Acts 7:51-60 (2)
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Introduction
Introduction
Please turn with me to Acts 7:51-60.
We’ve spent the last few weeks talking about Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, a man full of grace and power, a man who proclaimed Christ as he served widows in need, a man who proclaimed Christ as he performed great wonders and signs. It was that proclamation of Christ that got him in trouble with the religious leaders.
They disputed and debated with Stephen, but they couldn’t cope with the wisdom and Spirit of his arguments, so they convinced others to lie about Stephen.
He was accused of attacking the Temple of God’s presence and the Law of God’s commands, which was a blasphemy worthy of death, but Stephen walked them through a short history of God’s presence with His people before the Temple and God’s commands to His people before the Law.
Stephen did this to point to Jesus as the full righteousness of God that the Law promised but couldn’t deliver.
Stephen did this to proclaim Jesus as the eternal presence of God that the Temple promised but couldn’t deliver.
With his life on the line, Stephen had the courage to proclaim Christ.
Stephen had the courage to speak the truth.
As we’ll see this morning, Stephen also had the courage to apply the truth and then die for it too.
Let’s pick up reading with Acts 7:51…
[READING - Acts 7:51-60]
51 “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. 52 “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; 53 you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.” 54 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. 58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.
[PRAYER]
[INTER] Will we be courageous? What does courage look like? What does it sound like?
[TS] It sounds like Stephen directly applying the truth to his accusers in Acts 7:51…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
Stephen had the courage to apply the truth (Acts 7:51-53)
Stephen had the courage to apply the truth (Acts 7:51-53)
51 “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. 52 “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; 53 you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”
[EXP] Stephen said that his accusers were stiff-necked, meaning they were obstinate, stubbornly unrepentant and unbelieving, a spiritual defect they inherited from their ancestors.
If we read through Israel’s history, we will see two groups within God’s people: the remnant—a repentant, believing but smaller group, and the obstinate—a stubborn, unbelieving larger group.
The men who accused Stephen belonged to that obstinate group.
Stephen said to them, “(You men are) uncircumcised in heart and ears...” To be uncircumcised was to be unclean like the Gentile unbelievers, to be outside the covenant community like the Gentile unbelievers, to be calloused and deaf to the heart of God.
Stephen said to them, “(You men are) always resisting the Holy Spirit...” The Holy Spirit moves through the Word of God. By resisting the Word of God as delivered through the prophets in the OT era and through men like Stephen in the NT era, they were always resisting the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit shines through the Word of God, illuminating Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah—the Redeemer and Savior of God’s people, the one the prophets previously announced, the one these men betrayed into the hands of the Romans, the one these men murdered by way of a Roman cross.
These men had received the Law as ordained by angels, which means they received it from God by way of God’s messengers, but they didn’t keep the Law.
It wasn’t just that they broke some commands. It was that they failed to see themselves as lawbreakers in need of a law-fulfilling Savior. They thought God would accept them based on their own try-hard righteousness failing to remember that God said, “You must be perfect as I am perfect.”
[ILLUS] Way back in high school, a friend of mine said, “You know, I think God just wants to see us trying hard. If He sees us doing that, I think we’ll be OK.”
To be honest with you, that statement didn’t sound so wrong to me back in high school, but it sounds like death to me now.
What God demands from us is perfection and no amount of trying hard is going to make us perfect as God is perfect!
“God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get,” (Lk. 18:11-12).
That was a man who was trying hard, but what does the Scripture say? That man went down unjustified, unrighteous in the sight of God.
“All these things—Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor you father and mothers—all these things I have kept from my youth,” (Lk. 18:20-21).
That was a man who was trying hard, but what does the Scripture say? That man still lacked one thing, the main thing, which was devotion to God above all, so he walked away very sad, unjustified, unrighteous in the sight of Jesus.
That’s where trying hard leaves you—unjustified and unrighteous.
[APP] If we want to be justified in God’s sight, if we want to stand righteous before Him instead of standing condemned by Him, then we have to stand before Him clothed in the righteousness of Jesus.
Stephen said his accusers “received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it,” (Acts 7:53).
To be perfect as God is perfect, we have to keep God’s Law perfectly.
To keep God’s Law perfectly, we have to trust in the one who fulfilled God’s Law perfectly.
The only way to keep the Law is to trust in Jesus.
We must not depend on our try-hard but on His perfection.
