Good evening everybody. I'm gonna
read first, Hannah. It's good to see you. I was thinking about tonight
and thinking about everybody and I just want to tell you how
much I love you. I just really love you and I'm
Thankful to be here with you and I hope the Lord will bless
us together tonight. Turn with me to Acts chapter
7. I want to read first because this is a long chapter
and I'm not going to read the entire chapter in the message.
So I want us to see what it says. Then we'll sing a couple of songs
after we read this chapter. Acts chapter 7. Then said the high priest, Are
these things so? And Stephen said, Men, brethren,
and fathers, hearken. The God of glory appeared unto
our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt
in Charon, and said unto him, get thee out of thy country and
from thy kindred and come into the land which I shall show thee.
And he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Charon,
and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into
this land wherein you now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance
in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. Yet he promised
that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his
seed after him, when as yet he had no child. And God spake on
this wise, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and
that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil
four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall
be in bondage will I judge, said God. And after that they shall
come forth and serve me in this place. And he gave him the covenant
of circumcision. And so Abraham begat Isaac and
circumcised him the eighth day. And Isaac begat Jacob and Jacob
begat the twelve patriarchs. And the patriarchs moved with
envy, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered
him out of all his afflictions. and gave him favor and wisdom
in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he made him governor
over Egypt and all his house. Now there came a dearth over
all the land of Egypt, and Canaan in great affliction, and our
fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there
was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And at the
second time, Joseph was made known to his brethren. and Joseph's
kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. Then sent Joseph and called his
father Jacob to him and all his kindred, three score and 15 souls. So Jacob went down into Egypt
and died, he and our fathers, and were carried over into Sycam
and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money
of the sons of Emor, the father of Sycam. But when the time of
the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the
people grew and multiplied in Egypt, till another king arose
which knew not Joseph. The same dealt subtly with our
kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out
their young children to the end they might not live, in which
time Moses was born. and was exceeding fair and nourished
up in his father's house three months. And when he was cast
out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for
her own son. And Moses was learned in all
the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds.
And when he was full 40 years old, it came into his heart to
visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of
them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him that was
oppressed and smote the Egyptian. For he supposed his brethren
would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver
them, but they understood not. And the next day he showed himself
unto them as they strove and would have set them at one again
saying, sirs, your brethren, why do you wrong one another?
But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying,
Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me as
thou didst the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses at this saying,
and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begat two
sons. And when forty years were expired,
there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an
angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. And when Moses
saw it, he wondered at the sight. And as he drew near to behold
it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I am the God
of thy fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled and durst not behold. Then said
the Lord to him, put off thy shoes from thy feet for the place
where thou standest is holy ground. I have seen, I have seen the
affliction of my people, which is in Egypt. And I have heard
their groaning and am come down to deliver them. And now come,
I will send thee into Egypt. This Moses whom they refused,
saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? The same did God
send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which
appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out, after that
he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in
the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years. This is that Moses
which said unto the children of Israel, a prophet shall the
Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me,
him shall you hear. This is he that was in the church
in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the Mount
Sinai, and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to
give unto us, to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him
from them and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us. For as for this
Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not
what is become of him. And they made a calf in those
days and offered sacrifice unto the idol and rejoiced in the
works of their own hands. Then God turned and gave them
up to worship the host of heaven. As it is written in the book
of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have you offered to me
slain beast and sacrifices by the space of 40 years in the
wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle
of Moloch and the star of your God, Rimphon, figures which you
made to worship them, and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness,
as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses that he should make
it according to the fashion that he had seen, which also our fathers
that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of
the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers
unto the days of David, who found favor before God, and desired
to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob, But Solomon built
him an house. Howbeit, the Most High dwelleth
not in temples made with hands. as saith the prophet. Heaven
is my throne and earth is my footstool. What house will you
build me, saith the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?
Hath not my hand made all these things? Ye 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 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. When they heard
these things, they were cut to the 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 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." Greatest story
ever told, isn't it? Let's go back to Acts chapter
7. Acts chapter 7. Chapter 6 ended with these men
of the synagogue taking Stephen and they brought him before the
council. And they lied on him and they
said he was speaking blasphemy. They said, we heard him say that
this Jesus of Nazareth He's going to do away with this temple,
and do away with our customs, and do away with our laws. He's going to do away with the
first that He may establish the second. That's what we're hearing
Him preach. He's saying that this thing is
not by works, it's by grace. That's how chapter 6 ended. That's
what they're accusing Him of. Not by works, it's by grace.
