Stephen’s Message, Pt. 3 – Conclusion
Acts 7:38 – 7:60
Jeff Hughes – May 18, 2003
Calvary Chapel Aggieland
I. Introduction
a. Stephen is a man that we have become well acquainted with in the past three weeks. He was a man of faith and wisdom that had become a vessel used by God to pour out his Spirit. God had blessed Stephen with the ability to proclaim the truth, and he went about Jerusalem doing just that.
b. The problem was, not everyone wanted to hear this message about salvation through Jesus. Some people got angry, and Stephen winds up in front of the Sanhedrin, the local authorities, facing charges of blasphemy.
c. So, under the direction of the Spirit, Stephen begins to deliver a message of salvation to them, mixed with a very good defense against the charges against him.
d. Stephen goes through the list of famous Jewish patriarchs, starting with Abraham and Joseph. Last week, we saw Stephen spend a great deal of time talking about Moses.
e. Today, we will see the conclusion of Stephen’s message, and Stephen’s death at the hands of these men, as we continue our study in Acts. But first, let’s have a word of prayer.
II. PRAYER
III. Illustration
a. In midwinter of A.D. 320 Emperor Licinius sent out an edict that to show their allegiance all soldiers were to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Forty members of the famed Twelfth Legion of Rome’s imperial army serving in Sevaste, in present-day Turkey refused the emperor’s order.
b. Their governor summoned these forty Christian soldiers and ordered them to offer sacrifices to the pagan gods.
c. One of the soldiers answered on behalf of the rest of them. "We will not sacrifice. To do so is to betray our holy faith."
d. The governor then asked, "But what about your friends? Consider this--you alone of Caesar’s troops defy him! Think of the disgrace you bring upon your legion. How can you do it?"
e. The answer came - "To disgrace the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is more terrible still."
f. A note of exasperation crept into the governor’s voice. "Give up this stubborn folly. You have no lord but Caesar! In his name, I promise promotion to the first of you who steps forward and does his duty."
g. He paused a moment, expecting his lure would break their ranks. None of them moved. He switched tactics. "You persist in your rebellion? Then prepare for torture, prison, death! This is your last chance. Will you obey your emperor?" The soldiers stood firm, although they well knew the governor would carry out his threat. They spoke: "Nothing you can offer us would replace what we would lose in the next world. As for your threats--we’ve learned to deny our bodies where the welfare of our souls is at stake." Over the next several days the captain had the men alternately flogged and thrown in the dungeon. Finally he had them marched onto a nearby frozen lake. He stripped them of their clothes and said they would either die or renounce Christ.
h. Then upon the night air could be heard a prayer: "Lord, there are forty of us engaged in this battle; grant that forty may be crowned and not one be missing from this sacred number." One by one the temperature took its toll and they fell to the ice. At last there was only one man left. He lost courage and stumbled to the shore, where he renounced Christ. The officer of the guards had been watching all this. Unknown to the others, he had secretly come to believe in Christ watching the unswerving witness of the other 39.
i. When he saw this last man break rank, he walked out onto the ice, threw off his clothes, and confessed that he also was a Christian. When the sun rose the next morning, there were forty bodies of soldiers who had fought to the death for Christ. (Lieghton Ford, Good News is for Sharing, 1977, David C. Cook Publishing Co., p. 16).
j. What would drive men to death like this? What force would drive men to willingly give up their lives? The short answer is – God. God had everything under control for these 40, and apparently, it was their time to go. Their love for God and the promise of eternal life with Him was far more valuable to them than a promotion, or even their very lives.
k. Today, we will look at a man who had that some love for God. There’s a place to take notes in your bulletin, and I’d encourage you to follow along. If you need a Bible, just raise you hand, and we’ll get you one. Acts is right past John, and just before Romans in the New Testament.
l. Follow along with me as we read.
IV. Study
a. Intro
i. 38 This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, 39 whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ’Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
ii. 42 Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ’Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of your god Remphan, Images which you made to worship; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’ 44 "Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, 46 who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house. 48 However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: 49 ’Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, Or what is the place of My rest? 50 Has My hand not made all these things?’
iii. 51 "You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it."
iv. 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
v. We see both the conclusion of Stephen’s message and the conclusion of Stephen from an earthly point of view. This is a very dramatic portion of scripture; we have the first recorded instance of a Christian being killed for his faith. The death of Stephen was a new beginning for him, from a heavenly point of view. You see, Stephen was a man prepared for death, because his heart was in the right place.
vi. Stephen was prepared because he had given his life to Jesus Christ in exchange for eternal life. Stephen finally received the reward that Jesus had purchased for him on the cross.
