Go with me if you would back
to Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7. I have a real
exhortation for us tonight. A real exhortation. Something
I pray the Lord might teach us to put in practice starting with
me I truly truly want to put this into practice I want to
see what is taking place right here in the in the text what's
going on here and then we'll focus on the exhortation the
disciple Stephen is preaching a message That's what's happening
right here. He's preaching a message. He
is currently on trial for preaching the gospel. That's usually why
the disciples were on trial. Preaching the truth of the word. They accused him of blasphemy. If you look back at chapter 6,
verse 14, it says, For we have heard him say that this Jesus
of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs
which Moses delivered to us. He's going to put away these
rituals that Moses gave to us and destroy this temple. And
then chapter 7 verse 1, then said the high priest who Stephen
was standing before, he said, are these things so? He gave
Stephen the platform. gave him a chance to speak. So
Stephen started preaching the gospel. He asked him a question.
And he started preaching the gospel. Verse two, he said, men
and brethren and fathers hearken, the God of glory appeared unto
our father Abraham. He preached about a covenant
that God made with Abraham and his seed. Okay, they gave him
the platform. And he told him about a covenant. One that God would cut off for
the sin of Jacob and his seed. A covenant that God was going
to perform for the sin of Jacob and his seed, which is us, the
sinner. If you look at verse 9, it says, he went on to say,
in the patriarchs, those are the sons of Jacob, The patriarchs,
they moved with envy and they sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him. He preached
Joseph, the provider for his brethren. We know the story of
Joseph, how he provided for his brethren. Joseph represents Christ. All bread, all life, it comes
from him. If any man has a need, he can
run to Christ. That's Joseph. Verse 20 says,
in which time Moses was born and was exceeding fair and nourished
up in his father's house three months. He preached Moses, the
deliverer of his people. He preached a covenant. He preached
the provider. He preached the deliverer. That's
Christ. He represents Christ. The deliverer
from the bondage of sin. The one who conquered the enemy
led his people out with a high hand. He made a straight and
narrow way in the Red Sea. He parted the sea and he made
a straight and narrow way through that great gulf and he delivered
his people from death. He preached the covenant God. If you look at verse 32, it says,
saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham and the God
of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He preached the holy God. If
you look at verse 33, then said the Lord to him, put off thy
shoes from thy feet for the place where thou standest is holy ground. He preached the merciful God.
Verse 34, he said, I've seen, I've seen the affliction of my
people, which is in Egypt. I've heard their groaning and
I'm come down to deliver them. And now come, I'll send thee
into Egypt. So he preached. The covenant
God, the holy God, the merciful God. He preached God's law. If you look at verse 38, he said,
this is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel
which spake to him in Mount Sinai. and with our fathers who received
the lively oracles to give unto us." Preach the law. He preached
man's rebellion against the law. God gave his perfect law, but
man rebelled against it. Verse 39, to whom our fathers
would not obey, but thrust him from them and in their hearts
turned back again into Egypt. He preached man's ignorance and
he preached man's idolatry. If you look at verse 41, they
made a calf in those days and offered sacrifice unto the idol
and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. He preached God's anointed king,
the king of kings, verse 47, but Solomon built him a house.
They ruined everything. They messed everything up. He
said, but Solomon, built him a house. You know, except the
Lord builds a house, they labor in vain to build it. Solomon
represents the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his wisdom, in all
of his glory, all of his majesty. And then Stephen told them the
truth of their own flesh. in verse 51, not just the truth
of their father's flesh and their father's sin, their own flesh
and their own sin. Verse 51, you stiffed-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the
Holy Ghost, as your fathers did, so do ye. 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 you have
been now the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by
the disposition of angels and have not kept it." What he's
saying is, you by wicked hands have crucified and slain the
Lord of glory. It was you, your sin killed him. And that can be said to every
believer, your sin killed him. You know, man does not mind hearing
about sin too much, as long as you're talking about the sin
of somebody else. It's okay, it's not that big
of a deal. Talk about man is sin and all this kind of stuff,
as long as you're talking about somebody else. But when the truth
of God's word confronts a sinner face to face, face to face, when
it says, thou art the man, One of two things happens. It either
breaks the heart or hardens the heart. It either melts the wax
or it hardens the clay. One of the two. It's either a
saver of life unto life or it's a saver of death unto death,
but it will always bring an effect. It will always bring an effect. One man said, The truth of God's
Word, preached in the power of His Spirit, will either bring
riot or revival. The truth of God's Word, preached
in the power of His Spirit, it'll either bring riot or revival. But it will always accomplish
an appointed result. Always. All right, let's see
what result the message that Stephen preached accomplished.
