I please God to bless us together
tonight as we consider his word. Let us turn to the Acts of the
Apostles chapter 6 and we'll read verse 10. The Acts of the
Apostles chapter 6 and reading verse 10. And they were not able
to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he speak. It is important for us to understand
that although these people were in this situation and they were
not able to oppose the things that Stephen was able to speak,
the fact is they did not do them any real good. They did not receive
them in their heart. The occasion was that the situation
had developed where the widows had been neglected and therefore
the twelve apostles decided that they had much to do in preaching
the gospel and therefore there were seven men of honest report
who were chosen full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom to look after
this situation and one of them was Stephen and he was a man full of faith
and of the Holy Ghost and whom they set before the apostles
and when they had prayed they laid their hands on them and
the word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied
in Jerusalem greatly and the great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith and Stephen full of faith and power
did great wonders and miracles among the people. So that was
a wonderful evidence of God's blessing which was upon this
situation. But of course, there were those
that opposed it. And so we read, then there arose
certain in the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the
Libertines and Cyrenians and Exandrians and of them of Cilicia
and Oasia, disputing with Stephen. And then we come to this verse,
and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by
which he spoke. So the effect was that they understood
the things that he was speaking were true. But they didn't like
them. They weren't prepared to accept
them. So what did they do? they suborned
men which said we have heard him speak blasphemous words against
Moses and against God 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 and set up false witnesses which said this
man ceases not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place
and the law for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth
shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which
Moses delivered us. And all that sat in the council
looking steadfastly on him saw his face as it had been the face
of an angel. And then we read together that
long account that Stephen Gade, before that crowd, that assembly
of people that were gathered together. In particular, he was
before the council. Now, we've read here this statement,
that they were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which
he spoke. But as we come down further in
this seventh chapter, where we come towards the end of his proclamation,
he addresses them in this way, and he tells them, ye stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the
Holy Ghost, as your fathers did, so do ye. You see how they resisted
those things and were not prepared therefore to listen really to
what Stephen was speaking to them and they were resisting
it. Now the fact is today we live
in a world today where perhaps people will agree to the things
that they hear are correct but they will not truly receive them. And we see here the picture that
they were indeed stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart. The truth was that although they
had accepted the truth in their minds, in their head, they were
not converted. They would not and did not receive
it in their heart. And this really is the great
difference. between those who are God's people
and those who are not. The one receive it in their heart,
the others just receive the word in their head. And what a blessing
it would be for us tonight if we have the evidence in our hearts
that the word of God has entered in. And if the word of God has
entered in to our hearts, we would have received it, And it
will have made a difference. In fact, it will alter the way
that we think. It will alter the things that
we say. It will alter our actions. Because when a man is born again
of the Spirit of God, he is a new creature. Old things are passed
away. Behold, all things are become
new. And it would be a wonderful blessing
for us tonight if we have the evidence in our hearts that we
have passed from darkness to light, from death to life. To know that it is the blessed
work of the Holy Spirit of God. How sad to think that there were
these people here that Stephen was speaking to and he was declaring
to them the truth that they were resisting the Holy Ghost, they
were turning away from the things that God was speaking through
Stephen and they were so bitter about it that they stoned Stephen
to death. Now, we know there is today still
great bitterness. The devil generates great bitterness
against God's people. There is great bitterness. My
friends, we should expect bitterness. We should expect from those perhaps
who do not really know the truth of God. Again, they may, like
these people here, have been in this condition and they were not able to resist
the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke, though they received
it in the letter, but it didn't penetrate into the heart. And unless the word of God comes
into our heart, it leaves us in a situation like this, so
that we are indeed hard, that we are stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart. The Word of God has not done
us any real good, but we shall still be condemned by God's holy
and righteous law. We won't be able to say, well,
we never heard it, and no, we did hear it, and these people
heard it, and they would never have been able to say, well,
they hadn't heard the truth of God. So, we see the solemn situation