[TS]…
Stephen had the courage to die for the truth (Acts 7:54-60)
Stephen had the courage to die for the truth (Acts 7:54-60)
54 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. 58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.
[EXP] "They were cut to the quick...” Some translations say they were enraged. Others say they were furious. The KJV says, “They were cut to the heart,” but the NASB says they were “cut to the quick,” which is a figure of speech describing an intense, sudden pain. In describes the pain of cutting through the unfeeling or dead part of something and slicing into the sensitive part beneath; its the pain of cutting through your hard, unfeeling fingernail and gouging the tender nail bed below.
In Acts 5:33, the religious leaders were cut to the quick and wanted to kill the Apostles, but in Acts 2:37, those who heard Peter’s Pentecost sermon were “pierced to the heart,” but they didn’t want to kill anyone.
No, in Acts 2 they recognized that they were the ones who deserved to die, and praised God that Jesus had died for them.
In Acts 7, they gnashed or bared their teeth at him like encircling wolves, covered their ears, and rushed him with one impulse.
They drove Stephen out of the city, no doubt pushing and shoving, slapping and kicking, spitting and cursing him along the way.
And once they had him outside the city, they hurled rocks and stones at him until he died.
You may remember that in Deuteronomy 13 that God’s people were warned about people who would lead them away from God, “If (anyone) should entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. You shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God...” (Deut. 13:6-10). That’s how these wicked men saw Stephen. When he proclaimed Jesus as the Christ, they heard, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ not understanding that Jesus is the One true God in the flesh. He is YHWH in the flesh.
Deuteronomy 17 said that the execution of a man put to death was to be carried out first by the witnesses who testified against him and then afterward by the hand of all the people (Deut. 17:7). Those who falsely testified against Stephen took up stones and sunk them into Stephen’s body, tearing his skin, breaking his bones, pummeling his organs, and spilling his blood. Others joined in after the false witnesses. And a young man named Saul held their coats.
Later, looking back on this moment with regret, the Apostle Paul would say, “And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him,” (Acts 22:20).
Stephen then fell asleep, which means he died.
He had the courage to die for the truth.
[ILLUS/APP] Charles Spurgeon said that Stephen’s death was full of Jesus in four ways. Jesus was seen, called upon, trusted, and imitated.
Jesus is usually described as sitting at the right hand of God, but as Stephen was being murdered he saw Jesus standing—standing to sustain Him in the conflict and standing to welcome Him home once the conflict was over.
We are not facing what Stephen faced, but Jesus is sustaining us in our conflict just the same, and He will be standing there to welcome us home when we fall asleep.
Stephen then called on Jesus, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” He didn’t doubt Jesus’ divinity as death drew near. There was no time to doubt. He cried out to God; he cried out to Jesus.
Whether we realize it or not, we face death with each passing moment. Let us face it with faith in Jesus. Let us face it without doubt.
With that phrase, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” Stephen also trusted Jesus. At the moment of death, Jesus is the only safe place for your soul.
Spurgeon said, “This is the simple and sublime art of dying—to take our soul and place it in the pierced hands of (Jesus) who is able to keep it.”
Finally, in Stephen we see Jesus imitated. Spurgeon said, “The death of Stephen is a reproduction of the death of Jesus. Jesus died outside the gate; so did Stephen. Jesus died praying; so did Stephen. Jesus committed His spirit to the Father (Lk 23:46); Stephen says, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Christ died pleading for his murderers; so does Stephen — ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them!’ (7:60).”
As we die, let us have the courage to do so imitating Jesus.
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
We spend our lives trying to make the grade, make the team, or get the promotion, so it takes courage to tell people that when it comes to forgiveness and salvation, it’s not their making or getting but about His perfection.
It takes courage to tell others that if they want to be saved from the wrath of God, they have to give up trusting in themselves and begin to trust in Jesus alone.
It takes courage to tell others about Jesus and even more courage to trust Him ourselves.
Will you be courageous?
We will all die. We might be young. We might be old. We might stoned outside the city or we might die warm in our beds. But no matter who we are, we will die.
It takes courage to die calling on Jesus, trusting in Jesus, and imitating Jesus, but if we do, we shall see Him—see Him welcoming us home when we depart this life.
Will you be courageous?
Will you have the courage to speak the truth, apply the truth, and die for the trust as it is in Jesus?
Will you be courageous like Stephen?
[PRAYER]