Verse 51, he said, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and
ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did,
so do ye. Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted and they've slain them which showed before
of the coming of the just one of whom you've been now the betrayers
and murderers? who have received the law by
the disposition of angels and have not kept it. When they heard
these things, they were cut to the heart. They got mad in their heart and
they gnashed on him with their teeth, but he being full of the
Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory
of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And that's
one of the sweetest, sweetest lines in the scripture. Our God
is seated in the heavens. Our God is seated on his throne,
but here his child, his servant is being stoned. for the message
of the gospel, for preaching Christ. And it says that the
Lord Jesus Christ stood up waiting to receive him. He said,
I see Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And said, behold,
I see the heavens opened and the son of man standing on the
right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud
voice and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord
and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses
laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul.
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep. And that's what will happen to
every one of God's children when the time comes. It will be no
different than what you will do, Lord willing, in about three
or four hours. You're gonna lay down and fall
asleep. And that's what'll happen, this body will just fall asleep. Now, Peter preached this exact
same message. He told the same thing at Pentecost. When he did that, 3,000 souls
fell to their knees crying, men and brethren, what shall we do?
And then Peter preached the exact same message a few days later
and 5,000 souls believed. 8,000 souls. Does that mean that
Stephen is not as effective a preacher as Peter is? Not at all. Not at all. The power is not
in the man. The power is in the message. The power is in the spirit. It's in the will of God. The
power is in the will of Almighty God. This was just the purpose
of God for this message. This was the reason this message
was sent. We need to realize at all times
that even though we may not see the result of the message right
now, we may never see the result of the message. We may bring
the message and the people leave and never see him again. But
there is always a result. Always. These men all condemned
themselves by rejecting God's message. It was to their condemnation. Light came to them and they loved
darkness rather than light. Now it is very sad that many
people will hate and reject the gospel. That is very, very sad. The gospel of Christ, the word
calls it. The gospel that is the power
of God unto salvation. The gospel is who he is, why
he came, what he accomplished, and where he is now. That's the
gospel. If people are left to themselves,
if God just leaves them alone, and if He does not, in love and
in mercy and in grace, conquer their flesh, conquer their will,
it's very sad, but they will reject and they will hate the
only message that saves. That's all the flesh can do.
But this is what I want to show us tonight. This is what I want
us to enter into. This has hit me hard. This is
just really, as soon as I read this, I started thinking on this,
and this has just really hit me hard. I am not, and I do not
want to presume on the Lord. I do not want to presume on the
Lord. Not at all. But I've seen a promise
In his word, and I'm praying that the Lord will give me the
ability to convey it I've seen a promise in his word like I've
never seen it before Verse 60 says Stephen kneeled down and
Cried with a loud voice and what that means is he prayed He prayed On their behalf, he prayed, Lord,
lay not this sin to their charge. He prayed on their behalf and
God answered his prayer. Here they are stoning him. And
he said, Lord, would you forgive them? Would you lay not this
sin to their charge? And God answered his prayer.
Now he did not answer the prayer for every soul there. I don't
know who all he answered it for, but I know he answered it for
at least one. He answered it for at least one.
Verse 58 says, they cast him out of the city and stoned him.
And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet,
whose name was Saul, who we know is the apostle Paul. And he said in chapter 22, when
the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I was the one holding
the coats while they killed him. So that was the apostle Paul
standing right there. Now here is the exhortation I
want to stress. Let's start praying for people. Let's start praying for people. People who have never heard this
gospel There are people that we know from today from the past
People who have never heard this gospel I'm also talking about
people who have heard this gospel and walked away from it People
who have never heard this gospel and People who have heard this
gospel and walked away from it. It is never too late You know
that story of the prodigal son He was always a son He walked
away God brought him back It is never too late. I don't care how old a person
gets I don't care how stuck in their religion and tradition
and just stuck in their ways, stuck in their habits. I don't
care how, how stuck they are. It does not matter how hopeless
a case a person seems to be. I have personally so much more
hope for somebody in the gutter than somebody in the pew. That's
just my personal flesh and the weakness of my mind. But it does not matter how hopeless
a case a person seems to be. Let's effectually, fervently
pray for them. I don't presume on the Lord. I don't presume on the Lord. And the reason I don't is because
the Apostle Paul prayed three times that that thorn in the
flesh might be taken from him. And the Lord didn't remove it.