which existed in this day and has occurred down through the
ages and still occurs today. The solemn situation with regards
to the true Church of God and the false Church of God. Those who are true believers,
who receive the word in their heart, and those who are not
believers and reject the word, although they might assimilate
it into their minds. They might be able to speak about
it, they might be able to understand it in a natural way, but there
is no life. Oh how sad and how tragic it
is to have a situation indeed where there is no life. no spiritual
life. It is so necessary for us to
know the life of God in our souls. And the Apostle Paul very graciously
speaks, when he wrote to the Galatians and he said this, Be
not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh,
share of the flesh, reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit,
share of the Spirit, reap life everlasting. There is a great
difference between our flesh and the Spirit. Our flesh does
not want to do the will of God, does not want to listen. to the
blessed sacred truth of God. Our flesh is in an unconverted
condition. It is enmity against God. Well I wonder whether in our
lives we know the change. We know a time when we were at
enmity with God. When the truth was we were saying
we will not have this man to reign over us. No, we had our
own plans, our own schemes, and we worked out how things were
going to produce blessings and favours. Perhaps we worked out
even our own time scale. And then we found that things
were not materialising as we anticipated. And the effect often
in those situations is that People become hard and bitter and rebellious
against the true God. And so, the effect is that then
there is that sowing to the flesh. And if there is that sowing to
the flesh, the effect will be to reap corruption, rather than
sowing to the spirit. And the great difference is,
if we sow to the spirit, we will reap life everlasting. Now, this is the effect, when
we receive that grace, that we do not then resist the word of
God. We do not resist the work of
the Holy Spirit coming into our minds. And we find that we are
rebelling against a holy God. All these people you see, we
read of on this occasion, and it was a very remarkable occasion.
But they weren't moved by it. How sad it was. They resisted
the truth of God. How sad it would be for us if
you and I in our day, we resist the truth of God. The word of God is very powerful
and very solemn. And when Paul wrote to the Romans,
he spoke about the truth of God and the sovereignty of God. And
he tells us about Pharaoh. He says, So then it is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. You see, when the Lord shows
mercy, as we spoke this morning, the effect is that it brings
honour and glory to God. But when we just follow our own
ways, then we just depend upon what we have done, and we are
not dependent upon the Lord's mercy, then there is no honour
and glory to God. So the Apostle Paul goes on,
For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared through all the earth. Now that's a very
sad situation, isn't it? Very solemn. There was Pharaoh,
raised up by God to show the power of God. Pharaoh was not
a believer. Although he'd seen many miracles,
he'd seen wonderful things, but his heart was not right, he was
not moved. by all those plagues which came
upon the Egyptians. No, he was left to himself and
therefore the Apostle says, therefore hath he mercy on whom he will
have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth. What a very clear
picture it was with regards to Pharaoh. His heart was hardened. Surely it was true with all these
people that heard these words of Stephen true as they were,
and moved as they were to believe in their mind, yet their hearts
were hardened. So they rejected the truth that
the apostle was able to speak to them. Yes, they rebelled against
it. And the fact is that, left to
ourselves, we are the same. We rebel against God's truth. And so we read what the Apostle
said, Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Nay, but O man, who art thou that replyest against God? We
sometimes think we are as great as God. We sometimes think that
we have a right to dictate to God. Neighbour, O man, who art
thou? Who are we? We are very small,
sinners of the earth, insignificant, in and of ourselves, not deserving
any blessing, not deserving any mercy. Is that true? Well, it is true. So says the
apostle, O man, who art thou? That replies against God. shall the thing formed, say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Then he gives
a very simple illustration. Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and
another unto dishonour? Well, we will be familiar, aren't
we, how a potter takes a lump of clay and moulds it in exactly
the form that he desires. And then he might discard it.
He might think it was of no value. And another lump of clay he might
take and deal with and mould exactly as he desires. And he
has perfect rights. We wouldn't argue with a potter,
would we? As he was moulding a bit of clay into a pot, if
he didn't like it, if there was something wrong with it, if there
was a stone stuck in it, that it wasn't nice and smooth and
he had to get rid of it, We wouldn't say, well, hold on a minute,
you can't do that. He has a perfect right. And so, the same situation
is. The Lord has a perfect right
to do what he will with you and me. And it would be a good thing
if we acknowledge such a blessing and such a favour. Because it
was so. And the apostle had to lay it
down to these Romans very clearly. He said, what if God willing,
to show his wrath and to make his power known, endure with
much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.