vii. We see from the passage that we are studying today that Paul, or the man he was, Saul was there this day. The day when Stephen went home to be with the Lord Jesus.
viii. I think it’s not so big a stretch to think that Paul was thinking about Stephen when he later wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians, in chapter 5, verse 8 that We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
ix. Stephen would go to be with Jesus that day, and the end result was not what the Jewish leaders wanted. They wanted to stamp out the fire of Stephen by extinguishing his life, but what we will see in the coming weeks, all they managed to do that day was to fan the flames.
x. We will examine six points – The Rebellion, the Reconciliation, the Resting place, the Resistance, the Revenge, and last the Release as we finish up Acts chapter 7 today, and we finish up looking at Stephen.
xi. Our first point, the Rebellion, is found in verses 38 through 41.
b. The Rebellion (Acts 7:38-41)
i. 38 This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, 39 whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ’Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
ii. We start off in verse 38, where we left off last week, when Stephen was talking about Moses, here, though in verse 28, the focus isn’t so much on Moses, but an event. The event we see focused on here was Moses receiving the law from God, on the top of Mount Sinai.
iii. In some translations like the Old King James, and the New Revised Standard, you see the “a” in angel not capitalized. This comes down to an opinion at this point. If the angel that gave the word to Moses on the mountainside was The Word, Jesus Christ, then the “a” should be capitalized. If not, it should not be. Comes down to how you read the scripture here. Personally, I believe that Moses met Jesus on the mountainside, just like Jesus met Moses on the mountainside while Peter, John, and James got to watch.
iv. The point though, Stephen is making here is that God gave His living Word to the nation of Israel, thereby sealing and setting them apart as His people.
v. But, as we continue on, the people don’t receive the word. They reject it. They rejected God’s Word, just like they rejected Moses, and Joseph.
vi. Verse 39 tells us that they refused to obey God. At the very foundation of our beliefs, at the bottom, is the tenet of obedience to God. God doesn’t want us running off in our own direction; He wants us running in His.
vii. The Israelites turned back to Egypt, and the bondage that they were in there. The question we need to ask ourselves though, as we study this verse is – Where am I running? Am I running toward God, am I seeking Him and serving Him, or, am I running off in my own direction? Keep that answer to that question in your mind, as we continue on in our study.
viii. The Israelites longed to go back to their old lifestyle in Egypt. They wanted their idols and ceremonies, instead of this new God. They longed for the easier life of slavery rather than the more difficult life of faith.
ix. People struggle with that today. I have had people come up to me, and say that the reason that they don’t go to church, the reason that they don’t believe in Jesus, is that they like their life like it is right now. They like their sins, and they frankly don’t want to change. They don’t see anything wrong with it.
x. What they don’t see though is the slavery they are under at that point. They are right where the enemy wants them. Proverbs 14:12 tells us that There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
xi. They conned Aaron into making them an idol shaped like a calf, which was really big in Egypt at the time. So, they had totally turned their backs on God. The rebelled against the same God that had delivered them, just weeks earlier.
xii. They had their calf, they made their sacrifices, they proceed to strip all their clothes and dance around it. This proud Jewish nation that was God’s chosen people, they messed up. They messed up big time, and they had to pay the price, right? That’s how God works?
xiii. The truth is that God could have totally forsaken and abandoned the nation of Israel at that time, but He chose not to, He had a covenenant with Abraham, and He doesn’t break them. He keeps them.
xiv. So, obviously, the people would straighten up, and their relationship would be restored, right? Wrong. God was patient and longsuffering, and they continued to reject Him, but, eventually, the people would turn back to Him, we see this in verses 42 through the first part of verse 46.
c. The Reconciliation (Acts 7:42-46a)
i. 42 Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ’Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of your god Remphan, Images which you made to worship; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’ 44 "Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, 46 who found favor before God
ii. So God gave them over, to their sin, He let them have what they wanted. They worshipped the host of heaven, which could either mean the fallen angels that Satan had taken with him, or the sun, moon, and stars, I believe a little of both went on.
iii. The quotation Stephen makes in verse 41 comes from Amos chapter 5, and it’s a rhetorical question, because we see in scripture that the nation did in fact offer sacrifices to God at the tabernacle while they were wandering, but the point is, they gave Him more than that. The people that did not die in the desert were believers; they believed God, and not the complaints. They not only worshipped with their sacrifices, they worshipped with their hearts, and this was gone in the nation of Israel at this time just like in Amos’ time.
iv. The new generations being raised worshipped other Gods though. We see Molech mentioned here. We talked some about Molech last week, and how the ceremonies involved child sacrifice, but I found something else out about Molech while I was doing some more research this week.