He said, my grace is sufficient. But I got to thinking about instances,
I started just thinking about, and you know them, see if they
can run through your mind, just instances in the scripture, stories
in the scripture. I started thinking about stories
where one sinner brought another sinner before the Lord that the
Lord might have mercy on him. and brought them in an effectual,
fervent way. I mean with all their heart,
not just a passing thought. And that's generally how we pray
for people, in a passing thought. I'm not talking about that, I'm
talking about out of desperate need. I'm talking about out of
desperate need. In all of the instances that
popped into my mind, I couldn't think of one where the Lord turned
them away. I can't think of one. Now there are some dear believers
on this earth who have been begging God to save their children with
every fiber of their being. And I will not in any way shape
or form insinuate that they're not praying hard enough. Not
at all. There may not be life yet. And I'm not going to insinuate
that at all, but here's what I'm going to say. Keep on praying. Keep on praying. Keep begging
God. His good and perfect time may
not be manifest yet. Keep on begging God with all
of your heart. Keep begging Him with all of
your heart. And I want to show you why. Alright, turn with me
over to Genesis chapter 20. Genesis 20 verse 17 says, So Abraham prayed unto God, and
God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, and
they bare children. Abraham prayed for somebody else,
and God healed him. Turn over to Numbers 11. Numbers
11, verse 1. And when the people complained,
it displeased the Lord, and the Lord heard it, and his anger
was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and
consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.
And the people cried unto Moses, and when Moses prayed unto the
Lord, the fire was quenched. The book of 1 Samuel, it says,
Hannah prayed, and the Lord remembered her. Turn over to Job 42. Job 42 verse
10 says, And the Lord turned the captivity
of Job when he prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job
twice as much as he had before. He turned that captivity when
he prayed for his friends. Daniel was praying on behalf
of the people. He was praying for the sins of
the people. And it says, while he was crying,
while he was praying, God sent relief. The commandment came
forth, God answered his prayer. How many accounts do we have
in the scripture where men and women came beseeching the Lord
for a loved one, for somebody else, for a loved one, and the
Lord answered their prayer. Jairus for his daughter. That Canaanite woman for her
daughter, she came and the Lord said, it's not me to take the
children's bread and give it to dogs. And she said, truth,
Lord. But even dogs get the crumbs that fall from their master's
table. He answered her prayer. Her daughter
was healed. And that represents a spiritual
healing. Four men climbed up on a roof
and tore the roof off to drop their friend down right in front
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The centurion for his servant,
he said, I'm not worthy. Don't you don't have to come
under my roof. Just speak the word. All of the lame and the diseased,
they brought every sick person they could to Him. And what does
the scripture say? He healed them all. That all represents
spiritual healing. All of them. I don't presume
on the Lord. I don't presume on the Lord.
David prayed on behalf of his child that it might live. God
was not pleased to answer his prayer. Our Lord prayed in the
garden, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. It was
not possible. So I don't presume on the Lord,
but this is what he said. If you ask, you'll receive. Ask and you shall receive. He
said, if you ask a good thing in my name, you will receive
it. And I'm telling you, it is a
good thing. to beg God to have mercy on somebody
else. That is a good, good thing. Are you saying that I can pray
people into election? I can just pray a person who's
not one of God's elect and they were going to be lost. They were
going to go to hell. But thank God I prayed for them
and God included them in His election just because I prayed
for them. No, I'm not. I'm not saying that at all. I'm
saying this. There is a reason why God lays
it on our hearts to pray for certain people. There are some
people that you cannot get off of your mind. There are some
people you know. The reason he has laid that on
our hearts is because he has an elect. And He's chosen to
use means. He's chosen to use means. Is
God sovereign? Absolutely. Will He lose any? Absolutely not. Has He chosen
to use means? Yes, sir, He has. He's chosen
to use the effort of men through preaching the gospel. And he
said, pray. Didn't he say pray without ceasing? Pray for them, pray for them.
When we find that there are certain people that we can't get out
of our minds, for whatever the reason, whatever the reason,
When we find there are certain people that we're just pained
for the Lord to save them, Lord, please save them. The best thing
we can do for them is pray. Bring them before him in prayer,
effectually, fervently, continually, humbly, Very humbly. I don't believe for one second
that there was an ounce of arrogance or an ounce of demand in Jacob's
voice when he said, Lord, I cannot let you go except you bless me.
