Does he have stuff like that that you think of? not really, right? If you're going to think about Abraham it's his faith. It's how good he is. He was a strong warrior. He goes and gets a lot and he kind of like takes over five kings, four kings. He fights against them and he's able to get them with his household. He trusts God. He believes him. He does a lot. You'll hear he gets old and he gets this son and all these different things. We have all those. We believe God has counted him to righteousness. And I think this is what could be key to Stephen's whole message here, that he's trying to tell his audience up front, there's something here I want you to see, and it starts in our heritage, who we are, that I want you to know that is available to you. And verse two, it said he was called to Mesopotamia, that's where he gets the call. And matter of fact, if you go back, and I'm stopping myself from doing this, we're not gonna go look at everything in the Old Testament, or we'll be flipping around a bunch tonight, and we won't get but six verses in, and you're like, but that's how you always do it, but not this time, I think we need to see it all at once, and then maybe we'll go back and do it right now. So he's called from the Mesopotamia or the early Chaldeans, right? He is a pagan in a pagan country, worshiping a pagan God. His father's a pagan in a pagan country, worshiping a pagan God. But God calls out to him and he believes and he goes, right? And so he gets called to Mesopotamia, but then he goes to Haran and it's spelt with a C here, but it's Haran. at least in the King James version. And he goes up to this other town. It's just about 50 miles away. He goes up there. He gets this call. He only goes 50 miles. And then he stays there for about 40 years until Tara dies, until his dad dies. And so he goes there and his dad dies. And so if we look at this in the practical and real way, God calls Abraham, and then we usually think, and he goes, and he leaves, and he hikes, and he goes to the promised land, and he walks around everywhere. And so your foot will be this, I'm gonna give it to you. But he didn't. He waited 40 years. He didn't want to leave his dad. He waits until his dad dies. And after his dad dies, he's like, okay, now I think I'm free from this. I will believe God and I will go. So for 40 years, was he in doubt? Was he in rebellion? I don't want to go just yet. My dad's here. Was he in disbelief? I know you're telling me to do that. I will do that. But, you know, my dad. Was he just stubborn? I don't want to go. I want to stay with my dad. You know, I had my dad. It was another 40 years. When God calls, you're supposed to respond. That's kind of what we think of him as. That's kind of what we're told. That's kind of how the import we get from the just of his whole story. You get Abraham was called, he obeyed. He went and he changes his name from Abram to Abraham and all this. How often is it brought up that he didn't go for 40 years? once, I think, right here, Stephen brings it up. But it's kind of hidden in the text here. He was called from here, but he leaves from Haran. He's called from Mesopotamia, but he doesn't leave from Haran. And then he even says, not until after his dad dies. And then you have to kind of go back and do the math. And I thank God for people like Gerald who likes to go back and trace down the verses and put it all out. And so it was about 40 years in there. So I think it was around 40 years to do that. And he has charts like that. And so that's when he trusts. 40 years later, he trusts. It's, that's when he believes, that's when he enacts it, and that's when he goes. He had 40 years to mull it over before he finally goes, okay, I'm gonna do it. This is forgotten about, pretty much. Once he believes, once he acts, once he goes, then it's forgotten about and never mentioned again. It's brought up here subtly. Tim? I think it's the same thing. That's what's supposed to be, we're supposed to do it, but I'm thinking that guy, because I was thinking that when I was studying this. Oh, he's calling back to, can I be like Abraham? He waited until he buried his dad, and Jesus was like, no, the thing we want is action, not the delay, exactly that point. And so that's what's wanted, but we're not told Abraham did bad, we're not told Abraham did that, because once he did believe, and once he went forth, and once he did it, God forgot. It's never mentioned again, it's never brought up. I take comfort in that. All the times that I'm rebellious and I don't do what he's told me to do, I don't behave as he wants me to behave, and I do all that, when I finally submit to his will and do that, God forgives and forgets. I don't bring it up, I'll remember faithful, Brian. I'll remember the good things you did. I don't know, that's a pretty good God. A God who can bring up anything and everything all the time. He says, I forgive and I forget. That's what he does for Abraham, that's what's here. And I think the subtlety in this is that Stephen's like, I get it. This is radical. This is so different than what we've been taught for generations. You didn't get it when Jesus was here. You didn't believe when Jesus was proclaiming himself to be Messiah. You didn't understand that he was the fulfillment of scripture. You didn't, you were rebellious. And doing all this, he's saying, stop. Stop being rebellious. Stop being hard. Stop being hard-hearted. Stop not seeing. Stop being blind. Open your eyes and see this. Stop and believe. I think he's telling them at the outset, I want you to see that there's an example, there's an out. God has done that and he won't mention it again. Repent and trust in him. I think he's telling them at the outside, he's just saying surrender, trust Christ, follow him. I think that's the subtle thing that he's laying down. It might not have been so subtle for them as it is for us, but I think it's what he's telling them. Verse four, like I said, we can dive into all that, but I don't want to today. Verse four, he says, then came out of the land of the Chaldeans, and he dwelt in Haran, and thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land wherein you now dwell. Now that's where we are, verse five. And he gave him none inheritance in it. No, not so much as to set his foot on. Yet he promised that he would give it to him for possession and to his seed after him when it was as yet he had no child. And God spake on this while that his seed should sojourn in a strange land that he should bring them into bondage and entreat them evil for 400 years. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God. And after that shall they come forth and serve me in this place. He has been charged a blasphemy Stephen he's been charged with dissing the temple dissing Moses and dissing the laws And he's saying Abraham was a Gentile when he was called. Let's remember that Abraham had no land, he didn't get it. He didn't have any land and none of our descendants had any land for 400 years. They lived in Egypt as slaves in bondage. You know what we had back then, guys who were charging me? We had God. We had God alone. We didn't have a temple. We didn't have anything. They didn't have the laws. They didn't have anything. We had God. I think that's the main point. You guys are taking the things that God has given us and making that the main point when the main point is that we are to have God. He was to be our main point. He was to be the main thing. We are to worship him. We're not to worship the things that he gave us. And he's saying, you've basically taken this temple and you've turned it into an idol. You are worshiping it. You are all being distraught about it. And Jesus is trying to tell you, it was a picture pointing to him. Quit looking at it and look to the one it was pointing to. Look to the sacrifice who came and did it all. That's who it should be looking at. You've turned this into an idol. And so he starts chipping away, kind of proving that point. You guys have taken the gift and turned it into something that was not meant to be. And so the temple was a picture that points to God and points to Jesus. And so, Like I said, I'm trying to stop myself from going and mining the depths of all this, and there is a bunch that we can dig into in all this. He's going to go through a lot of things in the Old Testament. I don't want to turn this into an Old Testament survey, because that is what this is, and I'm really tempted to do so, because there's some really cool things, and there's some really neat things, and there's some really things that you don't learn anyplace else that you learn from Stephen, because I think he's been with the disciples who have been studying the Scriptures, who just got taught things from Jesus Christ after the resurrection that are there. That we are all beneficiaries of but there's much to it. But I think sometimes I Mean, I love going into the micro and digging into it and seeing the nuance and got in it But sometimes we need to pull back with the macro lens and take it all in and get it and that's what I'm gonna try to do We loosen up my lips. Here we go Full auctioneer mode first eight and so On the other page first eight says And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham begat Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day. And Isaac begat Jacob and Jacob begat the 12 patriarchs, the 12 tribes. And the patriarchs moved with envy and sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him. He's like, all right, he skips kind of right through history real quick. He goes, we're getting up to the 12 tribes, the 12 patriarchs, the sons of Jacob. And he says, He gets right to the very first main type in this Old Testament survey. He goes, let me bring up to you Joseph. God was with him. There's not a Jew that would say God was not with Joseph. Joseph is a hero. We all would say that. God was with him. And yet, Israel as a whole represented with the 12 patriarchs, the original 12 that were there. Yeah, there was 12 because Israel's set up different where you always have 12 even if one's on the out. So if Joseph is on the out, they still have 12 because you have Ephraim and Manasseh that switch in and out. And so that's a whole other thing that God uses in the text. that we don't have time for, Brian, let's keep going. And so Joseph comes, he's going to be this, right, they kinda know, his father knows it, you know, he puts him in a coat of many colors, and his brothers do what? The brothers love Joseph, right? No, they hate him, right? They wanna kill him. Matter of fact, they throw him in a pit, and they're all debating, they wanna kill him. Finally, one of his brothers, we can't kill him, we gotta sell him. People think he was in the grave. How long do you think that he was in that pit? I said grave. Probably three days, right? It doesn't say, but people theorize he was probably in that pit three days, you know, because this is a type of Christ that goes through here. And so then they sell him, they sell him as a slave. I don't think Stephen's even being subtle here. How much was Jesus sold for? 30 pieces of silver. That was what, the price of a slave. Oh, Joseph, the first deliverer that God gives us. You guys rejected him, killed him, put him in a pit for three days, sold him for the price of a slave. Ring any bells? Something just happened here recently? Types and shadows patterns? Stephen's giving it to us. You just did that with Jesus Christ. And so he's kind of like touching on sensitive points to them. You sold him as a slave. He was in the grave for three days and came back out. You rejected him as this great hero that he was, that God was with him and it's obvious God was with him. You all rejected him. You all hated him. You wanted him as represented in the body of those brethren that were right there. Verse 10. He says, and he delivered him out of all his affliction and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over all of Egypt and all his house. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan and great afflictions and our fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And at the second time, Joseph was made known to his brethren, and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. So remember, they come before Joseph twice. The first time, they reject him again. They don't know who he is. It's not until the second time, when they finally have their eyes open, they realize who he is, and they cry and weep bitterly. I've told you before, if you want to hear a good telling of that account, listen to J. Vernon McGee through the Bible Broadcast, or it's on the Blue Letter Bible app. If you go to that section, listen to him tell that story. If you want to hear a grandpa tell you a story, listen to J. Bernard McGee tell you that story of Joseph and his brother and how he's crying and how he's doing all these things, messing with them, you know, but they don't recognize him. But the second time, when he finally tells them, they finally get it and they see him and he is the salvation of their family, right? He gives them food, he moves them all over and they're able to dwell there and they're heroes in the land because of Joseph. And they get rescued out of this great plague that was coming on the world the second time, the first time they get it wrong. First time they rejected him. This is gonna be the pattern that Stephen is showing. The first time you always get it wrong, the second time you'll get it right. Let's just go ahead and flash forward. The first time Jesus came, they rejected him. The second time Jesus come, they'll be crying out for him to save them. And that's the pattern he builds. He doesn't get to finish it because they kill him. But that's where he was going with it. And so Joseph. Joseph, there's a man who wrote a whole book, I forget his name now, but it had over a hundred types where Jesus Christ and Joseph parallel each other. He was loved by a father. That blood was presented to the father to show that he was dead. If you remember, they killed Joseph, or not Joseph, they killed an animal and put it on his coat. Like, oh, his blood, he was killed by an animal. They presented to the Father. He was in a jail between two thieves. Jesus was on a cross between two thieves. One of those thieves lived, one died on the cross. One lived, one died. He has a Gentile bride. He marries an Egyptian bride. He speaks Egyptian. He looks Egyptian. When they get to the brothers they don't know who he is because he doesn't look like Joe. He looks like an Egyptian. The Jews don't get Jesus now because he looks like a Gentile because the Gentile church talks about him and we draw him white and we draw him looking like us and we talk to him about him looking like us and how he loves us. We put our words in it so the Jews don't get it. You know one of the shocking things that Jewish people say when they read the New Testament for the first time, if they read it, the thing that shocks them the most It's a Jewish book about Jewish people with a Jewish Messiah. They are always told it's some hater out there. They don't even know he's Jewish. They've never read it. They don't know. It's shocking to them that he's actually Jewish. But he's kind of disguised in that. The Gentile bride would be us. Jesus Christ is married to the church. Joseph had a Gentile bride and we can chase that type all through the scriptures as well. The Gentile bride that is there laid out for us. And so we have all these things. And so the Again, there's just so many types that are there and he's just trying to hit it and give him a taste of it. And he's trying to point these things out to him. So verse 14, then said Joseph and he called his father Jacob to him and all his kindred, three score and 15 souls. I think it's about 75. And Jacob went down into Egypt and died, he and our fathers. So they died there. Verse 16. And we're carried over into the Shechem and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought at the sum of money of the sons of Enor and the father of Shechem. And when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt till another king arose which knew not Joseph. And so we think of this often, you know, finally Pharaoh comes in who doesn't remember Joseph and so then he begins to super impress the people. And there's a whole thing here that I, We just don't have time in there. He says that another one come. It's a Pharaoh of a different kind and we find out that there's not even Egyptian. He's a Syrian. You learn that from the book of Isaiah. And so he's not even thinking Egyptian things. He's thinking like an Assyrian, but he's taken over the position of Pharaoh. And so there's a whole big thing we can go through that. we get all kinds of clues from Stephen that tells us this, that pulls Scripture together, that show that that's why the big oppression and why they didn't have the same connection because he's different. He's coming in to take it over and now he is using them as slaves. Verse 19, he jumps on in. They did the child sacrifice, remember that? Again, I think Stephen's like, remember? Remember that time when they tried to kill all the young ones by throwing them into the river Nile and they were supposed to do all that? Remember that? That big death of all those