v. Molech was the God of wealth and prosperity. Parents would offer their first-born children and watch them die believing their families would be more prosperous and their businesses more successful as a result. Molech is still worshipped in one form or another by many people today, even in America. They think, `We’ll abort the baby so we can have more success and prosperity. We don’t have time for children — we’re climbing the corporate ladder.’ That’s the worst case scenario there, and a lot of people would not fit into that category.
vi. Many other folks sacrifice their children of wealth and prosperity though, without resulting in physical death. Both parents work high-stress, demanding jobs, because they want more stuff, they want to get ahead. They want a bigger car, a bigger house, whatever. They leave someone else to raise their child, and don’t spend time with the kids when they are home because they are busy doing all this other stuff. Their kids wind up bitter, resentful, and have a really warped view of God. I know, because as a Youth Pastor, I had to try and sort through this mess!!
vii. Guys, all the money and stuff is not God’s best for you or your kids. Don’t sacrifice your kids for more stuff. I’ve often heard people say when they taste something bad – “This stuff will kill you!”
viii. What we should be thinking is – “This STUFF will kill you, and it will kill your kids.
ix. God gave them over to Molech, and another guy named Remphan. He gave them over to Babylon, who took them captive, made the prisoners and slaves again, and Babylon was idol central. They spent seventy years there, and because of this experience, to this day, most Jews have a big aversion to idols of any kind.
x. They had blown it time and time again, but God was there, He was still faithful, and He gave them first the tabernacle to worship Him in, and then the temple, all the while there remained a faithful remnant among the people, and God waited for the people to turn back to Him, for them to be reconciled to Him, through the ups and downs, through the bad times, and the good times.
xi. These places were a place for God to meet with men, but not His permanent place, as we see in the end of 16 through 50.
d. The Resting Place (Acts 7:46b-50)
i. David, 46… asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house. 48 However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: 49 ’Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, Or what is the place of My rest? 50 Has My hand not made all these things?
ii. To put this in perspective, bear this in mind. The audience of Stephen’s message worshipped the temple more than the God that they supposed to dwell in it.
iii. Stephen points out to them that God doesn’t live here. Solomon’s temple was destroyed when they were taken to Babylon, and rebuilt later. The current temple was built by a non-Jew – Herod.
iv. The establishment was trying to fit God into a box, and that wasn’t God plan at all. He quotes the prophet Isaiah, and tells them flat out that God doesn’t live here, he lives in heaven.
v. The tension was beginning to build in the air though, as Stephen is going through history, reminding the Jewish leaders of the shortfalls of their people. They probably wondered where Stephen was going with all this, and they were about to find out.
vi. Stephen gets to his point in verses 51 -
e. The Resistance (Acts 7:51-53)
i. 51 "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it."
ii. Stephen calls them stiff-necked. God called them that almost 20 times in the Old Testament. They were obstinate. They got in the way of Gods plan instead of facilitating it. The issue wasn’t Stephen’s blasphemy of pillars of the Jewish religion; the issue was their blatant resistance to the Holy Spirit, just as they had done for thousands of years.
iii. They killed the prophets. Here’s just a little overview - They tried to stone Moses. They put Isaiah into a dead tree trunk and sawed it in half. They threw Jeremiah into dungeons several times before they finally stoned him to death. They killed Zechariah in the Temple courts.
iv. On top of this they killed Jesus that all these guys were telling them would come. They shot the messenger. Bad thing to do.
v. The point is, they willfully sinned in rejecting both God’s prophets and Jesus. There was no sacrifice that could cover blatant, willful sin, and they were guilty.
vi. The very keepers of God’s law, the people entrusted with upholding it, were not only trashing it, but standing in the way of it totally.
f. The Revenge (Acts 7:54-58a)
i. 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.
ii. They were already unhappy and uncomfortable with Stephen, and now they were angry. The Holy Spirit brought conviction. They were cut to the heart. God put His finger on their sin.
iii. When you’re at this point in your life you have two choices. You can receive what God has for you to learn at that point, and with a humble heart, repent of your sin, or, you can harden your heart, get in the flesh, and get angry. The choice is up to you.
iv. But, as a word from personal experience, if you choose number 2, if you choose to harden your heart, He’ll bring you back around again to learn that lesson again. So, I highly recommend the first. It saves a lot more frustration and headache.
v. But, our crowd here didn’t do that. They got mad. They got so mad that it drove them to murder. They gnashed their teeth at Stephen. They were going to shoot the messenger. Again.
vi. We see God’s infinite grace kick in at this point though. Stephen has a vision of God. Stephen began his message talking about the God of glory (7:2). At the end of his message, he gets to see that glory, and meet God face to face.