And again, if we look at our own lives, hasn't God been gracious? Hasn't he borne with us in our
high-heartedness, in our rebelling against God? Oh, you think of
the many sins that you and I have committed since we were born.
As God cut us off, as he cast us away, why has he not? Because of his mercy, because
of his power. So he says, and that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he had aforeprepared unto glory. the vessels prepared by
God. Well, what a favour it would
be if we find ourselves numbered amongst those, and not left,
like these people were here. It's a tremendous warning, isn't
it? To not assume that everything
is going alright, just because in our minds we might come to
an assessment of these things, and they were not able to resist
the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. There have been
those people who come to hear preachers and they come just
to hear them preach because they are a wonderful orator and are
able to speak things very beautifully and they come to hear that and
that tickles their mind and their fancy. It doesn't do their soul
any good. So the great consideration for
us is whether we have been blessed with this personal knowledge
that the Lord God has called us, called us from nature's darkness
into the marvellous light. Just continuing in Romans, the
Apostle speaks further on, he says, let every soul be subject
unto the higher powers, the 13th chapter, for there is no power
but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth
the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist
shall receive to themselves damnation." Well, tonight, are we resisting
the Lord God? Sometimes that's maybe hard to
understand. whether we are resisting their
Lord God. Put it like this, is the Lord
speaking to our hearts? Do we find our conscience being
moved? Do we realise, yes, the Lord
is speaking. And I don't want to just absorb
this truth into my mind. I want to know that I am moved. My heart is moved. It is the
Spirit of God moving me so that I am amongst those who do not
resist the Word of God, but on the other hand we receive the
Word of God. What a blessing for you and me
to receive God's Word and not to resist it. And what effect
it has upon us. You know the God's servant Jeremiah,
when he wrote those Lamentations, and they were a very wonderful
account of his own spiritual testimony, and he gives us this
little record in detail. He tells us in the first chapter,
he asks this question. He says, is it nothing to you
all ye that pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow like
unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath
afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." And it's a very
clear prophetic text with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the question is asked, is
it nothing to you, all ye that pass by, Yes, the multitude were
passing by. My friends today, the multitude
pass by. They pass by. They resist the
Word of God. They resist as it were, tarrying. No, the world is all they want. Their master is the devil. You do not want to serve the
Lord. Therefore this question is so
important. Is it nothing to you or ye that
pass by? Are we beholding the Lord Jesus? And are we just passing by? Are we just passing by? Or do
we want to tarry? Do we want to stop? We want to
observe what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. You know the Apostle,
in this account, he told them that they were the guilty ones.
He spoke about the Lord Jesus. They didn't want to hear. They
didn't want to know. They recognised that What he
said was true. And they absorbed it in their
minds. But that was the extent. They
didn't want to know about the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they were so angry about
the things that the Apostle Stephen had accused them of. Yes, that
they ran and stoned him because of the truth. Their consciences
were so smitten by the truth that Stephen was speaking to
them. He didn't mince matters, he pointed
very clearly and he told them of whom, ye have been now the
betrayers and murderers who have received the law by disposition
of angels and have not kept it. Yes, they departed from the true
word of God. And he said, Of which of the
prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain
them which showed before of the coming of the just one, of whom
ye have been now the betrayers and murderers. And that's what
they hated. They didn't want to be accused. Are we accused tonight? Does
the Spirit of God accuse you and me? And it was because of
our sins, because of our deeds, our actions, our speech, our
thoughts, that were those things that brought
about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it nothing to you, or you
that pass by, What does it mean to you and to me to think about
the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it nothing? Is it nothing
to you tonight? What's the effect? Behold and
see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. of you, the Saviour,
suffering in our place and our stead. What sorrow he passed
through, didn't he? We're told, a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Often it will be a real test
of the reality of our religion and whether we fall into this
category of just accepting what is said on the surface, in these
words, not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which
he spoke, when we hear about the Lord Jesus Christ and his
death, when we consider Calvary, when we consider what the Saviour
endured, that would be really the test of the reality of our
religion. because if we want to move on,
we don't want to tarry there, we don't want to stop there,
we don't really want to consider the Lord Jesus Christ, then surely
we are still stiff-necked and hard-hearted, and there is no
work of grace in our heart. But it would be a wonderful blessing
if that Spirit of God moves us so that we are thankful and rejoice
in some of those great truths which are recorded in the Word
of God. Thinking particularly perhaps
of that chapter, the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. That prophecy with
regards to the Lord Jesus Christ and what a picture it has, it
gives to us. Do we want to get through it
quickly? Do we want to not really stop
there? Do we want to pass by? Are we
like this? Is it nothing to you? All you
that pass by? Well, all of us have passed by,
haven't we? This 53rd chapter of Isaiah. And is it nothing
to us? Is it nothing to you tonight?