young? Does that remind you of the death of all the young? about 33 years ago when Jesus Christ was born, when Herod come through, a king who wasn't a king, who was not Jewish, Herod was an upstart, he was from outside, he's like a Samaritan king, who comes in and takes over the spot, just like this pharaoh wasn't really an Egyptian pharaoh, we have a king who's not really a Jewish king. who comes in and he tries killing all the Jewish babies, all the male babies from two years old and under and get rid of them. Is this striking a parallel with you? I know you've looked into it. I know you've researched Jesus Christ. I know you've researched his history and you've talked to them. Do you see the parallel that God has these types and shadows and patterns? Are you not getting it, you guys? And so he's kind of laying it on heavy on them. You're not seeing this? He's pointing out the main things. And so sound familiar to you? It's Jesus. Have you looked into this? Verse 20. and which time Moses was born and he was exceeding fair and nourished up in his father's house for three months. They hide him away, you remember, but he gets too big, they have to put him in the little ark or the little boat that floats down. Verse 21, and when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and raised him for her own son, so he becomes adopted. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds. And when he was full 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brother and the children of Israel. We also know that suddenly, you know, his mother was the one who was able to be his wet nurse and teaches him, instructs him on who he is and that he is a Israelite and he is a son of Abraham and teach him their history. She did a good job because we get the first five books of the Bible from this guy who tells us all the Jewish history who was taught by his mother. So I think mothers have a key role in raising their children and teaching and instructing them and who they are, because Moses pins it and puts it down for us as he writes these things there. shows himself strong. He's learned. He is educated by the best and the highest education that they had at that time. He was It's funny, when you read it, they always talk about him being trained in the martial arts, and I'm thinking about him doing his kung fu and all that, but it meant he was in charge of war and warfare, you know, the marshalls and marshalling troops in that way, but I always think of him wearing a black belt, kicking some. But he's trained in all these ways of fighting, he's smart, he's strong, he's got the best of everything, he's next in line to be Pharaoh. You go to the book of Hebrews, it'll tell you the position of being leader of the world was put in front of him, and he said he esteemed the reproach of Christ far better. than to be ruler and king of the world for what, a few years? I mean, what a type that is there for us. And so he comes, he knows, either God has told him or his mother's been teaching him or somehow it's been revealed to him, he is to be their deliverer. They've been 400 years, it's been told ever since you go back to Abraham, he knew that they'd be in bondage 400 years. It's one of them where they've done the reckoning, it's been about 400 years, it's time for us to be free. Moses is to be that deliverer. And so he knows, and so it came time, verse 40 and verse 23, when he was full of 40 years old, it came time in his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel, and seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him, which was being oppressed, and he smote the Egyptian, and he supposed his brethren would have understood, so Moses is thinking they would have understood how that God, by his hand, would deliver them, but they understood not. I am here, I am your deliverer, I have come to rescue you. I'm 40 years old, we'll lead you out, and I'll lead you into the Promised Land. what happens. Verse 26, and the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, so he sees two Jews fighting, and he would have set them at one again saying, sirs, you are brethren, why do you do wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses at his saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian where he begat two sons. And so basically they reject their deliverer the first time he presents himself again. I've come to deliver you. Who made you ruler over us? Are you going to kill us like you did the Egyptian? And Moses gets afraid because the people have rejected him. He runs away and he hides in the wilderness for 40 years. So he has rejected their deliverer yet again. Verse 30. And when 40 years were expired, Moses put some time in. It's funny, it's the same time that Abraham was away, was 40 years. And when 40 years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness in Mount Sinai an angel of the Lord and the flame of the fire in a bush. And when Moses saw it, he wandered at the sight and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him saying, I am the God of the fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled and durest not behold. Then said the Lord unto him put off thy shoes from thy feet for the place wherein thou standest is holy ground I have seen and I have I have seen I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt and I have heard their groanings and am come down to deliver them and now come and I will send thee to Egypt This Moses, whom they refused, first time he presented himself they refused, saying, who may be a ruler and a judge, the same did God send to be their ruler and deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. And so he's like, they rejected him the first time. The second time, the same guy, they said, who made you a leader? Who's