May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we continue our thoughts in the Acts of the
Apostles and the last part of the sixth chapter, which we read
together last week. We concluded our meditation at
the eighth verse. And the eighth verse speaks to
us in this way, And Philip, full of faith and power, did great
wonders and miracles among the people. and how we observe in
the Word of God that when the Lord appears and when the Lord
does great things and when the Lord blesses, then there is opposition. And we see how the devil hates
any spiritual prosperity and how the devil does all that he
can to destroy the work of God. But we're thankful to know that
he is unable to defeat our God and he is unable to turn away
those blessings which our God has determined to bring to his
people and bring to pass for his honour and for his glory.
And so we notice that here was this man Stephen who was called
to speak forth the truth of God's word and we are told he was full
of faith and power and he did great wonders and miracles among
the people. Well, that was the position.
And then we see the enemy rising up. Then, not until, but then,
when this had occurred, then there arose certain of this synagogue
which is called the Synagogue of the Libertines and Cyrenians
and Alexandrians and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing
with Stephen. They gather together in this
Synagogue of the Libertines. It was one really which was erected
for those who were not natives, but those who were probably Jews,
but of other nations. And so they gathered together
here and they were very clearly vociferous in the way that they
attacked Stephen. It's interesting to note that
one of those places spoken of was Cilicia and you will remember
that the Apostle Paul came from Cilicia. And we know that the
Apostle Paul was in actual fact with those who stoned Stephen
We come on to the seventh chapter, so no doubt he was one of those
here which was deriding what Stephen had done, especially
as he was well versed in the things of God. So we see the
attack that they made upon Stephen. But then we read, and they were
not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. It's very wonderful to observe
that. because there were a lot of learned men here quite clearly
and you see the Lord stood by Stephen and he helped him and
he encouraged him and he gave him those right answers to be
able to speak and to dispute those accusations which these
people were bringing against him. They were not able to resist
the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke, well it's clear
that God gave him the wisdom and it was God's spirit that
was with him. And when God gives his spirit
and God gives his wisdom, then we know that the devil and all
his many fellows will be unable to resist God's power. Now, we're thankful today that
we still worship the same great God who was with Stephen on this
occasion in an amazing way. And of course, God willing, as
we come on to the 7th of January, we'll see how he was able to
declare the glorious truth of God before all those people that
accused him. Well, these people who were attacking
Stephen with words, they weren't prepared to give up. And we should
recognize that the life we live is a battle, a continual battle,
and the devil doesn't want to give up. He'll continue to fight. He'll continue to try and overcome
us. And so we see the extent to which
he went on this occasion. Then they suborned men. That
means they gathered together, they found men which were prepared
to speak in this way. Then they suborned men which
said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses
and against God. Well, of course, that wasn't
true. Nonetheless, sometimes we have
to find that there are those people that come against us which
may say hard things, untrue things, which may be very painful to
our flesh and very painful to endure. But nonetheless, the
Lord sometimes allows these things, but in these furnaces, in these
fires, he does not leave us and he does not forsake us. He didn't
leave, he didn't leave Slevin. No, he was with him, he supported
him and he helped him, even in the face of this great effort
by all these people to overturn him. And they stirred up the
people and the elders and the scribes and came upon him and
caught him and brought him to the council. Well, it seems there
was a little space and he'd gone away and they then stirred up
important people, the elders and the scribes, to come on their
side and to go and find Stephen and to catch him and to bring
him before the council. So we see this man, we don't
see him resisting, we don't see him running away, we see him
accepting what the Lord saw fit to place upon him and in him. And it's always good to observe
in the Word of God, how his people are able to walk and to stand
firm for the truth in a God-honouring way. And not to be cowardly,
but God gives them strength to stand firm. And there he was
then, brought before the council, this great council of the Sanhedrin. And they then set up false witnesses. Yes, they provided a set-up so
that he would be accused. And they set up false witnesses
which said this man ceases not to speak blasphemous words against
this holy place and the law. Well the truth was they didn't
understand the truth of the scriptures. They were relating it to the
Old Testament law and the situation which existed and they were not
prepared to listen to the truth that he was setting before them
which spoke of that which the Lord Jesus Christ had said and
that which he had done. And they were not prepared to
listen to such words. And not only were they not prepared
to listen to such words, they vehemently opposed them And the
effect was, they said, that what he said, and he didn't cease
speaking, this man ceases not to speak blasphemous words against
the holy place and the law. Where do you see this man was
full of faith in the spirit of God, and therefore as the opportunity
presented itself, he was willing and desirous to set before the
people the truth of God's word. Now that was the situation which
so irritated and annoyed this people. They didn't want to forsake
their law of works. They weren't prepared to listen
to the truth of God. They had their own idea and that
was the way they wanted to follow. And then they go on to say, for
we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth, they didn't
count him as anybody. He just said, this Jesus of Nazareth,
we can almost visualise and understand that they spoke such words with
great hatred to the Lord Jesus Christ, that this Jesus of Nazareth
shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which
Moses delivered us. They were satisfied with their
customs. They were satisfied with their
works. They did not want to believe
on a despised and crucified man. They were not blessed with living
faith to believe in the Lord Jesus, that he was that great
and glorious Messiah that they had been looking forward to receive. But now the Saviour had come
in such a different guise to what they expected. They expected
a natural King. He was the King. but it wasn't
in the way that they anticipated and therefore they spoke in this
way. They would not believe that this
was the Messiah. And they speak therefore and
say, we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall
destroy this place and to change the customs which Moses delivered
us. Well, it didn't change the truth. The truth that Stephen was able
to declare stood firm. It was not moved. And we're thankful
today to know the foundation of God standeth sure. Having this seal, he knoweth
them that are his. God's foundations do not move.
God's truth continues. and man cannot overthrow it,
and especially as it relates to the great and glorious work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That work which is not understood
by natural man, but that work which is very real and very precious
and very glorious to the Church of God. What it was that which
was precious and glorious to the Apostle, or rather to Stephen,
and therefore he was found here They heard him say often, he
was speaking in this way, this man ceases not. No, he spoke
often about the Lord Jesus Christ. What a good thing it is for us
to read such a statement as that, as we today live in a relatively
dark age, to remember that when opportunity presents itself,
that we should be found ceasing not to speak forth the great
and glorious truth of our God concerning His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and all that He's done, and all that He did when
He was on this earth. Now, what was the effect? We
see here Stephen blessed by the Spirit, upheld by the Spirit,
and my friends, the Church of God still today are helped and
strengthened and giving that ability which is beyond themselves. And here we see Stephen and the
result was and all that sat in the council, just think of this,
this vast number of very learned people in this Sanhedrin sat
around, there was Stephen in the midst and they looked at
him They all looked at him steadfastly and what did they see? They saw
his face as it had been the face of an angel. Clearly God was
with him. There was clearly a calmness. There was a peace. There was
a recognition that he was doing and speaking that which God would
have him to do. And therefore he had nothing
to fear, because he was doing that which God encouraged him
and helped him to do. Well, may we be encouraged today
in our little life to realise that the Lord greatly blessed
and strengthened and helped his servant Stephen, and to declare
plainly the truth of God. And may we today be encouraged
in our lives to stand firm for the great truths concerning our
blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and be found, even like
He was declared to be, ceasing not to speak the things of God. Amen.