Or does it really have an effect? And are we thankful for it? Thankful
we have such a very great and wonderful detailed description
of what the Lord Jesus passed through. And yet, the opening
words in this chapter tell us, who hath believed our report? How few believe the report. How many come and pass by? How many only receive the word
in the mind, in truth? Who hath believed our report?
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. That means those who
have had salvation revealed to them. That which the Lord Jesus
Christ has done. Well, tonight we believe the
report because it is so wonderful, because it describes to us that
which will save our soul. and we see the truth of it, and
we bless God for it, and are thankful for the description
that it gives the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, we must always
realise that there was nothing naturally attractive in the Lord
Jesus Christ. How many wonderful pictures have
been drawn of the Lord Jesus, and yet the opposite is true. Because the end of the 52nd chapter
tells us, his visage was so marred, more than any man, and his form
more than the sons of men. There was nothing, I believe,
naturally attractive in the Lord Jesus Christ, but it was all
that he had done, and all that he would do, and the glory of
it. And so we see the description
of him, despised, rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not." There has been a time in our lives when we have not
esteemed the Lord Jesus Christ. We've heard of him, Like these
people, they heard of Him, they didn't esteem Him. I wonder tonight
if we esteem Him. If we have in our own hearts
the evidence that we do esteem the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't
despise Him. He was despised and we esteemed
Him not. And then we think of that sorrow
and we say surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Isn't that comforting? As we
pass through times of grief and sorrow. True it is. We have here the picture of the
Saviour. As it were, He draws alongside.
You see, in these days and these times, this is when Christ becomes
more precious to our souls. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. What a very full
statement that is of what the Saviour suffered in order to
atone for our sins. Every sin has to be atoned for. We might term it little sins,
we might term them big sins. My friends, whatever we might
term them in our minds, every sin. had to be atoned for. And then Lord Jesus was wounded
for these sins, bruised and chastised and was enduring those stripes
which were laid upon him. This is the picture of the suffering
Saviour. This is the picture of the one
in whose We have hope of salvation. There's no other name. This is
the man, the man Christ Jesus. And then Isaiah goes on and just
tells us, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone
to his own way. These people you see, all these
people here on this day when Stephen spoke, they all turned
their own way. He wouldn't have this man to
reign over them. They all turned to their own way, yes. And they
heard these things, they were cut to the heart. And they gnashed
on him with their teeth. Cut to the heart. They didn't
want to hear any more. Enough of this. They didn't want
to hear it. They didn't want to think that
they were the ones that had brought about the death of the Lord Jesus. They weren't prepared to receive
the Word of God. And so many people today are
not prepared to receive the Word of God. And they are indeed like
sheep, gone astray, turned everyone to our own way, and the Lord
has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. That's a tremendous
statement, isn't it? To think of that, the Lord Jesus
Christ as a mortal man, taking on himself our flesh, he carried
the iniquity, the sins of all his church. Sometimes perhaps
we feel the agony and the burden of our sin to think that Christ
carried all the sin of all of us, all his church. He was oppressed,
he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth, He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before a shearer's
dung, and so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison
and from judgment. And who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living, thirty-three
years of age, naturally the prime of life, cut off. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. You see, all his sufferings was
because of the sins of his church. And his sufferings were such
that they were sufficient in his death to atone for the sins
of all his people. So we read, he made his grave
with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he
had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth. no deceit at all in his mouth.