Lord, please, please show mercy. Please show mercy. Humbly pray
for him, pray for him. That's the best thing we can
do for somebody. Pray for him. Don't let when they pop into
your mind. Don't let them leave your mind
without begging God on their behalf Let me show you why any
Ezekiel 36 look with me over at Ezekiel chapter 36 Throughout
this chapter Ezekiel 36 it is full of God's
promises to his people. He says I'm gonna do this. I'm
gonna do this I'm gonna do this. It's just full of his promises
the end of verse 36 says I The Lord have spoken it and I will
do it I said I was gonna do it and I am going to do it verse
37 says thus saith the Lord God and I will yet for this be inquired
of by the house of Israel to do it for them. They are going
to ask me for it. They're going to ask me for it.
They are going to say, please, Lord, please, please, would you
do this, please? They are going to pray for every
bit of it. They're going to pray for it.
Now this is amazing. That's what our Lord did. In John 17, our Lord said to
His Father, I pray for them. Think about that. He came to die on the tree. He
knew who He was. He knew why He came. He knew
what He would accomplish. He knew none was going to be
lost. He knew that. He knew they were as good as
saved in his blood from the foundation of the world. But this is what
he said. He closed his eyes, bowed his
head. You talk about effectually, fervently. He said, Father, I pray for them. Does that not bring a hammer
down? I pray for them. I'm praying. I'm bringing them before you. I pray for him. All that you've
given to me, I pray for him. There's no doubt in my mind that
our Lord effectually, fervently, continually prayed and prays
for us. Still to this day, making intercession,
prays for us. He's told us to do the exact
same thing in His Word. So, I sincerely mean this. I sincerely wanna ask all of
us as a congregation, this is the congregation the Lord has
given us here in Kingsport. I wanna ask all of us to start
effectually, fervently, continually praying for three things. We're not gonna presume on our
Lord in the process. We will not only if you be willing. Thy will be done. But let's begin
praying for three things. Let's take him at his word. Let's
hope in his promise. Pray for three things. Number
one, beg the Lord to send a revival in the midst of our years. When
the gospel goes out in truth and in the power of his spirit,
one of two things happens. It either brings riot or it brings
revival. One of two things. We have one
of two things. Lord, would you send revival? Beg the Lord. I mean with everything
you have. Not as a, wouldn't that be nice?
I mean start begging. With the faith that says you're
so able, this is so easy for you. It would be so easy for
you to slay the town. Beg the Lord to send a revival
in the midst of our years, not for our glory. Oh, look at Kingsport. Look what's happening over there
in Kingsport. Can you believe Kingsport? Not for our glory. I fall to the ground and shove
my head in the dust. It's for our salvation. We all
need salvation. Our children need salvation. Our relatives need salvation. Our neighbors need salvation. This city needs salvation. It needs salvation. Beg the Lord
if he's willing to send a revival in the midst of our years. Number
two, brethren, pray for us. Pray for us. Pray for those of
us who are called to preach the gospel. I mean that. Somebody, sometimes I'll have
different ones let me know. They'll send me a, call me on
the phone or send a text or who knows what and just say, I'm
praying for you. Nothing means more to me. Nothing means more to me. Pray
for us. Pray that the word of the Lord
may have free course. and be glorified, pray for us. Pray for us as a congregation.
Pray that the gospel might remain here. Just as quickly as the
Lord placed it here, if he's willing, he can take it away.
The Lord giveth, and the Lord takes away. Beg the Lord to keep the gospel
here. As you pray for things, beg the Lord to keep the gospel
here. Lord, would you please keep the gospel here? Beg the
Lord for love to remain here, and unity and peace. Lord, please
don't let my flesh ruin the love of the congregation that you've
put here. Please, please. Number three.
Pray for those that the Lord has burdened your heart over.
There may be a good reason why you can't get them off your mind.
There may be a good reason. Make a list if you have to. If you're like me and you forget
people, write their names down. Make a list and pray for them. Whether it's your friend, or
your enemy. Pray for him. Pray for him. Pray for him. Pray for him. Pray
the exact same thing for that person that Stephen prayed for
Saul. While Saul said, give me your
coats boys, go ahead. Pray the same thing that Stephen
prayed for Saul. Let not this, lay not this sin
to their charge. Lord, would you be merciful?
Would you be merciful? God, be merciful to us. May the
Lord help us, teach us, and convict us to fervently, fervently, fervently
bring these things before him. All right, let's all stand together.