He's preaching the blood of Christ alone. That's what he's doing. That's why they brought him to
this council. He's preaching no other way of salvation than
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's what he's preaching. Now,
chapter 7, verse 1 says, Then said the high priest, Are these
things so? Now, when I read that Monday
morning, That question hit me like a ton of bricks. I just stopped right there for
a long time. Are these things so? Are these things so? This high priest is asking Stephen,
are these men telling the truth? Is what they're saying about
you true? And it was true. Stephen preached the exact same
thing we preach. Salvation through Jesus Christ
alone. Salvation because of his choice,
because of his work. Salvation because he traded places
with me. That's it. Now here's the question I need
answered tonight. Are these things so? We just read the story, the old,
old story. It started with Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Joseph, Moses, went to David, Solomon, the whole story. Is this real? Is this real? When a saint leaves this world,
Does that saint go to glory to be with Christ or does that saint
just go into the ground? Is this real? Are these things so? Do you ever
ask yourself that question? I have before. I'm immediately
convicted by my lack of faith every time I do. But is this all real? Is every
bit of this real? Am I putting my hope and my trust
and my faith in something that's going to come through for me? Are these things so? These scriptures,
these stories, these types of Christ. We look at these stories
and every single one of them is a type of Christ, right? I've got men who wrote books
that are sitting on my desk. John Gill, Charles Spurgeon,
Ralph Barnard. Barnard came through and he shocked
the Southern United States. They'd never heard anything like
that. How come he was the only one who knew? All those people were wrong. Our sweet dear brother Henry
Mahan, are the things that he preached
to us so? Are they so? Have we been lied to all this time? Do we believe
a lie or are these things so? How do we know this is the truth? How do we know we can count on
these things? We're all going to die. We're
all going to die. Every one of us, we're going
to have to cross over. We're going to leave this world. We're
going somewhere. How do we know? How do we know? Turn with me over to 2 Peter
1. 2 Peter 1. Look at verse 16. For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from
the excellent glory. There came a voice out of heaven.
This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice
which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the
holy mount. We have also A more sure word
of prophecy. Where unto you do well that you
take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until
the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Peter said,
we saw him. We saw him. We heard the voice
from heaven. But we have a more sure word
of prophecy than that. And he said we would do well
to take heed and rest our souls on this word right here. That's exactly how Stephen answered
the question that was put to him. Are these things so? He started quoting scripture,
didn't he? He started at the beginning and he started quoting
scripture. He started telling them what
God wrote, what God said in his word, in this word, my whole
life is hanging on this word. It's hanging on this word. Go
back with me over to Acts chapter seven. Verse 1 says, Then said the high
priest, Are these things so? And he said, Men, brethren, and
fathers, hearken! The God of glory appeared unto
our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt
in Charon, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country and
from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.
Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in
Charon. And from thence, when his father
was dead, he removed him into this land wherein you now dwell.
And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to
set his foot on. Yet he promised that he would
give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when
as yet he had no child." What he's saying is, God created faith
in him. He created faith in him. He said
he was going to give it to him to possess it, and then he sent
him away. And he said he was going to give
it to his seed after him, and he had no kids. He created faith
in him. Verse 6 says, And God spake on
this wise, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and
that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil
four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall
be in bondage will I judge, said God, and after that shall they
come forth and serve me in this place. He told them exactly what
would happen before it happened. He said the children of Israel
are going to be in bondage in Egypt for four hundred years.
before it happened. This God knows the end from the
beginning. Everything he said came true. Every single thing he said came
true. Verse 8 says, And he gave him
the covenant. He made him a promise. Verse
9 says, And the patriarchs moved with envy sold Joseph into Egypt,
but God was with him. He told him about the one who
was hated by his brethren, despised and rejected, sold into slavery,
but he was given a name above every name. And he redeemed the
very brethren that sold him in the first place. That's what
he told him. Verse 20, in which time Moses
was born and was exceeding fair and nourished up in his father's
house three months. And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's
daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son. And Moses
was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty
in words and in deeds. And when he was full 40 years
old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children
of Israel, and seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended
him and avenged him and was oppressed, him that was oppressed and smote
the Egyptian. He told them about the one who
was the heir to the throne. And he left it all to deliver
his people from the slime pits, the miry clay, the bondage, the
slavery. He let them out. Verse 37, this
is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet
shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren,
like unto me, him shall you hear." Stephen said every bit of that. was to point us to Jesus Christ. This whole story, every single
bit of it, is to show us Jesus Christ, to cause us to look to
Jesus Christ, to cause us to trust Jesus Christ and be convinced,
this is my Savior. Jesus Christ. Verse 38 says,
this is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel
which spake to him in the Mount Sinai and with our fathers who
received the lively oracles to give unto us. He gave us his
word, but we broke it. That's what he went on down to
say. We disobeyed it. We didn't believe it. So 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 have
been now the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by
the disposition of angels and have not kept it." You're sinners. That's what he's telling them.
