Acts 7 - Will You Be Courageous?
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Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING - ACTS 6:11-7:1]
11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. 13 They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.” 15 And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel. 1 The high priest said, “Are these things so?”
[PRAYER]
Stephen knew that he could die. If the Jewish Council, the Sanhedrin, decided that he had committed blasphemy, then the penalty would be death.
“Are these things so?,” the high priest asked.
Another person might have said, “I’m sorry, I think there’s been a huge misunderstanding,” but Stephen didn’t cower in this moment. He didn’t shrink. The Holy Spirit had given him Jesus-exalting arguments that they couldn’t cope with before, and He would do it again.
No, in this moment, with his life on the line, Stephen was courageous.
Courage is a necessary ingredient in faithfulness. If we have come to God, through faith in Jesus Christ we know that we are to be faithful until death (Rev. 2:10), but we won’t be faithful unless we are courageous.
Courage is strength in the face of danger, the ability to act even when frightened. In Christian terms, it is the power to be faithful to Jesus when we know that faithfulness to Him will get us killed.
[INTER] Will you be courageous? What does courage sound like? Where does it come from?
[TS] Courage sounds like the truth as found only in Jesus. Because Stephen had courage…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
...HE SPOKE THE TRUTH (vv. 2-50).
...HE SPOKE THE TRUTH (vv. 2-50).
[EXP] Notice in vv. 2-50 Stephen recounted the history of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David and his son, Solomon. The men who surrounded Stephen in this moment knew this history, so why did Stephen rehearse it for them again? Stephen recites this great for them because of the accusations against him?
Stephen has been accused of “speaking blasphemous words against Moses and against God,” (Acts 6:11). They said that Stephen, “incessantly speaks against this holy place and and the Law, (that they) have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down,” (Acts 6:13-14).
The Temple of God’s presence and the Law of God’s commands—that’s what they said Stephen attacked by proclaiming Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, the Christ.
So, in one final sermon before his death, Stephen gave these murderous men a short history of God’s presence and God’s commands.
He began with Abraham.
{Abraham}
{Abraham}
2 And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ 4 “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. 5 “But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him. 6 “But God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be aliens in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 7 “ ‘And whatever nation to which they will be in bondage I Myself will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place.’ 8 “And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
Stephen walked these men through God’s call to Abraham in Mesopotamia, through God’s travels with Abraham through Haran to the Promised Land, through God’s promise to Abraham to give that land to his descendants after a period of slavery, and through God’s covenant sign—the sign of circumcision—given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
What’s Stephen’s point?
Before there was a Temple, God was there!
Before there was a Law of Moses, God was there!
He was with Abraham in Mesopotamia!
He was with Abraham through Haran and on into the Promised Land!
God was with Abraham before there was a Temple or a Law!
God’s relationship with His people doesn’t depend on the Temple, and that’s good thing because the Temple wasn’t built yet!
God’s relationship with His people didn’t depend on the Law, and that’s a good thing because the Law wasn’t given yet!
Stephen then transitions to Joseph.
{Joseph}
{Joseph}
9 “The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household. 11 “Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food. 12 “But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 13 “On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was disclosed to Pharaoh. 14 “Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all. 15 “And Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died. 16 “From there they were removed to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
Joseph was sold by his brothers into Egypt, “yet God was with him,” (Acts 6:9). Without a Temple, outside of the Promised Land in a foreign nation, God was with Joseph. God rescued Joseph, granted Him favor and wisdom, and made him the most powerful man in Egypt besides Pharaoh.
All of this took place because God was with Jacob and all his sons. God sent Joseph to Egypt ahead of Jacob and the rest of the family so that many would be saved from a severe famine. There lived and died, prospering all along the way because God was with them in Egypt.
Before there was a Temple, God was there!
Before there was a Law of Moses, God was there!
He was with Joseph in Potiphar’s house and in Pharaoh’s prison!
He was with all of His people in the famine!
He was with them in Egypt!
God was with Joseph before there was a Temple or a Law!
God’s relationship with His people doesn’t depend on the Temple, and that’s good thing because the Temple wasn’t built yet!
God’s relationship with His people didn’t depend on the Law, and that’s a good thing because the Law wasn’t given yet!
Stephen then transitions to Moses.
{Moses}
{Moses}
17 “But as the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until there arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. 19 “It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive. 20 “It was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home. 21 “And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. 22 “Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds. 23 “But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. 24 “And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. 25 “And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 26 “On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?’ 27 “But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 28 ‘You do not mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ 29 “At this remark, Moses fled and became an alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. 31 “When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. 33 “But the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. 34 ‘I have certainly seen the oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their groans, and I have come down to rescue them; come now, and I will send you to Egypt.’ 35 “This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. 36 “This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 “This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.’ 38 “This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you. 39 “Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ 41 “At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 “But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel? 43 ‘You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.’
Perhaps because he was accused of speaking against Moses, he gets the largest treatment in Stephen’s short history of Israel. Things had turned from good to bad in Egypt. God’s people had been enslaved, but God had promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit the Promised Land after a period of slavery. As the time for the fulfillment of that promise drew near, Moses was born in Egypt, and God was there! Moses was lovely in His sight! God would use Moses to rescue His people from Egypt!
When the Egyptians were killing Israelite children, God providentially preserved Moses’ life and caused him to be raised and educated in Pharaoh’s own household. Moses was dynamic, a man of powerful words and deeds, and so came to the Israelites in hopes of redeeming them.
He killed an Egyptian that was mistreating an Israelite, but the people of God didn’t see this as the beginning of their liberation.
Their freedom would not come through Moses’ violence.