gonna make you our deliverer? He comes back a second time, and they're like, yes, you're our ruler, you're our deliverer. They got it wrong the first time, they get it right the second time. With Joseph, they got it wrong the first time, they get it right the second time. With Jesus, they got it wrong the first time, and he's building the case, will you get it right the second time, is what he's trying to build them to. But they rejected him. Verse 37. This is that Moses would said at the children of Israel a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you of your brethren like unto me him shall you hear Moses prophesies of Jesus Christ And he's trying to point out he told you there'd be one like him who would come and deliver his people We're under the oppression of Rome right now. We're under the pressure what's going on Jesus Christ rises up presents himself you kill him you reject him just like they did Moses and Do you not see the picture? He's trying to pull them out and get them out of their blindness to see what is going on. But they aren't having it. Also, he's defending Moses. And the charge against him, what? He's against the temple, and he's against Moses, and he's against Moses' law. And he's like, I'm telling you, Moses is God's man. You're the ones that keep rejecting him. And so he's pleading his case pretty well. Verse 38. This is he that was in the church, this is interesting, first time the church is mentioned, in the wilderness with the angels which spake to him in Mount Sinai and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give unto us. So why are they called the church back then when the church isn't until Pentecost? Because church means called out ones. They were called out of Egypt. We are called out of this lost and dying world. And so it's just using the word church right doesn't mean us. It just means that they were the called out ones and we are the called out ones. And so we do have some parallel there that we should probably look at. They were a murmuring people who complained most of the time. We don't want to be that way. And so. They were, verse 39, to whom our fathers would not obey. They didn't listen to him, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts, they turned back to Egypt. How many times they're like, oh, it was better for us back in Egypt. Manna again? It was better back in Egypt. Don't we wish we were better? Let's go back to Egypt. I think of the Keith Green song, let's go back to Egypt. We come around, what do we got? They're like, why don't we have a manna again? There's a manna kati, and we have a manna bread. What do we got, manna? If you haven't heard that song, it's a good one. But it's an old Christian song. They're wanting to go back and so they opposed him all the way. They wanted to return. They rejected God's man. They rejected him as a leader, even though they said they would follow him. Verse 40, saying unto Aaron, make unto us gods to go before us. For as Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. Remember he's on the mountain. They don't know where he went. Make us a god. Verse 41, and they made a calf in those days and offered the sacrifice unto idols and rejected and rejoiced in the work of their hand. Then God returned and gave them to worship the hosts of heaven." That's stars and with each of these wooden idols they were associated with a star. I think this one points back to Saturn which is one that consumes his own and all kinds of, we don't have time. As it was written in the book of the prophets, O you house of Israel, have you offered to me the slain beast and sacrifices by the space of 40 years in the wilderness? If you remember right they go through the wilderness after 40 years or they go through, they get to the promised land and they're like we should take it. Oh and what did they say? No we can't, we're afraid. They get it wrong the first time, they'll get it right the second time. When they come into the promised land with Joshua and Caleb they get it right. So again their pattern is we get it wrong the first time, we'll get it right the second time. They reject and they go back. Verse 43, yay, you took me out to the tabernacle of Moloch. This is a God who had a body of a man and a head of a bull. He was what was represented at the end of the Olympics, it was for sure. He was in the European games. He's been showing himself everywhere. He is a God who is worshiped by the sacrifice of children. And so he is alive and well today. He also goes by Baal. The star of your God, Rimfan, figures what you've made to worship them, and I will carry you away into Babylon. And so now he has just condensed a whole lot of Israel's history down real fast. It's like, oh, and so I present myself to you, and you reject me, and you turn to idols. So I'm gonna send you to Babylon. I'm gonna kick you out of the land for 70 years. Then maybe you'll believe. They reject God, and they turn to idolatry. And so he's trying to show them how you still reject him. Verse 44. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness." Now he is defending the tabernacle, the temple. And as he appointed, speaking unto Moses that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Moses had saw it. That's what many say, it's like when we have a picture of Moses coming down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments in one hand. They should draw him with blueprints on the other hand, because he had the blueprints for the tabernacle. He had all kinds of plans for things, how they were supposed to do it. They should have drawn it, because he had all these. He'd seen it, and he drew it all down. They said, they should show blueprints on the other hand, which I think, that's a pretty cool image, because that's what he told him. He goes, look and make a pattern of it. That's a blueprint. They were supposed to do it. which also our fathers that came after, listen to this, brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles whom God drave out before the face of our fathers into the days of David. Who is this Jesus that he is talking about in the Old Testament? It's right there, it's written in your Bible. Joshua, we just say it different. Yahshua, it's the same way. How do you say Jesus in Hebrew? Yahshua, we pronounce it Jesus, but it's Yahshua. And so they're saying, Jesus, he goes, here, if you don't quite get the type, let me make it for you. Jesus of the Old Testament who comes into the promised land to deliver them and to take it and set it up. Jesus came here, you guys killed him. You know, you guys rejected him. Oh, did I say his name Jesus? Oh, because that's what his name is, Joshua. I forget what Jesus means, I got it written down here. The deliverer, the one who points to Jesus, Joshua, our deliverer, the saint, that points to him. Stephen is really just driving it home. Verse 46, we found favor before God and desired to find the tabernacle for God, for the God of Jacob. But Solomon, you know, so David wanted to build it, couldn't, but Solomon built him a house. And so, you know, he wasn't able to build it, but Solomon does. They had the tabernacle and then they finally built the temple. How be it, verse 48, The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as saith the prophets. Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What house will you build me, saith the Lord, of what is the place of my rest? He's saying, you guys are worshiping this building. He's like, God doesn't live in a house. He can, yeah, he can do that. He can show himself there. But it's fascinating when you study this, when God left, the Shekinah glory, you know, went from the holy place to the door, then went from that door to the gates, and from the gates it went and departed, never returned. During Jesus' day, there's no Ark of the Covenant, there's no Shekinah glory, when the high priest gets back there to put the blood on it, it's just a spot where they had it sitting. It was all done. It had all been hidden. It had all been destroyed and taken away. God had left because their heart was so hard. Jesus was the one that was supposed to do it all. It was all pointed to Him. And Stephen is saying, the temple is not God. You guys have taken the picture and perverted it. It was pointing to Jesus. It was pointing to who He was. It was showing to Him. We don't even need it anymore. Jesus Christ is the one who was right. Jesus Christ says it'll bid to the point where I want you to understand you don't need it I will destroy it in 70 AD and he did and so Showing them quit going to the temple. You need me. Do they need a temple today? No, are they trying to build one? They're starting to it's because the spiritual eyes of them are being awakened They don't understand that it was satisfied in Jesus Christ, but they will because they got it wrong the first time They'll get it right the second time that takes them, they always go the wrong way, they go the long way, they go the hard way, some people gotta learn the hard way, they're one of them. And so the future temple will be built, we don't need it, it's anathema, it's the antichrist temple, but that's the seven year tribulation for all that. But they'll try to, it's not needed, but again it's showing their spiritual awakening coming back around, we're almost there. Verse 49, sorry 50. Hath not my hands made all these things? God's made it all, verse 51. And so, He brings it right home here. That's Jesus Christ. whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it." And so he like brings it to him and just says, he goes, I can't go any further. You have got it wrong every time. You're like every other Jew in history in the Jewish leadership. Every time someone presented them, you said no. You rejected. You liked your power, your position. It took thousands and hundreds of years of suffering before you'd finally repent. And he would take the leader between Joseph, between Moses, for all these different types in the shadows that comes down. He goes, you get it wrong, you get it wrong, you get it right. You get it wrong, you get it right. And you've done it here. He goes, you have killed the just one. You have done this. They always reject it. Let's look at one other passage, and we'll come back and finish this chapter real fast. Matthew 23. I think this is just a crucial point to put in here. Matthew 23 is going to tell us the purpose, the plan, the tragedy, and the triumph of all history. The purpose, the plan, the tragedy, and the triumph of all history. It's all summarized in this one verse, and so it's our one passage. Matthew 23, it's Jesus Christ speaking, verse 37. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Thou that killest the prophets, right? He's just basically, Stephen has just told them, yeah, he killed them. Every time you killed them. You killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee. How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chicks under her wings? But you would not. The tragedy is that, and the purpose of all history was that God could gather all people together. The plan was that it would be like a hen. He would put them under his wings and that he would be our guard, our protector, and our shelter. The tragedy is, but you would not. But man says no. We reject you. We don't want your way. We don't want to go your way. So the purpose of the plan was that God wants to gather us together so that he could be over us as a hen would watch over her chickens. But the tragedy is that you would not. the glory or the