vii. Whenever you start talking to people about some quality of the Lord, by the time you’ve finished the conversation, you see that very quality in your own heart.
viii. Start telling someone how wonderful Jesus is, and by the time you conclude, you’ll be totally in wonder of Jesus. Begin sharing about the God of grace and you’ll find yourself receiving the grace of God. That’s why such a great thing to share your faith — it is a joy to experience.
ix. `I’m so dry,’ you might say. I would ask, when was the last time you talked to someone about Jesus?
x. `This Christian thing is just not very real to me.’ When was the last time you got into an interesting conversation with someone about what you believe?
xi. `I’m just not experiencing joy in my walk.’ When was the last time you counseled to someone who was depressed?
xii. `I just don’t know if I really have faith.’ When was the last time you shared what faith you do have with someone who had less than you?
xiii. Look at verse 55. It tells us that Jesus was standing with God. So many times in Scripture we read of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God, but here we see Him standing — not in anxiety, but to welcome Stephen into glory. Jesus couldn’t wait to welcome Stephen home!
xiv. Stephen tells them that He sees God, and they get even angrier, they run at him. The word run at there is translated as a violent run. Another place in scripture where we see this word is when Jesus casts the demons into the pigs, and they violently run down the cliff and drown in the lake.
xv. So, the picture here is of a violent mob of people running at Stephen, that won’t be reasoned with, they won’t listen even to God. They were going to do what they were going to do.
xvi. They drag Stephen out of the city and stone him to death. This is a very violent and cruel death.
xvii. Here is a second-century account describing the practice of stoning: "When the trial is finished, the man convicted is brought out to be stoned. . . . When they are 18 feet from the place of stoning they say to him, ’Confess, for it is the custom of all about to be put to death to make confession, and every one who confesses has a share in the age to come.’ . . . six feet from the place of stoning the criminal is stripped. . . . The drop from the place of stoning was about twelve feet. One of the witnesses pushes the criminal from behind, so that he falls face downward. He is then turned over on his back. If he dies from this fall, that is sufficient. If not, the second witness takes the stone and drops it on his heart. If this causes death, that is sufficient; if not, he is stoned by all the congregation of Israel."
xviii. You know, there’s no telling how many rocks hit Stephen before he died. But, Stephen wasn’t focused on the rocks; He was focused on the Lord.
xix. We see this in the last two and a half verses, and we are going to stop there today.
g. The Release (Acts 7:58b-60)
i. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
ii. Roman law at the time said that the Sanhedrin could not carry out an execution legally, but apparently, they didn’t care.
iii. Saul stood there as the "supervisor" of the operation; as a member of the Sanhedrin, he had also approved of Stephen’s execution
iv. His life ends as it had continued - in complete trust in God, believing that Jesus would take care of him in the life to come.
v. God answered Stephen’s prayer, and used it to touch the heart of a man who enthusiastically agreed with his stoning, though the man didn’t know the prayer was being answered. When we get to heaven, make sure to look up Stephen and thank him for every blessing brought through the ministry of Saul of Tarsus.
vi. God heard Stephen’s prayer, and Paul is the evidence of it. We have no idea how greatly God can use us in our times of suffering.
vii. Augustine once said, "If Stephen had not prayed, the church would not have had Paul."
viii. Stephen displays the same forgiving attitude that Jesus had on the cross, making a promise of forgiveness to God in the presence of others.
ix. One last thing I want us to notice. Scripture tells us here that Stephen fell asleep, meaning, he died. But, he awoke in a lot better place. He went to meet Jesus at the right hand of the Father.
h. Point Summary - There are three things I want us to take away from this message. If you don’t take anything else, take these three.-
1. We can resist God, but we do so at our own peril.
2. It’s important not to shoot God’s messengers.
3. God’s method of deliverance out of a bad situation is often not our first choice.
ii. I‘d like to close with a short story.
i. Conclusion
i. One of the key forerunners of the Reformation was a man named John Hus. He devoted himself to Scripture and taught that Christ, not the Pope, is Head of the Church.
ii. In 1414, Hus was called before the Council of Constance to defend his beliefs. He was convicted of heresy and sentenced to be burnt at the stake unless he recanted.
iii. But Hus stood firm. On the day of his martyrdom he said: “God is my witness that the evidence against me is false.… In the truth of the gospel I have written, taught, and preached, today I will gladly die.” As the crackling flames consumed him, he joyfully sang a hymn
iv. Stephen wasn’t a superman, and neither was John Hus - but they were men filled with the Holy Spirit. You have no idea of how greatly you can be used of God as you walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.
j. Let’s Pray.
V. Closing Prayer
STAND FOR LAST SONG!!!!