If you and I know anything of our heart, it's very hard to
have no deceit at all. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand, he shall see the travail of his soul and
shall be satisfied." Well, do we not say, what a saviour, what
a saviour. Do we not come back to these
words in Jeremiah, is it nothing to you or you that pass by? As
we observe what the suffering saviour was described as, what
does it mean to us tonight? Does it mean anything? Or are
they just words which we hear in our mind, like these people
did on this occasion, and the effect was they just absorbed
them in their minds and they were not able to resist the wisdom
and spirit by which he spoke, just in their minds, didn't go
into their hearts. Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." Well,
we bless God for these prophecies, we bless God for these words
which are there to encourage us today to press on and may
we be really concerned to be found walking in that right way
and not resisting the truth of God. Now, the devil is at our
elbow. The devil hates Christ being
lifted up. He hates Christ being exalted.
He wants to generate anger in our hearts. He wants to generate
rebellion and hatred. And that's what exists in the
natural man. Rebellion, hatred against the
Lord Jesus Christ. But wonderful blessing if in
our souls, wonderful blessing if through the Spirit of God
we come to that position where we bow down and we say, my Lord
and my God. My friends, that's the grace
of God. That's the mercy of God. And
that's the love of God. It's the love of God which brings
hard hearts to be broken hearts. It's the love of God which constrains
us. It's a beautiful word, isn't
it? The love of Christ constrains us. And so it does. when we view the Saviour, when
we see His love toward us, wonderful love, glorious love, everlasting
love, when we see that love toward us, do we not come and bow down
and find in our hearts the constraining influence through the Holy Spirit
and able to say very humbly, not in anything ourselves, Yes,
the love of Christ constrains us. We're moved. Our hearts are
moved. Yes, it's not our minds. It's
gone through our minds into our heart. It's had a gracious and
blessed effect so that we do love. We love the Lord and we
desire to do His will. We desire to be with Him. We
desire to walk with Him on this earth. We desire to have fellowship
with Him on this earth. And we look forward to that day
when, through His grace, we shall be with Him in glory, around
that throne of God in heaven, singing His praises forever and
ever, when we shall have done with sin, when there will be
nothing more to worry us or concern us or to make us sad. It will
be joy and peace forever and ever. That's the glorious prospect
of all those who have been redeemed with the blood of the Lamb. Well, the precious Gospel is
very wonderful and very glorious. And there, as we've gone through
this account tonight, and no doubt most of us are reasonably
familiar with it, of how the Lord graciously appeared for
his people, was with them, through their ups and downs, through
their rebellion, through their hard-heartedness, He didn't leave
them, He didn't forsake them, He brought them safely at last
home to Canaan. And today the Lord still watches
over and brings His church safe home to Canaan. And so then,
it made me realise the wonderful blessing that we have recorded
here in this Word. And think of the words that Stephen
was able to conclude his life with, as he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord,
lay not this sin to their charge. What a wonderful, forgiving spirit. And it's true, the Church of
God will not die in a state where they do not forgive. No, we've
been forgiven, and we didn't deserve it, and we should desire
to forgive people. We won't die in a state where
we don't forgive people. We'll be willing to forgive the
worst of sins against us, the worst of words spoken against
us. Remember the words here of Stephen,
who had spoken loving words, glorious words, truthful words
to all those people and because of that he was stoned. And what
does he say? Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge. Well, what a blessing it is when
the Lord Jesus says that to his Father in regard to you and me. Lay not this sin to their charge. What a blessing it is then to
know the Saviour has paid to redeem us, to take away all our
sins, so that we are clean, we are indeed washed, we are washed
in the blood of the Lamb. Amen.