Then he tried to play peacemaker between two Israelites who were fighting, but they rejected his attempt, saying, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? You’re not going to kill us like you killed the Egyptian, are you?” Rejected, and hearing that others knew of his murder, Moses fled in Midian.
The freedom of God’s people would not come through Moses’ dynamism.
But guess who was in Midian? God was in Midian! He blessed Moses with two sons, and God called to Moses from the burning bush! In the land of Midian, before there was a Temple built or a Law given, Moses was standing on holy ground! God sent Moses back to Egypt to rescue His people!
The freedom of God’s people would come through Moses’ obedience.
The ancestors of these men who now stood ready to condemn Stephen, they didn’t understand Moses, they rejected Moses, and they disowned Moses, but Moses led them out of Egypt through Red Sea and through the wilderness with wonders and signs from God who was always there everywhere they went!
Moses promised the Israelites, “God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren,” (Acts 7:37). God’s people were to listen to this prophet because He would have the very words of God in His mouth (Deut. 8:15, 18).
Stephen didn’t have to connect the dots for them. They knew that he was talking about Jesus. He was the prophet Moses spoke of, the prophet greater than Moses, the prophet that these men were to listen to, the prophet that spoke the very words of God because He was more than a prophet—He was God Himself, God in the flesh, God dwelling, tabernacling among us!
As Jesus said to them in John 5:46, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.”
But although Moses was with God on Mt. Sinai receiving the law—the living oracles of God—God’s people weren’t willing to obey it. How does that law begin? Exodus 20:1-5, “1 Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God...”
And yet the Israelites were unwilling to obey the Law handed down through Moses. They said to Aaron, “make us some gods,” which they then reveled in. God gave them up to their idolatry. They worshipped the hosts of heaven. They worshipped at the tabernacle of Moloch. They worshipped the star of the god Rompha.
The people of God had a long history of disobeying the first command of the Law of Moses by worshipping other gods besides YHWH.
That long history of disobedience and idolatry was the inheritance of the men who condemned Stephen.
But what has Stephen been saying?
Before there was a Temple, God was there!
Before there was a Law of Moses, God was there!
He was with Moses in the reeds of the Nile!
He was with Moses in the burning bush of Midian!
He was with His people in the Red Sea and in the wilderness!
God was with Moses and the Israelites before there was a Temple or a Law!
God’s relationship with His people doesn’t depend on the Temple, and that’s good thing because the Temple wasn’t built yet!
God’s relationship with His people didn’t depend on the Law, and that’s a good thing because His people didn’t obey it when it was given!
Stephen then transitions to David.
{David, the Tabernacle, and Temple}
44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. 45 “And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David. 46 “David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 “But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. 48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says: 49 ‘Heaven is My throne, And earth is the footstool of My feet; What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord, ‘Or what place is there for My repose? 50 ‘Was it not My hand which made all these things?’
Before there was a Temple of God in the Promised Land there was a Tabernacle of God in the wilderness, the place where God would meet with His people. Moses built the tent of meeting as God directed, and Joshua brought it into the Promised Land, but David envisioned something greater—not a tent but a temple, a permanent dwelling place for the God of Jacob. David received the plans and the materials, but his son Solomon built a house for God.
Solomon’s temple was later destroyed as God’s people were exiled from the Promised Land because of their rebellion against God. Zerubbabel would rebuild it in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah after the exile. And then Herod greatly expanded and updated that Temple to point where it was known as Herod’s Temple. That’s the temple that Stephen was accused of incessantly speaking against.
But whether it’s Solomon’s, Zerubbabel’s, or Herod’s temple, “the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands,” (Acts 6:48). In fact, when Solomon dedicated his temple, he prayed to God, “Heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built,” (2 Chron. 6:18). God cannot be contained by a Temple, as God Himself testifies in Isaiah 66, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? and where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things...”
But what has Stephen been saying?
Before there was a Tabernacle, God was there!
Before there was a Temple, God was there!
No man-made structure could house the Maker of Heaven and earth!
God’s relationship with His people was never dependent on the Temple!
[APP] None of this was going to be well-received by Stephen’s accusers in this moment. They had centered their relationship with God on the Law and Temple, but Stephen said the Law and Temple were previews for Jesus, the main attraction. He was the fulfillment of every the Law and Temple promised!
The Law promised the righteousness of God, but the righteousness of God came to us in Jesus.
All who try to keep the Law on their own should see their sinfulness and their need for Jesus.
The Temple promised the presence of God, but the presence of God came to us in Jesus.
In Jesus, God took on flesh and tabernacled among us.
Stephen knew this message wasn’t going to be received well, but Stephen had the courage to speak the truth about the past, and next week we’ll see that he even had the courage to apply that truth to his present listeners and even die for that truth at their hand.
But the question remains for us, will we be courageous?
Will we have the courage to tell the world that a relationship with God doesn’t depend on a Temple or church building?
Will we have the courage to tell the world that a relationship with God doesn’t depend on keeping the Law or following the rules?
Will we have the courage to tell the world that a relationship with God depends on one thing: faith in Jesus Christ, His Son?
[ILLUS] Years ago now, while we were in New York doing a Vacation Bible School, I stood in a Catholic Chapel on Family Night and said, “Only Jesus can save you. I can’t save you. The Catholic church can’t save you. The Pope can’t save you. Only Jesus can save you!”
Some where bothered by that message. Some others thought it was courageous. But let me deliver that same message to you this morning!
Only Jesus can save you!
I can’t save you!
Emmanuel Baptist Church can’t save you?
This building can’t save you!
Your attendance here can’t save you!
Your service here can’t save you!
Only Jesus can save you!
He is the righteousness of God you need!
He is the presence of God you long for!
Do you have the courage to embrace Him as the Savior, as the Lord, as the Christ?
[TS]...
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]