triumph is in this next part. He says, verse 38, behold your house is left unto you desolate. That's another part of the tragedy. You have to go through such destruction because you're bullheaded. He says, for I say unto you, you shall not see me henceforth Here's one of those untils again, one of the tills. I've told you about mark the tills or untils. Until you say, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. That's Hosea 15.5. We've looked at that a few times where Jesus Christ says, I will go away, I will return into my place until you acknowledge who I am. Until you acknowledge the offenses that you've done. Until you acknowledge that you got it wrong and you ask me to come back and to save you. That's what happens at the end of the tribulation after a hard, hard time. where the beast is about to wipe them all out and they finally cry out for him whom they pierced. They see that Jesus is the Messiah. They get it right the second time, finally, some 2,000 years. They cry out for him and he comes back and he rescues them. That's where Stephen was going. That's what he was doing. But they don't let him. Let's go back to Acts 7. We'll finish up this chapter. Verse 54, and when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed him with their teeth. He hit home, right? You know, the dog that barks loudest is the one that got hit with a rock, you know, so he throws it out there, and they're like, oh, what are you doing? Verse 55, but he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He's not seated at the right hand, he's standing at the right hand of God because he's in the role of the high priest interceding on behalf of one of his. This is one of mine, Father. I purchased him, I bought the price. See how he defends me? Jesus says, deny me, I'll deny you. You stand up for me, I will stand up for you. Jesus is standing up saying, Stephen is mine. This is one of ours. And so he's there in the role of the high priest, verse 56. And he said, behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. And so as people are dying, they can peek into heaven and see that other realm, as many of us can testify, right? Give us a little clue here and there. Verse 57, then they cried out with a loud voice and they stopped up their ears and they ran upon him with one accord because they're dignified and they're well-educated men. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. Don't say it in my ears. They're banging around. My brother Chad used to do that. He'd go around, don't tell me that. You guys know him, pick on him. He's not here to defend himself. They act like a baby. They run around saying, I don't want to hear it. And they run on him with one accord, verse 58, and they cast him out of the city and they stoned him. and here we have an introduction. So he was there as a witness to what is going on for the crucifixion. He's probably one of these that helped bring the charge. We kind of introduced that earlier. He's probably one of these because he was from Tarsus and that was one of the groups that were represented in bringing this charge against Stephen. And so now they are killing him and he is party to it, verse 59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And so he's calling out and he kneeled down. He cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And so he kind of sounds like a pattern of somebody too. Who does Stephen sound like when he's dying? Sounds like Christ, right? Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. Don't lay this to, interceding on their behalf at the point of his death. Emulating Jesus Christ as he dies for him. It says he lays to sleep because a Christian doesn't die. The body lays down, it looks like it's asleep. But you know what? We sing the song, we turn grave into the gardens, right? We don't bury Christians, we plant Christians. And those gardens are gonna burst forth and bloom one day. And so Stephen's laid down. He'll probably be one of the first ones resurrected at the call as it goes forth at the second coming of Jesus or at the rapture of the church when he calls for him. I bet you he's one of the first one that comes up. And so they reject him. They get it wrong the first time. They'll get it right the second time, but after a whole lot of grief, a whole lot of sorrow. If only they would have listened to what he was laying down early. Abraham got it wrong for 40 years, but he got it right in his lifetime. Get it right in your lifetime, guys. Instead, they run around stopping up their ears and they kill him, because that's how the world behaves and that's how the world acts. And Jesus says, if you take up my cross and follow after me, he doesn't promise you it's gonna be smooth sailing and everybody's gonna love you. He says, this is gonna be hard. He goes, if they killed me, won't they persecute me, won't they persecute you? So Stephen becomes what we call the first martyr of the church. What a testimony that he has. Like I said, there's a lot in that text. We could go back, we could spend four weeks on it, but I didn't think that was appropriate. We kinda need to get it all at once, and so thanks for letting me get it all in, and I hope you kinda get at least the pattern that he was laying down. You get it wrong the first time, they get it right the second time. And you can see that as you go and you drill into the Old Testament, how many times that is true. The leaders and the ones in charge get it wrong and they are rejected. So let's not always take things from our leaders. Let's listen to the Lord as he's leading and to listen to sound reasoned arguments for Jesus Christ and stand up and testify for that. Appreciate y'all and thank you for being here. Hope to see y'all on Sunday morning. Have a good time together.