You broke it. You're sinners. Verse 54, "'When they heard these
things, they were cut to the 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 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." He finished his
message by illustrating the gospel of Jesus Christ. He died pleading
their life. He died pleading their life. Now this word says that the blood
of Christ will grant a sinner life, life, eternal life. That's what this word says. The
blood of Christ will do that. Are these things so? Are these things so? Can we believe
this? Well, listen to this. This word
says in the book of Isaiah that our Lord would be born of a virgin. He was. Isaiah, the Psalms, and 2 Samuel
said He would come from the family of David. He did. Micah said he would be born in
Bethlehem. He was. Hosea said he would live
for a while in Egypt. He did. Joseph fled there for
fear of Pharaoh. They went to Egypt. You can read
all this in Matthew 2. Isaiah said he would grow up
in Galilee. He did. As soon as Pharaoh died,
Joseph brought his family back. Isaiah and Malachi said a forerunner
would cry in the wilderness preparing the way. He did. Jeremiah said his birth would
cause a slaughter of Jewish children. It did. I mean hundreds, a thousand,
two thousand years ago these things were said. The Psalms
and Isaiah said he would be despised and rejected. He was. Zechariah
said he would come riding triumphantly into Jerusalem on the colt of
an ass. He did. The Psalms and Zechariah said
he would be betrayed by a friend. He was. Isaiah said he would be wounded
for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. And he was. Isaiah said he would die among
common criminals. And he did. Isaiah said he would
be buried in a rich man's tomb. He was. Psalm 69 said he would
be given vinegar and gall to drink. He was. Psalm 22 said
they would cast lots for his seamless robe. They did. Exodus, Numbers, and the Psalms
all said that none of his bones would be broken. They weren't. Zechariah and the Psalms said
that his hands, his feet, and his side would be pierced. They
were. Hosea, Jonah, and Genesis all
said he would rise again the third day. He did. Are these things so? You better
believe it. Every word of it. Our Lord has
now said to us, he that liveth and believeth in me shall never
die. Is that so? Turn with me over
to Matthew 27. Matthew 27, look at verse 50. Jesus, when he had cried again
with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil
of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and
the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were
opened And many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and
came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into
the holy city, and appeared unto many." Saints, believers who had been
dead, this calls it sleeping. After his resurrection, came
out of their graves, went into the city of Jerusalem, and started
talking to people. I'm sure people they knew. But
you're supposed to be dead. I know that. But you see, Christ died. And
when He arose, I arose. Moses died, right? Moses died. What, 2000 years before the Lord
came? I don't know exactly when. The scripture says Elijah was
carried up into glory, doesn't it? Elijah was just carried up
into glory. Turn with me to Luke chapter
9. Verse 28 says, And it came to pass, about an
eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James,
and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion
of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and
glistening. And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elijah." The two men who were there were
Moses and Elijah. There they are. Where have they
been all this time? Alive. With him. Go over to Revelation
22. The angel, an angel, appeared
to John and John bowed down before him. And verse 9 says, Then said
the angel unto John, Then said he unto me, See thou do it not? For I am thy fellow servant,
and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings
of this book. Worship God. He said, Don't bow
down to me. I'm one of your brethren. I'm
one of the prophets. It was either, uh, Ezekiel or
Elijah or Jeremiah or Isaiah or somebody. He said, I'm one
of the prophets worship. God is living and believing on the
son of God, eternal life. We better believe it. It's eternal
life. Our Lord said at his last supper.
He served him wine to drink, representing his blood that was
going to be spilled. And then he said, I will not
drink it again until I drink it new with you in the kingdom. Is that real? Is there going
to be a table spread? Is there going to be wine served? Food set forth? A feast, a supper? Look at Revelation 19. Revelation 19 verse 9 says, And he saith unto me, Write,
Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. These are the true sayings of
God. This is the sure word of prophecy. Now I have to show
you this. Go with me over to second Corinthians
12. Second Corinthians 12. Now this is the Apostle Paul
talking about himself. Verse 2, he said, I knew a man
in Christ above fourteen years ago. Whether in the body I cannot
tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, such
in one was called up to the third heaven. He's saying how real
it was to him. That's what he just said. How
real it was. He said, I would say, you know,
that it was in the spirit, but he said, it might've been in
my body. I don't know. That's how real
it was. Verse three. And I knew such
a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell
God knoweth how he was caught up into paradise. Our Lord told
that thief on the cross, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Paul is saying, I went to the
same paradise. I was in the very same paradise. Verse four, he was caught up
into paradise and heard unspeakable words. which it is not lawful. And that means possible for a
man to utter. Who was saying the words, look
at verse five of such and one will I glory yet of myself. I will not glory, but of my infirmities. The one I heard speak is the
one I'm going to glory of the one. that I will glory of. He's saying, I met with Jesus
Christ. He's saying that I can't, it's
not possible for me to tell you this. In the only way I can put
it to you, I met with Jesus Christ. I heard Him speak. That's what
makes Him an apostle. You know that? The apostle Paul?
That's what makes Him an apostle. He learned the gospel, he was
taught the gospel by Jesus Christ himself. He met with Jesus Christ. This is the same man who held
the coats while they stoned Stephen in Acts chapter 7. This is the
same man. They were stoning Stephen. Paul
gave the order while Stephen was praying on Paul's behalf.
Paul was the man standing there. And Stephen said, Lord, lay not
this sin to their charge. And God didn't. He laid it on
Christ. God answered that prayer. He
saved Paul's soul. He revealed the truth to him
so he could preach it to us. And Paul is telling us firsthand,
these things are so. These things are so. Now, I'm
going to close with John 20, let's go over to John 20. John 20, verse 30. And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written
in this book. But these are written that you
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that believing you might
have life through His name. I'm here to tell us all that
these things are so. They're so. Hope in them. Rest in them. Trust in them. Believe them. Look forward to
them. They're so. The foundation of
God standeth sure. It's so. All right, let's stand
together.